CN109417415B - System and method for confirming beam switching - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE) is described. The apparatus may include a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit may be operable to: processing Downlink Control Information (DCI) received via a first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam. The second circuit may be operable to: generating an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator. The apparatus may also include an interface to input DCI to one or more processors of the apparatus and to output an acknowledgement transmission to the transmit circuitry.

Description

System and method for confirming beam switching

priority claim

This application claims priority from Patent Cooperation Treaty International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2016/097600, filed on August 31, 2016, and from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/382,089, filed on August 31, 2016, and claims priority to Patent Cooperation Treaty International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2016/089666, filed July 11, 2016, and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/377,296, filed August 19, 2016, which Incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Background technique

Various wireless cellular communication systems have been implemented, including the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Universal Mobile Communication System, the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and the 3GPP LTE Advanced (LTE-A) system. Next-generation wireless cellular communication systems (eg, fifth generation (5G) wireless systems/5G mobile network systems) based on LTE and LTE-A are being developed. Next-generation wireless cellular communication systems can provide support for higher data rates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for a user equipment UE operable to communicate with a base station over a wireless network, comprising one or more processors for: processing a first UE beam received via a first UE beam Downlink Control Information DCI, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries an indicator for the beam a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal to switch to the second UE beam; and based on the trigger indicator, generating an acknowledgment signal for the second UE beam for transmission to the base station, wherein the acknowledgment signal is Sounding Reference Signal SRS. The apparatus also includes an interface for inputting the first DCI and the second DCI to the one or more processors and outputting the acknowledgement signal to a transmission circuit.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for a user equipment UE operable to communicate with a base station over a wireless network, comprising one or more processors for: processing a first UE beam received via a first UE beam Downlink Control Information DCI, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries an indicator for the beam a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal to switch to the second UE beam; and generating an acknowledgment transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report The CQI report transmission carries a report corresponding to the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission. The apparatus also includes an interface for inputting the first DCI and the second DCI to the one or more processors and outputting the acknowledgment transmission to a transmit circuit.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment UE comprising an application processor, a memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touch screen display, The UE includes the apparatus described in the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for acknowledging beam switching, comprising: for a user equipment UE, processing first downlink control information DCI received via a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indication for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam and generating an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for acknowledging beam switching, comprising: for a user equipment UE, processing first downlink control information DCI received via a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indication for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam wherein the acknowledgment signal is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus operable as a user equipment UE in communication with a base station over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: for processing a first downlink received via a first UE beam means for controlling information DCI, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; means for processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and means for generating an acknowledgment transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding Reference signal SRS transmission.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus operable as a user equipment UE in communication with a base station over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: for processing a first downlink received via a first UE beam means for controlling information DCI, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; means for processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and means for generating an acknowledgment transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel Quality indicator CQI report transmissions that carry reports corresponding to channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmissions.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus operable as a base station in communication with a user equipment UE over a wireless network, comprising one or more processors for: generating a first beam for a first UE beam downlink control information DCI, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries an indicator for the beam a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal to switch to the second UE beam; and processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission. The apparatus also includes an interface for outputting the first DCI and the second DCI from the one or more processors and inputting the acknowledgment transmission from a receiving circuit.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus operable as a base station in communication with a user equipment UE over a wireless network, comprising one or more processors for: generating a first beam for a first UE beam downlink control information DCI, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries an indicator for the beam a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal to switch to the second UE beam; and processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission , the CQI report transmission carries a report corresponding to a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission; and an interface for: outputting the first DCI and the second DCI from the one or more processors, and The acknowledgment transmission is input from the receiving circuit.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station including an application processor, a memory, one or more antenna ports, and an interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, the base station including this An apparatus as described in the preceding embodiments is disclosed that is operable as a base station in communication with a UE over a wireless network.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for confirming beam switching, comprising: for a base station, generating first downlink control information DCI for a first user equipment UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indication for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam and processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for confirming beam switching, comprising: for a base station, generating first downlink control information DCI for a first user equipment UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; generating a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission for the first UE beam, generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the The second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam, processing the acknowledgment transmission, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying the report on the CSI-RS transmission described above.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus operable as a base station in communication with a user equipment UE over a wireless network, comprising: for generating first downlink control information DCI for a first UE beam means for generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the first DCI carries an indicator for switching to a second UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries an indicator for beam switching a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal to the second UE beam; and means for processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission , or, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission.

Description of drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be more fully understood from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of various embodiments of the present disclosure. However, although the drawings are used to aid explanation and understanding, they are for aid only and should not be construed to limit the disclosure to the specific embodiments described herein.

1 illustrates synchronized beam switching in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission for acknowledging beam switching, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

3 illustrates channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for acknowledging beam switching, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

4 illustrates a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission for acknowledging beam switching, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

5 illustrates user equipment (UE) transmission of SR signals according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

6 illustrates UE transmission of SRS along with 2 bits of assistance information according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

7 illustrates initial beam acquisition in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

8 illustrates beam management of SRS based on omnidirectional beam refinement reference signal (BRRS) and beamforming according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

9 illustrates beam management based on omnidirectional SRS and beamformed BRRS according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

10 illustrates a multiple narrow beam layout according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

11 illustrates beam numbering with respect to zenith angle of departure (ZoD) and azimuth angle of departure (AoD), according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

12 illustrates beam mapping to Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) time and frequency resources in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

13 illustrates beam mapping for implicitly indicating inter-subset beam correlation, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

14 illustrates the relative performance of coherent combining of beams among correlated subsets in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

15 illustrates beam mapping for implicitly indicating inter-subset beam correlation, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

16 illustrates beam mapping for implicitly indicating inter-subset beam correlation, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

17 illustrates the correlation between intra-subset beams and inter-subset beams in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

18 illustrates an evolved Node B (eNB) and a UE in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

19 illustrates hardware processing circuitry of a UE for acknowledging beamforming in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

20 illustrates hardware processing circuitry of an eNB for acknowledging beamforming in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

21 illustrates a UE's method for acknowledging beamforming according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 illustrates a method for acknowledging beamforming by an eNB according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

23 illustrates example components of a device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

24 illustrates an example interface for a baseband circuit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

Various wireless cellular communication systems have been implemented or are being proposed, including the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the 3GPP LTE Advanced (LTE-A) system, and the 5th Generation Wireless System/5th Generation Mobile Network (5G) System/5th Generation New Radio (NR) System.

With regard to various embodiments, in upcoming 5G systems, high frequency bands may be employed to support higher user experience data rates. In high frequency bands, beamforming can include transmit-side (Tx) beamforming and receive-side (Rx) beamforming, and can be applied to increase beamforming gain. In turn, the increased beamforming gain can advantageously compensate for severe path losses that may be associated with high frequency bands, and can also advantageously suppress mutual user interference.

In a beamforming system, Tx beams and Rx beams can be paired and aimed at the same channel cluster. For the wireless link between the eNB and the UE, there may be multiple channel clusters, which may be due to reflection, diffraction, or both. On the evolved Node B (eNB) side of the link, the Tx beams may be aligned with the azimuth angle of departure (AoD) and/or the zenith angle of departure (ZoD) of the strongest channel clusters. Similarly, on the user equipment (UE) side of the link, the Rx beam may be aligned with the azimuth angle of arrival (AoA) and/or the zenith angle of arrival (ZoA) of the strongest channel cluster. Movement of the UE, or rotation of the UE, or changes in the surrounding environment may result in the strongest channel cluster changes. Subsequently, the Tx beam and Rx beam pair can be set to switch, which can advantageously help enable transmission on the strongest channel clusters.

A beamforming handover indicator or beam refinement reference signal (BRRS) may be configured by the eNB to enable synchronized handover of the eNB beam and the UE beam. However, such handover information may be lost due to eg failure of detection of downlink control information (DCI) or failure of demodulation of indicators or BRRS. If smooth beam switching is performed, it is still possible for the eNB and the UE to communicate with each other based on a slightly degraded channel. However, in situations involving sudden beam switching, the link quality may be severely degraded and (more seriously) the link may be disrupted.

This paper discusses the mechanisms and methods for confirming beam switching. In some embodiments, the sounding reference signal (SRS) may be an acknowledgement signal. For some embodiments, the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) may be an acknowledgement signal. In some embodiments, the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) may be an acknowledgement signal.

With regard to various embodiments, in a cellular communication system, a UE may use a scheduling request (SR) to request uplink (UL) shared channel (UL-SCH) resources for new transmissions. SR channels can be designed for cellular systems operating in mid to high frequency bands. In high-band communication systems (eg, millimeter-wave (mmWave) systems), designing SR channels can be challenging because both UL transmit and UL receive can be set up for beamforming, which can advantageously overcome general Significant path loss that may be experienced at those higher frequencies. For example, with regard to SR transmission, although the UE may use the acquired Rx beam (assuming channel reciprocity) from the acquisition of downlink (DL) beam acquisition signals (eg, synchronization signals or beam refinement signals), the eNB may not be aware of it UL Rx beam to detect SR channel.

Discussed herein is a method for efficiently and reliably detecting SR from multiple UEs while supporting low-latency operation at the same time, even when the eNB is not aware of a UL Rx beam (or beams) for the SR channel mechanism and method.

In high-band communication systems, both Tx beamforming and Rx beamforming during UL channel transmission (eg, SR channel) can facilitate successful communication. In various embodiments, UE-specific sub-carrier sub-sampling may be carefully selected for the SR channel. Frequency domain subsampling can obtain repeated time domain signals for each transmitting UE. Multiple time domain replicas may provide an opportunity for the eNB to perform beam scanning using multiple Rx beams and find an appropriate Rx beam. Subcarrier subsampling can further provide additional UE multiplexing resources, thus supporting eNB Rx beam scanning without wasting UL resources.

The mechanisms and methods may be compatible with other forms of UE multiplexing (eg, code division multiplexing (CDM), using orthogonal sequences over time or cyclic shift based multiplexing in the frequency domain, etc.). The mechanisms and methods can be applied to systems based on guard interval discrete Fourier transform spread-spectrum orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (GI-DFT-s-OFDM). For example, the mechanisms and methods may also be applied to other types of multi-carrier waveform based systems (eg, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based systems or Zero Tail Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Spectrum OFDM (ZT-DFT- s-OFDM) system). In some embodiments, the methods and mechanisms may also be applied with GI-DFT-s-OFDM waveforms and/or implicit beam training (eg, without explicit UE beamforming reference signal received power (BRS-RP) Feedback of eNB Rx beam training via UL Random Access Channel (RACH) and/or SRS signaling) for SR design for mid- to high-band mmWave systems.

With regard to various embodiments, mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voice systems to current integrated communications platforms. 5G systems can provide access to information and data sharing through various users and applications anytime, anywhere. 5G can provide a unified network and/or system for very different and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. This diverse and multidimensional requirement is driven by different services and applications.

Generally, 5G systems can evolve from 3GPP LTE-A systems with additional potential new radio access technologies (RATs) to facilitate simpler and seamless wireless connectivity solutions. 5G could enable many services over wireless technology connections and deliver fast, rich content and services.

In a high-band wireless system, beamforming including the eNB side and the UE side can be performed to compensate for severe path loss. On the DL side, a beam may be associated with a beamforming reference signal (BRS), and the beam related indicator may be referred to as a BRS index number. However, for some systems, BRS may not exist.

This paper discusses mechanisms and methods for beam acquisition and management without BRS. Some embodiments may include initial beam acquisition based on synchronization signals and PRACH. Some embodiments may include BRRS and SRS based beam management.

Regarding various embodiments, to compensate for severe path loss, beamforming may be applied. Multiple beams with narrow beamwidths can cover an area. Between these beams, adjacent beams may have high correlation with each other, which may enable the UE to achieve fast beam acquisition based on better link reliability. This feature can be used to divide the beam into multiple subsets, which can enable hierarchical beam searching and reduce the latency of beam acquisition. In addition to subset partitioning, the beam pattern of NW beams can be further refined to support beam correlation that can be implicitly configured by the beam pattern. In this way, coherent beam combining can be supported and BRS-RP reports that vary according to instantaneous values between highly correlated beams can be advantageously avoided.

Discussed herein are mechanisms and methods for informing UEs of correlations between different beams based on beam pattern design. In some embodiments, the beam pattern layout may indicate inter-subset beam correlation. For some embodiments, the beam pattern layout may indicate beam correlation within a subset.

In the following description, numerous details are discussed in order to provide a more thorough explanation of embodiments of the present disclosure. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the disclosed embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, but not in detail, in order not to obscure the embodiments of the present disclosure.

Note that in the corresponding drawings of the embodiments, signals are represented by straight lines. Some lines may be thicker to indicate a larger number of constituent signal paths, and/or have arrows at one or more ends to indicate the direction of information flow. These instructions are not intended to be limiting. Furthermore, straight lines are used in connection with one or more exemplary embodiments to facilitate easier understanding of a circuit or logic unit. Any represented signal, specified by design requirements or preferences, may actually include one or more signals that may travel in either direction and that may be implemented by any suitable type of signal scheme.

Throughout the specification, and in the claims, the term "connected" means a direct electrical, mechanical or magnetic connection between the things that are connected without any intervening devices. The term "coupled" means a direct electrical, mechanical, or magnetic connection between the connected things or an indirect connection through one or more passive or active intermediary devices. The term "circuit" or "module" may refer to one or more passive or active components arranged to cooperate with each other to provide a desired function. The term "signal" may refer to at least one current signal, voltage signal, magnetic signal, or data/clock signal. The meanings of "a", "an" and "the" include plural referents. The meaning of "in" includes "in" and "on".

The terms "substantially," "nearly," "approximately," "nearly," and "approximately" generally refer to within +/- 10% of a target value. Unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinal adjectives "first," "second," and "third," etc., used to describe ordinary objects merely indicates that different instances of the same object are referred to, and is not intended to imply the object being described. Must be in a given order in time, space, rank, or in any other way.

It is to be understood that the terms used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those shown or described herein.

The terms "left", "right", "front", "rear", "upper", "lower", "above", "below", etc. (if present) in the description and in the claims are used for descriptive purposes. purpose, not necessarily to describe a permanent relative position.

For the purposes of this disclosure, the phrases "A and/or B" and "A or B" mean (A), (B) or (A and B). For the purposes of this disclosure, the phrase "A, B and/or C" means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C).

Furthermore, the various elements of combinatorial and sequential logic discussed in this disclosure may belong to physical structures (eg, AND gates, OR gates, or XOR gates), or to logical structures that implement Boolean algebra equivalent to the logic in question Synthetic or optimized device collections.

Furthermore, for the purposes of this disclosure, the term "eNB" may refer to a legacy LTE capable eNB, a next-generation 5G capable eNB (which may be referred to as a gNB), a millimeter wave (mmWave) capable eNB, or a mmWave small cell , an access point (AP) and/or another base station (BS) for a wireless communication system. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term "UE" may refer to a legacy LTE capable UE, a Next Generation or 5G capable UE, a mmWave capable UE, a station (STA), and/or another device used in a wireless communication system Mobile devices.

Various embodiments of the eNB and/or UE discussed below may handle one or more transmissions of various types. Some processing of transmissions may include demodulating, decoding, detecting, parsing, and/or manipulating transmissions that have been received. In some embodiments, the eNB or UE processing the transmission may determine or organize the type and/or condition of the transmission associated with the transmission. For some embodiments, the eNB or UE processing the transmission may act according to the type of transmission, and/or may act conditionally based on the type of transmission. The eNB or UE handling the transmission may also organize one or more values or fields of the data carried by the transmission. Processing the transmission may include, for example, moving the transmission through one or more layers of the protocol stack (which may be implemented, for example, in hardware and/or software configurable elements) by moving the transmission that the eNB or UE has received through the protocol stack. one or more layers.

Various embodiments of the eNB and/or UE discussed below may also generate one or more transmissions of various types. Some generation of a transmission includes modulating, encoding, formatting, assembling, and/or manipulating the transmission to be sent. In some embodiments, the eNB or UE generating the transmission may establish the type and/or condition of the transmission associated with the transmission. For some embodiments, the eNB or UE generating the transmission may act according to the type of transmission, and/or may act conditionally based on the type of transmission. The eNB or UE generating the transmission may also determine one or more values or fields of the data carried by the transmission. Generating the transmission may include, for example, moving the transmission through one or more layers of the protocol stack by moving the transmission to be sent by the eNB or UE through one of the protocol stacks (which may be implemented, for example, in hardware and/or software configurable elements) or multiple layers.

In various embodiments, resources may span various resource blocks (RBs), physical resource blocks (PRBs), and/or time periods (eg, frames, subframes, and/or time slots) of a wireless communication system. In some contexts, allocated resources (eg, channels, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFMD) symbols, subcarrier frequencies, resource elements (REs), and/or portions thereof) may be formatted for (and then) passed through Transmission of wireless communication links. In other contexts, allocated resources (eg, channels, OFDM symbols, subcarrier frequencies, REs, and/or portions thereof) may be detected from (and subsequent to) reception over a wireless communication link.

1 illustrates synchronized beam switching in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Scenario 100 may include a set of traffic 110 on a wireless communication link between an eNB and a UE. Services 110 may include DCI 112 . Based on the beam switching indicator carried by the DCI 112, the UE may transition from the first UE beam 121 to the second UE beam 122 after _a plurality of subframes N1, which may be a predetermined number. (The first UE beam 121 and/or the second UE beam 122 may be UE Tx beams, UE Rx beams, or both). The DCI 112 may be configured by the eNB.

Scenario 150 may include a set of traffic 160 on the wireless communication link between the eNB and the UE. Traffic 160 may include DCI 162 and/or BRRS 163 . Based on the BRRS 163, the UE may transition from the first UE beam 171 to the second UE beam 172 after _a plurality of subframes N1, which may be a predetermined number. (The first UE beam 121 and/or the second UE beam 122 may be UETx beams, UE Rx beams, or both). BRRS 163 may be configured by the eNB.

Accordingly, beamforming switching indicators (eg, via DCI) and/or BRRS may be configured by the eNB to synchronously implement beam switching. The DCI or BRRS may be configured by the eNB, and the UE may switch from the _first beam to the new second beam after N1 subframes, where the reserved _N1 subframes may enable the UE to have sufficient processing time.

2 illustrates SRS transmission for acknowledging beam switching in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Scenario 200 may include a set of traffic 210 on a wireless communication link between an eNB and a UE. Traffic 210 may include DCI 212, which may configure or indicate that the SRS may be used as an acknowledgement signal, and may also include triggering for the SRS. SRS 213, which may be 5GSRS (xSRS), may follow DCI 212.

The UE may transition from the first UE beam 221 to the second UE beam 222 a number of subframes N ₁ after the DCI 212 and may transmit the SRS 213 after switching beams. (The first UE beam 221 and/or the second UE beam 222 may be UE Tx beams, UE Rx beams, or both). In this way, the SRS can be sent based on the new UE beam (which can be repeated), which can enable the eNB to optimize the receive beam when applying the new UE beam.

Scenario 250 may include a set of traffic 260 on the wireless communication link between the eNB and the UE. Traffic 260 may include a first DCI 262, which may configure or indicate that the SRS may be used as an acknowledgement signal. Traffic 260 may also include a second DCI 264, which may include triggering for SRS. The SRS 265, which may be 5G SRS (xSRS), may follow the second DCI 264.

The second DCI 264 may be transmitted within N ₁ subframes of the subframe in which the first DCI 262 was transmitted. The UE may transition from the first UE beam 271 to the second UE beam 272 and may transmit an SRS 265 after switching beams. (The first UE beam 271 and/or the second UE beam 272 may be UE Tx beams, UE Rx beams, or both). In this way, the SRS can be sent based on the new UE beam (which can be repeated), which can enable the eNB to optimize the receive beam when applying the new UE beam.

For some embodiments of scenario 200 and/or scenario 250, N ₁ may be a predetermined number. In various embodiments of scenario 200 and/or scenario 250, the eNB may estimate channel state information (CSI), may exploit channel reciprocity to derive channel quality information (CQI), and/or may assign appropriate modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for the UE, which can advantageously save CQI reporting overhead.

3 illustrates CSI-RS transmission for acknowledging beam switching, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Scenario 300 may include a set of traffic 310 on a wireless communication link between an eNB and a UE. Traffic 310 may include DCI 312, which may configure or indicate that CQI reporting may be used as an acknowledgement, and may also include triggering for CQI reporting. CSI-RS 313 may follow DCI 312, and CQI reporting 315 may follow CSI-RS 313.

The UE may transition from the first UE beam 321 to the second UE beam 322 a number of subframes N ₁ after the DCI 312 and may send a CQI report 315 after switching beams. (The first UE beam 321 and/or the second UE beam 322 may be UETx beams, UE Rx beams, or both). In this way, the CQI report can be sent based on the new UE beam, which can enable the eNB to optimize the receive beam when the new UE beam is applied. The CSI-RS may be transmitted via the Tx beam corresponding to the current best Rx beam.

Scenario 350 may include a set of traffic 360 on the wireless communication link between the eNB and the UE. The service 360 may include a first DCI 362, which may configure or indicate that a CQI report may be used as an acknowledgement. Traffic 360 may also include a second DCI 364, which may include triggers for CQI reporting. The CSI-RS 365 may follow the second DCI 364 and the CQI report 367 may follow the CSI-RS 365.

The second DCI 364 may be transmitted within N1 subframes of the subframe in which the _first DCI 362 was transmitted. The UE may transition from the first UE beam 371 to the second UE beam 372 and may send a CQI report 367 after switching beams. (The first UE beam 371 and/or the second UE beam 372 may be a UE Tx beam, a UE Rx beam, or both). In this way, the CQI report 367 may be sent based on the new UE beam, which may enable the eNB to optimize the receive beam when the new UE beam is applied.

In scenario 300 and/or scenario 500, the UE may measure CSI-RS using the new Rx beam direction and may feed back the CQI to the eNB. In this way, successful CQI feedback can serve as confirmation for beam pair switching. The eNB may then schedule data transmissions using the new beam direction.

4 illustrates PRACH transmission for acknowledging beam switching, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Scenario 400 may include a set of traffic 410 on a wireless communication link between an eNB and a UE. Traffic 410 may include DCI 412, which may configure or indicate that PRACH transmissions may be used as acknowledgments. PRACH 413, which may be 5G PRACH (xPRACH), may follow DCI 412.

The UE may then transition from the first UE beam 421 to the second UE beam 422 . (The first UE beam 421 and/or the second UE beam 422 may be a UE Tx beam, a UE Rx beam, or both). The time and/or frequency location of PRACH 413 may be associated with a preferred Tx beam. For example, if the current receive beam on the UE side matches a first Tx beam (eg, an eNB Tx beam), the time and/or frequency location for PRACH 413 may be derived based on the time and/or frequency location associated with the first Tx beam . This identification may advantageously allow avoiding additional control signaling for triggering affirmations and/or acknowledgments. The UE may then switch to a new receive beam after sending PRACH 413 (which may delay beam switching).

With regard to various embodiments, in a cellular communication system, a UE may use SR for requesting UL Shared Channel (SCH) resources for new transmissions. In high-band communication systems, both Tx beamforming and Rx beamforming during UL channel transmission can facilitate successful communication. Therefore, for transmission scheduling requests, and assuming channel reciprocity, the UE can utilize the latest best DL reception beams thus acquired so far for Tx beamforming. While this may address processing for Tx beamforming, the eNB may not know the best Rx beam for SR reception and may be set to perform Rx beam scanning. To facilitate Rx beam scanning at the eNB, multiple copies of the SR may be sent by the UE within an OFDM symbol. The eNB may then scan multiple Rx beams and may attempt to detect all transmitted SRs (since more than one UE may transmit SRs at a given time). Replication of the transmitted SR signal can be achieved by subsampling of the available subcarriers. In some embodiments, Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences may be used to transmit SR.

5 illustrates UE transmission of SR signals according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In the case 500 where the UE transmits the SR signal, the N _ZC length ZC sequence may be used in transmitting the SR signal. The total number of subcarriers used for transmission may be greater than or equal to the number N _SC of N _ZC . Subcarrier mapping circuit 512 may load ZC symbols (subsamples) on every fourth subcarrier 514 to achieve 4 repetitions of the SR signal in one symbol duration 516 (eg, OFDM symbol duration).

For GI-DFT-s-OFDM waveforms and/or ZT-DFT-OFDM waveforms, no further modifications may be employed. For cyclic prefix based transmission such as OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM, the cyclic prefix can be added to the symbol to get the final symbol with CP. The eNB may then try four different Rx beams to detect the SR signal.

Buffer Status Reports (BSRs) or other Additional scheduling request related information can advantageously reduce transmission delay. Note that when the additional information is sent with the SR signal, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) may be sent for coherent demodulation of the data. The ZC sequence for data modulation and the subcarriers used for DMRS may be the same.

6 illustrates UE transmission of SRS along with 2 bits of assistance information according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In scenario 600, the UE may send 2 bits of assistance information along with the SR signal. The N _ZC length ZC sequence may be used to transmit the SR signal. The total number of subcarriers used for transmission may be greater than or equal to the number N _SC of N _ZC . Subcarrier mapping circuit 612 may load ZC symbols (subsamples) on every fourth subcarrier 614 to achieve 4 repetitions of the SR signal in one symbol duration (eg, OFDM symbol duration) 616 .

The DMRS signal may occupy the same set of subcarriers (eg, every 4th subcarrier) as the data. Subcarrier mapping circuitry 622 may load corresponding symbols (subsamples) on every fourth subcarrier 624 to achieve 4 repetitions of the DMRS signal in one symbol duration (eg, OFDM symbol duration) 626 . In some embodiments, symbol duration 626 may be the same OFDM symbol as symbol duration 616 . The eNB may then try four different Rx beams to detect the SR signal and decode the additional information coherently.

Typically, the subcarriers used for SR signaling may not be at the edge of the system bandwidth. The offset in the occupied sub-carriers used for SR signal transmission can result in a known phase skew in the time domain SR signal, which can be properly compensated by the eNB. Similarly, the subsampling factor (eg, 4 as in scenario 500 and scenario 600), the number of times the SR signal can repeat per OFDM symbol, can be configured by the eNB using control messaging.

Regarding the multiplexing of UEs within the SR channel, scheduling requests from multiple UEs may be multiplexed together in one SR channel using various orthogonal resources. In a first set of embodiments, frequency division multiplexing may use a coset (which may be, for example, a set of subcarriers). SR information (with or without BSR) may occupy subsampled subcarriers. The eNB may configure multiple cosets corresponding to the set of subcarriers. For example, in case 500 and/or case 600, there may be 4 potential cosets, where: coset Ci={subcarriers N _SC |i=mod(N _SC ,4)}, for i=0, 1,2,3. UE can occupy coset-0.

In a second set of embodiments including cyclic shifting of the ZC sequence, the ZC sequence may have ideal zero autocorrelation (eg, with its cyclically shifted version). In a given symbol, multiple UEs can be multiplexed by using the same ZC sequence, but with different cyclic shifts to modulate their SR data. The number of supported cyclic shifts may be configured by the eNB.

In a third set of embodiments including code division multiplexing in time, the SR information may span multiple OFDM symbols (if advantageous and/or configured). In this case, additional orthogonal UE multiplexing can be achieved by modulating different OFDM symbols with orthogonal spreading codes. Frequency cosets of frequency hopping across OFDM symbols can provide additional diversity gain.

In some embodiments, a method of wireless communication may include communication between a UE and a base station (eg, a mmWave base station) including generating, by the UE, an SR signal for requesting uplink resources when needed. For some embodiments, the method may include the UE identifying the transmit beam direction for the SR signal based on DL reference signals (eg, primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS)) or DL beam refinement signals. In some embodiments, the generated SR signal may be repeated in the time domain to facilitate performing receive beam scanning at the BS to identify the best possible Rx beam for receiving the transmitted SR signal. For some embodiments, the UE may generate repeated time-domain SR signals using sub-sampled sub-carriers configured by the BS.

In some embodiments, the UE may use the ZC sequence to generate the SR. For some embodiments, the SR may include additional relevant information (eg, BSR) that may be sent by modulating the ZC sequence. In some embodiments, the DMRS may accompany the SR when the BSR is sent for coherent demodulation of the BSR. For some embodiments, the DMRS signal may occupy the same subset of subcarriers as the modulated BSR. In some embodiments, ZC sequences can be used to generate DMRS signals. For some embodiments, for UL, different UEs may be assigned different sets of subsampled subcarriers (eg, cosets), the same basic ZC sequence, and/or orthogonal spreading across multiple OFDM symbols used for SR and BSR transmissions A cyclically shifted and cyclically extended version of the code.

In some embodiments, the means for constructing and transmitting one or more signals (eg, the signals discussed herein) may be part of a UE implementation. The apparatus may include circuitry operable to identify an appropriate direction for transmitting the SR signal based on the channel reciprocity assumption and using the latest best available DL receive beam. The apparatus may also include circuitry operable to load an appropriately assigned ZC sequence or a modulated ZC sequence on the assigned coset of subcarriers. The apparatus may also include circuitry operable to transmit the SR signal with the DMRS signal occupying the same subset of sub-carriers for coherent demodulation of the SR and/or BSR. The apparatus may also include circuitry operable to perform coset hopping if configured by the base station.

For some embodiments, the means for receiving a signal (eg, the signals discussed herein) may be part of an implementation of a base station. The apparatus may include circuitry operable to perform receive beam scanning to identify optimal receive beams for SR and/or BSR. The apparatus may additionally include circuitry operable to perform time and/or frequency filtering and correlation to distinguish SR signals from multiple UEs. The apparatus may also include circuitry operable to perform channel estimation based on the DMRS sent with the SR signal and use it for coherent demodulation and/or decoding of the BSR and other information sent by the UE as part of the SR signal.

With regard to various embodiments, FIG. 7 illustrates initial beam acquisition according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In act 710, the PSS and/or SSS may be repeatedly transmitted by multiple transmission points (TPs), which may provide additional SFN gain (eg, single frequency network gain). The UE can then obtain timing information and can derive UE beams based on the repeated synchronization signals. In act 720, based on the derived UE beam, the UE may repeatedly transmit PRACH (which may be 5G PRACH (xPRACH)), which may enable the eNB to calculate the eNB beam. In act 720, the eNB may then send a random access response (RAR) based on the calculated eNB beam, and the UE may receive the RAR based on the derived UE beam.

In some embodiments, PSS sent by different TPs may overlap, which may improve the signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) of the synchronization signal. However, where this is done with respect to UE beam scanning for a specific TP, PSS from different TPs may interfere with each other.

For some embodiments, omnidirectional BRRS may be used for UE side beam training, and BRRS may contain repetitive signals with the same Tx beam. Since different TPs may transmit BRRS orthogonally in time and/or frequency and/or code domains, corresponding interference may be reduced or avoided, which may enable the UE to derive accurate UE beams with respect to a particular TP.

8 illustrates beam management based on omnidirectional BRRS and beamformed SRS according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In a first action 810, the eNB may transmit omni-directional beamed BRRS. The UE may perform beam scanning for omnidirectionally beamed BRRS. Then, in a second action 820, the UE may transmit an SRS (which may be an xSRS) based on the active UE beam and/or the candidate UE beam. Therefore, the UE may derive active UE beams and/or candidate UE beams according to channel conditions.

In some embodiments, the UE may report to the eNB that one UE beam (eg, an active beam, or an active UE beam and a candidate UE beam) may be detected. For some embodiments, simplified BRRS reporting may be introduced. For example, two bits may be reported, where a first value (eg, "00") may indicate detection of one UE beam, a second value (eg, "01") may indicate two non-simultaneous UE beams, and a third value (eg, "10") may indicate two simultaneous UE beams, and/or a fourth value (eg, "11") may be reserved. For some embodiments, depending on the reported number of detected candidate UE beams, the eNB may schedule one or two SRS resources to the UE.

In some embodiments, the UE may transmit SRS based on active UE beams and/or candidate UE beams, where the SRS may contain repeated signals with the same Tx beam. This may enable the eNB to calculate paired eNB beams.

For some embodiments, if two non-simultaneous UE beams are measured, the two SRS resources may be configured in different time resources, where each SRS resource may correspond to eNB measurements of one UE beam.

In some embodiments, if two simultaneous UE beams are measured, the two SRS resources may be configured in different time and/or frequency and/or code resources, where each SRS resource may correspond to the eNB measurements.

For some embodiments, the SRS may be designed as a repeating signal within one OFDM symbol, or designed to cover multiple OFDM symbols, with one signal per OFDM symbol.

In some embodiments, a repetition number of OFDM symbols for SRS may be configured by the eNB.

For some embodiments, instead of an omnidirectional BRRS, another cell-specific repetitive omnidirectional reference signal (eg, SSS and/or DMRS and/or ESS of a physical broadcast channel (PBCH)) may be utilized.

In some embodiments, cell-specific omnidirectional CSI-RS may be transmitted for UE beam training. For some embodiments, CSI-RS measurements may not be reported.

9 illustrates beam management based on omnidirectional SRS and beamformed BRRS according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In a first action 910, the UE may transmit an omnidirectional SRS (which may be an xSRS). The SRS may be a repetitive signal that may enable the eNB to determine one active eNB beam and/or one candidate eNB beam based on the omnidirectional SRS. Then, in a second action 920, the eNB may transmit BRRS for the active eNB beam and/or the candidate eNB beam for UE side beam training. Since different UEs can transmit SRS orthogonally in the time and/or frequency and/or code domains, corresponding interference can be advantageously reduced or avoided, which can enable the eNB to derive more accurate eNB beams.

In some embodiments, if the UE is equipped with two panels, the UE may be configured with two SRS resources (which may be orthogonal to each other in time domain and/or frequency domain and/or code domain). In some embodiments, the eNB may transmit the BRRS with the active eNB beam and/or the candidate eNB beam, and may configure the BRRS format for the UE so that the UE may prepare to train one or both UE beams.

For some embodiments, a new BRRS format may be introduced, which may be indicated by BRRS format. For example, a 2-bit indicator may be employed, where a first value (eg, "00") may indicate one beam training, a second value (eg, "01") may indicate non-simultaneous UE beam training, and a third value (eg, "01") , "10") may indicate simultaneous UE beam training, and a fourth value (eg, "11") may be reserved.

In some embodiments, if BRRS is used for non-simultaneous UE beam training, different BRRS formats may be configured in different time resources; otherwise, for some embodiments, different BRRS formats may be configured in different time and/or frequency domains and/or codes Domain resources are configured with different BRRS formats.

For some embodiments, the UE may report one or both BRRS reports to the eNB so that the eNB may maintain paired active eNB/UE beams and/or candidate eNB/UE beams.

In some embodiments, the triggering for omnidirectional SRS may be configured by the eNB. Alternatively, triggering for omnidirectional SRS may be requested (via the UE) via SR, or via the UE via PRACH (which may be xPRACH), or via the anchor network.

With regard to various embodiments, FIG. 10 illustrates a multiple narrow beam layout according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1000 with narrow beamwidths can cover an area with a horizontal angular span from 0 to 120 degrees and a vertical angular span from 45 to 135 degrees, wherein each beam can have a different azimuth and/or orientation Relatively narrow beamwidth directed at the zenith angle. The eNB can apply these beams to a specific reference signal (eg, BRS) so that the UE can acquire one or more preferred beam candidates.

11 illustrates beam numbering for ZoD and AoD according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1110 may correspond to multiple subsets 1120 of beams. Beams 1110 may have different ZoDs and/or AoDs.

In Figure 11, three subsets of beams may be generated, eg, by the eNB. Any beam may be contained by a subset, and each subset may cover the entire space (eg, the space around the eNB) with sparse spatial granularity. The UE may then employ one Rx beam to scan a subset instead of all narrow width (NW) beams.

12 illustrates beam mapping onto OFDM time and frequency resources according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1210 may correspond to multiple subsets 1220 of beams. Beams 1210 may correspond to various frequency domain resources (eg, one or more subcarriers) and/or time domain resources (eg, one or more OFDM symbols).

In mapping beams to frequency domain resources and/or time domain resources, each subset may cover four consecutive OFDM symbols, and four beams within the same subset may be configured (based on four panels) on one OFDM symbol . As shown in the various figures in this paper, one BRS antenna port (AP) can occupy one frequency subband, and different BRS APs can be multiplexed in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) manner; the proposed design can also be directly extended to The case of sending BRS APs in block interleaving mode.

13 illustrates beam mapping for implicitly indicating inter-subset beam correlation, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1310 may correspond to multiple subsets 1320 of beams. Beams 1310 may correspond to various frequency domain resources (eg, one or more subcarriers) and/or time domain resources (eg, one or more OFDM symbols).

In some embodiments, beams belonging to different subsets with high correlation may be associated with each other, which may advantageously facilitate the UE to perform coherent combining on those beams.

For some embodiments, the association may be indicated implicitly. For inter-subset beam subsets, beams on the same subcarrier but on different OFDM symbols with fixed OFDM offsets (eg, beams in similar subcarriers and frequency locations within different subsets) may be highly correlated beams. As depicted in FIG. 13, for example, beam number 1 in subset 1, beam #27 in subset 2, and beam #12 in subset 3 may be highly correlated with each other.

14 illustrates the relative performance of coherent combining of beams among correlated subsets in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The first performance 1410 may correspond to beamformed transmission and omnidirectional reception, while the second performance 1420 may correspond to combined beamformed transmission and omnidirectional reception.

The performance of coherent combining of inter-subset beams can be simulated and evaluated. For example, as shown in Figure 14, coherent combining can provide about 2 decibels (dB) of beam energy gain.

15 illustrates beam mapping for implicitly indicating inter-subset beam correlation, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1510 may correspond to multiple subsets 1520 of beams. Beams 1510 may correspond to various frequency domain resources (eg, one or more subcarriers) and/or time domain resources (eg, one or more OFDM symbols).

In some embodiments, correlated beams belonging to different subsets may be mapped to shifted resource blocks (RBs) and/or portions (eg, subsets) of resource blocks to obtain potential frequency diversity.

For some embodiments, the OFDM offset and frequency offset may be predefined or predetermined in the specification, or may be provided by higher layers via a Master Information Block (MIB), 5G MIB (xMIB), System Information Block (SIB) and/or 5G SIB (xSIB) to configure. This can also be determined by a synchronization signal (eg PSS or SSS).

16 illustrates beam mapping for implicitly indicating inter-subset beam correlation, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1610 may correspond to multiple subsets 1620 of beams. Beams 1610 may correspond to various frequency domain resources (eg, one or more subcarriers) and/or time domain resources (eg, one or more OFDM symbols).

During BRS measurement, the BRS-RP of the instantaneous beam can be changed dynamically. This phenomenon may be more frequent for highly correlated beams. For example, in one subframe, the BRS-RP of a first beam (eg, beam #20 in subset 1) may be better than the BRS of a second highly correlated beam (eg, beam #46 in subset 1) -RP, while in the next subframe, the instantaneous value of the second beam may be better than that of the first beam. As a result, the correlation of beams can be configured, which can advantageously reduce or eliminate frequent BRS-RP reports due to changes in beam energy between highly correlated beams.

In some embodiments, beams within the same subset may be configured at adjacent frequencies or adjacent time resources. As depicted in FIG. 16, beam #20 and beam #46, which may be beams within a correlated subset, may be assigned to adjacent frequency resources. For purposes of this disclosure, intra-subset beam correlations may be between beams in the same subset.

For some embodiments, the correlation rules between beams within a subset may be predefined or predetermined in the specification, or may be configured by higher layers via MIB, xMIB, SIB and/or xSIB. This can also be determined by synchronization signals (eg PSS and/or SSS).

17 illustrates the correlation between intra-subset beams and inter-subset beams in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Multiple beams 1710 may correspond to multiple subsets 1720 of beams. Beams 1710 may have different ZoDs and/or AoDs.

In some embodiments, for adjacently configured intra-subset beams, it may be inferred that a highly correlated inter-subset beam of one beam is a highly correlated inter-subset beam of another beam. As depicted in Figure 17, beam #13 and beam #27, which may be highly correlated inter-subset beams of beam #1, may also be beam #39 (which may be within a subset of adjacent configurations of beam #1) beams) are highly correlated inter-subset beams. For the purposes of this disclosure, the inter-subset beam correlation may be between beams in different subsets.

For some embodiments, the indicator may be configured by the eNB to inform the UE about a particular beam to inform the UE of the inter-subset beams that may be associated with its intra-subset beams, or inferred to be highly correlated beams of its own.

Figure 18 illustrates an eNB and a UE according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. 18 includes a block diagram of an eNB 1810 and a UE 1830 operable to coexist with each other and with other elements of the LTE network. A high-level simplified architecture of eNB 1810 and UE 1830 is described so as not to obscure the embodiments. It should be noted that in some embodiments, the eNB 1810 may be a stationary, non-mobile device.

eNB 1810 is coupled to one or more antennas 1805, and UE 1830 is similarly coupled to one or more antennas 1825. However, in some embodiments, eNB 1810 may incorporate or include antenna 1805, and UE 1830 may incorporate or include antenna 1825 in various embodiments.

In some embodiments, antenna 1805 and/or antenna 1825 may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including monopole antennas, dipole antennas, loop antennas, patch antennas, microstrip antennas, coplanar wave antennas, or Other types of antennas are suitable for the transmission of RF signals. In some MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) embodiments, the antennas 1805 are separated to take advantage of spatial diversity.

eNB 1810 and UE 1830 are operable to communicate with each other over a network (eg, a wireless network). The eNB 1810 and the UE 1830 may communicate with each other over a wireless communication channel 1850 having a downlink path from the eNB 1810 to the UE 1830 and an uplink path from the UE 1830 to the eNB 1810 .

As shown in FIG. 18 , in some embodiments, eNB 1810 may include physical layer circuitry 1812 , MAC (Medium Access Control) circuitry 1814 , processor 1816 , memory 1818 , and hardware processing circuitry 1820 . Those skilled in the art will understand that in addition to the components shown, other components not shown may be used to form a complete eNB.

In some embodiments, physical layer circuitry 1812 includes transceiver 1813 for providing signals to and from UE 1830. The transceiver 1813 uses one or more antennas 1805 to provide signals to and from the UE or other device. In some embodiments, MAC circuitry 1814 controls access to the wireless medium. Memory 1818 may be or include one or more storage media (eg, magnetic storage media (eg, magnetic tape or magnetic disk), optical storage media (eg, optical discs), electronic storage media (eg, conventional hard drives, solid-state drives, or flash-based storage medium) or any tangible storage medium or non-transitory storage medium). The hardware processing circuit 1820 may include logic devices or circuits for performing various operations. In some embodiments, processor 1816 and memory 1818 are arranged to perform the operations of hardware processing circuitry 1820 (eg, operations described herein with reference to logic and circuitry within eNB 1810 and/or hardware processing circuitry 1820).

Accordingly, in some embodiments, eNB 1810 may be a device that includes an application processor, memory, one or more antenna ports, and an interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device.

As also shown in FIG. 18 , in some embodiments, UE 1830 may include physical layer circuitry 1832 , MAC circuitry 1834 , processor 1836 , memory 1838 , hardware processing circuitry 1840 , wireless interface 1842 , and display 1844 . Those skilled in the art will understand that in addition to the components shown, other components not shown may also be used to form a complete UE.

In some embodiments, physical layer circuitry 1832 includes a transceiver 1833 for providing signals to and from eNB 1810 (as well as other eNBs). The transceiver 1833 uses one or more antennas 1825 to provide signals to and from the eNB or other devices. In some embodiments, MAC circuitry 1834 controls access to the wireless medium. Memory 1838 may be or may include one or more storage media (eg, magnetic storage media (eg, magnetic tape or magnetic disk), optical storage media (eg, optical discs), electronic storage media (eg, conventional hard drives, solid-state drives, or flash-based storage medium) or any tangible storage medium or non-transitory storage medium). The wireless interface 1842 may be arranged to allow the processor to communicate with another device. Display 1844 may provide a visual and/or tactile display (eg, a touch screen display) for user interaction with UE 1830 . Hardware processing circuitry 1840 may include logic devices or circuits for performing various operations. In some embodiments, processor 1836 and memory 1838 may be arranged to perform the operations of hardware processing circuit 1840 (eg, operations described herein with reference to UE 1830 and/or logic devices and circuits within hardware processing circuit 1840).

Accordingly, in some embodiments, UE 1830 may be a device that includes an application processor, memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touch screen display.

The elements of FIG. 18, as well as elements of other figures having the same names or numbers, may operate or function in the manner described herein with respect to any of these figures (although the operation and function of these elements are not limited to these descriptions). For example, Figures 19-20 and Figures 23-24 also describe embodiments of the eNB, the hardware processing circuitry of the eNB, the UE, and/or the hardware processing circuitry of the UE, and are related to Figures 18, 19-20, and 23- The embodiment depicted in FIG. 24 may operate or function in the manner described herein with respect to any of the figures.

Furthermore, although eNB 1810 and UE 1830 are each described as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements and/or other hardware elements. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements. Examples of software and/or hardware configured elements include a digital signal processor (DSP), one or more microprocessors, a DSP, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit ( RFIC), etc.

19 illustrates hardware processing circuitry of a UE for acknowledging beamforming in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. 18, a UE may include the various hardware processing circuits discussed herein (eg, hardware processing circuit 1900 of FIG. 19), which may in turn include logic devices and/or circuits operable to perform various operations. For example, in Figure 18, UE 1830 (or individual elements or components therein (eg, hardware processing circuitry 1840) or a combination of elements or components therein) may include some or all of these hardware processing circuits.

In some embodiments, one or more devices or circuits within these hardware processing circuits may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements and/or other hardware elements. For example, processor 1836 (and/or one or more other processors that UE 1830 may include), memory 1838, and/or other elements or components of UE 1830 (which may include hardware processing circuitry 1840) may be arranged to perform these The operations of hardware processing circuits (eg, operations described herein with reference to the devices and circuits within such hardware processing circuits). In some embodiments, processor 1836 (and/or one or more other processors that UE 1830 may include) may be a baseband processor.

Returning to FIG. 19 , an apparatus that may be operable as a UE 1830 (or another UE or mobile handset) in communication with one or more eNBs over a wireless network may include hardware processing circuitry 1900 . In some embodiments, hardware processing circuitry 1900 may include one or more antenna ports 1905 operable to provide various transmissions over a wireless communication channel (eg, wireless communication channel 1850). Antenna port 1905 may be coupled to one or more antennas 1907 (which may be antennas 1825). In some embodiments, hardware processing circuit 1900 may incorporate antenna 1907, while in other embodiments, hardware processing circuit 1900 may be coupled to antenna 1907 only.

Antenna port 1905 and antenna 1907 may be operable to provide signals from the UE to the wireless communication channel and/or eNB, and may be operable to provide signals from the eNB and/or the wireless communication channel to the UE. For example, antenna port 1905 and antenna 1907 may be operable to provide transmission from UE 1830 to wireless communication channel 1850 (and from wireless communication channel 1850 to eNB 1810 or to another eNB). Similarly, antenna 1907 and antenna port 1905 may be operable to provide transmission from wireless communication channel 1850 (and in addition, from eNB 1810 or another eNB) to UE 1830.

The hardware processing circuit 1900 may include various circuits operable in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein. Referring to FIG. 19 , the hardware processing circuit 1900 may include a first circuit 1910 and/or a second circuit 1920 . The first circuit 1910 may be operable to process DCI received via the first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam. The second circuit 1920 may be operable to generate an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator. The first circuit 1910 may be operable to send an indicator or other information about the second UE beam to the second circuit 1920 via the interface 1915 . The hardware processing circuit 1900 may also include an interface for inputting DCI to one or more processors of the hardware processing circuit 1900 and for outputting acknowledgment transmissions to the sending circuit. The acknowledgment transmission may be one of the following: SRS transmission, CQI report transmission or PRACH transmission.

For some embodiments, DCI may carry a trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and the first circuit 1910 may be operable to process the second DCI received via the first UE beam. For some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be generated at a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and the first circuit 1910 may be operable to process the second DCI received via the first UE beam within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. In some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission.

In some embodiments, the first circuit 1910 may be operable to process CSI-RS transmissions received via the first UE beam. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission. In some embodiments, the CSI-RS transmission may be received via the second UE receive beam at a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and the first circuit 1910 may be operable to process the second DCI received via the first UE beam within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. The first circuit 1910 may also be operable to process CSI-RS transmissions received via the first UE beam. In some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a PRACH transmission. For some embodiments, the first UE beam may include multiple eNB beams partially overlapping each other. In some embodiments, multiple eNB beams have multiple corresponding AODs, respectively. For some embodiments, multiple eNB beams may have multiple corresponding ZODs, respectively.

In some embodiments, the first circuit 1910 and/or the second circuit 1920 may be implemented as separate circuits. In other embodiments, one or more of the first circuit 1910 and/or the second circuit 1920 may be combined together and implemented in a circuit without altering the essence of the embodiment.

20 illustrates hardware processing circuitry of an eNB for acknowledging beamforming, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. 18, an eNB may include the various hardware processing circuits discussed herein (eg, hardware processing circuit 2000 of FIG. 20), which may in turn include logic and/or circuits operable to perform various operations. For example, in Figure 18, eNB 1810 (or individual elements or components therein (eg, hardware processing circuitry 1820) or a combination of elements or components therein) may include some or all of these hardware processing circuits.

In some embodiments, one or more devices or circuits within these hardware processing circuits may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements and/or other hardware elements. For example, processor 1816 (and/or one or more other processors that eNB 1810 may include), memory 1818, and/or other elements or components of eNB 1810 (which may include hardware processing circuitry 1820) may be arranged to perform these The operations of hardware processing circuits (eg, operations described herein with reference to the devices and circuits within such hardware processing circuits). In some embodiments, processor 1816 (and/or one or more other processors that eNB 1810 may include) may be a baseband processor.

Returning to FIG. 20 , an apparatus that may be operable as eNB 1810 (or another eNB or base station) to communicate with one or more UEs over a wireless network may include hardware processing circuitry 2000 . In some embodiments, hardware processing circuit 2000 may include one or more antenna ports 2005 operable to provide various transmissions over a wireless communication channel (eg, wireless communication channel 1850). Antenna port 2005 may be coupled to one or more antennas 2007 (which may be antenna 1805). In some embodiments, the hardware processing circuit 2000 may incorporate the antenna 2007, while in other embodiments, the hardware processing circuit 2000 may be coupled to the antenna 2007 only.

Antenna port 2005 and antenna 2007 may be operable to provide signals from the eNB to the wireless communication channel and/or the UE, and may be operable to provide signals from the UE and/or the wireless communication channel to the eNB. For example, antenna port 2005 and antenna 2007 may be operable to provide transmission from eNB 1810 to wireless communication channel 1850 (and from wireless communication channel 1850 to UE 1830 or to another UE). Similarly, antenna 2007 and antenna port 2005 may be operable to provide transmission from wireless communication channel 1850 (and, among other things, from UE 1830 or another UE) to eNB 1810.

The hardware processing circuit 2000 may include various circuits operable in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein. Referring to FIG. 20 , the hardware processing circuit 2000 may include a first circuit 2010 and/or a second circuit 2020 . The first circuit 2010 may be operable to generate DCI for the first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam. The second circuit 2020 may be operable to process the acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator. The first circuit 2010 may be operable to provide an indicator of the second UE beam to the second circuit 2020 via the interface 2015. The hardware processing circuit 2000 may also include an interface for outputting DCI from one or more processors of the hardware processing circuit 2000 and for inputting acknowledgment transmissions from the receiving circuit. The acknowledgment transmission may be one of the following: SRS transmission, CQI report transmission or PRACH transmission.

For some embodiments, DCI may carry a trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and the first circuit 2010 may be operable to generate the second DCI received for the first UE beam. For some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be generated at a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be a first DCI, and the first circuit 2010 may be operable to generate a second DCI for the first UE beam within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. In some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission.

In some embodiments, the first circuit 2010 may be operable to generate CSI-RS transmissions for the first UE beam. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission. In some embodiments, the CSI-RS transmission may be received via the second UE receive beam at a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe where the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be a first DCI, and the first circuit 2010 may be operable to generate a second DCI for the first UE beam within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. The first circuit 2010 may also be operable to generate CSI-RS transmissions for the first UE beam. In some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a PRACH transmission. For some embodiments, the first UE beam may include multiple eNB beams partially overlapping each other. In some embodiments, multiple eNB beams may have multiple corresponding AODs, respectively. For some embodiments, multiple eNB beams may have multiple corresponding ZODs, respectively.

In some embodiments, the first circuit 2010 and/or the second circuit 2020 may be implemented as separate circuits. In other embodiments, one or more of the first circuit 2010 and/or the second circuit 2020 may be combined together and implemented in a circuit without altering the essence of the embodiment.

21 illustrates a method for a UE for acknowledging beamforming in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 18, methods that may be associated with UE 1830 and hardware processing circuitry 1840 are discussed herein. Although the actions in the method 2100 of FIG. 21 are shown in a particular order, the order of the actions may be modified. Thus, the illustrated embodiments may be performed in a different order, and some actions may be performed in parallel. Some of the actions and/or operations listed in FIG. 21 are optional according to certain embodiments. The numbering of the proposed actions is for clarity and is not intended to prescribe the order in which the various actions must occur. Additionally, operations from the various flows may be utilized in various combinations.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a machine-readable storage medium may have executable instructions that, when executed, cause the UE 1830 and/or the hardware processing circuit 1840 to perform operations including the method of FIG. 21 . These machine-readable storage media may include any of a variety of storage media (eg, magnetic storage media (eg, magnetic tape or magnetic disk), optical storage media (eg, optical discs), electronic storage media (eg, conventional hard drives, solid-state drives, or flash-based storage medium) or any other tangible or non-transitory storage medium).

In some embodiments, an apparatus may include means for performing the various actions and/or operations of FIG. 21 .

Returning to Figure 21, various methods may be in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein. Method 2100 may include processing (2110) and generating (2115). The method 2100 may also include processing (2120), processing (2130), processing (2140), processing (2150), and/or processing (2155).

In process (2110), DCI may be received via the first UE beam. The DCI may carry an indicator for switching to the second UE beam. In generating (2115), an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam may be generated based on the trigger indicator. The acknowledgment transmission may be one of the following: SRS transmission, CQI report transmission or PRACH transmission.

For some embodiments, DCI may carry a trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and in processing (2120), the second DCI received via the first UE beam may be processed. For some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be generated at a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and in process (2130), the second DCI received via the first UE beam may be processed within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. In some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission.

In some embodiments, in processing (2140), the CSI-RS transmission received via the first UE beam may be processed. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission. In some embodiments, the CSI-RS transmission may be received via the second UE receive beam at a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe where the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and in process (2150), the second DCI received via the first UE beam may be processed within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. In some embodiments, in processing (2155), the CSI-RS transmission received via the first UE beam may be processed. For some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a PRACH transmission. For some embodiments, the first UE beam may include multiple eNB beams partially overlapping each other. In some embodiments, multiple eNB beams have multiple corresponding AODs, respectively. For some embodiments, multiple eNB beams may have multiple corresponding ZODs, respectively.

FIG. 22 illustrates a method for acknowledging beamforming by an eNB according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 18, various methodologies that may be associated with eNB 1810 and hardware processing circuitry 1820 are discussed herein. Although the actions in the method 2200 of FIG. 22 are shown in a particular order, the order of the actions may be modified. Thus, the illustrated embodiments may be performed in a different order, and some actions may be performed in parallel. Some of the actions and/or operations listed in FIG. 22 are optional according to certain embodiments. The numbering of the proposed actions is for clarity and is not intended to prescribe the order of operations that each action must produce. Additionally, operations from the various flows may be utilized in various combinations.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a machine-readable storage medium may have executable instructions that, when executed, cause eNB 1810 and/or hardware processing circuitry 1820 to perform operations including the method of FIG. 22 . These machine-readable storage media may include any of a variety of storage media (eg, magnetic storage media (eg, magnetic tape or magnetic disk), optical storage media (eg, optical discs), electronic storage media (eg, conventional hard drives, solid-state drives, or flash-based storage medium) or any other tangible or non-transitory storage medium).

In some embodiments, an apparatus may include means for performing the various actions and/or operations of FIG. 22 .

Returning to Figure 22, various methods may be in accordance with various embodiments discussed herein. Method 2200 may include generating (2210) and processing (2215). In some embodiments, method 2200 may further include generating (2220), generating (2230), generating (2240), generating (2250), and/or generating (2255).

In generating (2210), DCI for the first UE beam may be generated. The DCI may carry an indicator for switching to the second UE beam. In a process (2215), the acknowledgement transmission from the second UE beam can be processed based on the trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be one of: SRS transmission, CQI report transmission, or PRACH transmission.

For some embodiments, DCI may carry a trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and in generating (2220), a second DCI for the first UE beam may be generated. For some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be generated at a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be a first DCI, and in generating (2230), a second DCI for the first UE beam may be generated within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. In some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be an SRS transmission.

In some embodiments, in generating (2240), a CSI-RS transmission for the first UE beam may be generated. For some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission. In some embodiments, the CSI-RS transmission may be received via the second UE receive beam at a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received.

For some embodiments, the DCI may be the first DCI, and in generating (2250), the second DCI for the first UE beam may be generated within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received. In generating (2255), a CSI-RS transmission for the first UE beam may be generated. For some embodiments, the second DCI may carry a trigger indicator. In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a CQI report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In some embodiments, the acknowledgement transmission may be a PRACH transmission. For some embodiments, the first UE beam may include multiple eNB beams partially overlapping each other. In some embodiments, multiple eNB beams have multiple corresponding AODs, respectively. For some embodiments, multiple eNB beams may have multiple corresponding ZODs, respectively.

23 illustrates example components of a device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, apparatus 2300 may include application circuitry 2302, baseband circuitry 2304, radio frequency (RF) circuitry 2306, front end module (FEM) circuitry 2308, one or more antennas 2310, and power management circuitry (PMC) 2312, at least as coupled together as shown. Components of the illustrated apparatus 2300 may be included in a UE or RAN node. In some embodiments, the apparatus 2300 may include fewer elements (eg, the RAN node may not utilize the application circuit 2302, but instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, device 2300 may include additional elements (eg, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface). In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (eg, the circuits may be included separately in more than one device with respect to a cloud RAN (C-RAN) implementation).

Application circuitry 2302 may include one or more application processors. For example, application circuitry 2302 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core processors or multi-core processors. A processor may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (eg, graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled to or may include memory/storage, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on device 2300 . In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 2302 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

Baseband circuitry 2304 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core processors or multi-core processors. Baseband circuitry 2304 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of RF circuitry 2306 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 2306 . Baseband processing circuitry 2304 may interface with application circuitry 2302 for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling the operation of RF circuitry 2306. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 2304 may include third generation (3G) baseband processor 2304A, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 2304B, fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 2304C, and/or for Other baseband processors 2304D of other existing generations, in development, or in future generations (eg, second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). Baseband circuitry 2304 (eg, one or more of baseband processors 2304A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication via RF circuitry 2306 with one or more radio networks. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 2304A-D may be included in modules stored in memory 2304G and performed via a central processing unit (CPU) 2304E. Radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 2304 may include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 2304 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low density parity check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 2304 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 2304F. The audio DSP 2304F may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or deployed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuit 2304 and the application circuit 2302 may be implemented together, eg, on a system-on-chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 2304 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 2304 may support communication with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 2304 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as a multimode baseband circuit.

RF circuitry 2306 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation over a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 2306 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc., to facilitate communication with wireless networks. RF circuitry 2306 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry for downconverting RF signals received from FEM circuitry 2308 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuitry 2304 . RF circuit 2306 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry for upconverting the baseband signal provided by baseband circuit 2304 and providing the RF output signal to FEM circuit 2308 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuit 2306 may include mixer circuit 2306A, amplifier circuit 2306B, and filter circuit 2306C. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuit 2306 may include filter circuit 2306C and mixer circuit 2306A. The RF circuit 2306 may also include a synthesizer circuit 2306D for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path may be configured to downconvert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 2308 based on the synthesis frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 2306D. Amplifier circuit 2306B may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal, and filter circuit 2306C may be a low pass filter (LPF) or bandpass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted from the downconverted signal signal to generate the output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 2304 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this regard.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert the input baseband signal based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 2306D to generate the RF output signal for the FEM circuit 2308. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 2304 and may be filtered by filter circuit 2306C.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 2306A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively frequency conversion. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 2306A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers, and may be arranged for image rejection (eg, Hartley image inhibition). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A and the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 2306A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 2306A of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuitry 2306 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and baseband circuitry 2304 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuitry 2306 .

In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided for processing signals with respect to each spectrum, although the scope of embodiments is not so limited.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 2306D may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 2306D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with frequency dividers.

The synthesizer circuit 2306D may be configured to synthesize the output frequency used by the mixer circuit 2306A of the RF circuit 2306 based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 2306D may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not a requirement. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 2304 or the application processor 2302 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (eg, N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application processor 2302 .

The synthesizer circuit 2306D of the RF circuit 2306 may include a divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulo divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (eg, based on carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded set of tunable delay elements, phase detectors, charge pumps, and D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to decompose the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groupings, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 2306D may be configured to generate the carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (eg, twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency times), and is used in conjunction with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, RF circuit 2306 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuit 2308 may include a receive signal path, which may include a path configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 2310 , amplify the received signals and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuit 2306 circuit for further processing. FEM circuitry 2308 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided by RF circuitry 2306 for transmission by one or more of one or more antennas 2310 . In various embodiments, amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be accomplished in RF circuit 2306 only, FEM 2308 only, or both RF circuit 2306 and FEM 2308.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 2308 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (eg, to RF circuit 2306). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 2308 may include: a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (eg, provided by the RF circuit 2306); and one or more filters for generating the RF signal for ( For example, by one or more of the one or more antennas 2310) followed by transmission.

In some embodiments, PMC 2312 may manage the power provided to baseband circuitry 2304. Specifically, the PMC2312 can control power selection, voltage regulation, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. PMC 2312 may often be included when device 2300 can be powered by a battery (eg, when device 2300 is included in a UE). The PMC 2312 can increase power conversion efficiency while providing the desired implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

Although FIG. 23 shows the PMC 2312 coupled to the baseband circuit 2304 only. However, in other embodiments, PMC 2312 may additionally or alternatively be coupled with other components (such as, but not limited to, application circuit 2302, RF circuit 2306, or FEM 2308) and perform similar power management operations thereon.

In some embodiments, PMC 2312 may control or be part of various power saving mechanisms of device 2300. For example, if the device 2300 is in an RRC connected state (where it is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic shortly), it may enter a state called discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity . During this state, the device 2300 can be powered down for brief time intervals, and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 2300 may transition to an RRC idle state, where it is disconnected from the network and performs no operations (eg, channel quality feedback, handover, etc.). Device 2300 enters a very low power state and it performs paging, where it periodically wakes up again to listen to the network and then powers down again. Device 2300 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it must transition back to the RRC connected state.

Additional power saving modes may allow the device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than the paging interval (ranging from seconds to hours). During this time, the device is completely unreachable to the network and can be powered down completely. Any data sent during this time results in a large delay, and the delay is assumed to be acceptable.

The processor of the application circuit 2302 and the processor of the baseband circuit 2304 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processors of the baseband circuit 2304, alone or in combination, may be used to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processors of the application circuits 2304 may utilize data (eg, packetized data) received from these layers and Layer 4 functions (eg, Transport Communication Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) layers) are also performed. As referred to herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may include a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, which are described in further detail below. As referred to herein, layer 1 may include the physical (PHY) layer of the UE/RAN node, as described in further detail below.

24 illustrates an example interface of a baseband circuit in accordance with some embodiments of the invention. As mentioned above, the baseband circuit 2304 of Figure 23 may include processors 2304A-2304E and memory 2304G utilized by the processors. Each of processors 2304A-2304E may include memory interfaces 2404A-2404E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from memory 2304G.

)、

组件以及其他通信组件发送/接收数据的接口)和电源管理接口2420(例如，用于向/从PMC2312发送/接收电力或控制信号的接口)。Baseband circuitry 2304 may also include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits/devices, such as memory interface 2412 (eg, an interface for sending/receiving data to/from memory external to baseband circuitry 2304), applications Circuit interface 2414 (eg, an interface for sending/receiving data to/from the application circuit 2302 of FIG. 23 ), RF circuit interface 2416 (eg, an interface for sending/receiving data to/from the RF circuit 2306 of FIG. 23 ) , a wireless hardware connection interface 2418 (eg, to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth components (eg, Bluetooth Low Energy)

),

components and other communication components to send/receive data) and power management interface 2420 (eg, an interface for sending/receiving power or control signals to/from the PMC 2312).

It should be noted that elements of any figure herein that have the same numbers and/or names as elements of any other figure herein may operate or function in various embodiments in a similar manner to those elements of the other figures ( and not limited to operating or functioning in this manner).

References in the specification to "an embodiment," "one embodiment," "some embodiments," or "other embodiments" mean that at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic. The various appearances of "an embodiment," "one embodiment," or "some embodiments" are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments. If the specification states that "may," "may," or "may" include a component, feature, structure, or characteristic, it is not required to include that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic. If the specification or claim refers to "a" or "an" element, that does not mean that only one of the elements is present. If the specification or claim refers to an "additional" element, that does not preclude the presence of more than one of the additional element.

Furthermore, the particular features, structures, functions, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. For example, the first and second embodiments may be combined so long as the specific features, structures, functions, or characteristics associated with the two embodiments are not mutually exclusive.

While the present disclosure has been described in conjunction with specific embodiments thereof, many alternatives, modifications, and variations to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. For example, other memory architectures such as dynamic RAM (DRAM) may use the discussed embodiments. It is intended that the disclosed embodiments cover all such alternatives, modifications and variations so as to fall within the broad scope of the appended claims.

In addition, well-known power/ground connections to integrated circuit (IC) chips and other components may or may not be shown in the proposed figures to simplify illustration and discussion, and so as not to obscure the present disclosure. Furthermore, to avoid obscuring the present disclosure, and also in view of the fact that details regarding the implementation of these block diagram arrangements are highly dependent on the platform on which the present disclosure is to be implemented (ie, these details should be well within the sight of those skilled in the art), one may The arrangement is shown in block diagram form. Where specific details (eg, circuits) are set forth to describe example embodiments of the present disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that the present disclosure may be practiced without or with variations of these specific details. The description is therefore to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

The following examples belong to other embodiments. Details in the examples may be used anywhere in one or more embodiments. All optional features of the apparatus described herein can also be implemented with respect to a method or process.

Example 1 provides an apparatus operable as a user equipment (UE) in communication with an evolved Node B (eNB) over a wireless network, comprising: one or more processors for processing received via a first UE beam downlink control information (DCI) carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; and generating an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, and an interface for: The DCI is input to the one or more processors, and the acknowledgment transmission is output to a transmit circuit.

In example 2, the apparatus of example 1, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is one of a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission.

In example 3, the apparatus of any of examples 1 or 2, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 4, the apparatus of any of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to process the first DCI received via the first UE beam Two DCI, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 5, the apparatus of any of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The acknowledgment transmission is generated at subframes of N.

In Example 6, the apparatus of any one of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to: in a subframe in which the first DCI is received The second DCI received via the first UE beam is processed within a plurality of subframes N of , wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 7, the apparatus of any of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the one or more processors are configured to process channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions received via the first UE beam, and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report corresponding to a CSI-RS transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a subframe that is offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received The CSI-RS transmission is received at the frame via the second UE receive beam.

In Example 8, the apparatus of any one of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to: in a subframe in which the first DCI is received processing a second DCI received via a first UE beam within a plurality of subframes N of ; and processing a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission received via the first UE beam, and wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 9, the apparatus of any of Examples 1 or 2, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 10, the apparatus of any one of Examples 1 to 9, wherein the first UE beam includes a plurality of eNB beams that partially overlap each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of respectively corresponding departure azimuths and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD), respectively.

Example 11 provides a user equipment (UE) device including an application processor, memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touch screen display, the UE The apparatus includes the apparatus of any one of Embodiments 1-10.

Example 12 provides a method comprising: for a user equipment, processing downlink control information (DCI) received via a first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; and based on a trigger indication symbol to generate an acknowledgment transmission for the second UE beam.

In Example 13, the method of Example 12, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is one of a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 14, the method of any of Examples 12 or 13, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 15, the method of any of Examples 12 or 13, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, comprising processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 16, the method of any of Examples 12 or 13, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The acknowledgment transmission is generated at subframes of N.

In Example 17, the method of any one of Examples 12 or 13, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: processing within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received via the first DCI A second DCI received by a UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 18, the method of any of Examples 12 or 13, comprising processing a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission received via the first UE beam, and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is carrying a corresponding a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission in the report of the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein via the second UE at a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received A receive beam receives the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 19, the method of any one of Examples 12 or 13, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: processing via the first UE within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received beam-received second DCI; and processing channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions received via the first UE beam, and wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the The acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 20, the method of any of Examples 12 or 13, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 21, the method of any one of Examples 12 to 20, wherein the first UE beam comprises a plurality of eNB beams that partially overlap each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of respectively corresponding departure bearings and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD), respectively.

Example 22 provides a machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform a method according to any of Examples 12-21.

Example 23 provides apparatus for a user equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved Node B (eNB) over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: means for processing downlink control information (DCI) received via a first UE beam means, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; and means for generating an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator.

In Example 24, the apparatus of Example 23, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is one of a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 25, the apparatus of any of Examples 23 or 24, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 26, the apparatus of any of Examples 23 or 24, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, comprising processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 27, the apparatus of any of Examples 23 or 24, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The acknowledgment transmission is generated at subframes of N.

In Example 28, the apparatus of any one of Examples 23 or 24, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: processing within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI is received via the the second DCI received by the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 29, the apparatus of any of Examples 23 or 24, comprising: processing a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission received via the first UE beam, and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is carrying a corresponding a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission in the report of the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein via the second UE at a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received A receive beam receives the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 30, the apparatus of any one of Examples 23 or 24, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: processing via the first UE within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received beam-received second DCI; and processing channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmissions received via the first UE beam, and wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the The acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 31, the apparatus of any of Examples 23 or 24, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 32, the apparatus of any one of Examples 23 to 31, wherein the first UE beam comprises a plurality of eNB beams that partially overlap each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of respectively corresponding departure bearings and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD), respectively.

Example 33 provides a machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one of a user equipment (UE) operable to communicate with an evolved Node B (eNB) over a wireless network or more processors performing operations including: processing downlink control information (DCI) received via the first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam; and generating based on the trigger indicator for acknowledgment transmission for the second UE beam.

In Example 34, the machine-readable storage medium of Example 33, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is one of: a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) )transmission.

In Example 35, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 33 or 34, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 36, the machine-readable storage medium of any one of Examples 33 or 34, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to process via the first UE A beam-received second DCI, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 37, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 33 or 34, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein at a subframe offset since the DCI was received The acknowledgement transmission is generated at subframes up to a number N of subframes.

In Example 38, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 33 or 34, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and the operations comprise: in a plurality of subframes of a subframe in which the first DCI is received The second DCI received via the first UE beam is processed within frame N, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 39, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 33 or 34, the operations include processing a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission received via the first UE beam, and wherein, the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein in a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received The CSI-RS transmission is received via the second UE receive beam at.

In Example 40, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 33 or 34, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and the operations comprise: in a plurality of subframes of a subframe in which the first DCI is received processing a second DCI received via a first UE beam within frame N; and processing a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission received via the first UE beam, and wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 41, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 33 or 34, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 42, the machine-readable storage medium of any one of Examples 33 to 41, wherein the first UE beam includes a plurality of eNB beams partially overlapping each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have respective corresponding a plurality of azimuth angles of departure (AOD); and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD).

Example 43 provides an apparatus for an evolved Node B (eNB) operable to communicate with a user equipment (UE) over a wireless network, comprising: one or more processors for generating a downlink for a first UE beam path control information (DCI), the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; and, based on the trigger indicator, processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam, and an interface for: from the second UE beam One or more processors output the DCI and input the acknowledgment transmission from a receiving circuit.

In Example 44, the apparatus of Example 43, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is one of a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 45, the apparatus of any of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 46, the apparatus of any one of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate a first DCI for the first UE beam Two DCI, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 47, the apparatus of any of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The acknowledgment transmission is generated at subframes of N.

In Example 48, the apparatus of any of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to: in a subframe in which the first DCI is received A second DCI for the first UE beam is generated within a plurality of subframes N of , wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 49, the apparatus of any of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes N offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The CSI-RS transmission is received via the second UE receive beam at a subframe of .

In Example 50, the apparatus of any of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to: after receiving the first DCI generating a second DCI for the first UE beam within a plurality of subframes N of the frame; generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, the second DCI carrying all and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 51, the apparatus of any of Examples 43 or 44, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 52, the apparatus of any one of Examples 43 to 51, wherein the first UE beam includes a plurality of eNB beams that partially overlap each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of respectively corresponding departure bearings and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD), respectively.

Example 53 provides an evolved Node B (eNB) device including an application processor, memory, one or more antenna ports, and an interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, the eNB device including The device of any of examples 43 to 52.

Example 54 provides a method comprising: for an evolved Node B (eNB), generating downlink control information (DCI) for a first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for handover to a second UE beam; and processing an acknowledgement transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator.

In Example 55, the method of Example 54, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is one of a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 56, the method of any of Examples 54 or 55, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 57, the method of any of Examples 54 or 55, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, comprising generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 58, the method of any of Examples 54 or 55, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The acknowledgment transmission is generated at subframes of N.

In Example 59, the method of any one of Examples 54 or 55, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: generating, within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received, for the DCI a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 60, the method of any of Examples 54 or 55, the operations comprising generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein via the The second UE receive beam receives the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 61, the method of any one of Examples 54 or 55, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: generating, within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI was received, for the DCI a second DCI for the first UE beam; and generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, the second DCI carrying the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgement The transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 62, the method of any of Examples 54 or 55, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 63, the method of any one of Examples 54 to 62, wherein the first UE beam comprises a plurality of eNB beams partially overlapping each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of respectively corresponding departure bearings and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD), respectively.

Example 64 provides a machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform a method according to any of Examples 54-63.

Example 65 provides an apparatus for an evolved Node B (eNB) operable to communicate with a user equipment (UE) over a wireless network, comprising means for generating downlink control information (DCI) for a first UE beam , the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; and means for processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on a trigger indicator.

In Example 66, the apparatus of Example 65, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is one of a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 67, the apparatus of any of Examples 65 or 66, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 68, the apparatus of any of Examples 65 or 66, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, comprising means for generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the DCI is The second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 69, the apparatus of any of Examples 65 or 66, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a number of subframes offset from the subframe in which the DCI was received The acknowledgment transmission is generated at subframes of N.

In Example 70, the apparatus of any one of Examples 65 or 66, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: generating within a plurality of subframes N of the subframes in which the first DCI is received for A module for a second DCI of the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 71, the apparatus of any of Examples 65 or 66, the operations include means for generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, and wherein, the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein in a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received The CSI-RS transmission is received via the second UE receive beam at.

In Example 72, the apparatus of any one of Examples 65 or 66, wherein the DCI is the first DCI, comprising: generating, within a plurality of subframes N of the first DCI subframes, for all means for generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, and wherein the second DCI carries the a trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 73, the apparatus of any of Examples 65 or 66, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 74, the apparatus of any one of Examples 65 to 73, wherein the first UE beam includes a plurality of eNB beams partially overlapping each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of respectively corresponding departure bearings and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD), respectively.

Example 75 provides a machine-readable storage medium having machine-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one of an evolved Node B (eNB) operable to communicate with a user equipment (UE) over a wireless network or more processors performing operations including: generating downlink control information (DCI) for the first UE beam, the DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam; and based on the trigger indicator, Acknowledgment transmissions from the second UE beam are processed.

In Example 76, the machine-readable storage medium of Example 75, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is one of: a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission, a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission, or a physical random access channel (PRACH) )transmission.

In Example 77, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 or 76, wherein the DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 78, the machine-readable storage medium of any one of Examples 75 or 76, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to: generate data for the first DCI The second DCI of the UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator.

In Example 79, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 or 76, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission; and wherein at a subframe offset since the DCI was received The acknowledgement transmission is generated at subframes up to a number N of subframes.

In Example 80, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 or 76, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, and the operations comprise: in a plurality of subframes of a subframe in which the first DCI is received A second DCI for the first UE beam is generated within frame N, wherein the second DCI carries the trigger indicator; and wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission.

In Example 81, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 or 76, the operations comprising generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, and wherein, the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission; and wherein in a subframe offset by a number of subframes N from the subframe in which the DCI was received The CSI-RS transmission is received via the second UE receive beam at.

In Example 82, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 or 76, wherein the DCI is a first DCI, the operations comprising: in a plurality of subframes of the subframe in which the first DCI was received generating within N a second DCI for the first UE beam; and generating a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission for the first UE beam, the second DCI carrying the trigger indicator ; and wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator (CQI) report transmission carrying a report of the CSI-RS transmission.

In Example 83, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 or 76, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission.

In Example 84, the machine-readable storage medium of any of Examples 75 to 83, wherein the first UE beam comprises a plurality of eNB beams partially overlapping each other; wherein the plurality of eNB beams have respective corresponding a plurality of azimuth angles of departure (AOD); and wherein the plurality of eNB beams have a plurality of corresponding zenith angles of departure (ZOD).

In Example 85, the apparatus of any of Examples 1-10 and Examples 43-52, wherein the one or more processors comprise a baseband processor.

In Example 86, the apparatus of any of Examples 1-10 and Examples 43-52, comprising: a memory for storing instructions, the memory coupled to the one or more processors.

In Example 87, the apparatus of any of Examples 1-10 and Examples 43-52, comprising transceiver circuitry for at least one of: generating the transmission, encoding the transmission, processing the transmission, or decoding the transmission.

In Example 88, the apparatus of any of Examples 1-10 and Examples 43-52, comprising transceiver circuitry for generating and processing transmissions.

An abstract is provided that will allow the reader to ascertain the nature and subject of the technical disclosure. The abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit the scope or meaning of the claims. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims (13)

1. An apparatus operable as a user equipment UE for communicating with a base station on a wireless network, comprising: One or more processors for: processing first downlink control information DCI received via the first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and generating an acknowledgment signal for the second UE beam for transmission to the base station based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment signal is a sounding reference signal SRS; and an interface for: converting the first DCI and the second DCI are input to the one or more processors, and the acknowledgement signal is output to the transmit circuit. 2. An apparatus operable as a user equipment UE for communicating with a base station on a wireless network, comprising: One or more processors for: processing first downlink control information DCI received via the first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and An acknowledgment transmission is generated for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying a channel state information reference signal CSI- reports of RS transmissions, and an interface for: inputting the first DCI and the second DCI to the one or more processors, and outputting the acknowledgment transmission to a sending circuit. 3. A user equipment UE comprising an application processor, memory, one or more antennas, a wireless interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, and a touch screen display, the UE comprising claim 1 The device of any one of to 2. 4. A method for confirming beam switching, comprising: for a user equipment UE, processing the first downlink control information DCI received via the first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and Based on the trigger indicator, an acknowledgement transmission is generated for the second UE beam, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission. 5. A method for confirming beam switching, comprising: for a user equipment UE, processing the first downlink control information DCI received via the first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to the second UE beam; processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; Wherein, the acknowledgment signal is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission, and the CQI report transmission carries a report corresponding to the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission. 6. An apparatus operable as a user equipment UE in communication with a base station over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: means for processing first downlink control information DCI received via a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; means for processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and Means for generating an acknowledgement transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission. 7. An apparatus operable as a user equipment UE in communication with a base station over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: means for processing first downlink control information DCI received via a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; means for processing a second DCI received via the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and means for generating an acknowledgment transmission for the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying a channel state information reference corresponding to Reports of signaling CSI-RS transmissions. 8. An apparatus operable as a base station for communicating with a user equipment UE over a wireless network, comprising: One or more processors for: generating first downlink control information DCI for a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and processing an acknowledgment transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission; and an interface for outputting the first DCI and the second DCI from the one or more processors and inputting the acknowledgment transmission from a receiving circuit. 9. An apparatus operable as a base station for communicating with a user equipment UE over a wireless network, comprising: One or more processors for: generating first downlink control information DCI for a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and An acknowledgement transmission from the second UE beam is processed based on the trigger indicator, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying a CSI-RS corresponding to a channel state information reference signal transmitted reports; and an interface for outputting the first DCI and the second DCI from the one or more processors and inputting the acknowledgment transmission from a receiving circuit. 10. A base station comprising an application processor, a memory, one or more antenna ports, and an interface for allowing the application processor to communicate with another device, the base station comprising any of claims 8 to 9 A device of the kind described. 11. A method for confirming beam switching, comprising: for the base station, generating first downlink control information DCI for the first user equipment UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for handover to the second UE beam; generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and Based on the trigger indicator, an acknowledgement transmission from the second UE beam is processed, wherein the acknowledgement transmission is a sounding reference signal SRS transmission. 12. A method for confirming beam switching, comprising: for the base station, generating first downlink control information DCI for the first user equipment UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for handover to the second UE beam; generating a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission for the first UE beam, generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam, An acknowledgment transmission is processed, wherein the acknowledgment transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission carrying a report corresponding to the CSI-RS transmission. 13. An apparatus operable as a base station in communication with a user equipment UE over a wireless network, comprising: means for generating first downlink control information DCI for a first UE beam, the first DCI carrying an indicator for switching to a second UE beam; means for generating a second DCI for the first UE beam, wherein the second DCI carries a trigger indicator for an acknowledgment signal for beam switching to the second UE beam; and means for processing an acknowledgement transmission from the second UE beam based on the trigger indicator, Wherein, the acknowledgment transmission is sounding reference signal SRS transmission, or, Wherein, the acknowledgement transmission is a channel quality indicator CQI report transmission, and the CQI report transmission carries a report corresponding to the channel state information reference signal CSI-RS transmission.

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