WO2025231725A1

WO2025231725A1 - Parameter based beam reporting

Info

Publication number: WO2025231725A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/091980
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fang Yuan; Wooseok Nam; Yan Zhou
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2024-05-09
Filing date: 2024-05-09
Publication date: 2025-11-13
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-09

Abstract

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for parameter based beam reporting. An example method for wireless communications includes obtaining information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and respective beam report parameter(s), wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with first beam report parameter(s) and a second PUCCH configuration associated with second beam report parameter(s); sending first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the first beam report parameter(s); obtaining a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and sending the first beam report via the one or more resources.

Description

PARAMETER BASED BEAM REPORTING

INTRODUCTION

Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications, and more particularly, to techniques for beam management.

Description of Related Art

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, or other similar types of services. These wireless communications systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communications with multiple users by sharing available wireless communications system resources with those users.

Although wireless communications systems have made great technological advancements over many years, challenges still exist. For example, complex and dynamic environments can still attenuate or block signals between wireless transmitters and wireless receivers. Accordingly, there is a continuous desire to improve the technical performance of wireless communications systems, including, for example: improving speed and data carrying capacity of communications, improving efficiency of the use of shared communications mediums, reducing power used by transmitters and receivers while performing communications, improving reliability of wireless communications, avoiding redundant transmissions and/or receptions and related processing, improving the coverage area of wireless communications, increasing the number and types of devices that can access wireless communications systems, increasing the ability for different types of devices to intercommunicate, increasing the number and type of wireless communications mediums available for use, and the like. Consequently, there exists a need for further improvements in wireless communications systems to overcome the aforementioned technical challenges and others.

SUMMARY

One aspect provides a method for wireless communications by an apparatus. The method includes obtaining information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters; sending first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters; obtaining a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and sending the first beam report via the one or more resources.

Another aspect provides a method for wireless communications by an apparatus. The method includes sending information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters; obtaining first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters; sending a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and obtaining the first beam report via the one or more resources.

Other aspects provide: one or more apparatuses operable, configured, or otherwise adapted to perform any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that performance may be by only one apparatus or in a distributed fashion across multiple apparatuses) ; one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more apparatuses, cause the one or more apparatuses to perform any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that instructions may be included in only one computer-readable medium or in a distributed fashion across multiple computer-readable media, such that instructions may be executed by only one processor or by multiple processors in a distributed fashion, such that each apparatus of the one or more apparatuses may include one processor or multiple processors, and/or such that performance may be by only one apparatus or in a distributed fashion across multiple apparatuses) ; one or more computer program products embodied on one or more computer-readable storage media comprising code for performing any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that code may be stored in only one computer-readable medium or across computer-readable media in a distributed fashion) ; and/or one or more apparatuses comprising one or more means for performing any portion of any method described herein (e.g., such that performance would be by only one apparatus or by multiple apparatuses in a distributed fashion) . By way of example, an apparatus may comprise a processing system, a device with a processing system, or processing systems cooperating over one or more networks. An apparatus may comprise one or more memories; and one or more processors configured to cause the apparatus to perform any portion of any method described herein. 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 following description and the appended figures set forth certain features for purposes of illustration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The appended figures depict certain features of the various aspects described herein and are not to be considered limiting of the scope of this disclosure.

FIG. 1 depicts an example wireless communications network.

FIG. 2 depicts an example disaggregated base station architecture.

FIG. 3 depicts aspects of an example base station and an example user equipment (UE) .

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D depict various example aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network.

FIG. 5 illustrates example operations for radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment and beam management.

FIG. 6 depicts example beam management procedures.

FIG. 7 depicts an example scheme for UE-initiated beam reporting.

FIG. 8A depicts another example scheme for UE-initiated beam reporting.

FIG. 8B depicts another example scheme for UE-initiated beam reporting.

FIG. 9 depicts an example scheme for UE-initiated beam reporting.

FIG. 10 depicts a process flow for UE-initiated beam reporting.

FIG. 11 depicts a method for wireless communications.

FIG. 12 depicts another method for wireless communications.

FIG. 13 depicts aspects of an example communications device.

FIG. 14 depicts aspects of an example communications device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatuses, methods, processing systems, and computer-readable mediums for parameter based beam reporting.

In certain wireless communications systems (e.g., 5G New Radio (NR) systems and/or any future wireless communications systems) , beam management procedure (s) may be used to select and maintain beam (s) for wireless communications between a user equipment (UE) and a network entity (e.g., a base station) . As an example, the network entity may send certain reference signals (e.g., synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) , channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) , etc. ) in a burst by beam sweeping across a set of transmit beams of the network entity. During an initial access procedure, the UE may identify a transmit beam (e.g., corresponding to a SSB) of the network entity, such as by identifying the reference signal or communication resource (e.g., time-frequency resource) in which the reference signal is communicated, for wireless communications between the UE and the network entity, and the UE may send, to the network entity, an indication of the transmit beam (e.g., of the reference signal or communication resource) through a random access procedure. During a downlink beam refinement procedure, the UE may send, to the network entity, channel state feedback associated with more directional beams (e.g., narrower beams) that may improve the link budget between the UE and the network entity, and the network entity may identify a refined transmit beam of the network entity for wireless communications between the UE and the network entity.

The UE may send, to the network entity, a beam report in response to certain event (s) being detected at the UE, such as the signal quality or signal strength of an active beam being worse than a threshold. The beam report may indicate or include certain radio measurement (s) associated with one or more beams (such as radio measurement (s) of reference signal (s) that correspond to beam (s) ) . The beam (s) of a beam report may be or include transmit beam (s) of the network entity and/or transmit-receive beam pair (s) between the UE and the network entity. Such a beam reporting procedure may be referred to as UE-initiated or event-driven beam reporting or beam management. In certain cases, the UE-initiated or event-driven beam reporting may support certain modes of beam reporting. In a first mode, the UE may send, to the network entity via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , a request for uplink resource (s) to carry the beam report. The UE may obtain, from the network entity, downlink control information (DCI) that grants uplink resource (s) for the beam report, and then, the UE may send, to the network entity, the beam report via the uplink resource (s) . In a second mode, the UE may send, to the network entity via a PUCCH, a notification that the UE will send a beam report via a second uplink channel, and then, the UE sends, to the network entity, the beam report via the second uplink channel.

The network entity may perform certain beam management procedure (s) in response to the beam report, such as beam switching and/or beam refinement. UE-initiated or event-driven beam management may reduce the latency encountered related to beam switching and/or beam refinement. As an example, the beam report may allow the network entity to perform beam management procedure (s) before a beam failure is detected or occurs at the UE.

Technical problems for beam management may include, for example, effective beam reporting for certain cross-carrier and/or bandwidth part reporting scenarios, or other scenarios where a size of a beam report and/or processing time for beam reporting may vary (as further described herein) . Cross-channel beam reporting may involve a UE monitoring the state of a beam via a first channel (e.g., a carrier, bandwidth part, cell, cell group, or the like) and reporting the state of the beam (e.g., in terms of radio measurement (s) of a reference signal that corresponds to the beam) via a second channel (e.g., a different carrier, bandwidth part, cell, cell group, or the like) . In certain cases, the UE may communicate with a network entity via beams (e.g., transmit beams of the network entity) associated with multiple cells, carriers, and/or bandwidth parts. As an example, the UE may communicate with the network entity via a first beam (e.g., transmit beam of the network entity) associated with a first carrier and a second beam (e.g., transmit beam of the network entity) associated with a second carrier. With respect to the first mode described herein, when the UE detects an event associated with the second beam that triggers beam reporting (e.g., when the quality of the second beam is worse than a threshold, such as based on a signal (e.g., reference signal) communicated by the network entity using the second beam, such as in a communication resource associated with the second beam) , the UE may send, to the network entity via the first carrier and/or the second carrier, the request for uplink resource (s) to be allocated to carry a beam report. However, it may not be established for certain wireless communications system (e.g., a 5G NR system) how to determine which cell, carrier, bandwidth part, and/or beam is the subject of a beam report and/or which event triggered the request based on the request for uplink resource (s) . The network entity may not be able to determine how many uplink resources to allocate for the beam report, for example, due to the size of the beam report depending on the triggering event, measurement cell, carrier, bandwidth part, and/or beam. Accordingly, the network entity may not allocate enough uplink resources for the UE to communicate the beam report. In certain cases, it may not be established how much processing time to allocate to the UE to generate and send the beam report after receiving the uplink grant for such beam report. Accordingly, the network entity may not allocate enough time to the UE to generate and send the beam report.

Aspects described herein may overcome the aforementioned technical problem (s) , for example, by providing parameter based schemes for beam reporting, which may enable beam reporting for cross-carrier and/or bandwidth part scenarios, or even other scenarios where a size of a beam report and/or processing time for beam reporting may vary. In certain aspects, certain PUCCH configurations may be associated with beam reporting parameter (s) . A UE may obtain multiple PUCCH configurations for requesting resources for beam reporting. A PUCCH configuration may indicate a set of PUCCH resources to use for requesting resource (s) for beam reporting. Each of the PUCCH configurations may be associated with certain beam report parameter (s) , such as a beam report format, an event that triggers communication of a beam report, a cell group, a carrier, a bandwidth part, or the like, as further described herein. The association between a PUCCH configuration and the beam report parameter (s) may indicate, to the network entity, certain information associated with the beam report, such as the size of the beam report, the event that triggered the beam report, etc. Certain techniques for the parameter based beam reporting may provide certain aspects related to the DCI that grants uplink resources for beam reporting, such as the DCI indicating that the granted uplink resources are for communicating a beam report. In certain aspects, the techniques for parameter based beam reporting may ensure the UE has enough time to generate and send the beam report, as further described herein.

Certain techniques for parameter based beam reporting described herein may provide various beneficial technical effects and/or advantages. The techniques for parameter based beam reporting may enable improved wireless communications performance, such as reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, increased throughput, and/or reliable beam reporting. Parameter based beam reporting may allow a UE to send, via a first carrier or bandwidth part, a beam report associated with a second carrier or bandwidth part. For example, when the beam quality of the second carrier is below a threshold, the UE may use the first carrier to request for uplink resources and/or send the beam report to ensure the beam report is obtained at a network entity. The increased reliability of the beam reporting may be enabled through the association between a PUCCH configuration and certain beam report parameter (s) that indicate, for example, the size of the beam report, the event that triggered the beam report, the carrier, the bandwidth part, and/or the cell of the beam report. In certain cases, the increased reliability of the beam reporting may be enabled through the UE being allocated enough time to generate and send the beam report as further described herein. Accordingly, the techniques for parameter based beam reporting may enable reliable beam reporting for multiple cells, carriers, bandwidth parts, other scenarios, etc. The reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, and/or increased throughput may be attributable to the UE-initiated beam reporting that may enable a network entity to perform beam switching or beam refinement before a beam failure occurs at the UE.

The term “beam” may be used in the present disclosure in various contexts. Beam may be used to mean a set of gains and/or phases (e.g., precoding weights or co-phasing weights) applied to antenna elements in (or associated with) a wireless communication device for transmission or reception. The term “beam” may also refer to an antenna or radiation pattern of a signal transmitted while applying the gains and/or phases to the antenna elements. Other references to beam may include one or more properties or parameters associated with the antenna (or radiation) pattern, such as an angle of arrival (AoA) , an angle of departure (AoD) , a gain, a phase, a directivity, a beam width, a beam direction (with respect to a plane of reference) in terms of azimuth and/or elevation, a peak-to-side-lobe ratio, and/or an antenna (or precoding) port associated with the antenna (radiation) pattern. The term “beam” may also refer to an associated number and/or configuration of antenna elements (e.g., a uniform linear array, a uniform rectangular array, or other uniform array) .

Introduction to Wireless Communications Networks

The techniques and methods described herein may be used for various wireless communications networks. While aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, and/or other generations of wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may likewise be applicable to other communications systems and standards not explicitly mentioned herein.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a wireless communications network 100, in which aspects described herein may be implemented.

Generally, wireless communications network 100 includes various network entities (alternatively, network elements or network nodes) . A network entity is generally a communications device and/or a communications function performed by a communications device (e.g., a user equipment (UE) , a base station (BS) , a component of a BS, a server, etc. ) . As such communications devices are part of wireless communications network 100, and facilitate wireless communications, such communications devices may be referred to as wireless communications devices. For example, various functions of a network as well as various devices associated with and interacting with a network may be considered network entities. Further, wireless communications network 100 includes terrestrial aspects, such as ground-based network entities (e.g., BSs 102) , and non-terrestrial aspects (also referred to herein as non-terrestrial network entities) , such as satellite 140 and/or aerial or spaceborne platform (s) , which may include network entities on-board (e.g., one or more BSs) capable of communicating with other network elements (e.g., terrestrial BSs) and UEs.

In the depicted example, wireless communications network 100 includes BSs 102, UEs 104, and one or more core networks, such as an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160 and 5G Core (5GC) network 190, which interoperate to provide communications services over various communications links, including wired and wireless links.

FIG. 1 depicts various example UEs 104, which may more generally include: a cellular phone, smart phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA) , satellite radio, global positioning system, multimedia device, video device, digital audio player, camera, game console, tablet, smart device, wearable device, vehicle, electric meter, gas pump, large or small kitchen appliance, healthcare device, implant, sensor/actuator, display, internet of things (IoT) devices, always on (AON) devices, edge processing devices, data centers, or other similar devices. UEs 104 may also be referred to more generally as a mobile device, a wireless device, a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a remote device, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, and others.

BSs 102 wirelessly communicate with (e.g., transmit signals to or receive signals from) UEs 104 via communications links 120. The communications links 120 between BSs 102 and UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a BS 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a BS 102 to a UE 104. The communications links 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity in various aspects.

BSs 102 may generally include: a NodeB, enhanced NodeB (eNB) , next generation enhanced NodeB (ng-eNB) , next generation NodeB (gNB or gNodeB) , access point, base transceiver station, radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function, transmission reception point, and/or others. Each of BSs 102 may provide communications coverage for a respective coverage area 110, which may sometimes be referred to as a cell, and which may overlap in some cases (e.g., small cell 102’ may have a coverage area 110’ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of a macro cell) . A BS may, for example, provide communications coverage for a macro cell (covering relatively large geographic area) , a pico cell (covering relatively smaller geographic area, such as a sports stadium) , a femto cell (relatively smaller geographic area (e.g., a home) ) , and/or other types of cells.

Generally, a cell may refer to a portion, partition, or segment of wireless communication coverage served by a network entity within a wireless communication network. A cell may have geographic characteristics, such as a geographic coverage area, as well as radio frequency characteristics, such as time and/or frequency resources dedicated to the cell. For example, a specific geographic coverage area may be covered by multiple cells employing different frequency resources (e.g., bandwidth parts) and/or different time resources. As another example, a specific geographic coverage area may be covered by a single cell. In some contexts (e.g., a carrier aggregation scenario and/or multi-connectivity scenario) , the terms “cell” or “serving cell” may refer to or correspond to a specific carrier frequency (e.g., a component carrier) used for wireless communications, and a “cell group” may refer to or correspond to multiple carriers used for wireless communications. As examples, in a carrier aggregation scenario, a UE may communicate on multiple component carriers corresponding to multiple (serving) cells in the same cell group, and in a multi-connectivity (e.g., dual connectivity) scenario, a UE may communicate on multiple component carriers corresponding to multiple cell groups.

While BSs 102 are depicted in various aspects as unitary communications devices, BSs 102 may be implemented in various configurations. For example, one or more components of a base station may be disaggregated, including a central unit (CU) , one or more distributed units (DUs) , one or more radio units (RUs) , a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) , or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC, to name a few examples. In another example, various aspects of a base station may be virtualized. More generally, a base station (e.g., BS 102) may include components that are located at a single physical location or components located at various physical locations. In examples in which a base station includes components that are located at various physical locations, the various components may each perform functions such that, collectively, the various components achieve functionality that is similar to a base station that is located at a single physical location. In some aspects, a base station including components that are located at various physical locations may be referred to as a disaggregated radio access network architecture, such as an Open RAN (O-RAN) or Virtualized RAN (VRAN) architecture. FIG. 2 depicts and describes an example disaggregated base station architecture.

Different BSs 102 within wireless communications network 100 may also be configured to support different radio access technologies, such as 3G, 4G, and/or 5G. For example, BSs 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) ) may interface with the EPC 160 through first backhaul links 132 (e.g., an S1 interface) . BSs 102 configured for 5G (e.g., 5G NR or Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) ) may interface with 5GC 190 through second backhaul links 184. BSs 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or 5GC 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface) , which may be wired or wireless.

Wireless communications network 100 may subdivide the electromagnetic spectrum into various classes, bands, channels, or other features. In some aspects, the subdivision is provided based on wavelength and frequency, where frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, or a subband. For example, 3GPP currently defines Frequency Range 1 (FR1) as including 410 MHz –7125 MHz, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as “Sub-6 GHz” . Similarly, 3GPP currently defines Frequency Range 2 (FR2) as including 24,250 MHz –71,000 MHz, which is sometimes referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” ( “mmW” or “mmWave” ) . In some cases, FR2 may be further defined in terms of sub-ranges, such as a first sub-range FR2-1 including 24,250 MHz –52,600 MHz and a second sub-range FR2-2 including 52,600 MHz –71,000 MHz. A base station configured to communicate using mmWave/near mmWave radio frequency bands (e.g., a mmWave base station such as BS 180) may utilize beamforming (e.g., 182) with a UE (e.g., 104) to improve path loss and range.

The communications links 120 between BSs 102 and, for example, UEs 104, may be through one or more carriers, which may have different bandwidths (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, and/or other MHz) , and which may be aggregated in various aspects. Carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) .

Communications using higher frequency bands may have higher path loss and a shorter range compared to lower frequency communications. Accordingly, certain base stations (e.g., 180 in FIG. 1) may utilize beamforming 182 with a UE 104 to improve path loss and range. For example, BS 180 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays to facilitate the beamforming. In some cases, BS 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182’. UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the BS 180 in one or more receive directions 182”. UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the BS 180 in one or more transmit directions 182”. BS 180 may also receive the beamformed signal from UE 104 in one or more receive directions 182’. BS 180 and UE 104 may then perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of BS 180 and UE 104. Notably, the transmit and receive directions for BS 180 may or may not be the same. Similarly, the transmit and receive directions for UE 104 may or may not be the same.

Wireless communications network 100 further includes a Wi-Fi AP 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communications links 154 in, for example, a 2.4 GHz and/or 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum.

Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communications link 158. D2D communications link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) , and/or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) .

EPC 160 may include various functional components, including: a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and/or a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172, such as in the depicted example. MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, MME 162 provides bearer and connection management.

Generally, user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to PDN Gateway 172. PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP Services 176, which may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) , a Packet Switched (PS) streaming service, and/or other IP services.

BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN) , and/or may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the BSs 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and/or may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

5GC 190 may include various functional components, including: an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may be in communication with Unified Data Management (UDM) 196.

AMF 192 is a control node that processes signaling between UEs 104 and 5GC 190. AMF 192 provides, for example, quality of service (QoS) flow and session management.

Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through UPF 195, which is connected to the IP Services 197, and which provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions for 5GC 190. IP Services 197 may include, for example, the Internet, an intranet, an IMS, a PS streaming service, and/or other IP services.

In various aspects, a network entity or network node can be implemented as an aggregated base station, as a disaggregated base station, a component of a base station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, to name a few examples.

FIG. 2 depicts an example disaggregated base station 200 architecture. The disaggregated base station 200 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 210 that can communicate directly with a core network 220 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 220 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 225 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 215 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 205, or both) . A CU 210 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 230 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 230 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 240 via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 240 may communicate with respective UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UE 104 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 240.

Each of the units, e.g., the CUs 210, the DUs 230, the RUs 240, as well as the Near-RT RICs 225, the Non-RT RICs 215 and the SMO Framework 205, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communications interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally or alternatively, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) , configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.

In some aspects, the CU 210 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include radio resource control (RRC) , packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) , or the like. Each control function can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 210. The CU 210 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (e.g., Central Unit –User Plane (CU-UP) ) , control plane functionality (e.g., Central Unit –Control Plane (CU-CP) ) , or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 210 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 210 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 230, as necessary, for network control and signaling.

The DU 230 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 240. In some aspects, the DU 230 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . In some aspects, the DU 230 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 230, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 210.

Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 240. In some deployments, an RU 240, controlled by a DU 230, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like) , or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU (s) 240 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communications with the RU (s) 240 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 230. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU (s) 230 and the CU 210 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

The SMO Framework 205 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 205 may be configured to 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 205 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 290) 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) . Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 210, DUs 230, RUs 240 and Near-RT RICs 225. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 205 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 211, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 205 can communicate directly with one or more DUs 230 and/or one or more RUs 240 via an O1 interface. The SMO Framework 205 also may include a Non-RT RIC 215 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 205.

The Non-RT RIC 215 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications/features in the Near-RT RIC 225. The Non-RT RIC 215 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near-RT RIC 225. The Near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or more CUs 210, one or more DUs 230, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 225.

In some implementations, to generate AI/ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 225, the Non-RT RIC 215 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 225 and may be received at the SMO Framework 205 or the Non-RT RIC 215 from non-network data sources or from network functions. In some examples, the Non-RT RIC 215 or the Near-RT RIC 225 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the Non-RT RIC 215 may monitor long-term trends and patterns for performance and employ AI/ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 205 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies) .

FIG. 3 depicts aspects of an example BS 102 and a UE 104.

Generally, BS 102 includes various processors (e.g., 318, 320, 330, 338, and 340) , antennas 334a-t (collectively 334) , transceivers 332a-t (collectively 332) , which include modulators and demodulators, and other aspects, which enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., data source 312) and wireless reception of data (e.g., data sink 314) . For example, BS 102 may send and receive data between BS 102 and UE 104. BS 102 includes controller/processor 340, which may be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications. Note that the BS 102 may have a disaggregated architecture as described herein with respect to FIG. 2.

Generally, UE 104 includes various processors (e.g., 358, 364, 366, 370, and 380) , antennas 352a-r (collectively 352) , transceivers 354a-r (collectively 354) , which include modulators and demodulators, and other aspects, which enable wireless transmission of data (e.g., retrieved from data source 362) and wireless reception of data (e.g., provided to data sink 360) . UE 104 includes controller/processor 380, which may be configured to implement various functions described herein related to wireless communications.

In regards to an example downlink transmission, BS 102 includes a transmit processor 320 that may receive data from a data source 312 and control information from a controller/processor 340. The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH) , physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH) , physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH) , and/or others. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) , in some examples.

Transmit processor 320 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. Transmit processor 320 may also generate reference symbols, such as for the primary synchronization signal (PSS) , secondary synchronization signal (SSS) , PBCH demodulation reference signal (DMRS) , and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) .

Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 330 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) in transceivers 332a-332t. Each modulator in transceivers 332a-332t may process a respective output symbol stream to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Downlink signals from the modulators in transceivers 332a-332t may be transmitted via the antennas 334a-334t, respectively.

In order to receive the downlink transmission, UE 104 includes antennas 352a-352r that may receive the downlink signals from the BS 102 and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 354a-354r, respectively. Each demodulator in transceivers 354a-354r may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process the input samples to obtain received symbols.

RX MIMO detector 356 may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators in transceivers 354a-354r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. Receive processor 358 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 104 to a data sink 360, and provide decoded control information to a controller/processor 380.

In regards to an example uplink transmission, UE 104 further includes a transmit processor 364 that may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source 362 and control information (e.g., for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) ) from the controller/processor 380. Transmit processor 364 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for the sounding reference signal (SRS) ) . The symbols from the transmit processor 364 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 366 if applicable, further processed by the modulators in transceivers 354a-354r (e.g., for SC-FDM) , and transmitted to BS 102.

At BS 102, the uplink signals from UE 104 may be received by antennas 334a-t, processed by the demodulators in transceivers 332a-332t, detected by a RX MIMO detector 336 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 338 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 104. Receive processor 338 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 314 and the decoded control information to the controller/processor 340.

Memories 342 and 382 may store data and program codes for BS 102 and UE 104, respectively.

Scheduler 344 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

In various aspects, BS 102 may be described as transmitting and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, “transmitting” may refer to various mechanisms of outputting data, such as outputting data from data source 312, scheduler 344, memory 342, transmit processor 320, controller/processor 340, TX MIMO processor 330, transceivers 332a-t, antenna 334a-t, and/or other aspects described herein. Similarly, “receiving” may refer to various mechanisms of obtaining data, such as obtaining data from antennas 334a-t, transceivers 332a-t, RX MIMO detector 336, controller/processor 340, receive processor 338, scheduler 344, memory 342, and/or other aspects described herein.

In various aspects, UE 104 may likewise be described as transmitting and receiving various types of data associated with the methods described herein. In these contexts, “transmitting” may refer to various mechanisms of outputting data, such as outputting data from data source 362, memory 382, transmit processor 364, controller/processor 380, TX MIMO processor 366, transceivers 354a-t, antenna 352a-t, and/or other aspects described herein. Similarly, “receiving” may refer to various mechanisms of obtaining data, such as obtaining data from antennas 352a-t, transceivers 354a-t, RX MIMO detector 356, controller/processor 380, receive processor 358, memory 382, and/or other aspects described herein.

In some aspects, a processor may be configured to perform various operations, such as those associated with the methods described herein, and transmit (output) to or receive (obtain) data from another interface that is configured to transmit or receive, respectively, the data.

In various aspects, artificial intelligence (AI) processors 318 and 370 may perform AI processing for BS 102 and/or UE 104, respectively. The AI processor 318 may include AI accelerator hardware or circuitry such as one or more neural processing units (NPUs) , one or more neural network processors, one or more tensor processors, one or more deep learning processors, etc. The AI processor 370 may likewise include AI accelerator hardware or circuitry. As an example, the AI processor 370 may perform AI-based beam management, AI-based channel state feedback (CSF) , AI-based antenna tuning, and/or AI-based positioning (e.g., non-line of sight positioning prediction) . In some cases, the AI processor 318 may process feedback from the UE 104 (e.g., CSF) using hardware accelerated AI inferences and/or AI training. The AI processor 318 may decode compressed CSF from the UE 104, for example, using a hardware accelerated AI inference associated with the CSF. In certain cases, the AI processor 318 may perform certain RAN-based functions including, for example, network planning, network performance management, energy-efficient network operations, etc.

FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D depict aspects of data structures for a wireless communications network, such as wireless communications network 100 of FIG. 1.

In particular, FIG. 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G (e.g., 5G NR) frame structure, FIG. 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G subframe, FIG. 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G frame structure, and FIG. 4D is a diagram 480 illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G subframe.

Wireless communications systems may utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink. Such systems may also support half-duplex operation using time division duplexing (TDD) . OFDM and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) partition the system bandwidth (e.g., as depicted in FIGS. 4B and 4D) into multiple orthogonal subcarriers. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Modulation symbols may be sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and/or in the time domain with SC-FDM.

A wireless communications frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD) , in which, for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for either DL or UL. Wireless communications frame structures may also be time division duplex (TDD) , in which, for a particular set of subcarriers, subframes within the set of subcarriers are dedicated for both DL and UL.

In FIG. 4A and 4C, the wireless communications frame structure is TDD where D is DL, U is UL, and X is flexible for use between DL/UL. UEs may be configured with a slot format through a received slot format indicator (SFI) (dynamically through DL control information (DCI) , or semi-statically/statically through radio resource control (RRC) signaling) . In the depicted examples, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized 1 ms subframes. Each subframe may include one or more time slots. In some examples, each slot may include 12 or 14 symbols, depending on the cyclic prefix (CP) type (e.g., 12 symbols per slot for an extended CP or 14 symbols per slot for a normal CP) . Subframes may also include mini-slots, which generally have fewer symbols than an entire slot. Other wireless communications technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels.

In certain aspects, the number of slots within a subframe (e.g., a slot duration in a subframe) is based on a numerology, which may define a frequency domain subcarrier spacing and symbol duration as further described herein. In certain aspects, given a numerology μ, there are 2^μ slots per subframe. Thus, numerologies (μ) 0 to 6 may allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 slots, respectively, per subframe. In some cases, the extended CP (e.g., 12 symbols per slot) may be used with a specific numerology, e.g., numerology 2 allowing for 4 slots per subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2^μ×15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 6. As an example, the numerology μ=0 corresponds to a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, and the numerology μ=6 corresponds to a subcarrier spacing of 960 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D provide an example of a slot format having 14 symbols per slot (e.g., a normal CP) and a numerology μ=2 with 4 slots per subframe. In such a case, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is approximately 16.67 μs.

As depicted in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D, a resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs) ) that extends, for example, 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) . The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme including, for example, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) .

As illustrated in FIG. 4A, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for a UE (e.g., UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3) . The RS may include demodulation RS (DMRS) and/or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include beam measurement RS (BRS) , beam refinement RS (BRRS) , and/or phase tracking RS (PT-RS) .

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) , each CCE including, for example, nine RE groups (REGs) , each REG including, for example, four consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol.

A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of particular subframes of a frame. The PSS is used by a UE (e.g., 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3) to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity.

A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of particular subframes of a frame. The SSS is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing.

Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine a physical cell identifier (PCI) . Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the locations of the aforementioned DMRS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) , which carries a master information block (MIB) , may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) /PBCH block (SSB) , and in some cases, referred to as a synchronization signal block (SSB) . The MIB provides a number of RBs in the system bandwidth and a system frame number (SFN) . The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs) , and/or paging messages.

As illustrated in FIG. 4C, some of the REs carry DMRS (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DMRS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may transmit DMRS for the PUCCH and DMRS for the PUSCH. The PUSCH DMRS may be transmitted, for example, in the first one or two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DMRS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether short or long PUCCHs are transmitted and depending on the particular PUCCH format used. UE 104 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRS) . The SRS may be transmitted, for example, in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and a UE may transmit SRS on one of the combs. The SRS may be used by a base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

FIG. 4D illustrates an example of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame. The PUCCH may be located as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) , such as scheduling requests, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) , a rank indicator (RI) , and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR) , a power headroom report (PHR) , and/or UCI.

Aspects Related to Beam Management

FIG. 5 illustrates example operations 500 for radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment and beam management. As shown, at block 502, a UE may initially be in an RRC idle state (or an RRC inactivate state) . An RRC idle state refers to a state of a UE where the UE is switched on but does not have any established RRC connection (e.g., an assigned communication link) to a radio access network (RAN) . Reference to a RAN performing certain operations, as discussed herein, may refer to one or more network entities (e.g., a base station, a non-terrestrial network, and/or one or more disaggregated entities thereof) performing said operations. The RRC idle state allows the UE to reduce battery power consumption, for example, relative to an RRC connected state. For example, in the RRC idle state, the UE may periodically monitor for paging from the RAN. The UE may be in an RRC idle state when the UE does not have data to be transmitted or received. In an RRC connected state, the UE is connected to the RAN and radio resources are allocated to the UE. In some cases, the UE is actively communicating with the RAN when in the RRC connected state.

In order to perform data transfer and/or make/receive calls, the UE establishes a connection with the RAN using an initial access procedure, at block 504. For example, the UE establishes a connection to a particular serving cell of the RAN. The initial access procedure may include a sequence of processes performed between the UE and the RAN to establish the RRC connection. For example, the UE may initiate a random access procedure that includes an RRC setup request or an RRC connection request. The UE may be in an RRC connected state subsequent to establishing the connection.

In some cases, the UE may perform beam management operations at block 506 in response to entering the RRC connected state. Beam management operations includes a set of operations used to determine certain receive beam (s) and/or transmit beams that can be used wireless communications (e.g., transmission and/or reception at the UE) . The beam management may include certain beam management procedures, such as a beam selection procedure (e.g., P1 beam management procedure) , a transmit beam refinement procedure (e.g., a P2 beam management procedure) , and/or a receive beam refinement procedure (e.g., P3 beam management procedure) .

Beam management procedures may further include beam failure detection operations at block 508 and beam failure recovery operations at block 510. For example, a UE may detect a beam failure when a Layer-1 (L1) reference signal received power (RSRP) for a connected beam falls below a certain limit (e.g., a limit corresponding to a block error rate (BER) ) . In response to detecting beam failure at block 508, the UE identifies a candidate beam suitable for communication and performs beam failure recovery (BFR) . For example, the UE may send, to the RAN, a request to switch to the candidate beam for communications. In some cases, the UE may send the beam switch request via a random access procedure using the candidate beam. The RAN may activate the candidate beam or a different beam at the UE. If the BFR is not successful, the UE may declare a radio link failure (RLF) for the serving cell, at block 512. In response to RLF, the UE may perform a cell reselection process to establish a communication link on a different serving cell. In certain aspects, the UE may send, to a network entity, a beam report indicating or including radio measurement (s) of one or more beams (e.g., network entity transmit beams and/or certain transmit-receive beam pair (s) between a UE and the network entity) as further described herein. The beam report may allow the network entity to perform certain beam management operations, such as beam switching and/or beam refinement.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating examples 600, 610, and 620 of beam management procedures. As shown in FIG. 6, examples 600, 610, and 620 include a UE 104 in communication with a BS 102 in a wireless network (e.g., wireless communications network 100 in FIG. 1) . However, the devices shown in FIG. 6 are provided as examples, and the wireless network may support communication and beam management between other devices (e.g., between a UE 104 and a network entity, a UE 104 and a transmission reception 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, between a scheduled node and a scheduling node, and/or the like) . In some aspects, the UE 104 and the BS 102 are in a connected state (e.g., RRC connected state and/or the like) .

BS 102 and UE 104 may communicate to perform beam management using reference signals (RSs) (e.g., synchronization (SSBs) , demodulation reference signals (DM-RSs) , channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) , etc. ) .

Example 600 depicts a first beam management procedure (e.g., such as a P1 CSI-RS beam management procedure) . 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, a beam search procedure, and/or the like. In example 600, reference signals are configured to be transmitted from the BS 102 to UE 104. The reference signals may be configured to be periodic (e.g., using RRC signaling) , semi-persistent (e.g., using media access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE) signaling) , and/or aperiodic (e.g., using downlink control information (DCI) ) .

As illustrated, the first beam management procedure may include BS 102 performing beam sweeping over multiple transmit (TX) beams 602. A transmit beam is a beam that is used by a wireless communication device (e.g., a BS 102 and/or UE 104) for transmitting signals. For example, BS 102 may transmit a reference signal using each of the transmit beams 602 associated with BS 102 for beam management. To enable UE 104 to perform receive (RX) beam sweeping, BS 102 uses a transmit beam to transmit (e.g., with repetitions) each reference signal at multiple times within a same resource set to enable UE 104 to sweep through receive beams 604 in multiple transmission instances. A receive beam is a beam that is used by a wireless communication device for receiving signals. For example, if BS 102 has a set of N transmit beams 602 and UE 104 has a set of M receive beams 604, then the reference signal may be transmitted on each of the N transmit beams 602 M times such that UE 104 receives M instances of the reference signals per transmit beam. As a result, the first beam management procedure helps to enable UE 104 to measure a reference signal on different transmit beams, using different receive beams, to support the selection of a receive beam for a transmit beam. UE 104 may report the measurements to BS 102 to enable BS 102 to select one or more beam pair (s) for communication between BS 102 and UE 104, as further described herein with respect to a UE-initiated beam report.

Example 610, illustrated in FIG. 6, depicts a second beam management procedure (e.g., such as a P2 CSI-RS beam management procedure) . The second beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam refinement procedure, a BS beam refinement procedure, a TRP beam refinement procedure, a transmit beam refinement procedure, and/or the like.

As illustrated, the second beam management procedure includes BS 102 performing beam sweeping over one or more transmit beams 612. The transmit beam (s) 612 may be a subset of all transmit beams associated with BS 102 (e.g., determined based, at least in part, on measurements reported by UE 104 in connection with the first beam management procedure) . BS 102 transmits a reference signal using each of the transmit beam (s) 612. UE 104 measures each reference signal using a single (e.g., a same) receive beam 614 (e.g., determined based, at least in part, on measurements performed in connection with the first beam management procedure) . As such, the second beam management procedure may enable BS 102 to select a best transmit beam based on measurements of the reference signals (e.g., measured by UE 104 using the single receive beam 614) reported by UE 104, for example, via a UE-initiated beam report.

Example 620, illustrated in FIG. 6, depicts a third beam management procedure (e.g., such as a P3 CSI-RS beam management procedure) . The third beam management procedure may be referred to as a beam refinement procedure, a UE beam refinement procedure, a receive beam refinement procedure, and/or the like.

As illustrated, the third beam management procedure includes BS 102 transmitting one or more reference signals using a single transmit beam 622 (e.g., determined based, at least in part, on measurements reported by UE 104 in connection with the first beam management procedure and/or the second beam management procedure) . To enable UE 104 to perform receive beam sweeping, BS 102 may use a transmit beam to transmit (e.g., with repetitions) reference signals at multiple times within a same resource set such that UE 104 can sweep through one or more receive beams 624 in multiple transmission instances. The receive beam (s) 624 may be a subset of all receive beams associated with UE 104 (e.g., determined based on measurements performed in connection with the first beam management procedure and/or the second beam management procedure) . The third beam management procedure helps to enable BS 102 and/or UE 104 to select a best receive beam based on reported measurements received from UE 104 (e.g., of the reference signal of the transmit beam using the one or more receive beams) .

FIG. 6 is provided as an example of beam management procedures for determining transmit beam (s) and/or receive beam (s) for wireless communications between a UE and a network entity. Other examples of beam management procedures that differ from what is described with respect to FIG. 6, however, may be considered when determining transmit beam (s) and/or receive beam (s) for wireless communications.

Aspects Related to Parameter Based Beam Reporting

In certain aspects, a UE may obtain, from a network entity, multiple PUCCH configurations for beam reporting. A PUCCH configuration for beam reporting may be or include a scheduling request (SR) configuration and/or a PUCCH configuration that is specific to UE-initiated beam reporting. Each of the PUCCH configurations may indicate or include a set of PUCCH resources allocated to the UE to send a request for uplink resource (s) for a beam report. The set of PUCCH resources may be allocated with a periodicity, for example, every 2 symbols up to 640 slots (or more) . Each of the PUCCH configurations may be associated with one or more beam report parameters (such as one or more events that trigger the UE to send a beam report) as further described herein. The association between a PUCCH configuration and beam report parameter (s) may allow the UE to indicate to the network entity certain information related to the beam report requested to be communicated, such as a beam report format, the event (s) that trigger beam reporting, the subject or content of a beam report, etc. Accordingly, the UE-initiated beam reporting and corresponding associations for PUCCH signaling may enable reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, increased throughput, and/or reliable beam reporting.

FIG. 7 depicts an example scheme 700 for parameter based beam reporting that enables cross-carrier (or cross-bandwidth part (BWP) ) beam reporting and intra- carrier beam reporting. In this example, a UE may be configured to communicate with a network entity via a first carrier (e.g., component carrier-1 (CC1) ) and a second carrier (e.g., CC2) . The first carrier may be different from the second carrier (e.g., non-overlapping or only partially overlapping in the frequency domain) . In certain cases, the first carrier and the second carrier may be part of the same serving cell group (e.g., for carrier aggregation) or a different serving cell group (e.g., multi-connectivity) . The UE may obtain a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters. As an example, the first beam report parameter (s) may include an indication of a first event (Event A) that is monitored on the first carrier by the UE, and the second beam report parameter (s) may include an indication of a second event (Event B) that is monitored on the second carrier by the UE. The first PUCCH configuration may indicate or include a first set of PUCCH resources that are allocated in the first carrier, and the second PUCCH configuration may indicate or include a second set of PUCCH resources that are allocated in the first carrier.

As an example of intra-carrier beam reporting, at 702, the UE may detect the first event on the first carrier, where the first event triggers communication of a first beam report to the network entity. The first beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the first carrier. At 704, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the first set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier (e.g., a periodic instance of the PUCCH resource (s) ) . The signaling may indicate or include a request for (uplink) resource (s) for communication of the first beam report triggered by the first event. In certain aspects, the signaling may include one or more fields that indicate the request for resource (s) for communication of the first beam report, and the field (s) may include one or more bits. At 706, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the first beam report. The association between the first set of PUCCH resources and the first event may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the first beam report triggered by the first event. The information related to the first beam report may include, for example, the size of the first beam report and/or characteristics of the radio measurements indicated or included in the first beam report, such as the corresponding reference signal (s) , beam (s) , carrier, cell, or the like. At 708, the UE may send, to the network entity, the first beam report triggered by the first event.

As an example of cross-carrier beam reporting, at 710, the UE may detect the second event on the second carrier, where the second event triggers communication of a second beam report. The second beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the second carrier. At 712, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the second set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier. The signaling may indicate or include a request for uplink resource (s) for communication of the second beam report triggered by the second event. At 714, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the second beam report. The association between the second set of PUCCH resources and the second event may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the second beam report triggered by the second event, such as the size of the second beam report. At 716, the UE may send, to the network entity, the second beam report triggered by the second event.

In certain aspects, the beam report parameter (s) associated with a PUCCH configuration may be or include a beam reporting format. The beam reporting format may be associated with one or more carriers, one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) , one or more cells, one or more beams, one or more cell groups, or the like. The beam reporting format may indicate the content of a beam report (e.g., the specific radio measurement (s) ) and/or the quantity of radio measurements in the beam report. The beam reporting format may include a total number of one or more reference signals (e.g., SSB (s) , CSI-RS (s) , DM-RS (s) , or the like) for which measurements are included in a beam report, one or more radio measurements associated with the one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report, or a combination thereof. The radio measurement (s) may include, for example, a channel quality indicator (CQI) , a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) , a signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , a signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio (SNDR) , a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) , a reference signal received power (RSRP) , a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , and/or a block error rate (BLER) . The beam reporting format may indicate the size of the beam report, and thus, the beam report format may allow the network entity to know the amount of resources to allocate to a UE to communicate the beam report.

FIG. 8A depicts an example scheme 800A for UE-initiated beam reporting where PUCCH configuration (s) may be associated with a specific beam reporting format. A UE may be configured to communicate with a network entity via a first carrier and a second carrier as described herein with respect to FIG. 7. The UE may obtain a first PUCCH configuration (e.g., SR configuration A) associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration (e.g., SR configuration B) associated with one or more second beam report parameters. The first PUCCH configuration and the second PUCCH configuration may indicate or include the sets of PUCCH resources allocated in the first carrier as described herein with respect to FIG. 7. The first beam report parameter (s) may include a first beam reporting format, the second beam report parameter (s) may include a second beam reporting format. The first beam reporting format may indicate that a beam report includes radio measurement (s) for a total of four reference signals corresponding to certain beams of one or more carriers, and the second beam reporting format may indicate that the beam report includes radio measurement (s) for a total of two reference signals corresponding to certain beams of one or more carriers.

At 802, the UE may detect a first event on the first carrier, where the first event triggers communication of a first beam report to the network entity. The first beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the first carrier according to the first beam reporting format. At 804, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the first set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier. The signaling may indicate or include a request for uplink resource (s) for communication of the first beam report triggered by the first event. At 806, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the first beam report. The association between the first set of PUCCH resources and the first beam reporting format may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the first beam report, such as the size of the first beam report. At 808, the UE may send, to the network entity, the first beam report according to the first beam reporting format.

At 810, the UE may detect a second event on the second carrier, where the second event triggers communication of a second beam report. The second beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the second carrier according to the second beam reporting format. At 812, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the second set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier. The signaling may indicate a request for uplink resource (s) for communication of the second beam report triggered by the second event. At 814, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the second beam report. The association between the second set of PUCCH resources and the second event may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the second beam report, such as the size of the second beam report according to the second beam reporting format. At 816, the UE may send, to the network entity, the second beam report according to the second beam reporting format.

In certain aspects, the beam report parameter (s) associated with a PUCCH configuration may be or include one or more beam report trigger events. A beam report trigger event may be or include an event monitored at a UE, such that the event triggers the UE to send a beam report (and/or signaling that requests resource (s) for communication of such a beam report) to the network entity. The beam report trigger event may be or include an event for measurement reporting, where the event may be specific to radio measurements associated with one or more beams. The beam report trigger event may be associated with one or more carriers, one or more BWPs, one or more cells, one or more beams, one or more cell groups, or the like. The beam report trigger event may be or include a first event that is triggered when a quality of a current beam is worse than a threshold. The current beam may be a beam actively being used for communications. The quality of a beam may be or include a radio measurement of a reference signal corresponding to the beam, such as a Layer-1 (L1) -RSRP, L1-SINR, and/or L1-RSRQ. The beam report trigger event may be or include a second event that is triggered when a quality of a candidate beam becomes better than the current beam by an offset. A candidate beam may be a beam that is available for communications. The beam report trigger event may be or include a third event that is triggered when a quality of a candidate beam is better than a threshold. The beam report trigger event may be or include a fourth even that is triggered when a quality of the current beam is worse than a first threshold, and a quality of a candidate beam is better than a second threshold. The beam report trigger event may be or include any suitable event associated with a beam.

The beam report trigger event may indicate certain information associated with a beam report, such as the size of the beam report, for example, due to the content of the beam report depending on the type of beam report trigger event. In certain cases, the beam report trigger event may indicate to the network entity the one or more carriers, one or more BWPs, one or more cells, one or more beams, and/or one or more cell groups monitored for the given event.

FIG. 8B depicts an example scheme 800B for UE-initiated beam reporting where PUCCH configuration (s) may be associated with one or more events that trigger beam reporting. In this example, the UE may be in communication with the network entity via the first carrier and second carrier, as described herein with respect to FIG. 8A. The UE may obtain a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters. The first PUCCH configuration and the second PUCCH configuration may indicate or include the sets of PUCCH resources allocated in the first carrier as described herein with respect to FIG. 7. The first beam report parameter (s) may include an indication one or more first beam report trigger events monitored on the first carrier, and the second beam report parameter (s) may include an indication of one or more second beam report trigger events monitored on the second carrier. The first beam report trigger event (s) and/or the second beam report trigger event (s) may include the same or different event (s) .

At 818, the UE may detect the first beam report trigger event on the first carrier, where the first beam report trigger event triggers communication of a first beam report to the network entity. The first beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the first carrier. At 820, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the first set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier. The signaling may indicate a request for uplink resource (s) for communication of the first beam report triggered by the first beam report trigger event. At 822, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the first beam report. The association between the first set of PUCCH resources and the first beam report trigger event may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the first beam report, such as the size of the first beam report. At 824, the UE may send, to the network entity, the first beam report.

At 826, the UE may detect the second beam report trigger event on the second carrier, where the second beam report trigger event triggers communication of a second beam report to the network entity. The second beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the second carrier. At 828, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the second set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier. The signaling may indicate a request for uplink resource (s) for communication of the second beam report triggered by the second beam report trigger event. At 830, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the second beam report. The association between the second set of PUCCH resources and the second event may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the second beam report, such as the size of the second beam report. At 832, the UE may send, to the network entity, the second beam report triggered by the second beam report trigger event.

In certain aspects, a PUCCH configuration may include or be associated with a PUCCH configuration identifier or identity (such as a SR identity) . The association between one or more beam report parameters and the PUCCH configuration may be indicated through an association between the beam report parameter (s) and the PUCCH configuration identifier. A beam reporting configuration may include a PUCCH configuration identifier or identity that points to the corresponding PUCCH configuration. As an example, a beam report trigger event may be associated with the PUCCH configuration identifier. In certain cases, different beam report trigger events associated with one or more carriers and/or one or more BWPs may share the same PUCCH configuration identifier.

In certain aspects, a PUCCH configuration may be associated with one or more carriers and/or one or more BWPs of a cell group (e.g., a serving cell group) . For example, when a UE detects a beam report trigger event in the cell group, the UE may send signaling via the set of PUCCH resources associated with the PUCCH configuration to request resource (s) for the beam report.

In certain aspects, a PUCCH configuration may be associated with a set of carriers and/or a set of BWPs, for example, as defined by a list of carriers or a list of BWPs. When a UE detects a beam report trigger event in the set of carriers and/or the set of BWPs, the UE may send signaling via the set of PUCCH resources associated with the PUCCH configuration to request resource (s) for the beam report.

In certain aspects, the UE may obtain, from the network entity, signaling that allocates resources (s) for communication of the beam report. For example, the signaling may include DCI. The DCI may be communicated via the same carrier or BWP as the PUCCH used to request the resource (s) or a different carrier or BWP. The DCI may allocate the resource (s) for communication of the beam report in any carrier or BWP. In certain cases, the DCI may allocate the resource (s) for communication of the beam report in any carrier, BWP, cell, and/or cell group associated with the PUCCH used to request the resource (s) for communication of the beam report.

The set of PUCCH resources used to request resource (s) for communication of the beam report may be associated with various communication resources, such as one or more carriers, one or more BWPs, one or more cells, and/or one or more cell groups. When the UE detects an event in the communication resources associated with the set of PUCCH resources, the DCI may allocate resource (s) for communication of the beam report in the one or more carriers, one or more BWPs, one or more cells, and/or one or more cell groups. As an example, the set of PUCCH resources may be associated with a first carrier and a second carrier. When the UE detects an event in the first carrier or the second carrier, the DCI may allocate resource (s) for communication of the beam report in the first carrier or the second carrier.

Such flexibility in communicating the DCI and/or PUCCH may allow the network entity to take into account or consider the event that is detected by the UE. For example, when the event indicates the quality of a candidate beam is better than a threshold (and/or the current beam) , the network entity may use a different carrier or BWP to communicate the DCI (e.g., corresponding to the candidate beam of the event) than the carrier or BWP used for the PUCCH, for example, in order to ensure the DCI is successfully received at the UE. As another example, the UE may be configured to use a different carrier or BWP to communicate the request for resource (s) via the PUCCH (e.g., corresponding to the candidate beam of the event) than the carrier or BWP being monitored for the event detection, for example, in order to ensure the request is successfully received at the network entity.

FIG. 9 depicts an example scheme 900 for UE-initiated beam reporting where DCI may be communicated via a different carrier as the carrier used for sending the PUCCH. In this example, the UE may be in communication with the network entity via the first carrier and second carrier, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 7-8B. The UE may obtain a PUCCH configuration associated with one or more beam report parameters. The PUCCH configuration may indicate or include a set of PUCCH resources allocated in the first carrier, for example, as described herein with respect to FIG. 7. The beam report parameter (s) may include beam report trigger event (s) , a beam reporting format, one or more carriers, one or more BWPs, one or more cells, and/or one or more cell groups.

At 902, the UE may detect a beam report trigger event on the first carrier, where the beam report trigger event triggers communication of a beam report to the network entity. The beam report may indicate or include one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of the first carrier. At 904, the UE may send, to the network entity, signaling via the set of PUCCH resources in the first carrier. The signaling may indicate or include a request for uplink resource (s) for communication of the beam report triggered by the beam report trigger event. At 906, the UE may obtain, from the network entity via the second carrier, DCI that grants the uplink resource (s) for communication of the beam report. The network entity may determine to communicate the DCI via the second carrier based on the channel usage, traffic load, channel conditions, or the like associated with the first carrier and/or the second carrier. The association between the set of PUCCH resources and the beam report parameter (s) may indicate, to the network entity, certain information related to the beam report, such as the size of the beam report for allocation of the uplink resource (s) . At 908, the UE may send, to the network entity via the second carrier, the beam report.

In certain aspects, the signaling (e.g., DCI) that allocates resources (s) for communication of the beam report may include an indication for the UE to communicate the beam report. In certain cases, the DCI may include one or more fields that indicate a request for the UE to send the beam report. The one or more field (s) may include a combination of fields having specific values that indicate the request for the UE to send the beam report. As an example, to indicate the request for the UE to send the beam report, the one or more field (s) of the DCI may be or include the uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) indicator field and the CSI request field set to zero. As another example, to indicate the request for the UE to send the beam report, the one or more fields of the DCI may be or include the CSI request field that indicates a specific aperiodic CSI trigger state configured for the UE-initiated beam report. For example, the aperiodic CSI trigger state may point to a beam reporting format for the UE-initiated beam report. The CSI request field may be used to request the UE to send the beam report that indicates or includes radio measurement (s) of the carrier and/or BWP for the event associated with the PUCCH. Accordingly, the DCI may employ certain field (s) to indicate a request for a UE-initiated beam report.

In certain aspects, the signaling that allocates resource (s) for communication of the beam report may provide enough time for the UE to generate and send the beam report in response to the signaling. The UE may expect a time offset to be arranged between (1) an occasion of when the signaling is communicated (e.g., received at the UE) and (2) the resource (s) used to carry the beam report. The time offset may be determined as the duration between (1) the end of the last symbol (in time) of the PDCCH that grants the resources for communication of the beam report and (2) the first uplink symbol (in time) to carry the corresponding beam report. The time offset may satisfy a timing threshold associated with any of the carrier (s) , BWP (s) , cell (s) , and/or cell group (s) associated with the PUCCH used to request the resource (s) for communication of the beam report. For example, the time offset may satisfy the timing threshold, when the time offset is greater than or equal to the timing threshold. Accordingly, the time offset that satisfies the timing threshold may ensure a UE can reliably send the beam report to a network entity.

The timing threshold may include a minimum or maximum CSI processing (computation) time among the carrier (s) , BWP (s) , cell (s) , and/or cell group (s) associated with the PUCCH. In some cases, the minimum or maximum CSI processing time may be determined among the CSI processing times of the configured carrier (s) or BWP (s) associated with a PUCCH configuration for beam reporting. In certain cases, the minimum or maximum CSI processing time may be determined among the CSI processing time (s) of the active carrier (s) or active BWP (s) associated with a PUCCH configuration for beam reporting. In some cases, the minimum or maximum CSI processing time may be determined among the CSI processing time (s) of the carrier (s) or BWP(s) of a cell group, set of carriers, or a set of BWPs associated with a PUCCH configuration for beam reporting. In certain cases, the minimum or maximum CSI processing time may be determined among the CSI processing time (s) of the active carrier (s) or active BWP (s) of a cell group, set of carriers, and/or a set of BWPs associated with a PUCCH configuration for beam reporting. The carriers and/or BWPs associated with a PUCCH configuration for beam reporting may include the carrier (s) and/or BWP (s) monitored for beam report trigger event (s) , the carrier (s) and/or BWP (s) that are the subject of a beam report, and/or the carrier (s) or BWP (s) used for communicating the PUCCH, DCI, and/or beam report.

While certain examples are described herein with respect to cross-carrier beam reporting to facilitate an understanding, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to beam reporting for various communication channel scenarios including, for example, cross-BWP scenarios, cross-cell scenarios, cross-cell group scenarios, inter-carrier scenarios, inter-BWP scenarios, inter-cell scenarios, inter-cell group scenarios, intra-carrier scenarios, intra-BWP scenarios, intra-cell scenarios, intra-cell group scenarios, multi-carrier scenarios, multi-BWP scenarios, multi-cell scenarios, and/or multi-cell group scenarios.

Example Signaling of Parameter based Beam Reporting

FIG. 10 depicts a process flow 1000 for UE-initiated beam reporting in a system including a network entity 1002 and a user equipment (UE) 1004. In some aspects, the network entity 1002 may be an example of the BS 102 depicted and described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3 or a disaggregated base station depicted and described with respect to FIG. 2. Similarly, the UE 1004 may be an example of UE 104 depicted and described with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3. However, in other aspects, UE 1004 may be another type of wireless communications device and network entity 1002 may be another type of network entity or network node, such as those described herein. Note that any operations or signaling illustrated with dashed lines may indicate that that operation or signaling is an optional or alternative example.

At 1006, the UE 1004 obtains, from the network entity 1002, information that indicates a beam reporting association. The UE 1004 may obtain a plurality of PUCCH configurations for beam reporting, and the information may indicate an association between, for each of the plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters. The PUCCH configurations may include a first PUCCH configuration and a second PUCCH configuration, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 7-9. As an example, the first PUCCH configuration may be associated with one or more first beam report parameters, and the second PUCCH configuration may be associated with one or more second beam report parameters. Such associations may allow the UE 1004 to indicate to the network entity 1002 certain information related to the beam report when requesting resource (s) for communication of the beam report, such as the size of the beam report, the subject or content of the beam report, the event that triggered the beam report, or the like. The PUCCH configurations and/or the information that indicates the associations may be communicated via system information, radio resource control (RRC) signaling, medium access control (MAC) signaling, downlink control information, and/or the like.

At 1008, the UE 1004 obtains, from the network entity 1002, one or more reference signals corresponding to one or more beams, such as the beams described herein with respect to FIG. 6. The reference signal (s) may be or include SSB (s) , CSI-RS (s) , DM-RS (s) , or the like. The reference signal (s) may be communicated via the carrier (s) , BWP (s) , cell (s) , and/or cell group (s) associated with beam report trigger event (s) . As an example, a first reference signal may correspond to an active or current beam used for communications between the UE 1004 and the network entity 1002, and a second reference signal may correspond to a candidate beam available for communications between the UE 1004 and the network entity 1002. The UE 1004 may measure the reference signal (s) and monitor quality of the beam (s) according to certain beam report trigger events.

At 1010, the UE 1004 may detect an event that triggers communication of a beam report. In certain aspects, the event may be detected on any of a plurality of carriers and/or a plurality of BWPs. As an example, the UE 1004 may determine that the quality of the active beam of a first carrier or BWP is worse than a threshold (e.g., the RSRP of the first reference signal is less than a threshold) . As another example, the UE 1004 may determine that the quality of the candidate beam of a second carrier or BWP is better than a threshold (e.g., the RSRP of the second reference signal is greater than a threshold, such as relative to the RSRP of the first reference signal) .

At 1012, the UE 1004 sends, to the network entity 1002, signaling via a PUCCH according to the first PUCCH configuration or the second PUCCH configuration, for example, depending on the event detected at 1010. The signaling may be communicated via a set of PUCCH resources in a carrier or BWP (such as the first carrier of FIGS. 7-9) allocated according to the first PUCCH configuration or the second PUCCH configuration. The signaling may indicate or include a request for resource (s) for communication of a beam report, which may correspond to the first beam report parameter (s) or the second beam report parameter (s) . In certain cases, the signaling may be for cross-carrier, cross-BWP, intra-carrier, and/or intra-BWP beam reporting, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 7-9.

The association between the respective PUCCH configuration (e.g., the corresponding set of PUCCH resources) and the respective beam report parameter (s) may indicate to the network entity 1002 certain information associated with the beam report, such as the size of the beam report, the event that triggered the beam report, the subject or content of the beam report, or the like. The association between the PUCCH configuration and the beam report parameter (s) may enable the network entity 1002 to allocate sufficient resource (s) for communication of the beam report, provide enough time for the UE to generate and sent the beam report, and/or interpret the subject or content of the beam report for beam management procedures. Accordingly, the UE-initiated beam reporting and corresponding associations for PUCCH signaling may enable reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, increased throughput, and/or reliable beam reporting, for example, for cross-carrier beam reporting.

At 1014, the UE 1004 obtains, from the network entity 1002, an indication of the resource (s) for communication of the beam report. In certain aspects, DCI may include the indication of the resources for communication of the beam report, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 7-9.

At 1016, the UE 1004 sends, to the network entity 1002, the beam report via the resource (s) allocated by the DCI. The beam report may indicate or include radio measurement (s) of one or more beams associated with the carrier (s) and/or BWP (s) .

At 1018, the UE1004 communicates with the network entity 1002 in accordance with the beam report. As an example, the UE 1004 may obtain an indication to perform a beam switch operation or a beam refinement operation, for example, as described herein with respect to FIGS. 5 and 6. In certain aspects, the beam report may enable the network entity 1002 to perform beam switching or beam refinement before a beam failure occurs at the UE 1004, and thus, the UE-initiated beam report may enable reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, and/or increased throughput for communications between the UE 1004

Note that the process flow illustrated in FIG. 10 is described herein to facilitate an understanding of UE-initiated beam reporting, and aspects of the present disclosure may be performed in various manners via alternative or additional signaling and/or operations. In certain aspects, the operations and/or signaling of FIG. 10 may occur in an order different from that described or depicted, and various actions, operations, and/or signaling may be added, omitted, or combined.

Example Operations of Parameter based Beam Reporting

FIG. 11 shows a method 1100 for wireless communications by an apparatus, such as UE 104 of FIGS. 1 and 3.

Method 1100 begins at block 1105 with obtaining information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters. As an example, the information may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10. The association between a PUCCH configuration and beam report parameter (s) may enable a network entity to allocate sufficient resource (s) for communication of a beam report, provide enough time for a UE to generate and sent the beam report, and/or interpret the subject or content of the beam report for beam management procedures. Accordingly, the UE-initiated beam reporting and corresponding associations for PUCCH signaling may enable reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, increased throughput, and/or reliable beam reporting, for example, for cross-carrier beam reporting.

Method 1100 then proceeds to block 1110 with sending first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters. As an example, the first signaling may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10.

Method 1100 then proceeds to block 1115 with obtaining a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report. As an example, the first indication may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10.

Method 1100 then proceeds to block 1120 with sending the first beam report via the one or more resources. As an example, the first beam report may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10. In certain aspects, the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and block 1110 includes sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) a second carrier or (ii) a second bandwidth part. In certain aspects, the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and block 1110 includes sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) the first carrier or (ii) the first bandwidth part.

In certain aspects, method 1100 further includes detecting an event that triggers the first beam report, wherein block 1110 includes sending the first signaling in response to detection of the event. In certain aspects, the event is associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and block 1110 includes sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) a second carrier or (ii) a second bandwidth part. In certain aspects, the event is associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and block 1110 includes sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) the first carrier or (ii) the first bandwidth part.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include a first beam reporting format; and the one or more second beam report parameters include a second beam reporting format, for example, as described herein with respect to FIG. 8A. In certain aspects, the first beam reporting format comprises one or more of: a total number of one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report; or one or more radio measurements associated with the one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more first beam report trigger events; and the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more second beam report trigger events, for example, as described herein with respect to FIG. 8B. In certain aspects, the first PUCCH configuration is associated with a first PUCCH configuration identifier; and the information indicates the one or more first beam report trigger events are associated with the first PUCCH configuration identifier.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group; the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and block 1110 includes sending the first signaling in response to detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and block 1110 includes sending the first signaling in response to detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group; the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.

In certain aspects, block 1110 includes sending the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is obtained in the first carrier or the first bandwidth part.

In certain aspects, block 1110 includes sending the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is obtained in a second carrier or a second bandwidth part of the second carrier.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and the first beam report indicates one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of one or more of (i) the first set of carriers or (ii) the first set of bandwidth parts.

In certain aspects, the first indication comprises downlink control information comprising one or more fields that indicate a request for the first beam report. In certain aspects, the one or more fields includes a CSI request field that indicates a CSI trigger state associated with the request for the first beam report.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include at least one event that triggers beam reporting for one or more beams of one or more of (i) one or more carriers or (ii) one or more bandwidth parts; a time offset is arranged between an occasion of when the first indication is communicated and the one or more resources; and the time offset satisfies a timing threshold associated with the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts. In certain aspects, the one or more carriers or the one or more bandwidth parts comprise: one or more configured carriers or one or more configured bandwidth parts; one or more active carriers or one or more active bandwidth parts; one or more configured carriers of a cell group or one or more configured bandwidth parts of the cell group; or one or more active carriers of the cell group or one or more active bandwidth parts of the cell group. In certain aspects, the timing threshold comprises a minimum or maximum channel state information processing time among the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.

In certain aspects, method 1100, or any aspect related to it, may be performed by an apparatus, such as communications device 1300 of FIG. 13, which includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1100. Communications device 1300 is described below in further detail.

Note that FIG. 11 is just one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative operations are possible consistent with this disclosure.

FIG. 12 shows a method 1200 for wireless communications by an apparatus, such as BS 102 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or a disaggregated base station as discussed with respect to FIG. 2.

Method 1200 begins at block 1205 with sending information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters. As an example, the information may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10. The association between a PUCCH configuration and beam report parameter (s) may enable a network entity to allocate sufficient resource (s) for communication of a beam report, provide enough time for a UE to generate and sent the beam report, and/or interpret the subject or content of the beam report for beam management procedures. Accordingly, the UE-initiated beam reporting and corresponding associations for PUCCH signaling may enable reduced latencies, reduced beam failures, increased throughput, and/or reliable beam reporting, for example, for cross-carrier beam reporting.

Method 1200 then proceeds to block 1210 with obtaining first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters. As an example, the first signaling may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10.

Method 1200 then proceeds to block 1215 with sending a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report. As an example, the first indication may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10.

Method 1200 then proceeds to block 1220 with obtaining the first beam report via the one or more resources. As an example, the first beam report may be communicated as described herein with respect to FIG. 10. In certain aspects, the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and block 1210 includes obtaining the first signaling via one or more of (i) a second carrier or (ii) a second bandwidth part. In certain aspects, the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and block 1210 includes obtaining the first signaling via one or more of (i) the first carrier or (ii) the first bandwidth part.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include a first beam reporting format; and the one or more second beam report parameters include a second beam reporting format. In certain aspects, the first beam reporting format comprises one or more of: a total number of one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report; or one or more radio measurements associated with the one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report.

In certain aspects, the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more first beam report trigger events; and the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more second beam report trigger events. In certain aspects, the first PUCCH configuration is associated with a first PUCCH configuration identifier; and the information indicates the one or more first beam report trigger events are associated with the first PUCCH configuration identifier.

In certain aspects, block 1210 includes obtaining the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is sent in the first carrier or the first bandwidth part.

In certain aspects, block 1210 includes obtaining the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is sent in a second carrier or a second bandwidth part of the second carrier.

In certain aspects, method 1200, or any aspect related to it, may be performed by an apparatus, such as communications device 1400 of FIG. 14, which includes various components operable, configured, or adapted to perform the method 1200. Communications device 1400 is described below in further detail.

Note that FIG. 12 is just one example of a method, and other methods including fewer, additional, or alternative operations are possible consistent with this disclosure.

Example Communications Devices

FIG. 13 depicts aspects of an example communications device 1300. In some aspects, communications device 1300 is a user equipment, such as UE 104 described above with respect to FIGS. 1 and 3.

The communications device 1300 includes a processing system 1305 coupled to a transceiver 1355 (e.g., a transmitter and/or a receiver) . The transceiver 1355 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 1300 via an antenna 1360, such as the various signals as described herein. The processing system 1305 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1300, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device 1300.

The processing system 1305 includes one or more processors 1310. In various aspects, the one or more processors 1310 may be representative of one or more of receive processor 358, transmit processor 364, TX MIMO processor 366, and/or controller/processor 380, as described with respect to FIG. 3. The one or more processors 1310 are coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1330 via a bus 1350. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1330 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) , including code 1335-1345, that when executed by the one or more processors 1310, enable and cause the one or more processors 1310 to perform the method 1100 described with respect to FIG. 11, or any aspect related to it, including any operations described in relation to FIG. 11. Note that reference to a processor performing a function of communications device 1300 may include one or more processors performing that function of communications device 1300, such as in a distributed fashion.

In the depicted example, computer-readable medium/memory 1330 stores code for obtaining 1335, code for sending 1340, and code for detecting 1345. Processing of the code 1335-1345 may enable and cause the communications device 1300 to perform the method 1100 described with respect to FIG. 11, or any aspect related to it.

The one or more processors 1310 include circuitry configured to implement (e.g., execute) the code (e.g., executable instructions) stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 1330, including circuitry for obtaining 1315, circuitry for sending 1320, and circuitry for detecting 1325. Processing with circuitry 1315-1325 may enable and cause the communications device 1300 to perform the method 1100 described with respect to FIG. 11, or any aspect related to it.

Various components of the communications device 1300 may provide means for performing the method 1100 described with respect to FIG. 11, or any aspect related to it. Means for communicating, transmitting, sending or outputting for transmission may include the transceivers 354, antenna (s) 352, transmit processor 364, TX MIMO processor 366, AI processor 370, and/or controller/processor 380 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1355 and/or antenna 1360 of the communications device 1300 in FIG. 13, and/or one or more processors 1310 of the communications device 1300 in FIG. 13. Means for communicating, receiving or obtaining may include the transceivers 354, antenna (s) 352, receive processor 358, AI processor 370, and/or controller/processor 380 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1355 and/or antenna 1360 of the communications device 1300 in FIG. 13, and/or one or more processors 1310 of the communications device 1300 in FIG. 13. For example, means for detecting of the method 1100 described with respect to FIG. 11, or any aspect related to it, may include AI processor 370 and/or controller/processor 380 of the UE 104 illustrated in FIG. 3, and/or one or more processors 1310 of the communications device 1300 in FIG. 13.

FIG. 14 depicts aspects of an example communications device 1400. In some aspects, communications device 1400 is a network entity, such as BS 102 of FIGS. 1 and 3, or a disaggregated base station as discussed with respect to FIG. 2.

The communications device 1400 includes a processing system 1405 coupled to a transceiver 1445 (e.g., a transmitter and/or a receiver) and/or a network interface 1455. The transceiver 1445 is configured to transmit and receive signals for the communications device 1400 via an antenna 1450, such as the various signals as described herein. The network interface 1455 is configured to obtain and send signals for the communications device 1400 via communications link (s) , such as a backhaul link, midhaul link, and/or fronthaul link as described herein, such as with respect to FIG. 2. The processing system 1405 may be configured to perform processing functions for the communications device 1400, including processing signals received and/or to be transmitted by the communications device 1400.

The processing system 1405 includes one or more processors 1410. In various aspects, one or more processors 1410 may be representative of one or more of receive processor 338, transmit processor 320, TX MIMO processor 330, and/or controller/processor 340, as described with respect to FIG. 3. The one or more processors 1410 are coupled to a computer-readable medium/memory 1425 via a bus 1440. In certain aspects, the computer-readable medium/memory 1425 is configured to store instructions (e.g., computer-executable code) , including code 1430 and 1435, that when executed by the one or more processors 1410, enable and cause the one or more processors 1410 to perform the method 1200 described with respect to FIG. 12, or any aspect related to it, including any operations described in relation to FIG. 12. Note that reference to a processor of communications device 1400 performing a function may include one or more processors of communications device 1400 performing that function, such as in a distributed fashion.

In the depicted example, the computer-readable medium/memory 1425 stores code for sending 1430 and code for obtaining 1435. Processing of the code 1430 and 1435 may enable and cause the communications device 1400 to perform the method 1200 described with respect to FIG. 12, or any aspect related to it.

The one or more processors 1410 include circuitry configured to implement (e.g., execute) the code (e.g., executable instructions) stored in the computer-readable medium/memory 1425, including circuitry for sending 1415 and circuitry for obtaining 1420. Processing with circuitry 1415 and 1420 may enable and cause the communications device 1400 to perform the method 1200 described with respect to FIG. 12, or any aspect related to it.

Various components of the communications device 1400 may provide means for performing the method 1200 described with respect to FIG. 12, or any aspect related to it. Means for communicating, transmitting, sending or outputting for transmission may include the transceivers 332, antenna (s) 334, transmit processor 320, TX MIMO processor 330, AI processor 318, and/or controller/processor 340 of the BS 102 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1445, antenna 1450, and/or network interface 1455 of the communications device 1400 in FIG. 14, and/or one or more processors 1410 of the communications device 1400 in FIG. 14. Means for communicating, receiving or obtaining may include the transceivers 332, antenna (s) 334, receive processor 338, AI processor 318, and/or controller/processor 340 of the BS 102 illustrated in FIG. 3, transceiver 1445, antenna 1450, and/or network interface 1455 of the communications device 1400 in FIG. 14, and/or one or more processors 1410 of the communications device 1400 in FIG. 14.

Example Clauses

Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

Clause 1: A method for wireless communications by an apparatus comprising: obtaining information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters; sending first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters; obtaining a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and sending the first beam report via the one or more resources.

Clause 2: The method of Clause 1, further comprising detecting an event that triggers the first beam report, wherein sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling in response to detection of the event.

Clause 3: The method of Clause 2, wherein: the event is associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) a second carrier or (ii) a second bandwidth part.

Clause 4: The method of Clause 2, wherein: the event is associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) the first carrier or (ii) the first bandwidth part.

Clause 5: The method of any one of Clauses 1-4, wherein: the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) a second carrier or (ii) a second bandwidth part.

Clause 6: The method of any one of Clauses 1-5, wherein: the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling via one or more of (i) the first carrier or (ii) the first bandwidth part.

Clause 7: The method of any one of Clauses 1-6, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include a first beam reporting format; and the one or more second beam report parameters include a second beam reporting format.

Clause 8: The method of Clause 7, wherein the first beam reporting format comprises one or more of: a total number of one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report; or one or more radio measurements associated with the one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report.

Clause 9: The method of any one of Clauses 1-8, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more first beam report trigger events; and the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more second beam report trigger events.

Clause 10: The method of Clause 9, wherein: the first PUCCH configuration is associated with a first PUCCH configuration identifier; and the information indicates the one or more first beam report trigger events are associated with the first PUCCH configuration identifier.

Clause 11: The method of any one of Clauses 1-10, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group; the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling in response to detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.

Clause 12: The method of any one of Clauses 1-11, wherein the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling in response to detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.

Clause 13: The method of any one of Clauses 1-12, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group; the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.

Clause 14: The method of any one of Clauses 1-13, wherein the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.

Clause 15: The method of any one of Clauses 1-14, wherein: sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is obtained in the first carrier or the first bandwidth part.

Clause 16: The method of any one of Clauses 1-15, wherein: sending the first signaling comprises sending the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is obtained in a second carrier or a second bandwidth part of the second carrier.

Clause 17: The method of any one of Clauses 1-16, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and the first beam report indicates one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of one or more of (i) the first set of carriers or (ii) the first set of bandwidth parts.

Clause 18: The method of any one of Clauses 1-17, wherein the first indication comprises downlink control information comprising one or more fields that indicate a request for the first beam report.

Clause 19: The method of Clause 18, wherein the one or more fields includes a CSI request field that indicates a CSI trigger state associated with the request for the first beam report.

Clause 20: The method of any one of Clauses 1-19, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include at least one event that triggers beam reporting for one or more beams of one or more of (i) one or more carriers or (ii) one or more bandwidth parts; a time offset is arranged between an occasion of when the first indication is communicated and the one or more resources; and the time offset satisfies a timing threshold associated with the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.

Clause 21: The method of Clause 20, wherein the one or more carriers or the one or more bandwidth parts comprise: one or more configured carriers or one or more configured bandwidth parts; one or more active carriers or one or more active bandwidth parts; one or more configured carriers of a cell group or one or more configured bandwidth parts of the cell group; or one or more active carriers of the cell group or one or more active bandwidth parts of the cell group.

Clause 22: The method of Clause 20, wherein the timing threshold comprises a minimum or maximum channel state information processing time among the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.

Clause 23: A method for wireless communications by an apparatus comprising: sending information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of PUCCH configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters; obtaining first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters; sending a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and obtaining the first beam report via the one or more resources.

Clause 24: The method of Clause 23, wherein: the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and obtaining the first signaling comprises obtaining the first signaling via one or more of (i) a second carrier or (ii) a second bandwidth part.

Clause 25: The method of any one of Clauses 23-24, wherein: the first beam report includes one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams associated with one or more of (i) a first carrier or (ii) a first bandwidth part; and obtaining the first signaling comprises obtaining the first signaling via one or more of (i) the first carrier or (ii) the first bandwidth part.

Clause 26: The method of any one of Clauses 23-25, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include a first beam reporting format; and the one or more second beam report parameters include a second beam reporting format.

Clause 27: The method of Clause 26, wherein the first beam reporting format comprises one or more of: a total number of one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report; or one or more radio measurements associated with the one or more reference signals for inclusion in a beam report.

Clause 28: The method of any one of Clauses 23-27, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more first beam report trigger events; and the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more second beam report trigger events.

Clause 29: The method of Clause 28, wherein: the first PUCCH configuration is associated with a first PUCCH configuration identifier; and the information indicates the one or more first beam report trigger events are associated with the first PUCCH configuration identifier.

Clause 30: The method of any one of Clauses 23-29, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group; the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.

Clause 31: The method of any one of Clauses 23-30, wherein the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.

Clause 32: The method of any one of Clauses 23-31, wherein: obtaining the first signaling comprises obtaining the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is sent in the first carrier or the first bandwidth part.

Clause 33: The method of any one of Clauses 23-32, wherein: obtaining the first signaling comprises obtaining the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and the first indication is sent in a second carrier or a second bandwidth part of the second carrier.

Clause 34: The method of any one of Clauses 23-33, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of BWPs; the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of BWPs; and the first beam report indicates one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of one or more of (i) the first set of carriers or (ii) the first set of bandwidth parts.

Clause 35: The method of any one of Clauses 23-34, wherein the first indication comprises downlink control information comprising one or more fields that indicate a request for the first beam report.

Clause 36: The method of Clause 35, wherein the one or more fields includes a CSI request field that indicates a CSI trigger state associated with the request for the first beam report.

Clause 37: The method of any one of Clauses 23-36, wherein: the one or more first beam report parameters include at least one event that triggers beam reporting for one or more beams of one or more of (i) one or more carriers or (ii) one or more bandwidth parts; a time offset is arranged between an occasion of when the first indication is communicated and the one or more resources; and the time offset satisfies a timing threshold associated with the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.

Clause 38: The method of Clause 37, wherein the one or more carriers or the one or more bandwidth parts comprise: one or more configured carriers or one or more configured bandwidth parts; one or more active carriers or one or more active bandwidth parts; one or more configured carriers of a cell group or one or more configured bandwidth parts of the cell group; or one or more active carriers of the cell group or one or more active bandwidth parts of the cell group.

Clause 39: The method of Clause 37, wherein the timing threshold comprises a minimum or maximum channel state information processing time among the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.

Clause 40: One or more apparatuses, comprising: one or more memories comprising executable instructions; and one or more processors configured to execute the executable instructions and cause the one or more apparatuses to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-39.

Clause 41: One or more apparatuses, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to cause the one or more apparatuses to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-39.

Clause 42: One or more apparatuses, comprising: one or more memories; and one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, configured to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-39.

Clause 43: One or more apparatuses, comprising means for performing a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-39.

Clause 44: One or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of one or more apparatuses, cause the one or more apparatuses to perform a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-39.

Clause 45: One or more computer program products embodied on one or more computer-readable storage media comprising code for performing a method in accordance with any one of Clauses 1-39.

Additional Considerations

The preceding description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. The examples discussed herein are not limiting of the scope, applicability, or aspects set forth in the claims. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. For example, changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements discussed without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For instance, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various actions may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method that is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to, or other than, the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, an AI processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD) , 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, but in the alternative, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, a system on a chip (SoC) , or any other such configuration.

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, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c) .

As used herein, the term “determining” encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, “determining” may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure) , ascertaining and the like. Also, “determining” may include receiving (e.g., receiving information) , accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory) and the like. Also, “determining” may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing and the like.

As used herein, “coupled to” and “coupled with” generally encompass direct coupling and indirect coupling (e.g., including intermediary coupled aspects) unless stated otherwise. For example, stating that a processor is coupled to a memory allows for a direct coupling or a coupling via an intermediary aspect, such as a bus.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more actions for achieving the methods. The method actions may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of actions is specified, the order and/or use of specific actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims. Further, the various operations of methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The means may include various hardware and/or software component (s) and/or module (s) , including, but not limited to a circuit, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , or processor.

The following claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims. Reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean only one unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more. ” The subsequent use of a definite article (e.g., “the” or “said” ) with an element (e.g., “the processor” ) is not intended to invoke a singular meaning (e.g., “only one” ) on the element unless otherwise specifically stated. For example, reference to an element (e.g., “a processor, ” “a controller, ” “a memory, ” “a transceiver, ” “an antenna, ” “the processor, ” “the controller, ” “the memory, ” “the transceiver, ” “the antenna, ” etc. ) , unless otherwise specifically stated, should be understood to refer to one or more elements (e.g., “one or more processors, ” “one or more controllers, ” “one or more memories, ” “one more transceivers, ” etc. ) . The terms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more elements, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Where reference is made to one or more elements performing functions (e.g., steps of a method) , one element may perform all functions, or more than one element may collectively perform the functions. When more than one element collectively performs the functions, each function need not be performed by each of those elements (e.g., different functions may be performed by different elements) and/or each function need not be performed in whole by only one element (e.g., different elements may perform different sub-functions of a function) . Similarly, where reference is made to one or more elements configured to cause another element (e.g., an apparatus) to perform functions, one element may be configured to cause the other element to perform all functions, or more than one element may collectively be configured to cause the other element to perform the functions. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims.

Claims

An apparatus configured for wireless communications, comprising:

one or more memories; and

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

obtain information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters;

send first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters;

obtain a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and

send the first beam report via the one or more resources.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to detect an event that triggers the first beam report; and

to send the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to send the first signaling in response to detection of the event.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include a first beam reporting format; and

the one or more second beam report parameters include a second beam reporting format.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more first beam report trigger events; and

the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more second beam report trigger events.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group;

the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and

to send the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to send the first signaling in response to detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ;

the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ; and

to send the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to send the first signaling in response to detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

to send the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to send the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and

the first indication is obtained in the first carrier or the first bandwidth part.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

to send the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to send the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and

the first indication is obtained in a second carrier or a second bandwidth part of the second carrier.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ;

the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ; and

the first beam report indicates one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of one or more of (i) the first set of carriers or (ii) the first set of bandwidth parts.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include at least one event that triggers beam reporting for one or more beams of one or more of (i) one or more carriers or (ii) one or more bandwidth parts;

a time offset is arranged between an occasion of when the first indication is communicated and the one or more resources; and

the time offset satisfies a timing threshold associated with the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.
An apparatus configured for wireless communications, comprising:

one or more memories; and

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

send information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters;

obtain first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters;

send a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and

obtain the first beam report via the one or more resources.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include a first beam reporting format; and

the one or more second beam report parameters include a second beam reporting format.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more first beam report trigger events; and

the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more second beam report trigger events.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include a first cell group;

the one or more second beam report parameters include a second cell group; and

the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams associated with the first cell group.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein

the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ;

the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ; and

the first signaling indicates detection of an event associated with one or more beams of the first set of carriers or the first set of BWPs.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

to obtain the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to obtain the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and

the first indication is sent in the first carrier or the first bandwidth part.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

to obtain the first signaling, the one or more processors are configured to cause the apparatus to obtain the first signaling in a first carrier or a first bandwidth part of the first carrier; and

the first indication is sent in a second carrier or a second bandwidth part of the second carrier.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a first set of carriers or (ii) a first set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ;

the one or more second beam report parameters include one or more of (i) a second set of carriers or (ii) a second set of bandwidth parts (BWPs) ; and

the first beam report indicates one or more radio measurements associated with one or more beams of one or more of (i) the first set of carriers or (ii) the first set of bandwidth parts.
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the one or more first beam report parameters include at least one event that triggers beam reporting for one or more beams of one or more of (i) one or more carriers or (ii) one or more bandwidth parts;

a time offset is arranged between an occasion of when the first indication is communicated and the one or more resources; and

the time offset satisfies a timing threshold associated with the one or more of (i) the one or more carriers or (ii) the one or more bandwidth parts.
A method for wireless communications, comprising:

obtaining information that indicates an association between, for each of a plurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configurations, the respective PUCCH configuration and one or more respective beam report parameters, wherein the plurality of PUCCH configurations comprise a first PUCCH configuration associated with one or more first beam report parameters and a second PUCCH configuration associated with one or more second beam report parameters;

sending first signaling, via a first PUCCH, according to the first PUCCH configuration, that indicates a request for one or more resources for communication of a first beam report, the first beam report corresponding to the one or more first beam report parameters;

obtaining a first indication of the one or more resources for communication of the first beam report; and

sending the first beam report via the one or more resources.