CN110622459A - Method and apparatus for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) reporting. A method for operating a User Equipment (UE) includes receiving and decoding higher layer configuration information for N CSI report settings and M resource settings. The method also includes receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report. The method also includes calculating CSI from the configuration information and the DCI and transmitting the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel. N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}One of the configuration states is selected.

Description

Method and apparatus for channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to methods for enabling channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource allocation. This method can be used when the user equipment is equipped with multiple transmit antennas and transmit-receive units.

Background

In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic since the deployment of 4 th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5 th generation (5G) or quasi-5G communication systems. Accordingly, the 5G or quasi-5G communication system is also referred to as a "super 4G network" or a "late Long Term Evolution (LTE) system". The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in a higher frequency (millimeter wave) band, for example, a 60Ghz band, in order to achieve a higher data rate. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase transmission distance, beamforming, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, and large antenna technology with respect to a 5G communication system are discussed. In addition, in the 5G communication system, development of improvement of a system network is ongoing based on advanced small cells, a cloud Radio Access Network (RAN), an ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, a wireless backhaul, a mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multipoint (CoMP), reception-side interference cancellation, and the like. In 5G systems, hybrid Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) and quadrature amplitude modulation (FQAM) and Sliding Window Superposition Coding (SWSC) of fisher (Feher) have been developed as Advanced Code Modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) as advanced access techniques.

The internet, which is a human-centric connectivity network in which humans generate and consume information, is now evolving into the internet of things (IoT), where distributed entities (e.g., things) exchange and process information without human intervention. Internet of everything (IoE) is a combination of IoT technology and big data processing technology through a connection with a cloud server. Since IoT implementations require technical elements such as "sensing technology", "wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure", "service interface technology", and "security technology", sensor networks, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), etc. have recently been studied. Such IoT environments can provide intelligent internet technology services that create new value for human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT can be applied in a variety of fields including smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or networked cars, smart grids, health care, smart home appliances, and advanced medical services through fusion and combination between existing Information Technology (IT) and various industrial applications.

In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply the 5G communication system to the IoT network. For example, techniques such as sensor network, MTC, and M2M communication may be implemented through beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Applying cloud RAN as an example of the big data processing technology described above can also be seen as an engagement between 5G technology and IoT technology.

As described above, various services can be provided according to the development of wireless communication systems, and thus a method for easily providing such services is required.

Disclosure of Invention

Problem solving scheme

In one embodiment, a User Equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a transceiver, and a processor operatively connected to the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings, and receive Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report. The processor is configured to decode the configuration information and the DCI, and calculate CSI from the configuration information and the DCI. The transceiver is further configured to transmit the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel. N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes an indication to select one from XSTATE configuration state.

Advantageous effects of the invention

According to embodiments, methods and apparatus are provided that are fully adaptable to reporting channel state information reports.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3A illustrates an example user device, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3B illustrates an example Base Station (BS) in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example beamforming architecture in which one CSI-RS port is mapped onto a large number of analog steered antenna elements;

fig. 5 illustrates an example of CSI-RS resource or resource set selection in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 shows two examples of two-phase CSI-RS resource or resource set selection for aperiodic CSI according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 illustrates an example of two-phase triggering of aperiodic CSI according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8A-8B illustrate examples of two-phase triggering of aperiodic CSI according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 shows a flowchart of an example method in which a UE receives and decodes CSI reports and resource configuration information, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

fig. 10 shows a flowchart of an example method in which a BS generates and transmits CSI reports and resource configuration information for a UE (labeled UE-k), according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for CSI-RS resource allocation.

In one embodiment, a User Equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a transceiver and a processor operatively connected to the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings, and receive Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report. The processor is configured to decode the configuration information and the DCI, and to calculate CSI from the configuration information and the DCI. The transceiver is further configured to transmit the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel. N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes an indication to select one from XSTATE configuration state.

In another embodiment, a Base Station (BS) is provided. The BS includes a processor, and a transceiver operatively connected to the processor. The processor is configured to generate (i) higher layer configuration information for N CSI report settings and M resource settings, and (ii) DCI including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report. The transceiver is configured to transmit configuration information to the UE and DCI to the UE via one or more Downlink (DL) control channels, and receive a CSI report calculated from the configuration information and the DCI from the UE on an UL channel. N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}A configuration ofOne of the states is selected.

In another embodiment, a method for operating a UE is provided. The method includes receiving and decoding higher layer configuration information for N CSI report settings and M resource settings. The method also includes receiving a DCI including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report. The method also includes calculating CSI from the configuration information and the DCI and transmitting the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel. N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}One of the configuration states is selected.

Detailed Description

Wireless communication has become one of the most successful innovations in modern history. Due to the increasing popularity of smart phones and other mobile data devices (e.g., tablet computers, "notebook" computers, netbooks, e-book readers, and machine-type devices) among consumers and business people, the demand for wireless data services is rapidly increasing. In order to meet the high growth of mobile data traffic and support new applications and deployments, improvements in radio interface efficiency and coverage are of paramount importance.

The mobile device or user equipment may measure the quality of the downlink channel and report this quality to the base station so that a decision can be made as to whether various parameters should be adjusted during communication with the mobile device. Existing channel quality reporting procedures in wireless communication systems do not adequately accommodate the reporting of channel state information associated with large two-dimensional array transmit antennas or antenna array geometries that typically accommodate a large number of antenna elements.

The present disclosure relates to a quasi-generation-5 (5G) or 5G communication system to be provided for supporting higher data rates than a generation-4 (4G) communication system such as Long Term Evolution (LTE).

Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

Before proceeding with the following description, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrase "associated with," and derivatives thereof, is intended to include, be included within, be interconnected with, be housed within, be connected to, be coupled with, be communicable with, cooperate with, be interleaved, be juxtaposed, be proximate to, be coupled to, be combined with, have the nature of, be related to, have the relationship to, or be in the like relation to. The term "controller" means any device, system, or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such controllers may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and/or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of," when used with a list of items, means that a different combination of one or more of the listed items can be used, and only one item in the list may be required. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes any of the following combinations: A. b, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and a and B and C.

Further, the various functions described below may be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each computer program formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, examples, related data, or portions thereof adapted for implementation in suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer-readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that convey transitory electrical or other signals. Non-transitory computer-readable media include media where data can be stored permanently and media where data can be stored and later rewritten, such as rewritable optical disks or erasable memory devices.

Definitions for other specific words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

Figures 1 through 10, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented by any suitably arranged wireless communication system.

List of acronyms

2D: two-dimensional

MIMO: multiple input multiple output

SU-MIMO: single user MIMO

MU-MIMO: multi-user MIMO

3 GPP: 3 rd generation partnership project

LTE: long term evolution

UE: user equipment

ENB: evolved node B or "eNB"

BS: base station

DL: downlink link

UL: uplink link

CRS: cell specific reference signal

DMRS: demodulation reference signal

SRS: sounding reference signal

UE-RS: UE specific reference signal

CSI-RS: channel state information reference signal

SCID: scrambling identity

MCS: modulation and coding scheme

RE: resource elements

CQI: channel quality information

PMI: precoding matrix indicator

RI: rank indicator

MU-CQI: multi-user CQI

CSI: channel state information

CSI-IM: CSI interference measurement

CoMP: coordinated multipoint

DCI: downlink control information

UCI: uplink control information

PDSCH: physical downlink shared channel

PDCCH: physical downlink control channel

PUSCH: physical uplink shared channel

PUCCH: physical uplink control channel

PRB: physical resource block

RRC: radio resource control

AoA: angle of arrival

AoD: angle of departure

The following literature and standard descriptions are incorporated into this disclosure by reference as if fully set forth herein: 3GPP Technical Specification (TS)36.211 version 12.4.0, "E-UTRA, physical channel and modulation" ("REF 1"); 3GPP TS36.212 release 12.3.0, "E-UTRA, multiplexing and channel coding" ("REF 2"); 3GPP TS 36.213 version 12.4.0, "E-UTRA, physical layer procedure" ("REF 3"); 3GPP TS 36.321 version 12.4.0, "E-UTRA, Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification" ("REF 4"); 3GPP TS 36.331 version 12.4.0, "E-UTRA, Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification" ("REF 5"); 3GPP Technical Specification (TS)38.211 release 15.0.0, "NR, physical channel and modulation" ("REF 6"); 3GPP TS 38.212 release 15.0.0, "NR, multiplexing and channel coding" ("REF 7"); 3GPP TS38.213 release 15.0.0, "NR, physical layer procedure for control" ("REF 8"); 3GPP TS 38.214 version 15.0.0, "NR, physical layer process for data" ("REF 9"); 3GPP TS 38.321 version 15.0.0, "NR, Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification" ("REF 10"); and 3GPP TS 38.331 version 15.0.0, "NR, Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification" ("REF 11").

To meet the ever-increasing demand for wireless data services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or quasi-5G communication systems. Accordingly, the 5G or quasi-5G communication system is also referred to as a "super 4G network" or a "post-LTE system".

The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in a higher frequency (millimeter wave) band, for example, a 60Ghz band, in order to achieve a higher data rate. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase transmission distance, beamforming, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, large antenna technology are discussed in the 5G communication system.

In addition, in the 5G communication system, development of improvement of a system network is ongoing based on advanced small cells, a cloud Radio Access Network (RAN), an ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, a wireless backhaul, a mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multipoint (CoMP), reception-side interference cancellation, and the like.

In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and Sliding Window Superposition Coding (SWSC) as Advanced Coding Modulation (ACM) and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) as advanced access techniques have been developed.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in fig. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

Wireless network 100 includes Base Station (BS)101, BS 102, and BS 103. BS 101 communicates with BS 102 and BS 103. The BS 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the internet, proprietary IP networks, or other data networks. Instead of "BS", option terms such as "eNB" (enhanced node B) or "gNB" (general node B) may also be used. Other well-known terms may be used instead of "gNB" or "BS" depending on the network type, such as "base station" or "access point". For convenience, the terms "gNB" and "BS" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. In addition, other well-known terms may be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE," such as "mobile station," "subscriber station," "remote terminal," "wireless terminal," or "user device," depending on the network type. For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, regardless of whether the UE is a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone or smartphone) or is generally considered a stationary device (e.g., a desktop computer or vending machine).

gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) located within coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes UE111, which may be located in a Small Business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE115, which may be located in a second residence (R); and a UE116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, wireless laptop, wireless PDA, or the like. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs located within coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes UE115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gnbs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, LTE-A, WiMAX, or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

The dashed lines illustrate the general extent of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as being generally circular for purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gNB (e.g., coverage areas 120 and 125) may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNB and the variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

As described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 transmit measurement reference signals to UEs 111-116 and configure UEs 111-116 for CSI reporting as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In various embodiments, one or more of UEs 111-116 receive a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

Although fig. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network 100, various changes may be made to fig. 1. For example, wireless network 100 may include any number of gnbs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. In addition, the gNB 101 may communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each of gnbs 102-103 may communicate directly with network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to network 130. Further, gNB 101, gNB 102, and/or gNB 103 may provide access to other or additional external networks (e.g., external telephone networks or other types of data networks).

Fig. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to this disclosure. In the following description, transmit path 200 may be described as being implemented in a gNB (e.g., gNB 102), while receive path 250 may be described as being implemented in a UE (e.g., UE 116). However, it will be understood that receive path 250 may be implemented in the gbb and transmit path 200 may be implemented in the UE. In some embodiments, receive path 250 is configured to receive CSI-RS, as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

The transmit path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215 of size N, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 220, an "add cyclic prefix" block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. Receive path 250 includes a down-converter (DC)255, a "remove cyclic prefix" block 260, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decode and demodulation block 280.

In transmit path 200, a channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies a coding (e.g., convolutional, turbo, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (e.g., with Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency domain modulation symbols. S-to-P block 210 converts (e.g., demultiplexes) the serially modulated symbols into parallel data in order to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT/FFT size used in gNB 102 and UE 116. IFFT block 215 of size N performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time domain output signal. P-to-S block 220 converts (e.g., multiplexes) the parallel time domain output symbols from IFFT block 215 of size N to generate a serial time domain signal. The "add cyclic prefix" block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix to the time domain signal. UC 230 modulates (e.g., frequency upconverts) the output of "add cyclic prefix" block 225 to RF frequency for transmission over the wireless channel. The signal may also be filtered at baseband before conversion to RF frequency.

The RF signals transmitted from the gNB 102 arrive at the UE116 after traversing the radio channel, and the reverse operation is performed at the UE116 to that at the gNB 102. DC 255 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency and "remove cyclic prefix" block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. Serial-to-parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal to parallel time-domain signals. An FFT block 270 of size N performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency domain signals. Parallel-to-serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. Channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

As described in more detail below, transmit path 200 or receive path 250 may perform signaling for CSI reporting. Each of the gnbs 101-103 may implement a transmit path 200, similar to transmitting to UE 111-116 in the downlink, and may implement a receive path 250, similar to receiving from UE 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement transmit path 200 for transmitting in the uplink to gNB 101-gNB 103 and may implement receive path 250 for receiving in the downlink from gNB 101-gNB 103.

Each of the components in fig. 2A and 2B may be implemented using hardware alone or using a combination of hardware and software/firmware. As a particular example, at least some of the components in fig. 2A and 2B may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented by configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. For example, FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, where a value of size N may be modified depending on the implementation.

Furthermore, although described as using an FFT and IFFT, this is for illustration only and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Other types of transforms may be used, such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It will be appreciated that the value of the variable N may be any integer of the DFT and IDFT functions (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while the value of the variable N may be any integer of the powers of two of the FFT and IFFT functions (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

Although fig. 2A and 2B illustrate examples of wireless transmit and receive paths, various changes may be made to fig. 2A and 2B. For example, various components in fig. 2A and 2B may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to particular needs. Additionally, fig. 2A and 2B are intended to illustrate examples of the types of transmit and receive paths that may be used in a wireless network. Other suitable architectures may be used to support wireless communications in a wireless network.

Fig. 3A illustrates an example UE116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of UE116 shown in fig. 3A is for illustration only, and UE 111-UE 115 of fig. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs have a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3A does not limit the scope of the disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

The UE116 includes an antenna 305, a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver 310, Transmit (TX) processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/O) interface 345, an input 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. Memory 360 includes an Operating System (OS) program 361 and one or more application programs 362.

RF transceiver 310 receives from antenna 305 an incoming RF signal transmitted by the gNB of wireless network 100 of fig. 1. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts an incoming RF signal to generate an Intermediate Frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 325, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 325 transmits the processed baseband signal to speaker 330 (e.g., for voice data) or processor 340 for further processing (e.g., for web browsing data).

TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (e.g., network data, email, or interactive video game data) from processor 340. TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 315 and upconverts the baseband or IF signals to an RF signal, which is transmitted via antenna 305.

The processor 340 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and executes OS programs 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control overall operation of the UE 116. For example, processor 340 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by RF transceiver 310, RX processing circuitry 325, and TX processing circuitry 315 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, processor 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

Processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in memory 360, such as operations for CSI-RS reception and measurement for the systems described in embodiments of the present disclosure, as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. Processor 340 may move data into or out of memory 360 by executing processes as needed. In some embodiments, processor 340 is configured to execute application 362 based on OS program 361 or in response to a signal received from the gNB or an operator. The processor 340 is also coupled to an I/O interface 345, the I/O interface 345 providing the UE116 with the ability to connect to other devices (e.g., laptop computers and handheld computers). I/O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and processor 340.

Processor 340 is also coupled to an input 350 (e.g., a keypad, touch screen, buttons, etc.) and a display 355. The operator of the UE116 may use the input 350 to input data into the UE 116. The display 355 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of rendering text and/or at least limited graphics, for example, from a website.

The memory 360 is coupled to the processor 340. A portion of memory 360 may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and another portion of memory 360 may include flash memory or other Read Only Memory (ROM).

As described in more detail below, the UE116 may perform signaling and calculations for CSI reporting. Although fig. 3A shows one example of UE116, various changes may be made to fig. 3A. For example, various components in FIG. 3A may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, processor 340 may be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs) and one or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Additionally, although fig. 3A illustrates the UE116 configured as a mobile phone or smartphone, the UE may be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

Fig. 3B illustrates an example gNB 102 in accordance with this disclosure. The implementation of the gNB 102 shown in fig. 3B is for illustration only, and the other gnbs of fig. 1 may have the same or similar configuration. However, the gNB has a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3B does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the gNB. gNB 101 and gNB 103 may include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

As shown in fig. 3B, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 370 a-370 n, multiple RF transceivers 372 a-372 n, Transmit (TX) processing circuitry 374, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 376. In some embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370 a-370 n comprises a 2D antenna array. The gNB 102 also includes a controller/processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

RF transceivers 372 a-372 n receive incoming RF signals, e.g., signals transmitted by UEs or other gnbs, from antennas 370 a-370 n. RF transceivers 372 a-372 n down-convert incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 376, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 376 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller/processor 378 for further processing.

TX processing circuitry 374 receives analog or digital data (e.g., voice data, network data, email, or interactive video game data) from controller/processor 378. TX processing circuitry 374 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a through 372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 374 and upconvert the baseband or IF signals to RF signals for transmission over antennas 370a through 370 n.

Controller/processor 378 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller/processor 378 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 372a through 372n, the RX processing circuitry 376, and the TX processing circuitry 374 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller/processor 378 may also support additional functions such as more advanced wireless communication functions. In some embodiments, controller/processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

Controller/processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in memory 380, such as an OS. The controller/processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays, as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller/processor 378 supports communication between entities (e.g., a network RTC). Controller/processor 378 may move data into and out of memory 380 as required by the executing process.

Controller/processor 378 is also coupled to a backhaul or network interface 382. Backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. Backhaul or network interface 382 may support communication for any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as a cellular communication system (e.g., a system supporting 5G or new radio access technologies or NR, LTE or LTE-a), the backhaul or network interface 382 may allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gnbs over wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, backhaul or network interface 382 may allow gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (e.g., the internet). Backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication via a wired or wireless connection, such as an ethernet or RF transceiver.

The memory 380 is coupled to the controller/processor 378. A portion of memory 380 may include RAM and another portion of memory 380 may include flash memory or other ROM. In some embodiments, a plurality of instructions (e.g., BIS algorithms) are stored in memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller/processor 378 to perform a BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interfering signal determined by a BIS algorithm.

As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of the gNB 102 (implemented using the RF transceivers 372 a-372 n, TX processing circuitry 374, and/or RX processing circuitry 376) allocate and transmit CSI-RSs.

Although fig. 3B shows one example of a gNB 102, various changes may be made to fig. 3B. For example, the gNB 102 may include any number of each of the components shown in fig. 3A. As a particular example, an access point can include multiple backhauls or network interfaces 382 and the controller/processor 378 can support routing functionality to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, although illustrated as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 374 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 376, gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (e.g., one instance per RF transceiver).

Rel.13lte supports up to 16 CSI-RS antenna ports, which enables the gNB to be equipped with a large number of antenna elements (e.g., 64 or 128). In this case, a plurality of antenna elements are mapped to one CSI-RS port. Furthermore, up to 32 CSI-RS ports will be supported in rel.14lte. For next generation cellular systems, e.g. 5G, it is expected that the maximum number of CSI-RS ports remains more or less the same.

For the millimeter-wave frequency band, although the number of antenna elements may be large for a given form factor, due to hardware limitations (e.g., the feasibility of installing a large number of ADCs/DACs at millimeter-wave frequencies), the number of CSI-RS ports, which may correspond to the number of digitally precoded ports, tends to be limited, as shown in transmitter 400 of fig. 4. In this case, one CSI-RS port is mapped onto a large number of antenna elements that can be controlled by a set of analog phase shifters 401. One CSI-RS port may then correspond to one sub-array that produces a narrow analog beam through analog beamforming 405. This analog beam may be configured to sweep a wider angular range 420 by varying the set of phase shifters across symbols or subframes or slots, where a subframe or slot includes a set of symbols. The number of sub-arrays (equal to the number of RF chains) and the number of CSI-RS ports N_CSI-portThe same is true. Digital beamforming unit 410 performs a cross-N operation_CSI-portLinear combinations of beams are modeled to further increase precoding gain. Although the analog beams are wideband (and thus not frequency selective), the digital precoding may be varied across frequency sub-bands or resource blocks.

The UE is configured with CSI-RS for CSI measurement and reporting. The allocation unit for the CSI-RS may be referred to as a CSI-RS resource, which may correspond to non-zero power (NZP) or Zero Power (ZP). The NZP CSI-RS is mainly used for channel measurement, and the ZP CSI-RS is used for interference measurement. For 5G NR, the NZP CSI-RS resource is defined as a set of NZP CSI-RS ports mapped to a set of REs within a frequency span/duration, which may be at least measured to derive CSI. Multiple NZP CSI-RS resources, each of which may have a different number of CSI-RS ports, may be configured to the UE to support CoMP, beam management, and CSI-RS based on multiple beamforming operations.

CSI-RS resources may become scarce when used for multiple applications and/or a large number of UEs. Therefore, there is a need to introduce an efficient CSI-RS resource sharing/pooling mechanism. However, this usually comes at the expense of dynamic signaling, especially on the DL control channel. In order to avoid overload (overuse) of the large Downlink Control Information (DCI) payload and PDCCH, RRC signaling and L2MAC CE (MAC control element) may be used in conjunction with L1 DL control signaling. However, for 5G NR, RRC reconfiguration should be avoided to minimize higher latency. Therefore, there is also a need to design a signaling mechanism with a minimum DL control signaling payload (e.g., DCI payload) to facilitate efficient resource sharing.

The present disclosure includes the following components for enabling CSI-RS allocation, transmission, and/or reception. The first component relates to CSI-RS resource allocation involving multiple resource sets, in particular for aperiodic CSI-RS (AP-CSI-RS). The second component relates to CSI-RS resource allocation in case of multiple Component Carriers (CCs). The third component regards aperiodic CSI (a-CSI) requests allocated via DL. Each of these components may be used alone (without the other components) or in combination with at least one of the other components. Likewise, each of these components includes a plurality of subcomponents. Each of the sub-components may be used alone (without any other components) or in combination with at least one of the other sub-components.

The following embodiments and sub-embodiments are described for CSI-RS resources or resource sets. However, they may also be used for other types of RS resources or resource sets, such as DMRSs (demodulation RSs), SRSs (sounding reference signals), mobility RSs, tracking RSs, or beam management RSs. In addition, only the description about a resource or a set of resources may apply to a port or a set of ports, where one resource includes a plurality of ports.

The following components and embodiments are applicable to transmissions having CP-OFDM (cyclic prefix OFDM) waveforms as well as DFT-SOFDM (DFT spread OFDM) and SC-FDMA (Single Carrier FDMA) waveforms. Furthermore, the following components and embodiments are applicable to transmissions when the scheduling unit is one subframe (which may consist of one or more slots) or one slot in time.

For the first component (i.e., CSI-RS resource allocation for multiple resource sets), in the following embodiments and sub-embodiments, a UE may be configured with multiple resource settings, where each resource setting may include a set of S ≧ 1 reference signal (e.g., CSI-RS) resources. Here, the resources are used for measurements and calculations related to CSI or beam management. Using CSI-RS as resources or RS types, each resource set S (S ═ 0,1, …, S-1) may include K_sMore than or equal to 1 resource. In this case, LTE can be considered as a special case of S ═ 1. Therefore, in case of S ≧ 1, the UE may be configured with K ≧ 1 CSI-RS resource. At S>In case of 1 CSI-RS resource set, different resource sets may overlap each other or not overlap each other. When this functionality is used for resource sharing across multiple UEs or TRPs, overlap between the two sets may occur (i.e., at least one CSI-RS resource in the first set is the same as the CSI-RS resource in the second set).

For NR, configuring a UE with S >1 sets of CSI-RS resources may be used for various purposes. One example use case is for CSI-RS resource aggregation, whether for use by a UE to receive transmissions from multiple TRPs (e.g., coherent joint transmissions), or for forming CSI-RS resources with a larger number of ports. In this case, aggregation across multiple sets of CSI-RS resources may be performed semi-statically or dynamically.

Another example use case is for beam management, where a large number of beams (where one beam may be associated with a CSI-RS resource, a set of ports, or a combination of both) may be grouped into S groups. Here, each beam group may correspond to one set. If the beam is associated with one CSI-RS resource (e.g., N)_kCSI-RS resources for each port) are associated, beam management may be performed across S sets or beam groups. For example, the beam reports and measurements may correspond to set or beam group quality (e.g., group-RSRP or group-CQI and its associated group or set index). Optionally, each set or beam group may be implemented as a coarse beam (coarse beam) with its associated coarse beam index (or, optionally, a level 1 or coarse CSI-RS resource index). In this case, each set s (or K) may be defined or configured_sWaves composed of individual beams or CSI-RS resourcesBeam group) and coarse beam or CSI-RS resource index. In this case, there are two levels of beams or resources. In each of the S sets, after the UE is assigned a beam group of set S, finer beam management (e.g., across K) may be performed_sBeam reporting or measurement with finer beams/resources). Optionally, instead of performing beam management within the set s, it may be, for example, based on CSI-RS resource index (CRI), CQI, PMI, and/or RI across K_sThe CSI-RS resources perform CSI acquisition.

When the total number of beams (or CSI-RS resources), K, is large (K may be >100 for >6 GHz), the signaling support for configuring the UE with S sets (or groups of beams) of CSI-RS resources and the reporting/measurement within each set of resources may be designed with at least two levels. This is to avoid excessive signaling overhead (DL and/or UL) while providing sufficient flexibility.

In another example use case, the UE is configured with S>1 CSI-RS resource set, wherein at least one of the S CSI-RS resource sets is used for CSI acquisition and at least another one of the S CSI-RS resource sets is used for beam management. In the special case of S-2, one CSI-RS resource set (with K)₀>1 resource) may be configured with a CSI report (e.g., with CRI, RI, PMI, and/or CQI), while another set of CSI-RS resources (with K) may be configured₁>1 resource) may be configured with a beam management report (e.g., beam-RSRP and/or CRI).

In one embodiment (embodiment I.I), a total of K CSI-RS resources are first configured for the UE via higher layer (e.g., RRC) signaling. The value of K may be large so that higher layer/RRC reconfiguration may be minimized. Likewise, for large K, higher layer configurations may be used to avoid dynamic signaling of, for example, at least 7-bit DCI fields (per CC) for resource selection.

In addition to configuring K CSI-RS resources for the UE, the UE may also be configured with S (≧ 1) CSI-RS resource sets or groups, where the K CSI-RS resources are grouped into S sets. Grouping the K CSI-RS resources into S resource sets/groups may be described as follows. Will be sigma_iDenoted as the ith CSI-RS resource set and p_kDenoted as the kth resource. Next, considerTo the extent that at least two sets may have overlapping resources, such resource groupings may be described as follows:

(equation 1)

In one or more embodiments, at least the following options may be used. First, the S sets are also configured via higher layer/RRC signaling. Second, S sets are dynamically configured (e.g., via L1/L2DL control signaling). Third, S sets are configured with a combination of higher layer/RRC and L1/L2DL control signaling. Overall, using higher layer signaling (which means higher delay) would reduce resource pooling or sharing gain, but would sacrifice dynamic signaling overhead. For dynamic signaling, L1 (via DCI for DL/UL allocation) or L2(MAC CE) signaling may be used.

When used with aperiodic CSI-RS (AP-CSI-RS), DCI-based CSI-RS resource selection may be used to indicate to a UE a small subset of CSI-RS resources (including the possibility of only one CSI-RS resource) associated with a transmitted AP-CSI-RS (in the same slot/subframe as the DCI or in a slot/subframe after the DCI). In this disclosure, this stage is referred to as dynamic 2. Prior to this stage of DCI-based CSI-RS resource selection, intermediate dynamic signaling may also be used to select a larger subset from the K higher layer configured CSI-RS resources. In this disclosure, this stage is referred to as dynamic 1. For dynamic 1, MAC CE or DCI based signaling may be used. MAC CE results in higher delay but is more reliable than DCI. In addition to CSI-RS resource selection, dynamic 1 and/or dynamic 2 may also be used for CSI-RS resource set selection.

Dynamic 1 may be used unconditionally or may be used only when at least one condition is met in the UE configuration. In one scheme (condition 1), one condition is the value of K and/or N, or the value of S and/or M. In another scheme (condition 2), if S is configured>1, then one condition is N_SAnd/or K_SThe value of (c). In another scheme (condition 3), a combination of the two examples mentioned previously may be used. For example, specific conditions based on the scheme (condition) 1 can be described as follows. If K is>X (where the value of X is configurable or fixed), then dynamic 1 is used. Otherwise (if K ≦ X), dynamic 1 is skipped. Another specific condition based on the scheme (condition) 1 can be described as follows. If S is>Y (where the value of Y is configurable or fixed), then dynamic 1 is used. Otherwise (if S ≦ Y), dynamic 1 is skipped. If both K and S are configured via higher layer signaling (scheme b.1, c.1, c.2 or c.3 in table 1 below), then a condition based on K and S may be used, e.g., if K is>X (where the value of X is configurable or fixed) or S>Y (where the value of Y is configurable or fixed), then dynamic 1 is used. Otherwise (if K ≦ X and S ≦ Y), dynamic 1 is skipped. The value of the threshold (X and/or Y) may be derived from the number of bits used for the selected DCI field in dynamic 2.

When used without any condition, dynamic 1 occurs with any value of K and/or N and S and/or M.

Table 1 lists several exemplary scenarios of embodiment I. Scheme a is based on CSI-RS resource selection, while schemes b.1 and b.2 are based on CSI-RS resource set selection. For scheme b.1, the higher layer configuration may include a configuration of S sets of CSI-RS resources and CSI-RS resources per S set. Explicit configuration of the value of K may or may not be included. For this scheme (b.1), the subset selection (dynamic 1, if used) and resource selection (dynamic 2) will be performed at the level of the resource set instead of the resources. In schemes c.1, c.2 and c.3, a subset of resources within at least one resource set is selected. For CSI-RS resource selection, the CSI-RS resources correspond to CSI-RS resource indices. Likewise, for purposes of CSI-RS resource set selection, a CSI-RS resource set corresponds to a CSI-RS resource set index. For a scenario c.1, c.2 or c.3, subset selection (dynamic 1, if used) and resource selection (dynamic 2) are performed at the resource level.

[ Table 1]

For this embodiment, several example signaling formats (resource or resource set selection/activation) may be utilized in one or more embodiments of dynamic 1.

In a first option (option 1), a bitmap-based approach is used. For example, for scheme a, a bitmap of size K is 1 at the nth component when the nth resource is activated/selected, and 0 otherwise. One bitmap per Component Carrier (CC) may be used. Here, the value of N may be signaled implicitly in the bitmap (by the number of components with a value of 1), or configured via higher layer signaling. For scheme b.1, when the nth resource set is activated/selected, the bitmap of size S is 1 at the nth component, and 0 otherwise. One bitmap per Component Carrier (CC) may be used. Here, the value of M may be signaled implicitly in the bitmap (by the number of components with a value of 1), or configured via higher layer signaling. For scheme C.1, the size of the s-th set of K may be used_SWhen the nth resource is activated/selected, it is 1 at the nth component, otherwise it is 0, S-0, 1, …, S-1.

In a second option (option 2), a codeword based approach is used, where each codepoint of a codeword indicates a selection hypothesis. For example, for scenario A, one may useBit field, one field per Component Carrier (CC). N is a radical of_SThe value of (c) may be signaled as part of dynamic 1 or separately via RRC (higher layer) signaling. For scheme B.1, one can useBit field, one field per Component Carrier (CC). N is a radical of_SThe value of (c) may be signaled as part of dynamic 1 or separately via RRC (higher layer) signaling. For scheme C.1, the s-th set may be usedBit field, S-0, 1, …, S-1.

As previously mentioned, two sub-embodiments may be used in one or more embodiments: MAC CE or DCI may be used for dynamic 1.

In a sub-embodiment using MAC CE, one signaling unit comprises one octet (octet) (set of 8 bits), where one octet may carry a bitmap or codeword. In case multiple octets are needed, they can be aggregated for one bitmap or codeword. An example procedure is as follows. First, the UE receives via the PDSCH in slot n. Then, the UE that has successfully decoded the MAC CE message assumes selection/activation in slot n + D. The value of D may be the same as or different from the value used for PDCCH. For example, for scheme a, if a bitmap of size K is used, then N may be implicitly signaled in the bitmap (and thus may be dynamically configured). The DCI payload for dynamic 2 may then change dynamically (in response to the MAC CE) or semi-statically (fixed to a maximum value of N). If the UE is configured with multiple component carriers or cells, one MAC CE signaling unit may be associated with one component carrier or one cell. Alternatively, one MAC CE signaling element may be used for (collectively) the total number of CSI-RS resources across all component carriers or cells. Likewise, for scheme b.1, if a bitmap of size S is used, then M may be implicitly signaled in the bitmap (and thus may be dynamically configured). The DCI payload for dynamic 2 may then change dynamically (in response to the MAC CE) or semi-statically (fixed to a maximum value of M). If the UE is configured with multiple component carriers or cells, one MAC CE signaling unit may be associated with one component carrier or one cell. Alternatively, one MAC CE signaling element may be used for the total number of CSI-RS resource sets (collectively) across all component carriers or cells.

MAC CE signaling is present if dynamic 1 is used without any condition. For example, when using the bitmap method, a bitmap of size K or size S is presented, where each of the elements is 1 (i.e., all resources or set of resources are selected).

In another sub-embodiment using DCI, at least two example schemes may be used. In the following embodiment, scheme a in table 1 (N selected from K configuration resources) is assumed. Extensions to other schemes can be inferred by those skilled in the art from table 1 and the following description.

In a first example (Alt1), CSI-RS resource or resource set selection (activation-deactivation) is done by activating N CSI-RS resources at a time. In order to activate N CSI-RS resources, a usage pattern of DCI is required. As described above, the value of N may be configured via higher layer (RRC) or dynamic signaling. When another DCI is received, the N selected resources will be deactivated. This example may be shown in diagram 500 of fig. 5, where N-2 is assumed for illustrative purposes. When the first DCI is received (501), 2 resources are selected or activated from K. In case a second DCI is received (502), where 2 possibly different resources are selected or activated, resources different from those indicated in the latest DCI are released or deselected. Likewise, in case a third DCI is received (503), where 2 possibly different resources are selected or activated, resources different from the resources indicated in the latest DCI are released or deselected. This DCI may include a field indicating that a selection of N resources from among K resources, such as a bitmap or codeword as described above, may be used.

In a second example (Alt2), CSI-RS resource or resource set selection (activation-deactivation) is done by activating 1 CSI-RS resource at a time. In order to activate the total N CSI-RS resources, at most N DCI needs to be continuously used. Thus, the number of CSI-RS resources activated/selected may vary in a given time slot. Another DCI may be used to deselect or deactivate 1 CSI-RS resource. This example may be shown in diagram 550 of fig. 5. When a first selection or activation DCI is received 551, 1 resource is selected or activated from K, followed by a second selection or activation DCI 552, where a different other resource is selected or activated. Until receiving 552, two CSI-RS resources are selected or activated. When a first deselection or deactivation DCI is received (553), 1 of the previously activated or selected resources is deactivated or selected. Until receiving 553, only 1 CSI-RS resource is selected or activated. When a third selection or activation DCI is received (554), another resource is selected or activated from K. Until receiving 554, a total of 2 CSI-RS resources are selected or activated. When a second deselection or deactivation DCI is received (555), 1 of the previously activated or selected resources is deactivated or selected. Only 1 CSI-RS resource is selected or activated until reception 555. In addition to the field indicating 1 of the K configured CSI resources, it is also possible to distinguish selecting or activating DCI from deselecting or deactivating DCI by using a one-bit field (indicating whether DCI selects or deselects CSI-RS resources). Optionally, a one-bit field is not needed, because when the UE receives the CSI-RS resource indication field and decodes the value X the first (or third, fifth, etc.) time, the UE may assume that the indicated CSI-RS resource is selected or activated. Likewise, when the UE receives the CSI-RS resource indication field and decodes the value X a second (or fourth, sixth, etc.) time, the UE may assume that the indicated CSI-RS resource is deselected or deactivated.

In a variation of the second example, x is activated by the first time>1 CSI-RS resource to complete CSI-RS resource or resource set selection (activation-deactivation). To activate a total of N CSI-RS resources, at most, continuous use is requiredAnd (5) DCI.

In any slot/subframe, the UE may receive dynamic 2DCI including an a-CSI request and an indication of a CSI-RS resource selected from N' CSI-RS resources selected or activated via dynamic 1 signaling (first example Alt1 or second example Alt 2). When the first example Alt1 is used, N' ═ N. When using the second example Alt2, N' is the cumulative number of activated CSI-RS resources as shown in fig. 6. This indication may be signaled in the form of an n-bit DCI field, where n allows a total of 2ⁿThe states (or hypotheses or code points) are used to select CSI-RS resources and/or sets of CSI-RS resources. For example, in scheme B.1, the number of states is 2ⁿEqual to or greater than the number of possible selection combinationsFor M' ═ 1, number of states 2ⁿEqual to or greater than M. With respect to embodiments (sub-embodiments) that conditionally use dynamic 1, the correlation threshold (X and/or Y) may be counted from the state of DCI signaling 2ⁿDeducing or equaling the number of states 2 of DCI signalingⁿ. That is, if the total number of CSI-RS resources or resource sets is greater than DCI signaling 2ⁿThen dynamic 1 is used. Otherwise, dynamic 1 may be skipped (or alternatively, if a bitmap approach is used, all elements of the bitmap are set to one).

The number of states of DCI signaling may be semi-statically configured (for the UE) via higher layer (e.g., RRC) signaling (2)ⁿOr n itself).

Overall, Alt2 allows finer granularity (and efficiency) than Alt1, but at the cost of total DL control overhead (of activating N resources) and latency.

For this sub-embodiment (DCI based solution), the DCI for dynamic 1 may be a DL-related or UL-related DCI (associated with a DL allocation or UL grant, respectively). Alternatively, this DCI may have a special format (not the format used for authorization/allocation). To increase the reliability of this DCI, the UE may report an ACK/NAK in response to receiving this DCI (e.g., when using DCI for DL allocation, this may be natural, but may also be used for special format DCI). As far as its position in the PDCCH (or DL L1 control channel in general) search space is concerned, it may be located in a common search space (which requires slot/subframe searching by connected UEs) or in a UE-specific search space (which requires searching by UEs in terms of UE identity).

To ensure efficient use of the DL L1 control channel (e.g., PDCCH), UE group DCI may be used for this purpose, where multiple UEs may share the same CSI-RS resource or resource set selection. For example, when UEs are RRC connected, the UE group DCI may be capped with a UE group identity (e.g., UE group RNTI) assigned to these UEs. Whether the assigned RNTI is UE-specific or UE group-specific may be transparent to the UE. Optionally, an additional indicator for the type of RNTI may be used to distinguish this UE group RNTI from other types of RNTIs. Further, the UE group RNTI for CSI-RS resource or resource set selection may be further distinguished from other types of UE group RNTIs. This may be helpful when the UE is expected to perform at least one different procedure when receiving and decoding the UE group RNTI. In addition, if ACK/NACK is also used for dynamic 1DCI, it is desirable for the UE to report ACK/NAK to the network/gNB/TRP when DCI with the allocated UE group RNTI is detected. By reporting the ACK/NAK, the network/gbb/TRP can retransmit the DCI if most, if not all, UEs are unable to decode the DCI. Otherwise, the network/gNB/TRP may assume that a UE that failed to decode DCI (via NAK response or absence of response/DTX) assumes a previously (most recently) decoded DCI, which includes CSI-RS resources or resource set indications.

For the second component (that is, CSI-RS resource allocation in case of multiple component carriers), the term Component Carrier (CC) is used to denote various concepts related to the use of multiple radio resources or elements, such as multiple Component Carriers (CCs) in carrier aggregation, multiple cells or multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs) and/or possibly multiple antenna array panels. In this second component, a more detailed implementation is provided for the case of multiple CCs or cells.

When a UE is configured to receive transmissions from multiple Component Carriers (CCs) or multiple cells, e.g., in the case of Carrier Aggregation (CA) and/or COMP, CSI-RS resource or resource set selection is performed for each of the CCs. To avoid excessive DL signaling overhead (particularly associated with dynamic 2 described in component 1 above) when configuring aperiodic CSI (a-CSI) and AP-CSI-RS for a UE, LTE uses an RRC-based scheme to support multiple CCs. In N_CCFor single component carrier, use for CSI-RS resource selection (S-1 for LTE)Bit DCI field and association of RRC configuration between nth hypothesis (for nth CC) and selected CSI-RS resource (select 1 out of N-activate via MAC CE). One drawback of this scheme is that RRC reconfiguration is required in order to change the selected CSI-RS resource. However, toAt NR, RRC reconfiguration is minimized. In addition, since RRC configuration causes more delay than MAC CE signaling, such RRC configuration (that is, association between DCI hypothesis and selected resource) achieves the purpose of MAC CE based resource selection.

The number of component carriers N for DL or UL may be configured via higher layer (RRC) signaling or MAC CE_CC。

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, dynamic signaling is used to configure DCI field hypotheses (code points) in dynamic 2DCI instead of RRC or higher layer signaling_CCAn association between each selected CSI-RS resource or set of resources of each of the configured component carriers. This DCI field is used to request an a-CSI report and, if applicable, to select one CSI-RS resource from a small number of CSI-RS resources. In the example schemes and sub-embodiments below, it is assumed that dynamic 1 is used to select N CSI-RS resources from among the K higher layer configured CSI-RS resources (scheme a of component 1 in table 1). Extensions to other schemes in table 1 (e.g., scheme b.1, where M are selected from the S CSI-RS resource sets) may be inferred by those skilled in the art. In addition, the extension of the number of CSI-RS resources K or the number of resource sets S from one CC to another different context can also be inferred by those skilled in the art.

In one sub-embodiment (scheme ii.1.1), for a given UE, for each CC, K is selected when requesting (triggering) an a-CSI report via UL-related DCI>Which one of 1 higher layer configured CSI-RS resource (or for scheme B.1, S of Table 1)>1 set of CSI-RS resources) is configured for the UE and indicated to the UE (by the network/gbb/TRP). For this indication, per CCA bit indicator may be used for each UE. This association is configured for the UE as part of (or similar to) dynamic 1 signaling.

This association scheme is used in conjunction with the dynamic 2 mechanism. In particular, it may be in DCI related to ULThe bit DCI fields are used together for an a-CSI request (in the same DL slot/subframe as the AP-CSI-RS transmission) to indicate the presence of AP-CSI-RS for each CC.

In another sub-embodiment (scheme ii.1.2), for a given UE, for each CC, K is selected when requesting (triggering) a-CSI reporting via UL related DCI>Which N of 1 higher layer configured CSI-RS resource>1 (or for scheme B.1, S of Table 1)>1 set of CSI-RS resources) is configured for the UE and indicated to the UE (by the network/gbb/TRP). For this indication, per CCA bit indicator may be used for each UE. This association is configured for the UE as part of (or similar to) dynamic 1 signaling.

This association scheme is used in conjunction with the dynamic 2 mechanism. In particular, it may be in DCI related to ULThe bit DCI fields are used together for an a-CSI request (in the same DL slot/subframe as the AP-CSI-RS transmission) to select 1 from the N CSI-RS resources per CC.

As described above, any of the sub-embodiments described above configure an association between an assumption (code point) in the DCI field for requesting an a-CSI report and, if applicable, selecting one CSI-RS resource from a small number of CSI-RS resources-or optionally one set of CSI-RS resources from a small number of sets of CSI-RS resources. In scheme II.1.1, this association information includes N_CCAnBit indicator, wherein the nth indicator (N ═ 0,1, …, N_CC-1) determining which of the K higher layer configured CSI-RS resources to select for the nth CC. When dynamic 2DCI is usedNth code point request or trigger A-CSI report of bit DCI fieldIn turn, the UE reports a-CSI for the nth CC based on selecting CSI-RS resources for the nth CC as reference resources. In scheme II.1.2, this association information includes N_CCAnBit indicator, wherein the nth indicator (N ═ 0,1, …, N_CC-1) determining which N of the K higher layer configured CSI-RS resources to select for the nth CC. When dynamic 2DCI is usedThe mth code point of the bit DCI field (m 0,1, …, NN)_CC-1) when requesting or triggering A-CSI reporting, the UE is based on the selection for the (mod (N, N) th_CC) CSI-RS resource of CC as reference resource to report for the second CCA-CSI for each CC.

Depending on the number of configured component carriers N_CCTwo sub-embodiments (schemes ii.1.1 and ii.1.2) can be used together. Furthermore, the value of N may depend on N_CCBut varied to ensure that the resulting DCI payload for dynamic 2 is not excessive (or remains the same, i.e., remains the same)Remain the same) while allowing a degree of flexibility in CSI-RS resource selection.

Thus, in one variation of scheme ii.1.2, for N_CCA given value of (N) specifies a value of (fixed). That is to say that the position of the first electrode,

(equation 2)

Here, x₁＜x₂＜…＜x_PAnd y₁＞y₂＞…＞y_P1. One special case is P ═ 2. In this case, when N_CCLess than a certain valueUsing x₁，N＝y₁Is greater than 1. Otherwise, N ═ 1 is used. In the special case of equation (2) or P ═ 2, for example, { x ] can be chosen₁，...，x_PAnd { y }₁，...，y_PAre such thatNot exceeding a given value. Alternatively, { x } may be selected₁，...，x_PAnd { y }₁，...，y_PSo that for different N_CCThe value of the one or more of,remain the same. Optionally, { x ] may be configured via higher layer (RRC) signaling₁，...，x_PAnd { y }₁，...，y_P}。

As described above, the above schemes ii.1.1 and ii.1.2 assuming scheme a of table 1 are described. For scheme b.1 of table 1, K and N may be substituted with S and M, respectively.

This dynamic signaling may be done via DCI (hence the DL L1 control channel) or MAC CE.

In one sub-embodiment (scheme ii.2.1), a DCI based scheme is used, where a special DCI format is used for this purpose only, without data DL/UL allocation. The DCI may be UE-specific, or UE group-specific (where one DCI carries CSI-RS resource or resource set selection configuration for a group of UEs). If a multi-functional UE group-specific DCI is used, this DCI may include a "function indicator" field with one hypothesis (code point) indicating "CSI-RS resource selection/configuration" (among other functions of this UE group-specific DCI).

In another sub-embodiment (scheme ii.2.2), a MAC-CE based scheme is used, where each CC is allocated one or more octets per UE. In this case, is N_CCEach of the individual CCs is allocated one MAC CE. Alternatively, one MAC CE may be used for all N_CCAnd (5) each CC. Since the MAC CE is used for various purposes, an' "function indicator" field similar to the LTE LCID may be used to indicate the function of the MAC CE.

When the UE is configured with an a-CSI report and the AP-CSI-RS is configured with multiple CSI-RS resources or resource sets, the UE procedure for a-CSI reporting may be described as follows. First, the UE receives a dynamic 1 activation message (via DCI or MAC CE) in slot/subframe n. Then, after a successful decoding attempt, the UE assumes that the CSI-RS resource or resource set is configured from slot/subframe n + D₁Starting until the UE is in the next slot/subframe n + D₂Until a deactivation message (associated with a previous activation) or another activation message is received. In time slot/sub-frame n + D₁And n + D₂In between, whenever the UE receives UL-related DCI (corresponding to dynamic 2 operation) including an a-CSI request, the UE interprets the CSI request DCI field according to the CSI-RS resource or resource set configuration.

When a UE is configured with CSI measurement settings having L >1 links, where each of the L links associates one CSI report setting with one resource setting, and at least two of the L links correspond to a CSI report setting configured with an a-CSI report and a resource setting configured with an AP-CSI-RS, signaling for dynamic 1(MAC CE or DCI), which may include CSI-RS resources or resource set selection, or dynamic 2 (DCI for an a-CSI request, which may include CSI-RS resources or resource set selection) may include a "link indicator" that indicates which of the L links the signaling is associated with. For DCI based signaling, this "link indicator" may be part of or separate from the CSI request field. The size of the "link indicator" field depends on the value of L configured by higher layers. This indicator may also be signaled with at least one of a CSI request field and a CSI-RS resource or resource set selection indicator.

Fig. 6 illustrates the use of dynamic 1 and dynamic 2 when a UE is configured with a-CSI reporting and AP-CSI-RS, according to some embodiments and sub-embodiments in the present disclosure. Graph 600 is shown at N_CCExample operation with 1 CC (for illustration purposes, M' is 1), and graph 610 shows at N_CC>Example operation for case of 1 CC. In both examples, scheme b.1 of table 1 is assumed.

When a UE is configured with multiple component carriers (N)_CC>1) Wherein each component carrierIn association with multiple sets of CSI-RS resources (where the number of sets of CSI-RS resources may be the same or different across different component carriers), for N_CCThe CSI report for each of the plurality of component carriers is associated with at least one CSI report setting. This reporting setup may be linked with one or more resource setups, where each resource setup may include one or more sets of CSI-RS resources. In this scenario, several sub-embodiments (i.e., variations of diagram 610) may be utilized in one or more embodiments.

In one sub-embodiment (scenario ii.3.1), the higher layer (e.g., RRC) configuration includes multiple CSI reporting settings, where each CSI reporting setting may be associated with one component carrier and the CSI reporting setting is linked with one resource setting or multiple resource settings. The UE is also configured with N_STATE(N_{Status of state}) A set of states, wherein each state corresponds to a CSI report setting. When one CSI report setting is linked to multiple resource settings, different states may correspond to the same CSI report setting but different resource settings. In this way, CSI-RS resource or resource set selection may be performed via "state" selection by linking resource settings comprising a subset of CSI-RS resources or resource sets to CSI reporting settings. The subset of CSI-RS resources or resource sets may be derived from a subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets included in the resource arrangement. Whether to include a subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets in a corresponding "state" may be configured and indicated to the UE semi-statically (via higher layer or RRC signaling) or dynamically (via MAC CE or DCI). Since one CSI report setting may be linked to more than one resource setting for this given "state," a resource (or set of resources) indication may be used for each of the resource settings that are linked to the CSI report setting. That is, if the CSI report setting for this particular state j is linked to M_jResource setting, then M may be used_jA subset indication. Each of the subset indications may be a bitmap of a size equal to the number of CSI-RS resources or resource sets included in the corresponding resource setting. If only one CSI-RS resource or resource set is selected, thenTo useBit indicator (NumResource is the number of resources or resource sets included in the resource setting).

Thus, for this sub-embodiment, the "state" j may correspond to (including references to) a CSI report setting, one or more resource settings linked to the CSI report setting.

Alternatively, the "state" j may correspond to (including a reference to) a CSI report setting, one or more resource settings linked to the CSI report setting, and a CSI-RS resource (or set of CSI-RS resources) subset selection indicator for each of the resource settings. Alternatively, the indication of the CSI-RS resource (or set of CSI-RS resources) subset selection for each of the resource settings and the resource settings may be combined into one indicator. Optionally, an additional indicator associating CSI report settings with Component Carriers (CCs) may be added.

The above "state" configuration may be performed semi-statically, thus being part of the higher layer (e.g., RRC) signaling for aperiodic CSI reporting. Optionally, this "trigger state" configuration may also be signaled via the MAC CE for faster updating.

Furthermore, several different CSI reporting settings may be associated with different component carriers. Thus, triggering different CSI report settings (via triggering different states) may result in triggering different component carriers.

Similar to the previous embodiment, the dynamic 1 may be used as follows. If the number of states N_STATEGreater than a threshold value X_STATE(X_{Status of state}) Then use dynamic 1 to slave N_STATETo X_STATEThe number of states is selected downward. For this purpose, N may be used_STATEBitmap (similar to scheme II.1.1 above) orBit indicator (similar to scheme 1.2 above) to signal via DCI (similar to scheme ii.2.1 above) or MAC CE (similar to scheme ii.2.2 above)The number informs of the selected subset of states. If the number of states N_STATELess than or equal to a threshold value X_STATEThen dynamic 1 is not used. Threshold value X_STATEMay be fixed or higher layer (e.g., RRC) configured. Threshold value X_STATETrigger X in State 2 may correspond to the number of code points that the DCI field for the A-CSI request in dynamic 2 may accommodate_STATEOne of the states. It should be noted that an additional assumption for "no a-CSI request" may be required — resulting in a total of (X)_STATE+1) code point. By triggering one of the states, a selected CSI reporting setting corresponding to a CSI-RS resource or set of resources (and component carrier, in case the UE is configured with multiple component carriers) is selected or triggered.

This sub-implementation may be shown in graph 700 of fig. 7, where one of the trigger states is associated with one of the trigger CSI reporting settings.

In another sub-embodiment (scenario ii.3.2), a higher layer (e.g., RRC) configuration includes multiple CSI reporting settings, where each CSI reporting setting may be associated with one component carrier and the CSI reporting setting is linked with one resource setting or multiple resource settings. The UE is also configured with N_STATEA set of states, wherein each state corresponds to at least one CSI report setting. When one CSI report setting is linked to multiple resource settings, different states may correspond to the same CSI report setting being different resource settings. In this way, CSI-RS resource or resource set selection may be performed via "state" selection by linking resource settings comprising a subset of CSI-RS resources or resource sets to CSI reporting settings. The subset of CSI-RS resources or resource sets may be derived from a subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets included in the resource arrangement. Whether to include a subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets in a corresponding "state" may be configured and indicated to the UE semi-statically (via higher layer or RRC signaling) or dynamically (via MAC CE or DCI). Since each of the CSI reporting settings may be linked to more than one resource setting for this given "state", a resource (or resource set) indication may be usedEach of the resource settings linked to a CSI report setting. That is, if the CSI report setting for this particular state j is linked to M_jResource setting, then M may be used_jA subset indication. Each of the subset indications may be a bitmap of a size equal to the number of CSI-RS resources or resource sets included in the corresponding resource setting. If only one CSI-RS resource or resource set is selected, it can be usedBit indicator (NumResource is the number of resources or resource sets included in the resource setting).

Thus, for this sub-embodiment, a "state" j may correspond to (including references to) one or more CSI reporting settings, one or more resource settings linked to each of the CSI reporting settings.

Alternatively, the "state" j may correspond to (including references to) one or more CSI report settings, one or more resource settings linked to each of the CSI report settings, and a CSI-RS resource (or set of CSI-RS resources) subset selection indicator for each of the resource settings. Alternatively, the indication of the CSI-RS resource (or set of CSI-RS resources) subset selection for each of the resource settings and the resource settings may be combined into one indicator. Optionally, an additional indicator associating CSI report settings with Component Carriers (CCs) may be added.

The above "state" configuration may be performed semi-statically, thus being part of the higher layer (e.g., RRC) signaling for aperiodic CSI reporting. Optionally, this "trigger state" configuration may also be signaled via the MAC CE for faster updating.

Furthermore, several different CSI reporting settings may be associated with different component carriers. Thus, triggering different CSI report settings (via triggering different states) may result in triggering different component carriers.

Similar to the previous embodiment, the dynamic 1 may be used as follows. If the number of states N_STATEGreater than a threshold value X_STATEThen use dynamic 1 to slave N_STATETo X_STATEThe number of states is selected downward. For this purpose, N may be used_STATEBitmap (similar to scheme II.1.1 above) orA bit indicator (similar to scheme ii.1.2 above) to signal the selected subset of states via DCI (similar to scheme ii.2.1 above) or MAC CE (similar to scheme ii.2.2 above). If the number of states N_STATELess than or equal to a threshold value X_STATEThen dynamic 1 is not used. Threshold value X_STATEMay be fixed or higher layer (e.g., RRC) configured. Threshold value X_STATETrigger X in State 2 may correspond to the number of code points that the DCI field for the A-CSI request in dynamic 2 may accommodate_STATEOne of the states. It should be noted that an additional assumption for "no a-CSI request" may be required — resulting in a total of (X)_STATE+1) code point. By triggering one of the states, at least one CSI reporting setting corresponding to the selection of the CSI-RS resource or set of resources (and component carrier, in case the UE is configured with multiple component carriers) is selected or triggered.

This sub-implementation may be illustrated in graph 800 of fig. 8A, where one of the trigger states is associated with triggering at least one of the CSI reporting settings. It should be noted that the number of CSI reporting settings for different states may vary.

In another sub-embodiment (scenario ii.3.3), a higher layer (e.g., RRC) configuration includes multiple CSI reporting settings, where each CSI reporting setting may be associated with one component carrier and the CSI reporting settings are linked with one or more CSI-RS resources or resource sets. Each of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets may be referred to by a resource ID or a resource set ID. This ID may accompany or include at least one other characteristic, such as a power level (including zero power or non-zero power), a time domain characteristic (e.g., whether the resource is periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic-and may also include a slot offset and periodicity if periodic or semi-persistent), and/or a frequency domain characteristic. The UE is also configured with N_STATEA set of states, wherein each state corresponds to at least one CSI report setting. In this manner, CSI-RS resource or resource set selection may be performed via "state" selection, where the state is associated with the best of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets. These CSI-RS resources or resource sets may be taken from a pool of CSI-RS resources or resource sets. The pool may be common to all UEs or UE specific (thus for example configured via higher layer signaling, where one pool includes all CSI-RS resources that the UE may use for different purposes). Thus, a subset of CSI-RS resources or resource sets may be derived from a subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets in the pool. It may be configured whether to include a subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets in a corresponding "state" and indicate the subset or all of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets to the UE semi-statically (via higher layer or RRC signaling) or dynamically (via MAC CE or DCI). Each of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets linked to the CSI reporting setting may be used for channel or interference measurements. The indication may be made for each of the CSI-RS resources or resource sets. The CSI-RS resources may have zero power or non-zero power if used for interference measurement.

Thus, for this sub-embodiment, a "state" j may correspond to (including references to) one or more CSI reporting settings, one or more CSI-RS resources or resource sets linked to each of the CSI reporting settings.

The above "state" configuration may be performed semi-statically, thus being part of the higher layer (e.g., RRC) signaling for aperiodic CSI reporting. Optionally, this "trigger state" configuration may also be signaled via the MAC CE for faster updating.

Furthermore, several different CSI reporting settings may be associated with different component carriers. Thus, triggering different CSI report settings (via triggering different states) may result in triggering different component carriers.

Similar to the previous embodiment, the dynamic 1 may be used as follows. If the number of states N_STATEGreater than a threshold value X_STATEThen use dynamic 1 to slave N_STATETo X_STATEThe number of states is selected downward. For this purpose, N may be used_STATEBit map (similar to scheme 1.1 above) orA bit indicator (similar to scheme 1.2 above) to signal the selected subset of states via DCI (similar to scheme 2.1 above) or MAC CE (similar to scheme 2.2 above). If the number of states N_STATELess than or equal to a threshold value X_STATEThen dynamic 1 is not used. Threshold value X_STATEMay be fixed or higher layer (e.g., RRC) configured. Threshold value X_STATETrigger X in State 2 may correspond to the number of code points that the DCI field for the A-CSI request in dynamic 2 may accommodate_STATEOne of the states. It should be noted that an additional assumption for "no a-CSI request" may be required — resulting in a total of (X)_STATE+1) code point. By triggering one of the states, at least one CSI reporting setting corresponding to the selection of the CSI-RS resource or set of resources (and component carrier, in case the UE is configured with multiple component carriers) is selected or triggered.

This sub-implementation may be shown in graph 810 of fig. 8B, where one of the trigger states is associated with triggering at least one of the CSI reporting settings. It should be noted that the number of CSI reporting settings for different states may vary.

For all the above-described embodiments and sub-embodiments in the second component (especially scheme ii.3.1, ii.3.2 or ii.3.3), the association between CSI report settings and resource settings (for the purpose of defining the state) may be explicitly indicated. Here, for CSI report setting, a link to resource setting may be indicated with respect to a resource setting index/indicator. The resource setting index/indicator associated with the CSI reporting setting may be included in the CSI reporting setting or defined outside of the CSI reporting setting. Alternatively, a link index/indicator may be used for indication. Here, the link index/indicator enumerates the link connecting the CSI report setting and the resource setting.

For the third component (i.e., a-CSI request via DL allocation), in LTE, the a-CSI request is performed via UL grant with UL-related DCI. When the UE is configured with an AP-CSI-RS associated with an a-CSI report, the a-CSI is included in the same DL subframe as that used for the UL-related DCI. Thus, the CSI request field is extended to include CSI-RS resource selection and included in the UL-related DCI. Although this solution is natural, it may be inefficient (the flexibility of a-CSI reporting is limited only by requesting a-CSI reports via UL-related DCI since the UL-related DCI includes UL resource allocation fields for transmitting the requested a-CSI reports.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, an a-CSI report may be requested via a DL-related DCI (and thus DL allocation) including a CSI request field. This DL-related DCI may be UE-specific or UE group-specific. When a UE is configured with N_CCThe CSI request field may include one CC, and one CSIA bit, wherein the nth hypothesis or code point corresponds to a CSI request for the nth CC (N-0, 1, …, N)_CC-1)。

In a sub-implementation of this embodiment, the UL resource allocation (e.g., the UL RBs allocated for a-CSI reporting) is configured via higher layer signaling. Therefore, no other information is required except for the CSI request field.

In another sub-embodiment, additionallyThe bit DCI field is used to indicate the selection of UL resource allocations for the P higher layer configurations. One example of P is 4. In this case, a 2-bit DCI field for indicating UL Resource Allocation (RA) for a-CSI reporting may be included in the DL-related DCI for the CSI request. The UL resources may be obtained from PUSCH (UL shared channel), PUCCH (UL control channel), or both.

In a variation of this sub-embodiment, the CSI request field is extended to include a field for indicating a field for a-CSI reportingAdditional assumptions for UL RA. For example, when a UE is configured with one CC, the one-bit CSI request field may be extended to include a total of (P +1) hypotheses with one hypothesis (e.g., associated with an all-zero value) reserved for "no CSI request. As a result, the number of bits of the CSI request field isAn example of a P value is 3, which would result in a 2-bit extended CSI request field. Examples are given in table 2 below.

[ Table 2]

DCI field value	Hypothesis/explanation
		00	No CSI request
01	Reporting A-CSI with UL resource of 1 st allocation
		10	Reporting A-CSI with UL resource of 2 nd allocation
11	Reporting A-CSI with 3 rd allocated UL resources

In another sub-embodiment, when an a-CSI report is requested, at least one existing DCI field in the DL-related DCI may be used to indicate the UL RA for the a-CSI report. For example, when the UE is configured with one CC and the CSI request field is 1 (which means requesting a-CSI report), at least one existing DCI field is re-interpreted as a UL RA indicator. One example is to use a combination of values from several DCI fields (e.g., MCS, HARQ related fields and DL resource allocation).

In one sub-embodiment, when DL allocation is performed for a UE of interest via DCI, DL-related DCI for DL allocation may only be used for a-CSI report request. That is, when DL-related DCI is received in slot/subframe n, a DL transmission on the PDSCH for the UE of interest may be received in subframe n + D, where D is fixed or configured. In this case, there are at least two options. In a first option, the a-CSI may be reported with HARQ-ACKs associated with scheduled/allocated DL transmissions on the PDSCH. In a second option, the a-CSI may be reported separately from HARQ-ACKs associated with scheduled/allocated DL transmissions on the PDSCH. For this second option, an additional DCI field indicating a second occasion may be used-e.g., to indicate a relative occasion offset Δ (in slots) between an a-CSI report and HARQ-ACK, or an absolute occasion D between a slot including DL-related DCI and a slot for an a-CSI report_CSI。

Other DL related DCI may also be used.

Any of the above embodiments with respect to aperiodic CSI-RS (a-CSI) may also be used for semi-persistent CSI-RS (SP-CSI-RS) or periodic CSI-RS (P-CSI-RS).

Any of the above variant embodiments may be used alone or in combination with at least one other variant embodiment.

Fig. 9 shows a flowchart of an example method 900 in which a UE receives and decodes CSI reports and resource configuration information, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the method 900 may be performed by the UE 116.

The method 900 begins with a UE receiving and decoding higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings (step 901), where N is at least 1 and M is greater than 1. At least one of the M resource settings includes at least one set of CSI-RS resources, and the set of resources includes at least one CSI-RS resource. The UE also receives Downlink Control Information (DCI), the downlinkThe control information includes a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report (step 902), wherein the DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}One of the configured states is selected. These X' s_{Status of state}A state is N_{Status of state}A subset of states of higher layer configurations, and if N_{Status of state}Greater than X_{Status of state}Configuring the subset via a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element; otherwise, X_{Status of state}The states are configured for higher layers. In this case, X_{Status of state}And N_{Status of state}Is of a higher layer configuration. At least one of the configured states corresponds to at least one CSI-RS resource set, at least one of the configured states corresponds to at least one downlink component carrier, and at least one of the configured states corresponds to at least one CSI report setting. The UE calculates CSI based on the configuration information and the DCI (step 903) and transmits the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel (step 904).

Fig. 10 shows a flowchart of an example method 1000 in which a BS generates and transmits CSI reports and resource configuration information for a UE (labeled UE-k), according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, method 1000 may be performed by BS 102.

The method 1000 begins with a BS generating higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings (step 1001), and Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report for a UE (labeled UE-k) (step 1002), where N is at least 1 and M is greater than 1. At least one of the M resource settings includes at least one set of CSI-RS resources, and the set of resources includes at least one CSI-RS resource. The DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}One of the configured states is selected. These X' s_{Status of state}A state is N_{Status of state}A subset of states of higher layer configurations, and if N_{Status of state}Greater than X_{Status of state}Configuring the subset via a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element; otherwise, X_{Status of state}The states are configured for higher layers. In this case, X_{Status of state}And N_{Status of state}Is of a higher layer configuration. Status of configurationCorresponds to at least one CSI-RS resource set, at least one of the configured states corresponds to at least one downlink component carrier, and at least one of the configured states corresponds to at least one CSI reporting setting. The BS transmits configuration information via a Downlink (DL) channel and transmits DCI to the UE-k via a DL control channel (step 1003), and receives a CSI report calculated from the configuration information and the DCI from the UE-k on an Uplink (UL) channel (step 1004).

Although fig. 9 and 10 illustrate examples of methods for receiving configuration information and configuring a UE, respectively, various changes may be made to fig. 9 and 10. For example, while shown as a series of steps, various steps in each figure may overlap, occur in parallel, occur in a different order, occur multiple times, or not be performed in one or more embodiments.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that implementing all or part of the steps performed by the above-described method embodiments may be implemented by hardware associated with program instructions, which may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, which when executed, include one or a combination of the steps of the method embodiments.

In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated in a processing module, or each unit may exist separately physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one module. The integration module may be implemented in the form of hardware and may also be implemented in the form of a software functional module. If the integrated module is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as a separate product, it may also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium.

Although the present disclosure has been described with exemplary embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art. The present disclosure covers such changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (15)

1. User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a transceiver configured to:

receiving higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings, an

Receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report; and

a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to:

decoding the configuration information and the DCI, and

calculating CSI from the configuration information and the DCI,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel, an

Wherein N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field indicates from X_{Status of state}One of the configuration states is selected.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

at least one of the M resource settings comprises at least one set of CSI Reference Signal (RS) resources, an

The at least one set of CSI-RS resources includes at least one CSI-RS resource.

3. The UE of claim 2, wherein the X_{Status of state}At least one of the configuration states corresponds to the at least one set of CSI-RS resources.

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the X_{Status of state}At least one of the configuration states corresponds to at least one downlink component carrier.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein:

said X_{Status of state}A configuration state is N_{Status of state}A subset of the higher-level configuration states,

if N is present_{Status of state}Greater than X_{Status of state}Then via the mediumA body access control (MAC) control element configures the subset, an

If N is present_{Status of state}Not more than X_{Status of state}Then said X_{Status of state}The states are configured for higher layers.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein X_{Status of state}And N_{Status of state}Is of a higher layer configuration.

7. The UE of claim 1, wherein the X_{Status of state}At least one of the configuration states corresponds to at least one CSI reporting setting.

8. A Base Station (BS), comprising:

a processor configured to generate (i) higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings, and (ii) Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a Downlink Control Information (DCI) field for requesting aperiodic CSI reporting; and

a transceiver operatively connected to the processor, the transceiver configured to:

transmitting the configuration information and the DCI to the UE via one or more Downlink (DL) control channels, an

Receiving a CSI report calculated from the configuration information and the DCI on an Uplink (UL) channel from the UE,

wherein N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}One of the configuration states is selected.

9. The BS of claim 8, wherein:

at least one of the M resource settings comprises at least one set of CSI Reference Signal (RS) resources, an

The at least one set of CSI-RS resources includes at least one CSI-RS resource.

10. According to the rightThe BS of claim 9, wherein the X_{Status of state}At least one of the configuration states corresponds to the at least one set of CSI-RS resources.

11. The BS of claim 8, wherein the X_{Status of state}At least one of the configuration states corresponds to at least one DL component carrier.

12. The BS of claim 8, wherein:

said X_{Status of state}A configuration state is N_{Status of state}A subset of the higher-level configuration states,

if N is present_{Status of state}Greater than X_{Status of state}Configuring the subset via a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element, an

If N is present_{Status of state}Not more than X_{Status of state}Then said X_{Status of state}The states are configured for higher layers.

13. The BS of claim 8, wherein the X_{Status of state}At least one of the configuration states corresponds to at least one CSI reporting setting.

14. A method for operating a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving and decoding higher layer configuration information for N Channel State Information (CSI) report settings and M resource settings;

receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a DCI field for requesting an aperiodic CSI report;

calculating CSI according to the configuration information and the DCI; and

transmitting the calculated CSI on an Uplink (UL) channel,

wherein N is at least 1, M is greater than 1, and the DCI field includes a secondary X_{Status of state}One of the configuration states is selected.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

at least one of the M resource settings comprises at least one set of CSI Reference Signal (RS) resources, an

The at least one set of CSI-RS resources includes at least one CSI-RS resource.