Simultaneous application of signaled spatial domain vector information for multiple CSI report configurations

Abstract

Systems and methods related to simultaneous application of signaled spatial domain vector information for multiple Channel State Information (CSI) report configurations are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) comprises receiving, from a network node, first and second CSI reporting configurations and first information on a linkage between the first and second CSI reporting configurations. The method further comprises receiving, from the network node, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and, based on the linkage, applying the spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration. The method further comprises computing and reporting the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, using the one or more spatial domain vectors.

Description

SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION OF SIGNALED SPATIAL DOMAIN VECTOR INFORMATION FOR MULTIPLE CSI REPORT CONFIGURATIONS RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.63 / 779,671, filed March 28, 2025, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communications network and, more specifically, to Channel State Information (CSI) feedback in a wireless communications network.BACKGROUND

[0003] Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and / or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.

[0004] The 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) standard is currently evolving with enhanced MIMO support. A core component in NR is the support of MIMO antenna deployments and MIMO related techniques like for instance spatial multiplexing. The spatial multiplexing mode is aimed for high data rates in favorable channel conditions. An illustration of the spatial multiplexing operation is provided in Figure 1. In other words, Figure 1 illustrates the transmission structure of precoded spatial multiplexing mode in NR.

[0005] As seen in Figure 1, the information carrying symbol vector s is multiplied by an TVT X r precoder matrix IF, which serves to distribute the transmit energy in a subspace of the AT (corresponding to AT antenna ports) dimensional vector space. The precoder matrix is typically selected from a codebook of possible precoder matrices, and typically indicated by means of a Precoder Matrix Indicator (PMI), which specifies a unique precoder matrix in the codebook for a given number of symbol streams. The r symbols in s each correspond to a layer and r is referred to as the transmission rank. In this way, spatial multiplexing is achieved since multiple symbols can be transmitted simultaneously over the same Time / Frequency Resource Element (TFRE). The number of symbols r is typically adapted to suit the current channel properties.

[0006] NR uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) in the downlink (and Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) precoded OFDM in the uplink for rank- 1 transmission) and hence the received AR x 1 vector ynfor a certain TFRE on subcarrier n (or alternatively data TFRE number ri) is thus modeled byyn= HnWsn+ enwhere e« is a noise / interference vector obtained as realizations of a random process. The precoder W can be a wideband precoder, which is constant over frequency, or frequency selective.

[0007] The precoder matrix W is often chosen to match the characteristics of the RX T MIMO channel matrix Hn, resulting in so-called channel dependent precoding. This is also commonly referred to as closed-loop precoding and essentially strives for focusing the transmit energy into a subspace which is strong in the sense of conveying much of the transmitted energy to the User Equipment (UE).

[0008] In closed-loop precoding for the NR downlink, the UE transmits, based on channel measurements in the downlink, recommendations to the next generation NodeB (gNB) of a suitable precoder W to use. This is the precoder matrix index reporting (PMI reporting), which is part of the CSI reporting.

[0009] The gNB configures the UE to provide feedback according to CSI-ReportConfig and may transmit Channel State Information (CSI) Reference Signal (CSI-RS) and configure the UE to use measurements of CSI-RS to feed back recommended precoding matrices that the UE selects from a codebook. A single precoder that is supposed to cover a large bandwidth (wideband precoding) may be fed back. It may also be beneficial to match the frequency variations of the channel and instead feed back a frequency-selective precoding report, e.g. several precoders, one per subband. This is an example of the more general case of CSI feedback, which also encompasses feeding back other information than recommended precoders to assist the gNB in subsequent transmissions to the UE. Such other information may include Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs) as well as transmission Rank Indicator (RI). In NR, CSI feedback can be either wideband, where one CSI is reported for the entire channel bandwidth, or frequency-selective, where one CSI is reported for each subband, which is defined as a number of contiguous resource blocks ranging between 4-32 Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) depending on the band width part (BWP) size.

[0010] Given the CSI feedback from the UE, the gNB determines the transmission parameters it wishes to use to transmit to the UE, including the precoding matrix, transmission rank, and Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS). These transmission parameters may differ from the recommendations the UE makes. The transmission rank, and thus the number of spatially multiplexed layers, is reflected in the number of columns of the precoder IV For efficientperformance, it is important that a transmission rank that matches the channel properties is selected.

[0011] A two-dimensional (2D) antenna array may be (partly) described by the number of antenna columns corresponding to the horizontal dimension Nh, the number of antenna rows corresponding to the vertical dimension Nv, and the number of dimensions corresponding to different polarizations Np. The total number of antennas is thus N = NhNvNp. The concept of an antenna is non-limiting in the sense that it can refer to any virtualization (e.g., linear mapping) of the physical antenna elements. For example, pairs of physical sub-elements could be fed the same signal and hence share the same virtualized antenna port.

[0012] Figure 2 illustrates an example of a 4x4 two-dimensional antenna array of dualpolarized antenna elements (NP= 2), with Nh= 4 horizontal antenna elements and Nv= 4 vertical antenna elements.

[0013] Precoding may be interpreted as multiplying the signal with different beamforming weights for each antenna prior to transmission. A typical approach is to tailor the precoder to the antenna form factor, i.e. taking into account Nh, Nvand Npwhen designing the precoder codebook.

[0014] In practical implementations, an “antenna element” is seldom a single radiation antenna element but instead a small array (a subarray) of vertical or horizontal antenna elements. Even a 2D array of antenna elements may constitute such a subarray.

[0015] The 2D antenna array thus typically consists of an array of identical subarrays. For the precoder codebook design perspective, the parameters Nh,Nvdefine the codebook for PMI reporting in NR and Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the design of the subarray is left the implementation, assuming they are identical so that the array has the regular structure with equally spaced rows and columns of subarrays.

[0016] For CSI measurement and feedback, CSI-RS are defined. A CSI-RS is transmitted on each antenna port and is used by a UE to measure downlink channel between each of the transmit antenna ports and each of its receive antenna ports. The transmit antenna ports are also referred to as CSI-RS ports. The set of supported number of antenna ports in NR is {1,2,4,8,12,16,24,32} which is extended in Release 19 to 128. By measuring the received CSI-RS, a UE can estimate the channel that the CSI-RS is traversing, including the radio propagation channel and antenna gains. The CSI-RS for the above purpose is also referred to as Non-Zero Power (NZP) CSI-RS.

[0017] CSI-RS can be configured to be transmitted in certain Resource Elements (REs) in a slot and certain slots. Figure 3 shows an example of CSI-RS REs for twelve (12) antenna ports, where one (1) RE per Resource Block (RB) per port is shown.

[0018] In addition, Interference Measurement Resource (IMR) is also defined in NR for a UE to measure interference. An IMR resource contains four REs, either four adj acent REs in frequency in the same OFDM symbol or a 2 by 2 grid of adjacent REs in both time and frequency in a slot. By measuring both the channel based on NZP CSI-RS and the interference based on an IMR, a UE can estimate the effective channel and noise plus interference to determine the CSI, i.e. rank, precoding matrix, and the channel quality.

[0019] Furthermore, a UE in NR may be configured to measure interference based on one or multiple NZP CSI-RS resource.

[0020] In NR, a UE can be configured with multiple CSI reporting settings and multiple CSI-RS resource settings. Each resource setting can contain multiple resource sets, and each resource set can contain up to 8 CSI-RS resources. For each CSI reporting setting, a UE feeds back a CSI report.

[0021] Each CSI reporting setting contains at least the following information:• A CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement• An IMR resource set for interference measurement• Optionally, a CSI-RS resource set for interference measurement• Time-domain behavior, i.e. periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic reporting• Frequency granularity, i.e. wideband or subband• CSI parameters to be reported such as RI, PMI, CQI, and CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRI) in case of multiple CSI-RS resources in a resource set• Codebook types, i.e. type I or II, and codebook subset restriction• Measurement restriction• Subband size. One out of two possible subband sizes is indicated, the value range depends on the bandwidth of the BWP. One CQI / PMI (if configured for subband reporting) is fed back per subband).

[0022] When the CSI-RS resource set in a CSI reporting setting contains multiple CSI-RS resources, one of the CSI-RS resources is selected by a UE and a CRI is also reported by the UE to indicate to the gNB about the selected CSI-RS resource in the resource set, together with RI, PMI and CQI associated with the selected CSI-RS resource.

[0023] For aperiodic CSI reporting in NR, more than one CSI reporting settings, each with a different CSI-RS resource set for channel measurement and / or resource set for interference measurement can be configured and triggered at the same time. In this case, multiple CSI reports are aggregated and sent from the UE to the gNB in a single Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0024] A precoder structure used in both LTE and NR involves decomposing the precoder into two matrices, a so-called factorized precoder. The precoder can then be written as a product of two factors asMvvN,Txr = uvvNcT)xkvvkxr = MvvA l MvvA 2,(cwhere an NTX k conversion precoder strives for capturing wi deb and / 1 ong-term propertiesof the channel such as correlation while a k X r tuning precodertargets frequency -selective / short-term properties of the channel. Together they form the overall precoder U^xrwhich is induced by the signaled entities.

[0025] The conversion precoder, sometimes also referred to as W , is typically, but not necessarily, reported with a coarser granularity in time and / or frequency than the tuning precoder to save overhead and / or complexity. The conversion precoder serves to exploit the correlation properties for focusing the tuning precoder in “directions” where the channel on average is “strong”. The conversion precoder is typically said to contain k spatial domain vectors focusing on the strong spatial directions. By reducing the number of dimensions k over which the tuning precoder should cover, i.e., the conversion precoderbecomes a tall matrix with a reduced number of columns and consequently the number of rows k of the tuning precoder(sometimes referred to as I2) is reduced as well. With such a reduced number of dimensions, the codebook for the tuning precoder, which easily consumes most of the signaling resources since it needs to be updated with fine granularity, can be made smaller while still maintaining good performance.

[0026] The conversion precoderand the tuning precoder W2each have a codebook of their own and an element in the codebook is indexed with by the family of parameters and by the family of i2parameters respectively. The conversion precoder targets having high spatial resolution and thus a codebook with many elements while the codebook for the tuning precoder needs to be rather small in order to keep the signaling overhead at a reasonable level. The two codebooks can also be viewed as representing one larger codebook consisting of the set of precoders WNrXrobtained as all possible combinations ofand U7^xr. As already mentioned, for notational convenience, the conversion precoder is sometimes referred to as IV^and the tuning precoder W2leading to an effective precoder IV = UfUf.

[0027] In LTE and NR, IV s reported as wideband, while IV2can vary from one subband to another (a subband is a set of consecutive resource blocks over frequency) and thus supportingfrequency-selective reporting. The second matrix U^could also be wideband but then reported more often in time than

[0028] In NR specifications, the factorized design is however implicitly reflected by the indices i1;1and i12(as specified in 3GPP TS 38.214 V18.5.0) which selects the DFT vectors in the first (i.e., vertical) and second (i.e., horizontal) dimensions inand the index i2(as specified in 3GPP TS 38.214 V18.5.0) which selects W2. These indices jointly determines the final MIMO precoder W= IV1IV2.

[0029] Note that in NR Release 16, for eType-II codebooks, yet another matrix was introduced to capture the frequency domain characteristics and it requires more sub-indices in both theand i2set of indices:

[0030] Sincerepresent the spatial dimensions of the antenna array (with one or more spatial domain vectors as columns), and since the assumption was that arrays are uniform linear arrays with identical subarrays, it was decided to have awith certain (DFT-based) structure in NR. The columns of Wf comprise of one or more frequency domain basis vectors that capture the frequency domain characteristics. Indicators representing columns of Wf are reported by the UE as part of CSI reporting. The components in W2are non-zero combining coefficients a subset of which the UE reports as part of CSI reporting.SUMMARY

[0031] Systems and methods related to simultaneous application of signaled spatial domain vector information for multiple Channel State Information (CSI) report configurations are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a User Equipment (UE) comprises receiving, from a network node, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration and receiving, from the network node, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. The method further comprises receiving, from the network node, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and, based on the linkage provided by the first information, applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration. The method further comprises computing the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors. The method further comprises reporting the first CSI and / or the secondCSI to the network node. When the UE is configured with multiple CSI report configurations, either in the same serving cell / component carrier or different serving cells / component carriers, the proposed method reduces the downlink signaling overhead for updating the one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the multiple CSI report configurations.

[0032] In one embodiment, the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

[0033] In one embodiment, the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells of the UE or different component carriers.

[0034] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration included as part of the second CSI report configuration.

[0035] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

[0036] In one embodiment, the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for a purpose of applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

[0037] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of a list of identifiers of CSI report configurations to which the linkage applies.

[0038] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises a list included as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0039] In one embodiment, a default linkage is pre-defined between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. In one embodiment, the default linkage is overridden when the UE receives the first information on the linkage.

[0040] In one embodiment, the first CSI configuration and the second CSI configuration comprise information indicating that the one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0041] In one embodiment, the second information further comprises information identifying the first and the second CSI configuration.

[0042] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a UE comprises a communication interface comprising a transmitter and a receiver. The UE further comprises processing circuitry associated with the communication interface, the processing circuitry configured to cause the UE to receive, from a network node, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration and receive, from the network node, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to receive, from the network node, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and, based on the linkage provided by the first information, apply the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to compute the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to report the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0043] In another embodiment, a method performed by a UE comprises receiving a first CSI reporting configuration from a network node and receiving, from the network node, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. The method further comprises receiving a second CSI reporting configuration from a network node and, based on the linkage provided by the first information, applying information about the at least one common component into the second CSI reporting configuration. The method further comprises computing the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the at least one common component. The method further comprises reporting the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0044] In one embodiment, the linkage provides information on one or more spatial domain vectors in the first CSI reporting configuration, as to be configured in the second CSI reporting configuration. In one embodiment, the at least one common component includes at least one of the one or more spatial domain vectors.

[0045] In one embodiment, the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

[0046] In one embodiment, the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells or different component carriers.

[0047] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration included as part of the second CSI report configuration.

[0048] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

[0049] In one embodiment, the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for a purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

[0050] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration as part of a list comprising identifiers of CSI report configurations for which the linkage applies.

[0051] In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage comprises a list as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0052] In one embodiment, a default linkage is pre-defined between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. In one embodiment, the first information on the linkage overrides the default linkage.

[0053] In one embodiment, the first CSI configuration and the second CSI configuration comprise information indicating that one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0054] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a UE comprises a communication interface comprising a transmitter and a receiver. The UE further comprises processing circuitry associated with the communication interface, the processing circuitry configured to cause the UE to receive a first CSI reporting configuration from a network node and receive, from the network node, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to receive a second CSI reporting configuration from a network node and, based on the linkage provided by the first information, apply information about the at least one common component into the second CSI reporting configuration. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to compute the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reportingconfigurations, respectively, and using the at least one common component and report the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0055] In another embodiment, a method performed by a UE comprises receiving, from a network node, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration and receiving, from the network node, a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier. The method further comprises receiving, from the network node, a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration and, based on the linkage provided in the second signaling, applying one or more spatial domain vectors, from among the plurality of spatial domain vectors comprised in the codebook, indicated for the first CSI reporting configuration for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations. The method further comprises computing the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors. The method further comprises reporting the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0056] In one embodiment, the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

[0057] In one embodiment, the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells or different component carriers.

[0058] In one embodiment, the second signaling comprises indication of the codebook identifier as part of the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration.

[0059] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a UE comprises a communication interface comprising a transmitter and a receiver. The UE further comprises processing circuitry associated with the communication interface, the processing circuitry configured to cause the UE to receive, from a network node, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration and receive, from the network node, a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to receive, from the network node, a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration and, based on the linkage provided in the second signaling, apply one or more spatial domain vectors, from among the plurality of spatial domain vectors comprised in the codebook, indicated for the first CSI reporting configuration for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations. The processing circuitry is further configuredto cause the UE to compute the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to report the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0060] Embodiments of a method performed by a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a network node comprises transmitting, to a UE, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration and transmitting, to the UE, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration. The method further comprises transmitting, to the UE, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and receiving, from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0061] Corresponding embodiments of a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a network node comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to transmit, to a UE, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, transmit, to the UE, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration, transmit, to the UE, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration, and receive, from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0062] In another embodiment, a method performed by a network node comprises transmitting a first CSI reporting configuration to a UE, transmitting, to the UE, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration, transmitting a second CSI reporting configuration to the UE, and receiving, from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0063] In one embodiment, a network node comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to transmit a first CSI reporting configuration to a UE, transmit, to the UE, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component betweenthe first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration, transmit a second CSI reporting configuration to the UE, and receive, from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0064] In another embodiment, a method performed by a network node comprises transmitting, to a UE, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, transmitting, to the UE, a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier, transmitting, to the UE, a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration, and receiving, from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0065] In one embodiment, a network node comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to transmit, to a UE, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, transmit, to the UE, a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier, transmit, to the UE, a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration, and receive, from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0066] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0067] Figure 1 illustrates the transmission structure of precoded spatial multiplexing mode in 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR).

[0068] Figure 2 illustrates an example of a 4x4 two-dimensional antenna array of dualpolarized antenna elements (NP= 2), with Nh= 4 horizontal antenna elements and Nv= 4 vertical antenna elements.

[0069] Figure 3 shows an example of Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) Resource Elements (REs) for twelve (12) antenna ports, where one (1) RE per Resource Block (RB) per port is shown.

[0070] Figure 4A illustrates the operation of a network node and a User Equipment (UE), in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0071] Figures 4B and 4C illustrate variations of the procedure of Figure 4A.

[0072] Figure 5 illustrates the first example embodiment of linkage between Channel State Information (CSI) report configurations for the purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors signaled for one CSI report configuration to one or more other CSI report configurations.

[0073] Figure 6 illustrates a second example embodiment of linkage between CSI report configurations for the purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors signaled for one CSI report configuration to another CSI report configuration.

[0074] Figure 7 illustrates a third example embodiment of linkage between CSI report configurations for the purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors signaled for one CSI report configuration to one or more other CSI report configurations.

[0075] Figure 8 shows an example illustration of applying received information on one or more spatial domain vectors intended for CSI computation associated with a first CSI report configuration to that associated with a linked second CSI report configuration.

[0076] Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0077] Figure 10 is another example of a communication system according to some embodiments.

[0078] Figure 11 shows a wireless device, which may be configured to operate in communication system of Figure 9 or in communication system of Figure 10.

[0079] Figure 12 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments.

[0080] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0081] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0082] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0083] There currently exist certain challenge(s). In regard to the factorized precoder design in New Radio (NR), it has been proposed that information on one or more spatial domain vectors that form the columnsare signaled (e.g., via Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration or Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE)) from the network node to the User Equipment (UE). This helps the UE to reflect the actually used antenna array in order to maximize the accuracy of the Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) report. Specifically, it has been proposed that information on one or more spatial domain vectors that form the columns ofare signaled (e.g., via RRC configuration or MAC CE) from the network node to the UE for each Channel State Information (CSI) report configuration. Such signaling comes with some downlink overhead when the number of spatial domain vectors (e.g., the number of columnsis large and the downlink signaling overhead depends on the exact solution from among multiple variants that have been proposed.

[0084] In practice, multiple CSI reports are configured, for instance, when different CSI reporting configurations are configured to request CSIs where the different CSIs correspond to different resolutions targeting e.g., Single User Multiple Input Multiple Output (SU-MIMO) scheduling or Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) scheduling, and the different CSIs correspond to different serving cells or component carriers. For downloadable codebook, differentfor SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO operation may be because of different resolutions of CSI feedback for SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO. For example, for SU-MIMO operation, type I like feedback is sufficient (e.g., one beam per layer). For MU-MIMO, more beams per layer may be used.

[0085] As the number of CSI configurations configured to the UE increases, the overhead associated with signaling information on one or more spatial domain vectors that form the columns of^ can become excessive. Hence, how to reduce this network to UE signaling overhead is a problem to be solved.

[0086] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. In this disclosure, various solutions are proposed such that one or more spatial vectors indicated for the purpose of calculating a first CSI for a first CSI reporting configuration are applied for the purpose of calculating a second CSI for a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are linked via various solutions proposed herein.

[0087] The below groups of embodiments capture different variants of the solution(s) proposed in the present disclosure.

[0088] A first embodiment is a method performed at a UE, the method comprising:• receiving from a network node a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving a first signaling from the network node wherein the first signaling provides information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving a second signaling from the network node wherein the second signaling provides information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration;• using the linkage provided in the first signaling, applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration;• computing the first CSI and / or the second CSI; and• reporting the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0089] A second embodiment is the method of the first embodiment, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in the same serving cell or component carrier.

[0090] A third embodiment is the method of the first embodiment, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are computed in different serving cells or component carriers.

[0091] A fourth embodiment is the method of any of the first through third embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration as part of the second CSI report configuration.

[0092] A fifth embodiment is the method of any of the first through third embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

[0093] A sixth embodiment is the method of any of the first through fifth embodiments, wherein the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for the purpose of applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

[0094] A seventh embodiment is the method of any of the first through third embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises signaling of a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration as part of a list.

[0095] An eighth embodiment is the method of any of the first through third embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises signaling of a list as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0096] A ninth embodiment is the method of any of the first through third embodiments, wherein a default linkage is pre-defined in the specification between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0097] A tenth embodiment is the method of the ninth embodiment, wherein the pre-defined default linkage is overridden when a UE receives the first signaling providing information on the linkage.

[0098] An eleventh embodiment is the method of the first embodiment, wherein the first and the second CSI configurations comprise information indicating that the one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0099] A twelfth embodiment is the method of the first embodiment, wherein the second signaling further comprises information identifying the first and the second CSI configurations.

[0100] A thirteen embodiment is a method performed at a UE, the method comprising:• receiving from a network node a first CSI reporting configuration;• receiving a first signaling from the network node wherein the first signaling provides information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first and a second CSI report;• receiving from a network node a second CSI reporting configuration and using the linkage provided in the first signaling in the configuration of the second CSI reporting configuration to infer information about the at least one common component;• computing the first CSI and / or the second CSI; and• reporting the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0101] A fourteenth embodiment is the method according to the thirteenth embodiment, wherein the linkage provides information on one or more spatial domain vectors in the first CSI reporting configuration, as to be configured in the second CSI reporting configuration

[0102] A fifteenth embodiment is the method according to any of the thirteenth to fourteenth embodiments, wherein the at least one common component includes at least one of the one or more spatial domain vectors.

[0103] A sixteenth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to fifteenth embodiments, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in the same serving cell or component carrier.

[0104] A seventeenth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to fifteenth embodiments, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are computed in different serving cells or component carriers.

[0105] An eighteenth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to seventeenth embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration as part of the second CSI report configuration.

[0106] A nineteenth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to seventeenth embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

[0107] A twentieth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to nineteenth embodiments, wherein the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for the purpose of applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

[0108] A twenty-first embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to seventeenth embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises signaling of a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration as part of a list.

[0109] A twenty-second embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to seventeenth embodiments, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage comprises signaling of a list as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0110] A twenty-third embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to seventeenth embodiments, wherein a default linkage is pre-defined in the specification between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration.[oni] A twenty-fourth embodiment is the method of the twenty-third embodiment, wherein the first signaling providing information on the linkage, if transmitted from the network node to the UE, overrides the default linkage pre-defined in the specification.

[0112] A twenty-fourth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to fifteenth embodiments, wherein the first and the second CSI configurations comprise information indicating that the one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0113] A twenty-fifth embodiment is the method of any of the thirteenth to fifteenth embodiments, wherein the second signaling further comprises information identifying the first and the second CSI configurations.

[0114] A twenty-sixth embodiment is a method performed at a UE, the method comprising:• receiving from a network node a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving from the network node a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;• receiving a second signaling from the network node wherein the codebook identifier is linked to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations;• using the linkage provided in the second signaling, applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations;• computing the first CSI and / or the second CSI; and• reporting the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0115] A twenty-seventh embodiment is the method of the twenty-sixth embodiment, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in the same serving cell or component carrier.

[0116] A twenty-eighth embodiment is the method of the twenty-sixth embodiment , wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are computed in different serving cells or component carriers.

[0117] A twenty-ninth embodiment is the method of any of the twenty-sixth to twenty-eighth embodiments, wherein the second signaling comprises indication of the codebook identifier as part of the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration.

[0118] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). When the UE is configured with multiple CSI report configurations, either in the same serving cell / component carrier or different serving cells / component carriers, the proposed method reduces the downlink signaling overhead for updating the one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the multiple CSI report configurations.The teachings of certain embodiments may improve, e.g., the data rate, latency, and / or power consumption.

[0119] Figure 4A illustrates the operation of a network node 400 and a UE 402, in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Figures 4B and 4C illustrate variations of the procedure of Figure 4 A. Optional steps are represented in Figures 4A, 4B, and 4C by dashed lines / boxes. The network node 400 may be, for example, a Radio Access Network (RAN) node in a RAN of a cellular communications system (e.g., a 5thGeneration (5G) system or a 6thGeneration (6G) system) such as, for example, a base station (e.g., a gNB or 6G base station) or a network node that implements part of the functionality of a base station (e.g., a Central Unit (CU) such as a gNB-CU or a Distributed Unit (DU) such as a gNB-DU for a CU-DU split architecture).

[0120] As illustrated in Figure 4A, in Step 1, the UE 402 receives configuration of multiple CSI report configurations from a network node. The CSI report configurations include at least a first CSI report configuration and a second CSI report configuration.

[0121] In one example, the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration are configured in the same serving cell (or component carrier) of the UE 402 or in the same bandwidth part. For instance, the first and the second CSI report configurations may serve the following purposes:• The first CSI report configuration may be a high-resolution CSI report (e.g., with many spatial domain vectors) intended for the purpose of MU-MIMO scheduling of downlink data from the network node 400 to the UE 402; and• The second CSI report configuration may be a low-resolution CSI report (e.g., with sparse and few spatial domain vectors) intended for the purpose of SU-MIMO scheduling of downlink data from the network node 400 to the UE 402.

[0122] In a second example, the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration are configured in different serving cells (or component carriers). This is beneficial for the purpose of acquiring CSI information in a carrier aggregation use case.

[0123] In a third example, the first CSI report configuration may be applicable to a serving cell (or component carrier) of the UE 402 for single transmission and reception point (sTRP) operation while the second CSI report configuration may be applicable to multiple serving cells (or component carriers) of the UE 402 for multi-TRP (mTRP) operation. In this example, the serving cell in the first CSI report configuration for sTRP operation may be part of the set of serving cells in the second CSI report configuration for mTRP operation. Therefore, redundant overhead signaling may be avoided with the linkage of the report configuration from a serving cell which is part of both sTRP and mTRP report configurations.

[0124] In Step 2, the UE 402 receives from the network node 400 information on linkage between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration for the purpose of applying to the second CSI report configuration one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration.

[0125] A first example embodiment of linkage is shown in Figure 5. In other words, Figure 5 illustrates the first example embodiment of linkage between CSI report configurations for the purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors signaled for one CSI report configuration to one or more other CSI report configurations. As illustrated in Figure 5, the list ‘csi-ReportConfigToAddModList’ contains the multiple CSI report configurations that the UE 402 receives from the network node 400 in Step 1. The list TinkedCsi-ReportConfigToAddModList’ contains identifiers of a subset of the CSI report configurations that are linked. Without loss of generality, it is assumed that identifiers of the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration are contained in the list TinkedCsi-ReportConfigToAddModList’. From the linkage information provided by the list TinkedCsi-ReportConfigToAddModList’, the UE 402 knows that it can apply one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration to the second CSI report configuration (e.g., a full set or a subset of the one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration is applied to the second CSI report configuration). Although the linkage information is signaled in the CSI-MeasConfig information element in this example embodiment, the example embodiment is non-limiting that the linked list of CSI report configurations can be received by the UE 402 from the network node 400 as part of another information element different from CSI-MeasConfig.

[0126] A second example embodiment of linkage is shown in Figure 6. In other words, Figure 6 illustrates a second example embodiment of linkage between CSI report configurations for the purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors signaled for one CSI report configuration to another CSI report configuration. The CSI-ReportConfig s h identifier ‘reportConfigld’ shown in Figure 6 provides configuration information of the second CSI report configuration among the multiple CSI report configurations. As part of the CSI-ReportConfig information element, the UE 402 receives the identifier TinkedReportConfig’ corresponding to the first CSI report configuration for which the UE will receive (i.e., in Step 3) one or more spatial domain vectors. From the linkage information provided by the identifier TinkedReportConfig’, the UE 402 knows that it can apply one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration to the second CSI report configuration.

[0127] In an alternative to the second example embodiment, the CSI-ReportConfig with identifier ‘reportConfigld’ shown in Figure 6 may provide configuration information of the firstCSI report configuration among the multiple CSI report configurations. In this alternative embodiment, the identifier ‘linkedReportConfig’ corresponds to the second CSI reporting configuration. From the linkage information provided by the identifier ‘linkedReportConfig’ in this alternative embodiment, the UE 402 knows that it can apply one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration to the second CSI report configuration.

[0128] A third example embodiment of linkage is shown in Figure 7. In other words, Figure 7 illustrates a third example embodiment of linkage between CSI report configurations for the purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors signaled for one CSI report configuration to one or more other CSI report configurations. The CSI-ReportConfig with identifier ‘reportConfigld’ shown in Figure 7 may provide configuration information of the first CSI report configuration among the multiple CSI report configurations. The list ‘csi-ReportConfigToAddModLisf is configured as part of CSI-ReportConfig corresponding to the first CSI report configuration. The list TinkedCsi-ReportConfigToAddModLisf contains identifiers of a subset of the CSI report configurations other than the identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration that are linked to the first CSI report configuration. From the linkage information provided by the list TinkedCsi-ReportConfigToAddModLisf , the UE 402 knows that it can apply one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration to the CSI report configurations in TinkedCsi-ReportConfigToAddModLisf .

[0129] In a fourth example embodiment, a default linkage between a first CSI report configuration and a second CSI report configuration is specified / pre-defined in the standard (e.g., in 3GPP specifications). That is, the UE 402 by default applies one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration to the second CSI report configuration. As one example, the UE 402 by default applies the one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration with a first set of parameters to the second CSI report configuration with a second set of parameters. As another example, the UE 402 by default applies the one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration in one carrier component (e.g., primary cell) to a second CSI report configuration in any other carrier components (e.g., the secondary cell) in the same band.

[0130] In a dependent embodiment, if the UE 402 receives from the network node 400 information on linkage between a third CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration for the purpose of applying to the second CSI report configuration one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the third CSI report configuration, then the indicated linkage information from the network node 400 overrides the default linkage, and the UE 402 follows thelinkage information received from the network node for generating the CSI report configured by the second CSI report configuration.

[0131] In an alternative embodiment, if the UE 402 receives from the network node 400 information on linkage between a third CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration for the purpose of applying to the third CSI report configuration one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the second CSI report configuration, where the second CSI report configuration is simultaneously linked to the first CSI report configuration, then the UE 402 follows the linkage information received from the network node 400 for generating the CSI report (corresponding to the third CSI reporting configuration as) configured by the first CSI report configuration.

[0132] In Step 3, the UE 402 receives from the network node 400 information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration. The signaling that provides information on one or more spatial domain vectors may be via layer 2 (L2) signaling (e.g., MAC CE) or via layer 3 (L3) signaling (e.g., RRC).

[0133] In one example embodiment, a set of predefined vectors / matrices (e.g., Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) vectors / matrices) may be predefined in 3GPP specifications as follows:1where N and N2respectively denote the number of ports in a first dimension and a second dimension in a two-dimensional antenna port layout. Then, the one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration can be represented as a linear combination of the predefined DFT matrices / vectors such thatwhere b(T) represents the Ith(Z = 1, — ,Lmax) spatial domain vector of the one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration. In one embodiment, for each spatial domain vector ft(Z), the UE 402 receives signaling that includes information of a set of coefficients anlm(Z = 1, ...,Lmax;m = 0, ...,N1— 1; n = 0, ...,N2— 1) from the network node 400 as part of Step 3 which is signaled via e.g., a RRC message or a MAC CE. In some embodiments, the signaling in Step 3 only includes a subset of the set of coefficientsthat the UE402 is to take into account for computing the CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration. In some embodiments, the amplitude and phase of the set of coefficients anlm(Z = 1, ...,Lmax;m = 0,— l;n = 0, ...,N2— 1) are received separately as part of the signaling received in Step 3. In an alternative embodiment, the set of coefficients anlmmay be signaled per polarization.

[0134] In a second example embodiment, a set of vectors / matrices may not be predefined in 3 GPP specifications. The set could therefore contain, for example, one or more tailored cell- or user-specific spatial domain vectors. Then, the one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration can be signaled without relying on a set of predefined vectors / matrices. Let ft(Z) represents the Ith(Z = 1, ■■■,Lmax) spatial domain vector of the one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration. In one embodiment, for each spatial domain vector ft(Z), (Z = 1, ... , Lmax), the UE 402 receives signaling that includes information on a set of coefficients vnlm(m = 0,— l;n = 0, ...,N2— 1) from the network node 400 as part of Step 3 which is signaled via e.g., a RRC message or a MAC CE. In some embodiments, the signaling in Step 3 only includes a subset of the set of coefficients vnlm(Z = 1, ...,Lmax;m = 0, ..., / V-L — l;n = 0, ...,N2— 1) that the UE 402 shall take into account for computing the CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration. In some embodiments, the amplitude and phase of the set of coefficients vnlm(Z = 1, ...,Lmax;m = 0,— l;n = 0, ...,N2— 1) are received separately as part of the signaling received in Step 3.

[0135] In an alternative to the second example embodiment, a first set of coefficients v^lnmthat includes information on the lh(Zx= 1, ■ ■■,Ll max) spatial domain vector of the one or more spatial domain vectors are signaled for the first polarization, and a second set of coefficients v22n mthat includes information on the l2h(Z2= 1, ■■■,L2 max) spatial domain vector of the one or more spatial domain vectors are signaled for the second polarization.

[0136] In an optional embodiment, consider the case where the UE 402 receives multiple CSI report configurations wherein each configuration contains CSI-RS resources with different number of ports. In such case, the network can signal information of a set of coefficients anlm(Z = 1, ...,Lmax;m = 0,— l;n = 0, ...,N2— 1) , as part of Step 3, for the largest configured number of ports (i.e.: 1\Z15Z2). Then, the UE 402 linearly combines the received coefficientsan,m(by taking the average in the smaller dimension, for example) for the other configured reports that have smaller N17N2configurations.

[0137] In another embodiment, the UE 402 receives multiple sets of one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration, where each set of one or more spatial domain vectors is associated to a certain network (NW) condition / configuration (e.g., a certain antenna port muting pattern, a certain transmit (Tx) power level, and / or a certain traffic load situation, etc.).

[0138] In a dependent embodiment, the association between a set of one or more spatial domain vectors and a certain NW condition / configuration is indicated explicitly via the signaling from the network note. For instance, a first CSI report configuration consists of a list of CSI report sub configurations, where each sub-configuration is associated with a different antenna port muting pattern, and the signaling explicitly indicates which set of one or more spatial domain vectors is associated to which antenna port muting pattern. In step 5, the UE 402 shall use the set of the one or more spatial domain vectors that is associated to the antenna port muting pattern configured in the sub-configuration of the first CSI report configuration for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration.

[0139] In another dependent embodiment, the association between a set of one or more spatial domain vectors and a certain NW condition / configuration is indicated implicitly via the signaling from the network node 400. For example, the first CSI report configuration includes an association ID, which indicates a certain NW condition / configuration. In step 3, the UE 402 receives multiple sets of one or more spatial domain vectors, where each set is associated with a different association ID, and in step 5, the UE 402 shall use the set of one or more spatial domain vectors that is associated with the association ID included in the first CSI report configuration for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration.

[0140] In a further embodiment, for one or more CSI-RS resources configured in a CSI report configuration for channel measurement and a total of PCSI-RS antenna ports associated to the one or more CSI-RS resources, the UE 402 is signaled with a codebook comprising a plurality of spatial vectors, (tt;, i = 1, ... , IV], where aL6 cPcs‘~RsX1where N is the codebook size. Each element of may comprise both an amplitude and a phase, or comprise a phase only. The UE 402 computes a precoding matrix for each MIMO layer by selecting, based on channel measurement on the one or more CSI-RS resources, a subset of vectors (e.g., {aik, k = 1, ... , M; M < A}) in the codebook and determining a precoding matrix as a linear combination of the subset of vectors. As part of the CSI feedback, the UE 402 reports back information of the selected subset of vectors and the linear combining coefficients for each MIMO layer. The benefit of signaling the codebook with a plurality of spatial vectors is that the transmit antenna at the network side is not limited to 2D plenary antennas (which is the case in NR and LTE), and the associated antennas to the one ormore CSI-RS resources can be of any shape or form, e.g., non-plenary, irregularly spaced, etc. The codebook may be separately signaled from the CSI report configuration and can be shared / used by multiple CSI report configurations with the same one or more CSI-RS resources for channel measurement.

[0141] In Step 4, the UE 402 applies information on the one or more spatial domain vectors received in Step 3 to the second (or one or more) CSI report configuration s) linked to the first CSI report configuration according to the linkage information received in Step 2. Figure 8 shows an example illustration of applying received information on one or more spatial domain vectors intended for CSI computation associated with a first CSI report configuration to that associated with a linked second CSI report configuration. As shown in Figure 8, the UE 402 receives information on one or more spatial domain vectors (e.g., the set of coefficients anlm[Z = 1, ...,Lmax;m = 0,— l;n = 0, ...,N2— 1] or the amplitude and phase associated with these coefficients) to be used for CSI computation associated with the first CSI report configuration. Using the linkage information received in Step 2, the UE 402 applies the information on one or more spatial domain vectors for CSI computation associated with the second CSI report configuration that is linked to the first CSI report configuration.

[0142] If the UE 402 receives multiple sets of one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration in step 3, then, in an embodiment, the UE 402 applies information on the set of one or more spatial domain vectors used for computation of CSI corresponding to the first CSI report configuration to the linked second CSI report configuration. In another embodiment, the UE 402 selects one set of one or more spatial domain vectors from the multiple sets received in Step 3 based on the NW condition / configuration (e.g., the antenna port muting pattern, the TX power level, or the association ID, etc.) indicated in the second CSI report configuration, and the UE 402 applies the selected set of one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of CSI corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0143] The proposed solution leverages the fact that the strongest beam (i.e., strongest spatial domain vectors) is similar for different carriers within a band. Note that the benefit of this solution is that the information on one or more spatial domain vectors or the amplitude and phase associated with these coefficients are only signaled for the first CSI report configuration. Since no explicit signaling of such information is needed for the second (and other linked) CSI report configurations, the proposed solution achieves notable reduction in signaling overhead.

[0144] In an alternative embodiment illustrated in Figure 4B, Step 2 is modified such that the information on the linkage between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration identifies at least one common component between the first CSI report configurationand the second CSI report configuration (or between a first CSI report according to the first CSI report configuration and a second CSI report according to the second CSI report configuration) (Step 2’). In one example, the at least one common component is a set of spatial domain vectors (e.g., a codebook including multiple spatial domain vectors). Thus, for example, the linkage may include, for example, a codebook identifier (ID) that identifies a common codebook including multiple spatial domain vectors for the first and second CSI reporting configurations. Then, in Step 4’, based on the linkage, the UE 402 applies information about the at least one common component (e.g., from the first CSI report configuration) into the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0145] In an alternative embodiment illustrated in Figure 4C, instead of explicitly linking CSI report configurations as done in Step 2 of Figure 4A, the UE 402 receives, from the network node, signaling of a codebook of spatial domain vectors, where the codebook is associated with information of (e.g., information that identifies) the codebook such as, for example, a codebook identifier (ID) (Step 2A’). The network node 400 also signals to the UE 402 information that links the codebook (e.g., the codebook ID) to the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration (Step 2B’). For example, the information of (e.g., information that identifies) the codebook may be included in each of the multiple CSI report configurations sharing the same codebook (e.g., the codebook ID of the same codebook shared by the first and second CSI reporting configurations is included in both the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration). The codebook itself may be updated from time to time (e.g., using the codebook ID). Alternatively, the signaling for the codebook can further include information of the CSI report configurations that the codebook applies. Then, in an alternative to Step 4, the UE 402 applies one or more spatial domain vectors from the codebook linked to both the first and second CSI reporting configurations for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration (Step 4”).

[0146] In Step 5, the UE 402 computes CSI(s) corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration that is linked to the first CSI report configuration.

[0147] In one embodiment, the CSI corresponding to the first CSI report may comprise at least one or more of the following:• a rank indicator,• PMI indication comprisingo indicators for a subset of the spatial domain vectors ft(Z) I = 1, ... , Lmaxo indicators of a set of frequency domain spatial vectorso information on a set of combining coefficients• one or more CQI(s)

[0148] The CSI corresponding to the second CSI report may comprise at least one or more of the following:• a rank indicator,• PMI indication comprisingo indicators for a subset of the spatial domain vectors ft(Z) I = 1, ... , Lmaxo indicators of a set of frequency domain spatial vectorso information on a set of combining coefficients• one or more CQI(s)

[0149] In some embodiments, the indicators for the subset of the spatial domain vectors ft(Z) I = 1, ...,Lmaxcorresponding to CSIs corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations are independent. That is, a first subset of the spatial domain vectors b(Z) I = 1, —,Lmaxmay be indicated as part of PMI indication of the CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration, and a second subset of the spatial domain vectors ft(Z) I = 1, ...,Lmaxmay be indicated as part of PMI indication of the CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration. In one embodiment, the first subset and second subset are non-overlapping (i.e., the first subset and the second subset contain indicators of different spatial domain vectors). In another embodiment, the first subset and the second subset are partially overlapping (i.e., some indicators of spatial domain vectors are the same in both the first and the second subsets while other indicators of spatial domain vectors are different between the first and the second subsets).

[0150] In yet another embodiment, the first subset and the second subset are fully overlapping (i.e., all indicators of spatial domain vectors in both the first and the second subsets are the same). In this embodiment, a common set of indicators for the fully overlapping subset of the spatial domain vectors may be used for the CSIs corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations.

[0151] In another embodiment, all the spatial domain vectors ft(Z) I = 1, ... , Lmaxare used in the CSIs corresponding to both the first and the second CSI reporting configurations. Hence, in this embodiment, no explicit indicators of spatial domain vectors are included as part of the PMI indication corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations.

[0152] In Step 6, the UE 402 reports one or more CSI(s) computed in Step 5 to the network node 400.

[0153] In a further embodiment, the first CSI report configuration contains power control settings for one or more of the spatial domain vectors, and these are automatically inherited by the second CSI report configuration and use as the power control settings, if these spatial domain vectors are used in the second CSI report configuration.

[0154] Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system 900 in accordance with some embodiments. For instance, the UE described above (e.g., the UE of Figures 4A, 4B, and 4C) may be any one of the UEs 912 of Figure 9. The network node described above (e.g., the network node of Figures 4A, 4B, and 4C) may be one of the access network nodes 910, for example.

[0155] In the example, the communication system 900 includes a telecommunications network 902 that includes an access network 904, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 906, which includes one or more core network nodes 908. The access network 904 includes one or more access network nodes or base stations of various types, access network nodes 910A and 910B are depicted (which may be collectively referred to as network nodes 910), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Some embodiments of the access network 904 may include more than one access network technology. The network nodes 910 of access network 904 facilitate direct or indirect connection of wireless devices, also referred to as user equipments (UEs), such as by connecting UEs 912A, 912B, 912C, and 912D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 912) to the core network 906 over one or more wireless connections.

[0156] Moreover, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunications network 902 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a network node in the telecommunications network 902 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other network nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any network node in the telecommunications network 902, including one or more access network nodes 910 and / or core network nodes 908.

[0157] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective“open” designating support of an ORAN specification). An ORAN network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN network node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the 0-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.

[0158] The network nodes 910 facilitate direct or indirect connection of one or more UEs 912 to the core network 906 over one or more wireless connections. Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 900 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 900 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0159] The UEs 912 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 910 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 908, 910 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., via other devices of telecommunications network 902) with the UEs 912 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunications network 902 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunications network 902. More specifically, UEs 912 may send messages, data, and / or other signals to network nodes 908, 910 or other elements of the telecommunications network 902 by transmitting such signals to the relevant device directly without the signals passing through any intervening devices or by transmitting such signals to the relevant device indirectly through an intervening device (or multiple intervening devices) that then transmit the signal to the relevant device. Similarly, network nodes 908, 910 may send messages, data, and other signals to UEs 912, other network nodes 908, 910, and other devices in telecommunications network 902directly or indirectly. As one specific example, a core network node 908 may transmit a particular message to a UE 912 by transmitting the message to an access network node 910 that will then transmit the message to the intended UE 912. Similarly, a core network node 908 may receive a particular message from a UE 912 by receiving the message from an access network node 910 that itself received the message from the UE 912.

[0160] In the depicted example, the core network 906 connects elements of the access network 904 (e.g., one or more of the network nodes 910) to one or more host computing systems, such as host 916. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 906 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 908) of various types, one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 908. Network nodes 908 are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, access network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 908. Example core network nodes provide functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0161] The host 916 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 904 and / or the telecommunications network 902. The host 916 may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 916 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0162] As a whole, the communication system 900 of Figure 9 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 900 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (Wi-Fi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-Max), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, Li-Fi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. Moreover, the communication system 900 may be configured to support multiple different standards, protocols, or other rule sets, with individual components supporting all of the relevant rule sets or with different components or sub-systems within the communication system 900 supporting different standards, protocols, or rule sets.

[0163] As one example, in certain embodiments, access network 904 may contain some access network nodes 910 that support 3 GPP radio access technologies (RAT), such as LTE or NR, while other access network nodes 910 support (or the same access network nodes 910 additionally support) non-3GPP RATs, such as Wi-Fi or a proprietary RAT. As another example, telecommunications network 902 may support multiple generations of related communication standards (e.g., 4G and 5G 3GPP communication standards) and, as a result, may include an access network 904 and / or a core network 906 that supports multiple different standard generations or may include multiple access networks 904 and / or multiple core networks 906 with individual networks 904, 906 supporting different standard generations.

[0164] Telecommunications network 902 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunications network 902. For example, the telecommunications network 902 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0165] In some examples, one or more of the UEs 912 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 904 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 904. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi -standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0166] In the example, the hub 914 communicates with the access network 904 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 912C and / or 912D) and network nodes(e.g., network node 910B). In some examples, the hub 914 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 914 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 906 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 914 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 910, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 914.

[0167] As another example, the hub 914 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 914 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 914 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 914 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 914 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0168] The hub 914 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 910B. The hub 914 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 914 and UEs (e.g., UE 912C and / or 912D), and between the hub 914 and the core network 906. In other examples, the hub 914 is connected to the core network 906 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 914 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 904 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 910 while still connected via the hub 914 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 914 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 910B. In other embodiments, the hub 914 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 910B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0169] Figure 10 is another example of a communication system 1000 according to some embodiments. As used herein, the communication system 1000 includes multiple access points (APs) 1010 (with four exemplary APs 1010A, 1010B, 1010C, and 1010D being depicted) and multiple wireless devices, referred to in the context of communication system 1000 as stations (STAs) 1012 (referred to individually as STA 1012A, STA 1012B, STA 1012C, STA 1012D, and STA 1012E). STA 1012A is served by AP 1010A in a first basic service set (BSS) 1020A. STA 1012B and STA 1012C are served by AP 1010B in a second BSS, BSS 1020B. STA 1012D isserved by AP 1010C in a third BSS, BSS 1020C. STA 1012E is served by AP 1010D in a fourth BSS, BSS 1020D. Stations 1012 may be non-AP STAs and correspond to various kinds of wireless devices, for example, user terminals, such as mobile or stationary computing devices like smartphones, laptop computers, desktop computers, tablet computers, gaming devices, headmounted displays (HMDs) for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), or the like. Further, stations 1012 could, for example, correspond to other kinds of equipment like smart home devices, printers, multimedia devices, data storage devices, or the like.

[0170] Each of STAs 1012 may connect through a radio link to one of APs 1010. For example, depending on location or channel conditions experienced by a given STA 1012, the STA may select an appropriate AP and BSS for establishing the radio link. The radio link may be based on one or more orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) carriers from a frequency spectrum that is shared on the basis of a contention-based mechanism, e.g., an unlicensed or license exempt band like 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band, the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band.

[0171] Each AP 1010 may provide data connectivity to STAs 1012 connected to a particular AP 1010. As illustrated, APs 1010 may be connected to a data network 1030. In this way, APs 1010 may also provide data connectivity between STAs 1012 and other entities, e.g., to one or more servers, service providers, data sources, data sinks, user terminals, or the like. Accordingly, the radio link established between a given STA 1012 and its serving AP 1010 may be used for providing various kinds of services to STA 1012, e.g., a voice service, a multimedia service, or other data service. Such services may be based on applications that are executed on STA 1012 and / or on a device linked to STA 1012. By way of example, Figure 10 illustrates an application service platform 1032 provided in data network 1030. The application(s) executed on STA 1012 and / or on one or more other devices linked to STA 1012 may use the radio link for data communication with one or more other STA 1012 and / or the application service platform 1032, thereby enabling utilization of the corresponding service(s) at STA 1012.

[0172] Figure 11 shows a wireless device 1100, which may be configured to operate in communication system 900 of Figure 9 or in communication system 1000 of Figure 10. The wireless device 1100 may be alternatively referred to as a UE 1100, like a UE 912 within the context of communication system 900, or as a station (STA) 1100 or as a non-access-point station (non-AP STA) 1100, like a STA 1012 within the context of the communication system 1000, in accordance with respective embodiments. As used herein, a wireless device refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a smartphone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, and wireless terminal. Other examples include any type of UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0173] A wireless device 1100 may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehi cl e-to- vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, wireless device 1100 may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, wireless device 1100 may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, wireless device 1100 may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0174] In particular embodiments, wireless device 1100 includes processing circuitry 1102 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1104 to an input / output interface 1106, a power source 1108, a memory 1110, a communication interface 1112, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain embodiments of wireless device 1100 may include all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one embodiment of wireless device 1100 to another. In general, in a particular embodiment of wireless device 1100, processing circuitry 1102, input / output interface 1106, power source 1108, memory 1110, and communication interface 1112 may, in whole or in part, represent or include physical components common to or shared by one or more of the other elements of wireless device 1100. Further, certain embodiments of wireless devices 1100 may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0175] The processing circuitry 1102 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 1110. The processing circuitry 1102 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general -purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1102 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0176] In the example, the input / output interface 1106 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into wireless device 1100. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0177] In some embodiments, the power source 1108 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used to supply power to circuitry or to charge an associated battery. The power source 1108 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1108 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of wireless device 1100 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power source 1108 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to make accessible power suitable for the respective components of the wireless device 1100 to which power is supplied.

[0178] The memory 1110 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 1110 includes one or more programs 1114, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, andcorresponding data 1116. The memory 1110 may store, for use by wireless device 1100, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0179] The memory 1110 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1110 may allow wireless device 1100 to access instructions, programs, and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 1110, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0180] The processing circuitry 1102 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network via or using the communication interface 1112. The communication interface 1112 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1122. The communication interface 1112 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another wireless device or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1118 and / or a receiver 1120 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1118 and receiver 1120 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1122) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0181] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1112 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocolsand / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0182] In particular embodiments, wireless device 1100 may provide an output of data captured via a sensor, through its communication interface 1112, via a wireless connection to a network node, and / or in any appropriate manner. Data captured by sensors of a wireless device 1100 can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another wireless device 1100. In particular embodiments, such output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected, an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0183] As another example, wireless device 1100 comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, wireless device 1100 may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0184] Wireless device 1100, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. In particular embodiments, wireless device 1100 represents an loT device that comprises circuitry and / or software independence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the example embodiment of wireless device 1100 shown in Figure 11.

[0185] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, wireless device 1100 may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another wireless device and / or a network node. Wireless device 1100 may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3 GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, wireless device 1100 may implement the 3 GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, wireless device 1100 may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0186] In practice, any number of wireless devices 1100 may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first wireless device 1100 might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second wireless device 1100 that is a remote controller operating the drone. When a user makes changes from the remote controller, the first wireless device 1100 may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second wireless device 1100 can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, wireless device 1100 might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0187] Figure 12 shows a network node 1200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunications network. In accordance with respective embodiments, network node 1200 may be configured to operate in communication system 900 of Figure 9, like network nodes 908 or 910, or in communication system 1000 of Figure 10, like an AP 1010 or a station 1012. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), 0-RAN nodes or components of an 0-RAN node (e.g., 0-RU, 0-DU, O-CU).

[0188] Network nodes 1200 may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. Network node 1200 may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. Network nodes 1200 may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an 0-RAN access node) and / orremote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0189] Other examples of network nodes 1200 include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0190] In particular embodiments, network node 1200 includes a processing circuitry 1202, a memory 1204, a communication interface 1206, and a power source 1208. In general, in a particular embodiment of network node 1200, processing circuitry 1202, memory 1204, communication interface 1206, and power source 1208 may, in whole or in part, represent or include physical components common to or shared by one or more of the other elements of network node 1200.

[0191] The network node 1200 may be composed of multiple distinct network entities (e.g., a NodeB entity and an RNC entity, or a BTS entity and a BSC entity, etc.), which may each have or utilize their own respective physical components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1200 comprises multiple such entities (e.g., BTS and BSC), one or more of the separate entities may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1200 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories 1204 or portions of memory 1204 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1210 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1200 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1200, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1200.

[0192] The processing circuitry 1202 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other components, such as the memory 1204, to provide network node 1200 functionality.

[0193] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 and the baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0194] The memory 1204 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 1202. The memory 1204 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 1202 and utilized by the network node 1200. The memory 1204 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1202 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1206. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 and memory 1204 is integrated.

[0195] The communication interface 1206 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data with UEs, other network nodes, and / or any other network equipment. In the illustrated embodiment, communication interface 1206 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1216 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. In particular embodiments, network node 1200 may be capable of wireless communication and communication interface 1206 may also include radio front-end circuitry 1218 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, an antenna 1210. Particular embodiments of radio front-end circuitry 1218 include filter(s) 1220 and amplifier(s) 1222. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may be connectedto an antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may convert the digital data into a radio signal(s) having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1220 and / or amplifiers 1222. The radio signal(s) may then be transmitted via the antenna 1210. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1210 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1218. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1202. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0196] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1200 may be capable of wireless communication but does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1218, instead, the processing circuitry 1202 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1210. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 is part of the communication interface 1206. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1206 includes one or more ports or terminals 1216, the radio front-end circuitry 1218, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1212, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1206 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1214, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0197] The antenna 1210 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1210 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1218 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1210 is separate from the network node 1200 and connectable to the network node 1200 through one or more interfaces or ports.

[0198] The antenna 1210, communication interface 1206, and / or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform some or all of the receiving operations and / or obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1200. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1210, the communication interface 1206, and / or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform some or all of the transmitting or sending operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1200. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0199] The power source 1208 provides power to the various components of network node 1200 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level neededfor each respective component). The power source 1208 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1200 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 1208. As a further example, the power source 1208 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0200] Embodiments of the network node 1200 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 12 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 1200 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1200 and to allow output of information from the network node 1200. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1200.

[0201] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1300 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as an access network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which a virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1300 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0202] Applications 1302 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in thevirtualization environment 1300 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0203] Hardware 1304 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1306 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM 1308A and VM 1308B (which may be collectively referred to as VMs 1308), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1306 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to one or more of the VMs 1308.

[0204] The VMs 1308 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by virtualization layer 1306. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1302 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1308, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0205] In the context of NFV, each of the VMs 1308 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1308, and that part of hardware 1304 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more of the VMs 1308 on top of the hardware 1304 and corresponds to an application 1302.

[0206] Hardware 1304 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1304 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1304 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1310, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1302. In some embodiments, hardware 1304 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate networkinterfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1312 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0207] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0208] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0209] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

[0210] Some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:Group A Embodiments

[0211] Embodiment 1 : A method performed at a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising any one or more of the following:• receiving (Fig. 4A, step 1), from a network node, a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving (Fig. 4A, step 2), from the network node, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration (e.g., for the purpose of applying to the second CSI report configuration one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration);• receiving (Fig. 4A, step 3), from the network node, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration;• based on the linkage provided by the first information, applying (Fig. 4A, step 4) the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration;• computing (Fig. 4A, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI (e.g., based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors);• reporting (Fig. 4A, step 6) the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0212] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

[0213] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 1, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells of the UE or different component carriers.

[0214] Embodiment 4: The method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration included as part of the second CSI report configuration.

[0215] Embodiment 5: The method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

[0216] Embodiment 6: The method of any of embodiments 1-5, wherein the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for a purpose of applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

[0217] Embodiment 7: The method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration (e.g., included as part of a list).

[0218] Embodiment 8: The method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a list included as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0219] Embodiment 9: The method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein a default linkage is pre-defined (e.g., in a specification) between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0220] Embodiment 10: The method of embodiment 9, wherein the default linkage is overridden when the UE receives the first information on the linkage.

[0221] Embodiment 11: The method of any of embodiments 1-10, wherein the first CSI configuration and the second CSI configuration comprise information indicating that the one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0222] Embodiment 12: The method of embodiments 1-11, wherein the second signaling further comprises information identifying the first and the second CSI configurations

[0223] Embodiment 13: A method performed at a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising any one or more of the following:• receiving (Fig. 4B, step 1) a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration from a network node;• receiving (Fig. 4B, step 2’), from the network node, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving (Fig. 4B, step 1) a second CSI reporting configuration from a network node; • based on the linkage provided by the first information, applying (Fig. 4B, step 4’) information about the at least one common component to in the second CSI reportingconfiguration;• computing (Fig. 4B, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI (e.g., based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the at least one common component);• reporting (Fig. 4B, step 6) the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0224] Embodiment 14: The method according to embodiment 13, wherein the linkage provides information on one or more spatial domain vectors in the first CSI reporting configuration, as to be configured in the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0225] Embodiment 15: The method according to any one of embodiment 14, wherein the at least one common component includes at least one of the one or more spatial domain vectors.

[0226] Embodiment 16: The method of any of embodiments 13-15, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

[0227] Embodiment 17: The method of any of embodiments 13-15, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells or different component carriers.

[0228] Embodiment 18: The method of any of 13-17, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration included as part of the second CSI report configuration.

[0229] Embodiment 19: The method of any of embodiments 13-17, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

[0230] Embodiment 20: The method of any of embodiments 13-19, wherein the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for a purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

[0231] Embodiment 21: The method of any of embodiments 13-17, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration (e.g., as part of a list).

[0232] Embodiment 22: The method of any of embodiments 13-17, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a list as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

[0233] Embodiment 23: The method of any of embodiments 13-17, wherein a default linkage is pre-defined (e.g., in a specification) between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0234] Embodiment 24: The method of embodiment 23, wherein the first information on the linkage, if transmitted from the network node to the UE, overrides the default linkage.

[0235] Embodiment 25: The method of any of embodiments 13-15, wherein the first CSI configuration and the second CSI configuration comprise information indicating that one or more spatial domain vectors (e.g., one or more common spatial domain vectors or separate sets of spatial domain vectors from a common codebook) are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

[0236] Embodiment 26: A method performed at a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising any one or more of the following:• receiving (Fig. 4C, step 1), from a network node, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving (Fig. 4C, step 2A’), from the network node, a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;• receiving (Fig. 4C, step 2B’), from the network node, a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;• based on the linkage provided in the second signaling, applying (Fig. 4C, step 4”) one or more spatial domain vectors (e.g., one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI reporting configuration for computation of a first CSI) for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations;• computing (Fig. 4C, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI (e.g., based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors);• reporting (Fig. 4C, step 6) the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

[0237] Embodiment 27: The method of embodiment 26, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

[0238] Embodiment 28: The method of embodiment 26, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells or different component carriers.

[0239] Embodiment 29: The method of any of embodiments 26-28, wherein the second signaling comprises indication of the codebook identifier as part of the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration.

[0240] Embodiment 30: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.Group B Embodiments

[0241] Embodiment 31 : A method performed by a network node, the method comprising any one or more of the following:• transmitting (Fig. 4A, step 1) to a User Equipment, UE, a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;• transmitting (Fig. 4A, step 2), to the UE, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration (e.g., for the purpose of applying to the second CSI report configuration one or more spatial domain vectors indicated for the first CSI report configuration);• transmitting (Fig. 4A, step 3), to the UE, second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration;• receiving (Fig. 4A, step 6), from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0242] Embodiment 32: A method performed by a network node, the method comprising any one or more of the following:• transmitting (Fig. 4B, step 1) a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration to a User Equipment, UE;• transmitting (Fig. 4B, step 2’), to the UE, first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;• transmitting (Fig. 4B, step 1) a second CSI reporting configuration to the UE;• receiving (Fig. 4B, step 6), from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0243] Embodiment 33: A method performed by a network node, the method comprising any one or more of the following:• transmitting (Fig. 4C, step 1) to a User Equipment, UE, a first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;• transmitting (Fig. 4C, step 2A’), to the UE, a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;• transmitting (Fig. 4C, step 2B’), to the UE, a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;• receiving (Fig. 4C, step 6), from the UE, the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

[0244] Embodiment 34: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.Group C Embodiments

[0245] Embodiment 35: A wireless device comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments; and a power source configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0246] Embodiment 36: A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments; and a power source circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0247] Embodiment 37: A wireless device comprising: one or more antennas; communication interface connected to the one or more antennas and to processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a power source connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, (402), the method comprising:receiving (Fig. 4 A, step 1), from a network node (400), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;receiving (Fig. 4A, step 2), from the network node (400), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;receiving (Fig. 4A, step 3), from the network node (400), second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration;based on the linkage provided by the first information, applying (Fig. 4A, step 4) the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration;computing (Fig. 4A, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors; andreporting (Fig. 4A, step 6) the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells of the UE or different component carriers.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration included as part of the second CSI report configuration.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

6. The method of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first CSI report configuration is a referencereport configuration for a purpose of applying the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of a list of identifiers of CSI report configurations to which the linkage applies.

8. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a list included as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein a default linkage is pre-defined between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the default linkage is overridden when the UE receives the first information on the linkage.

11. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the first CSI configuration and the second CSI configuration comprise information indicating that the one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

12. The method of claims 1 to 11, wherein the second information further comprises information identifying the first and the second CSI configurations13. A User Equipment, UE, (402; 1100), comprising:a communication interface (1112) comprising a transmitter (1118) and a receiver (1120); andprocessing circuitry (1102) associated with the communication interface (1112), the processing circuitry (1102) configured to cause the UE (402; 1100) to:receive (Fig. 4 A, step 1), from a network node (400), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration; receive (Fig. 4A, step 2), from the network node (400), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reportingconfiguration;receive (Fig. 4A, step 3), from the network node (400), second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration;based on the linkage provided by the first information, apply (Fig. 4A, step 4) the one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration;compute (Fig. 4A, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors; andreport (Fig. 4A, step 6) the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

14. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, (402), the method comprising:receiving (Fig. 4B, step 1) a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration from a network node (400);receiving (Fig. 4B, step 2’), from the network node (400), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;receiving (Fig. 4B, step 1) a second CSI reporting configuration from a network node (400);based on the linkage provided by the first information, applying (Fig. 4B, step 4’) information about the at least one common component into the second CSI reporting configuration;computing (Fig. 4B, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the at least one common component; andreporting (Fig. 4B, step 6) the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the linkage provides information on one or more spatial domain vectors in the first CSI reporting configuration, as to be configured in the second CSI reporting configuration.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one common component includes at least one of the one or more spatial domain vectors.

17. The method of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

18. The method of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells or different component carriers.

19. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration included as part of the second CSI report configuration.

20. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises indication of an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration included as part of the first CSI reporting configuration.

21. The method of any of claims 14 to 20, wherein the first CSI report configuration is a reference report configuration for a purpose of applying one or more spatial domain vectors for computation of the second CSI.

22. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a first identifier corresponding to the first CSI report configuration and a second identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration as part of a list comprising identifiers of CSI report configurations for which the linkage applies.

23. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, wherein the first information on the linkage comprises a list as part of the first CSI report configuration wherein the list comprises at least an identifier corresponding to the second CSI report configuration.

24. The method of any of claims 14 to 18, wherein a default linkage is pre-defined between the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first information on the linkage overrides the defaultlinkage.

26. The method of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the first CSI configuration and the second CSI configuration comprise information indicating that one or more spatial domain vectors are to be used for computing the first CSI and the second CSI.

27. A User Equipment, UE, (402; 1100), comprising:a communication interface (1112) comprising a transmitter (1118) and a receiver (1120); andprocessing circuitry (1102) associated with the communication interface (1112), the processing circuitry (1102) configured to cause the UE (402; 1100) to:receive (Fig. 4B, step 1) a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration from a network node (400);receive (Fig. 4B, step 2’), from the network node (400), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;receive (Fig. 4B, step 1) a second CSI reporting configuration from a network node (400);based on the linkage provided by the first information, apply (Fig. 4B, step 4’) information about the at least one common component into the second CSI reporting configuration;compute (Fig. 4B, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the at least one common component; andreport (Fig. 4B, step 6) the first CSI and / or the second CSI to the network node.

28. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, (400), the method comprising:receiving (Fig. 4C, step 1), from a network node (402), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;receiving (Fig. 4C, step 2A’), from the network node (400), a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;receiving (Fig. 4C, step 2B’), from the network node (400), a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSIreporting configuration;based on the linkage provided in the second signaling, applying (Fig. 4C, step 4”) one or more spatial domain vectors, from among the plurality of spatial domain vectors comprised in the codebook, indicated for the first CSI reporting configuration for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations;computing (Fig. 4C, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors; andreporting (Fig. 4C, step 6) the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in a same serving cell of the UE or a same component carrier.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration are configured in different serving cells or different component carriers.

31. The method of any of claims 28 to 30, wherein the second signaling comprises indication of the codebook identifier as part of the first CSI report configuration and the second CSI report configuration.

32. A User Equipment, UE, (402; 1100), comprising:a communication interface (1112) comprising a transmitter (1118) and a receiver (1120); andprocessing circuitry (1102) associated with the communication interface (1112), the processing circuitry (1102) configured to cause the UE (402; 1100) to:receive (Fig. 4C, step 1), from a network node (402), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration; receive (Fig. 4C, step 2A’), from the network node (400), a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;receive (Fig. 4C, step 2B’), from the network node (400), a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;based on the linkage provided in the second signaling, apply (Fig. 4C, step 4”) one or more spatial domain vectors, from among the plurality of spatial domain vectors comprised in the codebook, indicated for the first CSI reporting configuration for computation of a first CSI and a second CSI respectively corresponding to the first and the second CSI reporting configurations;compute (Fig. 4C, step 5) the first CSI and / or the second CSI based on the first and / or second CSI reporting configurations, respectively, and using the one or more spatial domain vectors; andreport (Fig. 4C, step 6) the first and / or the second CSI to the network node.

33. A method performed by a network node (400), the method comprising:transmitting (Fig. 4A, step 1), to a User Equipment, UE, (402), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;transmitting (Fig. 4A, step 2), to the UE (402), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;transmitting (Fig. 4A, step 3), to the UE (402), second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration; andreceiving (Fig. 4A, step 6), from the UE (402), the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

34. A network node (400; 1200) comprising processing circuitry (1202) configured to cause the network node (400; 1200) to:transmit (Fig. 4A, step 1), to a User Equipment, UE, (402), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;transmit (Fig. 4A, step 2), to the UE (402), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;transmit (Fig. 4A, step 3), to the UE (402), second information on one or more spatial domain vectors to be used for computation of a first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration; andreceive (Fig. 4 A, step 6), from the UE (402), the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

35. A method performed by a network node (400), the method comprising:transmitting (Fig. 4B, step 1) a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration to a User Equipment, UE, (402);transmitting (Fig. 4B, step 2’), to the UE (402), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;transmitting (Fig. 4B, step 1) a second CSI reporting configuration to the UE (402); and receiving (Fig. 4B, step 6), from the UE (402), the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

36. A network node (400; 1200) comprising processing circuitry (1202) configured to cause the network node (400; 1200) to:transmit (Fig. 4B, step 1) a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration to a User Equipment, UE, (402);transmit (Fig. 4B, step 2’), to the UE (402), first information on a linkage between the first CSI reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration, wherein the linkage identifies at least one common component between the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration;transmit (Fig. 4B, step 1) a second CSI reporting configuration to the UE (402); and receive (Fig. 4B, step 6), from the UE (402), the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

37. A method performed by a network node (400), the method comprising:transmitting (Fig. 4C, step 1), to a User Equipment, UE, (402), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;transmitting (Fig. 4C, step 2A’), to the UE (402), a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;transmitting (Fig. 4C, step 2B’), to the UE (402), a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration; andreceiving (Fig. 4C, step 6), from the UE (402), the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

38. A network node (400; 1200) comprising processing circuitry (1202) configured to cause the network node (400; 1200) to:transmit (Fig. 4C, step 1), to a User Equipment, UE, (402), a first Channel State Information, CSI, reporting configuration and a second CSI reporting configuration;transmit (Fig. 4C, step 2A’), to the UE (402), a first signaling of a codebook of a plurality of spatial vectors, wherein the codebook is associated with a codebook identifier;transmit (Fig. 4C, step 2B’), to the UE (402), a second signaling in which the codebook identifier is linked to the first CSI reporting configuration and the second CSI reporting configuration; andreceive (Fig. 4C, step 6), from the UE (402), the first CSI corresponding to the first CSI reporting configuration and / or a second CSI corresponding to the second CSI reporting configuration.

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