CN110999113A

CN110999113A - Apparatus and method for allocating resources

Info

Publication number: CN110999113A
Application number: CN201780093884.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 寇帅华; 毕峰; 郝鹏; 苟伟
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2017-06-16
Filing date: 2017-06-16
Publication date: 2020-04-10
Anticipated expiration: 2037-06-16
Also published as: CN110999113B; WO2018227551A1

Abstract

A method, comprising: receiving, from a first wireless communication node, a plurality of first reference signals transmitted using a plurality of signal beams; selecting at least a first resource from a plurality of resources associated with the plurality of signal beams, respectively, based on respective signal levels of a plurality of first reference signals; and transmitting a first resource allocation signal indicating the first resource to the first wireless communication node.

Description

Apparatus and method for allocating resources

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for allocating resources.

Background

With the continuous development of wireless communication technology, a wide range of wireless communication services are emerging, and the radio frequency spectrum on which wireless communication relies is limited. As bandwidth demands increase, the frequency ranges of 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz) at which conventional commercial communication systems typically operate have difficulty meeting market demands for future wireless communication systems.

In future wireless communication systems, e.g. new radios, the carrier frequency may be higher than in conventional communication systems. For example, future wireless communication systems may operate at 28GHz, 45GHz and up to 100 GHz. Since electromagnetic waves are largely attenuated due to phenomena such as reflection, scattering, absorption, etc. while traveling in a medium at such high frequencies, a beamforming technique in which a plurality of antennas are used to guide signals traveling in a specific direction toward a user equipment (hereinafter, referred to as "UE") is generally used at a base station (hereinafter, referred to as "BS") to enhance a transmission distance. Such "beamformed" signals generally reduce the strength loss, which in turn results in a smaller coverage angle. Furthermore, due to the limited number of radio frequency chains at the BS, the number of beams that can be transmitted simultaneously is also limited. To obtain a wide coverage (e.g., 360 degrees and 120 degrees), such beamforming systems still need to transmit in a beam-scanning manner, i.e., beams pointing in different directions at different times.

In a wireless communication system, when a signal is transmitted to a BS (often referred to as an "uplink transmission"), the BS cannot predict when such an uplink transmission will be received. In this regard, the BS may predetermine resources for the UE to periodically monitor uplink transmissions. Also, when the above beamforming technique is adopted in a wireless communication system, the BS cannot predict which transmission beam of the UE and/or which reception beam of the BS should be used for uplink transmission. Therefore, there is a need to configure multiple resources for a UE to ensure that the receive beam of the BS and the transmit beam of the UE are aligned for communication. For example, when there are 16 beams at the BS, the BS may need to configure 16 resources for one UE. This conventional approach would result in a significant waste of resources, since the UE only needs one resource or one beam for such transmission. The invention provides a resource allocation method and a resource allocation device, which can reduce resource waste and simultaneously keep beam alignment to realize optimized transmission.

Disclosure of Invention

The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are directed to solving the problems associated with one or more of the problems presented in the prior art, and providing additional features that will become apparent by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In accordance with various embodiments, exemplary systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are disclosed herein. It is to be understood, however, that these embodiments are provided by way of illustration and not of limitation, and that various modifications to the disclosed embodiments may be made while remaining within the scope of the invention, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure.

In one embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, from a first wireless communication node, a plurality of first reference signals transmitted using a plurality of signal beams; selecting at least a first resource from a plurality of resources associated with the plurality of signal beams, respectively, based on respective signal levels of a plurality of first reference signals; and transmitting a first resource allocation signal indicating the first resource to the first wireless communication node.

In yet another embodiment, a method includes: transmitting a plurality of reference signals using a plurality of different transmit signal beams; and receiving a resource allocation signal from the wireless communication node indicating at least one resource, the at least one resource being respectively selected from a plurality of resources based on respective signal levels associated with the plurality of reference signals, wherein the at least one resource corresponds to a respective received signal beam of the wireless communication node.

In another embodiment, the first communication node comprises: a receiver configured to receive, from a second wireless communication node, a plurality of first reference signals transmitted using a plurality of signal beams; at least one processor configured to select at least one first resource from a plurality of resources associated with the plurality of signal beams, respectively, based on signal levels of respective ones of a plurality of first reference signals; and a transmitter configured to transmit a first resource allocation signal indicative of the second resource to the first wireless communication node.

In yet another embodiment, the first communication node comprises: a transmitter configured to transmit a plurality of reference signals using a plurality of different transmit signal beams; and a receiver configured to receive, from the second communication node, a resource allocation signal indicating at least one resource, the at least one resource being respectively selected from a plurality of resources based on respective signal levels associated with the plurality of reference signals, wherein the at least one resource corresponds to a respective received signal beam of the second communication node.

Drawings

Aspects of the present disclosure are best understood from the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawing figures. Note that the various features are not necessarily drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions and geometries of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion.

Fig. 1A illustrates an exemplary beamforming-based wireless communication network in which a BS operates multiple signal beams within a cell for its UEs, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 1B illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication system for transmitting and receiving wireless communication signals, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2A is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2B is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3A is a diagram illustrating a frame structure for resource pool configuration, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3B illustrates an example of a resource indexing method for resources in the time-frequency/code domain, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3C illustrates another example of a resource indexing method for resources in the time-frequency/code domain, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4B is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5A is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5B is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an uplink resource allocation method from a BS to a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the drawings to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art, upon reading this disclosure, that various changes or modifications can be made to the examples described herein, which are still within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. Further, the particular order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein is merely exemplary. The particular order or hierarchy of steps in the methods or processes disclosed may be rearranged based on design preferences, while remaining within the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present the various steps or actions in a sample order, and unless otherwise indicated, the invention is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the same or similar components are shown in different figures, these components may be referred to using the same or similar reference numbers. A detailed description of structures or processes well known in the art will be omitted so as not to obscure the subject matter of the present invention. Further, terms are defined in consideration of their functionality in the embodiments of the present invention, and may vary according to the intention of a user or operator, use conditions, and the like. Therefore, the definitions should be made based on the entire contents of the present specification.

Fig. 1A illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 employing beamforming techniques according to one embodiment of this disclosure. In a wireless communication system, a network side communication node or Base Station (BS) may be a node B, E-utran node B (also referred to as evolved node B, eNodeB or eNB), pico station, femto station, etc. The terminal side node or User Equipment (UE) may be a long range communication system such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet, a laptop, or a short range communication system such as e.g. a wearable device, a vehicle with a vehicle communication system, etc. The network and terminal side communication nodes are represented by BS and UE in all embodiments hereinafter in this disclosure. Such communication nodes may support wireless and/or wired communication according to various embodiments of the present invention. Note that all the embodiments are merely preferred examples and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Thus, it can be appreciated that the system can include any desired combination of UEs and BSs while remaining within the scope of the present disclosure.

Referring to fig. 1A, a wireless communication network 100 includes a BS102 and

UEs

104, 106, 108, and 110 in a cell 140 established by the BS102, where each of the

UEs

104 and 110 may communicate with the BS102 via one or more respective communication links (e.g., wireless communication channels). Embodiments of the present invention are based on a BS with a beam scanning technique that allows the antennas on the BS to form several different beams in different directions at different times to increase coverage. Specifically, a first beam 112a of BS102 is formed at a first time, a second beam 112b of BS102 is formed at a second time, a third beam 112c of BS102 is formed at a third time, and a fourth beam 112d of BS102 is formed at a fourth time.

Each of the four

UEs

104, 106, 108, and 110 includes a long-range communication system, such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet, a laptop, or a short-range communication system, such as, for example, a wearable device, a vehicle with a vehicle communication system, and so forth. The wireless transmission from the transmit beam of the UE to the receive beam of the BS is known as uplink transmission, and the wireless transmission from the transmit beam of the BS to the receive beam of the UE is known as downlink transmission. The BS102 and all four

UEs

104, 106, 108 and 110 are contained within the geographic boundaries of the cell 140.

Communication links 130, 132, 134, and 136, which may be uplink (i.e., from UE to BS) or downlink (i.e., from BS to UE), may be established by pairing one receive/transmit signal beam (e.g., 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d) of the BS with one transmit/receive signal beam (e.g., 114a, 114b for UE104, 116a and 116b for

UE

106, 118a and 118b for

UE

108, 120a and 120b for UE 110) of the UEs. All signal beams on the UE are represented by dark grey shaded areas and all signal beams on the BS are represented by light grey shaded areas.

In some embodiments, communication link 130 is active between BS102 and UE104 when signal beam 114b of UE104 and 112a of BS102 are aligned. Similarly, communication link 132 is active between BS102 and UE 106 when signal beam 116a of UE 106 and BS 112b are aligned. These effective communication links, e.g., 130 and 132, are represented by solid lines between BS102 and the

respective UEs

104 and 106. On the other hand, since BS102 and UE 108 are not aligned with respect to signal beams, communication link 134 is not effective between BS102 and UE 108. Similarly, communication link 136 is not available between BS102 and UE 110 for the same reason. In these cases, the

inactive communication links

134 and 136 are indicated by dashed lines.

In a mobile wireless communication system, resource allocation is the management of time, frequency, and code words in different resource domains that may be assigned to a UE. A time period, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, a slot, a subframe, and/or a radio frame, which are all represented as time domain resources. The code domain resource may be a series of code streams. In some embodiments, the code domain resources may be orthogonal cover codes. Furthermore, resources may also include resources in other domains, such as spatial layers. In some embodiments, the resource may be a higher order modulation constellation symbol that carries a plurality of information bits. In some embodiments, each modulation of in-phase or quadrature amplitude within a constellation symbol may be assigned to a different UE. Information from the UE may be carried through at least one of the resource domains described above. In the following discussion, a resource refers to a resource domain discussed above or in any practical combination thereof, if not otherwise indicated.

Fig. 1B illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication system 150 for transmitting and receiving wireless communication signals (e.g., OFDM/OFDMA signals) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The system 150 may include components and elements configured to support known or conventional operating features, the details of which need not be described herein. In one exemplary embodiment, the system 150 can be utilized for transmitting and receiving data symbols in a wireless communication environment, such as the wireless communication network 100 of fig. 1A described above.

System 150 generally includes base station 102 and UE 104. Base station 102 includes BS transceiver module 152, BS antenna 154, BS memory module 156, BS processor module 158, and network communication module 160, each coupled to and interconnected with each other as needed via data communication bus 180. The UE104 includes a UE transceiver module 162, a UE antenna 164, a UE memory module 166, and a UE processor module 168, each coupled to and interconnected with each other as needed via a data communication bus 190. The BS102 communicates with the UE104 via a communication channel 192, which may be any wireless channel or other medium known in the art suitable for transmitting data as described herein.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the system 150 may further include any number of modules other than those shown in FIG. 1A. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware, computer readable software, firmware, or any practical combination thereof. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those familiar with the concepts described herein may implement such functionality in a suitable manner for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present invention.

According to some embodiments, UE transceiver 162 may be referred to herein as an "uplink" transceiver 162, which includes RF transmitter and receiver circuitry, each coupled to an antenna 164. A duplex switch (not shown) may alternatively couple the uplink transmitter or receiver to the uplink antenna in a time division duplex manner. Similarly, BS transceiver 152 may be referred to herein as a "downlink" transceiver 152, which includes RF transmitter and receiver circuits, each coupled to an antenna 154, according to some embodiments. The downlink duplex switch may alternatively couple a downlink transmitter or receiver to the downlink antenna 154 in a time division duplex manner. The operation of the two

transceivers

152 and 162 are coordinated in time such that the uplink receiver is coupled to the uplink antenna 164 for receiving transmissions over the wireless communication channel 192, while the downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna 154. Preferably there is a tight time synchronization, with only a minimum guard time between duplex direction changes.

The UE transceiver 162 and the BS transceiver 152 are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication link 192 and cooperate with a suitably configured RF antenna arrangement 154/164 that may support particular wireless communication protocols and modulation schemes. In some demonstrative embodiments, UE transceiver 162 and BS transceiver 152 are configured to support industry standards, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the emerging 5G standards, among others. It should be understood, however, that the present invention is not necessarily limited in application to a particular standard and associated protocol. Rather, UE transceiver 162 and BS transceiver 152 may be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including other standards and variations thereof.

The

processor modules

158 and 168 may be implemented or realized with a general purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. In this manner, a processor may be implemented as a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, state machine, or the like. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

Furthermore, the steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in firmware, in a software module executed by the

processor modules

158 and 168, respectively, or in any practical combination thereof.

Memory modules

156 and 166 may be implemented as RAM, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, the

memory modules

156 and 166 may be coupled to the

processor modules

158 and 168, respectively, such that the

processor modules

158 and 168 may read information from and write information to the

memory modules

156 and 166, respectively. The

memory modules

156 and 166 may also be integrated into their

respective processor modules

158 and 168. In some embodiments, each of the

memory modules

156 and 166 may include a cache memory for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by the

processor modules

158 and 168, respectively. Each of the

memory modules

156 and 166 may also include non-volatile memory for storing instructions to be executed by the

processor modules

158 and 168, respectively.

Network communication module 160 generally represents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic, and/or other components of base station 102 that support bi-directional communication between BS transceiver 152 and other network components and network nodes configured to communicate with BS 102. For example, the network communication module 160 may be configured to support internet or WiMAX services. In a typical deployment, and not by way of limitation, network communication module 160 provides an 802.3 ethernet interface such that BS transceiver 152 can communicate with a conventional ethernet-based computer network. In this manner, the network communication module 160 may include a physical interface (e.g., a Mobile Switching Center (MSC)) for connection to a computer network.

Referring again to fig. 1A, as described above, BS102 repeatedly broadcasts system information associated with BS102 to one or more UEs (e.g., 104), thereby allowing UEs 104 to access the network within cell 140 in which BS102 is located and generally operate properly within cell 140. A number of information may be included in the system information, such as, for example, downlink and uplink cell bandwidths, downlink and uplink configurations, configurations for random access, and so on, which will be discussed in further detail below. Typically, the BS102 broadcasts a first signal carrying some major system information, e.g., how the relevant cell 140 is configured, via a PBCH (physical broadcast channel). For purposes of clarity of explanation, such a broadcasted first signal is referred to herein as a "first broadcast signal". Note that BS102 may then broadcast one or more signals carrying some other system information over various channels (e.g., a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)), which are referred to herein as "a second broadcast signal," "a third broadcast signal," and so on.

Referring again to fig. 1B, in some embodiments, the primary system information carried by the first broadcast signal may be transmitted by BS102 in a symbol format via communication channel 192 (e.g., PBCH). According to some embodiments, the original form of the primary system information may be represented as one or more sequences of digital bits, and the one or more sequences of digital bits may be processed through a plurality of steps (e.g., encoding, scrambling, modulating, mapping steps, etc.) into a first broadcast signal, wherein all of the steps may be processed by the BS processor module 158. Similarly, according to some embodiments, when the UE104 receives the first broadcast signal (in symbol format) using the UE transceiver 162, the UE processor module 168 may perform a number of steps (demapping, demodulation, decoding steps, etc.) to estimate the primary system information, such as, for example, the bit position, number of bits, etc., of the individual bits of the primary system information.

Fig. 2A illustrates a method 200 performed by the BS102 to allocate one resource for the UE104 to transmit uplink signals using respective signal beams, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. It is to be understood that additional operations may be provided before, during, and after the method 200 of fig. 2, some of which may only be briefly described herein.

The method 200 begins at operation 201, where the BS102 sends a predefined configuration of a resource pool to the UE 104. In some embodiments, this may be done using broadcast, multicast, or unicast. Such resource pool configuration information includes resource information (such as, for example, time information, frequency information, and code information), a periodicity of a resource pool configuration signal, and a resource pool configuration. Resource pool configuration will be discussed in further detail below. Resources here refer to shared logical resources, not actual physical resources. The actual physical resources may be continuous or discrete. In some embodiments, the resource pool configuration information may be transmitted on various channels, such as, for example, a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), a Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH), and a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH).

The method 200 continues to operation 202, where the UE104 transmits uplink reference signals (ULRS) to the BS102 using a beam scanning technique, during which the UE104 transmits at least one ULRS to the BS102 during a time interval using at least one of the UE 104's transmission beams. In other words, multiple ULRS are transmitted from UE104 to BS102 using respective transmit beams of the UE. In some embodiments, this ULRS from the UE104 may be a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) or transmitted on channels such as, for example, a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

The method 200 continues to operation 203, where the BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 in response to the received ULRS. In some embodiments, BS102 measures the power of each of the plurality of ULRS to determine which receive beam of BS102 receives the strongest (i.e., highest measured power/lowest power loss) ULRS, thereby determining a beam combination consisting of one of the transmit beams of UE104 (hereinafter "beam 104-1") and one of the receive beams of BS102 (hereinafter "beam 102-1"). In some embodiments, communication between the UE104 and the BS102 may experience minimal power loss using such a beam combination, and thus the beam combination is referred to herein as an optimal beam combination. Further, in some embodiments, the beam 102-1 of the best beam combination may correspond to a portion of the resource pool, where the portion further corresponds to a particular time slot, which will be discussed below with respect to fig. 3A and 3B. In some embodiments, the BS102 includes information in the DL feedback signal, such as the information discussed above regarding the best beam (104-1+102-1), and which slot in the resource pool corresponds to the best beam, and so on. In some embodiments, BS102 may further select one or more resource elements to be included in the DL feedback signal based on current usage of resource elements in a time slot of the resource pool corresponding to the best beam, based on the current usage of the resource elements in the time slot of the resource pool. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels, such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

In some embodiments, the BS102 may indicate the above information explicitly (hereinafter referred to as an "explicit indication"), implicitly (hereinafter referred to as an "implicit indication"), or a combination thereof in the DL feedback signal. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in control signaling, such as a bitmap in Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication of resources via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication system has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). In some embodiments, the number of antenna ports for CRS may be inferred from the CRC mask for PBCH.

The method 200 continues to operation 204, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals to the BS102 using the best beam information and resource elements indicated in the DL feedback signal. Since the UE104 has received the configuration of the resource pool in operation 201, in some embodiments, once the UE104 receives the indicated resource unit information (which may be a resource identifier) and the best beam information, the UE104 may transmit an UL signal to the BS102 via the indicated beam (beam 104-1 in this example) using the indicated resource unit. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) indicators, Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs), and/or quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

The provided resource allocation method may also be used during the beam recovery procedure. In some embodiments, after forming a communication link (e.g., a beam-to-link (BPL)) using the best beam combination between the BS102 and the UE104, a beam failure recovery request may be initiated by the UE104 when the quality of the BPL falls below a predetermined threshold for a predetermined period of time. For example, the quality of the serving beam may suffer a sudden degradation such that the UE104 cannot maintain effective communication with the initial BS 102. A sudden degradation in the quality of the serving beam may occur when the UE104 rotates or moves away from the BS102 in the event of a building blockage.

Fig. 2B illustrates a method 300 performed by BS102 to determine one or more resources for UE104 to transmit signals using respective signal beams when BS102 receives the beam failure recovery request described above, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 300 begins at operation 211, where the resource pool configuration information is carried by signals from the BS102 to the UE104 in the form of broadcasts, multicasts, and/or unicasts. The resource pool configuration information includes time domain and code domain resource information. Resources here refer to shared logical resources, not actual physical resources. In some embodiments, the actual physical resources may be continuous or discrete.

The method 300 continues to operation 212, where a BPL failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UE104 may send multiple beam failure recovery requests to all receive beams of the BS102 at certain time intervals. The request also contains an identification of the UE (UE id) and transmit beam information for the UE 104. In some embodiments, the request may also contain transmit beam information for BS 102. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH).

The method 300 continues to operation 213, where the BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received beam failure recovery request. In some embodiments, at least one beam combination of a receive beam of the BS102 and a transmit beam of the UE104 may be determined based on the beam failure recovery request signal so that a time domain unit, and thus the respective receive beam of the BS102 associated with the time domain unit, may be allocated to the UE 104. In some embodiments, multiple best BPLs may be obtained, where BS102 assigns one of the multiple best BPLs within each of the multiple time domain units to UE 104. The DL feedback signal includes information such as, for example, information about the transmit beams of the UE104 and the precise resource allocation information (e.g., time, frequency, and code information) assigned to the UE104 by the BS 102. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The resource indication may be explicit, implicit, or any practical combination thereof. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in control signaling, such as a bitmap in Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in LTE has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS).

The method 300 continues to operation 214, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals to the BS102 on the allocated resources in response to receiving a DL feedback signal from the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) feedback signals, Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) information, and quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

In some embodiments, the resource pool spans multiple units, e.g., multiple slots, in the time domain, and each slot spans multiple units, e.g., multiple Resource Blocks (RBs), in the frequency domain. In this way, the resource pool may span various time-frequency ranges. Further, in some embodiments, each time slot may be further divided along the frequency and code domains into a plurality of resource units having resource indices or resource identifiers, each of which may be allocated to at least one UE for transmitting uplink signals. Thus, each resource unit in the resource pool has a unique resource index. Accordingly, the resource index may be used by the explicit resource indication described above.

Fig. 3A illustrates a frame structure for the above-described resource pool configuration, according to some embodiments. In particular, the resource pool 302 is configured as 4 slots 306 in a period 304 of a resource pool configuration signal, each slot including 2 Resource Blocks (RBs) 308. In some embodiments, the period 304 of the resource pool configuration signal may be 20 milliseconds (ms). For example, the first time slot 306 includes two RBs 308 in a first time domain unit. The second slot includes two RBs 308 in a second time domain unit. Each RB 308 includes 4 Orthogonal Code Multiplexing (OCM) units 310. Thus, each slot 306 is divided into 8 time-frequency-codeword resource units 310, which may be allocated to 8 UEs as indicated by 0-7. The resource pool 302 includes 32 time-frequency-code resource units in a period 304 of the resource pool configuration signal. Note that method 300 is merely an example and is not intended to be limiting. A resource pool may contain any number of slots, resource blocks, and resources and still be within the scope of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3B illustrates an example of a resource indexing method for resources in the time-frequency/code domain, according to some embodiments. The

time slots

306a, 306b, 306c, and 306d are labeled TS0, TS1, TS2, and TS3, respectively. The first RB 308a in the slot is denoted RB 0. The second RB 308b in the slot is denoted as RB 1. In the first RB0, the first, second, third, and fourth

orthogonal codes

310a, 310b, 310c, and 310d are denoted as OC0, OC1, OC2, and OC3, respectively. In the second RB1, the first, second, third, and fourth

orthogonal codes

312a, 312b, 312c, and 312d are denoted as OC4, OC5, OC6, and OC7, respectively. In this case, when BS102 indicates resources using a resource index, the resource index includes a 5-bit symbol having two parts, where the first part contains 2-bit symbols carrying 4 elements in the time domain and the second part contains 3-bit symbols carrying 8 elements in the frequency/code domain. The UE may then refer to the resource pool configuration information sent by BS102 in the first step of method 200 to obtain accurate resource information, e.g., time, frequency, and code domain information.

Resource index example using 5-bit symbols for the resources shown in FIG. 3B

Resource indexing	Time domain unit	Resource block	Frequency/code domain unit
				00000	0	0	0
00110	0	1	6
				01001	1	0	1
10011	2	0	3
				10100	2	1	4
11101	3	1	5
				11111	3	1	7

Fig. 3C illustrates another example of a resource indexing method for resources in the time-frequency/code domain, according to some embodiments. The first resource unit at slot 0, RB0, and OC0 is denoted as resource 0. Resource 1 is located at slot 0, resource block 0, and orthogonal code 1. Further, the resource at slot 1, resource block 0, and orthogonal code 0 is resource 8, and so on. Similarly, a 5-bit symbol is also used to indicate resources. Fig. 3B and 3C are merely examples and are not intended to be limiting. It should be noted that although the 5-bit resource indicator used in the foregoing embodiments is the same, such a symbol for resource indication may vary with the total number of time-frequency resource elements. Thus, these aforementioned methods are two different resource indication methods.

Referring again to fig. 2A, the resource allocation procedure using the resource index may be performed as follows. The BS102 starts transmitting its predetermined resource pool configuration information, including the mapping between resource indices and resource units, to the UE104 in broadcast, multicast and/or unicast form using the first signaling. UE104 transmits multiple ULRS to BS102 using a beam scanning technique (using each transmit beam of UE 104). Based on the (power) measurements of the plurality of ULRSs, BS102 determines the best beam combination, which also corresponds to a portion of the resource pool that is distributed within a particular time slot. BS102 determines resource units within a portion of such a resource pool. The BS102 then transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 indicating the resource index associated with the determined resource element and information on the best beam combination. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Once the UE104 receives the DL feedback signal, the UE104 uses the resource index to locate the resource unit in the resource pool configuration and then begins transmitting UL signals via the beam indicated in the information of the best beam combination using the resource unit.

In some embodiments, the resource allocation information may also be transmitted during the beam failure recovery process in signaling from the BS102 containing new beam information. The resource pool configuration information is transmitted by the BS102 to the UE104 in broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast using first signaling. A beam pair failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received beam failure recovery request, which contains beam information and precise resource information for the UE 104. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The UE104 refers to the resource pool configuration and locates the resource information and then starts transmitting UL signals at the allocated resources within the time domain unit under the allocated frequency unit or code domain unit using the optimal BPL.

In some embodiments, the resource pool configuration and/or resource index mapping may be predefined within the communication system, which is known and shared by all BSs 102 and UEs within one cell. For example, according to some embodiments, the resource pool configuration may be sent whenever the UE enters a cell. In another embodiment, the resource pool configuration and resource index mapping are defined in a protocol recognized by BS102 and any UE attempting to access the network of BS 102. As such, the resource pool configuration need not be separately transmitted again during the resource allocation process.

Fig. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a method 400 of uplink resource allocation from a BS102 to a UE104, in accordance with some embodiments. The method 400 begins at operation 401, where the UE104 transmits a ULRS signal to the BS102 using a beam scanning technique, during which the UE104 transmits at least one reference signal to at least one receive beam at the BS102 using at least one transmit beam thereof during a time interval. In some embodiments, this UL-RS from the UE may be a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) or transmitted on a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

The method 400 continues to operation 402, where the BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received ULRS. BS102 measures the power and power loss of the ULRS to estimate the best beam combination for establishing a communication link (e.g., BPL). In some embodiments, at least one combination of a receive beam of BS102 and a transmit beam of UE104 may be determined based on the ULRS, such that a time domain unit and the respective receive beam of BS102 associated with that time domain unit may be allocated to UE 104. In some embodiments, multiple best beam combinations may be obtained, where the BS automatically assigns one of multiple best resources within the respective multiple time domain units to the UE104 based on a predetermined rule. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The DL feedback signal includes information such as, for example, information of the UE's transmit beams and precise resource allocation information (e.g., time, frequency, and code domain resource information) assigned to the UE104 by the BS 102.

The resource indication may be explicit, implicit, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in control signaling, such as a bitmap in Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication of resources via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication system has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). In some embodiments, the number of antenna ports for CRS may be inferred from the CRC mask for PBCH.

The method 400 continues to operation 403, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals on the allocated resources in response to receiving a DL feedback signal from the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) feedback signals, Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs), and quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

In some embodiments, the resource allocation information may also be transmitted during the beam failure recovery process in signaling from the BS102 containing new beam information. Referring to fig. 4B, the method 500 begins at operation 411, where a BPL failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UE104 may send multiple beam failure recovery requests to all receive beams of the BS102 at certain time intervals. The request also contains an identification of the UE (UE id) and transmit beam information for the UE 104. In some embodiments, this may be transmitted implicitly or explicitly. In some embodiments, the request may also contain receive beam information for BS 102. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH).

The method 500 continues to operation 412, where the BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received beam failure recovery request. In some embodiments, at least one beam combination of a receive beam of the BS102 and a transmit beam of the UE104 may be determined based on the beam failure recovery request signal so that a time domain unit, and thus the respective receive beam of the BS102 associated with the time domain unit, may be allocated to the UE 104. In some embodiments, multiple best BPLs may be obtained, where BS102 automatically assigns one of the multiple best BPLs within each of the multiple time domain units to UE 104. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The DL feedback signal includes information such as, for example, information of the transmit beam of the UE104 and precise resource allocation information (e.g., time, frequency, and code information) assigned to the UE104 by the BS 102. The resource indication may be explicit, implicit, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in control signaling, such as a bitmap in Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in LTE has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS).

The method 500 continues to operation 413, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals to the BS102 on the allocated resources in response to receiving the DL feedback signal from the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) feedback signals, Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs), and quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

The mapping relationship between multiple Beam Pair Links (BPLs) for different UEs and units in the time domain may be the same or different. When the mapping relationship between the BPL and the UE is different, it is necessary to ensure that the mapping between the reception beam of the BS and the unit in the time domain is consistent, that is, the BPL including the same reception beam is mapped to the same unit in the time domain.

In one embodiment, there are four receive beams at the BS, denoted as receive

beams

0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively. There are two transmit beams on the UE, denoted as transmit beams a and b, respectively. The BPL for the xth ue (UEx) is denoted UEx (y, z), where y represents the transmit beam for UEx and z represents the receive beam for BS. For example, the UE1(1,3) represents a radio link in which the BPL is formed between the UE's transmit beam y-1 and the BS's receive beam z-3. Since there are four receive beams at the BS, the resource pool is configured into 4 units in the time domain, which are respectively denoted as

units

0, 1, 2, and 3.

According to some embodiments, the mapping relationship between the BPL and the time domain unit is the same for a plurality of UEs of the BS, which may be described in table 1.

TABLE 1

In some embodiments, when the BPL of (a,0) or (b,0) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 0 are thus assigned to the UE for transmission. Similarly, when the BPL of (a,1) or (b,1) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 1 are thus assigned to the UE for transmission. Further, when the BPL of (a,2) or (b,2) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 2 are thus assigned to the UE for transmission. Finally, when the BPL of (a,3) or (b,3) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 3 are thus assigned to the UE for transmission.

In other embodiments, the mapping relationship between BPL and time domain units may be different for different UEs. For example, there are 2 receive beams, denoted as receive beams a and b, on the UE1, where the mapping between BPL and time domain units is shown in table 2 below.

TABLE 2

BPL	Time domain unit
		UE1(a,0),UE1(b,0)	0
UE1(a,1),UE1(b,1)	1
		UE1(a,2),UE1(b,2)	2
UE1(a,3),UE1(b,3)	3

For another example, the UE2 includes 4 transmission beams, labeled as transmit beams a, b, c, and d, respectively. When paired with a BS having 4 receive beams, 16 BPLs can be formed, where the mapping relationship is described in table 3.

TABLE 3

BPL	Time domain unit
		UE2(a,0),UE2(b,0),UE2(c,0),UE2(d,0)	0
UE2(a,1),UE2(b,1),UE2(c,1),UE2(d,1)	1
		UE2(a,2),UE2(b,2),UE2(c,2),UE2(d,2)	2
UE2(a,3),UE2(b,3),UE2(c,3),UE2(d,3)	3

In some embodiments, when the BPL of (a,0), (b,0), (c,0), or (d,0) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 0 are thus assigned to the UE2 for transmission. Similarly, when the BPL of (a,1), (b,1), (c,1), or (d,1) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 1 are thus assigned to the UE2 for transmission. Further, when the BPL of (a,2), (b,2), (c,2), or (d,2) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 2 are thus assigned to the UE2 for transmission. Finally, when the BPL of (a,3), (b,3), (c,3), or (d,3) is assigned by the BS for transmission, the resources on time domain unit 3 are thus assigned to the UE2 for transmission.

It can be seen in the above two embodiments that although the mapping relationship between the BPL and the time domain unit is different for two UEs (e.g., UE1 and UE2), the mapping relationship between the reception beam of the BS and the time domain unit is the same in the BPL. That is, when reception beam 0 on the BS is used for both UEs in BPL, the same cell 0 in the time domain is assigned to two different UEs (UE1 and UE 2).

Briefly, a resource allocation process using BPL may be performed as follows. The BS102 starts transmitting its predetermined resource pool configuration information and mapping relationship between BPLs and time domain units to the UE104 in broadcast, multicast and/or unicast form using the first signaling. The UE104 transmits the ULRS to the BS102 using a beam scanning technique to determine the best BPL for establishing a communication link. BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to UE104 for the received ULRS, containing BPL information and precise resource frequency/code information for UE 104. The UE104 refers to the resource pool configuration and locates the resource information and then starts transmitting UL signals to the BS102 on the allocated resources.

In some embodiments, the resource allocation information may also be transmitted during the beam failure recovery process in signaling from the BS102 containing new beam information. The resource pool configuration information and the mapping relationship between the BPLs and the time domain units are transmitted by the BS102 to the UE104 in broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast form using the first signaling. A beam pair failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received beam failure recovery request, which contains the precise resource frequency/code information and new BPL information for the UE 104. The UE104 then begins transmitting UL signals using the best BPL at the allocated resources within the time domain unit under the allocated frequency unit or code domain unit.

According to embodiment 4, if the resource pool configuration and/or the mapping relationship between BPL and time domain units is predefined in the system, it is known and shared by all BSs 102 and UEs within one cell. For example, according to some embodiments, the resource pool configuration may be sent whenever the UE enters a cell. In another embodiment, the resource pool configuration and the mapping relationship between BPL and time domain units are defined in a protocol. In these cases, the resource pool configuration and the mapping relationship between BPLs and time domain units need not be sent separately again during the resource allocation process.

The UE104 transmits the ULRS to the BS102 using a beam scanning technique to determine the best BPL for establishing a communication link. The BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal containing BPL information and precise resource frequency/code information for the UE 104. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The UE104 starts transmitting UL signals to the BS102 on the allocated resources.

In some embodiments, the resource allocation information may also be transmitted during the beam failure recovery process in signaling from the BS102 containing new BPL information. A beam pair failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH). The BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received beam failure recovery request, which contains the precise resource frequency/code information and new BPL information for the UE 104. The UE104 refers to the resource pool configuration and locates the resource information and then starts transmitting UL signals at the allocated resources within the time domain unit under the allocated frequency unit or code domain unit using the optimal BPL.

Fig. 5A is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS102 to a UE104, in accordance with some embodiments. The method 600 begins at operation 601, where the UE104 transmits a ULRS signal to the BS102 using a beam scanning technique, during which the UE104 transmits at least one reference signal to at least one receive beam at the BS102 using at least one transmit beam during a time interval. In some embodiments, this ULRS from the UE may be a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) or transmitted on various channels including a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), and a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

The method 600 continues to operation 602, where the BS transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE104 for the received ULRS. BS102 then measures the power and power loss of the reference signals to estimate the best beam combination for establishing the communication link. In some embodiments, at least one combination of a receive beam of BS102 and a transmit beam of UE104 may be determined based on the ULRS, such that a time domain unit and the respective receive beam of BS102 associated with that time domain unit are allocated to UE 104. In some embodiments, multiple best beam combinations may be obtained, where the BS automatically assigns one of multiple best resources within respective multiple time domain units to the UE 104. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). In some embodiments, if this DL feedback is sent to the UE for the first time, the DL feedback signal also contains information such as, for example, resource pool configuration information, transmit beam information for the UE104, and resource indication information. In some embodiments, if such DL feedback is not sent to the UE for the first time, the DL feedback information contains information other than resource pool configuration information, such as, for example, transmit beam information and resource indication information for the UE 104.

The resource indication may be explicit, implicit, or any practical combination thereof. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in the control signaling, such as bitmap in Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication of resources via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication system has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). In some embodiments, the number of antenna ports for CRS may be inferred from the CRC mask for PBCH.

The method 600 continues to operation 603, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals on the allocated resources in response to receiving a DL feedback signal from the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) feedback signals, Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs), and quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

Alternatively, the resource allocation information may also be transmitted in the signaling from the BS containing the new beam information during the beam failure recovery procedure. Referring to fig. 5B, the method 700 begins at operation 611, where a BPL failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UE104 may send multiple beam failure recovery requests to all receive beams of the BS102 at certain time intervals. The request also contains an identification of the UE (UE id) and transmit beam information for the UE 104. In some embodiments, this may be transmitted implicitly or explicitly. In some embodiments, the request may also contain transmit beam information for BS 102. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH).

The method 700 continues to operation 612, where the BS102 transmits a Downlink (DL) feedback signal to the UE 104. In some embodiments, at least one beam combination of a receive beam of the BS102 and a transmit beam of the UE104 may be determined based on the beam failure recovery request such that a time domain unit, and thus the respective receive beam of the BS102 associated with the time domain unit, may be allocated to the UE 104. In some embodiments, multiple best BPLs may be obtained, where BS102 automatically assigns one of the multiple best BPLs within each of the multiple time domain units to UE 104. The DL feedback signal may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). In some embodiments, if this DL feedback is sent to the UE for the first time, the DL feedback signal also contains information such as, for example, resource pool configuration information, transmit beam information for the UE104, and resource indication information. In some embodiments, if such DL feedback is not sent to the UE for the first time, the DL feedback information contains information other than resource pool configuration information, such as, for example, transmit beam information and resource indication information for the UE 104.

The resource indication may be explicit, implicit, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in the control signaling, such as the bitmap in the Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in LTE has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). The number of antenna ports of the CRS is deduced from the CRC mask of the PBCH.

The method 700 continues to operation 613, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals to the BS102 on the allocated resources in response to receiving a DL feedback signal from the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) feedback signals, Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs), and quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a method of uplink resource allocation from a BS102 to a UE104, in accordance with some embodiments. The method 800 begins at operation 801, when a beam pair failure occurs and is detected by the UE 104. At least one beam failure recovery request may be transmitted by the UE104 to the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UE104 may send multiple requests to all receive beams on the BS102 at certain time intervals. The request also contains transmit beam information for the UE 104. In some embodiments, this information may be transmitted implicitly or explicitly. In some embodiments, the request may also contain transmit beam information for BS102 a. The beam failure recovery request may be transmitted on various channels including a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH).

The method 800 continues to operation 802, where the BS102 transmits an uplink grant signal to the UE 104. In some embodiments, such uplink grant signals may be carried in Downlink Control Information (DCI) on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) used to transmit information such as, for example, time-frequency resource information and modulation information (e.g., MCS and modulation/coding scheme) to the UE 104. This information will be used by the UE104 during UL transmissions.

The method 800 continues to operation 803, where the UE104 transmits its identifier (e.g., UE id) to the BS102 according to the received uplink grant signal. In some embodiments, this ue id signal may be transmitted on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

The method 800 continues to operation 804, where the BS102 then transmits an acknowledgement signal to the UE104, including a new BPL signal or a new beam information acknowledgement to the UE 104. Resource allocation information may also be appended to this new beam information, such as a resource index according to some embodiments, using explicit or implicit methods. The acknowledgement signals may be transmitted on various channels, including a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). In some embodiments, the resource pool configuration information may be transmitted separately or together with the acknowledgement signal.

The resource indication may be explicit, implicit, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, explicit indication means that some information (e.g., resources) is indicated by information in the control signaling, such as the bitmap in the Downlink Control Information (DCI). The indication via other signal characteristics may be considered an implicit indication. For example, a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication system has 3 Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) masks, which correspond to the number of antenna ports of a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). In some embodiments, the number of antenna ports for the CRS may be inferred from the CRC mask for the PBCH.

The method 800 continues to operation 805, where the UE104 begins transmitting UL signals to the BS102 on the allocated resources in response to receiving a DL feedback signal from the BS 102. In some embodiments, the UL signals may include Scheduling Requests (SRs), Channel State Information (CSI) feedback signals, Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) information, and quasi-static scheduling (SPS) transmissions.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not limitation. Also, the various figures may depict example architectures or configurations that are provided to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to understand the example features and functionality of the present invention. However, such persons will appreciate that the invention is not limited to the example architectures or configurations illustrated, but can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. Furthermore, as one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, one or more features of one embodiment may be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.

It will also be understood that the use of references such as "first," "second," etc., when referring to elements herein, generally does not limit the number or order of such elements. Rather, these references may be used herein as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements or instances of elements. Thus, reference to first and second elements does not mean that only two elements may be employed, nor does it mean that the first element must precede the second element in some sense.

In addition, those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, and symbols that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other implementations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles described herein as recited in the claims.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a first wireless communication node, a plurality of first reference signals transmitted using a plurality of signal beams;

selecting at least a first resource from a plurality of resources associated with a plurality of signal beams, respectively, based on respective signal levels of the plurality of first reference signals; and

transmitting a first resource allocation signal to the first wireless communication node indicating the first resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a signal to the first wireless communication node indicating a configuration of the plurality of resources.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first resource allocation signal further indicates which of a plurality of signal beams of the first wireless communication node can be used by the first wireless communication node to transmit one or more signals.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more signals each include information selected from the group consisting of: scheduling request, channel quality indicator, channel state information indicator, and quasi-static scheduling transmission.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first resource allocation signal further indicates beam pair information, and wherein the beam pair information comprises resource information in the time domain corresponding to the indicated signal beam of the first wireless communication node and a paired signal beam for receiving one of a plurality of signals.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the plurality of resources is predefined.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first resource corresponds to one of the plurality of signal beams in the time domain.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first resource is associated with a first resource identifier indicating at least one of: time information, frequency information and code information, each of which can be used by the first wireless communication node to transmit one or more signals.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a second wireless communication node, a plurality of second reference signals transmitted using the plurality of signal beams;

selecting at least a second resource from the plurality of resources associated with a plurality of signal beams, respectively, based on respective signal levels of the plurality of second reference signals;

transmitting a second resource allocation signal to the second wireless communication node indicating which of the second resource and a plurality of signal beams of the second wireless communication node can be used by the second wireless communication node to transmit one or more signals;

receiving, from the second wireless communication node, the one or more signals transmitted using the second resource and the indicated signal beam of the second wireless communication node.

10. A method, comprising:

transmitting a plurality of reference signals using a plurality of transmit signal beams; and

receiving, from a wireless communication node, a resource allocation signal indicating at least one resource, the at least one resource being respectively selected from a plurality of resources based on respective signal levels associated with the plurality of reference signals,

wherein the at least one resource corresponds to a respective receive signal beam of the wireless communication node.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a signal from the wireless communication node indicating a configuration of the plurality of resources.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the resource allocation signal further indicates which of a plurality of transmitted signal beams can be used to transmit one or more signals.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more signals each include information selected from the group consisting of: scheduling request, channel quality indicator, channel state information indicator, and quasi-static scheduling transmission.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the configuration of the plurality of resources is predefined.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one resource is associated with a respective resource identifier indicating at least one of: time information, frequency information, and code information, each of which can be used to transmit one or more signals.

16. A first communications node comprising:

a receiver configured to receive, from a second wireless communication node, a plurality of first reference signals transmitted using a plurality of signal beams;

at least one processor configured to compare signal levels of respective ones of the plurality of first reference signals, select at least a first resource from a plurality of resources associated with a plurality of signal beams, respectively; and

a transmitter configured to transmit a first resource allocation signal indicating second resources to a first wireless communication node.

17. The first communication node of claim 16, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit a signal to the second wireless communication node indicating the configuration of the plurality of resources.

18. The first communications node of claim 16, wherein said first resource allocation signal further indicates which of a plurality of signal beams of said second wireless communications node can be used by said second wireless communications node to transmit one or more signals.

19. The first communication node of claim 18, wherein the one or more signals each include information selected from the group consisting of: scheduling request, channel quality indicator, channel state information indicator, and quasi-static scheduling transmission.

20. The first communication node of claim 18, wherein the first resource allocation signal further indicates beam pair information, and wherein the beam pair information comprises time information corresponding to the indicated signal beam of the first wireless communication node and a paired signal beam for receiving one of a plurality of reference signals.

21. The first communication node of claim 16, wherein the configuration of the plurality of resources is predefined.

22. The first communication node of claim 16, wherein the first resource corresponds to one of the plurality of signal beams in the time domain.

23. The first communication node of claim 16, wherein the first resource is associated with a first resource identifier indicating at least one of: time information, frequency information, and code information, each of which can be used by the second wireless communication node to transmit one or more signals.

24. The first communication node of claim 16, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a plurality of second reference signals from a third wireless communication node using the plurality of signal beams; the at least one processor is configured to compare signal levels of respective ones of the plurality of second reference signals, select at least a second resource from the plurality of resources associated with the plurality of signal beams, respectively; the transmitter is further configured to transmit a second resource allocation signal to the third wireless communication node indicating which of the second resource and a plurality of signal beams of the third wireless communication node can be used by the third wireless communication node to transmit one or more signals; and the receiver is further configured to receive, from the third wireless communication node, the one or more signals transmitted using the second resource and the indicated signal beam of the third wireless communication node.

25. A first communications node comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit a plurality of reference signals using a plurality of transmit signal beams; and

a receiver configured to receive a resource allocation signal from a second communication node indicating at least one resource, the at least one resource being respectively selected from a plurality of resources based on respective signal levels associated with the plurality of reference signals,

wherein the at least one resource corresponds to a respective received signal beam of the second communication node.

26. The first communication node of claim 25, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a signal from the second wireless communication node indicating a configuration of the plurality of resources.

27. The first communications node of claim 25, wherein said resource allocation signal further indicates which of a plurality of transmitted signal beams can be used to transmit one or more signals.

28. The first communication node of claim 27, wherein the one or more signals each include information selected from the group consisting of: scheduling request, channel quality indicator, channel state information indicator, and quasi-static scheduling transmission.

29. The first communications node of claim 25, wherein the configuration of said plurality of resources is predefined.

30. The first communication node of claim 25, wherein the at least one resource is associated with a respective resource identifier indicating at least one of: time information, frequency information, and code information, each of which can be used to transmit one or more signals.