UE Beam Management Using Parallel CIR Measurement

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing wireless communication techniques face challenges in adapting beam weights for antenna elements due to limited opportunities for measuring channel impulse responses (CIRs), leading to increased communication latency and wasted signaling resources.

Innovation Solution

A user equipment (UE) uses an additional RF chain to measure CIRs of antenna elements in a round-robin manner in parallel with downlink reception and decoding, allowing for dynamic beam adaptation without impacting ongoing communications.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of time

If traditional sequential CIR measurement methods are used, then measurement accuracy is maintained, but communication latency increases and signaling resources are wasted

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication latencyVSAvoidmeasurement system complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of timeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent divides the CIR measurement process into parallel segments, where multiple antenna elements are measured simultaneously using separate RF chains rather than sequentially. This segmentation enables concurrent measurement operations, reducing overall measurement time and latency while maintaining measurement accuracy through dedicated measurement resources for each antenna element.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements preliminary CIR measurements during downlink reception periods, allowing beam weight adaptations to be prepared in advance for future transmissions. By performing measurements during existing communication windows rather than pausing for dedicated measurement periods, the system reduces latency and ensures beam updates are ready before needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If more opportunities for CIR measurement are provided, then beam adaptation quality improves, but signaling resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvebeam adaptation qualityVSAvoidsignaling resource consumption

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent enables continuous CIR measurements to be performed during ongoing downlink reception activities without interrupting normal communication operations. By utilizing the same time resources for both data reception and CIR measurement through parallel processing, the system maintains continuous beam adaptation capability while avoiding additional signaling overhead for dedicated measurement slots.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses its own downlink reception signals to perform self-measurement of CIR values, eliminating the need for separate dedicated measurement signals from the network. The UE leverages existing downlink transmissions to measure CIR for multiple antenna elements, thereby improving beam adaptation quality without consuming additional signaling resources from the network.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS12556259B2Dynamic beam management

Publication Date: 2026.02.17 QUALCOMM INC

AI summary

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may receive downlink communications with a receive beam that is formed using a set of antenna elements. The UE may measure, in parallel with the receiving the downlink communications, a channel impulse response (CIR) for each antenna element of the set of antenna elements in a round-robin fashion. The UE may generate a second receive beam or a transmit beam based at least in part on the CIRs for the set of antenna elements. Numerous other aspects are described.