WO2022000475A1

WO2022000475A1 - Supplementary uplink configuration update for serving cell set

Info

Publication number: WO2022000475A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/100152
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ruiming Zheng; Yu Zhang; Linhai He
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2020-07-03
Filing date: 2020-07-03
Publication date: 2022-01-06
Anticipated expiration: 2023-01-03

Abstract

A base station may use a media access control (MAC) message to update an uplink configuration for a user equipment (UE) that is configured with a cell set including multiple cells, which may or may not be configured with a supplementary uplink. The UE may receive a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. The UE may receive a MAC message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identifier (ID) field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. The UE may determine whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

Description

SUPPLEMENTARY UPLINK CONFIGURATION UPDATE FOR SERVING CELL SET

BACKGROUND Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to updates to a supplemental uplink configuration for a serving cell set based on a sounding reference signal (SRS) spatial relation update MAC message.

Introduction

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR) . 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT) ) , and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , massive machine type communications (mMTC) , and ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) . Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There exists a need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In an aspect, the disclosure provides a method of wireless communication for a user equipment (UE) . The method may include receiving a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. The method may include receiving a media access control (MAC) message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identifier (ID) field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. The method may include determining whether to update a spatial relation for a SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

In some implementations, the method may further include determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field. Determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set may include updating the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.

In some implementations, the method may further include receiving a second configuration of the cell set prior to receiving the MAC message. The second configuration may remove one or more cells that are not configured with supplementary uplink from the cell set.

In some implementations, determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set includes: determining, for each cell, whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination.

In some implementations, determining whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell includes determining whether an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the SRS resource ID field.

In some implementations, determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination includes updating a configured SRS resource for an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field with the spatial relation indicated by a corresponding field of the at least one resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.

In some implementations, determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises determining not to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.

In some implementations, determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination includes: determining that a second uplink configuration that does not correspond to a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and determining to update the configured SRS resource for the second uplink configuration based on the spatial relation indicated by the at least one resource ID field.

In some implementations, determining, whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message includes: determining that at least one cell in the cell set is not configured with a supplementary uplink; and determining not to update any of the cells in the cell set in response to the determination that at least one cell in the cell set is not configured with a supplementary uplink.

The disclosure also provides an apparatus (e.g., a UE) including a memory storing computer-executable instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform the above method, an apparatus including means for performing the above method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the above method.

In an aspect, the disclosure provides a method of wireless communication for a base station. The method may include transmitting a configuration of a cell set for a UE in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. The method may include transmitting a MAC message to the UE identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. The method may include determining whether the UE will update a spatial relation for a SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

In some implementations, the method may further include determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with an uplink configuration corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field. Determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set may include determining that the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.

In some implementations, the method may further include transmitting a second configuration of the cell set prior to transmitting the MAC message. The second configuration may remove, from the cell set, one or more cells that are not configured with supplementary uplink.

In some implementations, determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set includes: determining, for each cell, whether the MAC message includes a valid configuration for the cell; and determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination.

In some implementations, determining whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell includes determining whether an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field.

In some implementations, determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination includes determining that the UE will update a configured SRS resource for the uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field that matches the SRS resource ID field with the spatial relation in response to determining that the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.

In some implementations, determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination includes determining that the UE will not update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.

In some implementations, determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination includes: determining whether a second uplink configuration that does not correspond to a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and determining that the UE will update the second uplink configuration based on the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.

The disclosure also provides an apparatus (e.g., a base station) including a memory storing computer-executable instructions and at least one processor configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform the above method, an apparatus including means for performing the above method, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing the above method.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a subframe, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 2D is a diagram illustrating an example of a subframe, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and user equipment (UE) in an access network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example of a configuration of a serving cell set including multiple serving cells, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a media access control (MAC) message, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of uplink configurations of a serving cell configuration, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating example communications and components of a base station and a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example base station, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example of a method of wireless communication for a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description..

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example of a method of wireless communication for a base station, in accordance with certain aspects of the present description.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

A user equipment (UE) may be configured with multiple serving cells as a serving cell set. A serving cell set may also be referred to as a serving cell list. The configuration for one or more serving cells may include a supplementary uplink (SUL) . The SUL may be configured on a different frequency band from the frequency band of a normal uplink in the serving cell. The UE may transmit on one of the SUL or a normal uplink of the serving cell being supplemented. For example, the SUL may be configured for a lower frequency band and the UE may transmit on the SUL when channel conditions on the normal uplink are unfavorable (e.g., signal to noise ratio (SNR) at the serving cell is below a threshold or block error rate exceeds a threshold) .

A media access control (MAC) message such as a MAC control element (MAC-CE) may be used to dynamically configure uplink beams. In particular, a MAC-CE may indicate a spatial relation that the UE may use to select antenna weights for beamforming. When a UE is configured with a serving cell set, a MAC-CE identifying any serving cell in the serving cell set may be applied to every serving cell in the serving cell set. In the case of SUL configuration, there may be ambiguity as to how a MAC-CE may be applied to one or more cells. For example, the MAC-CE may indicate that an update is to be applied to a SUL, but one or more cells in the serving cell set may not be configured with a SUL. As another example, the MAC-CE may identify a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource that is configured for a normal uplink of a serving cell but not the SUL of the serving cell.

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides techniques for a UE and a base station to update uplink configurations for multiple serving cells in a serving cell set in response to a MAC message. The UE may be configured with the serving cell set including multiple serving cells. At least one of the serving cells may be configured with a SUL, while other serving cells in the set may not be configured with a SUL. The UE may receive the MAC message indicating one cell in the serving cell set. The MAC message may include a SUL field indicating whether the MAC message applies to a normal uplink configuration or a SUL configuration. The MAC message may include a SRS resource ID indicating a SRS resource configuration to be updated. The MAC message may include a resource ID field indicating the new spatial relation. The UE may determine whether the update each of the serving cells based on the MAC message. For example, the UE may be configured with a set of update rules for determining whether to apply the MAC message to each serving cell. The base station may be configured with a similar set of update rules for determining whether the UE will apply the MAC message to each serving cell. Accordingly, the UE and the base station may maintain corresponding configuration information for each serving cell.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs) , central processing units (CPUs) , application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media, which may be referred to as non-transitory computer-readable media. Non-transitory computer-readable media may exclude transitory signals. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise a random-access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communications system and an access network 100. The wireless communications system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) ) includes base stations 102, UEs 104, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G Core (5GC) ) . The base stations 102 may include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells (low power cellular base station) . The macrocells include base stations. The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells.

In an aspect, as illustrated, one or more of the UEs 104 may include a SUL update component 140 that determines whether to update a configuration of each serving cell in a serving cell set based on a MAC message. The SUL update component 140 may include a cell set component 142 configured to receive a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. The SUL update component 140 may include a MAC receive (Rx) component 144 configured to receive a MAC message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. The SUL update component 140 may include a spatial relation component 146 configured to determine, whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

In an aspect, as illustrated, one or more of the base stations 102 may include a SUL configuration component 120 configured to transmit a MAC configuration update message to a UE and determines whether the UE will apply the MAC configuration update message to each serving cell in a serving cell set. The SUL configuration component 120 may include a cell set configuration component 122 configured to transmit a configuration of a cell set for a UE in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. The SUL configuration component 120 may include a MAC transmit (Tx) component 124 configured to transmit a MAC message to the UE identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. The SUL configuration component 120 may include a spatial relation component 126 configured to determine whether the UE will update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

The base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) ) may interface with the EPC 160 through first backhaul links 132 (e.g., S1 interface) , which may be wired or wireless. The base stations 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) ) may interface with core network 190 through second backhaul links 184, which may be wired or wireless. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity) , inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) , subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM) , paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or core network 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface) . The third backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs) , which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG) . The communication links 112 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 112 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102 /UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) . The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell) .

Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) . D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs 152 /AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell 102' may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102', employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network.

A base station 102, whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., macro base station) , may include an eNB, gNodeB (gNB) , or other type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB 180 may operate in one or more frequency bands within the electromagnetic spectrum.

The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5G NR two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz –7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz –52.6 GHz) . The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” (mmW) band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz –300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band.

With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band. Communications using the mmW radio frequency band have extremely high path loss and a short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the path loss and short range.

The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN) , and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

The core network 190 may include a Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be in communication with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to the IP Services 197. The IP Services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services.

The base station may include and/or be referred to as a gNB, Node B, eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS) , an extended service set (ESS) , a transmit reception point (TRP) , or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC 160 or core network 190 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player) , a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc. ) . The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

Although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wireless technologies including future 6G technologies.

FIG. 2A is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2B is a diagram 230 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. FIG. 2C is a diagram 250 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G/NR frame structure. FIG. 2D is a diagram 280 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G/NR subframe. The 5G/NR frame structure may be FDD in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL, or may be TDD in which for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth) , subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL. In the examples provided by FIGs. 2A, 2C, the 5G/NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, with subframe 4 being configured with slot format 28 (with mostly DL) , where D is DL, U is UL, and X is flexible for use between DL/UL, and subframe 3 being configured with slot format 34 (with mostly UL) . While

subframes

3, 4 are shown with slot formats 34, 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0, 1 are all DL, UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. UEs are configured with the slot format (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through a received slot format indicator (SFI) . Note that the description infra applies also to a 5G/NR frame structure that is TDD.

Other wireless communication technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms) . Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also referred to as single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission) . The number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configuration and the numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies μ 0 to 5 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots, respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2 ^μ slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2 ^μ*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 5. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGs. 2A-2D provide an example of slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.

A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs) ) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R _x for one particular configuration, where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS) , beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .

FIG. 2B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) , each CCE including nine RE groups (REGs) , each REG including four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE 104 to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block (SSB) . The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 2C, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DM-RS for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RS for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. The UE may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be transmitted in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and/or UCI.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to a controller/processor 375. The controller/processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller/processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) , RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release) , inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) , and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs) , error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs) , re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs) , demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK) , quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) , M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK) , M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) ) . The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) . The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression /decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification) ; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from the controller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.

At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the SUL update component 140 of FIG. 1.

At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the SUL configuration component 120 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 of an example of a configuration of a serving cell set 402 including serving

cells

412, 414, and 416. The serving

cells

412, 414, and 416 may be configured in a higher frequency band 410 (e.g., in FR2) . Each serving

cell

412, 414, and 416 may be configured with a

normal uplink configuration

422, 424, 426 in the higher frequency band 410. One or more of the serving

cells

412, 414, 416 may be configured with a supplementary uplink in another frequency band (e.g., lower frequency band 430 in FR1) . Not every serving cell in the serving cell set 402 may be configured with a supplementary uplink. For example, as illustrated, the serving cell 412 may be configured with the supplementary uplink 432 and the serving cell 416 may be configured with the supplementary uplink 436, but the serving cell 414 may not be configured with a supplementary uplink.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a MAC message 500. For example, the MAC message 500 may be a MAC-CE and specifically an semi-persistent or aperiodic SRS source spatial relation indication MAC-CE. The MAC message 500 may be a uplink configuration update message. The MAC message 500 may include a plurality of octets including various defined fields. Reserved bits (R) may not be utilized. The first octet of the MAC message 500 may include, for example, a SRS resource cell ID field 510, which may identify a cell (e.g., serving

cells

412, 414, 416) . In an aspect, if the SRS resource cell ID field 510 indicates a cell in the serving cell set 402, the MAC message 500 may apply to every cell in the serving cells set 402 (e.g., serving

cells

412, 414, 416) . The first octet may also include a SRS resource BWP ID field 512 identifying a BWP for the cell. The second octet of the MAC message 500 may include a C field 520 that indicates whether the octets containing the resource serving cell ID field 532 and resource BWP ID field 534 are present. The second octet of the MAC message 500 may include a SUL field 522. The SUL field 522 may indicate whether the MAC message 500 applies to a normal uplink (e.g.,

normal uplink configuration

422, 424, or 426) or a supplementary uplink (e.g., supplementary uplink 432 or 436) . The second octet of the MAC message 500 may also include a first SRS resource ID field 524, which may identify a configured SRS resource to be updated. A third octet of the MAC message 500 may include a F0 field 530 that indicates a type of a resource used as a spatial relationship for SRS resource. The third octet of the MAC message 500 may include a resource serving cell ID field 532 that indicates the identity of the serving cell on which the resource used for spatial relationship derivation for the SRS resource is located and a resource BWP field 534 that indicates a UL BWP as a codepoint of a DCI bandwidth part indicator field. A fourth octet of the MAC message 500 may include a resource ID field 540 that indicates a new spatial relation to be used to update the configured SRS resource ID field 524. The MAC message 500 may include additional octets that update additional configured SRS resources with new spatial relations. For example, the MAC message 500 may include the SRS resource ID field 554, the F bit 560, the resource serving cell ID 562, the resource BWP ID 564, and the resource ID 570.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of uplink configurations of a serving cell configuration 600. The serving cell configuration 600 may include an uplink configuration 610 and optionally include a supplementary uplink configuration 640. The uplink configuration 610 may include an uplink BWP configuration 620. The uplink BWP configuration 620 may include a PUCCH configuration 630, a PUSCH configuration 632, a configured grant (CG) configuration 634, a SRS configuration 636, and a beam failure recovery configuration 638. Similarly, when included, the supplementary uplink configuration 640 may include an uplink BWP configuration 650. The uplink BWP configuration 650 may include a PUCCH configuration 660, a PUSCH configuration 662, a CG configuration 664, a SRS configuration 666, and a beam failure recovery configuration 668. The MAC message 500 may update either the SRS configuration 636 or the SRS configuration 666.

FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating example communications and components of a base station 102 and a UE 104. The UE 104 may include the SUL update component 140. The base station 102 may include the SUL configuration component 120.

As discussed above regarding FIG. 1, SUL update component 140 may include the cell set component 142, the MAC Rx component 144, and the spatial relation component 146. The SUL update component 140 may also include a receiver component 770 and a transmitter component 772. The receiver component 770 may include, for example, a radio-frequency (RF) receiver for receiving the signals described herein. The transmitter component 772 may include for example, an RF transmitter for transmitting the signals described herein. In an aspect, the receiver component 770 and the transmitter component 772 may be co-located in a transceiver.

The SUL configuration component 120 may include the cell set configuration component 122, the MAC Tx component 124, and the spatial relation component 126. The SUL configuration component 120 may also include a receiver component 750 and a transmitter component 752. The receiver component 750 may include, for example, a RF receiver for receiving the signals described herein. The transmitter component 752 may include for example, an RF transmitter for transmitting the signals described herein. In an aspect, the receiver component 750 and the transmitter component 752 may be co-located in a transceiver.

The base station 102, the SUL configuration component 120, and/or the cell set configuration component 122 may transmit a cell set configuration message 710. For example, the cell set configuration message 710 may be a RRC message. The cell set configuration message 710 may configure a serving cell set such as the serving cell set 402. The UE 104, the SUL update component 140, and/or the cell set component 142 may receive the cell set configuration message 710.

The base station 102, the SUL configuration component 120, and/or the MAC Tx component 124 may transmit a MAC message 500. The MAC message 500 may include the fields discussed above with respect to FIG. 5. The UE 104, the SUL update component 140, and/or the MAC Rx component 144 may receive the MAC message 500.

The spatial relation component 146 may be configured with a set of update rules 720 for determining whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the serving cell set 402 based on the MAC message 500. Similarly, the spatial relation component 126 may be configured with the update rules 720 for determining whether the UE 104 will update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the serving cell set 402 based on the MAC message 500.

The update rules 720 may determine whether the MAC message 500 is to be applied to each cell in the serving cell set. According to a first rule, the base station 102 may not transmit a MAC message 500 indicating a SUL update if any cells in the cell set are not configured with a SUL. The base station 102 may reconfigure the serving cell set 402 before sending the MAC message 500. The base station 102 may reconfigure the serving cell set 402 to exclude those serving cells that have the different SUL configurations. That is, the different SUL configuration may be different from an SUL configuration of the SRS serving cell to be indicated in the MAC message 500. For example, the base station 102, the SUL configuration component 120, and/or the cell set configuration component 122 may transmit a second cell set configuration message 710 that removes one or more cells that are not configured with supplementary uplink from the cell set 402. The second cell set configuration message 710 may create a new cell set with the removed cells. For instance, in the example shown in FIG. 4, the serving cell 414 may be excluded from the cell set 402 before the base station 102 transmits the MAC message 500 indicating the serving

cell

412 or 416 as the SRS serving cell. The MAC message 500 may then be applicable to all of the serving cells in the serving cell set 402.

According to a second rule, the UE 104, the SUL update component 140, and/or the spatial relation component 146 may update the spatial relation only for cells having a valid SUL configuration for the indicated SRS resources. For instance, when the UE 104 receives the MAC message 500 with the SUL field 522 having a value of 1 indicating that the MAC message 500 is for a SUL, the spatial relation component 146 may check whether the serving cell configuration 600 for each cell includes a supplementary uplink configuration 640 including a SRS configuration 666 matching the SRS resource ID field 524. That is, the spatial relation component 146 may determine whether the SRS configuration 666 includes the value indicated in the SRS resource ID field 524. If the SRS configuration 666 includes the value indicated in the SRS resource ID field 524, the spatial relation component 146 may update the SRS configuration 666 with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field 540. If the SRS configuration 666 is not configured (e.g., because the cell has no SUL) or the SRS configuration 666 does not include the value indicated by the SRS resource ID 524, the spatial relation component 146 may determine that the indicated SUL configuration is invalid and may not update any spatial relation for the SRS resource ID 524 in the cell. The spatial relation component 146 may similarly check additional SRS resource ID field 554. In the case that the SUL field 522 has a value of 0 indicating the MAC message 500 is for a normal uplink configuration, the spatial relation component 146 may check whether the SRS configuration 636 is valid. The spatial relation component 146 may similarly update the spatial relation for the SRS configuration 636 based on the determination of validity.

According to a third rule, if the indicated SUL configuration is invalid, the spatial relation component 146 may detect whether the cell configuration 600 includes a valid SRS configuration for either the normal uplink or the SUL. That is, if the SUL field 522 has a value of 1, but the cell has no SUL configuration 640, the spatial relation component 146 may determine whether the indicated update may be applied to the normal uplink configuration 610. Conversely, if the SUL field 522 has a value of 0, but the normal uplink configuration 610 does not have a SRS configuration 636 matching the SRS resource ID field 524, the spatial relation component 146 may determine whether the SUL configuration 640 includes an SRS configuration 666 corresponding to the SRS resource ID field 524.

The spatial relation component 126 may be configured with the same update rules 720 and apply any of the first through third rules to determine whether the UE 104 applies the MAC message 500 to each serving cell.

According to a fourth rule, the spatial relation component 146 may determine that at least one cell in the cell set 402 is not configured with a SUL and determine not to update any cells based on the MAC message 500. That is, the spatial relation component 146 may ignore the MAC message 500 or consider the MAC message 500 to be invalid. In some implementations, the spatial relation component 126 may not be configured with the fourth rule. Instead, the spatial relation component 126 may enforce the first rule to ensure MAC message 500 is valid for a UE 104 configured with the fourth rule.

In some implementations, the UE 104, the SUL update component 140, and/or the transmitter component 772 may transmit uplink signals using an updated spatial relation. For example, the transmitter component 772 may transmit a SRS 730 and/or a PUSCH 740 using the updated spatial relation. The base station 102, SUL configuration component 120, and/or the receiver component 750 may receive the SRS 730 and/or the PUSCH 740 based on the updated spatial relation.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual data flow diagram 800 illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example UE 804, which may be an example of the UE 104 and include the SUL update component 140.

The receiver component 770 may receive various downlink signals. For example, the receiver component 770 may receive the cell set configuration message 710 and the MAC message 500. The receiver component 770 may provide the cell set configuration message 710 to the cell set component 142. The receiver component 770 may provide the MAC message 500 to the MAC Rx component 144.

The cell set component 142 may receive the cell set configuration message 710 from the receiver component 770. The cell set component 142 may extract cell IDs from the cell set configuration message 710. The cell set component 142 may update the serving cell set 402 to include the cell IDs. If the cell set configuration message 710 indicates removal of one or more serving cells from the serving cell set 402, the cell set component 142 may remove the indicated cell IDs from the serving cell set 402.

The MAC Rx component 144 may receive the MAC message 500 from the receiver component 770. The MAC Rx component 144 may extract the information fields from the MAC message 500. In particular, the MAC Rx component 144 may extract the SRS resource cell ID 512, the SUL field 522, at least one

SRS resource ID

524, 554, and at least one

resource ID

540, 570. For example, the MAC Rx component 144 may be configured with various MAC message formats and may interpret the information fields according to an applicable MAC message format. The MAC Rx component 144 may provide the extracted fields to the spatial relation component 146.

The spatial relation component 146 may receive the cell IDs for the serving cell set 402 from the cell set component 142. The spatial relation component 146 may receive the MAC fields such as the SRS resource cell ID 512, the SUL field 522, at least one

SRS resource ID

524, 554, and at least one

resource ID

540, 570 from the MAC Rx component 144. The spatial relation component 146 may apply the update rules 720 to the serving cell set 402 and the received MAC fields. For example, the spatial relation component 146 may apply one or more of rules one through four as discussed above. The spatial relation component 146 may determine an update to one or more serving cell configurations 600. The spatial relation component 146 may provide the updated serving cell configuration 600 to the transmitter component 772.

The transmitter component 772 may transmit one or more uplink signals based on the serving cell configuration 600. For example, the transmitter component 772 may transmit the SRS 730 and/or the PUSCH 740 based on the serving cell configuration 600. Accordingly, the transmitter component 772 may transmit uplink signals based on the updated configuration indicated by the MAC message 500.

FIG. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram 900 illustrating the data flow between different means/components in an example base station 902, which may be an example of the base station 102 including the SUL configuration component 120.

The receiver component 750 may receive uplink signals including the SRS 730. The receiver component 750 may provide the SRS 730 to the uplink control component 910. The uplink control component 910 may receive the SRS 730 from the receiver component 750. The uplink control component 910 may measure the SRS 730 to determine whether to update an uplink configuration for the UE 104. For example, the uplink control component 910 may determine whether to add or remove a serving cell or a supplemental uplink. The uplink control component 910 may provide a cell change request to the cell set configuration component 122. The uplink control component 910 may determine whether to change an update beam. The uplink control component 910 may provide the beam change request to the MAC Tx component 124.

The cell set configuration component 122 may receive the cell change request from the uplink control component 910. In some implementations (e.g., where update rules 720 includes the first rule) , the cell set configuration component 122 may receive a SUL conflict indication from the spatial relation component 126. The set configuration component 122 may determine whether to update the serving cell set 402 for the UE 104. The cell set configuration component 122 may generate a cell set configuration message 710. The cell set configuration component 122 may transmit the cell set configuration message 710 via the transmitter component 752.

The MAC Tx component 124 may receive the beam change request from the uplink control component 910. The MAC Tx component 124 may generate the MAC message 500 based on the beam change request. For example, the MAC Tx component 124 may include a spatial relation in the resource ID field 540 for the updated beam. The MAC Tx component 124 may transmit the MAC message 500 via the transmitter component 752. The MAC Tx component 124 may provide the MAC message 500 to the spatial relation component 126.

The spatial relation component 126 may receive the MAC message 500 from the MAC Tx component 124. The spatial relation component 146 may apply the update rules 720 to the serving cell set 402 and the received MAC fields. For example, the spatial relation component 126 may apply one or more of rules one through four as discussed above. In some implementations, the spatial relation component 126 may determine an SUL conflict when one of the cells in the serving cell set 402 does not have the same SUL configuration as other cells in the serving cell set 402. The spatial relation component 126 may indicate the SUL conflict to the cell set configuration component 122, which may result in a cell set configuration message removing the conflicting cell. The spatial relation component 126 may determine an update to one or more serving cell configurations 600. The spatial relation component 126 may provide the updated serving cell configuration 600 to the receiver component 750.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example method 1000 for updating an uplink configuration based on a MAC message. The method 1000 may be performed by a UE (such as the UE 104, which may include the memory 360 and which may be the entire UE 104 or a component of the UE 104 such as the SUL update component 140, TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, or the controller/processor 359) . The method 1000 may be performed by the SUL update component 140 in communication with the SUL configuration component 120 of the base station 102. Optional blocks are indicated with dashed lines.

At block 1010, the method 1000 may include receiving a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the SUL update component 140 and/or the cell set component 142 to receive the configuration of a cell set (e.g., cell set configuration message 710) in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the SUL update component 140 and/or the cell set component 142 may provide means for receiving a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink.

At block 1020, the method 1000 may include receiving a second configuration of the cell set prior to receiving the MAC message. The second configuration may remove one or more cells that are not configured with supplementary uplink from the cell set. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the SUL update component 140 and/or the cell set component 142 to receive a second configuration of the cell set (e.g., a second cell set configuration message 710) prior to receiving the MAC message 500. The second configuration may remove one or more cells (e.g., cell 414) that are not configured with supplementary uplink from the cell set 402. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the SUL update component 140 and/or the cell set component 142 may provide means for receiving a second configuration of the cell set prior to receiving the MAC message.

At block 1030, the method 1000 may include receiving a MAC message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field; and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the SUL update component 140 and/or the MAC Rx component 144 to receive a MAC message 500 identifying a cell in the cell set (e.g., SRS resource cell ID field 510) and including a supplementary uplink update field 522, at least one SRS resource ID field 524, and at least one resource ID field 540 indicating a spatial relation. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the SUL update component 140 and/or the MAC Rx component 144 may provide means for receiving a MAC message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation.

At block 1040, the method 1000 may optionally include determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the SUL update component 140 and/or the spatial relation component 146 to determine that each

cell

412, 414, 416 in the cell set 402 is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field 522. Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the SUL update component 140 and/or the spatial relation component 146 may provide means for determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field.

At block 1050, the method 1000 may include determining, whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message. In an aspect, for example, the UE 104, the RX processor 356 and/or the controller/processor 359 may execute the SUL update component 140 and/or the spatial relation component 146 to determine whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

For example, in sub-block 1052, the spatial relation component 146 may update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field. For instance, the spatial relation component 146 may perform sub-block 1052 in response to block 1040.

In some implementations, in sub-block 1054, the block 1050 may include determining for each cell, whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell. For example, the spatial relation component 146 may determine whether an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field 522 includes a configured SRS resource that matches the SRS resource ID field 524. In some implementations, in sub-block 1056, the block 1050 may include determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination in sub-block 1054. For example, the spatial relation component 146 may update a configured SRS resource for the uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field that matches the SRS resource ID field with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell. As another example, the spatial relation component 146 may determine not to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell. In some implementations, the spatial relation component 146 may determine that a second uplink configuration that does not correspond to a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the SRS resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell and determine to update the configured SRS resource for the second uplink configuration based on the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.

In some implementations, at sub-block 1058, the spatial relation component 146 may determine that at least one cell in the cell set is not configured with a supplementary uplink. At sub-block 1060 the spatial relation component 146 may determine not to update any of the cells in the cell set in response to the determination that at least one cell in the cell set is not configured with a supplementary uplink.

Accordingly, the UE 104, the RX processor 356, and/or the controller/processor 359 executing the SUL update component 140 and/or the cell set component 142 may provide means for determining, whether to update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example method 1100 for updating an uplink configuration for a UE with a MAC message. The method 1100 may be performed by a base station (such as the base station 102, which may include the memory 376 and which may be the entire base station 102 or a component of the base station 102 such as the SUL configuration component 120, TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, or the controller/processor 375) . The method 1100 may be performed by the SUL configuration component 120 in communication with the SUL update component 140 of the UE 104.

At block 1110, the method 1100 may include transmitting a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink. In an aspect, for example, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 may execute the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the cell set configuration component 122 to transmit a configuration (e.g., cell set configuration message 710) of a cell set 402 in which one or more cells (e.g., cells 412 and 414) are configured with

supplementary uplink

432 and 436. Accordingly, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 executing the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the cell set configuration component 122 may provide means for transmitting a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink.

At block 1120, the method 1100 may optionally include transmitting a second configuration of the cell set prior to receiving the MAC message, wherein the second configuration removes one or more cells that are not configured with supplementary uplink from the cell set. In an aspect, for example, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 may execute the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the cell set configuration component 122 to transmit a second configuration (e.g., a second cell set configuration message 710) of the cell set 402 prior to receiving the MAC message 500. The second configuration may remove one or more cells (e.g., cell 414) that are not configured with supplementary uplink from the cell set 402. Accordingly, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 executing the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the cell set configuration component 122 may provide means for transmitting a second configuration of the cell set prior to receiving the MAC message.

At block 1130, the method 1100 may include transmitting a MAC message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation. In an aspect, for example, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 may execute the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the MAC Tx component 124 to transmit the MAC message 500 identifying a cell (e.g., cell 412) in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field 522, at least one SRS resource ID field 524, and at least one resource ID field 540 indicating a spatial relation. Accordingly, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 executing the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the MAC Tx component 124 may provide means for transmitting a MAC message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one SRS resource ID field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation.

At block 1140, the method 1100 may optionally include determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field. In an aspect, for example, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 may execute the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the spatial relation component 126 to determine that each cell in the cell set 402 is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field 522. Accordingly, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 executing the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the spatial relation component 126 may provide means for determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field.

At block 1150, the method 1100 may include determining whether the UE will update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message. In an aspect, for example, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 may execute the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the spatial relation component 126 to determine whether the UE 104 will update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set 402 based on the MAC message 500.

For example, in sub-block 1152, the spatial relation component 126 may determine that the UE 104 will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field 540. For instance, the spatial relation component 126 may perform sub-block 1`52 in response to block 1140.

In some implementations, in sub-block 1154, the block 1150 may include determining for each cell, whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell. For example, the spatial relation component 126 may determine whether an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field 522 includes a configured SRS resource that matches the SRS resource ID field 524. In some implementations, in sub-block 1156, the block 1150 may include determining whether the UE 104 will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination in sub-block 1154. For example, the spatial relation component 126 may update a configured SRS resource for the uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field that matches the SRS resource ID field with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell. As another example, the spatial relation component 126 may determine that the UE 104 will not update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell. In some implementations, the spatial relation component 126 may determine that a second uplink configuration that does not correspond to a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the SRS resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message does not include a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell and determine to update the configured SRS resource for the second uplink configuration based on the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.

In view of the foregoing, the base station 102, the controller/processor 375, and/or the TX processor 316 executing the SUL configuration component 120 and/or the spatial relation component 126 may provide means for determining whether the UE will update a spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes /flowcharts may be rearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration. ” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more member or members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module, ” “mechanism, ” “element, ” “device, ” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means. ” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for. ”

Claims

A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

receiving a configuration of a cell set in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink;

receiving a media access control (MAC) message identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identifier (ID) field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation; and

determining whether to update a spatial relation for a SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.
The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with a supplementary uplink corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field, wherein determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set comprises updating the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.
The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a second configuration of the cell set prior to receiving the MAC message, wherein the second configuration removes one or more cells that are not configured with the supplementary uplink from the cell set.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set comprises:

determining, for each cell, whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and

determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination.
The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell comprises determining whether an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the SRS resource ID field.
The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises updating a configured SRS resource for an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field with the spatial relation indicated by a corresponding field of the at least one resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message includes the valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.
The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises determining not to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell in response to determining that the MAC message does not include the valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.
The method of claim 4, wherein determining whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises:

determining that a second uplink configuration that does not correspond to a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message does not include the valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and

determining to update the configured SRS resource for the second uplink configuration based on the spatial relation indicated by the at least one resource ID field.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining, whether to update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message comprises:

determining that at least one cell in the cell set is not configured with the supplementary uplink; and

determining not to update any of the cells in the cell set in response to the determination that at least one cell in the cell set is not configured with the supplementary uplink.
A method of wireless communication, comprising:

transmitting a configuration of a cell set for a UE in which one or more cells are configured with supplementary uplink;

transmitting a media access control (MAC) message to the UE identifying a cell in the cell set and including a supplementary uplink update field, at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource identifier (ID) field, and at least one resource ID field indicating a spatial relation; and

determining whether the UE will update a spatial relation for a SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set based on the MAC message.
The method of claim 10, further comprising determining that each cell in the cell set is configured with an uplink configuration corresponding to a value of the supplementary uplink update field, wherein determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set comprises determining that the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set with the spatial relation indicated by the resource ID field.
The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting a second configuration of the cell set prior to transmitting the MAC message, wherein the second configuration removes, from the cell set, one or more cells that are not configured with the supplementary uplink.
The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for each cell in the cell set comprises:

determining, for each cell, whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and

determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination.
The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the MAC message includes a valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell comprises determining whether an uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field.
The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises determining that the UE will update the configured SRS resource for the uplink configuration indicated by a value of the supplementary uplink update field that matches the SRS resource ID field with the spatial relation indicated by the at least one resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message includes the valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.
The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises determining that the UE will not update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell in response to determining that the MAC message does not include the valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell.
The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the UE will update the spatial relation for the SRS resource configured for the cell based on the determination comprises:

determining whether a second uplink configuration that does not correspond to a value of the supplementary uplink update field includes a configured SRS resource that matches the at least one SRS resource ID field in response to determining that the MAC message does not include the valid supplementary uplink configuration for the cell; and

determining that the UE will update the second uplink configuration based on the spatial relation indicated by the at least one resource ID field.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform the method of any of claims 1-9.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for performing the method of any of claims 1-9.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform the method of any of claims 1-9.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to perform the method of any of claims 10-17.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for performing the method of any of claims 10-17.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform the method of any of claims 10-17.