WO2025208550A1

WO2025208550A1 - Techniques for user equipment initiated receive beam sweeping

Info

Publication number: WO2025208550A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/086142
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fang Yuan; Wooseok Nam; Yan Zhou
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2024-04-04
Filing date: 2024-04-04
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-04

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal. The UE may receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state. Numerous other aspects are described.

Description

TECHNIQUES FOR USER EQUIPMENT INITIATED RECEIVE BEAM SWEEPING

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication and specifically relate to techniques, apparatuses, and methods for a user equipment initiating receive beam sweeping.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various services that may include carrying voice, text, messaging, video, data, and/or other traffic. The services may include unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast services, among other examples. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access radio access technologies (RATs) capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (for example, time domain resources, frequency domain resources, spatial domain resources, and/or device transmit power, among other examples) . Examples of such multiple-access RATs include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

These multiple-access RATs have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable different wireless communication devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, or global level. An example telecommunication standard is New Radio (NR) . NR, which may also be referred to as 5G, is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . NR (and other mobile broadband evolutions beyond NR) may be designed to better support Internet of things (IoT) and reduced capability device deployments, industrial connectivity, millimeter wave (mmWave) expansion, licensed and unlicensed spectrum access, non-terrestrial network (NTN) deployment, sidelink and other device-to-device direct communication technologies (for example, cellular vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) communication) , massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) , disaggregated network architectures and network topology expansions, multiple-subscriber implementations, high-precision positioning, and/or radio frequency (RF) sensing, among other examples. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in NR may be implemented, and other radio access technologies such as 6G may be introduced, to further advance mobile broadband evolution.

SUMMARY

Some aspects described herein relate to a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) . The method may include transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal. The method may include receiving one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to a method of wireless communication performed by a network node. The method may include receiving a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The method may include transmitting one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions for wireless communication by a UE. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, may cause the UE to transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the UE, may cause the UE to receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores a set of instructions for wireless communication by a network node. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the network node, may cause the network node to receive a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the network node, may cause the network node to transmit one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to a UE for wireless communication. The UE may include one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories. The one or more processors may be configured to transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The one or more processors may be configured to receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to a network node for wireless communication. The network node may include one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories. The one or more processors may be configured to receive a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The one or more processors may be configured to transmit one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The apparatus may include means for receiving one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Some aspects described herein relate to an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for receiving a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The apparatus may include means for transmitting one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Aspects of the present disclosure may generally be implemented by or as a method, apparatus, system, computer program product, non-transitory computer-readable medium, user equipment, base station, network node, network entity, wireless communication device, and/or processing system as substantially described with reference to, and as illustrated by, the specification and accompanying drawings.

The foregoing paragraphs of this section have broadly summarized some aspects of the present disclosure. These and additional aspects and associated advantages will be described hereinafter. The disclosed aspects may be used as a basis for modifying or designing other aspects for carrying out the same or similar purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent aspects do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the aspects disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The appended drawings illustrate some aspects of the present disclosure, but are not limiting of the scope of the present disclosure because the description may enable other aspects. Each of the drawings is provided for purposes of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims. The same or similar reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication network in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example network node in communication with an example user equipment (UE) in a wireless network.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example disaggregated base station architecture in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating examples of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) beam management procedures, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of using beams for communications between a network node and a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example associated with a UE initiating receive beam sweeping, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, at a UE or an apparatus of a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, at a network node or an apparatus of a network node, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of an example apparatus for wireless communication, in accordance with the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a diagram of an example apparatus for wireless communication, in accordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the present disclosure are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in many different forms and is not to be construed as limited to any specific aspect illustrated by or described with reference to an accompanying drawing or otherwise presented in this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. One skilled in the art may appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or in combination with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using various combinations or quantities of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover an apparatus having, or a method that is practiced using, other structures and/or functionalities in addition to or other than the structures and/or functionalities with which various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein may be practiced. Any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

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

A network node and a user equipment (UE) may perform a beam sweeping procedure to enable the network node and/or the UE to select a beam for communication. For example, a network node may transmit a sequence of synchronization signal block (SSB) beams in different directions and the UE may measure one or more SSB beams of the sequence of beams. The UE may measure and report the one or more SSB beams to the network node and the network node may select a best beam based on the reporting from the UE. For example, the UE may transmit information identifying a set of reference signal received powers (RSRPs) of one or more SSB beams and the network node may select an SSB beam with a highest RSRP for use for subsequent communication.

A UE may perform beam sweeping during initial access, during which the UE may measure and select a beam in association with a network node. When a radio link failure (RLF) or another type of communication interruption occurs, the UE may, again, perform beam sweeping to select a beam and obtain access to communication services via a network node. However, when the UE is connected to the network node, the UE may not have access to beam sweeping. Accordingly, the UE may be unable to perform beam sweeping with the network node without a communication interruption occurring, thereby preventing the UE from adapting to changing network conditions. Further, waiting for a network node initiated beam sweeping procedure may use excess overhead resources as a result of signaling exchange with the network node to initiate and confirm performance of a beam sweeping procedure.

Various aspects relate generally to a UE initiating beam sweeping. Some aspects more specifically relate to a UE transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping to a network node. In some aspects, the UE may request that the network node transmit one or more indicated beams for measurement, and the UE may perform a measurement and select a beam based on the network node transmitting the one or more indicated beams. In some aspects, the UE may request transmission of an identified reference signal (RS) set in connection with the beam sweeping. For example, the UE may request a particular number of reference signals or repetitions of reference signals to enable the UE to perform one or more measurements on one or more beams of a beam sweeping procedure.

Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by a UE initiating beam sweeping, the described techniques can be used to improve flexibility by allowing a UE to actively scan for a best beam direction based on measurements of channel conditions. In some examples, by the UE initiating beam sweeping, the UE may reduce overhead and improve latency relative to waiting for a network node initiated beam sweeping procedure or a radio link failure (or other communication interruption) initiated beam sweeping procedure. By performing beam sweeping, the UE may enhance coverage and improve communication performance with a network node.

Multiple-access radio access technologies (RATs) have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable wireless communication devices to communicate on a municipal, enterprise, national, regional, or global level. For example, 5G New Radio (NR) is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . 5G NR supports various technologies and use cases including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) , massive machine-type communication (mMTC) , millimeter wave (mmWave) technology, beamforming, network slicing, edge computing, Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity and management, and network function virtualization (NFV) .

As the demand for broadband access increases and as technologies supported by wireless communication networks evolve, further technological improvements may be adopted in or implemented for 5G NR or future RATs, such as 6G, to further advance the evolution of wireless communication for a wide variety of existing and new use cases and applications. Such technological improvements may be associated with new frequency band expansion, licensed and unlicensed spectrum access, overlapping spectrum use, small cell deployments, non-terrestrial network (NTN) deployments, disaggregated network architectures and network topology expansion, device aggregation, advanced duplex communication, sidelink and other device-to-device direct communication, IoT (including passive or ambient IoT) networks, reduced capability (RedCap) UE functionality, industrial connectivity, multiple-subscriber implementations, high-precision positioning, radio frequency (RF) sensing, and/or artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI/ML) , among other examples. These technological improvements may support use cases such as wireless backhauls, wireless data centers, extended reality (XR) and metaverse applications, meta services for supporting vehicle connectivity, holographic and mixed reality communication, autonomous and collaborative robots, vehicle platooning and cooperative maneuvering, sensing networks, gesture monitoring, human-brain interfacing, digital twin applications, asset management, and universal coverage applications using non-terrestrial and/or aerial platforms, among other examples. The methods, operations, apparatuses, and techniques described herein may enable one or more of the foregoing technologies and/or support one or more of the foregoing use cases.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication network 100 in accordance with the present disclosure. The wireless communication network 100 may be or may include elements of a 5G (or NR) network or a 6G network, among other examples. The wireless communication network 100 may include multiple network nodes 110, shown as a network node (NN) 110a, a network node 110b, a network node 110c, and a network node 110d. The network nodes 110 may support communications with multiple UEs 120, shown as a UE 120a, a UE 120b, a UE 120c, a UE 120d, and a UE 120e.

The network nodes 110 and the UEs 120 of the wireless communication network 100 may communicate using the electromagnetic spectrum, which may be subdivided by frequency or wavelength into various classes, bands, carriers, or channels. For example, devices of the wireless communication network 100 may communicate using one or more operating bands. In some aspects, multiple wireless networks 100 may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless communication network 100 may support a particular RAT (which may also be referred to as an air interface) and may operate on one or more carrier frequencies in one or more frequency ranges. Examples of RATs include a 4G RAT, a 5G/NR RAT, and/or a 6G RAT, among other examples. In some examples, when multiple RATs are deployed in a given geographic area, each RAT in the geographic area may operate on different frequencies to avoid interference with one another.

Various operating bands have been defined as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz through 7.125 GHz) , FR2 (24.25 GHz through 52.6 GHz) , FR3 (7.125 GHz through 24.25 GHz) , FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz through 71 GHz) , FR4 (52.6 GHz through 114.25 GHz) , and FR5 (114.25 GHz through 300 GHz) . Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in some documents and articles. Similarly, FR2 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in some documents and articles, despite being different than the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz through 300 GHz) , which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band. The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies, which include FR3. Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 or FR2 into mid-band frequencies. Thus, “sub-6 GHz, ” if used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that are less than 6 GHz, that are within FR1, and/or that are included in mid-band frequencies. Similarly, the term “millimeter wave, ” if used herein, may broadly refer to frequencies that are included in mid-band frequencies, that are within FR2, FR4, FR4-aor FR4-1, or FR5, and/or that are within the EHF band. Higher frequency bands may extend 5G NR operation, 6G operation, and/or other RATs beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, each of FR4a, FR4-1, FR4, and FR5 falls within the EHF band. In some examples, the wireless communication network 100 may implement dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) , in which multiple RATs (for example, 4G/LTE and 5G/NR) are implemented with dynamic bandwidth allocation (for example, based on user demand) in a single frequency band. It is contemplated that the frequencies included in these operating bands (for example, FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4, FR4-a, FR4-1, and/or FR5) may be modified, and techniques described herein may be applicable to those modified frequency ranges.

A network node 110 may include one or more devices, components, or systems that enable communication between a UE 120 and one or more devices, components, or systems of the wireless communication network 100. A network node 110 may be, may include, or may also be referred to as an NR network node, a 5G network node, a 6G network node, a Node B, an eNB, a gNB, an access point (AP) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a mobility element, a core, a network entity, a network element, a network equipment, and/or another type of device, component, or system included in a radio access network (RAN) .

A network node 110 may be implemented as a single physical node (for example, a single physical structure) or may be implemented as two or more physical nodes (for example, two or more distinct physical structures) . For example, a network node 110 may be a device or system that implements part of a radio protocol stack, a device or system that implements a full radio protocol stack (such as a full gNB protocol stack) , or a collection of devices or systems that collectively implement the full radio protocol stack. For example, and as shown, a network node 110 may be an aggregated network node (having an aggregated architecture) , meaning that the network node 110 may implement a full radio protocol stack that is physically and logically integrated within a single node (for example, a single physical structure) in the wireless communication network 100. For example, an aggregated network node 110 may consist of a single standalone base station or a single TRP that uses a full radio protocol stack to enable or facilitate communication between a UE 120 and a core network of the wireless communication network 100.

Alternatively, and as also shown, a network node 110 may be a disaggregated network node (sometimes referred to as a disaggregated base station) , meaning that the network node 110 may implement a radio protocol stack that is physically distributed and/or logically distributed among two or more nodes in the same geographic location or in different geographic locations. For example, a disaggregated network node may have a disaggregated architecture. In some deployments, disaggregated network nodes 110 may be used in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, in an open radio access network (O-RAN) (such as a network configuration in compliance with the O-RAN Alliance) , or in a virtualized radio access network (vRAN) , also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) , to facilitate scaling by separating base station functionality into multiple units that can be individually deployed.

The network nodes 110 of the wireless communication network 100 may include one or more central units (CUs) , one or more distributed units (DUs) , and/or one or more radio units (RUs) . A CU may host one or more higher layer control functions, such as radio resource control (RRC) functions, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) functions, and/or service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) functions, among other examples. A DU may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and/or one or more higher physical (PHY) layers depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as a functional split defined by the 3GPP. In some examples, a DU also may host one or more lower PHY layer functions, such as a fast Fourier transform (FFT) , an inverse FFT (iFFT) , beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, and/or scheduling of resources for one or more UEs 120, among other examples. An RU may host RF processing functions or lower PHY layer functions, such as an FFT, an iFFT, beamforming, or PRACH extraction and filtering, among other examples, according to a functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, each RU can be operated to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 120.

In some aspects, a single network node 110 may include a combination of one or more CUs, one or more DUs, and/or one or more RUs. Additionally or alternatively, a network node 110 may include one or more Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controllers (RICs) and/or one or more Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RICs. In some examples, a CU, a DU, and/or an RU may be implemented as a virtual unit, such as a virtual central unit (VCU) , a virtual distributed unit (VDU) , or a virtual radio unit (VRU) , among other examples. A virtual unit may be implemented as a virtual network function, such as associated with a cloud deployment.

Some network nodes 110 (for example, a base station, an RU, or a TRP) may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In the 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a network node 110 or to a network node 110 itself, depending on the context in which the term is used. A network node 110 may support one or multiple (for example, three) cells. In some examples, a network node 110 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (for example, several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 120 with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 120 with service subscriptions. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (for example, a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs 120 having association with the femto cell (for example, UEs 120 in a closed subscriber group (CSG) ) . A network node 110 for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro network node. A network node 110 for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico network node. A network node 110 for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto network node or an in-home network node. In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary. For example, the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of an associated mobile network node 110 (for example, a train, a satellite base station, an unmanned aerial vehicle, or a NTN network node) .

The wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes network nodes 110 of different types, such as macro network nodes, pico network nodes, femto network nodes, relay network nodes, aggregated network nodes, and/or disaggregated network nodes, among other examples. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the network node 110a may be a macro network node for a macro cell 130a, the network node 110b may be a pico network node for a pico cell 130b, and the network node 110c may be a femto network node for a femto cell 130c. Various different types of network nodes 110 may generally transmit at different power levels, serve different coverage areas, and/or have different impacts on interference in the wireless communication network 100 than other types of network nodes 110. For example, macro network nodes may have a high transmit power level (for example, 5 to 40 watts) , whereas pico network nodes, femto network nodes, and relay network nodes may have lower transmit power levels (for example, 0.1 to 2 watts) .

In some examples, a network node 110 may be, may include, or may operate as an RU, a TRP, or a base station that communicates with one or more UEs 120 via a radio access link (which may be referred to as a “Uu” link) . The radio access link may include a downlink and an uplink. “Downlink” (or “DL” ) refers to a communication direction from a network node 110 to a UE 120, and “uplink” (or “UL” ) refers to a communication direction from a UE 120 to a network node 110. Downlink channels may include one or more control channels and one or more data channels. A downlink control channel may be used to transmit downlink control information (DCI) (for example, scheduling information, reference signals, and/or configuration information) from a network node 110 to a UE 120. A downlink data channel may be used to transmit downlink data (for example, user data associated with a UE 120) from a network node 110 to a UE 120. Downlink control channels may include one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs) , and downlink data channels may include one or more physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) . Uplink channels may similarly include one or more control channels and one or more data channels. An uplink control channel may be used to transmit uplink control information (UCI) (for example, reference signals and/or feedback corresponding to one or more downlink transmissions) from a UE 120 to a network node 110. An uplink data channel may be used to transmit uplink data (for example, user data associated with a UE 120) from a UE 120 to a network node 110. Uplink control channels may include one or more physical uplink control channels (PUCCHs) , and uplink data channels may include one or more physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs) . The downlink and the uplink may each include a set of resources on which the network node 110 and the UE 120 may communicate.

Downlink and uplink resources may include time domain resources (frames, subframes, slots, and/or symbols) , frequency domain resources (frequency bands, component carriers, subcarriers, resource blocks, and/or resource elements) , and/or spatial domain resources (particular transmit directions and/or beam parameters) . Frequency domain resources of some bands may be subdivided into bandwidth parts (BWPs) . A BWP may be a continuous block of frequency domain resources (for example, a continuous block of resource blocks) that are allocated for one or more UEs 120. A UE 120 may be configured with both an uplink BWP and a downlink BWP (where the uplink BWP and the downlink BWP may be the same BWP or different BWPs) . A BWP may be dynamically configured (for example, by a network node 110 transmitting a DCI configuration to the one or more UEs 120) and/or reconfigured, which means that a BWP can be adjusted in real-time (or near-real-time) based on changing network conditions in the wireless communication network 100 and/or based on the specific requirements of the one or more UEs 120. This enables more efficient use of the available frequency domain resources in the wireless communication network 100 because fewer frequency domain resources may be allocated to a BWP for a UE 120 (which may reduce the number of frequency domain resources that a UE 120 is required to monitor) , leaving more frequency domain resources to be spread across multiple UEs 120. Thus, BWPs may also assist in the implementation of lower-capability UEs 120 by facilitating the configuration of smaller bandwidths for communication by such UEs 120.

As described above, in some aspects, the wireless communication network 100 may be, may include, or may be included in, an IAB network. In an IAB network, at least one network node 110 is an anchor network node that communicates with a core network. An anchor network node 110 may also be referred to as an IAB donor (or “IAB-donor” ) . The anchor network node 110 may connect to the core network via a wired backhaul link. For example, an Ng interface of the anchor network node 110 may terminate at the core network. Additionally or alternatively, an anchor network node 110 may connect to one or more devices of the core network that provide a core access and mobility management function (AMF) . An IAB network also generally includes multiple non-anchor network nodes 110, which may also be referred to as relay network nodes or simply as IAB nodes (or “IAB-nodes” ) . Each non-anchor network node 110 may communicate directly with the anchor network node 110 via a wireless backhaul link to access the core network, or may communicate indirectly with the anchor network node 110 via one or more other non-anchor network nodes 110 and associated wireless backhaul links that form a backhaul path to the core network. Some anchor network node 110 or other non-anchor network node 110 may also communicate directly with one or more UEs 120 via wireless access links that carry access traffic. In some examples, network resources for wireless communication (such as time resources, frequency resources, and/or spatial resources) may be shared between access links and backhaul links.

In some examples, any network node 110 that relays communications may be referred to as a relay network node, a relay station, or simply as a relay. A relay may receive a transmission of a communication from an upstream station (for example, another network node 110 or a UE 120) and transmit the communication to a downstream station (for example, a UE 120 or another network node 110) . In this case, the wireless communication network 100 may include or be referred to as a “multi-hop network. ” In the example shown in Fig. 1, the network node 110d (for example, a relay network node) may communicate with the network node 110a (for example, a macro network node) and the UE 120d in order to facilitate communication between the network node 110a and the UE 120d. Additionally or alternatively, a UE 120 may be or may operate as a relay station that can relay transmissions to or from other UEs 120. A UE 120 that relays communications may be referred to as a UE relay or a relay UE, among other examples.

The UEs 120 may be physically dispersed throughout the wireless communication network 100, and each UE 120 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 120 may be, may include, or may be included in an access terminal, another terminal, a mobile station, or a subscriber unit. A UE 120 may be, include, or be coupled with a cellular phone (for example, a smart phone) , a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device, a biometric device, a wearable device (for example, a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wristband, and/or smart jewelry, such as a smart ring or a smart bracelet) , an entertainment device (for example, a music device, a video device, and/or a satellite radio) , an XR device, a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter or sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) device (such as a Global Positioning System device or another type of positioning device) , a UE function of a network node, and/or any other suitable device or function that may communicate via a wireless medium.

A UE 120 and/or a network node 110 may include one or more chips, system-on-chips (SoCs) , chipsets, packages, or devices that individually or collectively constitute or comprise a processing system. The processing system includes processor (or “processing” ) circuitry in the form of one or multiple processors, microprocessors, processing units (such as central processing units (CPUs) , graphics processing units (GPUs) , neural processing units (NPUs) and/or digital signal processors (DSPs) ) , processing blocks, application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) (such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) ) , or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “processors” or collectively as “the processor” or “the processor circuitry” ) . One or more of the processors may be individually or collectively configurable or configured to perform various functions or operations described herein. A group of processors collectively configurable or configured to perform a set of functions may include a first processor configurable or configured to perform a first function of the set and a second processor configurable or configured to perform a second function of the set, or may include the group of processors all being configured or configurable to perform the set of functions.

The processing system may further include memory circuitry in the form of one or more memory devices, memory blocks, memory elements or other discrete gate or transistor logic or circuitry, each of which may include tangible storage media such as random-access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM) , or combinations thereof (all of which may be generally referred to herein individually as “memories” or collectively as “the memory” or “the memory circuitry” ) . One or more of the memories may be coupled (for example, operatively coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled, or electrically coupled) with one or more of the processors and may individually or collectively store processor-executable code (such as software) that, when executed by one or more of the processors, may configure one or more of the processors to perform various functions or operations described herein. Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, one or more of the processors may be preconfigured to perform various functions or operations described herein without requiring configuration by software. The processing system may further include or be coupled with one or more modems (such as a Wi-Fi (for example, IEEE compliant) modem or a cellular (for example, 3GPP 4G LTE, 5G, or 6G compliant) modem) . In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the modems. The processing system may further include or be coupled with multiple radios (collectively “the radio” ) , multiple RF chains, or multiple transceivers, each of which may in turn be coupled with one or more of multiple antennas. In some implementations, one or more processors of the processing system include or implement one or more of the radios, RF chains or transceivers. The UE 120 may include or may be included in a housing that houses components associated with the UE 120 including the processing system.

Some UEs 120 may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) UEs, evolved or enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) , UEs, further enhanced eMTC (feMTC) UEs, or enhanced feMTC (efeMTC) UEs, or further evolutions thereof, all of which may be simply referred to as “MTC UEs” . An MTC UE may be, may include, or may be included in or coupled with a robot, an uncrewed aerial vehicle, a remote device, a sensor, a meter, a monitor, and/or a location tag. Some UEs 120 may be considered IoT devices and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband IoT) devices. An IoT UE or NB-IoT device may be, may include, or may be included in or coupled with an industrial machine, an appliance, a refrigerator, a doorbell camera device, a home automation device, and/or a light fixture, among other examples. Some UEs 120 may be considered Customer Premises Equipment, which may include telecommunications devices that are installed at a customer location (such as a home or office) to enable access to a service provider's network (such as included in or in communication with the wireless communication network 100) .

Some UEs 120 may be classified according to different categories in association with different complexities and/or different capabilities. UEs 120 in a first category may facilitate massive IoT in the wireless communication network 100, and may offer low complexity and/or cost relative to UEs 120 in a second category. UEs 120 in a second category may include mission-critical IoT devices, legacy UEs, baseline UEs, high-tier UEs, advanced UEs, full-capability UEs, and/or premium UEs that are capable of URLLC, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) , and/or precise positioning in the wireless communication network 100, among other examples. A third category of UEs 120 may have mid-tier complexity and/or capability (for example, a capability between UEs 120 of the first category and UEs 120 of the second capability) . A UE 120 of the third category may be referred to as a reduced capacity UE (“RedCap UE” ) , a mid-tier UE, an NR-Light UE, and/or an NR-Lite UE, among other examples. RedCap UEs may bridge a gap between the capability and complexity of NB-IoT devices and/or eMTC UEs, and mission-critical IoT devices and/or premium UEs. RedCap UEs may include, for example, wearable devices, IoT devices, industrial sensors, and/or cameras that are associated with a limited bandwidth, power capacity, and/or transmission range, among other examples. RedCap UEs may support healthcare environments, building automation, electrical distribution, process automation, transport and logistics, and/or smart city deployments, among other examples.

In some examples, two or more UEs 120 (for example, shown as UE 120a and UE 120e) may communicate directly with one another using sidelink communications (for example, without communicating by way of a network node 110 as an intermediary) . As an example, the UE 120a may directly transmit data, control information, or other signaling as a sidelink communication to the UE 120e. This is in contrast to, for example, the UE 120a first transmitting data in an UL communication to a network node 110, which then transmits the data to the UE 120e in a DL communication. In various examples, the UEs 120 may transmit and receive sidelink communications using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication protocols, device-to-device (D2D) communication protocols, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication protocols (which may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocols, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocols, and/or vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) protocols) , and/or mesh network communication protocols. In some deployments and configurations, a network node 110 may schedule and/or allocate resources for sidelink communications between UEs 120 in the wireless communication network 100. In some other deployments and configurations, a UE 120 (instead of a network node 110) may perform, or collaborate or negotiate with one or more other UEs to perform, scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations for sidelink communications.

In various examples, some of the network nodes 110 and the UEs 120 of the wireless communication network 100 may be configured for full-duplex operation in addition to half-duplex operation. A network node 110 or a UE 120 operating in a half-duplex mode may perform only one of transmission or reception during particular time resources, such as during particular slots, symbols, or other time periods. Half-duplex operation may involve time-division duplexing (TDD) , in which DL transmissions of the network node 110 and UL transmissions of the UE 120 do not occur in the same time resources (that is, the transmissions do not overlap in time) . In contrast, a network node 110 or a UE 120 operating in a full-duplex mode can transmit and receive communications concurrently (for example, in the same time resources) . By operating in a full-duplex mode, network nodes 110 and/or UEs 120 may generally increase the capacity of the network and the radio access link. In some examples, full-duplex operation may involve frequency-division duplexing (FDD) , in which DL transmissions of the network node 110 are performed in a first frequency band or on a first component carrier and transmissions of the UE 120 are performed in a second frequency band or on a second component carrier different than the first frequency band or the first component carrier, respectively. In some examples, full-duplex operation may be enabled for a UE 120 but not for a network node 110. For example, a UE 120 may simultaneously transmit an UL transmission to a first network node 110 and receive a DL transmission from a second network node 110 in the same time resources. In some other examples, full-duplex operation may be enabled for a network node 110 but not for a UE 120. For example, a network node 110 may simultaneously transmit a DL transmission to a first UE 120 and receive an UL transmission from a second UE 120 in the same time resources. In some other examples, full-duplex operation may be enabled for both a network node 110 and a UE 120.

In some examples, the UEs 120 and the network nodes 110 may perform MIMO communication. “MIMO” generally refers to transmitting or receiving multiple signals (such as multiple layers or multiple data streams) simultaneously over the same time and frequency resources. MIMO techniques generally exploit multipath propagation. MIMO may be implemented using various spatial processing or spatial multiplexing operations. In some examples, MIMO may support simultaneous transmission to multiple receivers, referred to as multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) . Some RATs may employ advanced MIMO techniques, such as mTRP operation (including redundant transmission or reception on multiple TRPs) , reciprocity in the time domain or the frequency domain, single-frequency-network (SFN) transmission, or non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT) .

In some aspects, the UE 120 may include a communication manager 140. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 140 may transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal; and receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 140 may perform one or more other operations described herein.

In some aspects, the network node 110 may include a communication manager 150. As described in more detail elsewhere herein, the communication manager 150 may receive a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal; and transmit one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 150 may perform one or more other operations described herein.

As indicated above, Fig. 1 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example network node 110 in communication with an example UE 120 in a wireless network.

As shown in Fig. 2, the network node 110 may include a data source 212, a transmit processor 214, a transmit (TX) MIMO processor 216, a set of modems 232 (shown as 232a through 232t, where t ≥ 1) , a set of antennas 234 (shown as 234a through 234v, where v ≥ 1) , a MIMO detector 236, a receive processor 238, a data sink 239, a controller/processor 240, a memory 242, a communication unit 244, a scheduler 246, and/or a communication manager 150, among other examples. In some configurations, one or a combination of the antenna (s) 234, the modem (s) 232, the MIMO detector 236, the receive processor 238, the transmit processor 214, and/or the TX MIMO processor 216 may be included in a transceiver of the network node 110. The transceiver may be under control of and used by one or more processors, such as the controller/processor 240, and in some aspects in conjunction with processor-readable code stored in the memory 242, to perform aspects of the methods, processes, and/or operations described herein. In some aspects, the network node 110 may include one or more interfaces, communication components, and/or other components that facilitate communication with the UE 120 or another network node.

The terms “processor, ” “controller, ” or “controller/processor” may refer to one or more controllers and/or one or more processors. For example, reference to “a/the processor, ” “a/the controller/processor, ” or the like (in the singular) should be understood to refer to any one or more of the processors described in connection with Fig. 2, such as a single processor or a combination of multiple different processors. Reference to “one or more processors” should be understood to refer to any one or more of the processors described in connection with Fig. 2. For example, one or more processors of the network node 110 may include transmit processor 214, TX MIMO processor 216, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, and/or controller/processor 240. Similarly, one or more processors of the UE 120 may include MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, and/or controller/processor 280.

In some aspects, a single processor may perform all of the operations described as being performed by the one or more processors. In some aspects, a first set of (one or more) processors of the one or more processors may perform a first operation described as being performed by the one or more processors, and a second set of (one or more) processors of the one or more processors may perform a second operation described as being performed by the one or more processors. The first set of processors and the second set of processors may be the same set of processors or may be different sets of processors. Reference to “one or more memories” should be understood to refer to any one or more memories of a corresponding device, such as the memory described in connection with Fig. 2. For example, operation described as being performed by one or more memories can be performed by the same subset of the one or more memories or different subsets of the one or more memories.

For downlink communication from the network node 110 to the UE 120, the transmit processor 214 may receive data ( “downlink data” ) intended for the UE 120 (or a set of UEs that includes the UE 120) from the data source 212 (such as a data pipeline or a data queue) . In some examples, the transmit processor 214 may select one or more MCSs for the UE 120 in accordance with one or more channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE 120. The network node 110 may process the data (for example, including encoding the data) for transmission to the UE 120 on a downlink in accordance with the MCS (s) selected for the UE 120 to generate data symbols. The transmit processor 214 may process system information (for example, semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI) ) and/or control information (for example, CQI requests, grants, and/or upper layer signaling) and provide overhead symbols and/or control symbols. The transmit processor 214 may generate reference symbols for reference signals (for example, a cell-specific reference signal (CRS) , a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , or a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS) ) and/or synchronization signals (for example, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) or a secondary synchronization signals (SSS) ) .

The TX MIMO processor 216 may perform spatial processing (for example, precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide a set of output symbol streams (for example, T output symbol streams) to the set of modems 232. For example, each output symbol stream may be provided to a respective modulator component (shown as MOD) of a modem 232. Each modem 232 may use the respective modulator component to process (for example, to modulate) a respective output symbol stream (for example, for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) ) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modem 232 may further use the respective modulator component to process (for example, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and/or upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a time domain downlink signal. The modems 232a through 232t may together transmit a set of downlink signals (for example, T downlink signals) via the corresponding set of antennas 234.

A downlink signal may include a DCI communication, a MAC control element (MAC-CE) communication, an RRC communication, a downlink reference signal, or another type of downlink communication. Downlink signals may be transmitted on a PDCCH, a PDSCH, and/or on another downlink channel. A downlink signal may carry one or more transport blocks (TBs) of data. A TB may be a unit of data that is transmitted over an air interface in the wireless communication network 100. A data stream (for example, from the data source 212) may be encoded into multiple TBs for transmission over the air interface. The number of TBs used to carry the data associated with a particular data stream may be associated with a TB size common to the multiple TBs. The TB size may be based on or otherwise associated with radio channel conditions of the air interface, the MCS used for encoding the data, the downlink resources allocated for transmitting the data, and/or another parameter. In general, the larger the TB size, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted in a single transmission, which reduces signaling overhead. However, larger TB sizes may be more prone to transmission and/or reception errors than smaller TB sizes, but such errors may be mitigated by more robust error correction techniques.

For uplink communication from the UE 120 to the network node 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 may be received by an antenna 234, may be processed by a modem 232 (for example, a demodulator component, shown as DEMOD, of a modem 232) , may be detected by the MIMO detector 236 (for example, a receive (Rx) MIMO processor) if applicable, and/or may be further processed by the receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and/or control information. The receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 (which may be a data pipeline, a data queue, and/or another type of data sink) and provide the decoded control information to a processor, such as the controller/processor 240.

The network node 110 may use the scheduler 246 to schedule one or more UEs 120 for downlink or uplink communications. In some aspects, the scheduler 246 may use DCI to dynamically schedule DL transmissions to the UE 120 and/or UL transmissions from the UE 120. In some examples, the scheduler 246 may allocate recurring time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources that the UE 120 may use to transmit and/or receive communications using an RRC configuration (for example, a semi-static configuration) , for example, to perform semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) or to configure a configured grant (CG) for the UE 120.

One or more of the transmit processor 214, the TX MIMO processor 216, the modem 232, the antenna 234, the MIMO detector 236, the receive processor 238, and/or the controller/processor 240 may be included in an RF chain of the network node 110. An RF chain may include one or more filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) , and/or other devices that convert between an analog signal (such as for transmission or reception via an air interface) and a digital signal (such as for processing by one or more processors of the network node 110) . In some aspects, the RF chain may be or may be included in a transceiver of the network node 110.

In some examples, the network node 110 may use the communication unit 244 to communicate with a core network and/or with other network nodes. The communication unit 244 may support wired and/or wireless communication protocols and/or connections, such as Ethernet, optical fiber, common public radio interface (CPRI) , and/or a wired or wireless backhaul, among other examples. The network node 110 may use the communication unit 244 to transmit and/or receive data associated with the UE 120 or to perform network control signaling, among other examples. The communication unit 244 may include a transceiver and/or an interface, such as a network interface.

The UE 120 may include a set of antennas 252 (shown as antennas 252a through 252r, where r ≥ 1) , a set of modems 254 (shown as modems 254a through 254u, where u ≥ 1) , a MIMO detector 256, a receive processor 258, a data sink 260, a data source 262, a transmit processor 264, a TX MIMO processor 266, a controller/processor 280, a memory 282, and/or a communication manager 140, among other examples. One or more of the components of the UE 120 may be included in a housing 284. In some aspects, one or a combination of the antenna (s) 252, the modem (s) 254, the MIMO detector 256, the receive processor 258, the transmit processor 264, or the TX MIMO processor 266 may be included in a transceiver that is included in the UE 120. The transceiver may be under control of and used by one or more processors, such as the controller/processor 280, and in some aspects in conjunction with processor-readable code stored in the memory 282, to perform aspects of the methods, processes, or operations described herein. In some aspects, the UE 120 may include another interface, another communication component, and/or another component that facilitates communication with the network node 110 and/or another UE 120.

For downlink communication from the network node 110 to the UE 120, the set of antennas 252 may receive the downlink communications or signals from the network node 110 and may provide a set of received downlink signals (for example, R received signals) to the set of modems 254. For example, each received signal may be provided to a respective demodulator component (shown as DEMOD) of a modem 254. Each modem 254 may use the respective demodulator component to condition (for example, filter, amplify, downconvert, and/or digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each modem 254 may use the respective demodulator component to further demodulate or process the input samples (for example, for OFDM) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from the set of modems 254, may perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and may provide detected symbols. The receive processor 258 may process (for example, decode) the detected symbols, may provide decoded data for the UE 120 to the data sink 260 (which may include a data pipeline, a data queue, and/or an application executed on the UE 120) , and may provide decoded control information and system information to the controller/processor 280.

For uplink communication from the UE 120 to the network node 110, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data ( “uplink data” ) from a data source 262 (such as a data pipeline, a data queue, and/or an application executed on the UE 120) and control information from the controller/processor 280. The control information may include one or more parameters, feedback, one or more signal measurements, and/or other types of control information. In some aspects, the receive processor 258 and/or the controller/processor 280 may determine, for a received signal (such as received from the network node 110 or another UE) , one or more parameters relating to transmission of the uplink communication. The one or more parameters may include a reference signal received power (RSRP) parameter, a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) parameter, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) parameter, a CQI parameter, or a transmit power control (TPC) parameter, among other examples. The control information may include an indication of the RSRP parameter, the RSSI parameter, the RSRQ parameter, the CQI parameter, the TPC parameter, and/or another parameter. The control information may facilitate parameter selection and/or scheduling for the UE 120 by the network node 110.

The transmit processor 264 may generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals, such as an uplink DMRS, an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) , and/or another type of reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, if applicable, and further processed by the set of modems 254 (for example, for DFT-s-OFDM or CP-OFDM) . The TX MIMO processor 266 may perform spatial processing (for example, precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide a set of output symbol streams (for example, U output symbol streams) to the set of modems 254. For example, each output symbol stream may be provided to a respective modulator component (shown as MOD) of a modem 254. Each modem 254 may use the respective modulator component to process (for example, to modulate) a respective output symbol stream (for example, for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modem 254 may further use the respective modulator component to process (for example, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and/or upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain an uplink signal.

The modems 254a through 254u may transmit a set of uplink signals (for example, R uplink signals or U uplink symbols) via the corresponding set of antennas 252. An uplink signal may include a UCI communication, a MAC-CE communication, an RRC communication, or another type of uplink communication. Uplink signals may be transmitted on a PUSCH, a PUCCH, and/or another type of uplink channel. An uplink signal may carry one or more TBs of data. Sidelink data and control transmissions (that is, transmissions directly between two or more UEs 120) may generally use similar techniques as were described for uplink data and control transmission, and may use sidelink-specific channels such as a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) , and/or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) .

One or more antennas of the set of antennas 252 or the set of antennas 234 may include, or may be included within, one or more antenna panels, one or more antenna groups, one or more sets of antenna elements, or one or more antenna arrays, among other examples. An antenna panel, an antenna group, a set of antenna elements, or an antenna array may include one or more antenna elements (within a single housing or multiple housings) , a set of coplanar antenna elements, a set of non-coplanar antenna elements, or one or more antenna elements coupled with one or more transmission or reception components, such as one or more components of Fig. 2. As used herein, “antenna” can refer to one or more antennas, one or more antenna panels, one or more antenna groups, one or more sets of antenna elements, or one or more antenna arrays. “Antenna panel” can refer to a group of antennas (such as antenna elements) arranged in an array or panel, which may facilitate beamforming by manipulating parameters of the group of antennas. “Antenna module” may refer to circuitry including one or more antennas, which may also include one or more other components (such as filters, amplifiers, or processors) associated with integrating the antenna module into a wireless communication device.

In some examples, each of the antenna elements of an antenna 234 or an antenna 252 may include one or more sub-elements for radiating or receiving radio frequency signals. For example, a single antenna element may include a first sub-element cross-polarized with a second sub-element that can be used to independently transmit cross-polarized signals. The antenna elements may include patch antennas, dipole antennas, and/or other types of antennas arranged in a linear pattern, a two-dimensional pattern, or another pattern. A spacing between antenna elements may be such that signals with a desired wavelength transmitted separately by the antenna elements may interact or interfere constructively and destructively along various directions (such as to form a desired beam) . For example, given an expected range of wavelengths or frequencies, the spacing may provide a quarter wavelength, a half wavelength, or another fraction of a wavelength of spacing between neighboring antenna elements to allow for the desired constructive and destructive interference patterns of signals transmitted by the separate antenna elements within that expected range.

The amplitudes and/or phases of signals transmitted via antenna elements and/or sub-elements may be modulated and shifted relative to each other (such as by manipulating phase shift, phase offset, and/or amplitude) to generate one or more beams, which is referred to as beamforming. The term “beam” may refer to a directional transmission of a wireless signal toward a receiving device or otherwise in a desired direction. “Beam” may also generally refer to a direction associated with such a directional signal transmission, a set of directional resources associated with the signal transmission (for example, an angle of arrival, a horizontal direction, and/or a vertical direction) , and/or a set of parameters that indicate one or more aspects of a directional signal, a direction associated with the signal, and/or a set of directional resources associated with the signal. In some implementations, antenna elements may be individually selected or deselected for directional transmission of a signal (or signals) by controlling amplitudes of one or more corresponding amplifiers and/or phases of the signal (s) to form one or more beams. The shape of a beam (such as the amplitude, width, and/or presence of side lobes) and/or the direction of a beam (such as an angle of the beam relative to a surface of an antenna array) can be dynamically controlled by modifying the phase shifts, phase offsets, and/or amplitudes of the multiple signals relative to each other.

Different UEs 120 or network nodes 110 may include different numbers of antenna elements. For example, a UE 120 may include a single antenna element, two antenna elements, four antenna elements, eight antenna elements, or a different number of antenna elements. As another example, a network node 110 may include eight antenna elements, 24 antenna elements, 64 antenna elements, 128 antenna elements, or a different number of antenna elements. Generally, a larger number of antenna elements may provide increased control over parameters for beam generation relative to a smaller number of antenna elements, whereas a smaller number of antenna elements may be less complex to implement and may use less power than a larger number of antenna elements. Multiple antenna elements may support multiple-layer transmission, in which a first layer of a communication (which may include a first data stream) and a second layer of a communication (which may include a second data stream) are transmitted using the same time and frequency resources with spatial multiplexing.

In some aspects, the controller/processor 280 may be a component of a processing system. A processing system may generally be a system or a series of machines or components that receives inputs and processes the inputs to produce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems or components of, for example, the UE 120) . For example, a processing system of the UE 120 may be a system that includes the various other components or subcomponents of the UE 120.

The processing system of the UE 120 may interface with one or more other components of the UE 120, may process information received from one or more other components (such as inputs or signals) , or may output information to one or more other components. For example, a chip or modem of the UE 120 may include a processing system, a first interface to receive or obtain information, and a second interface to output, transmit, or provide information. In some examples, the first interface may be an interface between the processing system of the chip or modem and a receiver, such that the UE 120 may receive information or signal inputs, and the information may be passed to the processing system. In some examples, the second interface may be an interface between the processing system of the chip or modem and a transmitter, such that the UE 120 may transmit information output from the chip or modem. A person having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the second interface also may obtain or receive information or signal inputs, and the first interface also may output, transmit, or provide information.

In some aspects, the controller/processor 240 may be a component of a processing system. A processing system may generally be a system or a series of machines or components that receives inputs and processes the inputs to produce a set of outputs (which may be passed to other systems or components of, for example, the network node 110) . For example, a processing system of the network node 110 may be a system that includes the various other components or subcomponents of the network node 110.

The processing system of the network node 110 may interface with one or more other components of the network node 110, may process information received from one or more other components (such as inputs or signals) , or may output information to one or more other components. For example, a chip or modem of the network node 110 may include a processing system, a first interface to receive or obtain information, and a second interface to output, transmit, or provide information. In some examples, the first interface may be an interface between the processing system of the chip or modem and a receiver, such that the network node 110 may receive information or signal inputs, and the information may be passed to the processing system. In some examples, the second interface may be an interface between the processing system of the chip or modem and a transmitter, such that the network node 110 may transmit information output from the chip or modem. A person having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the second interface also may obtain or receive information or signal inputs, and the first interface also may output, transmit, or provide information.

While blocks in Fig. 2 are illustrated as distinct components, the functions described above with respect to the blocks may be implemented in a single hardware, software, or combination component or in various combinations of components. For example, the functions described with respect to the transmit processor 264, the receive processor 258, and/or the TX MIMO processor 266 may be performed by or under the control of the controller/processor 280.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example disaggregated base station architecture 300 in accordance with the present disclosure. One or more components of the example disaggregated base station architecture 300 may be, may include, or may be included in one or more network nodes (such one or more network nodes 110) . The disaggregated base station architecture 300 may include a CU 310 that can communicate directly with a core network 320 via a backhaul link, or that can communicate indirectly with the core network 320 via one or more disaggregated control units, such as a Non-RT RIC 350 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 360 and/or a Near-RT RIC 370 (for example, via an E2 link) . The CU 310 may communicate with one or more DUs 330 via respective midhaul links, such as via F1 interfaces. Each of the DUs 330 may communicate with one or more RUs 340 via respective fronthaul links. Each of the RUs 340 may communicate with one or more UEs 120 via respective RF access links. In some deployments, a UE 120 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 340.

Each of the components of the disaggregated base station architecture 300, including the CUs 310, the DUs 330, the RUs 340, the Near-RT RICs 370, the Non-RT RICs 350, and the SMO Framework 360, may include one or more interfaces or may be coupled with one or more interfaces for receiving or transmitting signals, such as data or information, via a wired or wireless transmission medium.

In some aspects, the CU 310 may be logically split into one or more CU user plane (CU-UP) units and one or more CU control plane (CU-CP) units. A CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with a CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 310 may be deployed to communicate with one or more DUs 330, as necessary, for network control and signaling. Each DU 330 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 340. For example, a DU 330 may host various layers, such as an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or one or more PHY layers, such as one or more high PHY layers or one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (which also may be referred to as a module) may be implemented with an interface for communicating signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 330, or for communicating signals with the control functions hosted by the CU 310. Each RU 340 may implement lower layer functionality. In some aspects, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU (s) 340 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 330.

The SMO Framework 360 may support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 360 may support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface, such as an O1 interface. For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 360 may interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) platform 390) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface, such as an O2 interface. A virtualized network element may include, but is not limited to, a CU 310, a DU 330, an RU 340, a non-RT RIC 350, and/or a Near-RT RIC 370. In some aspects, the SMO Framework 360 may communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, a 5G NR RAN, and/or a 6G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 380, via an O1 interface. Additionally or alternatively, the SMO Framework 360 may communicate directly with each of one or more RUs 340 via a respective O1 interface. In some deployments, this configuration can enable each DU 330 and the CU 310 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

The Non-RT RIC 350 may include or may implement a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, AI/ML workflows including model training and updates, and/or policy-based guidance of applications and/or features in the Near-RT RIC 370. The Non-RT RIC 350 may be coupled to or may communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near-RT RIC 370. The Near-RT RIC 370 may include or may implement a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions via an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 310, one or more DUs 330, and/or an O-eNB with the Near-RT RIC 370.

In some aspects, to generate AI/ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 370, the Non-RT RIC 350 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 370 and may be received at the SMO Framework 360 or the Non-RT RIC 350 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 350 or the Near-RT RIC 370 may tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 350 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and may employ AI/ML models to perform corrective actions via the SMO Framework 360 (such as reconfiguration via an O1 interface) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 interface policies) .

The network node 110, the controller/processor 240 of the network node 110, the UE 120, the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120, the CU 310, the DU 330, the RU 340, or any other component (s) of Figs. 1, 2, or 3 may implement one or more techniques or perform one or more operations associated with a UE initiating receive beam sweeping, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, the controller/processor 240 of the network node 110, the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120, any other component (s) (or combinations of components) of Fig. 2, the CU 310, the DU 330, or the RU 340 may perform or direct operations of, for example, process 700 of Fig. 7, process 800 of Fig. 8, or other processes as described herein (alone or in conjunction with one or more other processors) . The memory 242 may store data and program codes for the network node 110, the network node 110, the CU 310, the DU 330, or the RU 340. The memory 282 may store data and program codes for the UE 120. In some examples, the memory 242 or the memory 282 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions (for example, code or program code) for wireless communication. The memory 242 may include one or more memories, such as a single memory or multiple different memories (of the same type or of different types) . The memory 282 may include one or more memories, such as a single memory or multiple different memories (of the same type or of different types) . For example, the set of instructions, when executed (for example, directly, or after compiling, converting, or interpreting) by one or more processors of the network node 110, the UE 120, the CU 310, the DU 330, or the RU 340, may cause the one or more processors to perform process 700 of Fig. 7, process 800 of Fig. 8, or other processes as described herein. In some examples, executing instructions may include running the instructions, converting the instructions, compiling the instructions, and/or interpreting the instructions, among other examples.

In some aspects, the UE 120 includes means for transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal; and/or means for receiving one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state. The means for the UE 120 to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 140, antenna 252, modem 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, controller/processor 280, or memory 282.

In some aspects, the network node 110 includes means for receiving a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal; and/or means for transmitting one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state. The means for the network node 110 to perform operations described herein may include, for example, one or more of communication manager 150, transmit processor 214, TX MIMO processor 216, modem 232, antenna 234, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or scheduler 246.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating examples 400, 410, and 420 of channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI-RS) beam management procedures, in accordance with the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 4, examples 400, 410, and 420 include a UE 120 in communication with a network node 110 in a wireless network (e.g., wireless network 100) . However, the devices shown in Fig. 4 are provided as examples, and the wireless network may support communication and beam management between other devices (e.g., between a UE 120 and a network node 110 or transmit receive point (TRP) , between a mobile termination node and a control node, between an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) child node and an IAB parent node, and/or between a scheduled node and a scheduling node) . In some examples, the UE 120 and the network node 110 may be in a connected state (e.g., an RRC connected state) .

As shown in Fig. 4, example 400 may include a network node 110 (e.g., one or more network node devices such as an RU, a DU, and/or a CU, among other examples) and a UE 120 communicating to perform beam management using CSI-RSs. Example 400 depicts a first beam management procedure (e.g., P1 CSI-RS beam management) . The first beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam selection procedure, an initial beam acquisition procedure, a beam sweeping procedure, a cell search procedure, and/or a beam search procedure. As shown in Fig. 4 and example 400, CSI-RSs may be configured to be transmitted from the network node 110 to the UE 120. The CSI-RSs may be configured to be periodic (e.g., using radio resource control (RRC) signaling) , semi-persistent (e.g., using media access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) signaling) , and/or aperiodic (e.g., using downlink control information (DCI) ) .

The first beam management procedure may include the network node 110 performing beam sweeping over multiple transmit (Tx) beams. The network node 110 may transmit a CSI-RS using each transmit beam for beam management. To enable the UE 120 to perform receive (Rx) beam sweeping, the network node may use a transmit beam to transmit (e.g., with repetitions) each CSI-RS at multiple times within the same RS resource set so that the UE 120 can sweep through receive beams in multiple transmission instances. For example, if the network node 110 has a set of N transmit beams and the UE 120 has a set of M receive beams, the CSI-RS may be transmitted on each of the N transmit beams M times so that the UE 120 may receive M instances of the CSI-RS per transmit beam. In other words, for each transmit beam of the network node 110, the UE 120 may perform beam sweeping through the receive beams of the UE 120. As a result, the first beam management procedure may enable the UE 120 to measure a CSI-RS on different transmit beams using different receive beams to support selection of network node 110 transmit beams/UE 120 receive beam (s) beam pair (s) . The UE 120 may report the measurements to the network node 110 to enable the network node 110 to select one or more beam pair (s) for communication between the network node 110 and the UE 120. While example 400 has been described in connection with CSI-RSs, the first beam management process may also use SSBs for beam management in a similar manner as described above.

As shown in Fig. 4, example 410 may include a network node 110 and a UE 120 communicating to perform beam management using CSI-RSs. Example 410 depicts a second beam management procedure (e.g., P2 CSI-RS beam management) . The second beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam refinement procedure, a network node beam refinement procedure, a TRP beam refinement procedure, and/or a transmit beam refinement procedure. As shown in Fig. 4 and example 410, CSI-RSs may be configured to be transmitted from the network node 110 to the UE 120. The CSI-RSs may be configured to be aperiodic (e.g., using DCI) . The second beam management procedure may include the network node 110 performing beam sweeping over one or more transmit beams. The one or more transmit beams may be a subset of all transmit beams associated with the network node 110 (e.g., determined based at least in part on measurements reported by the UE 120 in connection with the first beam management procedure) . The network node 110 may transmit a CSI-RS using each transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams for beam management. The UE 120 may measure each CSI-RS using a single (e.g., a same) receive beam (e.g., determined based at least in part on measurements performed in connection with the first beam management procedure) . The second beam management procedure may enable the network node 110 to select a best transmit beam based at least in part on measurements of the CSI-RSs (e.g., measured by the UE 120 using the single receive beam) reported by the UE 120.

As shown in Fig. 4, example 420 depicts a third beam management procedure (e.g., P3 CSI-RS beam management) . The third beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam refinement procedure, a UE beam refinement procedure, and/or a receive beam refinement procedure. As shown in Fig. 4 and example 420, one or more CSI-RSs may be configured to be transmitted from the network node 110 to the UE 120. The CSI-RSs may be configured to be aperiodic (e.g., using DCI) . The third beam management process may include the network node 110 transmitting the one or more CSI-RSs using a single transmit beam (e.g., determined based at least in part on measurements reported by the UE 120 in connection with the first beam management procedure and/or the second beam management procedure) . To enable the UE 120 to perform receive beam sweeping, the network node may use a transmit beam to transmit (e.g., with repetitions) CSI-RS at multiple times within the same RS resource set so that UE 120 can sweep through one or more receive beams in multiple transmission instances. The one or more receive beams may be a subset of all receive beams associated with the UE 120 (e.g., determined based at least in part on measurements performed in connection with the first beam management procedure and/or the second beam management procedure) . The third beam management procedure may enable the network node 110 and/or the UE 120 to select a best receive beam based at least in part on reported measurements received from the UE 120 (e.g., of the CSI-RS of the transmit beam using the one or more receive beams) .

As indicated above, Fig. 4 is provided as an example of beam management procedures. Other examples of beam management procedures may differ from what is described with respect to Fig. 4. For example, the UE 120 and the network node 110 may perform the third beam management procedure before performing the second beam management procedure, and/or the UE 120 and the network node 110 may perform a similar beam management procedure to select a UE transmit beam.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example 500 of using beams for communications between a network node and a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 5, a network node 110 and a UE 120 may communicate with one another.

The network node 110 may transmit to UEs 120 located within a coverage area of the network node 110. The network node 110 and the UE 120 may be configured for beamformed communications, where the network node 110 may transmit in the direction of the UE 120 using a directional network node (NN) transmit beam (e.g., a base station (BS) transmit beam) , and the UE 120 may receive the transmission using a directional UE receive beam. Each NN transmit beam may have an associated beam ID, beam direction, or beam symbols, among other examples. The network node 110 may transmit downlink communications via one or more NN transmit beams 505.

The UE 120 may attempt to receive downlink transmissions via one or more UE receive beams 510, which may be configured using different beamforming parameters at receive circuitry of the UE 120. The UE 120 may identify a particular NN transmit beam 505, shown as NN transmit beam 505-A, and a particular UE receive beam 510, shown as UE receive beam 510-A, that provide relatively favorable performance (for example, that have a best channel quality of the different measured combinations of NN transmit beams 505 and UE receive beams 510) . In some examples, the UE 120 may transmit an indication of which NN transmit beam 505 is identified by the UE 120 as a preferred NN transmit beam, which the network node 110 may select for transmissions to the UE 120. The UE 120 may thus attain and maintain a beam pair link (BPL) with the network node 110 for downlink communications (for example, a combination of the NN transmit beam 505-A and the UE receive beam 510-A) , which may be further refined and maintained in accordance with one or more established beam refinement procedures.

A downlink beam, such as an NN transmit beam 505 or a UE receive beam 510, may be associated with a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. A TCI state may indicate a directionality or a characteristic of the downlink beam, such as one or more quasi-co-location (QCL) properties of the downlink beam. A QCL property may include, for example, a Doppler shift, a Doppler spread, an average delay, a delay spread, or spatial receive parameters, among other examples. In some examples, each NN transmit beam 505 may be associated with a synchronization signal block (SSB) , and the UE 120 may indicate a preferred NN transmit beam 505 by transmitting uplink transmissions in resources of the SSB that are associated with the preferred NN transmit beam 505. A particular SSB may have an associated TCI state (for example, for an antenna port or for beamforming) . The network node 110 may, in some examples, indicate a downlink NN transmit beam 505 based at least in part on antenna port QCL properties that may be indicated by the TCI state. A TCI state may be associated with one downlink reference signal set (for example, an SSB and an aperiodic, periodic, or semi-persistent channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) ) for different QCL types (for example, QCL types for different combinations of Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread, or spatial receive parameters, among other examples) . In cases where the QCL type indicates spatial receive parameters, the QCL type may correspond to analog receive beamforming parameters of a UE receive beam 510 at the UE 120. Thus, the UE 120 may select a corresponding UE receive beam 510 from a set of BPLs based at least in part on the network node 110 indicating an NN transmit beam 505 via a TCI indication.

The network node 110 may maintain a set of activated TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions and a set of activated TCI states for downlink control channel transmissions. The set of activated TCI states for downlink shared channel transmissions may correspond to beams that the network node 110 uses for downlink transmission on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) . The set of activated TCI states for downlink control channel communications may correspond to beams that the network node 110 may use for downlink transmission on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or in a control resource set (CORESET) . The UE 120 may also maintain a set of activated TCI states for receiving the downlink shared channel transmissions and the CORESET transmissions. If a TCI state is activated for the UE 120, then the UE 120 may have one or more antenna configurations based at least in part on the TCI state, and the UE 120 may not need to reconfigure antennas or antenna weighting configurations. In some examples, the set of activated TCI states (for example, activated PDSCH TCI states and activated CORESET TCI states) for the UE 120 may be configured by a configuration message, such as a radio resource control (RRC) message.

Similarly, for uplink communications, the UE 120 may transmit in the direction of the network node 110 using a directional UE transmit beam, and the network node 110 may receive the transmission using a directional NN receive beam. Each UE transmit beam may have an associated beam ID, beam direction, or beam symbols, among other examples. The UE 120 may transmit uplink communications via one or more UE transmit beams 515.

The network node 110 may receive uplink transmissions via one or more NN receive beams 520 (e.g., BS receive beams) . The network node 110 may identify a particular UE transmit beam 515, shown as UE transmit beam 515-A, and a particular NN receive beam 520, shown as NN receive beam 520-A, that provide relatively favorable performance (for example, that have a best channel quality of the different measured combinations of UE transmit beams 515 and NN receive beams 520) . In some examples, the network node 110 may transmit an indication of which UE transmit beam 515 is identified by the network node 110 as a preferred UE transmit beam, which the network node 110 may select for transmissions from the UE 120. The UE 120 and the network node 110 may thus attain and maintain a BPL for uplink communications (for example, a combination of the UE transmit beam 515-A and the NN receive beam 520-A) , which may be further refined and maintained in accordance with one or more established beam refinement procedures. An uplink beam, such as a UE transmit beam 515 or an NN receive beam 520, may be associated with a spatial relation. A spatial relation may indicate a directionality or a characteristic of the uplink beam, similar to one or more QCL properties, as described above.

As indicated above, Fig. 5 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Fig. 5.

As described above, a network node and a UE may perform a beam sweeping procedure to enable the network node and/or the UE to select a beam for communication. For example, a network node may transmit a sequence of SSB or CSI-RS beams in different directions and the UE may measure one or more SSB or CSI-RS beams of the sequence of beams. The UE and the network node may select a best beam based on the reporting of one or more beam measurements performed by the UE.

A UE may perform beam sweeping during initial access, during which the UE may measure and select a beam in association with a network node. However, when the UE is connected to the network node, the UE may not have access to beam sweeping. Accordingly, the UE may be unable to perform beam sweeping with the network node without a communication interruption occurring, thereby preventing the UE from adapting to changing network conditions. Further, waiting for a network node initiated beam sweeping procedure may use excess overhead resources as a result of signaling exchange with the network node to initiate and confirm performance of a beam sweeping procedure.

Various aspects relate generally to a UE initiating beam sweeping. Some aspects more specifically relate to a UE transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping to a network node. In some aspects, the UE may request that the network node transmit one or more indicated beams for measurement, and the UE may perform a measurement and select a beam based on the network node transmitting the one or more indicated beams. In some aspects, the UE may request transmission of an identified reference signal (RS) set in connection with the beam sweeping. For example, the UE may request a configured number of reference signals or repetitions of reference signals to enable the UE to perform one or more measurements on one or more beams of a beam sweeping procedure.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example 600 associated with UE initiating receive beam sweeping, in accordance with the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 6, example 600 includes communication between a network node 110 and a UE 120.

As further shown in Fig. 6, and by reference number 610, the UE 120 may transmit a request for receive beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may transmit the request for beam sweeping based on an event. The event may include a detection of a channel condition on a beam being used by the UE 120. For example, when the UE 120 detects a configured channel condition, such as a congestion level, reference signal received power (RSRP) , or signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) , the UE 120 may initiate receive beam sweeping to identify one or more beams, with better channel conditions than a current beam, that the UE 120 can use for receiving information from the network node 110.

In some aspects, the UE 120 may transmit information identifying one or more beams for receive beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may transmit information identifying a TCI state identifier, such as a downlink TCI state identifier or a joint (uplink and downlink) TCI state identifier. In this case, the network node 110 may include one or more beams, corresponding to the TCI state identifier, in the receive beam sweeping. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may transmit information identifying a reference signal for receive beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may include a reference signal identifier, which identifies one or more reference signals associated with one or more beams. In this case, the network node 110 may include the one or more beams corresponding to the one or more reference signals identified by the reference signal identifier.

Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may transmit the request for receive beam sweeping using a configured beam or TCI state. In this case, the network node 110 may interpret the request for receive beam sweeping transmitted using the configured beam or TCI state as identifying the configured beam or TCI state for inclusion in the receive beam sweeping. In other words, similar to scheduling request uplink control information (UCI) , based on the UE 120 using a selected beam for transmitting the request, the UE 120 implicitly indicates the selected beam as being requested for use in beam sweeping. In some aspects, the UE 120 may piggyback UCI in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) . For example, the UE 120 may include UCI conveying the request for receive beam sweeping in a resource of a PUSCH, which may avoid the request for receive beam sweeping being skipped or de-prioritized. In some aspects, the UE 120 may include an explicit indicator of whether a currently indicated TCI state or beam (e.g., a TCI state or beam with which the UE 120 is currently configured by the network node) is to be included in the receive beam sweeping.

In some aspects, the UE 120 may include or indicate a CSI request codepoint in the request for beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may include a field, in UCI of the request for beam sweeping, that conveys the CSI request codepoint to indicate a request for a semi-persistent (SP) CSI (SP-CSI) , which may correspond to a CSI request codepoint used in a cell-specific radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (C-RNTI) scrambled downlink control information (DCI) . Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may include a CSI request codepoint for an aperiodic (AP) CSI (AP-CSI) , which may correspond to an SP-CSI RNTI (SP-CSI-RNTI) scrambled DCI. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may include a CSI request codepoint for an AP or SP CSI request selected based on a UE indication. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may include a CSI request codepoint for a dedicated CSI request.

In some aspects, the UE 120 may include a CSI trigger state identifier in the request for beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may include a field, in UCI of the request for beam sweeping, that conveys the CSI trigger state identifier. In this case, the CSI trigger state identifier may be selected from an SP-CSI trigger state list, an AP-CSI trigger state list, an AP-CSI trigger state list selected based on a UE indication, or a dedicated CSI trigger state list. When the UE 120 includes a CSI request codepoint or a CSI trigger state identifier in the request for beam sweeping, a corresponding requested CSI report may be configured with a report quantity set to a value of “none” and with an associated CSI resource set with a radio resource control (RRC) repetition parameter set to a value of “on” .

In some aspects, the UE 120 may transmit a request for receive beam sweeping and for transmission of a configured reference signal set. For example, the UE 120 may transmit a request message that includes information identifying a number of reference signals in a reference signal set for beam sweeping. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may transmit information identifying a number of repetitions of a reference signal in the reference signal set for beam sweeping. Additionally, or alternatively, the number of reference signals in the reference signal set or the number of repetitions of a reference signal in the reference signal set may be configured by the network node 110 or with a static configuration.

In some aspects, the UE 120 may include a CSI report configuration identifier in the request for beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may transmit information associated with configuring a CSI report with a report quantity of “none” and with an associated CSI resource set with a repetition parameter set to “on” . Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may include a CSI resource set configuration identifier in the request for beam sweeping. For example, the UE 120 may transmit information associated with configuring a CSI resource set with a repetition parameter set to “on” . Although some aspects are described herein in terms of one or more parameters, other combinations of parameters or parameter values may be used.

As further shown in Fig. 6, and by reference number 620, the UE 120 may receive, from the network node 110, one or more downlink beams, which may be receive beams for the UE 120. For example, based on transmitting the request for receive beam sweeping, the UE 120 may receive a reference signal set (e.g., a dedicated reference signal set, such as an AP-CSI, using a set of beams for measurement. In this case, the UE 120 may use quasi-co-location (QCL) information to receive the reference signal set. For example, the reference signal set may have QCL information associated with an indicated reference signal or TCI state identifier included in or indicated by the request for receive beam sweeping. Accordingly, a beam sweeping range of a receive beam may be with a QCL range of the reference signal or TCI state beam parameters. In some aspects, the UE 120 may apply a time offset to receive one or more beams associated with beam sweeping. For example, the network node 110 and the UE 120 may be configured with a time offset associated with an amount of time between the request for beam sweeping and the transmission of the beams for beam sweeping. In some aspects, the network node 110 may transmit signaling to configure the time offset. For example, the network node 110 may transmit RRC signaling associated with configuring the time offset. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may identify the time offset in the request for beam sweeping. Additionally, or alternatively, the time offset may be a static value (e.g., a static amount of time, number of slots, or number of symbols) . Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may receive the beams of the beam sweeping without information identifying the time offset. For example, the UE 120 may perform blind detection to attempt to receive the beams after transmitting the request for beam sweeping.

As further shown in Fig. 6, and by reference number 630, the UE 120 and network node 110 may select a beam and communicate using a selected beam. For example, the UE 120 may perform measurements of the beams transmitted for beam sweeping and may transmit a measurement report identifying the measurements. In this case, the network node 110 may select a beam based on the measurement report and may configure the UE 120 to receive communications using the selected beam. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 may select a beam based on the measurements and may transmit an indication of the selection of the beam to the network node 110. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 120 and the network node 110 may perform another beam sweeping procedure (e.g., for beam refinement or for a different level of granularity of beam sweeping) .

As indicated above, Fig. 6 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Fig. 6.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example process 700 performed, for example, at a UE or an apparatus of a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure. Example process 700 is an example where the apparatus or the UE (e.g., UE 120) performs operations associated with techniques for UE initiating receive beam sweeping.

As shown in Fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal (block 710) . For example, the UE (e.g., using transmission component 904 and/or communication manager 906, depicted in Fig. 9) may transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal, as described above.

As further shown in Fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include receiving one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state (block 720) . For example, the UE (e.g., using reception component 902 and/or communication manager 906, depicted in Fig. 9) may receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state, as described above.

Process 700 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a joint TCI state identifier or a downlink TCI state identifier.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a reference signal identifier.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, the TCI state corresponds to a beam conveying the request for receive beam sweeping.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, the one or more downlink beams are associated with a dedicated reference signal set.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, the one or more downlink beams are quasi-co-located with the TCI state or the reference signal.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a channel state information request codepoint.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information trigger state identifier.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through seventh aspects, the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information report configuration identifier.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eighth aspects, the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information resource set configuration identifier.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through ninth aspects, the one or more downlink beams are received in accordance with a configured time offset.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through tenth aspects, the request for receive beam sweeping includes information identifying one or more parameters for the receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more parameters includes a parameter identifying at least one of a number of reference signals in a reference signal set for receive beam sweeping, or a number of repetitions for the reference signal set.

Although Fig. 7 shows example blocks of process 700, in some aspects, process 700 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Fig. 7. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 700 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example process 800 performed, for example, at a network node or an apparatus of a network node, in accordance with the present disclosure. Example process 800 is an example where the apparatus or the network node (e.g., network node 110) performs operations associated with techniques for UE initiating receive beam sweeping.

As shown in Fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include receiving a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal (block 810) . For example, the network node (e.g., using reception component 1002 and/or communication manager 1006, depicted in Fig. 10) may receive a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal, as described above.

As further shown in Fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include transmitting one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state (block 820) . For example, the network node (e.g., using transmission component 1004 and/or communication manager 1006, depicted in Fig. 10) may transmit one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state, as described above.

Process 800 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

Although Fig. 8 shows example blocks of process 800, in some aspects, process 800 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Fig. 8. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 800 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of an example apparatus 900 for wireless communication, in accordance with the present disclosure. The apparatus 900 may be a UE, or a UE may include the apparatus 900. In some aspects, the apparatus 900 includes a reception component 902, a transmission component 904, and/or a communication manager 906, which may be in communication with one another (for example, via one or more buses and/or one or more other components) . In some aspects, the communication manager 906 is the communication manager 140 described in connection with Fig. 1. As shown, the apparatus 900 may communicate with another apparatus 908, such as a UE or a network node (such as a CU, a DU, an RU, or a base station) , using the reception component 902 and the transmission component 904.

In some aspects, the apparatus 900 may be configured to perform one or more operations described herein in connection with Fig. 6. Additionally, or alternatively, the apparatus 900 may be configured to perform one or more processes described herein, such as process 700 of Fig. 7. In some aspects, the apparatus 900 and/or one or more components shown in Fig. 9 may include one or more components of the UE described in connection with Fig. 2. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components shown in Fig. 9 may be implemented within one or more components described in connection with Fig. 2. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components of the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in one or more memories. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by one or more controllers or one or more processors to perform the functions or operations of the component.

The reception component 902 may receive communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, from the apparatus 908. The reception component 902 may provide received communications to one or more other components of the apparatus 900. In some aspects, the reception component 902 may perform signal processing on the received communications (such as filtering, amplification, demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, demultiplexing, deinterleaving, de-mapping, equalization, interference cancellation, or decoding, among other examples) , and may provide the processed signals to the one or more other components of the apparatus 900. In some aspects, the reception component 902 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more demodulators, one or more MIMO detectors, one or more receive processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the UE described in connection with Fig. 2.

The transmission component 904 may transmit communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, to the apparatus 908. In some aspects, one or more other components of the apparatus 900 may generate communications and may provide the generated communications to the transmission component 904 for transmission to the apparatus 908. In some aspects, the transmission component 904 may perform signal processing on the generated communications (such as filtering, amplification, modulation, digital-to-analog conversion, multiplexing, interleaving, mapping, or encoding, among other examples) , and may transmit the processed signals to the apparatus 908. In some aspects, the transmission component 904 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more modulators, one or more transmit MIMO processors, one or more transmit processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the UE described in connection with Fig. 2. In some aspects, the transmission component 904 may be co-located with the reception component 902 in one or more transceivers.

The communication manager 906 may support operations of the reception component 902 and/or the transmission component 904. For example, the communication manager 906 may receive information associated with configuring reception of communications by the reception component 902 and/or transmission of communications by the transmission component 904. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 906 may generate and/or provide control information to the reception component 902 and/or the transmission component 904 to control reception and/or transmission of communications.

The transmission component 904 may transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The reception component 902 may receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

The number and arrangement of components shown in Fig. 9 are provided as an example. In practice, there may be additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown in Fig. 9. Furthermore, two or more components shown in Fig. 9 may be implemented within a single component, or a single component shown in Fig. 9 may be implemented as multiple, distributed components. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of (one or more) components shown in Fig. 9 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components shown in Fig. 9.

Fig. 10 is a diagram of an example apparatus 1000 for wireless communication, in accordance with the present disclosure. The apparatus 1000 may be a network node, or a network node may include the apparatus 1000. In some aspects, the apparatus 1000 includes a reception component 1002, a transmission component 1004, and/or a communication manager 1006, which may be in communication with one another (for example, via one or more buses and/or one or more other components) . In some aspects, the communication manager 1006 is the communication manager 150 described in connection with Fig. 1. As shown, the apparatus 1000 may communicate with another apparatus 1008, such as a UE or a network node (such as a CU, a DU, an RU, or a base station) , using the reception component 1002 and the transmission component 1004.

In some aspects, the apparatus 1000 may be configured to perform one or more operations described herein in connection with Fig. 6. Additionally, or alternatively, the apparatus 1000 may be configured to perform one or more processes described herein, such as process 800 of Fig. 8. In some aspects, the apparatus 1000 and/or one or more components shown in Fig. 10 may include one or more components of the network node described in connection with Fig. 2. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components shown in Fig. 10 may be implemented within one or more components described in connection with Fig. 2. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more components of the set of components may be implemented at least in part as software stored in one or more memories. For example, a component (or a portion of a component) may be implemented as instructions or code stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by one or more controllers or one or more processors to perform the functions or operations of the component.

The reception component 1002 may receive communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, from the apparatus 1008. The reception component 1002 may provide received communications to one or more other components of the apparatus 1000. In some aspects, the reception component 1002 may perform signal processing on the received communications (such as filtering, amplification, demodulation, analog-to-digital conversion, demultiplexing, deinterleaving, de-mapping, equalization, interference cancellation, or decoding, among other examples) , and may provide the processed signals to the one or more other components of the apparatus 1000. In some aspects, the reception component 1002 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more demodulators, one or more MIMO detectors, one or more receive processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the network node described in connection with Fig. 2. In some aspects, the reception component 1002 and/or the transmission component 1004 may include or may be included in a network interface. The network interface may be configured to obtain and/or output signals for the apparatus 1000 via one or more communications links, such as a backhaul link, a midhaul link, and/or a fronthaul link.

The transmission component 1004 may transmit communications, such as reference signals, control information, data communications, or a combination thereof, to the apparatus 1008. In some aspects, one or more other components of the apparatus 1000 may generate communications and may provide the generated communications to the transmission component 1004 for transmission to the apparatus 1008. In some aspects, the transmission component 1004 may perform signal processing on the generated communications (such as filtering, amplification, modulation, digital-to-analog conversion, multiplexing, interleaving, mapping, or encoding, among other examples) , and may transmit the processed signals to the apparatus 1008. In some aspects, the transmission component 1004 may include one or more antennas, one or more modems, one or more modulators, one or more transmit MIMO processors, one or more transmit processors, one or more controllers/processors, one or more memories, or a combination thereof, of the network node described in connection with Fig. 2. In some aspects, the transmission component 1004 may be co-located with the reception component 1002 in one or more transceivers.

The communication manager 1006 may support operations of the reception component 1002 and/or the transmission component 1004. For example, the communication manager 1006 may receive information associated with configuring reception of communications by the reception component 1002 and/or transmission of communications by the transmission component 1004. Additionally, or alternatively, the communication manager 1006 may generate and/or provide control information to the reception component 1002 and/or the transmission component 1004 to control reception and/or transmission of communications.

The reception component 1002 may receive a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a TCI state or a reference signal. The transmission component 1004 may transmit one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

The number and arrangement of components shown in Fig. 10 are provided as an example. In practice, there may be additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown in Fig. 10. Furthermore, two or more components shown in Fig. 10 may be implemented within a single component, or a single component shown in Fig. 10 may be implemented as multiple, distributed components. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of (one or more) components shown in Fig. 10 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components shown in Fig. 10.

The following provides an overview of some Aspects of the present disclosure:

Aspect 1: A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) , comprising: transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal; and receiving one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Aspect 2: The method of Aspect 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a joint TCI state identifier or a downlink TCI state identifier.

Aspect 3: The method of any of Aspects 1-2, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a reference signal identifier.

Aspect 4: The method of any of Aspects 1-3, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a beam conveying the request for receive beam sweeping.

Aspect 5: The method of any of Aspects 1-4, wherein the one or more downlink beams are associated with a dedicated reference signal set.

Aspect 6: The method of any of Aspects 1-5, wherein the one or more downlink beams are quasi-co-located with the TCI state or the reference signal.

Aspect 7: The method of any of Aspects 1-6, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a channel state information request codepoint.

Aspect 8: The method of any of Aspects 1-7, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information trigger state identifier.

Aspect 9: The method of any of Aspects 1-8, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information report configuration identifier.

Aspect 10: The method of any of Aspects 1-9, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information resource set configuration identifier.

Aspect 11: The method of any of Aspects 1-10, wherein the one or more downlink beams are received in accordance with a configured time offset.

Aspect 12: The method of any of Aspects 1-11, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes information identifying one or more parameters for the receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more parameters includes a parameter identifying at least one of: a number of reference signals in a reference signal set for receive beam sweeping, or a number of repetitions for the reference signal set.

Aspect 13: A method of wireless communication performed by a network node, comprising: receiving a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal; and transmitting one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.

Aspect 14: The method of Aspect 13, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a joint TCI state identifier or a downlink TCI state identifier.

Aspect 15: The method of any of Aspects 13-14, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a reference signal identifier.

Aspect 16: The method of any of Aspects 13-15, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a beam conveying the request for receive beam sweeping.

Aspect 17: The method of any of Aspects 13-16, wherein the one or more downlink beams are associated with a dedicated reference signal set.

Aspect 18: The method of any of Aspects 13-17, wherein the one or more downlink beams are quasi-co-located with the TCI state or the reference signal.

Aspect 19: The method of any of Aspects 13-18, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a channel state information request codepoint.

Aspect 20: The method of any of Aspects 13-19, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information trigger state identifier.

Aspect 21: The method of any of Aspects 13-20, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information report configuration identifier.

Aspect 22: The method of any of Aspects 13-21, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information resource set configuration identifier.

Aspect 23: The method of any of Aspects 13-22, wherein the one or more downlink beams are received in accordance with a configured time offset.

Aspect 24: The method of any of Aspects 13-23, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes information identifying one or more parameters for the receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more parameters includes a parameter identifying at least one of: a number of reference signals in a reference signal set for receive beam sweeping, or a number of repetitions for the reference signal set.

Aspect 25: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising one or more processors; one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors; and instructions stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

Aspect 26: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors configured to cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

Aspect 27: An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising at least one means for performing the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

Aspect 28: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

Aspect 29: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

Aspect 30: A device for wireless communication, the device comprising a processing system that includes one or more processors and one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors, the processing system configured to cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

Aspect 31: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device, the apparatus comprising one or more memories and one or more processors coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to cause the device to perform the method of one or more of Aspects 1-24.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the aspects.

Further disclosure is included in the appendix. The appendix is provided as an example only and is to be considered part of the specification. A definition, illustration, or other description in the appendix does not supersede or override similar information included in the detailed description or figures. Furthermore, a definition, illustration, or other description in the detailed description or figures does not supersede or override similar information included in the appendix. Furthermore, the appendix is not intended to limit the disclosure of possible aspects.

As used herein, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construed as hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, the phrase “based on” is intended to be broadly construed to mean “based at least in part on.” As used herein, “satisfying a threshold” may, depending on the context, refer to a value being greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, equal to the threshold, or not equal to the threshold, among other examples. As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a, b, c, a + b, a + c, b + c, and a + b + c.

Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Further, as used herein, the article “the” is intended to include one or more items referenced in connection with the article “the” and may be used interchangeably with “the one or more. ” Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more items (for example, related items, unrelated items, or a combination of related and unrelated items) , and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Where only one item is intended, the phrase “only one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has, ” “have, ” “having, ” and similar terms are intended to be open-ended terms that do not limit an element that they modify (for example, an element “having” A also may have B) . Further, as used herein, the term “or” is intended to be inclusive when used in a series and may be used interchangeably with “and/or, ” unless explicitly stated otherwise (for example, if used in combination with “either” or “only one of” ) .

The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm processes described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been described generally, in terms of functionality, and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and processes described herein. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

The hardware and data processing apparatus used to implement the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose single-or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor also may be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some aspects, particular processes and methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.

In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents thereof, or in any combination thereof. Aspects of the subject matter described in this specification also can be implemented as one or more computer programs (such as one or more modules of computer program instructions) encoded on a computer storage media for execution by, or to control the operation of, a data processing apparatus.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. The processes of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented in a processor-executable software module which may reside on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that can be enabled to transfer a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection can be properly termed a computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD) , laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the media described herein should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and instructions on a machine readable medium and computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

Various modifications to the aspects described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and the novel features disclosed herein.

Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate, the terms “upper” and “lower” are sometimes used for ease of describing the figures, and indicate relative positions corresponding to the orientation of the figure on a properly oriented page, and may not reflect the proper orientation of any device as implemented.

Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate aspects also can be implemented in combination in a single aspect. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single aspect also can be implemented in multiple aspects separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one more example processes in the form of a flow diagram. However, other operations that are not depicted can be incorporated in the example processes that are schematically illustrated. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or between any of the illustrated operations. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the aspects described should not be understood as requiring such separation in all aspects, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. Additionally, other aspects are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.

Claims

A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the UE to:

transmit a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal; and

receive one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a joint TCI state identifier or a downlink TCI state identifier.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a reference signal identifier.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a beam conveying the request for receive beam sweeping.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more downlink beams are associated with a dedicated reference signal set.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more downlink beams are quasi-co-located with the TCI state or the reference signal.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a channel state information request codepoint.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information trigger state identifier.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information report configuration identifier.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field identifying a channel state information resource set configuration identifier.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the one or more downlink beams are received in accordance with a configured time offset.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes information identifying one or more parameters for the receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more parameters includes a parameter identifying at least one of:

a number of reference signals in a reference signal set for receive beam sweeping, or

a number of repetitions for the reference signal set.
A network node for wireless communication, comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the network node to:

receive a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal; and

transmit one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.
The network node of claim 13, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a joint TCI state identifier or a downlink TCI state identifier.
The network node of claim 13, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a reference signal identifier.
The network node of claim 13, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a beam conveying the request for receive beam sweeping.
The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more downlink beams are associated with a dedicated reference signal set.
The network node of claim 13, wherein the one or more downlink beams are quasi-co-located with the TCI state or the reference signal.
The network node of claim 13, wherein the request for receive beam sweeping includes a field conveying a channel state information request codepoint.
A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

transmitting a request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the request includes information associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a reference signal; and

receiving one or more downlink beams as a response to the request for receive beam sweeping, wherein the one or more downlink beams includes at least one beam corresponding to the TCI state.