WO2025208263A1

WO2025208263A1 - Channel information reporting in wireless communications

Info

Publication number: WO2025208263A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/085172
Authority: WO
Inventors: Wenfeng Liu; Zhaohua Lu; Xingguang WEI; Yong Li; Lun Li
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2024-04-01
Filing date: 2024-04-01
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-01

Abstract

This document generally relates to wireless communication involving a user device that determines a plurality of portions of a channel information report for a plurality of time instances, wherein the channel information includes at least one beam ID and/or at least one beam quality; and that transmits at least one of the portions. Additionally, a network device transmits instructions that instruct the user device how to format the channel information report for the time instances in the portions; and receives at least one of the portions. Also, a user device determines a number of channel state information processing units (CPUs) for processing a channel information report based on information associated with a first beam set and/or a second beam set, wherein the first beam set is associated with the second beam set; and transmits the channel information report according to a CPU occupation corresponding to the number of CPUs.

Description

CHANNEL INFORMATION REPORTING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

TECHNICAL FIELD

This document is directed generally to channel information reporting in wireless communications.

BACKGROUND

In wireless communication, advanced algorithms, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) , may be leveraged to allow a user device to directly predict beam information of multiple future time instances based on past beam measurement information. In such implementations, the user device may report beam information of multiple time instances, which may result in significantly increased beam reporting overhead. The increased overhead may, in turn, increase the likelihood that two or more beam report transmissions collide, in the sense that a number of beam reports scheduled to be transmitted simultaneously results in too large of a payload size that cannot fit in an uplink control information (UCI) container. Ways for communication devices to efficiently and optimally handle beam report transmissions in these situations without dropping entire beam reports may be desirable.

SUMMARY

This document relates to methods, systems, apparatuses and devices for wireless communication. In some implementations, a method for wireless communication includes: determining, by a user device, a plurality of portions of a channel information report for a plurality of time instances, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the channel information comprises at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality; and transmitting, by the user device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.

In some other implementations, a method for wireless communication includes: transmitting, by a network device, instructions that instruct a user device how to format a channel information report for a plurality of time instances in a plurality of portions, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the channel information comprises at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality; and receiving, by the network device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.

In some other implementations, a method for wireless communication includes: receiving, by a user device, an indication of how to generate a channel information report; and transmitting, by the user device, the channel information report according to the indication.

In some other implementations, a method for wireless communication includes: transmitting, by a network device, an indication of how to generate the channel information report; and receiving, by the network device, the channel information report according to the indication.

In some other implementations, a method for wireless communication includes: determining, by a user device, a number of channel state information processing units (CPUs) for processing a channel information report based on information associated with at least one of a first beam set or a second beam set, wherein the first beam set is associated with the second beam set; and transmitting, by the user device, the channel information report according to a CPU occupation corresponding to the number of CPUs.

In some other implementations, a device, such as a network device, is disclosed. The device may include one or more processors and one or more memories, wherein the one or more processors are configured to read computer code from the one or more memories to implement any of the methods above.

In yet some other implementations, a computer program product is disclosed. The computer program product may include a non-transitory computer-readable program medium with computer code stored thereupon, the computer code, when executed by one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to implement any of the methods above.

The above and other aspects and their implementations are described in greater detail in the drawings, the descriptions, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an example of a wireless communication system.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example implementation of reporting beams in a plurality of time instances.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a method for wireless communication.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of another method for wireless communication.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of another method for wireless communication.

FIG. 6 shows a timing diagram of an example implementation of future and past time instances relative to a CSI reference resource.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a beam identifications (IDs) reported in a channel information report divided into K portions, where K is the number of beams to be reported in each of a plurality of time instances.

FIG. 8 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs reported in a channel information report divided into T portions, where T is the number of time instances to include in the channel information report.

FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs and beam qualities in a channel information report divided into 2K portions, where K is the number of beam IDs or the number of beam qualities to be reported in each of a plurality of time instances.

FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs and beam qualities in a channel information report divided into 2T portions, where T is the number of time instances to include in the channel information report.

FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs and beam qualities in a channel information report divided into K portions, where K is the number of beam IDs or the number of beam qualities to be reported in each of a plurality of time instances.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description describes various embodiments of systems, apparatuses, devices, and methods for wireless communications related to channel information report generation.

Fig. 1 shows a diagram of an example wireless communication system 100 including a plurality of communication nodes (or just nodes) that are configured to wirelessly communicate with each other. In general, the communication nodes include at least one user device 102 and at least one network device 104. The example wireless communication system 100 in Fig. 1 is shown as including two user devices 102, including a first user device 102 (1) and a second user device 102 (2) , and one network device 104. However, various other examples of the wireless communication system 100 that include any of various combinations of one or more user devices 102 and/or one or more network devices 104 may be possible.

In general, a user device as described herein, such as the user device 102, may include a single electronic device or apparatus, or multiple (e.g., a network of) electronic devices or apparatuses, capable of communicating wirelessly over a network. A user device may comprise or otherwise be referred to as a user terminal, a user terminal device, or a user equipment (UE) . Additionally, a user device may be or include, but not limited to, a mobile device (such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a smart watch, a tablet, a laptop computer, vehicle or other vessel (human, motor, or engine-powered, such as an automobile, a plane, a train, a ship, or a bicycle as non-limiting examples) or a fixed or stationary device, (such as a desktop computer or other computing device that is not ordinarily moved for long periods of time, such as appliances, other relatively heavy devices including Internet of things (IoT) , or computing devices used in commercial or industrial environments, as non-limiting examples) . In various embodiments, a user device 102 may include transceiver circuitry 106 coupled to an antenna 108 to effect wireless communication with the network device 104. The transceiver circuitry 106 may also be coupled to a processor 110, which may also be coupled to a memory 112 or other storage device. The memory 112 may store therein instructions or code that, when read and executed by the processor 110, cause the processor 110 to implement various ones of the methods described herein.

Additionally, in general, a network device as described herein, such as the network device 104, may include a single electronic device or apparatus, or multiple (e.g., a network of) electronic devices or apparatuses, and may comprise one or more wireless access nodes, base stations, or other wireless network access points capable of communicating wirelessly over a network with one or more user devices and/or with one or more other network devices 104. For example, the network device 104 may comprise a 4G LTE base station, a 5G NR base station, a 5G central-unit base station, a 5G distributed-unit base station, a next generation Node B (gNB) , an enhanced Node B (eNB) , or other similar or next-generation (e.g., 6G) base stations, in various embodiments. A network device 104 may include transceiver circuitry 114 coupled to an antenna 116, which may include an antenna tower 118 in various approaches, to effect wireless communication with the user device 102 or another network device 104. The transceiver circuitry 114 may also be coupled to one or more processors 120, which may also be coupled to a memory 122 or other storage device. The memory 122 may store therein instructions or code that, when read and executed by the processor 120, cause the processor 120 to implement one or more of the methods described herein.

In various embodiments, two communication nodes in the wireless system 100-such as a user device 102 and a network device 104, two user devices 102 without a network device 104, or two network devices 104 without a user device 102-may be configured to wirelessly communicate with each other in or over a mobile network and/or a wireless access network according to one or more standards and/or specifications. In general, the standards and/or specifications may define the rules or procedures under which the communication nodes can wirelessly communicate, which, in various embodiments, may include those for communicating in millimeter (mm) -Wave bands, and/or with multi-antenna schemes and beamforming functions. In addition or alternatively, the standards and/or specifications are those that define a radio access technology and/or a cellular technology, such as Fourth Generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) , Fifth Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) , or New Radio Unlicensed (NR-U) , as non-limiting examples.

Additionally, in the wireless system 100, the communication nodes are configured to wirelessly communicate signals between each other. In general, a communication in the wireless system 100 between two communication nodes can be or include a transmission or a reception, and is generally both simultaneously, depending on the perspective of a particular node in the communication. For example, for a given communication between a first node and a second node where the first node is transmitting a signal to the second node and the second node is receiving the signal from the first node, the first node may be referred to as a source or transmitting node or device, the second node may be referred to as a destination or receiving node or device, and the communication may be considered a transmission for the first node and a reception for the second node. Of course, since communication nodes in a wireless system 100 can both send and receive signals, a single communication node may be both a transmitting/source node and a receiving/destination node simultaneously or switch between being a source/transmitting node and a destination/receiving node.

Also, particular signals can be characterized or defined as either an uplink (UL) signal, a downlink (DL) signal, or a sidelink (SL) signal. An uplink signal is a signal transmitted from a user device 102 to a network device 104. A downlink signal is a signal transmitted from a network device 104 to a user device 102. A sidelink signal is a signal transmitted from a one user device 102 to another user device 102, or a signal transmitted from one network device 104 to another network device 104. Also, for sidelink transmissions, a first/source user device 102 directly transmits a sidelink signal to a second/destination user device 102 without any forwarding of the sidelink signal to a network device 104.

Additionally, signals communicated between communication nodes in the system 100 may be characterized or defined as a data signal or a control signal. In general, a data signal is a signal that includes or carries data, such multimedia data (e.g., voice and/or image data) , and a control signal is a signal that carries control information that configures the communication nodes in certain ways in order to communicate with each other, or otherwise controls how the communication nodes communicate data signals with each other. Also, certain signals may be defined or characterized by combinations of data/control and uplink/downlink/sidelink, including uplink control signals, uplink data signals, downlink control signals, downlink data signals, sidelink control signals, and sidelink data signals.

For at least some specifications, such as 5G NR, data and control signals are transmitted and/or carried on physical channels. Generally, a physical channel corresponds to a set of time-frequency resources used for transmission of a signal. Different types of physical channels may be used to transmit different types of signals. For example, physical data channels (or just data channels) , also herein called traffic channels, are used to transmit data signals, and physical control channels (or just control channels) are used to transmit control signals. Example types of traffic channels (or physical data channels) include, but are not limited to, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) used to communicate downlink data signals, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) used to communicate uplink data signals, and a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) used to communicate sidelink data signals. In addition, example types of physical control channels include, but are not limited to, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) used to communicate downlink control signals, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) used to communicate uplink control signals, and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) used to communicate sidelink control signals. As used herein for simplicity, unless specified otherwise, a particular type of physical channel is also used to refer to a signal that is transmitted on that particular type of physical channel, and/or a transmission on that particular type of transmission. As an example illustration, a PDSCH refers to the physical downlink shared channel itself, a downlink data signal transmitted on the PDSCH, or a downlink data transmission. Accordingly, a communication node transmitting or receiving a PDSCH means that the communication node is transmitting or receiving a signal on a PDSCH.

Additionally, for at least some specifications, such as 5G NR, and/or for at least some types of control signals, a control signal that a communication node transmits may include control information comprising the information necessary to enable transmission of one or more data signals between communication nodes, and/or to schedule one or more data channels (or one or more transmissions on data channels) . For example, such control information may include the information necessary for proper reception, decoding, and demodulation of a data signals received on physical data channels during a data transmission, and/or for uplink scheduling grants that inform the user device about the resources and transport format to use for uplink data transmissions. In some embodiments, the control information includes downlink control information (DCI) that is transmitted in the downlink direction from a network device 104 to a user device 102. In other embodiments, the control information includes uplink control information (UCI) that is transmitted in the uplink direction from a user device 102 to a network device 104, or sidelink control information (SCI) that is transmitted in the sidelink direction from one user device 102 (1) to another user device 102 (2) .

Additionally, as previously described, each user device 102 and the network device 104 may each include respective antennas 108, 116 to wireless communicate with each other. In order to achieve beam alignment and obtain sufficiently high antenna gain, the user and network devices 102, 104 may perform beam training, and their respective antennas 108, 116 may include antenna arrays with certain numbers of antenna elements (e.g., 1024 antenna elements in some embodiments) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementation. Such features of the user and network devices 102, 104 may help overcome the challenge of propagation loss induced by high frequencies at which the user and network devices 102, 104 may wirelessly communicate. In addition, the respective transceiver circuitry 106, 114 of the user and network device 102, 104 may include analog phase shifters for implementation of millimeter wave (mmWave) beam forming, which provides a finite number of controllable phases. Additionally, constant modulus constraints may be placed on the antenna elements. Given pre-specified beam patterns, variable-phase-shift-based beam-forming training targets may be used to identify the best pattern for subsequent data transmission generally, such as between one transmission reception point (TRP) and one UE panel for example. Correspondingly, communication nodes in the wireless communication system 100 may communicate (transmit and/or receive) using and/or according to one of a plurality of beams.

In some embodiments, a user device 102 and a network device 104 may implement a set of beam management procedures for adjusting the beam direction in the high frequency band and maintaining a suitable transmitting and receiving beam pair. The set of beam management procedures may include beam sweeping, beam measurement, beam reporting, and/or beam indication. In some of these embodiments, the user device 102 is configured with at least one resource setting for channel measurement and at least one reporting setting for channel state information (CSI) reporting. Each reporting setting may include the parameters for one CSI reporting band and the CSI related quantities to be reported by the user device 102.

Additionally, for beam management, the CSI related quantities to be reported by the user device 102 may be indicated by the higher layer parameter reportQuantity in the reporting setting and include a CSI-reference signal (RS) resource indicator (CRI) , synchronization signal (SS) /physical broadcast channel (PBCH) Block resource indicator (SSBRI) , Layer 1 (L1) -reference signal receiving power (RSRP) or L1-signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) . More specifically, the higher layer parameter reportQuantity can be set to 'cri-RSRP' , 'cri-SINR' , 'ssb-Index-RSRP' , and 'ssb-Index-SINR' . For example, in event that the higher layer parameter reportQuantity is set to 'cri-RSRP' , the user device 102 may report at least one CRI and associated L1-RSRP in a single report for each report setting. In some embodiments, the number of RS resources to be reported is configured by a higher layer (e.g., the second layer or higher) .

Also, in some embodiments, the user device 102 may report N transmit (Tx) beam identifications (IDs) (e.g., CRIs) as well as its corresponding beam quality (e.g., L1-RSRP) results. In turn, the network device 104 (e.g., gNB) may select one beam from a candidate set according to beam reporting and associated scheduling schemes.

In addition, in some embodiments, differential-based reporting may be used for the reporting of L1-RSRP. The bitwidth for CRI, SSBRI, RSRP, and differential RSRP are provided in the following Table 1.

Table 1: Bitwidths for CRI, SSBRI, RSRP, and Differential RSRP

In Table 1, the term K^CSI-RS is the number of CSI-RS resources in the corresponding resource set, and the term K^SSB is the configured number of SS/PBCH blocks in the corresponding resource set for reporting 'ssb-Index-RSRP' .

In addition, in some embodiments, for each synchronization signal (SS) /physical broadcast channel (PBCH) or non-zero-power (NZP) channel state information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) resource associated with the CSI resource setting, up to one channel information (e.g., L1-RSRP or L1-SINR) may be reported by the user device 102 in each reporting instance. However, with the development of advanced algorithms such as artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) , the user device 102 may utilize well trained AI/ML models to predict future channel information based on channel information of multiple past time instances. For example, the user device 102 may utilize an AI/ML model that may infer the channel information of four future time instances based on the channel information of the past four time instances. In this case, the user device 102 may need to report channel information of multiple future time instances in one reporting instance based on model output, which may be utilized for subsequent beam indication at the network device 104. In other words, the user device 102 may report together multiple channel information corresponding to different time instances together. This is illustrated in the schematic diagram in Fig. 2, which shows a beam reporting of a beam set of multiple time instances. In the schematic diagram, the configured beam set includes N beams, and K beams for each of the T time instances may be reported by the user device 102, where N, K, and T are each integers greater than zero.

In various implementations when reporting channel information of multiple time instances in a single reporting instance, the reporting overhead may be greatly increased, which in turn may increase the likelihood that two or more beam report transmissions “collide” , in the sense that they are scheduled to be transmitted simultaneously (e.g., where one transmission instance is periodic and another transmission instance is aperiodic) . In addition or alternatively, in some situations, a number of beam reports scheduled to be transmitted simultaneously may result in too large of a payload size that cannot fit in a uplink control information (UCI) container, such as due to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) -acknowledgement (ACK) and/or scheduling request (SR) additionally needing to be multiplexed. For these situations, some beam reports or some portions of a beam report may be dropped or omitted. Instead of dropping the entire beam report, which would be wasteful, implementations described herein incorporate one or more schemes that omit or drop only a part of a beam report for transmission. In some schemes, as described in further detail below, the content of a beam report may be divided, organized, or arranged into different parts or portions. For at least some of these implementations, the parts or portions may be ordered or prioritized based on at least one priority rule, which are developed or defined or otherwise set forth the parameters for assigning priority levels based on associated time instances, beam identification (ID) , and/or beam quality, as non-limiting examples. In event of a collision, the lowest prioritized and/or least significant portions may be omitted, which in turn may allow for a reduced size beam report payload to fit in the UCI container.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “beam state” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a quasi-co-location (QCL) state, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a spatial relation (also called spatial relation information) , a reference signal (RS) , a RS resource, a spatial filter, and/or a precoding. Furthermore, as used herein, a “beam state” is also called a “beam” .

Additionally, as used herein, the term “transmit beam” or “Tx beam” mean the same as, are equivalent to, or include at least one of: a QCL state, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a spatial relation state, a downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) reference signal (such as a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) ) , a synchronization signal block (SSB) (which is also called SS/physical broadcast channel (PBCH) ) , a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , a sounding reference signal (SRS) , physical random access channel (PRACH) ) , or Tx spatial filter or Tx precoding.

Additionally, as used herein, the terms “receive beam” or “Rx beam” mean the same as, are equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a QCL state, TCI state, spatial relation state, spatial filter, Rx spatial filter, and/or Rx precoding.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “channel information” means, is, or refers to information that can be obtained by measurements or algorithms, such as channel measurements, performed by the user device 102 or is related to or can be used for an AI/ML model input or output. In addition or alternatively, channel information means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a beam ID or a beam quality.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “beam identification (ID) ” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a QCL state index, TCI state index, spatial relation state index, reference signal index, spatial filter index, a precoding index, a RS resource index, a CSI-RS resource index, a SSB resource index, a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) , a SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) , a CSI resource set ID, a CSI resource setting ID, a reporting setting ID, a bitmap, and/or a combination index.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “beam quality” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: channel state information (CSI) , reference signal received power (RSRP) , reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) , received signal strength indicator (RSSI) , channel quality indicator (CQI) , precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , rank indicator (RI) , layer indicator (LI) , signal to noise ratio (SNR) , block error rate (BLER) , channel phase information, channel impulse response information, timing information, confidence level information, probability information (e.g., a probability to be a best beam) , channel matrix (e.g., in spatial-frequency domain or in angular-delay domain) , precoding matrix, location, fingerprinting based on channel observation, new measurement and/or enhancement of existing measurement (e.g., line of sight (LOS) /non-line of sight (NLOS) identification, timing and/or angle of measurement, and/or likelihood of measurement) .

Additionally, as used herein, the term “time instance” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a slot, a sub-slot, a symbol, a sub-symbol, a frame, a sub-frame, a transmission occasion, an occasion, or a unit of time (e.g., a millisecond a microsecond as non-limiting examples) .

Additionally, in some embodiments, a spatial filter may be either user device (UE) -side or network (gNB) -side, and/or the spatial filter is also called a spatial-domain filter.

Additionally, in some embodiments, a “spatial relation information” includes one or more reference RSs, which may be used to represent the same or quasi-co “spatial relation” between a targeted RS or channel and the one or more reference RSs.

Additionally, in some embodiments, “beam state” is associated with or comprised of, one or more reference RSs and/or their corresponding QCL type parameters, where QCL type parameters include at least one, including a combination of two or more, of: [1] Doppler spread, [2] Doppler shift, [3] delay spread, [4] average delay, [5] average gain, and [6] Spatial parameter.

Additionally, as used herein, the term a “TCI state” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes a “beam state” .

Additionally, as used herein, the term “spatial parameter” means the same as, is equivalent to, or is the same as spatial parameter, spatial Rx parameter, or spatial filter.

Additionally, as used herein, the terms ‘QCL-TypeA’ , ‘QCL-TypeB’ , ‘QCL-TypeC’ , and ‘QCL-TypeD’ have the following respective definitions:

- 'QCL-TypeA' : {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}

- 'QCL-TypeB' : {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}

- 'QCL-TypeC' : {Doppler shift, average delay}

- 'QCL-TypeD' : {Spatial Rx parameter}

Additionally, as used herein, an “UL channel” may include a PUCCH or a PUSCH.

Additionally, as used herein, an “DL channel” may include a PDCCH or a PDSCH.

Additionally, as used herein, an “UL RS” may be or include at least one of: a SRS, a PRACH, or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) (e.g., a DMRS for a PUSCH or a PUCCH) .

Additionally, as used herein, a “DL RS” may be or include at least one of: a synchronization signal block (SSB) , a CSI-RS, or DMRS (e.g., a DMRS for a PDSCH or a PDCCH) .

Additionally, as used herein, an “UL signal” may be or include at least one of: an UL channel or a UL RS (e.g., a SRS, a physical random access channel (PRACH) , a DMRS, a PUSCH or a PUCCH) .

Additionally, as used herein, a “DL signal” may be or include at least one of: a DL channel or a DL RS (e.g., a SSB, a CSI-RS, a DMRS, a PDSCH, or a PDCCH) .

Additionally, as used herein, a power control parameter includes at least one of: a target power (also referred to as “P0” ) , a path loss RS, a scaling factor for path loss (also referred to as “alpha” ) , or a closed loop process. Also, as used herein, a path-loss may be or include a couple loss.

Additionally, as used herein, a “DCI” means the same as, or is equivalent to, a “PDCCH” .

Additionally, as used herein, the term “precoding information” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a transmit precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) , precoding, or a beam.

Additionally, as used herein, the term transmission and reception point (TRP) means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: a RS port, a RS port group, a RS resource, or a RS resource set.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “port group” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: an antenna group or a user device (UE) port group.

Additionally, as used herein, the term “model” means the same as, is equivalent to, or includes at least one of: functionality, function, functionality module, function module, processing method, information processing method, implementation, feature, feature group, configuration, configuration set, dataset (e.g., for model training) or data-driven algorithms. In addition or alternatively, as used herein, the term “model” is used to refer to a capability of a user device 102 to perform a certain processing or have a certain functionality, a feature, and/or a feature group.

Additionally, for at least some embodiments, different models may be associated with different configurations (e.g., different radio resource control (RRC) configurations) . In addition or alternatively, model activation may refer to activation of a corresponding configuration for a given user device 102. Similarly, model deactivation may refer to deactivating the corresponding configuration, and/or switching and falling back may refer to switching back and falling back, respectively, to the configuration used without model activation.

Additionally, aspects described herein may be used or implemented in any of various communication networks, including wireless communication networks, cellular communication networks, mobile communication networks, or the like, including future implementations of such networks, such as 6G mobile communication networks and beyond.

Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of an example method 300 of wireless communication related to channel information reporting. At block 302, a user device 102 determines a plurality of portions of a channel information report for a plurality of time instances, the plurality of portions including a first portion and a second portion. The channel information includes at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality. At block 304, the user device 102 transmits at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.

Fig. 4 shows a flow chart of another example method 400 of wireless communication related to channel information reporting. At block 402, a network device 104 transmits instructions that instruct a user device how to format a channel information report for a plurality of time instances in a plurality of portions, the plurality of portions including a first portion and a second portion, and the channel information including at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality. At block 404, the network device 104 receives at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the first portion includes at least one of: for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances, at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality of at least one beam; for all of the plurality of time instances, at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality of at least one beam; or information about the second portion.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the first portion includes information about the second portion, and the information about the second portion includes at least one of: a number of the plurality of time instances; a number of one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances; a total number of beams reported for all of the plurality of time instances; at least one of a quantization range and/or a step size for beam quality reporting; a beam quality indicator; an indicator of beam ID reporting; or a threshold for beam quality reporting.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, at least one beam for each of the at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances or for all of the plurality of time instances includes: a highest-ranked k-number of beams, where k is one or more.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the first portion includes the at least one beam ID and/or the at least one beam quality of the at least one beam for each of the at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances, and the at least one time instance includes a P-number of first time instances or a Q-number of last time instances of the plurality of time instances, where each of P and Q is one or more.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the first portion includes a beam quality indicator indicating a type of beam quality, where the type of beam quality is one of a plurality of different types of beam qualities, the beam quality indicator differentiating the type of beam quality from one or more other types of the plurality of different types of beam qualities.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the first portion includes an indicator of beam ID reporting to indicate a beam ID indexing format, the beam ID indexing format is one of a plurality of different beam ID indexing formats, the indicator of beam ID reporting differentiating the beam ID indexing format from one or more other beam ID indexing formats of the plurality of different beam ID indexing formats.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the second portion comprises includes at least one beam identification and/or at least one beam quality of: a remaining one or more beams reported for a first one or more times instances of the plurality of time instances; all of one or more beams reported for a first one or more time instances of the plurality of time instances; a remaining one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances; all of one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances; a remaining one or more beams reported for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances; or all of one or more beams reported for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the second portion includes timestamp information.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, a remaining one or more beams includes a second subset of a set of highest ranked beams other than a first subset of the set of highest ranked beams reported in the first portion.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, at least one time instance includes a P1-number of first time instances or a Q1-number of last time instances of the plurality of time instances, where each of P1 and Q1 is one or more.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the user device 102 determines whether or not to include the second portion in the channel information report based on uplink transmission resources available for the transmission of the channel information report and/or coding rate of the uplink channel.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, a plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions, and the user device 102 transmits at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report according to the plurality of priority levels.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the network device 104 transmits instructions that instruct the user device 102 how to determine a plurality of priority levels for the plurality of portions; and receives the channel information report including at least one of the plurality of portions according to the plurality of priority levels.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the channel information report includes a plurality of parts including a first part and a second part, and where the plurality portions are all within the first part or the second part of the channel information report.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule that indicates to assign higher priority to portions having more recent time instances relative to a time instance of the channel information report or channel state information (CSI) reference resource.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule that indicates to assign higher priority to portions reporting higher ranked beams.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule that indicates to assign higher priority to portions reporting beam identification (ID) over portions reporting beam quality.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule that indicates to assign the plurality of priority levels to the plurality of portions according to at least one statistic of the plurality of time instances.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule that indicates to assign the plurality of priority levels to the plurality of portions according to: at least one bit sequence of at least one beam identification and/or at least one bit sequence of at least one beam quality.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, each of the plurality of portions includes at least one of: at least one beam identification (ID) or at least one beam quality.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, in response to detecting a collision, the user device 102 omits one or more lowest-prioritized portions of the plurality of portions from the channel information report before transmitting the channel information report.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the instructions transmitted by the network device 104 indicate to the user device 102 to omit one or more lowest-prioritized portions of the plurality of portions from the channel information report in event of a collision before transmitting the channel information report.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of portions are formatted such that each i-th portion of the plurality of portions comprises a beam identification (ID) and/or beam quality of an i-th highest ranked beam for each of the plurality of time instances.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, a plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that for any two portions of the plurality of portions, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion with a higher ranked beam.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of portions are formatted such that each of the plurality of portions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of time instances, and wherein each portion comprises a K-number of beam identifications (IDs) and/or beam quality of a K-number of highest ranked beams for an associated time instance, wherein K is one or more.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that for any two portions, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion associated with a more recent time instance.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of portions are formatted such that each i-th portion of the plurality of portions includes either a beam identification (ID) or a beam quality of an i-th highest ranked beam for each of the plurality of time instances.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, a plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that: for any two portions that both include a beam ID or both comprise a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion with a higher ranked beam; and/or for any two portions where a first portion comprises a beam ID and a second portion comprises a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to the first portion comprising the beam ID.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of portions are formatted such that each of the plurality of portions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of time instances, and each portion includes a K-number of beam identifications or a K-number of beam qualities of a K-number of highest ranked beams for an associated time instance, where K is one or more.

In some implementations of the method 300 and/or the method 400, the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that: for any two portions that both include a beam ID or both include a beam quality, a higher priority level is associated to a portion associated with a more recent time instance; and/or for any two portions where a first portion includes a beam ID and a second portion includes a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to the first portion including the beam ID.

In some implementations of the method 300, the method 400, and/or a separate method that is separate or independent from the method 300 of Fig. 3 and/or the method 400 of Fig. 4, the user device 102 receives an indication of how to generate the channel information report; and transmits the channel information report according to the indication.

In some implementations of the method 300, the method 400, and/or the separate method, the network device 104 transmits an indication of how to generate the channel information report; and receives the channel information report according to the indication.

In some implementations of the method 300, the method 400, and/or the separate method, the indication indicates one of: the channel information report comprises channel information for each of the plurality of time instances; the channel information report comprises channel information that corresponds to all of the plurality of time instances; the channel information report comprises channel information only for one of the plurality of time instances; or the channel information report comprises channel information for only two of the plurality of time instances.

In some implementations of the method 300, the method 400, and/or the separate method, the channel information includes a plurality of channel information sets, each channel information set corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of time instances, where the indication includes a bitmap that indicates which of the plurality of channel information sets to include in the channel information report.

Fig. 5. shows a flow chart of an example method 500 of wireless communication involving channel state information processing units (CPUs) . At block 502, a user device 102 determines a number of channel state information processing units (CPUs) for processing a channel information report based on information associated with at least one of a first beam set or a second beam set. The first beam set is associated with the second beam set. At block 504, the user device 102 transmits the channel information report according to a CPU occupation corresponding to the number of CPUs.

In some implementations of the method 500, the information associated with the at least one of the first beam set or the second beam set includes at least one of: a number of beams of the first beam set, a number of beams of the second beam set, a number of time instances for measurement, a number of time instances for prediction, or a capability indication value of the user device.

In some implementations of the method 500, to determine the number of CPUs, the user device 102 determines whether a condition is satisfied; in response to the condition being satisfied, determines the number of CPUs to be one of: a predetermined fixed value, equal to the capability indication value, or a value yielded by a first mathematical function that uses, as at least one input, at least one of: the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device; and in response to the condition not being satisfied, determines the number of CPUs to be a value yielded by a second mathematical function that uses, as at least one input, at least one of: the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device.

In some implementations of the method 500, the condition includes at least one of: at least one of the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device being greater than, equal to, or less than an associated one or more predetermined values; at least one value being greater than, equal to, or less than an associated predetermined value, wherein the at least one value is yielded from at least one mathematical expression each of which uses, as at least one input, at least one of the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device; or at least one occurrence of at least one relation between two or more of the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device.

Further details of various actions performed by the communication nodes of the wireless communication system 100 related to channel information reports and/or CPU occupation, any of which may be incorporated into the method 300, the method 400, the method 500, and/or other methods are now described.

In some implementations, for a certain time instance, at least one (e.g., K, where K＞0) beam is to be reported. For simplicity as used herein, a top-k (k＞0) beam is a beam that has the k-th largest beam quality (e.g., in terms of reference signal received power (RSRP) or probability to be considered the best beam among all beams in a configured beam set) ; or the k-th lowest beam quality among all beams to be reported in a certain time instance or among all beams in a configured beam set in the certain time instance; or the k-th beam selected by the user device 102, such as based on an internal configuration. Also, among all T time instances, the term a top-k (k＞0) beam is a beam that has the k-th largest beam quality (e.g., RSRP or probability to be considered the best beam among all beams in a configured beam set) or the k-th lowest beam quality among all beams to be reported in all T time instances or among all beams in the configured beam set in all T time instances; or the k-th beam selected by the user device 102, such as based on an internal configuration.

Additionally, in some implementations, for channel information or beam information feedback of multiple time instances, a channel information report or beam report may include two parts or portions. In at least some of these implementations, the first part or portion may have a fixed payload size, and/or is used to identify a number of information bits in a second part or portion. In addition or alternatively, in some implementations, the first part may be transmitted in its entirety before the second part.

Additionally, in some implementations, the first part or portion may include at least one of: a beam identification (ID) and/or a beam quality of at least one certain beam (s) for each of at least one certain time instance (s) ; a beam ID and/or a beam quality of certain beam (s) among all T time instances, and/or information about the second part. For at least some of these implementations where the first part includes information about the second part, the second part may include at least one of: a number of time instances to be reported (i.e., the T value) , a number of reported beams for each of the T time instances, a total number of reported beams for all T time instances, a quantization range and/or step size for the reporting of beam quality, an indicator of beam quality, an indicator of beam ID reporting, and/or threshold for beam quality reporting.

Additionally, in some implementations, the certain beam (s) is a Top-1 or highest ranked beam. In other implementations, the certain beam (s) are the Top-1 or highest ranked beam and the Top-2 or second highest ranked beam. In other implementations, each of the certain beam (s) is an M-number of top or highest ranked beams. For example, each beam of the M-number of beams is a top-k beam, where k=1, 2, ..., M. In at least some of these implementations, M is configured by the network device 104 or determined by the user device 102 based on a pre-defined rule. In addition or alternatively, in at least some of these implementations, the user device 102 may report only beams having a RSRP that is larger than a pre-defined threshold, which in turn may reduce reporting overhead.

Additionally, in some implementations, a certain time instance is or includes a first time instance. In other implementations, the certain time instance (s) includes all T time instances. In other implementations, the certain time instance (s) are the first P1 (P1＞0) time instances among all T time instances. In other embodiment, the certain time instance (s) are the last Q1 (Q1＞0) time instances among all T time instances.

Additionally, in some implementations, the first time instance is the earliest time instance among all T time instances and/or not earlier than a channel state information (CSI) reference resource. In other implementations, the first time instance is the latest time instance among all T time instances, and/or not later than the CSI reference resource. Fig. 6 shows a timing diagram of an example implementation of past and future time instances relative to a CSI reference resource. The example implementation in Fig. 6 shows a T-number of past time instances for measurement and a T-number of future time instances for prediction.

Additionally, in some implementations, each beam to be reported may be associated with one or more types of beam qualities, such as reference signal received power (RSRP) , signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , or a probability to be a best or highest-ranked beam, as examples. In at least some of these implementations, different beam quality indicators may be applied or used for the different types of beam qualities, such that a user device 102 may report a beam quality indicator from among a plurality of different beam quality indicators in order to differentiate the different types of beam qualities. For example, the user device 102 may use a reporting beam quality indicator of ‘0’ to indicate RSRP, and may use a reporting beam quality indicator of ‘1’ to indicate a probability of a highest ranked beam.

Additionally, in some implementations, beam ID information may be reported in any of various ways or beam indexing formats. For example, for each beam to be reported, a beam indicator with a bitwidth ofis reported, where N is the number of beams in the configured beam set. As another example, a bitmap with a length of N bits is reported, where each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam. Additionally, each bit may have a first bit value (e.g., a bit value of ‘1’ ) or a second bit value (e.g., a bit value of ‘0’ ) , to indicate whether the corresponding beam is reported or not. As another example, a combination index with a length of is reported, whereis the number of ways to pick K beams out of N different beams without replacement and where order does not matter. Additionally, in some implementations, different ways or formats of reporting beam ID information may be indexed or indicated using different indicators. Correspondingly, a user device 102 may include an indicator in a report in order to differentiate the different formats. For example, in a report, the user device 102 may include an indicator to indicate which format is being used to report beam ID information, . To illustrate as a non-limiting example, the user device 102 may include a reporting indicator having a bit value of ‘0’ to indicate it is using the bitmap-based way to report beam ID information, and may include a reporting indicator having a bit value of ‘1’ to indicate it is using the combination-based way to report beam ID information.

Additionally, in some implementations, a user device 102 may compare the beam quality with a threshold, and only report beams whose beam quality is larger than, or lower than, or not larger than or not lower than the threshold. In addition or alternatively, the user device 102 may report all top-k (k=1, 2, ..., M) or highest ranked beams whose sum of beam qualities is larger than, or lower than, or not larger than, or not lower than the threshold. In any of various implementations, the threshold for beam quality reporting is reported in the first part.

Additionally, in some implementations, the second part or portion includes at least one of:beam ID and/or beam quality of remaining beam (s) for a first time instance or a set of time instances, beam ID and/or beam quality of all K beams for the first time instance or a set of time instances, beam ID and/or beam quality of remaining beam (s) for each of the T time instances, beam ID and/or beam quality of all K beams for each of the T time instances, beam ID and/or beam quality of remaining beam (s) for remaining time instances, beam ID and/or beam quality of all K beams for remaining time instances, and/or timestamp information. On the basis of the first part, the content of the second part is derived accordingly. That is, the remaining beams include beams other than, separate from, or different from those reported in the first part, and/or include beams not reported in the first part.

Additionally, in some implementations, the remaining beam (s) is the Top-1 highest ranked beam. In other implementations, the remaining beam (s) is the Top-2 or second highest ranked beam. In still other implementations, the remaining beam (s) are the Top-2 (second highest ranked) beam and the Top-3 (third highest ranked) beam. In other implementations, the remaining beam (s) are all Top-k (k=M+1, M+2, ... K, M＞0) beams. For at least some of these latter implementations, the integer values of M and K are configured by the network device 104 and/or determined by the user device 102 based on some pre-defined rules. For example, for each time instance, M beams are reported in the first part and K-M beams are reported in the second part. In other implementations, the remaining beam (s) are all K beams. For example, beam IDs of K beams are reported in the first part and beam qualities of K the beams are reported in the second part. Otherwise stated, the second part reports beam information of all K beams other than the beam information for all of K beams reported in the first part.

Additionally, in some implementations, the remaining time instance (s) is or includes the second time instance. In other implementations, the remaining time instance (s) are or include all T time instances. In other implementations, the remaining time instance (s) are or include the first P2 (P2＞0) time instances among all T time instances, e.g., P2=T-1. In other implementations, the remaining time instance (s) are the last Q2 (Q2＞0) time instances among all T time instances, e.g., Q2=T-1.

Additionally, in some implementations, the timestamp information includes at least one of the following: a slot, a sub-slot, a symbol, a sub-symbol, a frame, a sub-frame, a transmission occasion, an occasion, a millisecond, a microsecond, or other units for time.

Additionally, in some implementations, the first part and the second part are separately encoded. In addition or alternatively, in some implementations, a user device 102 is configured to always report the first part to the network device 104. Doing so may provide some utility to the network device 104, such as by giving information about the second part, which in turn may allow the network device 104 to efficiently and/or optimally make decisions, such as allocating a proper uplink resource. In any of various implementations, a part of (less than all) or all of the second part may be omitted or dropped due to limited uplink transmission resources.

Additionally, in some implementations, channel information of multiple time instances are reported in one reporting instance and/or in the form of a channel information report. In some of these implementations, the content of a channel information report includes multiple different portions or groups that are prioritized-i.e., they each are assigned or otherwise have different priorities or priority levels relative to each other. In particular of these implementations, the different portions include the above-described first part and second part. In other implementations, the different portions do not directly correspond to the above-described first and second parts. For example, the above-described first part may itself include multiple portions having different priorities (higher and lower) relative to each other. In addition or alternatively, the second part may itself include multiple portions having different priorities (higher and lower) relative to each other. In addition or alternatively, the first part as a whole may have a priority level relative to one or more portions of the second part. In addition or alternatively, the second part as a whole may have a priority level relative to one or more portions of the first part. In addition or alternatively, one or more portions of the first part may have a priority level relative to one or more portions of the second part. In other implementations, portions of the channel information report to which priority levels are assigned may not directly overlaps or match the first and second parts. To illustrate as a non-limiting example, a first portion of a channel information report with a first assigned priority level may include a portion of the first part and a portion of a second part, a second portion of the channel information report with a second assigned priority level may include only a portion of the first part, and a third portion of the channel information report with a third assigned priority level may include only a portion of the second part. Various ways of arranging or dividing a channel information report into different portions with different priority levels, independent of or in conjunction with the first and second parts described above are possible.

Any of various implementations described herein may implement one or more priority rules to indicate or define which portion (s) of a beam report to prioritize and/or deprioritize (such as by dropping) in event of a collisions. Such priority rules may be based on time instance, beam ID, and/or beam quality, as described in further detail below.

Additionally, in some implementations, each prioritized portion may be associated with a priority index or level according to at least one of the following priority rules. The portion or set of portions with the lowest or a number of lowest priority may be omitted or dropped from the channel information report. In general, as used herein unless specified otherwise, the term “first portion” is considered to have the highest priority among a plurality of portions, including the “second portion” and/or other portions.

Additionally, in some implementations, a priority rule includes that the priority levels for the portions may be determined based on time instance. For example, among all T time instances, the beam associated with nearest or closer-in-time time instance has priority over a beam associated with farther time instance. In some implementations, the first portion includes channel information of the first P3 (P3＞0) time instances among all T time instances, and a second or other portion includes channel information of the remaining time instances (e.g., T minus P3 time instances) . In other implementations, the first portion includes channel information of the last Q3 (Q3＞0) time instances among all T time instances, and a second or other portion includes channel information of the remaining time instances (e.g., T minus Q3 time instances) .

Additionally, in some implementations, a priority rule includes that the priority levels for the portions may be determined based on the top-k or highest ranked values. For example, among all K beams to be reported in each time instance, the beam with lower k (or higher ranked) value has priority (i.e., is assigned a higher priority level) over the beam with larger k (or lower ranked) value. In addition or alternatively, in some implementations, the first portion includes the channel information of the Top-1 beam, and one or more other portions include channel information of one or more other or remaining beams (e.g., a K minus 1 beam) . In other implementations, the first portion includes the channel information of all Top-k (k=1, 2, ..., M) (or M-number of highest ranked) beams, and the second or other portion includes channel information of the remaining beams (e.g., the Top- (M+1) , .... Top-K beams) .

In addition, in some implementations, a priority rule includes that the priority levels for the portions may be determined based on a beam reporting parameter. In some of these implementations, the reporting of beam ID has priority over the reporting of beam quality. In addition or alternatively, in some implementations, the first portion includes the beam IDs of all beams to be reported, and a second or other portion includes beam quality of all beams to be reported. In other implementations, the first portion includes a first kind of beam quality (e.g., RSRP) , and the second or other portion includes a second kind of beam quality (e.g., probability) . In another implementations, the first portion includes beam ID and a first kind of beam quality (e.g., RSRP) , and the second or other portion includes a second kind of beam quality (e.g., probability) .

In addition, in some implementations, a priority rule includes that the priority levels for the portions are determined based on statistic information of or associated with different time instances. In some of these implementations, the beam qualities of each beam at different time instances are combined or added together, and the channel information of the beam with the largest sum value is include in the first portion and the channel information of other beams are included in the second or other portion. In other implementations, K beams are selected for each of the T time instances, and the channel information of the beam that appears more times is included in the first portion and the channel information of other beams are included in the second or other portion.

In addition, in some implementations, a priority rule includes that the priority levels for the portions are determined based on bit sequence of beam ID and/or beam quality. In some of these implementations, the bit width for the beam quality is X bits (e.g., 7 bits for RSRP and 4 bits for differential RSRP) . Correspondingly, the first bit has priority over the second bit, the second bit has priority over the third bit, and so on. In other of these implementations, the first two bits have priority over the second two bits, the second two bits have priority over the third two bits, and so on.In other implementations, the bit width for the beam ID is Y bits (e.g., 6 bits for channel state information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) resource indicator (CRI) if there are 64 beams in the configured beam set) . Correspondingly, in some of these implementations, the first bit has priority over the second bit, the second bit has priority over the third bit, and so on. In other of these implementations, the first two bits have priority over the second two bits, the second two bits have priority over the third two bits, and so on.

Accordingly, based on the above described priority rules, a channel information report (e.g., a channel state information (CSI) part of a channel information report) may be divided, arranged, or organized into multiple portions, where each portion includes at least one element. Further, each element may include at least one beam ID, at least one beam quality, or at least one beam ID and at least one beam quality. The different portions may have and/or be assigned to different priority levels, with the different priority levels being higher and lower than each other. In event of a collision and/or that the user device 102 detects or determines a collision, the user device 102 may drop from the channel information report the portion with the lowest priority, or a number of portions with the number of lowest priorities.

Additionally, in some implementations, K (K>0) beam IDs are to be reported in each of the T time instances.

In some of these embodiments, the channel information report (e.g., the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by or arranged into K portions-i.e., the number of beams to be reported in each time instance. Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs divided into K portions, where each portion comprises T elements, and where each element includes a beam ID (and/or beam quality) of a respective one of the T time instances. In particular of these examples such as shown in Fig. 7, each i-th portion includes a top-i or i-th highest ranked beam of a respective one of the T time instances. In addition or alternatively, in particular of these implementations such as shown in Fig. 7, portions with lower i’s or higher ranked beam IDs are assigned higher priority levels than portions with higher i’s or lower ranked beam IDs. In other implementations, the beam IDs to be reported are divided by K*T portions, where each portion comprises one element. In event of a collision, the user device 102 may drop from the channel information report the portion with the lowest priority level or a number of portions with the number of lowest priority levels.

Additionally, in some other implementations where K (K>0) beam IDs are to be reported in each of the T time instances, the channel information report (e.g., the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by or arranged into T portions-i.e., the number of time instances to be reported. Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs divided into T portions, where each portion comprises K elements of an associated one of the T time instances. In particular of these implementations, each element in a portion associated with a time instance includes a beam ID (and/or beam quality) of the associated time instance. In addition or alternatively, in particular of these implementations such as shown in Fig. 8, portions associated with later-occurring time instances are assigned higher priority levels than portions associated with earlier-occurring time instances. In addition or alternatively, in particular of these implementations such as shown in Fig. 8, portions associated with earlier-occurring time instances are assigned higher priority levels than portions associated with later-occurring time instances. Alternatively, the channel information report (or the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by K*T portions, where each portion includes one element. In event of a collision, the user device 102 may drop from the channel information report the portion with the lowest priority level or a number of portions with the number of lowest priority levels.

Additionally, in some implementations, K (K>0) beam IDs and K beam qualities are to be reported in each of the T time instances. In some of these implementations, the channel information report (e.g., the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by or arranged into 2K portions-i.e., twice the number of beams IDs and/or twice the number of beam qualities to be reported. Fig. 9 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs and beam qualities divided into 2K portions, where each portion includes T elements. Each portion is associated with a respective time instance, and each element of a given portion includes a beam ID or a beam quality of the associated time instance. In particular of these implementations such as shown in Fig. 9, among the K portions reporting beam ID, each i-th portion includes a top-i or i-th highest ranked beam ID of a respective one of the T time instances. Similarly, among the K portions reporting beam quality, each i-th portion includes a top-i or i-th highest ranked beam quality of a respective one of the T time instances. In addition or alternatively, in particular of these implementations such as shown in Fig. 9, all portions reporting beam ID are assigned a higher priority level than all portions reporting beam quality. Further, among the K portions reporting beam ID, portions with lower i’s or higher ranked beam IDs are assigned higher priority levels than portions with higher i’s or lower ranked beam IDs. Similarly, among the K portions reporting beam quality, portions with lower i’s or higher ranked beam qualities are assigned higher priority levels than portions with higher i’s or lower ranked beam qualities. In other of these implementations, the channel information report (or the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by 2K*T portions, where each portion includes one element. In event of a collision, the user device 102 may drop from the channel information report the portion with the lowest priority level or a number of portions with the number of lowest priority levels.

Additionally, in some other implementations where K (K>0) beam IDs and K beam qualities are to be reported in each of the T time instances, the channel information report (e.g., the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by or arranged into 2T portions-i.e., twice the number of time instances to be reported. Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs and beam qualities divided into 2T portions, where each portion includes K elements. Each portion is associated with one of the T time instances, and each element in a given portion associated with a time instance includes a beam ID or a beam quality of the associated time instance. In addition or alternatively, in particular of these implementations such as shown in Fig. 10, all portions reporting beam ID are assigned a higher priority level than all portions reporting beam quality. Further, among the T portions reporting beam ID, in some implementations, portions with later-occurring time instances are assigned higher priority levels than portions with earlier-occurring time instances. Similarly, among the T portions reporting beam quality, portions with later-occurring time instances are assigned higher priority levels than portions with earlier-occurring time instances. In other implementations, portions with earlier-occurring time instances are assigned higher priority levels than portions with later-occurring time instances. In addition or alternatively, in other implementations, the channel information report (or the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by 2K*T portions, where each portion includes one element. In event of a collision, the user device 102 may drop from the channel information report the portion with the lowest priority level or a number of portions with the number of lowest priority levels.

Additionally, in some implementations, K (K>0) beam IDs and K beam qualities are to be reported in each of the T time instances. In some of these implementations, the channel information report (or the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by or arranged into K portions. Fig. 11 shows a schematic diagram of beam IDs and beam qualities arranged into K portions, where each portion includes T elements, and where each element includes a beam ID and a beam quality of a certain time instance. Each i-th portion includes a top-i or i-th highest ranked set of beam ID and beam quality of each of the T time instances. Additionally, in some implementations such as in Fig. 11, portions including higher ranked sets of beam ID and beam quality are assigned higher priority levels than portions with lower ranked sets of beam ID and beam quality. In other implementations, the channel information report (e.g., the CSI part of the channel information report) is divided by K*T portions, where each portion includes one element. In event of a collision, the user device 102 may drop from the channel information report the portion with the lowest priority level or a number of portions with the number of lowest priority levels.

The example configurations of portions shown in Figs. 7-11 are merely examples, and various other ways of dividing beam IDs and/or beam qualities into a plurality of portions having associated priority levels relative to each other are possible. In addition or alternatively, various ways of determining which portion (s) to drop based on priority levels associated with the portions are possible. For example, in other implementations, in event of a collision, a user device 102 may determine to drop at least one portion including a beam ID and at least one portion including a beam quality.

As previously described, in event that uplink transmission resources are insufficient or two beam reports are to collide (e.g., the time occupancy of the physical channels scheduled to carry the beam reports overlap in at least one symbols and are transmitted on the same carrier) , only part of the channel information of the multiple time instances are reported, and the user device 102 may drop the portions with the lowest priority level or a number of portions with the number of lowest priority levels, such as according to one or more pre-defined priority rules. In addition or alternatively, a user device 102 may report channel information of only one or some time instances based on an indication from the network device 104, which in turn may save reporting overhead, as described in further detail below as follows.

In some implementations, a user device 102 may be configured by a high layer parameter (e.g., a layer higher than the physical (PHY) layer) referred to herein as parameter TimeDomainIndication, for the indication of time instances to be reported. In some of these implementations, if the high layer parameter TimeDomainIndication is set to a value or is empty, the user device 102 may report channel information of all T time instances or report special fields (e.g., all ‘0’s , all ‘1’s ) . In addition or alternatively, if the high layer parameter TimeDomainIndication is set to a value, the user device 102 may report one channel information corresponding to all T time instances. For example, the user device 102 may combine or average channel information of all T time instances and report one channel information that is applied to or covers all T time instances. In addition or alternatively, if the high layer parameter TimeDomainIndication is set to a value, the user device 102 may report one channel information corresponding to one time instance among the T time instances, e.g., the first time instance, the second time instance, or the last time instance as non-limiting examples. In addition or alternatively, if the high layer parameter TimeDomainIndication is set to a value, the user device 102 may report two sets of channel information corresponding to two time instances among the T time instances, e.g., the first and second time instances, the last first and second time instances, the first and last time instances, the first and a middle (i.e., non-first or non-last) time instances, or the last and middle time instances, as non-limiting examples.

Additionally, in some implementations, the user device 102 may be configured by a bitmap to indicate the time instances to be reported. For example, the length of the bitmap is T, and each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a respective one of the T time instances. Additionally, each bit in the bitmap may have an associated value that allows the network device 104 to indicate whether the associated time instance is to be reported. For example, each bit may have a first bit value (e.g., ‘1’ ) to indicate that the associated time instance is to be reported or may have a second bit value (e.g., ‘0’ ) to indicate that the associated time instance is not to be reported.

Additionally, in some implementations, due to restriction in capability of a user device 102, the user device 102 may only support a limited number of CSI calculations in a component and/or across all component carriers. If a user device 102 supports X simultaneous CSI calculations, the user device is considered to have X CSI processing units (CPU) for processing CSI reports. In any of various of these implementations, the user device 102 is not required to update the requested CSI reports with lower priority to guarantee that the CPU occupation does not exceed the capability of the user device 102. In some implementations, only one CPU is occupied for beam reporting, such as with report quantity set to CRI/synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block resource indicator (SSBRI) and/or RSRP/SINR. However, for channel information prediction based on advanced algorithms (e.g., ones utilized in AI/ML) performed in the user device 102, more than one CPU may be occupied due to the inferencing and/or processing performed by AI/ML model.

Additionally, in some implementations, suppose a first beam set for measurement is Set B and a second beam set for prediction is Set A. Further, suppose Set B includes L1 beams and Set A includes L2 beams. Also, suppose that Set B is associated with Set A, and L1 is lower than or equal to L2. In some implementations, for spatial domain beam prediction, the AI/ML model in the user device 102 may predict the best (or highest ranked) beam of Set A based on measurements performed on or derived from Set B. In other implementations, for temporal beam prediction, the AI/ML model at the user device 102 may predict a best (or highest ranked) beam of Set A of future T2 time instances based on measurement of Set B of past T1 time instances. In a channel information report, the report quantity may be set to beam ID and/or beam quality, and the CPU occupation for a beam report is related to at least one of: the number of beams in the first beam set (e.g., L1) , the number of beams in the second beam set (e.g., L2) , the number of time instances for measurement (e.g., T1) , the number of time instances for prediction (e.g., T2) , and/or a value of Y reported for or as a capability indication of the user device 102.

In some implementations, the number of occupied CPUs is a fixed value or equal to Y. In other implementations, the number of occupied CPUs is a mathematical expression of at least one of: Y, L1, L2, T1, T2. For example, the number of occupied CPUs is related to two of the five values, e.g., L1*L2, L1*Y, or L2*Y, or T1*Y, or T2*Y. As another example, the number of occupied CPUs is related to three of the five values, e.g., L1*L2*Y, L1*T1*Y, or L1*T2*Y. As still another example, the number of occupied CPUs is related to four of the five values, e.g., L1*L2*T*Y. As another example, the number of occupied CPUs is related to all five values, e.g., L1*L2*T1*T2*Y.

In addition or alternatively, the number of occupied CPUs is a fixed or predetermined value, equal to Y, or a first mathematical expression of at least one of: Y, L1, L2, T1, T2, if a pre-defined condition is satisfied. On the other hand, if the pre-defined condition is not satisfied, the number of occupied CPU is another mathematical expression of at least one of: Y, L1, L2, T1, T2.In addition or alternatively, the condition may be at least one of the following. For a first example condition, at least one of Y, L1, L2, T1, and T2 is equal to, or less than, or larger than a fixed or predetermined value. As non-limiting examples of the first example condition, T2 = 1, or T2>1, or L1 = 16. For a second example condition, a mathematical expression of, or using as inputs, at least one of: Y, L1, L2, T1, T2 is equal to, or less than, or larger than a fixed or predetermined value. As non-limiting examples of the second example condition, L1*L2 > 256, or L1*L2*T1 < 1024. A third example condition includes a pre-defined relation between at least two of Y, L1, L2, T1, T2. As a non-limiting example of the third example condition, L1=L2, or L1<L2.

The description and accompanying drawings above provide specific example embodiments and implementations. The described subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety of different forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter is intended to be construed as not being limited to any example embodiments set forth herein. A reasonably broad scope for claimed or covered subject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, subject matter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, systems, or non-transitory computer-readable media for storing computer codes. Accordingly, embodiments may, for example, take the form of hardware, software, firmware, storage media or any combination thereof. For example, the method embodiments described above may be implemented by components, devices, or systems including memory and processors by executing computer codes stored in the memory.

Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meanings suggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning. Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment/implementation” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in another embodiment/implementation” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a different embodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matter includes combinations of example embodiments in whole or in part.

In general, terminology may be understood at least in part from usage in context. For example, terms, such as “and” , “or” , or “and/or, ” as used herein may include a variety of meanings that may depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” if used to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C, here used in the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as used herein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may be used to describe combinations of features, structures or characteristics in a plural sense. Similarly, terms, such as “a, ” “an, ” or “the, ” may be understood to convey a singular usage or to convey a plural usage, depending at least in part upon context. In addition, the term “based on” may be understood as not necessarily intended to convey an exclusive set of factors and may, instead, allow for existence of additional factors not necessarily expressly described, again, depending at least in part on context.

Reference throughout this specification to features, advantages, or similar language does not imply that all of the features and advantages that may be realized with the present solution should be or are included in any single implementation thereof. Rather, language referring to the features and advantages is understood to mean that a specific feature, advantage, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present solution. Thus, discussions of the features and advantages, and similar language, throughout the specification may, but do not necessarily, refer to the same embodiment.

Furthermore, the described features, advantages and characteristics of the present solution may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. One of ordinary skill in the relevant art will recognize, in light of the description herein, that the present solution can be practiced without one or more of the specific features or advantages of a particular embodiment. In other instances, additional features and advantages may be recognized in certain embodiments that may not be present in all embodiments of the present solution.

The subject matter of the disclosure may also relate to or include, among others, the following aspects:

A first aspect includes a method for wireless communication that comprises: determining, by a user device, a plurality of portions of a channel information report for a plurality of time instances, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the channel information comprises at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality; and transmitting, by the user device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.

A second aspect includes a method for wireless communication that comprises: transmitting, by a network device, instructions that instruct a user device how to format a channel information report for a plurality of time instances in a plurality of portions, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the channel information comprises at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality; and receiving, by the network device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.

A third aspect includes any of the first or second aspects, and further includes wherein the first portion comprises at least one of: for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances, at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality of at least one beam; for all of the plurality of time instances, at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality of at least one beam; or information about the second portion.

A fourth aspect includes the third aspect, and further includes wherein the first portion comprises the information about the second portion, and wherein the information about the second portion comprises at least one of: a number of the plurality of time instances; a number of one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances; a total number of beams reported for all of the plurality of time instances; at least one of a quantization range and/or a step size for beam quality reporting; a beam quality indicator; an indicator of beam ID reporting; or a threshold for beam quality reporting.

A fifth aspect includes any of the third or fourth aspects, and further includes wherein the at least one beam for each of the at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances or for all of the plurality of time instances comprises: a highest-ranked k-number of beams, where k is one or more.

A sixth aspect includes any of the third through fifth aspects, and further includes wherein the first portion comprises the at least one beam ID and/or the at least one beam quality of the at least one beam for each of the at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances, and wherein the at least one time instance comprises a P-number of first time instances or a Q-number of last time instances of the plurality of time instances, where each of P and Q is one or more.

A seventh aspect includes any of the fourth through sixth aspects, and further includes wherein the first portion comprises the beam quality indicator, the beam quality indicator indicating a type of beam quality, wherein the type of beam quality is one of a plurality of different types of beam qualities, the beam quality indicator differentiating the type of beam quality from one or more other types of the plurality of different types of beam qualities.

An eighth aspect includes any of the fourth through seventh aspects, and further includes wherein the first portion comprises the indicator of beam ID reporting to indicate a beam ID indexing format, the beam ID indexing format is one of a plurality of different beam ID indexing formats, the indicator of beam ID reporting differentiating the beam ID indexing format from one or more other beam ID indexing formats of the plurality of different beam ID indexing formats.

A ninth aspect includes any of the first through eighth aspects, and further includes wherein the second portion comprises: at least one beam identification and/or at least one beam quality of: a remaining one or more beams reported for a first one or more times instances of the plurality of time instances; all of one or more beams reported for a first one or more time instances of the plurality of time instances; a remaining one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances; all of one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances; a remaining one or more beams reported for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances; or all of one or more beams reported for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances.

A tenth aspect includes the any of the first through ninth aspect, and further includes wherein the second portion comprises timestamp information.

An eleventh aspect includes any of the ninth or tenth aspects, and further includes wherein the remaining one or more beams comprises a second subset of a set of highest ranked beams other than a first subset of the set of highest ranked beams reported in the first portion.

A twelfth aspect includes any of the ninth through eleventh aspects, and further includes wherein the at least one time instance comprises a P1-number of first time instances or a Q1-number of last time instances of the plurality of time instances, wherein each of P1 and Q1 is one or more.

A thirteenth aspect includes any of the first through twelfth aspects, and further includes: determining, by the user device, whether or not to include the second portion in the channel information report based on uplink transmission resources available for the transmission of the channel information report and/or coding rate of the uplink channel

A fourteenth aspect includes any of the first through thirteenth aspects, and further includes wherein a plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions, the method further comprising: transmitting, by the user device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report according to the plurality of priority levels.

A fifteenth aspect includes any of the first through fourteenth aspects, and further includes: transmitting, by the network device, instructions that instruct the user device how to determine a plurality of priority levels for the plurality of portions; and receiving, by the network device, the channel information report comprising at least one of the plurality of portions according to the plurality of priority levels.

A sixteenth aspect includes any of the fourteenth or fifteenth aspects, and further includes wherein the channel information report comprises a plurality of parts comprising a first part and a second part, and wherein the plurality portions are all within the first part or the second part of the channel information report.

A seventeenth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through sixteenth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign higher priority to portions having more recent time instances relative to a time instance of the channel information report or channel state information (CSI) reference resource.

An eighteenth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through seventeenth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign higher priority to portions reporting higher ranked beams.

A nineteenth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through eighteenth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign higher priority to portions reporting beam identification (ID) over portions reporting beam quality.

A twentieth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through nineteenth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign the plurality of priority levels to the plurality of portions according to at least one statistic of the plurality of time instances.

A twenty-first aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twentieth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the priority rule indicates to assign the plurality of priority levels to the plurality of portions according to: at least one bit sequence of at least one beam identification and/or at least one bit sequence of at least one beam quality.

A twenty-second aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-first aspects, and further includes wherein each of the plurality of portions comprises at least one of: at least one beam identification (ID) or at least one beam quality.

A twenty-third aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-second aspects, and further includes: in response to detecting a collision, omitting, by the user device, one or more lowest-prioritized portions of the plurality of portions from the channel information report before transmitting the channel information report.

A twenty-fourth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-third aspects, and further includes wherein the instructions indicate to the user device to omit one or more lowest-prioritized portions of the plurality of portions from the channel information report in event of a collision before transmitting the channel information report.

A twenty-fifth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-fourth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each i-th portion of the plurality of portions comprises a beam identification (ID) and/or beam quality of an i-th highest ranked beam for each of the plurality of time instances.

A twenty-sixth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-fifth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that for any two portions of the plurality of portions, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion with a higher ranked beam.

A twenty-seventh aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-sixth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each of the plurality of portions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of time instances, and wherein each portion comprises a K-number of beam identifications (IDs) and/or beam quality of a K-number of highest ranked beams for an associated time instance, wherein K is one or more.

A twenty-eighth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-seventh aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that for any two portions, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion associated with a more recent time instance.

A twenty-ninth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-eighth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each i-th portion of the plurality of portions comprises either a beam identification (ID) or a beam quality of an i-th highest ranked beam for each of the plurality of time instances.

A thirtieth aspect includes any of the fourteenth through twenty-ninth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that: for any two portions that both comprise a beam ID or both comprise a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion with a higher ranked beam; and/or for any two portions where a first portion comprises a beam ID and a second portion comprises a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to the first portion comprising the beam ID.

A thirty-first aspect includes any of the fourteenth through thirtieth aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each of the plurality of portions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of time instances, and wherein each portion comprises a K-number of beam identifications or a K-number of beam qualities of a K-number of highest ranked beams for an associated time instance, and wherein K is one or more.

A thirty-second aspect includes any of the fourteenth through thirty-first aspects, and further includes wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that: for any two portions that both comprise a beam ID or both comprise a beam quality, a higher priority level is associated to a portion associated with a more recent time instance; and/or for any two portions where a first portion comprises a beam ID and a second portion comprises a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to the first portion comprising the beam ID.

A thirty-third aspect includes any of the first through thirty-second aspects, and further includes: receiving, by the user device, an indication of how to generate the channel information report; and transmitting, by the user device, the channel information report according to the indication.

A thirty-fourth aspect includes any of the first through thirty-third aspects, and further includes: transmitting, by the network device, an indication of how to generate the channel information report; and receiving, by the network device, the channel information report according to the indication.

A thirty-fifth aspect includes any of the thirty-third or thirty-fourth aspects, and further includes wherein the indication indicates one of: the channel information report comprises channel information for each of the plurality of time instances; the channel information report comprises channel information that corresponds to all of the plurality of time instances; the channel information report comprises channel information only for one of the plurality of time instances; or the channel information report comprises channel information for only two of the plurality of time instances.

A thirty-sixth aspect includes any of the thirty-third through thirty-fifth aspects, and further includes wherein the channel information comprises a plurality of channel information sets, each channel information set corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of time instances, wherein the indication comprises a bitmap that indicates which of the plurality of channel information sets to include in the channel information report.

A thirty-seventh aspect includes a method for wireless communication that comprises: determining, by a user device, a number of channel state information processing units (CPUs) for processing a channel information report based on information associated with at least one of a first beam set or a second beam set, wherein the first beam set is associated with the second beam set; and transmitting, by the user device, the channel information report according to a CPU occupation corresponding to the number of CPUs.

A thirty-eighth aspect includes the thirty-seventh aspect, and further includes wherein the information associated with the at least one of the first beam set or the second beam set comprises at least one of: a number of beams of the first beam set, a number of beams of the second beam set, a number of time instances for measurement, a number of time instances for prediction, or a capability indication value of the user device.

A thirty-ninth aspect includes the thirty-eighth aspect, and further includes wherein determining the number of CPUs comprises: determining, by the user device, whether a condition is satisfied; in response to the condition being satisfied, determining, by the user device, the number of CPUs to be one of: a predetermined fixed value, equal to the capability indication value, or a value yielded by a first mathematical function that uses, as at least one input, at least one of: the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device; and in response to the condition not being satisfied, determining, by the user device, the number of CPUs to be a value yielded by a second mathematical function that uses, as at least one input, at least one of: the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device.

A fortieth aspect includes the thirty-ninth aspect, and further includes wherein the condition comprises at least one of: at least one of the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device being greater than, equal to, or less than an associated one or more predetermined values; at least one value being greater than, equal to, or less than an associated predetermined value, wherein the at least one value is yielded from at least one mathematical expression each of which uses, as at least one input, at least one of the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device; or at least one occurrence of at least one relation between two or more of the number of beams of the first beam set, the number of beams of the second beam set, the number of time instances for measurement, the number of time instances for prediction, or the capability indication value of the user device.

A forty-first aspect includes a wireless communications apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to read code from the memory to implement any of the first through fortieth aspects.

A forty-second aspect includes a computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium comprising code stored thereupon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement any of the first through fortieth aspects.

In addition to the features mentioned in each of the independent aspects enumerated above, some examples may show, alone or in combination, the optional features mentioned in the dependent aspects and/or as disclosed in the description above and shown in the figures.

Claims

A method for wireless communication, the method comprising:

determining, by a user device, a plurality of portions of a channel information report for a plurality of time instances, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the channel information comprises at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality; and

transmitting, by the user device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.
A method for wireless communication, the method comprising:

transmitting, by a network device, instructions that instruct a user device how to format a channel information report for a plurality of time instances in a plurality of portions, the plurality of portions comprising a first portion and a second portion, wherein the channel information comprises at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality; and

receiving, by the network device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report.
The method of any of claims 1 or 2, wherein the first portion comprises at least one of:

for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances, at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality of at least one beam;

for all of the plurality of time instances, at least one beam identification (ID) and/or at least one beam quality of at least one beam; or

information about the second portion.
The method of claim 3, wherein the first portion comprises the information about the second portion, and wherein the information about the second portion comprises at least one of:

a number of the plurality of time instances;

a number of one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances;

a total number of beams reported for all of the plurality of time instances;

at least one of a quantization range and/or a step size for beam quality reporting;

a beam quality indicator;

an indicator of beam ID reporting; or

a threshold for beam quality reporting.
The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one beam for each of the at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances or for all of the plurality of time instances comprises: a highest-ranked k-number of beams, where k is one or more.
The method of claim 3, wherein the first portion comprises the at least one beam ID and/or the at least one beam quality of the at least one beam for each of the at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances, and

wherein the at least one time instance comprises a P-number of first time instances or a Q-number of last time instances of the plurality of time instances, where each of P and Q is one or more.
The method of claim 4, wherein the first portion comprises the beam quality indicator, the beam quality indicator indicating a type of beam quality, wherein the type of beam quality is one of a plurality of different types of beam qualities, the beam quality indicator differentiating the type of beam quality from one or more other types of the plurality of different types of beam qualities.
The method of claim 4, wherein the first portion comprises the indicator of beam ID reporting to indicate a beam ID indexing format, the beam ID indexing format is one of a plurality of different beam ID indexing formats, the indicator of beam ID reporting differentiating the beam ID indexing format from one or more other beam ID indexing formats of the plurality of different beam ID indexing formats.
The method of any of claims 1 or 2, wherein the second portion comprises: at least one beam identification and/or at least one beam quality of:

a remaining one or more beams reported for a first one or more times instances of the plurality of time instances;

all of one or more beams reported for a first one or more time instances of the plurality of time instances;

a remaining one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances;

all of one or more beams reported for each of the plurality of time instances;

a remaining one or more beams reported for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances; or

all of one or more beams reported for each of at least one time instance of the plurality of time instances.
The method of any of claims 1 or 2, wherein the second portion comprises timestamp information.
The method of claim 9, wherein the remaining one or more beams comprises a second subset of a set of highest ranked beams other than a first subset of the set of highest ranked beams reported in the first portion.
The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a P1-number of first time instances or a Q1-number of last time instances of the plurality of time instances, wherein each of P1 and Q1 is one or more.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the user device, whether or not to include the second portion in the channel information report based on uplink transmission resources available for the transmission of the channel information report and/or coding rate of the uplink channel
The method of claim 1, wherein a plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions, the method further comprising:

transmitting, by the user device, at least one of the plurality of portions of the channel information report according to the plurality of priority levels.
The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting, by the network device, instructions that instruct the user device how to determine a plurality of priority levels for the plurality of portions; and

receiving, by the network device, the channel information report comprising at least one of the plurality of portions according to the plurality of priority levels.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the channel information report comprises a plurality of parts comprising a first part and a second part, and wherein the plurality portions are all within the first part or the second part of the channel information report.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign higher priority to portions having more recent time instances relative to a time instance of the channel information report or channel state information (CSI) reference resource.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign higher priority to portions reporting higher ranked beams.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign higher priority to portions reporting beam identification (ID) over portions reporting beam quality.
The method any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the at least one priority rule indicates to assign the plurality of priority levels to the plurality of portions according to at least one statistic of the plurality of time instances.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of priority levels are determined according to at least one priority rule, the priority rule indicates to assign the plurality of priority levels to the plurality of portions according to: at least one bit sequence of at least one beam identification and/or at least one bit sequence of at least one beam quality.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein each of the plurality of portions comprises at least one of: at least one beam identification (ID) or at least one beam quality.
The method of claim 14, further comprising:

in response to detecting a collision, omitting, by the user device, one or more lowest-prioritized portions of the plurality of portions from the channel information report before transmitting the channel information report.
The method of claim 15, wherein the instructions indicate to the user device to omit one or more lowest-prioritized portions of the plurality of portions from the channel information report in event of a collision before transmitting the channel information report.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each i-th portion of the plurality of portions comprises a beam identification (ID) and/or beam quality of an i-th highest ranked beam for each of the plurality of time instances.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15 or 25, wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that for any two portions of the plurality of portions, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion with a higher ranked beam.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each of the plurality of portions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of time instances, and wherein each portion comprises a K-number of beam identifications (IDs) and/or beam quality of a K-number of highest ranked beams for an associated time instance, wherein K is one or more.
The method of any of claims 14, 15, or 27, wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that for any two portions, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion associated with a more recent time instance.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each i-th portion of the plurality of portions comprises either a beam identification (ID) or a beam quality of an i-th highest ranked beam for each of the plurality of time instances.
The method of any of claims 14, 15, or 29, wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that:

for any two portions that both comprise a beam ID or both comprise a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to a portion with a higher ranked beam; and/or

for any two portions where a first portion comprises a beam ID and a second portion comprises a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to the first portion comprising the beam ID.
The method of any of claims 14 or 15, wherein the plurality of portions are formatted such that each of the plurality of portions is associated with a respective one of the plurality of time instances, and wherein each portion comprises a K-number of beam identifications or a K-number of beam qualities of a K-number of highest ranked beams for an associated time instance, and wherein K is one or more.
The method of any of claims 14, 15, or 31, wherein the plurality of priority levels are assigned to the plurality of portions such that:

for any two portions that both comprise a beam ID or both comprise a beam quality, a higher priority level is associated to a portion associated with a more recent time instance; and/or

for any two portions where a first portion comprises a beam ID and a second portion comprises a beam quality, a higher priority level is assigned to the first portion comprising the beam ID.
A wireless communications apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the processor is configured to read code from the memory to implement a method of any of claims 1 to 32.
A computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium comprising code stored thereupon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method of any of claims 1 to 32.