WO2025049370A1 - Enhanced beam selection procedures in wireless communication - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus configured to process a radio resource control (RRC) message linking a first Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state to a channel state information (CSI) report that is associated with CSI-reference signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS)/PBCH Block (SSB) resources corresponding to the first TCI state and one or more additional CSI-RS resources or SSB resources for measurement, process a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format comprising an indication of the first TCI state, perform, based on decoding the indication of the first TCI state, measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources that are linked with the first TCI state by the RRC message, determine, based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources linked with the first TCI state, an updated TCI state and apply the updated TCI state for communication without further input from a base station.

Description

Enhanced Beam Selection Procedures in Wireless Communication Inventors: Hong He, Ankit Bhamri, Chunxuan Ye, Dawei Zhang, Haitong Sun, Oghenekome Oteri and Wei Zeng

PRIORITY/ INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63/579, 666 filed on August 30, 2023, and entitled, "Enhanced Beam Selection Procedures in Wireless Communication, " the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference .

BACKGROUND

[0002] As part of New Radio (NR) support, user equipment (UE) may support Frequency Range 2 ( FR2 ) in the 24.25 GHz to 56.6 GHz range. However, FR2 support is often challenging for mobile UEs and in outdoor cellular environments. Specifically, existing sequential beam updates and beam measurements/reporting incur high latency and signaling overhead. These effects are particularly severe for UEs moving at high speed. The typical scenario in which a UE is moving at high speed is on a highway or a high-speed train (HST) .

[0003] The best available beam changes frequently for highspeed UEs. Existing beam management procedures do not provide fast enough beam updates in these scenarios, which results in performance degradation. Enhancements to beam management procedures for high-speed UEs are thus needed.

Summary

[0004] Some example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry configured to process, based on signaling received from a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message linking a first Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state to a channel state information (CSI) report that is associated with CSI-ref erence signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS) /PBCH Block (SSB) resources corresponding to the first TCI state and one or more additional CSI-RS resources or SSB resources for measurement, process, based on signaling received from the base station, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format comprising an indication of the first TCI state, perform, based on decoding the indication of the first TCI state, measurements on the CSI- RS resources or SSB resources that are linked with the first TCI state by the RRC message, determine, based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources linked with the first TCI state, an updated TCI state and apply the updated TCI state for communication without further input from the base station.

[0005] Other example embodiments are related to an apparatus having processing circuitry configured to process, based on signaling received from a base station, a trigger to perform channel state information (CSI) measurements and update a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, perform measurements on CSI-ref erence signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS) /PBCH Block (SSB) resources transmitted by the base station, determine, based on the measurements of the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources, an updated TCI state and apply the updated TCI state for communication without further input from the base station. Brief Description of the Drawings

[0006] Fig. 1 shows an exemplary network arrangement according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0007] Fig. 2 shows an exemplary UE according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0008] Fig. 3 shows an exemplary base station, according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0009] Fig. 4 shows a call flow for an existing beam management flow.

[0010] Fig. 5 shows a MAC-CE diagram for beam management according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0011] Fig. 6 shows a second MAC-CE diagram for beam management according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0012] Fig. 7 shows a DCI format diagram for triggering a TCI state update according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0013] Fig. 8 shows a CSI trigger diagram, according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0014] Fig. 9A shows a third MAC-CE diagram, according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0015] Fig. 9B shows a fourth MAC-CE diagram, according to various exemplary embodiments. [0016] Fig. 10 shows a method, according to various exemplary embodiments .

Detailed Description

[0017] The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments relate to improved UE beam management procedures in high-speed scenarios.

[0018] The exemplary embodiments are described with regard to a user equipment (UE) . However, reference to a UE is merely provided for illustrative purposes. The exemplary embodiments may be utilized with any electronic component that may establish a connection to a network and is configured with the hardware, software, and/or firmware to exchange information and data with the network. Therefore, the UE as described herein is used to represent any electronic component.

[0019] The exemplary embodiments are also described with reference to a 5G New Radio (NR) network. However, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments may also be implemented in other types of networks, including but not limited to LTE networks, future evolutions of the cellular protocol (e.g., 5G-advanced, 6G, etc.) , or any other type of network .

[0020] Fig. 1 shows an exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary embodiments. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a UE 110. Those skilled in the art will understand that the UE 110 may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g. , mobile phones, tablet computers, desktop computers, smartphones, phablets, embedded devices, wearables, Internet of Things (loT) devices (including connected vehicles) , etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used by any number of users. Thus, the example of one UE 110 is merely provided for illustrative purposes.

[0021] The UE 110 may be configured to communicate with one or more networks. In the example of the network configuration 100, the network with which the UE 110 may wirelessly communicate is a 5G NR radio access network (RAN) 120. However, it should be understood that the UE 110 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g. , 5G cloud RAN, a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) , a legacy cellular network, etc. ) and the UE 110 may also communicate with networks over a wired connection. With regard to the exemplary embodiments, the UE 110 may establish a connection with the 5G NR RAN 120. Therefore, the UE 110 may have a 5G NR chipset to communicate with the NR RAN 120.

[0022] The 5G NR RAN 120 may be portions of a cellular network that may be deployed by a network carrier (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. ) . The RAN 120 may include cells or base stations that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped with the appropriate cellular chip set. In this example, the 5G NR RAN 120 includes the gNB 120A. However, reference to a gNB is merely provided for illustrative purposes, any appropriate base station or cell may be deployed (e.g., Node Bs, eNodeBs, HeNBs, eNBs, gNBs, gNodeBs, Macrocells, microcells, small cells, femtocells, etc. ) .

[0023] Any association procedure may be performed for the UE 110 to connect to the 5G NR RAN 120. For example, as discussed above, the 5G NR RAN 120 may be associated with a particular network carrier where the UE 110 and/or the user thereof has a contract and credential information (e.g. , stored on a SIM card) . Upon detecting the presence of the 5G NR RAN 120, the UE 110 may transmit the corresponding credential information to associate with the 5G NR RAN 120. More specifically, the UE 110 may associate with a specific cell (e.g. , gNB 120A) .

[0024] The network arrangement 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network services backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 manages the traffic that flows between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 may be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 may communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide the multimedia services to the UE 110. The network services backbone 160 is in communication either directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network services backbone 160 may be generally described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc. ) that implement a suite of services that may be used to extend the functionalities of the UE 110 in communication with the various networks. [0025] Fig. 2 shows an exemplary UE 110 according to various exemplary embodiments. The UE 110 will be described with regard to the network arrangement 100 of Fig. 1. The UE 110 may represent any electronic device and may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input/output (I/O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery that provides a limited power supply, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the UE 110 to other electronic devices, sensors to detect conditions of the UE 110, etc.

[0026] The processor 205 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines for the UE 110. For example, the engines may include a beam management engine 235 for performing operations related to beam management including, but not limited to, measuring Channel State Information reference signals (CSI- RS) , determining a best Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, and transmitting a beam report to the gNB 120A. Each of these example operations will be described in greater detail below.

[0027] The above referenced engine being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205 is only exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the UE 110 or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. The engines may also be embodied as one application or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is split among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an applications processor. The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a UE .

[0028] The memory arrangement 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110. The display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to show data to a user while the I/O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables the user to enter inputs. The display device 215 and the I/O device 220 may be separate components or integrated together such as a touchscreen.

[0029] The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G-NR RAN 120. Accordingly, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies) . The transceiver 225 includes circuitry configured to transmit and/or receive signals (e.g. , control signals, data signals) . Such signals may be encoded with information implementing any one of the methods described herein. The processor 205 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 225 and configured to receive from and/or transmit signals to the transceiver 225. The processor 205 may be configured to encode and/or decode signals (e.g., signaling from a base station of a network) for implementing any one of the methods described herein .

[0030] Fig. 3 shows an exemplary base station 300 according to various exemplary embodiments. The base station 300 may represent the gNB 120A or any other access node through which the UE 110 may establish a connection and manage network operations .

[0031] The base station 300 may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input/output (I/O) device 315, a transceiver 320, and other components 325. The other components 325 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the base station 300 to other electronic devices and/or power sources, etc.

[0032] The processor 305 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines for the base station 300. For example, the engines may include a beam management engine 330 for performing operations related to beam management including, but not limited to, transmitting TCI triggers to the UE 110, configuring the UE 110 with Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages, and receiving beam reports from the UE 110. Each of these example operations will be described in greater detail below.

[0033] The above referenced engine being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 is only exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the base station 300 or may be a modular component coupled to the base station 300, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. The engines may also be embodied as one application or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an applications processor. The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a base station.

[0034] The memory arrangement 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the base station 300. The I/O device 315 may be a hardware component or ports that enable a user to interact with the base station 300.

[0035] The transceiver 320 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UE 110 and any other UE in the network arrangement 100. The transceiver 320 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g. , set of consecutive frequencies) . Therefore, the transceiver 320 may include one or more components (e.g. , radios) to enable the data exchange with the various networks and UEs. The transceiver 320 includes circuitry configured to transmit and/or receive signals (e.g., control signals, data signals) . Such signals may be encoded with information implementing any one of the methods described herein. The processor 305 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 320 and configured to receive from and/or transmit signals to the transceiver 320. The processor 305 may be configured to encode and/or decode signals (e.g. , signaling from a UE) for implementing any one of the methods described herein .

[0036] Existing beam management flows may incur high latency and/or signaling overhead for high-speed UEs. Fig. 4 shows a call flow 400 for an existing beam management flow. In 402, the gNB 120A sends a beam indication message to the UE 110. The beam indication message 402 indicates to the UE 110 that it should apply one or more specific beams.

[0037] In 404, the UE 110 responds to the gNB 120A with an acknowledgment message (ACK) .

[0038] In 406, the UE 110 applies the beam indicated to the UE 110 in the beam indication 402. The time between the ACK 404 and the application of the beam in 406 is a beam application time 408.

[0039] In 410, the gNB 120A triggers aperiodic (AP) channel state information (CSI) procedures.

[0040] In 414, the gNB 120A transmits CSI-RS to the UE 110.

The time between triggering the AP CSI and transmitting the CSI- RS may be known as the aperiodicTriggeringOf f set 412.

[0041] In 416, the UE 110 transmits a beam report to the gNB 120A. The beam report may contain information on beam measurements performed by the UE 110 (not shown) .

[0042] The operations of the call flow 400 include room for improvement. Specifically, the beam indication 402 and ACK 404 may be eliminated by way of the exemplary embodiments, resulting in reduced signal loss, and signaling overhead for high speed UEs .

[0043] In a first aspect of the exemplary embodiments, operations and logic for enhanced TCI-state updates are disclosed. Latency may be reduced by the embodiments of the first aspect by way of various combinations of beam reporting and TCI update procedures.

[0044] In a first example of the first aspect, the TCI-state that is associated with a measured CSI resource with a highest layer 1 (LI ) -ref erence signal received power (RSRP) in a measurement report many be autonomously updated by the UE to be the new TCI-state (e.g. , the new beam) , which is used for subsequent demodulation operations of the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) . One of skill in the art will appreciate that TCI-states may also refer to a specific beam.

[0045] Returning briefly to Fig. 4, the exemplary embodiments propose eliminating the beam indication 402 and the ACK 404 (thereby reducing overall latency) by using aperiodic CSI measurements (e.g. , following CSI-RS 414) triggered by a CSI request as an implicit TCI state update indication.

[0046] In some embodiments, the UE 110 may use RRC signaling to enable and disable the proposed autonomous TCI-state update procedures based on the CSI measurement report.

[0047] In some embodiments, a new Medium Access Control Element (MAC-CE) may be used to indicate a group of reference signal indices (e.g., Synchronization Signal (SS) /PBCH Blocks (SSBs) or CSI-RS resources) to be prioritized for TCI state updates (e.g. , for offloading) . In some variants, the new MAC-CE may be identified by a MAC subheader with a dedicated logical channel ID (LCID) . [0048] In a first example of the first aspect, the MAC-CE may have a fixed size and consist of eight octets containing 64 control ("C") fields. If there is a CSI resource configured with an SSB index or non-zero power (NZP) -CSI-RS-Resourceld, 'i the C fields may be used to indicate whether a given CSI-RS resource is prioritized for TCI-state activation. In some variants, different LCIDs may be used to indicate prioritized SSB resources and CSI-RS resources. It should be noted that this MAC-CE is transmitted from the UE 110 to the gNB 120A to indicate which TCI-state to use.

[0049] Fig. 5 shows a MAC-CE diagram 500 for beam management according to various exemplary embodiments. The MAC-CE shown in Fig. 5 has 8 octets (Oct 1 - Oct 8) of a fixed size containing 64 C fields.

[0050] The UE 110 may receive the CSI-RS (e.g., the CSI-RS 414) and perform measurements, for example, measuring reference signal received power (RSRP) . The UE 110 may determine which of the measured beams has the best signal quality. Instead of reporting the true RSRP values for each corresponding beam, the UE 110 instead may transmit the MAC-CE containing reference signal indices indicating one or more beams of high quality (or the best beam(s) of those measured) . Further details on which beams are reported will be described below. It should be noted that each individual beam may receive a binary indication. For example, a beam of low quality that will not be used by the UE may receive a 'O' in the corresponding C field of the MAC-CE, whereas a beam that the UE determines to be the best or above a quality threshold may receive a in the corresponding C field of the MAC-CE. While the UE 110 may send the MAC-CE 500 as described herein in response to the AP CSI, the UE 110 may still send the normal CSI report in addition to the MAC-CE 500.

[0051] In the example of Fig. 5, the UE 110 may determine that beams 1, 6, 8, 18, and 24 are the "best" beams of those measured. The number (k) of "best" beams that is reported by the UE 110 may be set, for example, by standard (e.g., 3GPP standards) , RRC signaling such as the RRC signaling used to enable the proposed autonomous TCI-state feature, etc. The term "best" beam may be used to identify the beams that satisfy a certain criteria, e.g., the best beams are the 5 beams that have the highest RSRP.

[0052] Part of the time savings of the exemplary embodiments relate to the UE autonomously (e.g., without network direction) selecting and applying a measured beam. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the network may update the beam connection with CSI-RS. Beams 1, 6 , 8, 18, and 24 may be the prioritized beams in this example for fast TCI updates if they are included in the CSI reporting from the UE 110.

[0053] In a second variant of the first example of the first aspect, an additional field, Si' may be used to further reduce MAC-CE overhead. Si may indicate an SSB index or NZP-CSI- ResourcelD may be prioritized, where 'i' is prioritized and represents the ordinal position among all the SSB resources (or NZP-CSI-Resources ) that are configured with Ll-RSRP beam reporting. In the second variant, the MAC-CE size may be reduced to two Octets if 16 CSI-RS resources or SSBs are configured for Ll-RSRP reports. Fig. 6 shows a second MAC-CE diagram 600 for beam management according to various exemplary embodiments. The MAC-CE diagram 600 features two filled octets for 16 CSI-RS resources .

[0054] In some alternatives, a RSRP threshold may be configured by RRC signaling and the indicated resource may be prioritized for TCI state activation on the condition that the measured RSRP for the resource exceeds the configured RSRP threshold .

[0055] In scenarios where more than one RS index is associated with a same measured Ll-RSRP result, two alternative approaches may be used. In a first alternative, the RS with the lowest RS ID may be selected. For example, in Fig. 5, Ci would take priority over Cs, if they both share a same measured RSRP.

[0056] In a second alternative, RRC signaling may be used to configure an RS resource within a CSI resource configuration (e.g., a light load beam based on a semi-static load profile) .

[0057] In a second aspect of the exemplary embodiments, additional operations may be implemented at the gNB 120A to trigger beam measurement and processing of measured CSI reports. When the UE 110 receives the appropriate indication, it may perform the measurement and TCI-state updating procedures autonomously. In the first example of the second aspect, various downlink control information (DCI) techniques may be utilized for triggers of beam measurement and processing of measured CSI reports at the UE 110. [0058] In a first variant of the first example of the second aspect, a CSI request field in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 18 Downlink Control Information (DCI) format 0 1 or 0 2 with uplink scheduling may be used to trigger aperiodic CSI reports and an autonomous TCI-state update by the UE based on the measurement results. The CSI reports may be transmitted to the network using a PUSCH scheduled by the same DCI format as the CSI request field. The operations described in the first alternative allow the network to further determine other TCI-states based on the UE 110 report (e.g., for offloading purposes) by using the DCI format 1 1 or 1 2.

[0059] In a second variant of the first example, for triggering beam measurement and processing of measured CSI reports at the UE 110, the gNB 120A may use a DCI format 0_l or 0 2 without associated uplink scheduling may be used to trigger CSI measurement and subsequent TCI-updates at the UE 110. Since there is no uplink scheduling in this variant, the CSI measurement results may be used only for the TCI-state update (e.g., there is no uplink scheduling to report the results to the network) . The UE 110 may determine the DCI format is used for this purpose (e.g., triggering TCI state update) based on parameters that are set in thee DCI format. For example, if the DCI format includes one or more parameter values such as the redundancy version equals 11, the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) comprises entirely of 'I' s, the New Data Indicator (NDI) equals zero, all '0' s for Frequency Domain Resource Assignment (FDRA) type 0 or all 'I' s for FDRA type 1 or all '0' s for dynamicswitch, etc. These parameters and values are only an example as other parameters and/or values may be used to indicate to the UE 110 to perform CSI measurements to trigger a

TCI state update.

[0060] In a third variant of the first example for triggering beam measurement and processing of measured CSI reports, a new group DCI format may be used to trigger a TCI update for more than one UE (e.g. , multi-UE TCI updates) . The DCI format may include a CSI request 1 through a CSI request N (e.g. , 1, 2, ... N) . The starting position of a CSI request may be configured by RRC signaling for a UE, which may account for different CSI request field sizes for different UEs. In the third variant, zero padding may be utilized for the new DCI format until the payload size equals that of DCI format 1 0 monitoring in the common search space (CSS) in the same serving cell.

[0061] Fig. 7 shows a DCI format diagram 700 for triggering a TCI state update according to various exemplary embodiments. The DCI format diagram 700 may be understood to describe the new DCI format proposed in the third variant above.

[0062] The DCI format diagram 700 features a CSI request 1 702 followed by a CSI request 2 704 followed by a CSI request 3

706 followed by a CSI request N 708. Each CSI request may correspond to a different UE and the total number of CSI requests in the DCI may vary up to a maximum, N. Each of the CSI requests 702-708 begin with a starting bit position 712. As described above, the starting bit position 712 of the CSI requests may be configured by RRC signaling to the various UEs to account for different CSI request fields for different UEs. For example, the CSI request 3 706 is depicted as smaller than the other shown CSI requests. [0063] The DCI format diagram 700 also features a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) 710 at the end of the newly proposed DCI. One of skill in the art will appreciate that a CRC is an error detection technique used in wireless communication systems to ensure data integrity.

[0064] In a second example of the second aspect, event- triggered CSI measurement and reporting is disclosed. Each TCI state may be configured by RRC signaling to associate the TCI state with one or more CSI reports.

[0065] Fig. 8 shows a CSI trigger diagram 800 according to various exemplary embodiments. Fig. 8 shows a TCI state #k 802. The TCI state #k 802 may be one of several supported TCI states and may feature Quasi Co-Located Reference Signal (QCL RS) 16. The TCI state #k 802 may be linked to a CSI report #x 804 associated with a RS set 808. In the example shown in Fig. 8, the RS set comprises beams #6, #8, #12, and #16 using neighbor downlink beams 810.

[0066] When the UE 110 detects the TCI state #k indicated by the TCI field in DCI, the UE 110 may assume that the CSI report #x 804 is triggered and performs beam measurements on the linked RS set 808.

[0067] Various alternatives may be implemented for CSI report handling. In a first alternative, CSI measurement results may be used for TCI-state autonomous update operations at the UE 110 and may not be reported to the network. [0068] In a second alternative, the CSU measurement results may be reported to the network. In a first example of the second alternative, the CSI reports may be transmitted using a PUCCH resource that is preconfigured by RRC signaling. The RRC signaling may also provide a slot offset of a PUCCH relative to the slow of the DCI format featuring the TCI field. In a second example of the second alternative, CSI reports may be transmitted using a configured grant PUSCH. An offset value may be provided relative to the DCI format slot to determine a time location .

[0069] In a third example of the second aspect, further event- triggered CSI measurement and reporting operations are disclosed herein. A new MAC-CE may be introduced to update associated reference signal resources. The new MAC-CE may be identified by a dedicated LCID and may have a fixed size. Fig. 9A shows a second MAC-CE diagram 900, according to various exemplary embodiments. The MAC-CE diagram 900 shows a new exemplary MAC-CE spanning two octets (Oct 1 and Oct 2) .

[0070] In a first alternative of the third example, the new MAC-CE may be used to update the association between a TCI codepoint and CSI report configurations. The MAC-CE-diagram 900 features a serving cell ID field 902 indicating the identity of the serving cell for which the MAC-CE applies. Also shown in the MAC-CE diagram 900 is a bandwidth part (BWP) ID 904, indicating a downlink BWP for which the MAC-CE applies. Also shown in the MAC-CE diagram 900 is a TCI codepoint value 908, which is a 3- bit value indicating the corresponding codepoint of the TCI field in the exemplary DCI format. Further shown in the MAC-CE diagram 900 is a CSI report configuration ID field 906, indicating the identity of the CSI reporting for which the exemplary MAC-CE applies.

[0071] In a second alternative of the third example, the newly presented MAC-CE may be used to update the association between a TCI codepoint and the associated CSI resource set. Fig. 9B shows a third MAC-CE diagram 910, according to various exemplary embodiments. The serving cell ID 914, BWP ID 916, and TCI codepoint value 920 are identical in functionality as the eguivalent features of Fig. 9A. Fig. 9B features a CSI resource configuration ID 918, which indicates the ID that identifies a unique CSI-report configuration.

[0072] Fig. 10 shows a method 1000, according to various exemplary embodiments. The method 1000 is described from the perspective of the UE 110.

[0073] In 1002, the UE 110 receives a trigger for TCI state updates based on CSI measurements. In some embodiments, the trigger may be an RRC message from the network, in other embodiments the trigger may be in DCI .

[0074] In 1006, the UE 110 receives CSI-RS from the network (i.e., via the gNB 120A) and measures the CSI-RS.

[0075] In 1008, the UE 110 evaluates the best TCI state (s) based on the measurement 1006. This evaluation may be based on RSRP values and if there are more than one best TCI states (i.e., with equal RSRP values) , the UE 110 further determines one TCI state to update to amongst the TCI states. [0076] In 1010, the UE 110 autonomously updates the active TCI state to the best evaluated TCI state from the evaluation 1008.

[0077] In 1012, the UE 110 transmits a beam report and the active TCI state to the network. Included in this message may be a MAC-CE containing an index indicating prioritized beams that the UE measured in 1006.

Examples

[0078] In a first example, a method, comprising processing, based on signaling received from a base station, a trigger to perform channel state information (CSI) measurements and update a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, performing measurements on CSI-ref erence signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS) /PBCH Block (SSB) resources transmitted by the base station, determining, based on the measurements of the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources, an updated TCI state and applying the updated TCI state for communication without further input from the base station.

[0079] In a second example, the method of the first example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message enabling updating of the TCI state based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources without further input from the base station.

[0080] In a third example, the method of the first example, further comprising generating, for transmission to the base station, a beam report based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources, wherein the beam report comprises a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) that is identified by a MAC subheader with a dedicated logical channel ID (LCID) and comprises one or more indications of TCI states that are prioritized for activation and TCI states that are not prioritized for activation.

[0081] In a fourth example, the method of the third example, wherein the MAC-CE comprises a plurality of fields (C) , wherein each field ( ) corresponds to a CSI resource configured with a synchronization signal block (SSB) index (i) or a non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP-CSI-RS) resource identification (ID) (i) , wherein each field ( ) indicates whether the CSI resource corresponding to the SSB index (i) or NZP-CSI-RS resource ID (1) is prioritized for activation or not prioritized for activation.

[0082] In a fifth example, the method of the fourth example, wherein the LCID in the MAC-CE subheader indicates whether the CSI resource field in the MAC-CE comprises a SSB resource or an NZP-CSI-RS resource.

[0083] In a sixth example, the method of the third example, wherein the MAC-CE comprises a plurality of fields, wherein each field corresponds to a synchronization signal block (SSB) index or a non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP-CSI-RS) resource identification (ID) configured with Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (Ll-RSRP) beam reporting, wherein each field indicates whether the corresponding SSB index or NZP-CSI-RS resource ID is prioritized for activation or not prioritized for activation. [0084] In a seventh example, the method of the sixth example, wherein a location of each field (S_;) corresponds to an ordinal position of the corresponding SSB resource or NZP-CSI-RS resource among all other SSB resources or NZP-CSI-RS resources that are configured with Ll-RSRP beam reporting.

[0085] In an eighth example, the method of the third example, wherein TCI states prioritized for activation are determined based on a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold and the measurement on the corresponding CSI-RS resources or SBB resources .

[0086] In a ninth example, the method of the eighth example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message comprising the RSRP threshold.

[0087] In a tenth example, the method of the eighth example, wherein, when two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources have a same RSRP value, the updated TCI state is based on a lowest reference signal identification (ID) of the two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources.

[0088] In an eleventh example, the method of the eighth example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message comprising an indication of one of two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources to be used for the updated TCI state when the two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources have a same RSRP value. [0089] In a twelfth example, the method of the first example, wherein the trigger comprises a trigger field in a downlink control information (DCI) Format 0_l or a DCI Format 0_2 with uplink scheduling information.

[0090] In a thirteenth example, the method of the twelfth example, further comprising generating, for transmission to the base station, a CSI report comprising the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources using a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission that is scheduled by a same DCI format as the trigger field.

[0091] In a fourteenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the trigger comprises a trigger field in a downlink control information (DCI) Format 0_l or a DCI Format 0 2 without uplink scheduling information.

[0092] In a fifteenth example, the method of the fourteenth example, wherein the DCI Format 0 1 or the DCI Format 0 2 comprises a redundancy version (RV) equal to 'll', a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) comprising entirely of 'l's, a New Data Indicator (NDI) equal to zero, a Frequency Domain Resource Assignment (FDRA) type 0 comprising entirely of '0's, an FDRA type 1 comprising entirely of 'I's or a dynamicswitch comprising entirely of '0's.

[0093] In a sixteenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the trigger comprises a downlink control information (DCI) format comprising two or more CSI request fields, each CSI request field corresponding to one of a plurality of UEs. [0094] In a seventeenth example, the method of the sixteenth example, wherein a starting bit position for each of the two or more CSI request fields is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the base station.

[0095] In an eighteenth example, the method of the sixteenth example , wherein a payload size of the DCI format is padded to be equal to a payload size of DCI format l_0.

[0096] In a nineteenth example, a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the first through eighteenth examples .

[0097] In a twentieth example, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform any of the methods of the first through eighteenth examples.

[0098] In a twenty first example, a method, comprising processing, based on signaling received from a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message linking a first Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state to a channel state information (CSI) report that is associated with CSI- reference signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS) /PBCH Block (SSB) resources corresponding to the first TCI state and one or more additional CSI-RS resources or SSB resources for measurement, processing, based on signaling received from a base station, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format comprising an indication of the first TCI state, performing, based on decoding the indication of the first TCI state, measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources that are linked with the first TCI state by the RRC message, determining, based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources linked with the first TCI state, an updated TCI state and applying the updated TCI state for communication without further input from the base station.

[0099] In a twenty second example, the method of the twenty first example, wherein the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources are not reported to the base station.

[0100] In a twenty third example, the method of the twenty first example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the base station, RRC signaling that configures a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource to be used for CSI reports and a slot offset of the PUCCH resource relative to a slot where the DCI format is received comprising the indication of the first TCI state and generating, for transmission to the base station using the PUCCH resource, a CSI report comprising the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources.

[0101] In a twenty fourth example, the method of the twenty first example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the base station, a configured grant physical uplink shared channel (CG-PUSCH) transmission and a slot offset of a PUSCH resource relative to a slot where the DCI format comprising the indication of the first TCI state is detected and generating, for transmission to the base station using the PUSCH resource, a CSI report comprising the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources. [0102] In a twenty fifth example, the method of the twenty first example, wherein the DCI format comprises DCI Format 1 1 or DCI Format 1_2 with or without downlink (DL) assignment.

[0103] In a twenty sixth example, the method of the twenty first example, further comprising processing, based on signaling received from the base station, a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) comprising an indication to update the associated one or more additional CSI-RS resources or SSB resources associated with the TCI state corresponding to a TCI codepoint, wherein the MAC-CE is identified by a dedicated logical channel identification (LCID) .

[0104] In a twenty seventh example, the method of the twenty sixth example, wherein the MAC-CE comprises (i) a serving cell identification indicating an identity of a serving cell for which the MAC-CE applies, (ii) a bandwidth part (BWP) identification indicating a downlink (DL) BWP to which the MAC CE applies, (iii) a TCI codepoint indicating the first TCI state indicated in the DCI format, and (iv) a CSI report configuration identification indicating an identity of the CSI report.

[0105] In a twenty eighth example, the method of the twenty sixth example, wherein the MAC-CE comprises (i) a serving cell identification indicating an identity of a serving cell for which the MAC-CE applies, (ii) a bandwidth part (BWP) identification indicating a downlink (DL) BWP to which the MAC CE applies, (iii) a TCI codepoint indicating the first TCI state indicated in the DCI format, and (iv) a CSI resource configuration identification indicating an identity of a unique CSI-Report configuration comprising the updated associated one or more additional CSI-RS resources.

[0106] In a twenty ninth example, a processor configured to perform any of the methods of the twenty first through twenty eighth examples.

[0107] In a thirtieth example, a user equipment (UE) configured to perform any of the methods of the twenty first through twenty eighth examples.

[0108] Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardware platform for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as iOS, Android, etc. The exemplary embodiments of the above-described method may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0109] Although this application described various embodiments each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any of the features of one embodiment may be combined with the features of the other embodiments in any manner not specifically disclaimed or which is not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation of the device or the stated functions of the disclosed embodiments .

[ 0110 ] It is well understood that the use of personally identi fiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recogni zed as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users . In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimi ze risks of unintentional or unauthori zed access or use , and the nature of authori zed use should be clearly indicated to users .

[ 0111 ] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modi fications may be made in the present disclosure , without departing from the spirit or the scope of the disclosure . Thus , it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent .

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed:

1. An apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to: process, based on signaling received from a base station, a radio resource control (RRC) message linking a first Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state to a channel state information (CSI) report that is associated with CSI- reference signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS)/PBCH Block (SSB) resources corresponding to the first TCI state and one or more additional CSI-RS resources or SSB resources for measurement; process, based on signaling received from the base station, a Downlink Control Information (DCI) format comprising an indication of the first TCI state; perform, based on decoding the indication of the first TCI state, measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources that are linked with the first TCI state by the RRC message; determine, based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources linked with the first TCI state, an updated TCI state; and apply the updated TCI state for communication without further input from the base station.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources are not reported to the base station .

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signaling received from the base station, RRC signaling that configures a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource to be used for CSI reports and a slot offset of the PUCCH resource relative to a slot where the DCI format is received comprising the indication of the first TCI state; and generate, for transmission to the base station using the PUCCH resource, a CSI report comprising the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signaling received from the base station, a configured grant physical uplink shared channel (CG-PUSCH) transmission and a slot offset of a PUSCH resource relative to a slot where the DCI format comprising the indication of the first TCI state is detected; and generate, for transmission to the base station using the PUSCH resource, a CSI report comprising the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DCI format comprises DCI Format 1 1 or DCI Format 1 2 with or without downlink (DL) assignment .

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signaling received from the base station, a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) comprising an indication to update the associated one or more additional CSI- RS resources or SSB resources associated with the TCI state corresponding to a TCI codepoint, wherein the MAC-CE is identified by a dedicated logical channel identification (LCID) .

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the MAC-CE comprises (i) a serving cell identification indicating an identity of a serving cell for which the MAC-CE applies, (ii) a bandwidth part (BWP) identification indicating a downlink (DL) BWP to which the

MAC CE applies, (iii) a TCI codepoint indicating the first TCI state indicated in the DCI format, and (iv) a CSI report configuration identification indicating an identity of the CSI report .

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the MAC-CE comprises (i) a serving cell identification indicating an identity of a serving cell for which the MAC-CE applies, (ii) a bandwidth part (BWP) identification indicating a downlink (DL) BWP to which the

MAC CE applies, (iii) a TCI codepoint indicating the first TCI state indicated in the DCI format, and (iv) a CSI resource configuration identification indicating an identity of a unique CSI-Report configuration comprising the updated associated one or more additional CSI-RS resources.

9. An apparatus comprising processing circuitry configured to: process, based on signaling received from a base station, a trigger to perform channel state information (CSI) measurements and update a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state; perform measurements on CSI-ref erence signal (CSI-RS) resources or Synchronization Signal (SS) /PBCH Block (SSB) resources transmitted by the base station; determine, based on the measurements of the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources, an updated TCI state; and apply the updated TCI state for communication without further input from the base station.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signaling received from the base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message enabling updating of the TCI state based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources without further input from the base station.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: generate, for transmission to the base station, a beam report based on the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources, wherein the beam report comprises a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) that is identified by a MAC subheader with a dedicated logical channel ID (LCID) and comprises one or more indications of TCI states that are prioritized for activation and TCI states that are not prioritized for activation.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the MAC-CE comprises a plurality of fields (C) , wherein each field (C_;) corresponds to a CSI resource configured with a synchronization signal block

(SSB) index (i) or a non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP-CSI-RS) resource identification (ID) (i) , wherein each field (C_;) indicates whether the CSI resource corresponding to the SSB index (f) or NZP-CSI-RS resource ID (i) is prioritized for activation or not prioritized for activation.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the MAC-CE comprises a plurality of fields, wherein each field corresponds to a synchronization signal block (SSB) index or a non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP-CSI-RS) resource identification (ID) configured with Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (Ll-RSRP) beam reporting, wherein each field indicates whether the corresponding SSB index or NZP-CSI-RS resource ID is prioritized for activation or not prioritized for activation.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein TCI states prioritized for activation are determined based on a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold and the measurement on the corresponding CSI-RS resources or SBB resources.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signaling received from the base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message comprising the RSRP threshold, wherein, when two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources have a same RSRP value, the updated TCI state is based on a lowest reference signal identification (ID) of the two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: process, based on signaling received from the base station, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message comprising an indication of one of two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources to be used for the updated TCI state when the two or more CSI-RS resources or SSB resources have a same RSRP value.

17. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the trigger comprises a trigger field in a downlink control information (DCI) Format 0 1 or a DCI Format 0_2 with uplink scheduling information.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: generate, for transmission to the base station, a CSI report comprising the measurements on the CSI-RS resources or SSB resources using a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission that is scheduled by a same DCI format as the trigger field.

19. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the trigger comprises a trigger field in a downlink control information (DCI) Format 0 1 or a DCI Format 0 2 without uplink scheduling information.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the DCI Format 0 1 or the DCI Format 0 2 comprises a redundancy version (RV) equal to 'll' , a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) comprising entirely of 'l' s, a New Data Indicator (NDI) equal to zero, a Frequency Domain Resource Assignment (FDRA) type 0 comprising entirely of '0' s, an FDRA type 1 comprising entirely of 'I' s or a dynamicswitch comprising entirely of '0' s.