WO2025148000A1

WO2025148000A1 - Method for ue initiated beam report

Info

Publication number: WO2025148000A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/071987
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yushu Zhang; Jia-Hong Liou
Original assignee: Google LLC
Current assignee: Google LLC
Priority date: 2024-01-12
Filing date: 2024-01-12
Publication date: 2025-07-17
Anticipated expiration: 2026-07-12

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, devices, apparatus, and methods, including computer programs encoded on storage media, for a UE to initiate measurements and reporting of downlink reference signals (DL-RS) for beam management. Aspects disclosed include configuration of the DL-RS for UE-initiated beam measurements and reports, events to trigger UE-initiated beam reports, report content for UE-initiated beam reports, and uplink transmission mechanism for the UE-initiated beam reports. A UE (102) receives (1504) from a network entity (104) control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The UE (102) receives (1508) DL-RS on the DL-RS resources. The UE (102) transmits (1516) to the network entity (104) the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

Description

METHOD FOR UE INITIATED BEAM REPORT

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and more particularly, to techniques for a user equipment (UE) to initiate measurements and reporting of downlink reference signals for beam management.

BACKGROUND

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies a radio interface referred to as fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) (5G NR) . An architecture for a 5G NR wireless communication system includes a 5G core (5GC) network, a 5G radio access network (5G-RAN) , a user equipment (5G UE) , etc. The 5G NR architecture seeks to provide increased data rates, decreased latency, and/or increased capacity compared to prior generation cellular communication systems.

Wireless communication systems, in general, provide various telecommunication services (e.g., telephony, video, data, messaging, etc. ) based on multiple-access technologies, such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technologies, that support communication with multiple UEs. Improvements in mobile broadband continue the progression of such wireless communication technologies. For example, for beam management, a UE and a network entity may collaborate to identify and maintain improved or preferred beams for transmission in the uplink and downlink directions. Beam management may also be used to support beamforming at the network entity and/or the UE. Effective beam management is critical as the communication system provides increased capacity under different deployment scenarios.

BRIEF 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. This summary neither identifies key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineates 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 beam management, a UE and a network entity may collaborate to identify and maintain improved or preferred beams for transmission/reception in the uplink and downlink directions. Beam management may also be used to support beamforming at the network entity and/or the UE. For example, in the downlink direction, the network entity and the UE may perform beam management procedure in a hierarchical manner to identify a relatively wide beam for initial acquisition and then to identify more directional and higher gain beams for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) . Beam selection and refinement may be based on downlink reference signals (DL-RS) such as the synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) blocks (referred to as synchronization signal block (SSB) ) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) configured as channel measurement resource (CMR) . The network entity may apply beamforming coefficients to a set of SSBs to generate relatively wide beams for initial acquisition by the UE. The network entity may then apply beam coefficients to a set of CSI-RSs to generate more directional beams (e.g., narrower beams) for subsequent beam refinement.

The network entity usually determines and initiates the beam report and switching procedure. The network entity may configure a channel state information (CSI) report configuration for beam measurement and report, such as configuring a list of SSB or CSI-RS resources for beam measurement. The network entity may transmit different SSBs or CSI-RSs using different beams. The network entity may trigger the UE to measure and report the beam quality, e.g., layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) or layer 1 signal to interference plus noise ratio (L1-SINR) for each reported beam. The network entity may configure the UE to perform the beam reporting in a periodic, semi-persistent or aperiodic manner. The UE may measure the DL-RS and provide feedback to the network entity in a CSI report to allow rapid and responsive switching between beams.

Based on the received beam report, the network entity may configure and activate beams for downlink and uplink channels/signals by indicating one or more transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states or spatial relation information. Due to the UE’s movement or signal blockage, the beam quality for a beam could change. The network entity has no or limited information on when the beam quality could change. Therefore, the network entity may not be able to trigger the beam reports at the proper time. To maintain good beam quality, the network entity may trigger the beam reports frequently, but this may cause excessive signaling overhead, and/or high UE power consumption. On the other hand, to reduce signaling overhead and UE power consumption, the network entity may trigger the beam reports less frequently. However, this may cause performance degradation as the network entity cannot timely identify beam quality changes that could lead to beam failure.

One way to strike a balance between maintaining current beam quality and reducing signaling overhead and UE power consumption is for beam reporting to be initiated by the UE. However, complexities may arise for UE-initiated beam reports, such as configuration of the DL-RS for beam measurements, content of the beam reports, and uplink transmission mechanism of the UE-initiate beam reports.

Aspects of the present disclosure address the complexities associated with UE-initiated beam reports. The aspects include configuration of the DL-RS for UE-initiated beam measurements and reports, events to trigger UE-initiated beam reports, report content for UE-initiated beam reports, uplink transmission mechanism for the UE-initiated beam reports via medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) , uplink-control information (UCI) , etc., and/or CSI processing units (CPUs) occupancy rule for UE-initiated beam reports. In other aspects, the UE may report a UE capability of the supported configuration for UE-initiated beam reports to the network entity for the network entity to use when configuring and enabling the DL-RS for UE-initiated beam report.

According to some aspects, a UE receives, from a network entity, control signaling configuring downlink reference signals (DL-RS) resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The UE receives, from the network entity, DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources. The UE, transmits. to the network entity, the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

According to some aspects, a network entity transmits, to a UE, control signaling configuring downlink reference signals (DL-RS) resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The network entity transmits, to the UE, DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources. The network entity, receives, from the UE, the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information measured by the UE based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a wireless communications system that includes a plurality of user equipment (UEs) and network entities in communication over one or more cells according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a signaling diagram illustrating communications between a UE and a network entity to enable UE-initiated beam reporting according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on measurements of transmitted synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) from a physical serving cell and a neighbor cell according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on measurements of downlink reference signals (DL-RSs) associated with transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on configured DL-RS per serving cell or component carrier (CC) according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on UE beam selection of the highest beam quality and worst beam quality to report according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on beams associated with activated or indicated TCI states and beams not associated with activated or indicated TCI states according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on a beam subset configured by the network entity according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE transmits a beam report via one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) on uplink resources requested by a scheduling request (SR) reserved per cell group (CG) or per UE according to an embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE transmits a beam report via one or more MAC CEs on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per serving cell according to an embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE transmits a beam report via one or more MAC CEs on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per channel state information (CSI) report configuration according to an embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE transmits a beam report via uplink control information (UCI) on uplink resources requested a SR reserved per CG or per UE according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE transmits a beam report via UCI on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per serving cell according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE transmits a beam report via UCI on uplink resources requested a SR reserved per CSI report configuration according to an embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a UE for UE-initiated beam reporting according to an embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a network entity for UE-initiated beam reporting according to an embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a UE apparatus for UE-initiated beam reporting according to some embodiments.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for one or more network entities to support UE-initiated beam reporting according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram 100 of a wireless communications system associated with a plurality of cells 190 according to one embodiment. The wireless communications system includes user equipment (UEs) 102 and base stations/network entities 104. Some base stations may include an aggregated base station architecture and other base stations may include a disaggregated base station architecture. The aggregated base station architecture utilizes a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single radio access network (RAN) node. A disaggregated base station architecture utilizes a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (e.g., radio unit (RU) 106, distributed unit (DU) 108, central unit (CU) 110) . For example, a CU 110 is implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs 108 may be co-located with the CU 110, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs 108 may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs 106. Any of the RU 106, the DU 108 and the CU 110 can be implemented as virtual units, such as a virtual radio unit (VRU) , a virtual distributed unit (VDU) , or a virtual central unit (VCU) . The base station/network entity 104 (e.g., an aggregated base station or disaggregated units of the base station, such as the RU 106 or the DU 108) , may be referred to as a transmission reception point (TRP) .

Operations of the base station 104 and/or network designs may be based on aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base station architectures are utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open-radio access network (O-RAN) network, or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN) , which may also be referred to a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) . Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across the two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which can enable flexibility in network designs. The various units of the disaggregated base station architecture, or the disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit. For example, the base stations 104d, 104e and/or the RUs 106a, 106b, 106c, 106d may communicate with the UEs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, and/or 102s via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links based on a Uu interface. In examples, multiple RUs 106 and/or base stations 104 may simultaneously serve the UEs 102, such as by intra-cell and/or inter-cell access links between the UEs 102 and the RUs 106/base stations 104.

The RU 106, the DU 108, and the CU 110 may include (or may be coupled to) one or more interfaces configured to transmit or receive information/signals via a wired or wireless transmission medium. For example, a wired interface can be configured to transmit or receive the information/signals over a wired transmission medium, such as via the fronthaul link 160 between the RU 106d and the baseband unit (BBU) 112 of the base station 104d associated with the cell 190d. The BBU 112 includes a DU 108 and a CU 110, which may also have a wired interface (e.g., midhaul link) configured between the DU 108 and the CU 110 to transmit or receive the information/signals between the DU 108 and the CU 110. In further examples, a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver, such as an RF transceiver, configured to transmit and/or receive the information/signals via the wireless transmission medium, such as for information communicated between the RU 106a of the cell 190a and the base station 104e of the cell 190e via cross-cell communication beams 136-138 of the RU 106a and the base station 104e.

The RUs 106 may be configured to implement lower layer functionality. For example, the RU 106 is controlled by the DU 108 and may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or lower layer PHY functionality, such as execution of fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc. The functionality of the RU 106 may be based on the functional split, such as a functional split of lower layers.

The RUs 106 may transmit or receive over-the-air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 102. For example, the RU 106b of the cell 190b communicates with the UE 102b of the cell 190b via a first set of communication beams 132 of the RU 106b and a second set of communication beams 134b of the UE 102b, which may correspond to inter-cell communication beams or, in some examples, cross-cell communication beams. For instance, the UE 102b of the cell 190b may communicate with the RU 106a of the cell 190a via a third set of communication beams 134a of the UE 102b and a fourth set of communication beams 136 of the RU 106a. DUs 108 can control both real-time and non-real-time features of control plane and user plane communications of the RUs 106.

Any combination of the RU 106, the DU 108, and the CU 110, or reference thereto individually, may correspond to a base station 104. Thus, the base station 104 may include at least one of the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110. The base stations 104 provide the UEs 102 with access to a core network. The base stations 104 may relay communications between the UEs 102 and the core network (not shown) . The base stations 104 may be associated with macrocells for higher-power cellular base stations and/or small cells for lower-power cellular base stations. For example, the cell 190e may correspond to a macrocell, whereas the cells 190a-190d may correspond to small cells. Small cells include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc. A network that includes at least one macrocell and at least one small cell may be referred to as a “heterogeneous network. ”

Transmissions from a UE 102 to a base station 104/RU 106 are referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions, whereas transmissions from the base station 104/RU 106 to the UE 102 are referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. Uplink transmissions may also be referred to as reverse link transmissions and downlink transmissions may also be referred to as forward link transmissions. For example, the RU 106d utilizes antennas of the base station 104d of cell 190d to transmit a downlink/forward link communication to the UE 102d or receive an uplink/reverse link communication from the UE 102d based on the Uu interface associated with the access link between the UE 102d and the base station 104d/RU 106d.

Communication links between the UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may be based on multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be associated with one or more carriers. The UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may utilize a spectrum bandwidth of Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, 800, 1600, 2000, etc. MHz) per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz, where x component carriers (CCs) are used for communication in each of the uplink and downlink directions. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other along a frequency spectrum. In examples, uplink and downlink carriers may be allocated in an asymmetric manner, with more or fewer carriers allocated to either the uplink or the downlink. A primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers may be included in the component carriers. The primary component carrier may be associated with a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be associated with a secondary cell (SCell) .

Some UEs 102, such as the UEs 102a and 102s, may perform device-to-device (D2D) communications over sidelink. For example, a sidelink communication/D2D link utilizes a spectrum for a wireless wide area network (WWAN) associated with uplink and downlink communications. Such sidelink/D2D communication may be performed through various wireless communications systems, such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, Bluetooth systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, New Radio (NR) systems, etc.

The UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may each include a plurality of antennas. The plurality of antennas may correspond to antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays that may facilitate beamforming operations. For example, the RU 106b transmits a downlink beamformed signal based on a first set of communication beams 132 to the UE 102b in one or more transmit directions of the RU 106b. The UE 102b may receive the downlink beamformed signal based on a second set of communication beams 134b from the RU 106b in one or more receive directions of the UE 102b. In a further example, the UE 102b may also transmit an uplink beamformed signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS) ) to the RU 106b based on the second set of communication beams 134b in one or more transmit directions of the UE 102b. The RU 106b may receive the uplink beamformed signal from the UE 102b in one or more receive directions of the RU 106b. The UE 102b may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for the beamformed signals. The transmit and receive directions for the UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may or may not be the same.

In further examples, beamformed signals may be communicated between a first base station/RU 106a and a second base station 104e. For instance, the base station 104e of the cell 190e may transmit a beamformed signal to the RU 106a based on the communication beams 138 in one or more transmit directions of the base station 104e. The RU 106a may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 104e of the cell 190e based on the RU communication beams 136 in one or more receive directions of the RU 106a. In further examples, the base station 104e transmits a downlink beamformed signal to the UE 102e based on the communication beams 138 in one or more transmit directions of the base station 104e. The UE 102e receives the downlink beamformed signal from the base station 104e based on UE communication beams 130 in one or more receive directions of the UE 102e. The UE 102e may also transmit an uplink beamformed signal to the base station 104e based on the UE communication beams 130 in one or more transmit directions of the UE 102e, such that the base station 104e may receive the uplink beamformed signal from the UE 102e in one or more receive directions of the base station 104e.

The base station 104 may include and/or be referred to as a network entity. That is, “network entity” may refer to the base station 104 or at least one unit of the base station 104, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, and/or the CU 110. The base station 104 may also include and/or be referred to as a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB) , a next generation NB (gNB) , an evolved NB (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 TRP, a network node, network equipment, or other related terminology. The base station 104 or an entity at the base station 104 can be implemented as an IAB node, a relay node, a sidelink node, an aggregated (monolithic) base station, or a disaggregated base station including one or more RUs 106, DUs 108, and/or CUs 110. A set of aggregated or disaggregated base stations may be referred to as a next generation-radio access network (NG-RAN) . In some examples, the UE 102a operates in dual connectivity (DC) with the base station 104e and the base station/RU 106a. In such cases, the base station 104e can be a master node and the base station/RU 160a can be a secondary node.

Still referring to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, any of the UEs 102 may include a UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 configured to generate UE-initiated beam reporting. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may receive from the base station/network entity 104 a control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may receive DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may transmit to the base station/network entity 104 the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report may include beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

In certain aspects, any of the base stations 104 or a network entity of the base stations 104 may include a UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 configured to support UE-initiated beam reporting. The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 may transmit to any of the UEs 102 a control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 may receive from any of the UEs 102 the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report may include beam quality information measured by any of the UEs 102 based at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

Accordingly, FIG. 1 describes a wireless communication system that may be implemented in connection with aspects of one or more other figures described herein. Further, although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as 5G-Advanced and future versions, LTE, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , and other wireless technologies, such as 6G.

In beam management, a UE 102 and a network entity 104 may collaborate to identify, maintain, and/or refine preferred beams for transmission/reception and to support beamforming in the uplink and downlink directions. The network entity 104 may configure a CSI report configuration, e.g., CSI-ReportConfig, for beam measurement and report. For example, the network entity 104 may configure channel measurement resources (CMR) such as a list of SSB or CSI-RS resources for beam measurements by the UE 102. The network entity 104 may transmit DL-RS such as SSB or CSI-RS signals on the configured CMR using different beams so the UE 102 may receive and measure the SSB or CSI-RS signals to report the beam quality such as L1-RSRP or L1-SINR for the corresponding beams. The UE 102 may report the beam quality for a beam in a CSI report using an uplink resource.

Based on the received beam report, the network entity 104 may provide the beam activation/indication by indicating a TCI state or spatial relation information. For example, the network entity 104 may provide the beam indication for downlink channels by indicating one or more than one downlink or joint TCI states. The network entity 104 may provide the beam activation/indication for uplink channels by indicating one or more than one uplink or joint TCI states.

UE-initiated beam reporting enables the UE 102 to report the beam quality of a beam to the network entity 104 without receiving an explicit trigger from the network entity 104. The UE 102 may trigger a beam report for a configured DL-RS when the UE 102 detects that its movement, signal blockage, or other operating conditions sufficiently change the beam quality for a beam. The network entity 104 may respond to the UE-initiated beam report by switching the uplink and downlink beams by, for example, transmitting TCI activation/activation signaling to indicate different beams.

Aspects of the present disclosure address the complexities associated with UE-initiated beam reporting. The aspects include configuration of the DL-RS for UE-initiated beam measurements and reports, events to trigger UE-initiated beam reports, report content for UE-initiated beam reports, uplink transmission mechanism for the UE-initiated beam reports via medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) , uplink-control information (UCI) , etc., and/or CSI processing units (CPUs) occupancy rule for UE-initiated beam reports. In other aspects, the UE 102 may report a UE capability of the supported configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting to the network entity 104 for the network entity 104 to use when configuring and enabling the DL-RS for UE-initiated beam reporting. Advantageously, aspects of the UE-initiated beam reporting described herein may improve the performance and efficiency of beam management, allowing the network entity 104 to perform rapid and responsive switching between beams to improve system performance.

FIG. 2 is a signaling diagram 200 illustrating communications between a UE 102 and a network entity 104 to enable UE-initiated beam reporting according to an embodiment. The network entity 104 may correspond to a base station or a unit of a base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, the CU 110, etc.

The UE 102 may optionally transmit 202, to the network entity 104, (or the network entity 104 may receive 202 from the UE 102) , UE’s capability on supported, recommended, or preferred configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, UE 102 may report at least one of the following capabilities: whether the UE 102 supports UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of configured DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of configured DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of reported DL RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report; a maximum number of total configured DL-RS resources for both UE-initiated beam report and network configured or triggered beam reporting (e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic beam report) ; a maximum number of total configured DL-RS resources in a slot for both UE-initiated beam reporting and network configured or triggered beam report; supported DL RS types for beam measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting, e.g., SSB, 1-port CSI-RS or 2-port CSI-RS; supported report content for UE-initiated beam report, e.g., L1-RSRP, L1-SINR and/or additional information for each reported beam; whether the UE 102 supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on the beam quality measurement of DL-RS on DL-RS resources from a neighbor cell, etc. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the capability information of the UE 102 from a core network (e.g., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)) . In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the capability information from another base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) .

Based on the UE capability, the network entity 104 may transmit 204, to the UE 102 (or the UE 102 may receive 204 from the network entity 104) , control signaling configuring parameters to enable UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the parameters may optionally include beam report quantity and content, a list of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting, a scheduling request (SR) configuration to request uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource for UE-initiated beam reporting, etc. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may enable UE-initiated beam reporting based on whether the network entity 104 configures at least one DL-RS resource or resource set for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may transmit the configuration by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration. In the discussion that follows, a RRC signaling may indicate a RRC reconfiguration message from the network entity 104 to the UE 102, or a system information block (SIB) , where the SIB may be an existing SIB (e.g., SIB1) or a new SIB (e.g., SIB J, where J is an integer above 21) transmitted by the network entity 104.

The network entity 104 may transmit 208, to the UE 102 (or the UE 102 may receive 208 from the network entity 104) , DL-RS resources carrying DL-RSs for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may receive DL-RS resources transmitted from another network entity (e.g., a neighbor cell) for UE-initiated beam reporting. The DL-RS resources from the network entity 104 (e.g., serving cell) and/or from another network entity may be in the list of DL-RS resources configured by the parameters. The UE 102 may measure the DL-RS resources to generate 210 beam quality data or information based on at least one of the DL-RSs.

The UE 102 may determine whether to trigger the procedure for a UE-initiated beam report based on measurement of the list of DL RS resources. If the UE 102 determines to trigger the procedure for a UE-initiated beam report, the UE 102 may optionally transmit 212, to the network entity 104 (or the network entity 104 may receive 212 from the UE 102) , an SR to request an uplink resource for the UE-initiated beam report. In response to the SR, the network entity 104 may optionally transmit 214, to the UE 102 (or the UE 102 may receive 214 from the network entity 104) , a signal granting an uplink resource for the UE-initiated beam report.

After receiving the uplink resource, the UE 102 may transmit 216, to the network entity 104 (or the network entity 104 may receive 216 from the UE 102) , the UE-initiated beam report via the uplink resource. The UE-initiated beam report may be based on the beam quality data. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report on PUSCH by a MAC CE or UCI. In one embodiment, if the UE 102 determines to trigger the procedure for the UE-initiated beam report, the UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report on a configured PUCCH resource. In one embodiment, the UE-initiated beam report may include at least one of the following information: a serving cell index associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a CSI reporting configuration index associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a list of beam index (es) associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a list of beam quality for the beams indicated by the beam index (es) , and additional information for each beam. In the discussion that follows, One beam may correspond to one reference signal resource or one TCI state.

After receiving the UE-initiated beam report, the network entity 104 may optionally transmit 218, to the UE 102 (or the UE 102 may receive 218 from the network entity 104) , TCI activation or indication signaling to activate or indicate a TCI state. The network entity 104 and the UE 102 may communicate (e.g., downlink communication or uplink communication) based on the activated or indicated TCI state.

As previously noted, the network entity 104 may configure a list of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting. A physical serving cell of the network entity 104 or a neighbor cell may transmit DL-RSs such as SSB or CSI-RS signals on the configured DL-RS resources using different beams for the UE 102 to measure the quality of the beams. The UE 102 may initiate or trigger a transmission of a beam quality report (UE-initiated beam report) based on the measured beam quality.

In one aspect, the UE 102 may perform the beam measurement based on all the actually transmitted SSBs. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may measure the SSBs, e.g., transmitted SSBs, from the physical serving cell and/or neighbor cell for a UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the UE 102 may measure the SSBs configured by the SSB position in an SSB burst from the physical serving cell (e.g., ssb-PositionsInBurst configured in servingCellConfigCommonSIB or servingCellConfigCommon) . In another example, in addition to the SSBs from physical serving cell, the UE 102 may measure the SSBs from neighbor cell (s) , which are configured by the SSB position in an SSB burst from the neighbor cell (s) (e.g., ssb-PositionsInBurst configured in SSB-MTC-AdditionalPCI) .

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure neighbor cell index (es) , e.g., additionalPCI, for the beam measurement for UE-initiated beam report. If the neighbor cell index is not configured, the UE 102 measures the SSB from the physical serving cell.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of UE-initiated beam reporting based on measurements of transmitted SSBs 310 from a physical serving cell and a neighbor cell according to an embodiment. A physical serving cell 360 identified by physical channel identity (PCI) of 0 (PCI = 0) may transmit SSB signals on different SSB resources including SSB 1 (311) , SSB 3 (313) , SSB 4 (314) , SSB 5 (315) , SSB 7 (317) , and SSB 8 (318) . Physical serving cell 360 may not transmit SSB signals on SSB resources SSB 2 (310 and SSB 6 (316) . The network entity 104 may configure the UE 102 to enable UE-initiated beam reporting based on the transmitted SSBs 310 from the physical serving cell 360.

A neighbor cell 361 (PCI = 1) may transmit SSB signals on different SSB resources including SSB 1 (321) , SSB 2 (322) , SSB 3 (323) , SSB 4 (324) . Neighbor cell 361 may not transmit SSB signals on SSB resources SSB 5 (325) , SSB 6 (326) , SSB 7 (327) , and SSB 8 (328) . The network entity 104 may configure the UE 102 to enable UE-initiated beam reporting based on the transmitted SSBs 310 from neighbor cell 361.

A second neighbor cell 362 (PCI = 2) may transmit SSB signals on different SSB resources including SSB 2 (352) , SSB 3 (353) , SSB 4 (354) , SSB 6 (356) , and SSB 7 (357) . Neighbor cell 362 may not transmit SSB signals on SSB resources SSB 1 (351) , SSB 5 (355) , and SSB 8 (358) . The network entity 104 may not configure the UE 102 for UE-initiated beam reporting based on the transmitted SSBs 350 from neighbor cell 362.

The UE 102 may measure the beam quality associated with actually transmitted SSBs 310 from physical serving cell 360 (SSB 1 (311) , SSB 3 (313) , SSB 4 (314) , SSB 5 (315) , SSB 7 (317) , and SSB 8 (318) ) and from neighbor cell 361 (SSB 1 (321) , SSB 2 (322) , SSB 3 (323) , SSB 4 (324) ) for UE-initiated beam reporting. However, the UE 102 may not measure transmitted SSBs 350 from neighbor cell 362 (SSB 2 (352) , SSB 3 (353) , SSB 4 (354) , SSB 6 (356) , and SSB 7 (357) ) for UE-initiated beam reporting.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may further configure or indicate a SSB subset restriction for beam measurement, which configures a subset of SSBs from all the actually transmitted SSBs for UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the SSB subset restriction may take N bits, where N is the same as the number of transmitted SSBs, and one bit indicates whether one SSB is selected or not. The network entity 104 may configure or indicate the SSB subset restriction by RRC signalling, MAC CE, or downlink control information (DCI) .

In one embodiment, if there is no transmitted SSB configured in the physical serving cell, the UE 102 may use the SSBs transmitted in another serving cell in the same band or band combination or cell group. Alternatively, if there is no transmitted SSB configured in the physical serving cell, the network entity 104 may refrain from configuring the UE-initiated beam report in the physical serving cell.

In one aspect, the UE 102 may perform the beam measurement based on the DL-RSs associated with configured, activated, or indicated TCI states. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may measure the DL RS (s) associated with a list of TCI state (s) for UE-initiated beam report. In some implementations, a DL RS associated with a TCI state or a list of TCI state (s) may be a DL RS as a quasi-co-location (QCL) source RS or pathloss RS of the TCI state or the list of TCI state (s) . In some implementations, the list of TCI state (s) may be all the configured TCI states, e.g., downlink/joint TCI states (e.g., TCI states configured by dl-OrJointTCI-StateList) , and/or uplink TCI states (e.g., TCI states configured by ul-TCI-StateList) . In some other implementations, the list of TCI states may be all the activated TCI states, e.g., activated downlink/joint and/or uplink TCI state.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the DL RS resource for beam measurement in each TCI state. The network entity 104 may configure the DL RS resource index and/or additional PCI in each TCI state.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the DL RS resource for beam measurement in each TCI state based on the DL RS for beam indication (e.g., QCL or spatial relation indication) or the DL RS configured as pathloss reference signal. A DL RS for beam indication or spatial relation indication may refer to a DL RS for determining UL TX spatial filter for dynamic-grant and configured-grant based PUSCH and PUCCH resource in a component carrier (CC) , and SRS. In one example, the UE 102 may perform the beam measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting based on the DL RS for QCL or spatial relation indication. In another example, the UE 102 performs the beam measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting based on the SSB or CSI-RS that is QCLed with the DL RS for QCL or spatial relation indication. In some implementations, if there are more than one DL RS resources configured for QCL indication, the UE 102 may use the one of the DL RS for a certain QCL-Type indication, e.g., QCL-TypeD (spatial reception parameter) .

FIG. 4 illustrates an example 400 of UE-initiated beam reporting based on measurements of DL-RSs associated with TCI states 450 according to an embodiment. A physical serving cell or a neighbor cell may transmit the DL-RS resources 410 associated with configured or activated TCI states 450.

For example, SSB resource SSB 1 (411) of a physical serving cell may be associated with configured or activated TCI state 1 (451) ; SSB resource SSB 2 (412) of the physical serving cell may be associated with configured or activated TCI state 2 (452) ; SSB resource SSB 3 (413) of the physical serving cell may be associated with configured or activated TCI state 3 (453) ; and SSB resource of the physical serving cell SSB 4 (414) may be associated with configured or activated TCI state 1 (454) .

SSB resource SSB 1 (415) of an additional PCI (additionalPCI = 1) of the neighbor cell may be associated with TCI state 5 (455) ; SSB resource SSB 2 (416) of additionalPCI = 1 may be associated with TCI state 6 (456) ; SSB resource SSB 3 (417) of additionalPCI = 1 may be associated with TCI state 7 (457) ; and SSB resource SSB 4 (418) of additionalPCI = 1 may be associated with TCI state 8 (458) . The UE 102 may perform beam measurements on the beams carrying the DL-RSs 410 on the SSB resources associated with the configured or activated TCI states 450 for UE-initiated beam reporting.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may further configure or indicate a TCI subset restriction for beam measurement, which configures a subset of TCIs from all the configured or activated TCIs for UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the TCI subset restriction may take N bits, where N is the same as the number of configured or activated TCIs, and one bit indicates whether one TCI is selected or not. The network entity 104 may configure or indicate the TCI subset restriction by RRC signalling, MAC CE, or DCI.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may explicitly configure the list of DL-RS resources e.g., SSB/CSI-RS resources, for UE-initiated beam reporting. The network entity 104 may further configure whether a DL RS resource is associated with additional PCI or not, i.e., whether the DL RS resource is from a neighbor cell or not (or whether or not the DL RS resource is associated with or configured for or transmitted from a neighbor cell) .

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the list of DL RS resources included in or associated with a CSI report configuration (e.g., CSI-ReportConfig or LTM-CSI-ReportConfig) . The network entity 104 may further configure the report type (e.g., reportConfigType) as/for UE-initiated report. In one example, the network entity 104 may transmit, to the UE 102, configuration of the list of DL RS resources included in or associated with a CSI report configuration dedicated for UE initiated-beam reporting (e.g., UEInitiatedBeamReportConfig) .

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the list of DL RS resources per CC, e.g., in ServingCellConfig or UEInitiatedBeamReportConfig in ServingCellConfig, where UEInitiatedBeamReportConfig indicates the structure to configure the UE-initiated beam report. The network entity 104 may configure the DL RS resources in the serving cell configured by the ServingCellConfig. Alternatively, the network entity 104 may configure the serving cell index for each DL RS resource for cross-CC measurement and report. If the serving cell index is not configured, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the serving cell index is the same as the serving cell configured by the ServingCellConfig.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example 500 of UE-initiated beam reporting based on configured DL-RS per serving cell or component carrier (CC) according to an embodiment. Serving cell 1 (510) , serving cell 2 (520) , and serving cell 3 (530) may each transmit DL-RS resources (e.g., SSBs or CSI-RSs) . Serving cell 1 may be referred to as CC 1, serving cell 2 may be referred to as CC 2, and serving cell 3 may be referred to as CC 3 for carrier aggregation operation. The network entity 104 may configure DL-RS resources for cross-CC measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting.

Serving cell 1 (510) may transmit DL-RS resources SSB 1 (511) , SSB 2 (512) , SSB 3 (513) , and SSB 4 (514) . Further, DL-RS resources 515, 516, 517, 518 may be associated with an additional PCI (additionalPCI = 1) of neighbor cell for SSB 1 (515) , SSB 2 (516) , SSB 3 (517) , and SSB 4 (518) . Serving cell 2 may transmit DL-RS resources CSI-RS 1 (521) , CSI-RS 2 (522) , CSI-RS 3 (523) , CSI-RS 4 (524) , CSI-RS 5 (525) , CSI-RS 6 (526) , CSI-RS 7 (527) , and CSI-RS 8 (528) . Serving cell 3 (530) may transmit DL-RS resources CSI-RS 2 (532) , CSI-RS 3 (533) , and CSI-RS 8 (538) .

The network entity 104 may configure the list of DL-RS resources per CC (e.g., per serving cell) for cross-CC measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting. For example, the network entity 104 may indicate for serving cell 3 (530) that DL-RS resource 531 is associated with CSI-RS 1 (521) from serving cell 2 (520) , DL-resource 534 is associated with CSI-RS 4 (524) from serving cell 2 (520) , DL-RS resource 535 is associated with SSB 1 (511) from serving cell 1 (510) , DL-RS resource 536 is associated with SSB 2 (521) from serving cell 1 (510) , and DL-RS resource 537 is associated with SSB 3 (517) from serving cell 1 and associated with additional PCI (additionalPCI = 1) . The UE 102 may perform beam measurements on the beams from other serving cells indicated by DL-RS resources 531, 534, 535, 536, and 537 for UE-initiated beam reporting.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the list of DL RS resources per CC group, e.g., in CellGroupConfig or UEInitiatedBeamReportConfig in CellGroupConfig. The network entity 104 may transmit the DL RS resources in the primary cell (PCell) or primary secondary cell (PSCell) in the cell group configured by the CellGroupConfig. Alternatively, the network entity 104 may configure the serving cell index for each DL RS resource for cross-CC measurement and report. If the serving cell index is not configured, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the serving cell index is the same as one of the serving cells configured in the CellGroupConfig, e.g., PCell or PSCell.

In one embodiment, if the network entity 104 configures to enable the UE-initiated beam report (e.g., by the parameter) , the network entity 104 may configure at least one DL RS resource for the UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, if the network entity 104 configures to enable the UE-initiated beam report (e.g., by the parameter) , and the network entity 104 does not configure any DL RS resource for the UE-initiated beam report, the UE 102 may measure the beam quality based on the actually transmitted SSB (s) or the DL RS resources associated with configured or activated TCI state (s) for the UE-initiated beam report as presented.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may further configure or indicate a DL-RS subset restriction for beam measurement, which configures a subset of DL-RS resources from all the configured DL-RS resources for a UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the DL-RS subset restriction may take N bits, where N is the same as the number of configured DL-RS resource, and one bit indicates whether one DL-RS is selected or not. The network entity 104 may configure or indicate the DL-RS subset restriction by RRC signalling, MAC CE or DCI.

Based on the beam measurements of the actually transmitted SSBs, the DL-RS resources associated with configured or activated TCI states, or the DL-RS resources explicitly configured by the network entity 104, the UE 102 may determine whether the UE 102 detected an event to trigger a UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine to trigger the UE-initiated beam report procedure if the UE 102 detects at least one of the following events:

● Event 1: Beam quality for a first set of DL RS (s) for a serving cell or bandwidth part (BWP) , which may be associated with one or a subset of or all the activated or indicated TCI states for the serving cell or BWP, is below a first threshold.

● Event 2: Beam quality for one of the second set of DL RSs in the configured list for a serving cell or BWP is better than or larger than one or a subset of or all the first set of DL RSs, which may be associated with activated or indicated TCI states for the serving cell or BWP, plus a first offset

● Event 3: Beam quality for one of the second set of DL RSs in the configured list for a serving cell or BWP is better than a second threshold.

● Event 4: A first timer for UE-initiated beam report expires.

● Event 5: Beam quality change for one of or a subset of or all the first set of DL RS (s) for a serving cell or BWP, which may be associated with one or a subset of or all the activated or indicated TCI states for the serving cell or BWP, is above a third threshold.

● Event 6: Measured Power Management Maximum Power Reduction (P-MPR) for one of or a subset of or all the first set of DL RS (s) for a serving cell or BWP, which may be associated with one or a subset of or all the activated or indicated TCI states for the serving cell or BWP, is above a fourth threshold.

● Event 7: PCell beam failure recovery (BFR) configuration is not configured by the network entity 104 (e.g., BFR counter) or event/condition for triggering PCell BFR procedure (e.g., BFR MAC-CE) is not achieved (e.g., the BFR counter does not achieve a triggering value or triggering value-1) .

● Event 8: SCell BFR configuration is not configured by the network entity 104 (e.g., PUCCH resource for BFR, SR ID for BFR, BFR counter) or event/condition for triggering SCell BFR procedure (e.g., transmission of RA preamble or BFR MAC-CE) is not achieved (e.g., the BFR counter does not achieve a triggering value or triggering value-1) .

In one embodiment, the first threshold, second threshold, third threshold, fourth threshold, the first offset, and/or the duration for the first timer may be pre-defined or configured or indicated by the network entity 104 via RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. In some implementations, the measured unit of the first/second/third/fourth threshold may be one of L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, BLER, SNR, and CQI index. The UE 102 may start or reset the first timer after it transmits the first symbol or last symbol of the PUCCH or PUSCH for beam report. In some implementations, the first threshold, second threshold, the first offset, and/or the duration for the first timer may be configured per BWP, per serving cell, per band, per band combinations, or per cell group.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure whether the UE 102 should perform the measurement and/or transmitting report for the UE-initiated beam report in DRX inactive time. The UE 102 may determine the duration of the first timer further based on the discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration. In one example, the UE 102 may determine the duration for the first timer based on the inactive time duration for DRX and the configured duration for the first timer. In another example, the network entity 104 may configure multiple durations for the first timer, where different durations corresponds to different DRX configurations. In some other implementations, the network entity 104 may configure the UE 102 to perform UE initiated beam report in DRX active time and inactive time.

In one embodiment, the beam quality may be L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR, which may be predefined, or configured by the network entity 104.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may detect the event per serving cell. Thus, the DL RSs for event detection are from one serving cell. In some other implementations, the UE 102 may detect the event per serving cell group or per band or per band combinations. Thus, the DL RSs for event detection may be from or associated with the same serving cell or different serving cells.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the time domain measurement restriction for the beam measurement for a UE-initiated beam report. If the time domain measurement restriction is configured, the UE 102 measures the beam quality for a DL RS based on one transmission occasion of the DL RS; otherwise, the UE 102 may measure the beam quality for a DL RS based on one or multiple transmission occasions of the DL RS. In some other implementations, the network entity 104 may refrain from configuring the time domain measurement restriction for the beam measurement for UE-initiated beam report.

When the UE 102 detects an event to trigger a UE-initiated beam report, the UE 102 may determine the content of the beam report. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report at least one of the following: a serving cell index, CSI report configuration index, a list of beam index (es) , beam quality for each DL-RS resources indicated by the reported beam index (es) , additional information, etc. For example, the serving cell index may be the serving cell index for the first/second set of DL RS that the UE 102 has measured or the serving cell index with the CSI report configuration. In one example, the CSI report configuration index may indicate the CSI report configuration with the list of DL RS configured. In one example, the list of beam index (es) may indicate the first/second set of DL RS resource index (es) from the measured list of DL RS. In one example, the additional information may be reported for each DL RS resource indicated by the reported beam index.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report power headroom (PH) for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , where the pathloss is measured based on the DL RS resource. The PH may help the network entity 104 identify the maximum scheduling bandwidth for an uplink signal if the beam indication for the uplink signal is based on the DL RS.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , when the DL RS resource is used for uplink beam indication. The P-MPR may also help the network entity 104 identify the maximum scheduling bandwidth for an uplink signal if the beam indication for the uplink signal is based on the DL RS.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report maximum transmission power (Pcmax) for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , when the DL RS resource is used for uplink beam indication. The Pcmax may also help the network entity 104 identify the maximum scheduling bandwidth for an uplink signal if the beam indication for the uplink signal is based on the DL RS.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report whether the UE 102 has measured the QCL parameters (at least one of the delay spread, Doppler spread, average delay, Doppler shift or spatial reception filter) for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , or not, which indicates whether the UE 102 requires additional delay to measure the QCL related parameters for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , or not. The status of whether the UE 102 has measured L3-RSRP or not may help the network entity 104 or the UE 102 to determine the TCI switching latency for uplink signals, where the network entity 104 or the UE 102 can determine whether additional delay for pathloss measurement is needed or not for beam switching based on the DL RS. If the network entity 104 determines additional delay for pathloss measurement is needed for beam switching based on the DL RS, the network entity 104 may transmit additional signalling to inform the UE 102.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report whether the UE 102 has measured the QCL parameters (delay spread, Doppler spread, average delay, Doppler shift, or spatial reception filter) for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , or not, which indicates whether the UE 102 requires additional delay to measure the QCL related parameters for each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) , or not.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report whether the UE 102 determines a TCI state based on each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) as a known or unknown TCI state. The information on whether the UE 102 has measured the QCL parameters for the DL RS resource or whether the UE 102 determines the TCI state based on the DL RS resource as a known or unknown TCI state could help the network entity 104 or the UE 102 to determine the TCI switching latency for the downlink signals, where the network entity 104 or the UE 102 can determine whether additional delay is needed for the UE 102 to track the TCI state. If the network entity 104 determines the TCI switching latency for the downlink signals, the network entity 104 may transmit additional signalling to inform the UE 102.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report UE panel or panel type index (e.g., capability index or index corresponding to a UE capability on maximum number of sounding reference signal (SRS) ports for a panel) corresponds to each DL RS resource (s) indicated by the reported beam index (es) . The information of UE panel or panel type index can help the network entity 104 to identify the potential UE capability, e.g., number of SRS ports, when the DL RS resource is used for uplink beam indication.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report detected event (s) for the UE-initiated beam report. For example, the UE may report an index or bit value representing a detected event.

In one embodiment, if the UE 102 determines the DL RS based on the actually transmitted SSBs, the UE 102 may report the list of beam index (es) as a list of SSB index (es) based on the SSB index for each actually transmitted SSBs. The UE 102 may further report an indicator indicating physical cell ID for the each reported SSB.

In one embodiment, if the UE 102 determines the DL RS based on the configured or activated TCI states, the UE 102 may report the list of beam index (es) as a list of TCI state index (es) .

In one embodiment, if the network entity 104 explicitly configures the list of DL RS for UE-initiated beam reporting, the UE 102 may report the list of beam index (es) as a list of SSB resource index (es) (SSBRI) or CSI-RS resource index (es) (CRI) based on the SSB/CSI-RS resource order configured in the list of DL-RS resources.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report the L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR as the beam quality for each reported beam. In one example, the UE 102 may report absolute L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR for all the reported beams (e.g., SSB/CSI-RS corresponds to all the reported SSBRIs/CRIs) . In another example, the UE 102 may report absolute L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR for the best beam, e.g., the beam (e.g., SSB/CSI-RS) with highest L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR reported, and differential L1-RSRP and/or L1-SINR for other beams (e.g., other SSBs/CSI-RSs corresponds to other SSB resource indicator or CRI-RS resource indicator) based on the measured or quantized L1-SINR and/or L1-SINR for the best beam.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report the information in the report content by one message, e.g., PUSCH or PUCCH. In some other implementations, the UE 102 may report some of the information (e.g., serving cell index, and/or CSI report configuration index, and/or detected event) in the report content by a first message, e.g., SR, and report the rest of information in the report content by a second message, e.g., PUSCH or PUCCH.

In one aspect, the UE 102 may select the beams whose measured information the UE 102 wants to report. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report N beam index (es) and beam quality in one UE initiated beam report, where the value of N may be pre-defined, or configured by the network entity 104 or reported by the UE 102.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report top-N beams with the highest or higher beam quality. In one embodiment, the UE 102 reports the best N1 beams from the beams or beams with beam quality above a third threshold, and the worst N-N1 beams from the beams with the worst beam quality or beam quality below a fourth threshold, so that the network entity 104 can pair another UE 102 with good beam quality at the worst N-N1 beams for multi-user multiple input and multiple output (MU-MIMO) operation. The third and fourth thresholds may be pre-defined or configured by the network entity 104 or reported by the UE 102. The value of N1 may be configured by the network entity 104 or determined by the UE 102, or predefined.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example 600 of UE-initiated beam reporting based on UE beam selection of the highest beam quality and the worst beam quality to report according to an embodiment. The UE 102 may measure 32 beams 610 carrying DL-RS resource. The 32 beams 610 are indexed along the azimuth of departure (AoD) direction followed by the zenith of departure (ZoD) direction. For example, the first 8 beams are indexed [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] along the azimuth direction at the lowest zenith angle; the next 8 beams are indexed [8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15] along the azimuth direction at the next higher zenith angle, so and on.

Based on the measured beams 610, the UE 102 may report the beams 660 that have the best beam quality as beams with index 11 (611) and index 28 (628) . The UE 102 may report the beams 670 that have the worst beam quality as beams with index 13 (613) and index 26 (626) .

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the maximum number of reported beams N_max, and the UE 102 reports the number of reported beams N in the beam report, where N is in the range of [1, N_max] . In another example, the network entity 104 configures or indicates the number of reported beams for the UE-initiated beam report by RRC signaling or MAC CE or DCI. The network entity 104 may configure or indicate the number of reported beams for the UE-initiated beam report per report occasion, per serving cell, or per serving cell group.

In one aspect, the selection of the beams to report may be rule based. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report N beam index (es) and beam quality in one UE-initiated beam report, where the UE 102 reports the beam quality for N1 activated or indicated TCI states, and/or beam quality for N2 beams in the list of DL RS other than the DL RS associated with the N1 or all the activated or indicated TCI states. The value of N, N1, and/or N2 may be pre-defined or configured by the network entity 104 or reported by the UE 102.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the value of N1 based on the number of activated or indicated TCI states, and/or the UE 102 reports the value of N2 or N in the UE-initiated beam report. In another example, the UE 102 determines the value of N1 based on the number of activated or indicated TCI states, and the network entity 104 configures the value of N or N2. In another example, the network entity 104 configures the value of N1 and N2.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example 700 of UE-initiated beam reporting based on beams associated with activated or indicated TCI states and beams not associated with activated or indicated TCI states according to an embodiment.

The UE may measure 32 beams 710 carrying DL-RS resource. The 32 beams 710 are indexed along the azimuth of departure (AoD) direction followed by the zenith of departure (ZoD) direction as described in Figure 6.

Based on the measured beams 710, the UE 102 may report beams 760 that are associated with activated or indicated TCI states as beams with index 11 (711) and index 28 (728) . The UE 102 may report beams 770 that that are not associated with activated or indicated TCI states as beams with index 13 (713) and index 26 (726) .

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may select the N2 beams based on the beam quality. In one example, the UE 102 may report the best N2 beams from the beams other than the N1 beams with the best beam quality. In another example, the UE 102 may report the best N3 beams from the beams other than the N1 beams with the best beam quality and worst N2-N3 beams from the beams other than the N1 beams with the worst beam quality, so that the network entity 104 can pair another UE 102 with good beam quality at the worst N2-N3 beams for MU-MIMO operation. The value of N3 may be configured by the network entity 104 or determined by the UE 102, or predefined.

In one aspect, the selection of the beams to report may be based on a beam subset configuration. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a beam subset with N1 beams, and the UE 102 always reports the beam quality for the N1 beams in the UE-initiated beam report. The UE 102 may select the remaining N2=N-N1 beams to report in the UE-initiated beam report. The value of N and/or N2 may be configured by the network entity 104 or reported by the UE 102.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example 800 of UE-initiated beam reporting based on a beam subset configured by the network entity 104 according to an embodiment.

The UE 102 may measure 32 beams 810 carrying DL-RS resource. The 32 beams 810 are indexed along the azimuth of departure (AoD) direction followed by the zenith of departure (ZoD) direction as described in Figures 6 or 7.

Based on the measured beams 810, the UE 102 may report the beams 860 that are configured to be reported in a beam subset as beams with index 11 (811) and index 28 (828) . The UE 102 may report beams 870 that that are not in the configured beam subset as beams with index 13 (813) and index 26 (826) .

In one aspect, the UE 102 and/or the network entity 104 may determine an uplink transmission mechanism for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one aspect, the UE 102 may transmit a UE-initiated beam report by a MAC CE.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may multiplex one or more MAC CEs including the MAC CE for a UE-initiated beam report based on a priority. The UE 102 may transmit the transport block with the one or more MAC CEs from the highest priority to the lowest priority, where the total payload size for the one or more MAC CEs and data from logical channels is equal to or below the scheduled transport block size.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine that the priority for the MAC CE for a UE-initiated beam report is the same as a first type of logical channel (s) , where the first type of logical channel (s) indicates existing logical channel (s) that share the same priority for logical channel multiplexing. Then, the UE 102 may determine to multiplex the MAC CE for UE-initiated beam report first or the first type of logical channel (s) first.

In one example, the priority for the MAC CE for UE initiated beam report is the same as the MAC CE for beam failure recovery (BFR) . Logical channels may be prioritized in accordance with the following order (highest priority listed first) . The UE may determine the priority for the MAC CE for UE initiated beam report is the same as another MAC CE in other examples.

● MAC CE for C-RNTI, or data from UL-CCCH;

● MAC CE for UE-initiated beam report, MAC CE for (Enhanced) BFR, or MAC CE for Configured Grant Confirmation, or MAC CE for Multiple Entry Configured Grant Confirmation;

● MAC CE for Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation;

● MAC CE for LBT failure;

● MAC CE for Timing Advance Report;

● MAC CE for SL-BSR prioritized according to section 5.22.1.6 of 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.321;

● MAC CE for (Extended) BSR, with exception of BSR included for padding;

● MAC CE for (Enhanced) Single Entry PHR, or MAC CE for (Enhanced) Multiple Entry PHR;

● MAC CE for Positioning Measurement Gap Activation/Deactivation Request;

● MAC CE for the number of Desired Guard Symbols;

● MAC CE for Case-6 Timing Request;

● MAC CE for (Extended) Pre-emptive BSR;

● MAC CE for SL-BSR, with exception of SL-BSR prioritized according to clause 5.22.1.6 of 3GPP TS 38.321 and SL-BSR included for padding;

● MAC CE for IAB-MT Recommended Beam Indication, or MAC CE for Desired IAB-MT PSD range, or MAC CE for Desired DL Tx Power Adjustment;

● data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH;

● MAC CE for Recommended bit rate query;

● MAC CE for BSR included for padding;

● MAC CE for SL-BSR included for padding

In an embodiment, the UE 102 may determine MAC CE for a UE-initiated beam report is with a priority different from the other types of MAC CE. In one example, the priority for the MAC CE for a UE-initiated beam report is lower than Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation and higher than the LBT failure. The UE 102 may determine different priority orders in other examples. Logical channels shall be prioritized in accordance with the following order (highest priority listed first) :

● MAC CE for C-RNTI, or data from UL-CCCH;

● MAC CE for (Enhanced) BFR, or MAC CE for Configured Grant Confirmation, or MAC CE for Multiple Entry Configured Grant Confirmation;

● MAC CE for Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation;

● MAC CE for UE-initiated beam report;

● MAC CE for LBT failure;

● MAC CE for Timing Advance Report;

● MAC CE for SL-BSR prioritized according to section 5.22.1.6 of 3GPP TS 38.321;

● MAC CE for (Extended) BSR, with exception of BSR included for padding;

● MAC CE for Positioning Measurement Gap Activation/Deactivation Request;

● MAC CE for the number of Desired Guard Symbols;

● MAC CE for Case-6 Timing Request;

● MAC CE for (Extended) Pre-emptive BSR;

● MAC CE for SL-BSR, with exception of SL-BSR prioritized according to section 5.22.1.6 of 3GPP TS 38.321 and SL-BSR included for padding;

● data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH;

● MAC CE for Recommended bit rate query;

● MAC CE for BSR included for padding;

● MAC CE for SL-BSR included for padding

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report one UE-initiated beam report (e.g., UE initiated beam report corresponds to a serving cell) by one MAC CE and report multiple UE initiated beam reports by multiple MAC CEs. In one example, the UE 102 may report a first bitmap indicating the serving cell index (es) that it has detected an event for UE-initiated beam report in the MAC CE, and report the corresponding beam index (es) , beam quality, and/or additional information for each reported serving cell.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may report a second bitmap indicating one or more serving cell index (es) . The one or more serving cell index (es) in the second bitmap may refer to serving cell (s) with UE-initiated beam report configured. Each bit or field in the second bitmap may provide additional information about the serving cell (s) . For example, if one field/bit of the second bitmap is set to 1, it may indicate that at least one of the followings: an event for UE-initiated beam report is detected in the serving cell indicated by the field/bit, or an evaluation of the corresponding beams has been completed in the serving cell indicated by the field/bit, or an octet field in the MAC-CE containing corresponding beam index (es) is present for the serving cell indicated by the field/bit.

In one example, if one field/bit is set to 0 of the second bitmap, it may indicate that at least one of the followings: no event for UE-initiated beam report is or has been detected in the serving cell indicated by the field/bit, or an event for UE-initiated beam report is detected in the serving cell indicated by the field/bit, but the evaluation of the corresponding beams has not been completed or corresponding beams has not been detected/identified in the serving cell indicated by the field/bit, or an octet or field in the MAC-CE containing corresponding beam index (es) is not present for the serving cell indicated by the field/bit.

In one embodiment, if one dedicated SR for requesting uplink resource for a UE-initiated beam report and K PUCCHs carrying K SRs collide with other PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK or CSI in a resource using PUCCH format 2, 3 and 4, when multiplexing these K+1 SRs, positive dedicated SR for requesting uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report is prioritized over positive SR (s) among the K SR (s) . In some other implementations, if the PUCCH for one SR for requesting uplink resource for a UE-initiated beam report, PUCCH for one SR for BFR, and/or PUCCH for at least one SR for other functionalities collide with other PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK or CSI in a resource using PUCCH format 2, 3 and 4, when multiplexing SR in the PUCCH, the network 104 entity and UE 102 may report one of the positive SR multiplexing based on the priority of the positive SRs. Thus, the UE 102 reports one positive SR with highest priority by ceil (log2 (K+1) ) bits in the UCI if K PUCCHs for SRs collide with the PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK or CSI in a PUCCH format 2, 3 and 4. If value of the ceil (log2 (K+1) ) bits is X, it indicates the SR X is positive, where the order of the SRs is based on the ID for the SR configured by the network entity 104.

In one example, the priority is pre-determined as SR for UE-initiated beam report > SR for BFR > SR for other functionalities. In another example, the priority is pre-determined as SR for BFR > SR for UE-initiated beam report > SR for other functionalities. In yet another example, the priority is pre-determined as SR for BFR > SR for other functionalities > SR for UE-initiated beam report.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one dedicated SR per cell group (CG) or per UE for the UE 102 to request the uplink resource for the MAC CE for UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may configure one SR ID for the dedicated SR, e.g., SchedulingRequestId in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig.

In one embodiment, if the dedicated SR is not configured and/or if there is no available uplink resource, the UE 104 may request the uplink resource by a physical random access channel (PRACH) , e.g., PRACH for contention based random access (CBRA) procedure, or the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by another SR, e.g., an SR other than SR dedicated for UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell in the cell group and/or if there is no available uplink resource, the UE 102 may transmit the dedicated SR to request the uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report. After receiving an uplink grant, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity in the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example 900 of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE 102 transmits a beam report via one or more medium access control (MAC) control elements (CEs) on uplink resources requested by a scheduling request (SR) 910 reserved per cell group (CG) or per UE according to an embodiment.

SR 910 may be dedicated to a cell group 1 (920) for UE 102 to use to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting. Cell group 1 (920) may include serving cell 1 (921) , serving cell 2 (922) , and serving cell 3 (923) . Serving cell 1 (921) and serving cell 2 (922) constitute two serving cells 930 where UE 102 has detected an event to trigger a UE-initiated beam report.

The UE 102 in either serving cell 1 (921) or serving cell 2 (922) may use SR 910 to request an uplink resource to transmit the UE-initiated beam report. The network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant 950 to grant an uplink resource 960 and trigger a CSI/beam report for the UE-initiated beam report. The UE may transmit the UE-initiated beam report for serving cell 1 (921) and/or serving cell 2 (922) via MAC CE (s) using the uplink resource 960.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one dedicated SR per serving cell for the UE 102 to request the uplink resource for the MAC CE for a UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may configure a list of SR ID, e.g., SchedulingRequestIdList in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig, where different SR ID corresponds to different serving cells.

In one embodiment, if the SR for a serving cell is not configured and/or if there is no available uplink resource, the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by a PRACH, e.g., PRACH for CBRA procedure, or the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by another SR, e.g., SR other than SR dedicated for UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the associated serving cell index for each SR ID. In some other implementations, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the associated serving cell for each SR ID based on the order of the SR ID in the SR list and the serving cell index for the serving cell with UE-initiated beam report configured.

In one embodiment, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell, it may transmit the corresponding SR to request the uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report and/or if there is no available uplink resource. If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE initiated beam report for more than one serving cells and/or if there is no available uplink resource, it may transmit one of the SRs with highest priority, where the UE 102 may determine the priority for each SR based on at least one of factors including the associated serving cell index, SR ID or detected event (s) . Alternatively, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one serving cells and/or if there is no available uplink resource, it may transmit all the corresponding SRs.

In one embodiment, after receiving an uplink grant, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the MAC CE for UE-initiated beam report except for the serving cell index. In some other implementations, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the MAC CE for UE-initiated beam report including the serving cell index.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example 1000 of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE 102 transmits a beam report via one or more MAC CEs on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per serving cell according to an embodiment.

SR 1 (1011) may be reserved for the UE to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for serving cell 1 (1021) . SR 2 (1012) may be reserved for the UE to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for serving cell 2 (1022) . SR 3 (1013) may be reserved for the UE to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for serving cell 3 (1023) . Serving cell 1 (1021) and serving cell 2 (1022) constitute two serving cells 1030 whose UE 102 has detected an event to trigger a UE-initiated beam report.

The UE 102 may transmit SR 1 (1011) and/or SR 2 (1012) 1040 to request an uplink resource to transmit the UE-initiated beam report. The network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant 1050 to grant an uplink resource 1060 and trigger a CSI/beam report for the UE-initiated beam report. The UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report for serving cell 1 (1021) and/or serving cell 2 (1022) via MAC CE (s) using the uplink resource 1060.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one dedicated SR per CSI report configuration in a serving cell for the UE 102 to request the uplink resource for the MAC CE for a UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may configure a list of SR ID, e.g., SchedulingRequestIdList in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig, where different SR ID corresponds to different CSI report configurations for UE-initiated beam reporting.

In one embodiment, if the SR for a CSI report configuration is not configured and/or if there is no available uplink resource, the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by a PRACH, e.g., PRACH for CBRA procedure, or the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by another SR, e.g., SR other than SR dedicated for UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the associated CSI report configuration for each SR ID. In some other implementations, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the associated CSI report configuration for each SR ID based on the order of the SR ID in the SR list and the serving cell index for the CSI report configuration and the CSI report configuration ID for UE-initiated beam reporting.

In one embodiment, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a CSI report configuration and/or if there is no available uplink resource, it may transmit the corresponding SR to request the uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report. If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one CSI report configurations and/or if there is no available uplink resource, it may transmit one of the SRs with highest priority, where the UE 102 may determine the priority for each SR based on at least one of factors including the serving cell index for the CSI report configuration, CSI report configuration ID, SR ID or detected event (s) . Alternatively, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one CSI report configurations and/or if there is no available uplink resource, the UE 102 may transmit all the corresponding SRs.

In one embodiment, after receiving an uplink grant, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report except for the serving cell index and/or CSI report configuration index. In some other implementations, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the MAC CE for UE- initiated beam report including the serving cell index and/or CSI report configuration index.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example 1100 of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE 102 transmits a beam report via one or more MAC CEs on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per channel state information (CSI) report configuration according to an embodiment.

SR 1 (1111) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for CSI report configuration 1 (1121) . SR 2 (1112) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for CSI report configuration 2 (1122) . SR 3 (1113) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for CSI report configuration 3 (1123) . The UE 102 may detect an event 1130 to trigger a UE-initiated beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1121) and CSI report configuration 2 (1122) in a serving cell.

The UE 102 may transmit SR 1 (1111) and/or SR2 (1112) 1140 to request an uplink resource to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1121) and/or CSI report configuration 2 (1122) . The network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant 1150 to indicate an uplink resource 1160 and trigger the CSI report (s) for CSI report configuration 1 (1121) and/or CSI report configuration 2 (1122) . The UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1121) and/or CSI report configuration 2 (1122) via MAC CE (s) using the uplink resource 1160.

In one aspect, the UE 102 may transmit the UE initiated beam report by UCI in PUCCH or PUSCH. For examples, the UE 102 may multiplex the UE-initiated beam report on a PUCCH or PUSCH, and may transmit the PUCCH or PUSCH.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may not multiplex the UCI for a UE-initiated beam report and other types of UCIs, e.g., SR, Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) or CSI. When the 102 UE detects the collision between the PUSCH/PUCCH with the UCI for a UE-initiated beam report and another PUSCH/PUCCH with other types of UCI, the UE 102 may drop the UCI with lower priority. In one example, the priority may be pre-determined, e.g., SR > HARQ-ACK > UCI for UE-initiated beam report > CSI (other than UCI for UE-initiated beam report) , or SR > UCI for UE-initiated beam report > HARQ-ACK > CSI (other than UCI for UE-initiated beam report) , or UCI for UE-initiated beam report > SR > HARQ-ACK > CSI (other than UCI for UE-initiated beam report) . In another example, the priority may be configured by the network entity 104.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may detect collision of one PUSCH/PUCCH with UCI(s) and another one PUSCH/PUCCH with UCI (s) if the time occupancy of these PUSCH/PUCCH scheduled to carry UCI (s) overlap in at least one OFDM symbol and are transmitted on the same carrier or serving cell.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may multiplex the UCI for a UE-initiated beam report and other types of UCIs when the UE 102 detects the collision between the PUSCH/PUCCH with the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report and another PUSCH/PUCCH with other types of UCI. The UE 102 may multiplex the UCIs based on a priority order. The priority order may be pre-defined or configured by the network entity 104.

In one embodiment, for UCI multiplexing and dropping, the UE 102 and network entity 104 may determine the UCI for UE-initiated beam report as a type of CSI report and determine the priority based on at least one of the following factors: time-domain behavior for the CSI report (e.g., UE-initiated, aperiodic, semi-persistent, or periodic) , the serving cell index, the report content, or a CSI report configuration identifier (ID) .

In one embodiment, the UE-initiated beam report may be based on a lower priority than other types of beam report. Then the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the priority for a CSI report as follows. The priority for a first CSI report is higher than the priority of a CSI report if the value of Pri_iCSI (y, k, c, s) is lower. The UE 102 may determine different priority order for a UE-initiated beam report, aperiodic/semi-persistent/periodic CSI report as the following examples illustrate.

In one embodiment, CSI reports are associated with a priority value Pri_iCSI (y, k, c, s) =2·N_cells·M_s·y+N_cells·M_s·k+M_s·c+s where y = 0 for aperiodic CSI reports to be carried on PUSCH, y = 1 for semi-persistent CSI reports to be carried on PUSCH, y = 2 for semi-persistent CSI reports to be carried on PUCCH and y = 3 for periodic CSI reports to be carried on PUCCH, y = 4 for UE-initiated CSI report (or UE-initiated beam report) ; k = 0 for CSI reports carrying L1-RSRP or L1-SINR and k = 1 for CSI reports not carrying L1-RSRP or L1-SINR; c is the serving cell index and N_cells is the maximum number of serving cells, e.g., value of the higher layer parameter maxNrofServingCells; and s is the reportConfigID for CSI report configuration and M_s is the maximum number of CSI report configurations, e.g., value of the higher layer parameter maxNrofCSI-ReportConfigurations.

In one embodiment, the CSI report configuration ID to determine the priority for the UE-initiated beam report may be pre-defined, e.g., 0, or configured by the network entity 104.

In one embodiment, a first set of CSI/UCI report (s) associated with UE-initiated report configuration and a second set of CSI/UCI report (s) associated with CSI-ReportConfig (not for UE-initiated beam report) may calculate/determine priority value of Pri_iCSI separately. In some cases, priority of a CSI/UCI report from the first set of CSI/UCI report (s) is always higher than a CSI/UCI report from the second set of CSI/UCI report (s) (regardless of their priority value) . In some other cases, priority of a CSI/UCI report from the first set of CSI/UCI report (s) is always lower than a CSI/UCI report from the second set of CSI/UCI report (s) (regardless of their priority value) .

In one embodiment, if one dedicated SR for requesting uplink resource for a UE-initiated beam report and K PUCCHs carrying K SRs collide with other PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK or CSI in a resource using PUCCH format 2, 3 and 4, when multiplexing these K+1 SRs, positive dedicated SR for requesting uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report is prioritized over positive SR (s) among the K SR (s) . In some other implementations, if the PUCCH for one SR for requesting uplink resource for a UE-initiated beam report, PUCCH for one SR for BFR, and/or PUCCH for at least one SR for other functionalities collide with other PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK or CSI in a resource using PUCCH format 2, 3 and 4, when multiplexing SR in the PUCCH, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may report one of the positive SR multiplexing based on the priority of the positive SRs. Thus, the UE 102 reports one positive SR with highest priority by ceil (log2 (K+1) ) bits in the UCI if K PUCCHs for SRs collide with the PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK or CSI in a PUCCH format 2, 3 and 4. If value of the ceil (log2 (K+1) ) bits is X, it indicates the SR X is positive, where the order of the SRs is based on the ID for the SR configured by the network entity.

In one embodiment, the priority is pre-determined as SR for UE-initiated beam report > SR for BFR > SR for other functionalities. In another example, the priority is pre-determined as SR for BFR > SR for UE-initiated beam report > SR for other functionalities. In yet another example, the priority is pre-determined as SR for BFR > SR for other functionalities > SR for UE-initiated beam report.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one dedicated SR per cell group (CG) or per UE for the UE 102 to request the uplink resource for the UCI for a UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may configure one SR ID for the dedicated SR, e.g., SchedulingRequestId in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig.

The network entity 104 may configure the UE-initiated beam report based on the DL RSs in the serving cell group. If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for the cell group, it may transmit the dedicated SR to request the uplink resource for the UCI for UE--initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, if the SR is not configured, the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by a physical random access channel (PRACH) , e.g., PRACH for contention based random access (CBRA) procedure, or the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by another SR, e.g., SR other than SR dedicated for a UE-initiated beam report.

After receiving the SR, the network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant triggering a CSI/beam report for UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may indicate a dedicated value for the CSI request field in the uplink grant to trigger the UE-initiated beam report.

After receiving a DCI triggering a CSI/beam report, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity by the UCI in the PUCCH/PUSCH for the UE-initiated beam report. If the UE 102 detects events to trigger the UE-initiated beam report in multiple serving cells, the UE 102 may transmit the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell with highest priority or transmit all the UCIs for the UE-initiated beam reports.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example 1200 of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE 102 transmits a beam report via uplink control information (UCI) on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per CG or per UE according to an embodiment.

SR 1210 may be dedicated to a cell group 1 (1220) for UE 102 to use to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting. Cell group 1 (1220) may include serving cell 1 (1221) , serving cell 2 (1222) , and serving cell 3 (1223) . Serving cell 1 (1221) and serving cell 2 (1222) constitute two serving cells 1230 where UE 102 has detected an event to trigger a UE-initiated beam report.

The UE 102 in either serving cell 1 (1221) or serving cell 2 (1222) may use SR 1210 to request an uplink resource to transmit the UE-initiated beam report. The network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant 1250 to grant an uplink resource 1260 and trigger a CSI/beam report for the UE-initiated beam report. The UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report for serving cell 1 (1221) and serving cell 2 (1222) via UCI using the uplink resource 1260.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one dedicated SR per serving cell for the UE 102 to request the uplink resource for the UCI for UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a list of SR ID, e.g., SchedulingRequestIdList in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig, where different SR ID corresponds to different serving cells. In some implementations, the network entity may configure the same SR for multiple serving cells configured with UE-initiated beam reporting.

In one embodiment, if the SR for a serving cell is not configured, the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by a PRACH, e.g., PRACH for CBRA procedure, or the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by another SR, e.g., SR other than SR dedicated for a UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the associated serving cell index for each SR ID. In some other implementations, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the associated serving cell for each SR ID based on the order of the SR ID in the SR list and the serving cell index for the serving cell with UE-initiated beam reporting configured.

In one embodiment, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell, the UE 102 may transmit the corresponding SR to request the uplink resource for the UCI for UE-initiated beam report. If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one serving cells, the UE 102 may transmit one of the SRs with highest priority, where the UE 102 may determine the priority for each SR based on at least one of factors including the associated serving cell index, SR ID or detected event (s) . Alternatively, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one serving cells, the UE 102 may transmit all the corresponding SRs.

After receiving the SR, the network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant triggering a CSI/beam report for the UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may indicate a dedicated value for the CSI request field in the uplink grant to trigger one or multiple CSI report configurations. Then after receiving the uplink grant, the UE 102 may transmit the triggered CSI report (s) to the network entity 104.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity in the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report except for the serving cell index. In some other implementations, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the UCI for the UE initiated beam report including the serving cell index.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example 1300 of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE 102 transmits a beam report via UCI on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per serving cell according to an embodiment.

SR 1 (1311) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for serving cell 1 (1321) . SR 2 (1312) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for serving cell 2 (1322) . SR 3 (1313) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting serving cell 3 (1323) . Serving cell 1 (1321) and serving cell 2 (1322) constitute two serving cells 1330 whose UE 102 has detected an event to trigger a UE-initiated beam report.

The UE 102 may transmit SR 1 (1311) and/or SR 2 (1312) 1340 to request an uplink resource to transmit the UE-initiated beam report. The network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant 1350 to grant an uplink resource 1360 and trigger a CSI/beam report for the UE-initiated beam report. The UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report for serving cell 1 (1321) and/or serving cell 2 (1322) via UCI using the uplink resource 1360.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one dedicated SR per CSI report configuration in a serving cell for the UE 102 to request the uplink resource for the UCI for a UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a list of SR ID, e.g., SchedulingRequestIdList in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig, where different SR ID corresponds to different CSI report configurations for a UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, if the SR for a CSI report configuration is not configured, the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by a PRACH, e.g., PRACH for CBRA procedure, or the UE 102 may request the uplink resource by another SR, e.g., SR other than SR dedicated for a UE-initiated beam report.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure the associated CSI report configuration for each SR ID. In some other implementations, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the associated CSI report configuration for each SR ID based on the order of the SR ID in the SR list and the serving cell index for the CSI report configuration and the CSI report configuration ID for a UE-initiated beam report.

If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a CSI report configuration, the UE 102 may transmit the corresponding SR to request the uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report. If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one CSI report configurations, the UE 102 may transmit one of the SRs with highest priority, where the UE 102 may determine the priority for each SR based on at least one of factors including the serving cell index for the CSI report configuration, CSI report configuration ID, SR ID or detected event (s) . Alternatively, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one CSI report configurations, the UE 102 may transmit all the corresponding SRs.

After receiving the SR, the network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant triggering a CSI/beam report for the UE-initiated beam report. In one example, the network entity 104 may trigger the CSI report (s) for the CSI report configuration (s) corresponding to the received SR (s) . Then after receiving the uplink grant, the UE 102 may transmit the triggered CSI report (s) to the network entity 104.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the UCI for UE-initiated beam report except for the serving cell index and/or CSI report configuration index. In some other implementations, the UE 102 may transmit the information in the report content to the network entity 104 in the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report including the serving cell index and/or CSI report configuration index.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example 1400 of UE-initiated beam reporting where the UE 102 transmits a beam report via UCI on uplink resources requested by a SR reserved per CSI report configuration according to an embodiment.

SR 1 (1411) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for CSI report configuration 1 (1421) . SR 2 (1412) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for CSI report configuration 2 (1422) . SR 3 (1413) may be reserved for the UE 102 to request an uplink resource for UE-initiated beam reporting for CSI report configuration 3 (1423) . The UE 102 may detect an event 1430 to trigger a UE-initiated beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1421) and CSI report configuration 2 (1422) in a serving cell.

The UE 102 may transmit SR 1 (1411) and/or SR2 (1412) 1440 to request an uplink resource to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1421) and/or CSI report configuration 2 (1422) . The network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant 1450 to indicate an uplink resource 1460 and trigger a CSI/beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1421) and/or CSI report configuration 2 (1422) . The UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report for CSI report configuration 1 (1421) and/or CSI report configuration 2 (1422) via UCI using the uplink resource 1460.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one PUCCH/PUSCH resource for a serving cell group for the UE 102 to transmit UCI for a UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a PUCCH resource ID, e.g., PUCCH-ResourceId in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig. In embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure an uplink grant in a serving cell group, which may be used for a UE-initiated beam report only. The configured UL grant may be Type 1 configured UL grant or a Type 2 configured UL grant.

If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell, it may transmit the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report by the configured PUCCH/PUSCH resource; otherwise, the UE 102 refrains from transmitting the UCI on the PUCCH/PUSCH resource.

If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one serving cells, the UE 102 may transmit one of the UCIs with highest priority. Alternatively, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one CSI report configurations, the UE 102 may transmit all the corresponding UCIs. The UE 102 multiplexes the UCIs based on the priority for the UCIs.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the priority for the UCIs for a UE-initiated beam report based on at least one of the factors including the serving cell index for the DL RSs for the beam measurement for the UCI, CSI report configuration ID, or detected event (s) .

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one PUCCH/PUSCH resource for a serving cell for the UE 102 to transmit UCI for a UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a list of PUCCH resource IDs, e.g., PUCCH-ResourceIdList in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig, where each PUCCH resource ID corresponds to one serving cell configured with UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure an uplink grant in a serving cell, which may be used for a UE-initiated beam report only for the serving cell.

If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell, the UE 102 may transmit the corresponding UCI for the UE-initiated beam report by the corresponding PUCCH/PUSCH resource; otherwise, the UE 102 refrains from transmitting the UCI on the PUCCH/PUSCH resource.

If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one serving cells, the UE 102 may transmit one of the UCIs with highest priority. Alternatively, if the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for more than one CSI report configurations, the UE 102 may transmit all the corresponding UCIs. The UE 102 may multiplex the UCIs based on the priority for the UCIs.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the priority for the UCIs for a UE-initiated beam report based on at least one of the factors including the serving cell index for the DL RSs for the beam measurement for the UCI, CSI report configuration ID, or detected event (s) . In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the priority for the UE-initiated beam report on primary cell (PCell) higher than that for the secondary cell (SCell) . For the UE-initiated beam report for SCells, the UE 102 may determine a UE-initiated beam report for the SCell with lower serving cell ID a higher or lower priority.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure one PUCCH/PUSCH resource for a CSI report configuration for the UE to transmit UCI for a UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a list of PUCCH resource IDs, e.g., PUCCH-ResourceIdList in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig, where each PUCCH resource ID corresponds to different CSI report configurations for a UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure a PUCCH resource ID in the CSI report configuration for a UE-initiated beam report. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may configure an uplink grant in a CSI report configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting, which may be used for UE-initiated beam reporting only for the CSI report configuration.

If the UE 102 detects any event to transmit the UE-initiated beam report for a CSI report configuration, the UE 102 may transmit the corresponding UCI for the UE-initiated beam report by the corresponding PUCCH/PUSCH resource; otherwise, the UE 102 refrains from transmitting the UCI on the PUCCH/PUSCH resource.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the priority for the UCIs for the UE-initiated beam report based on at least one of the factors including the serving cell index for the DL RSs for the beam measurement for the UCI, CSI report configuration ID, or detected event (s) . In one embodiment, the UE 102 may determine the priority for the UE-initiated beam report on primary cell (PCell) higher than that for the secondary cell (SCell) . For the UE-initiated beam report for SCells, the UE 102 may determine UE-initiated beam report for the SCell with lower serving cell ID a higher or lower priority.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure at least one PUCCH resource with multiple bits UCI transmission for UE-initiated beam reporting. The network entity 104 may configure the multi-bit PUCCH resource per cell group. In one example, the network entity 104 may configure a PUCCH resource ID, e.g., PUCCH-ResourceId in a CellGroupConfig or in a MAC-CellGroupConfig or PhysicalCellGroupConfig.

If the UE 102 detects any event to trigger the UE-initiated beam report for a serving cell or cell group, the UE 102 may transmit part of the report content, e.g., serving cell index (es) and/or CSI report configuration ID (s) , by the configured PUCCH resource. Then in response to the received PUCCH, the network entity 104 may transmit an uplink grant triggering a PUSCH for data transmission. After receiving the uplink grant, the UE 102 may transmit one or more than one MAC CE (s) for the remaining report content, e.g., beam index (es) , beam quality and/or additional information, for each detected serving cell (s) for the UE-initiated beam report to the network entity.

In one aspect, the network entity 104 may configure the UE 102 to transmit a UE-initiated beam report by a UCI multiplexed on PUCCH or PUSCH, or to transmit a UE-initiated beam report by MAC-CE.

In one embodiment, if UE 102 determines to transmit a UE-initiated beam report, the UE 102 may determine whether to transmit the UE-initiated beam report by a UCI multiplexed on PUCCH or PUSCH, or to transmit the UE-initiated beam report by MAC-CE. The UE 102 may determine how to transmit the UE-initiated beam report by a criteria. In one example, the criteria may be related to bit length of the UE-initiated beam report. In another example, the criteria may be related to number of triggered serving cell (s) in the UE-initiated beam report. If criteria, e.g., the number of triggered serving cell (s) or bit length of the UE-initiated beam report, is higher/equal to (or alternatively lower) than a configured number (Y) , the UE 102 may determine to transmit the UE-initiated beam report by MAC-CE. If the criteria, e.g., the number of triggered serving cell (s) or bit length of the UE-initiated beam report, is lower than (or alternatively higher/equal to) than a configured number (Y) , the UE 102 may determine to transmit the UE-initiated beam report by a UCI multiplexed on PUCCH or PUSCH.

In one embodiment, the network entity 104 and 102 UE may determine N CSI processing units (CPUs) are occupied for the measurement of the set of DL RSs configured for a UE-initiated beam report. The value of N may be pre-defined, e.g., N=1, or reported by the UE capability, or configured by the network entity 104. If the total number of CPUs for the UE-initiated beam report and other report, e.g., network configured beam/CSI report, exceeds the maximum number of CPUs that the UE 102 reported or predefined, the UE 102 may report outdated report for the beam/CSI report (s) or drop the beam/CSI report (s) with lower priority.

In one embodiment, the UE 102 and network entity 104 may determine the priority based on at least one of the following factors: time-domain behavior for the CSI report (e.g., UE-initiated, aperiodic, semi-persistent, or periodic) , the serving cell index, the report content, or a CSI report configuration identifier (ID) .

In one embodiment, after the configuration of the UE-initiated beam report, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the N CPUs are always occupied. In some other implementations, after the configuration of the UE-initiated beam report, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the N CPUs are occupied from the first symbol of the first DL RS until the last symbol of the last DL RS plus a processing delay for a UE-initiated beam report, where the processing delay is reported by the UE capability or predefined, e.g., 14 symbols. In some other implementations, after the configuration of the UE-initiated beam report, the network entity 104 and UE 102 may determine the N CPUs are occupied from the first symbol of a DL RS until the last symbol of the DL RS for-a UE-initiated beam report plus a processing delay.

FIGs. 15-16 show methods for implementing one or more aspects of FIGs. 2-14. In particular, FIG. 15 shows an implementation by the UE 102 of the one or more aspects of FIGs. 2-14. FIG. 16 shows an implementation by the network entity 104 of the one or more aspects of FIGs. 2-14.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a method 1500 of wireless communication at a UE 102 for UE-initiated beam reporting according to an embodiment. With reference to FIG. 1, the method 1500 may be performed by the UE 102.

The UE 102 optionally transmits 1502, to a network entity 104, UE capability information on supported configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 optionally transmits 202, to the network entity 104, (or the network entity 104 may receive 202 from the UE 102) , UE’s capability on supported, recommended, or preferred configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the capability information may include at least one of the following: whether the UE 102 supports UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of configured DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of configured DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of reported DL RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report; a maximum number of total configured DL-RS resources for both UE-initiated beam report and network configured or triggered beam reporting (e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic beam report) ; a maximum number of total configured DL-RS resources in a slot for both UE-initiated beam reporting and network configured or triggered beam report; supported DL RS types for beam measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting, e.g., SSB, 1-port CSI-RS or 2-port CSI-RS; supported report content for UE-initiated beam report, e.g., L1-RSRP, L1-SINR and/or additional information for each reported beam; whether the UE 102 supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on the beam quality measurement of DL-RS on DL-RS resources from a neighbor cell, etc. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the capability information of the UE 102 from a core network (e.g., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) ) . In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the capability information from another base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) .

The UE 102 receives 1504, from the network entity 104, control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 receives 204, from the network entity 104, control signaling configuring parameters to enable UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the parameters may optionally include beam report quantity and content, a list of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting, a SR configuration to request uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting, a PUCCH or PUSCH resource for UE-initiated beam reporting, etc. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may enable UE-initiated beam reporting based on whether the network entity 104 configures at least one DL-RS resource or resource set for UE-initiated beam reporting.

The UE 102 receives 1508 DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources configured by the control signaling. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 may receive 208, from the network entity 104 the DL-RS resources carrying DL-RSs for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may receive DL-RS resources transmitted from a serving cell and/or a neighbor cell for UE-initiated beam reporting. The DL-RS resources from the network entity 104 (e.g., serving cell) and/or from another network entity (e.g., neighbor cell) may be in the list of DL-RS resources configured by the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report. The UE 102 may measure the DL-RS resources to generate 210 beam quality data or information based on at least one of the DL-RSs.

The UE 102 optionally transmits 1512, to the network entity 104, a SR to request uplink resources for the UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 may optionally transmit 212, to the network entity 104, an SR to request an uplink resource for the UE-initiated beam report.

The UE 102 optionally receives 1514, from the network entity 104, a grant of an uplink channel for the UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 may optionally receive 214 from the network entity 104 a signal granting an uplink resource for the UE-initiated beam report.

The UE 102 transmits 1516, to the network entity 104, the UE-initiated beam report on the uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 may transmit 216, to the network entity 104, the UE-initiated beam report via the uplink resource. The UE-initiated report may be based on the beam quality data. In one embodiment, the UE 102 may transmit the UE-initiated beam report on PUSCH by a MAC-CE or by UCI. In one embodiment, if the UE 102 determines to trigger the procedure for the UE-initiated beam report, the UE may transmit the UE-initiated beam report on a configured PUCCH resource. In one embodiment, the UE-initiated beam report may include at least one of the following information: a serving cell index associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a CSI reporting configuration index associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a list of beam index (es) associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a list of beam quality for the beams indicated by the beam index (es) , and additional information for each beam.

The UE 102 optionally receives 1518, from the network entity 104, signaling to activate a TCI state based on the UE-initiated beam report and communicates with the network entity 104 based on the TCI state. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the UE 102 may optionally receive 218 from the network entity 104 TCI activation or indication signaling to activate or indicate a TCI state. The network entity 104 and the UE 102 may communicate (e.g., downlink communication or uplink communication) based on the activated or indicated TCI state.

FIG. 15 describes a method from a UE-side of a wireless communication link, whereas FIG. 16 describes a method from a network-side of the wireless communication link.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a method 1600 of wireless communication at a network entity 104 for UE-initiated beam reporting according to an embodiment. With reference to FIG. 1, the method 1600 may be performed by one or more network entities 104, which may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, and/or the CU 110.

The network entity 104 optionally receives 1602, from a UE 102, UE capability information on supported configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 may receive 202 from the UE 102, UE’s capability on supported, recommended, or preferred configuration for UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the capability information may include at least one of the following: whether the UE 102 supports UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of configured DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of configured DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of reported DL RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report; a maximum number of total configured DL-RS resources for both UE-initiated beam report and network configured or triggered beam reporting (e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic beam report) ; a maximum number of total configured DL-RS resources in a slot for both UE-initiated beam reporting and network configured or triggered beam report; supported DL RS types for beam measurement for UE-initiated beam reporting, e.g., SSB, 1-port CSI-RS or 2-port CSI-RS; supported report content for UE-initiated beam report, e.g., L1-RSRP, L1-SINR and/or additional information for each reported beam; whether the UE 102 supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on the beam quality measurement of DL-RS on DL-RS resources from a neighbor cell, etc. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the capability information of the UE 102 from a core network (e.g., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) ) . In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the capability information from another base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) .

The network entity 104 transmits 1604, to the UE 102, control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 transmits 204, to the UE 102, control signaling configuring parameters to enable UE-initiated beam reporting. In one embodiment, the parameters may optionally include beam report quantity and content, a list of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting, a scheduling request (SR) configuration to request uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource for UE-initiated beam reporting, etc. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may enable UE-initiated beam reporting based on whether the network entity 104 configures at least one DL-RS resource or resource set for UE-initiated beam reporting.

The network entity 104 transmits 1608 DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources configured by the control signaling. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 may transmit 208 the DL-RS resources carrying DL-RSs for UE-initiated beam reporting.

The network entity 104 optionally receives 1612, from the UE 102, a SR to request uplink resources for the UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 may optionally receive 212, from the UE 102, an SR to request an uplink resource for the UE-initiated beam report.

The network entity 104 optionally transmits 1614, to the UE 102, a grant of an uplink channel for the UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 may optionally transmit 214 to the UE 102 a signal granting an uplink resource for the UE-initiated beam report.

The network entity 104 receives 1616, from the UE 102, the UE-initiated beam report on the uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs from the network entity 104 or from another network entity, and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 may receive 216, from the UE 102, the UE-initiated beam report via the uplink resource. In one embodiment, the network entity 104 may receive the UE-initiated beam report on PUSCH by a MAC-CE or by UCI. In one embodiment, network entity 104 may receive the UE-initiated beam report on a configured PUCCH resource. In one embodiment, the UE-initiated beam report may include at least one of the following information: a serving cell index associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a CSI reporting configuration index associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a list of beam index (es) associated with at least one of the DL-RSs, a list of beam quality for the beams indicated by the beam index (es) , and additional information for each beam.

The network entity 104 optionally transmits 1618, to the UE 102, signaling to activate a TCI state based on the UE-initiated beam report and communicates with the UE 102 based on the TCI state. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the network entity 104 may optionally transmit 218 to the UE 102 TCI activation or indication signaling to activate or indicate a TCI state. The network entity 104 and the UE 102 may communicate (e.g., downlink communication or uplink communication) based on the activated or indicated TCI state.

A UE apparatus 1702, as described in FIG. 17, may perform the method of flowchart 1500 of FIG. 15. The one or more network entities 104, as described in FIG. 18, may perform the method of flowchart 1600 of FIG. 16.

FIG. 17 is a diagram 1700 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a UE apparatus 1702 for UE-initiated beam reporting according to some embodiments. The UE apparatus 1702 may be the UE 102, a component of the UE 102, or may implement UE functionality. The UE apparatus 1702 may include an application processor 1706, which may have on-chip memory 1706’ . In examples, the application processor 1706 may be coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 1708 and/or a display 1710. The application processor 1706 may also be coupled to a sensor (s) module 1712, a power supply 1714, an additional module of memory 1716, a camera 1718, and/or other related components. For example, the sensor (s) module 1712 may control a barometric pressure sensor/altimeter, a motion sensor such as an inertial management unit (IMU) , a gyroscope, accelerometer (s) , a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, a radio-assisted detection and ranging (RADAR) device, a sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) device, a magnetometer, an audio device, and/or other technologies used for positioning.

The UE apparatus 1702 may further include a wireless baseband processor 1726, which may be referred to as a modem. The wireless baseband processor 1726 may have on-chip memory 1726'. Along with, and similar to, the application processor 1706, the wireless baseband processor 1726 may also be coupled to the sensor (s) module 1712, the power supply 1714, the additional module of memory 1716, the camera 1718, and/or other related components. The wireless baseband processor 1726 may be additionally coupled to one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) card (s) 1720 and/or one or more transceivers 1730 (e.g., wireless RF transceivers) .

Within the one or more transceivers 1730, the UE apparatus 1702 may include a Bluetooth module 1732, a WLAN module 1734, an SPS module 1736 (e.g., GNSS module) , and/or a cellular module 1738. The Bluetooth module 1732, the WLAN module 1734, the SPS module 1736, and the cellular module 1738 may each include an on-chip transceiver (TRX) , or in some cases, just a transmitter (TX) or just a receiver (RX) . The Bluetooth module 1732, the WLAN module 1734, the SPS module 1736, and the cellular module 1738 may each include dedicated antennas and/or utilize antennas 1740 for communication with one or more other nodes. For example, the UE apparatus 1702 can communicate through the transceiver (s) 1730 via the antennas 1740 with another UE (e.g., sidelink communication) and/or with a network entity 104 (e.g., uplink/downlink communication) , where the network entity 104 may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110.

The wireless baseband processor 1726 and the application processor 1706 may each include a computer-readable medium /memory 1726', 1706', respectively. The additional module of memory 1716 may also be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory 1726', 1706', 1716 may be non-transitory. The wireless baseband processor 1726 and the application processor 1706 may each be responsible for general processing, including execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory 1726', 1706', 1716. The software, when executed by the wireless baseband processor 1726 /application processor 1706, causes the wireless baseband processor 1726 /application processor 1706 to perform the various functions described herein. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the wireless baseband processor 1726 /application processor 1706 when executing the software. The wireless baseband processor 1726 /application processor 1706 may be a component of the UE 102. The UE apparatus 1702 may be a processor chip (e.g., modem and/or application) and include just the wireless baseband processor 1726 and/or the application processor 1706. In other examples, the UE apparatus 1702 may be the entire UE 102 and include the additional modules of the apparatus 1702.

As discussed in FIG. 1 and implemented with respect to FIG. 17, a UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 is configured to generate UE-initiated beam reporting. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may receive from the base station/network entity 104 a control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may receive DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may transmit to the base station/network entity 104 the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report may include beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140 may be within the application processor 1706 (e.g., at 140a) , the wireless baseband processor 1726 (e.g., at 140b) , or both the application processor 1706 and the wireless baseband processor 1726. The UE-initiated beam measurement and reporting component 140a-140b may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by the one or more processors, or a combination thereof.

FIG. 18 is a diagram 1800 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for one or more network entities 104 to support UE-initiated beam reporting according to some embodiments. The one or more network entities 104 may be a base station, a component of a base station, or may implement base station functionality. The one or more network entities 104 may include, or may correspond to, at least one of the RU 106, the DU, 108, or the CU 110. The CU 110 may include a CU processor 1846, which may have on-chip memory 1846'. In some aspects, the CU 110 may further include an additional module of memory 1856 and/or a communications interface 1848, both of which may be coupled to the CU processor 1846. The CU 110 can communicate with the DU 108 through a midhaul link 162, such as an F1 interface between the communications interface 1848 of the CU 110 and a communications interface 1828 of the DU 108.

The DU 108 may include a DU processor 1826, which may have on-chip memory 1826'. In some aspects, the DU 108 may further include an additional module of memory 1836 and/or the communications interface 1828, both of which may be coupled to the DU processor 1826. The DU 108 can communicate with the RU 106 through a fronthaul link 160 between the communications interface 1828 of the DU 108 and a communications interface 1808 of the RU 106.

The RU 106 may include an RU processor 1806, which may have on-chip memory 1806'. In some aspects, the RU 106 may further include an additional module of memory 1816, the communications interface 1808, and one or more transceivers 1830, all of which may be coupled to the RU processor 1806. The RU 106 may further include antennas 1840, which may be coupled to the one or more transceivers 1830, such that the RU 106 can communicate through the one or more transceivers 1830 via the antennas 1840 with the UE 102.

The on-chip memory 1806', 1826', 1846' and the additional modules of memory 1816, 1836, 1856 may each be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory may be non-transitory. Each of the processors 1806, 1826, 1846 is responsible for general processing, including execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor (s) 1806, 1826, 1846 causes the processor (s) 1806, 1826, 1846 to perform the various functions described herein. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor (s) 1806, 1826, 1846 when executing the software. In examples, the UE-side machine learning based beam prediction configuration component 150 may sit at any of the one or more network entities 104, such as at the CU 110; both the CU 110 and the DU 108; each of the CU 110, the DU 108, and the RU 106; the DU 108; both the DU 108 and the RU 106; or the RU 106.

As discussed in FIG. 1 and implemented with respect to FIG. 18, the UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 is configured to support UE-initiated beam reporting. The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 may transmit to any of the UEs 102 a control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report. The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 may transmit DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources. The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 may receive from any of the UEs 102 the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report may include beam quality information measured by any of the UEs 102 based at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150 may be within one or more processors of the one or more network entities 104, such as the RU processor 1806 (e.g., at 150a) , the DU processor 1826 (e.g., at 150b) , and/or the CU processor 1846 (e.g., at 150c) . The UE-initiated beam reporting configuration component 150a-150c may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors 1806, 1826, 1846 configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by the one or more processors 1806, 1826, 1846, or a combination thereof.

The specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes and flowcharts disclosed herein is an illustration of example approaches. Hence, the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes and flowcharts may be rearranged. Some blocks may also be combined or deleted. Dashed lines may indicate optional elements of the diagrams. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in an example order, and are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented in the claims, processes, and flowcharts.

The detailed description set forth herein describes various configurations in connection with the drawings and does not 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 explanation of various concepts. However, 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.

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

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-chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other similar hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software, which may be referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. 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, or any combination thereof.

If the functionality described herein is implemented in software, the functions may be stored on, or encoded as, one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Computer- readable media includes computer storage media and can include 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 these 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. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer.

Aspects, implementations, and/or use cases described herein may be implemented across many differing platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, the aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may come about via integrated chip implementations and other non-module-component based devices, such as end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI) -enabled devices, machine learning (ML) -enabled devices, etc. The aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular or non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregate, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more techniques described herein.

Devices incorporating the aspects and features described herein may also include additional components and features for the implementation and practice of the claimed and described aspects and features. For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes a number of components for analog and digital purposes, such as hardware components, antennas, RF-chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor (s) , interleavers, adders/summers, etc. Techniques described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc., of varying configurations.

The description herein is provided to enable a 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 limited to the aspects described herein, but are to be interpreted in view of the full scope of the present disclosure consistent with the language of the claims.

Reference to an element in the singular does not mean “one and only one” unless specifically stated, but rather “one or more. ” Terms such as “if, ” “when, ” and “while” do not imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, e.g., “when, ” do not imply an immediate action in response to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring a specific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The terms “may” , “might” , and “can” , as used in this disclosure, often carry certain connotations. For example, “may” refers to a permissible feature that may or may not occur, “might” refers to a feature that probably occurs, and “can” refers to a capability (e.g., capable of) . The phrase “For example” often carries a similar connotation to “may” and, therefore, “may” is sometimes excluded from sentences that include “for example” or other similar phrases.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C” or “one or more of A, B, or C”include any combination of A, B, and/or C, such as A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, and/or multiples of C, or may include A only, B only, or C only. Sets should be interpreted as a set of elements where the elements number one or more.

Unless otherwise specifically indicated, ordinal terms such as “first” and “second” do not necessarily imply an order in time, sequence, numerical value, etc., but are used to distinguish between different instances of a term or phrase that follows each ordinal term. Reference numbers, as used in the specification and figures, are sometimes cross-referenced among drawings to denote same or similar features. A feature that is exactly the same in multiple drawings may be labeled with the same reference number in the multiple drawings. A feature that is similar among the multiple drawings, but not exactly the same, may be labeled with reference numbers that have different leading numbers, but have one or more of the same trailing numbers (e.g., 206, 306, 406, etc., may refer to similar features in the drawings) . Hence, like numbers may refer to like actions.

Structural and functional equivalents to 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 encompassed by 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. ” As used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, or the like. In other words, the phrase “based on A” , where “A” may be information, a condition, a factor, or the like, shall be construed as “based at least on A” unless specifically recited differently.

The following examples are illustrative only and may be combined with other examples or teachings described herein, without limitation.

Example 1 is a method of wireless communication at a UE, including: receiving, from a network entity, control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report; receiving DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources; and transmitting, to the network entity, the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 2 may be combined with Example 1 and further includes transmitting, to the network entity information on UE capability. The information on UE capability includes at least one of: whether the UE supports UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of reported DL-RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report; a maximum number of total DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting; a maximum number of total DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting; supported types of DL-RS resources for beam quality measurements for UE-initiated beam reporting; supported content of a UE-initiated beam report; or whether the UE supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on beam quality measurements of DL-RS from a neighbor cell.

Example 3 may be combined with any one of Examples 1 or 2, and includes that the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report include at least one of: a scheduling request (SR) resource for requesting uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a PUCCH resource for UE-initiated beam reporting; a PUSCH for UE-initiated beam reporting; a report quantity and content for UE-initiated beam reporting; or a set of the DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting.

Example 4 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-3, and includes that the DL-RSs includes at least one of: SSBs received from a serving cell; SSBs received from a neighbor cell; SSBs or CSI-RSs associated with one or more configured TCI states; or SSBs or CSI-RSs associated with one or more activated TCI states.

Example 5 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-4, and further includes triggering the transmitting of the UE-initiated beam report in response to detecting at least one of: beam quality for a first subset of the DL-RSs is below a first threshold; beam quality for a second subset of the DL-RSs is above beam quality for a third subset of the DL-RSs; beam quality for a fourth subset of the DL-RSs is above a second threshold; a timer for UE-initiated beam reporting expires; a change in beam quality for a fifth subset of the DL-RSs is above a third threshold; measured power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) for a sixth subset of the DL-RSs is above a fourth threshold; or a condition for triggering beam failure recovery fails to be achieved.

Example 6 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-5, and includes that the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: a serving index for at the least one of the DL-RSs; a CSI reporting configuration index associated with the at least one of the DL-RSs; one or more indexes associated with the at least one of the DL-RSs; beam quality information associated with the one or more indexes; or a detected event associated with generating the beam quality information.

Example 7 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-6, and includes that the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: best beam quality information among beam quality information of the at least one of the DL-RSs and corresponding index associated with the best beam quality information; beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs whose beam quality is above a first threshold, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs whose beam quality is below a second threshold; beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs associated with transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs not associated with the TCI states; or beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs, the first subset being selected by the network entity, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs, the second subset being selected by the UE.

Example 8 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-6, and includes that transmitting the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel includes at least one of:transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by a MAC CE on a PUSCH resource; or transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by an UCI on a PUSCH resource or a PUCCH resource.

Example 9 may be combined with Example 8, and includes that transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by the MAC CE includes multiplexing the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report with one or more other types of MAC CE based on a priority of the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 10 may be combined with Example 8, and includes that transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by the UCI includes multiplexing the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report with one or more other types of UCI based on a priority of the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 11 may be combined with Example 8, and includes that the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: a first SR resource for the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report; a second SR resource for the to request an uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report; the PUCCH resource for carrying the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report; or the PUSCH resource for carrying the MAC CE or the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 12 may be combined with Example 11, and includes that the first SR resource includes at least one of: a first SR resource for a cell group; one or more first SR resources corresponding to one or more serving cells in a cell group, where each of the first SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or one or more first SR resources corresponding to one or more CSI report configurations, where each of the first SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.

Example 13 may be combined with Example 11, and includes that the second SR resource includes at least one of: a second SR resource for a cell group; one or more second SR resources corresponding to one or more serving cells in a cell group, where each of the second SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or one or more second SR resources corresponding to one or more CSI report configurations, where each of the second SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.

Example 14 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-8, and includes that transmitting a UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel includes: determining a total number of CSI processing units (CPUs) occupied by the subset of the DL-RS resources for the UE-initiated beam report and other DL-RS resources for a network-initiated CSI report; and refraining from transmitting the UE-initiated beam report or the network-initiated CSI report in response to the total number of CPUs exceeding a maximum number of CPUs.

Example 15 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-14, and further includes: receiving from the network entity signaling activating a TCI state based on the UE-initiated beam report; and communicating with the network entity based on the TCI state.

Example 16 is a method of wireless communication at a network entity, and includes: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) , control signaling configuring DL-RS resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report; transmitting, to the UE, DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources; and receiving, from the UE, the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel. The UE-initiated beam report includes beam quality information measured by the UE based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 17 may be combined with Example 16, and further includes receiving, from the UE, information on UE capability. The information on UE capability includes at least one of: whether the UE supports UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting; a maximum number of reported DL-RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report; a maximum number of total DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting; a maximum number of total DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting; supported types of DL-RS resources for beam quality measurements for UE-initiated beam reporting; supported content of a UE-initiated beam report; or whether the UE supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on beam quality measurements of DL-RS from a neighbor cell.

Example 18 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-17, and includes that the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report include at least one of: SR resource for requesting uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting; a PUCCH resource for UE-initiated beam reporting; a PUSCH for UE-initiated beam reporting; a report quantity and content for UE-initiated beam reporting; or a set of the DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting.

Example 19 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-18, and further includes: transmitting to the UE signaling activating a TCI state based on the UE-initiated beam report; and communicating with the UE based on the TCI state.

Example 20 is an apparatus for wireless communication, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the apparatus being configured to implement a method as in any one of Examples 1-19.

Example 21 may be combined with Example 3, and further includes: transmitting, to the network entity, a SR based on the SR resource to request the uplink resources for the UE-initiated beam report; and receiving, from the network entity, an uplink grant to trigger the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 22 may be combined with any one of Examples 1-4, and includes receiving the control signaling configuring parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report by at least one of: a radio resource control (RRC) signaling; a MAC CE; or downlink control information (DCI) .

Example 23 may be combined with Example 5, and includes that at least one of the first subset, the second subset, the third subset, the fourth subset, the fifth subset, or the sixth subset of the DL-RS is on DL-RS resources associated with one or more configured or activated TCI states.

Example 24 may be combined with Example 8, and includes that the PUCCH or the PUSCH resource for carrying the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: a PUCCH or a PUSCH resource for a cell group; one or more PUCCH or PUSCH resources corresponding to one or more serving cells in a cell group, where each of the PUCCH or PUSCH resources is used by the UE to carry the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or one or more PUCCH or PUSCH resources corresponding to one or more CSI report configurations, where each of the PUCCH or PUSCH resources is used by the UE to carry the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.

Example 25 may be combined with Example 14, and includes that transmitting the UCI on the PUCCH or the PUSCH resource includes multiplexing the UCI for one or more UE-initiated beam reports for one or more serving cells in the cell group or for one or more CSI report configurations.

Example 26 may be combined with Example 18, and further includes: receiving, from the UE, a SR based on the SR resource to request the uplink resources for the UE-initiated beam report; and transmitting, to the UE, an uplink grant to trigger the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 27 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-19, or 26, and includes that the DL-RSs include at least one of: SSBs; SSBs or CSI-RSs associated with one or more configured TCI states; or SSBs or CSI-RSs associated with one or more activated TCI states.

Example 28 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-19, or 26-27, and includes transmitting the control signaling configuring parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report by at least one of: a radio resource control (RRC) signaling; a MAC CE; or downlink control information (DCI) .

Example 29 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-19, or 26-28, and includes that the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: a serving index for at the least one of the DL-RSs; a CSI reporting configuration index associated with the at least one of the DL-RSs; one or more indexes associated with the at least one of the DL-RSs; beam quality information associated with the one or more indexes; or a detected event associated with generating the beam quality information.

Example 30 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-19, or 26-29, and includes that the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: best beam quality information among beam quality information of the at least one of the DL-RSs and corresponding index associated with the best beam quality information; beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs whose beam quality is above a first threshold, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs whose beam quality is below a second threshold; beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs associated with transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL- RSs not associated with the TCI states; or beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs, the first subset being selected by the network entity, and beam quality information and corresponding index for a second subset of the DL-RSs, the second subset being selected by the UE.

Example 31 may be combined with any one of Examples 16-19, or 26-30, and includes that receiving the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel includes at least one of: receiving the UE-initiated beam report by a MAC CE on a PUSCH resource; or receiving the UE-initiated beam report by an UCI on a PUSCH resource or a PUCCH resource.

Example 32 may be combined with Example 31, and includes that the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: a first SR resource for the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report; a second SR resource for the to request an uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report; the PUCCH resource for carrying the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report; or the PUSCH resource for carrying the MAC CE or the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report.

Example 33 may be combined with Example 32, and includes that the first SR resource includes at least one of: a first SR resource for a cell group; one or more first SR resources corresponding to one or more serving cells in a cell group, where each of the first SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or one or more first SR resources corresponding to one or more CSI report configurations, where each of the first SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.

Example 34 may be combined with Example 32, and includes that the second SR resource includes at least one of: a second SR resource for a cell group; one or more second SR resources corresponding to one or more serving cells in a cell group, where each of the second SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or one or more second SR resources corresponding to one or more CSI report configurations, where each of the second SR resources is used by the UE to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.

Example 35 may be combined with Example 31, and includes that the PUCCH or the PUSCH resource for carrying the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report includes at least one of: a PUCCH or a PUSCH resource for a cell group; one or more PUCCH or PUSCH resources corresponding to one or more serving cells in a cell group, where each of the PUCCH or PUSCH resources is used by the UE to carry the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or one or more PUCCH or PUSCH resources corresponding to one or more CSI report configurations, where each of the PUCCH or PUSCH resources is used by the UE to carry the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.

Claims

A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (102) , comprising:

receiving (1504) , from a network entity (104) , control signaling configuring downlink reference signal (DL-RS) resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report;

receiving (1508) DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources; and

transmitting (1516) , to the network entity (104) , the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel, the UE-initiated beam report including beam quality information based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.
The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting (1502) , to the network entity (104) , information on UE capability including at least one of:

whether the UE (102) supports UE-initiated beam reporting;

a maximum number of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a maximum number of DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a maximum number of reported DL-RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report;

a maximum number of total DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting;

a maximum number of total DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting;

supported types of DL-RS resources for beam quality measurements for UE-initiated beam reporting;

supported content of a UE-initiated beam report; or

whether the UE (102) supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on beam quality measurements of DL-RS from a neighbor cell.
The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report comprise at least one of:

a scheduling request (SR) resource for requesting uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a report quantity and content for UE-initiated beam reporting; or

a set of the DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting.
The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the DL-RSs comprise at least one of:

synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) received from a serving cell;

SSBs received from a neighbor cell;

SSBs or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) associated with one or more configured transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states; or

SSBs or CSI-RSs associated with one or more activated TCI states.
The method of any of claims 1-4, further comprising triggering the transmitting of the UE-initiated beam report responsive to detecting at least one of:

beam quality for a first subset of the DL-RSs is below a first threshold;

beam quality for a second subset of the DL-RSs is above beam quality for a third subset of the DL-RSs;

beam quality for a fourth subset of the DL-RSs is above a second threshold.

a timer for UE-initiated beam reporting expires;

a change in beam quality for a fifth subset of the DL-RSs is above a third threshold;

measured power management maximum power reduction (P-MPR) for a sixth subset of the DL-RSs is above a fourth threshold; or

a condition for triggering beam failure recovery fails to be achieved.
The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the UE-initiated beam report comprises at least one of:

a serving index for at the least one of the DL-RSs;

a CSI reporting configuration index associated with the at least one of the DL-RSs;

one or more indexes associated with the at least one of the DL-RSs;

beam quality information associated with the one or more indexes; or

a detected event associated with generating the beam quality information.
The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the UE-initiated beam report comprises at least one of:

best beam quality information among beam quality information of the at least one of the DL-RSs and corresponding index associated with the best beam quality information;

beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs whose beam quality is above a first threshold, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs whose beam quality is below a second threshold;

beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs associated with transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs not associated with the TCI states; or

beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a first subset of the DL-RSs, the first subset being selected by the network entity (104) , and beam quality information and corresponding indexes for a second subset of the DL-RSs, the second subset being selected by the UE (102) .
The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein transmitting (1516) the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel comprises at least one of:

transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource; or

transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by an uplink control information (UCI) on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource or a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource.
The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by the MAC CE comprises:

multiplexing the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report with one or more other types of MAC CE based on a priority of the UE-initiated beam report.
The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting the UE-initiated beam report by the UCI comprises:

multiplexing the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report with one or more other types of UCI based on a priority of the UE-initiated beam report.
The method of claim 8, wherein the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report comprise at least one of:

a first scheduling request (SR) resource for the UE (102) to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report;

a second SR resource for the UE (102) to request an uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report;

the PUCCH resource for carrying the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report; or

the PUSCH resource for carrying the MAC CE or the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report.
The method of claim 11, wherein the first SR resource comprises at least one of:

a first SR resource for a cell group;

a plurality of first SR resources corresponding to a plurality of serving cells in a cell group, wherein each of the first SR resources is used by the UE (102) to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or

a plurality of first SR resources corresponding to a plurality of CSI report configurations, wherein each of the first SR resources is used by the UE (102) to request an uplink resource for the MAC CE for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.
The method of claim 11, wherein the second SR resource comprises at least one of:

a second SR resource for a cell group;

a plurality of second SR resources corresponding to a plurality of serving cells in a cell group, wherein each of the second SR resources is used by the UE (102) to request an uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding serving cell in the cell group; or

a plurality of second SR resources corresponding to a plurality of CSI report configurations, wherein each of the second SR resources is used by the UE (102) to request an uplink resource for the UCI for the UE-initiated beam report for the corresponding CSI configuration.
The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein transmitting a UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel comprises:

determining a total number of channel state information (CSI) processing units (CPUs) occupied by the subset of the DL-RS resources for the UE-initiated beam report and other DL-RS resources for a network-initiated CSI report; and

refraining from transmitting the UE-initiated beam report or the network-initiated CSI report in response to the total number of CPUs exceeding a maximum number of CPUs.
The method of claim 1-14, further comprising:

receiving (1518) , from the network entity (104) signaling activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state based on the UE-initiated beam report; and

communicating with the network entity (104) based on the TCI state.
A method of wireless communication at a network entity (104) , comprising:

transmitting (1604) , to a user equipment (UE) (102) , control signaling configuring downlink reference signal (DL-RS) resources and parameters associated with a UE-initiated beam report;

transmitting (1608) , to the UE (102) , DL-RSs on the DL-RS resources; and

receiving (1616) , from the UE (102) , the UE-initiated beam report on an uplink channel, the UE-initiated beam report including beam quality information measured by the UE (102) based on at least one of the DL-RSs and the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report.
The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving (1602) , from the UE (102) , information on UE capability including at least one of:

whether the UE (102) supports UE-initiated beam reporting;

a maximum number of DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a maximum number of DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a maximum number of reported DL-RS resources in a UE-initiated beam report;

a maximum number of total DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting;

a maximum number of total DL-RS resources in a slot for UE-initiated beam reporting and network entity-triggered beam reporting;

supported types of DL-RS resources for beam quality measurements for UE-initiated beam reporting;

supported content of a UE-initiated beam report; or

whether the UE (102) supports UE-initiated beam reporting based on beam quality measurements of DL-RS from a neighbor cell.
The method of any of claims 16-17, wherein the parameters associated with the UE-initiated beam report comprise at least one of:

a scheduling request (SR) resource for the UE (102) to request uplink resources for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource for UE-initiated beam reporting;

a report quantity and content for UE-initiated beam reporting; or

a set of the DL-RS resources for UE-initiated beam reporting.
The method of any of claims 16-18, further comprising:

transmitting (1618) , to the UE (102) , signaling activating a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state based on the UE-initiated beam report; and

communicating with the UE (102) based on the TCI state.
An apparatus for wireless communication comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the apparatus being configured to implement a method as in any of claims 1-19.