CN110999443A

CN110999443A - Method and computing device for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network

Info

Publication number: CN110999443A
Application number: CN201780093705.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 施小娟
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2017-08-10
Filing date: 2017-08-10
Publication date: 2020-04-10
Also published as: WO2019028765A1

Abstract

A method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network, involving a computing device: performing beam management according to a first beam management configuration; receiving a first type of reference signal; receiving a second type of reference signal; determining that resources of the received first type of reference signal have met criteria for a triggering event; determining whether the resources of the received first type of reference signal are quasi co-located with the resources of the received second type of reference signal; and based on the trigger event determination and the quasi co-location determination, ceasing to perform beam management according to the first beam management configuration and beginning to perform beam management according to the second beam management configuration.

Description

Method and computing device for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless networks, and more particularly, to methods and computing devices for multi-beam resource management in wireless networks.

Background

With the aim of the market and the mobile communication society increasing, the development of next generation systems (5G systems) will employ frequencies up to 100 GHz. The use of high operating frequencies (i.e., greater than 6GHz) results in relatively high propagation losses. To address this, antenna arrays and Beamforming (BF) training techniques (e.g., 1024 antenna elements per node) using massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) will be employed to achieve beam alignment and achieve sufficiently high antenna gain.

With the adoption of a large number of beams, beam management functions such as beam scanning, beam determination, beam reporting (e.g., reporting of beam ID and layer 1 (L1) Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), etc.), and beam switching are introduced to select the most appropriate serving beam or beams for the respective UE. UE-specific channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) are designated for beam management purposes. To compensate for the high propagation loss due to operation at high frequencies (i.e., above 6GHz) and to ensure a relatively long range, UE-specific CSI-RSs are limited to the narrow spatial coverage provided by their respective beams. Meanwhile, in order to target a wider spatial coverage, a large number of beams (beams for transmitting CSI-RS, sometimes referred to herein as "CSI-RS based beams") should be radiated. For example, if a Base Station (BS) has a MIMO antenna array comprising 1024 antenna elements, the number of narrow CSI-RS based beams may be up to 4096.

In order to identify which of these beams are suitable or "best" for communication, the UE should continuously perform beam scanning, beam measurement, beam determination, and CSI-RS beam-based reporting (periodic or aperiodic). If too many beams are configured for a particular UE (e.g., all CSI-RS based beams are configured for the UE), the UE will need to consume significant power. Furthermore, dedicating a large number of beams to a particular UE may place a processing burden on the UE. At the same time, a high level of CSI-RS reporting activity due to the large number of beams will be introduced, thus large signaling overhead and higher resource consumption over the air. Conversely, if the UE is configured with too few beams, the beam management decision may be less optional and the UE has a higher risk of beam link failure or radio link failure (e.g., when the measured and reported beams are too few and blocking occurs).

Drawings

While the appended claims set forth the features of the present technology with particularity, these technologies, together with their objects and advantages, may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

fig. 1 is a diagram of a system in which various embodiments of the present disclosure are implemented.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example hardware architecture according to an embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a diagram depicting a framework for providing beam management configurations according to an embodiment.

Fig. 4 and 5 are diagrams depicting the implementation of cell-specific reference signals according to embodiments.

Fig. 6 depicts a trajectory of a user equipment and a quasi co-location relationship between cell-specific reference signal resources and user equipment-specific reference signal resources.

Description of the invention

According to one embodiment, a method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network involves a computing device (e.g., a user equipment or a relay node) that: performing beam management according to a first beam management configuration; receiving a first type of reference signal (e.g., a user equipment-specific reference signal such as a channel state information reference signal); receiving a second type of reference signal (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal such as a synchronization signal); determining that resources of a first type of reference signal have met criteria for a triggering event; determining whether resources of a first type of reference signal are quasi co-located with resources of a second type of reference signal; and based on the trigger event determination and the quasi co-location determination, ceasing to perform beam management according to the first beam management configuration and beginning to perform beam management according to the second beam management configuration.

According to one embodiment, a method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network, comprises: transmitting a first beam management configuration to a computing device, wherein the first beam management configuration specifies a trigger event; receiving, from a computing device, a message indicating that resources of a first type of reference signal received by a user device have met criteria for a triggering event; determining whether the resource is quasi co-located with a resource of a second type of reference signal; and based on the received message and the quasi co-location determination, sending a beam management command to the computing device indicating that the computing device is to change its beam management configuration.

In one embodiment, a method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network involves a computing device: wirelessly receiving a first type of reference signal and a second type of reference signal; performing measurements on resources of a first type of reference signal according to the received measurement configuration; determining, based on the measurement results, that the resource of the first type of reference signal has triggered a resource-specific event of the first type of reference signal; determining resources of a second type of reference signal that are quasi co-located with resources of the first type of reference signal; and performing beam management on resources of the second type of reference signal.

According to one embodiment, a method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network involves a first computing device: sending a measurement configuration to a second computing device, wherein the measurement configuration specifies resource-specific events for the first type of reference signal; receiving, from the second computing device, a message indicating that resources of the first type of reference signal received by the second computing device have triggered a resource-specific event of the first type of reference signal; determining resources of a second type of reference signal that are quasi co-located with resources of the first type of reference signal; and transmitting a beam management signal to the second computing device indicating that the second computing device is to perform beam management in accordance with the information contained in the beam management signal.

Fig. 1 depicts a wireless communication system 100 in which various embodiments may be deployed. The communication system 100 includes a plurality of communication nodes. The depicted communication node is a Base Station (BS) 102. User Equipment (UE)104 is also depicted. It should be understood that there may be many other communication nodes, and that the communication nodes shown in fig. 1 are for example purposes only. In one embodiment, the wireless communication system 100 has many components not depicted in fig. 1, including other base stations, other UEs, wireless infrastructure, wired infrastructure, and other devices common in wireless networks.

Possible implementations of the UE 104 include any device capable of wireless communication, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and non-legacy devices (e.g., home appliances or other parts of the "internet of things").

It should be noted that when the present disclosure refers to a UE without reference numbers, the UE 104 from fig. 1 may be considered to perform the action in question or receive the result of the action in question. Similarly, when the present disclosure refers to a BS, node, or "network," the BS 104 from fig. 1 may be considered to perform or receive the results of the discussed action.

Fig. 2 illustrates a basic (computing device) hardware architecture implemented by the elements of fig. 1, including the BS102 and the UE 104. The elements of fig. 1 also have other components. The hardware architecture depicted in fig. 2 includes logic 202, memory 204, transceiver 206, and one or more antennas, represented by antenna 208. Memory 204 may be or include a buffer that holds incoming transmissions, for example, until logic circuitry is able to process the transmission. Each of these elements is communicatively linked to each other via one or more data paths 210. Examples of data paths include electrical wires, conductive paths on a microchip, and wireless connections.

The term "logic circuit" as used herein refers to a circuit (a piece of electronic hardware) designed to perform a complex function defined in terms of mathematical logic. Examples of logic circuitry include a microprocessor, controller, or application specific integrated circuit. When the present disclosure relates to a device that performs an action, it should be understood that this may also mean that logic integrated with the device is actually performing the action.

Recent proposals for wireless networking in a cellular environment introduce at least two new types of Reference Signals (RSs). The first type RS is provided by a Synchronization Signal (SS). An SS includes one or more SS blocks. Each SS block includes at least a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSs), and a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). The second type RS is provided by the CSI-RS. Each CSI-RS uses CSI-RS resources for transmission. A single UE may be configured with one or more CSI-RS resources for receiving one or more CSI-RS. Different CSI-RS resources may be configured for different UEs. A CSI-RS resource configuration for a given UE for receiving CSI-RS, comprising at least one of: a cell ID; a CSI-RS identifier; timing configuration (including time offset and periodicity); the number of antenna ports; a Resource Element (RE) mapping; and parameters for sequence generation. Both SS and CSI-RS signals are beamformed signals, each having a specific radio propagation direction. The SS may be considered as a cell-specific configured RS, while the CSI-RS may be considered as a UE-specific configured RS, which is not always in an on transmission state, but may be effectively turned on and off. An SS may cover a wide area within a cell and serve all UEs within the wide area, but its spatial resolution is low (i.e., it is transmitted as a wide beam). On the other hand, CSI-RS provides higher spatial resolution (i.e., narrow beams) and stronger signals within narrow beams, but covers only narrow areas. In the case of fig. 1, the SS and CSI-RS signals would be transmitted by the BS102 and used by the UE 104.

When the UE is in IDLE state, the UE uses the SS for Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements. When the UE is in a CONNECTED (CONNECTED) state, the UE may use CSI-RS for RRM measurements (if the UE is configured to do so by the network (e.g., by a base station)) in addition to using SS. The UE in the CONNECTED state performs beam management (including beam scanning, beam measurement, beam determination, beam reporting, etc.) based on at least the CSI-RS.

To identify which of the CSI-RS based beams are suitable or "best" for communication by a particular UE, the network should provide the UE with CSI-RS based beam management configuration parameters. The network signals these configuration parameters to the UE through RRC signaling. Fig. 3 illustrates a framework for providing beam management configurations. When signaling the configuration, the network may configure the UE with N ≧ 1 CSI report settings, M ≧ 1 resource settings, and one CSI measurement setting, where the CSI measurement setting includes L ≧ 1 link. Each of the L links is configured to correspond to a CSI report setting and a resource setting. The resource setting defines CSI-RS resources on which the UE should perform L1 measurements for beam management. Each of the configured CSI-RS resource settings may be configured with one or more sets of CSI-RS resources. Each CSI-RS resource set may be configured with K ≧ CSI-RS resources.

The UE performs L1 measurements (e.g., beam scanning, beam measurement, and beam determination) according to a beam management configuration signaled to the UE by the network (e.g., by the base station). As used herein, the term "beam" may refer to a radio propagation direction formed by transmission signals from a single CSI-RS resource, or a radio propagation direction formed by transmission signals from a set of CSI-RS resources. The association of CSI-RS resources with Tx beams may depend on the particular network implementation. For example, each CSI-RS resource may transmit a particular Tx beam, or each set of CSI-RS resources may correspond to one Tx beam. The UE generates a CSI-RS based beam report from the L1 measurement result. If the network (e.g., BS) sends a command to the UE indicating that the UE needs to change one or more serving beams, the UE switches the one or more serving beams according to the command.

The CONNECTED UE performs RRM measurements based on the SS for layer 3 mobility. More specifically, the UE performs RRM measurements on Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS) according to a measurement configuration signaled from the network. This process is sometimes referred to as the network "configuring the measurement reports of the UE" or "configuring the UE measurement reports"

The kind of information contained in the measurement configuration may include a list of measurement objects, a list of reporting configurations and a list of measurement identities, wherein each measurement identity links a measurement object with a reporting configuration. By configuring multiple measurement identities, more than one measurement object may be linked to the same reporting configuration, or more than one reporting configuration may be linked to the same measurement object. Each measurement object is associated with a carrier frequency. Each reporting configuration comprises at least a reporting criterion indicating a criterion triggering the UE to send a measurement report. For example, the reporting criteria may be event-triggered criteria, such as event a4 (neighbor cell becomes better than threshold) or event A3 (neighbor cell becomes better than primary cell (PCell)/primary secondary cell (PSCell) offset). The measured RS type may also be included in the reporting configuration to indicate which RS the UE uses for the respective measurement object linked to the reporting configuration via the measurement identity. For layer 3 mobility purposes, the UE performs measurements on configured measurement objects (carrier frequencies) linked to at least one reporting configuration by a measurement identity (identities). The UE then sends one or more measurement reports to the network.

More specific examples of event triggering criteria are as follows: the UE sends one or more measurement reports to the network if at least one of the cells on the measurement object (carrier frequency) triggers a respective event set forth in a respective reporting configuration linked to the measurement object via the measurement identity. The identity (identities) and quality (quality) of the one or more cells that triggered the event are included in the measurement report. Upon receiving one or more measurement reports from the UE, the network may select a target cell and indicate to the UE that it should handover to the selected target cell.

Turning to fig. 4, an embodiment of the SS will now be described. An SS includes one or more SS blocks. As used herein, the term "SS resource" refers to an SS block or set of SS blocks. In the embodiment of fig. 4, the SSs are transmitted periodically. In each cycle, six SS blocks (shown as SB0 through SB5 in fig. 4) are transmitted in succession. Each SS block is transmitted in a different radio propagation direction than the other blocks. In this example, the SS resources correspond to SS blocks. For example, SSs 0 through SS5 in fig. 4 correspond to SS resource 0 through SS resource 5.

Turning to fig. 5, another example of an SS will now be described. As in the previous example, the SSs in fig. 5 are periodically transmitted, and six SS blocks (shown as SB0 through SB5 in fig. 5) are continuously transmitted. However, in the example of fig. 5, the SS blocks are transmitted with a repetition factor K-2, which means that every two consecutive SS blocks are transmitted with the same radio propagation direction, which can be seen as one single beam. K consecutive SS blocks transmitted on the same beam constitute an "SS block group". For example, in fig. 5, SB0 and SB1, SB2 and SB3, SB4 and SB5 constitute three separate SS block groups. In this example, the SS resources correspond to a set of SS blocks. For example, SB0 and SB1 correspond to SS resource 0, SB2 and SB3 correspond to SS resource 1, and SB4 and SB5 correspond to SS resource 2.

It should be noted that in both of the above examples, SS blocks are transmitted continuously in this period, for example, an SS block is transmitted immediately after the previous block completes transmission. However, subsequent SS blocks may also be transmitted with some gaps in the time domain.

It should also be noted that as used herein, the term "resource" refers to any network or protocol resource, such as a physical resource block, physical resource element, slot, subframe, or subcarrier, which may be allocated to one or more UEs for transmitting signals (e.g., for transmitting synchronization signals).

In addition to the control parameters configured in the measurement configuration for layer 3 mobility purposes, the network includes at least one reporting configuration in its measurement configuration sent to the UE, the at least one reporting configuration including SS resource specific events. Each reporting configuration (including SS resource-specific events) is linked to one or more corresponding measurement objects (one or more carrier frequencies) by one or more measurement identities.

An example of SS resource specific events will now be described. In these examples, the measurement object (i.e., the thing the UE measures) to which the SS resource-specific event is linked is the serving carrier (at the serving carrier frequency). The target of the serving cell is configured for the purpose of assisting beam management. The SS resource specific event in this example may be one of the following events:

1. event S1: the SS resource becomes better than the threshold

Event S1 is an SS resource specific event. The SS resource used here is an SS resource of the serving cell.

The UE in this example will:

(a) when the condition S1-1 as specified below is satisfied, the entry condition that the event S1 is satisfied is considered; and

(b) when the condition S1-2 as specified below is satisfied, the leaving condition of the event S1 is considered to be satisfied.

Condition S1-1 (entry condition): mssr + Ossr-Hys > Thresh

Condition S1-2 (leaving condition): mssr + Ossr + Hys < Thresh

Wherein: mssr is a measurement of SS resources, without considering any offset; ossr is an SS resource specific offset; hys is a hysteresis parameter for events; thresh is the threshold parameter for the event.

If at least one of the SS resources triggers an event S1, the UE will send a measurement report to the network. If the measurement result of the SS resources satisfies the entry condition of the event S1 within the time period defined for the event S1, the UE considers that the event S1 has been triggered. The measurement report includes at least information about which SS resource triggered the corresponding SS resource-specific event. Such information includes at least the SS resource ID. For example, if the SS resource is defined as an SS block, the SS resource ID is an SS block ID. If the SS resource is defined as a set of SS blocks, the SS resource ID is the SS block ID or set of SS blocks ID of the SS blocks in the set of SS blocks (if the SS block set ID is specified).

Similarly, an SS resource is also considered to trigger event S1 if the UE' S measurement of the SS resource that has triggered the SS resource-specific event S1 satisfies the leaving condition of event S1 within the time period defined for this event S1. If this happens, the UE sends a measurement report but does not include information about which SS resource (S) meet the leaving condition of event S1.

2. Event S2: SS resources are within X dB of optimal SS resources

In this example, event S2 is an SS resource-specific event. The SS resources and the best SS resources in this example are the SS resources of the serving cell. When the condition S2 as specified below is satisfied, the UE considers that the entry condition of the event S2 is satisfied.

Condition S2 (entry condition): mssr + Ossr-Hys +/-X is more than or equal to Mssrb + Ossrb. If the Mssr is more than or equal to the Mssrb, then-X; otherwise + X if Mssr < Mssrb.

Wherein: mssr, Ossr and Hys are the same as previously discussed; mssrb is a measure of the best SS resource, not considering any offsets; ossrb is the optimal SS resource-specific offset; x is a threshold parameter specified for event S2.

If the measurement result of the SS resource satisfies the entry condition of the event S2 within the time period defined for this event S2, the SS resource is regarded as triggering an event S2. If at least one of the SS resources triggers an event S2, the UE sends a measurement report. The measurement report includes at least information about which SS resource triggered the event S2. This information includes at least the SS resource IDs that have been previously discussed.

3. Event S3: optimal SS resource change

In this example, event S3 is an SS resource-specific event. The SS resources and the best SS resources as used herein are the SS resources of the serving cell. In this example, the UE considers that the entry condition of the event S3 is satisfied when the condition S3 as specified below is satisfied:

condition S3 (entry condition): mssr + Ossr-Hys is more than or equal to Mssrb + Ossrb

If the measurement result of the SS resource satisfies the entry condition of the event S3 within the time period defined for the event S3, the SS resource is considered to have triggered the event S3. If at least one of the SS resources triggers an SS resource-specific event S3, the UE sends a measurement report. The measurement report includes at least information about which SS resource triggered the event S3. This information includes at least the SS resource ID that has been described previously.

According to one embodiment, one or both of the BS102 and the UE 104 perform beam management based on information about one or more SS resources that trigger an SS resource-specific event and about QCL relationships between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources.

To provide context, if resources of two different types of RSs (e.g., resources of SSS and CSI-RS) share the same or similar channel properties, such resources are considered "quasi co-located (QCL)" for determining whether channel properties of two or more resources are QCLs may include one or more of the following properties: (1) doppler spread; (2) doppler frequency shift; (3) a delay spread; (4) an average delay; (5) average gain; and (6) spatial parameters. As used herein, "doppler spread" refers to the frequency domain spread of a received multipath component, "doppler shift" refers to the frequency difference in carrier frequency between a carrier component observed by the receiver and a carrier component transmitted by the transmitter, "delay spread" refers to the time difference between the arrival time of the first received multipath component (typically the line of sight (LOS) component) and the arrival time of the last received multipath component (typically the non-line of sight (NLOS) component), "average delay" refers to the delay of all multipath components multiplied by the weighted average of the power of each component, "average gain" refers to the average transmission power per day for a line port or resource element, and "spatial parameter" refers to a spatial domain property of multipath components observed by the receiver, such as angle of arrival (AoA), spatial correlation, etc. This information of channel properties may be predefined or configured to the UE by layer 1 or higher level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling).

For example, it may be predefined that two channel properties are similar to each other when their respective parameter values are within 5% or 10% of each other. A UE having such information on channel properties may use such information to determine whether resources of two different types of RSs are QCL. Alternatively, if two resources are determined to be QCL, e.g., CSI-RS resource X is determined to be QCL with SS resource Y, the QCL relationship between the two resources may be signaled to the UE.

In one embodiment, a network (e.g., a node of the network such as a base station) may configure a UE with M ≧ 1 CSI-RS resource setting for beam management purposes. Each resource setting may include one or more CSI-RS resource sets, and each CSI-RS resource set may include K ≧ CSI-RS resources. A set of CSI-RS resources is said to be QCL with an SS resource if all K CSI-RS resources in the set are QCL with the SS resource. A CSI-RS resource setting is said to be QCL with an SS resource if all sets of CSI-RS resources in the CSI-RS resource setting are QCL with the SS resource. The QCL relationship between the CSI-RS resources (or CSI-RS resource set or CSI-RS resource setting) and the SS resources may be signaled to the UE. QCL relationships between the two types of RSs (e.g., SS and CSI-RS) may be used to facilitate beam management.

Turning to fig. 6, an example of the trajectory of the UE and the QCL relationship between the SS resources and the CSI-RS resources is shown. In this example, the CONNECTED UE moves from the coverage of SS resource 2 to SS resource 3 in the serving cell. In this example, it is assumed that CSI-RS resources 1 through 4 and SS resources 2 are QCL, and CSI-RS resources 5 through 8 and SS resources 3 are QCL (QCL resources are similarly shaded in fig. 6). It is also assumed here that each individual CSI-RS resource transmits a specific Tx beam. In other words, each CSI-RS resource corresponds to one beam. The network configures CSI-RS resources 1 to 4 in one CSI-RS resource set (which will be referred to as CSI-RS resource set X), and CSI-RS resources 5 to 8 in another CSI-RS resource set (which will be referred to as CSI-RS resource set Y). Each CSI-RS resource setting in this example is configured with only one set of CSI-RS resources. For example, one CSI-RS resource setting (which will be referred to as CSI-RS resource setting M) is configured to include CSI-RS resource set X, while another CSI-RS resource setting (which will be referred to as CSI-RS resource setting N) is configured to include CSI-RS resource set Y.

In this example, for layer 3 mobility purposes, the UE is configured with an SS resource specific event S3 (best SS resource change) in the measurement configuration. When the UE is within the coverage of SS resource 2 (time T1 in fig. 6), the network sends a measurement configuration to the UE, and during this time, the UE measures SS resource 2 and determines that SS resource 2 is the best SS resource. The UE gradually moves from the coverage of SS resource 2 to the coverage of SS resource 3. At time T2, event S3 is triggered by SS resource 3, and the UE sends a report to the network including information about SS resource 3.

In one embodiment, the information about SS resources (SS resource 3 in the example of fig. 6) may be used for the purpose of assisting beam management according to one of the following alternatives:

alternative 1: providing a beam management configuration based on the reported one or more SS resource information and the QCL relationship between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources.

According to one embodiment, a wireless network (e.g., node 102) provides beam management configurations to a UE (e.g., UE 104) based on QCL relationships between one or more CSI-RS resources and one or more SS resources. This QCL relationship is determined based on information sent by the UE to the network. For example, referring again to fig. 6, while the UE stays in the coverage area of SS resource 2, the UE is provided with CSI-RS resource setting M, which means that the UE should perform beam management on CSI-RS resource set X (CSI-RS resource 1 to CSI-RS resource 4). Assuming a scenario in which SS resource 3 triggers event S3, the UE will send (in response to event S3 being triggered) a measurement report to the network (e.g., to the base station), which will include information about SS resource 3.

Upon receiving the report, the network analyzes the information about SS resource 3. For this example, assume that the network determines that SS resource 3 is the best SS resource or is becoming the best SS resource, and finds that CSI-RS resource setting N (i.e., CSI-RS resource set Y or CSI-RS resources 5 through 8) is QCL with SS resource 3. Based on the determination, the network updates the beam management configuration for the UE. In this example, the network updates the CSI-RS resource settings from M to N (i.e., CSI-RS resource set Y or CSI-RS resource 5 to CSI-RS resource 8) as measurement objects for performing beam management in the beam management configuration. In other words, for the purpose of beam management, the network signals to the UE that the UE should now make measurements on the set Y of CSI-RS resources. The network provides such beam management configuration to the UE through higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In response to receiving the updated beam management configuration, the UE will now perform L1 measurements or beam management (e.g., beam scanning, beam measurement, and beam determination) on CSI-RS resources 5 through 8, but not CSI-RS resources 1 through 4.

Alternative 2: providing beam management commands based on the reporting information of the one or more SS resources and the QCL relationship between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources.

In one embodiment, when a UE accesses a serving cell, the network (e.g., BS) provides the UE with all possible CSI-RS resources for beam management in the cell. For example, the network may provide the UE with all CSI-RS resources in the serving cell. Taking fig. 6 as an example, the UE initially accesses a serving cell under coverage of SS resource 2, so the network provides the UE with CSI-RS resources that are QCLs with SS resource 1, CSI-RS resources that are QCLs with SS resource 2 (e.g., CSI-RS resource set M), and CSI-RS resources that are QCLs with SS resource 3 (CSI-RS resource set N). And during the time that the UE stays under the coverage of SS resource 2, the network may issue a beam management command to the UE to activate beam management for CSI-RS resource setting M. In other words, the network indicates to the UE that the UE is to perform L1 measurements or beam management (e.g., beam scanning, beam measurement, and beam determination) on the CSI-RS resources specified by CSI-RS resource setting M.

Assuming a scenario in which SS resource 3 triggers event S3, the UE will send (triggered in response to event S3) a measurement report to the network (e.g., to the BS) that will include information about SS resource 3. Upon receiving the report, the network analyzes the information about SS resource 3. For this example, assume that the network determines that SS resource 3 is the best SS resource or is becoming the best SS resource, and finds that CSI-RS resource setting N (i.e., CSI-RS resource set Y or CSI-RS resources 5 through 8) is QCL with SS resource 3. Based on the determination, the network issues one or more new beam management commands to the UE to activate the CSI-RS resource setting N. In other words, the network indicates to the UE that the UE will perform L1 measurements or beam management using the CSI-RS resource specified by CSI-RS resource setting N. The new beam management command or commands also tell the UE to deactivate the CSI-RS resource setting M. In other words, the one or more new beam management commands tell the UE to stop using the CSI-RS resources specified in the CSI-RS resource setting M for measurement or beam management

In other words, in this example, the network determines that beam management for CSI-RS resource setting N should be activated and beam management for CSI-RS resource setting M should be deactivated. The network makes this determination based on QCL relationships between SS resources and CSI-RS resources. Various possible ways in which the network may issue one or more beam management commands include: the command is issued to the UE via layer 2 signaling (e.g., a Medium Access Control (MAC) control element (MAC CE)) or via layer 1 signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI) on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)). Upon receiving the beam management command, the UE performs L1 measurements or beam management (e.g., beam scanning, beam measurement, and beam determination) on CSI-RS resources 5 through 8, but not on CSI-RS resources 1 through 4.

Alternative 3: the UE autonomously activates/deactivates or switches the CSI-RS resources for beam management based on the one or more SS resources that trigger the one or more SS resource-specific events and the QCL relationship between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources.

According to one embodiment, a UE autonomously activates/deactivates or switches CSI-RS resources for beam management based on (1) one or more SS resources that trigger one or more SS resource-specific events and (2) QCL relationships between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources. As in the previously described embodiments, when a UE accesses a serving cell, the UE is provided with all possible CSI-RS resources for beam management in the cell. For example, the network may provide all CSI-RS resources in the serving cell to the UE. Taking fig. 6 as an example, the UE initially accesses a serving cell under coverage of SS resource 2, so the network provides the UE with CSI-RS resources that are QCLs with SS resource 1, CSI-RS resources that are QCLs with SS resource 2 (e.g., CSI-RS resource set M), and CSI-RS resources that are QCLs with SS resource 3 (CSI-RS resource set N). And during the time that the UE stays under the coverage of SS resource 2, the UE measures and estimates that SS resource 2 is the best SS resource. The UE determines that the CSI-RS resource setting M and the SS resource 2 are QCL according to a channel attribute predefined or configured to the UE or according to a QCL relationship provided to the UE by the network. The UE autonomously activates L1 measurement or beam management for CSI-RS resource setting M and does not perform beam management for other configured CSI-RS resources. Or, at the same time, if the UE is configured with an SS resource-specific event S1, the UE measures and determines an SS resource 1 triggering event S1. In addition to CSI-RS resource setting M, the UE autonomously activates L1 measurements or beam management for CSI-RS resource settings (or a set of CSI-RS resources or one or more CSI-RS resources) that are QCLs with SS resource 1.

As the UE moves, the UE performs measurements and determines SS resource 3 triggering event S3. The UE also determines that SS resource 3 is the best SS resource or is becoming the best SS resource. The UE also determines (based on information about channel properties predefined at the UE or provided to the UE by the network, or based on a QCL relationship provided to the UE by the network) that the CSI-RS resource setting N and the SS resource 3 are QCL. The UE then autonomously (1) activates L1 measurement or beam management using CSI-RS resource setting N, and (2) deactivates beam management for CSI-RS resource setting M (and the CSI-RS resource is QCL with SS resource 1 if the UE autonomously activates the above). Meanwhile, the UE may send a measurement report including information on SS resource 3 to the network. The network may use the measurement report to update or reconfigure the beam management configuration of the UE.

According to various embodiments, a receiver (e.g., a UE) receives a measurement configuration from a transmitter (e.g., a BS). The measurement configuration includes at least SS resource specific events. The receiver performs measurements on the SS resources according to the received measurement configuration.

The receiver sends a measurement report if at least one of the SS resources triggers a corresponding SS resource-specific event. The measurement report includes at least information of one or more SS resources that triggered the corresponding SS resource-specific event. The receiver then performs beam management based on the information signaled from the transmitter, including one of:

1) the receiver receives the beam management configuration from the transmitter. The beam management configuration includes a configuration of at least one CSI-RS resource. The beam management configuration is configured based on reporting information of the one or more SS resources and QCL relationships between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources. The receiver performs beam management according to the beam management configuration.

2) The receiver receives a beam management command from the transmitter. The beam management command includes information of the CSI-RS resources that the receiver should activate for beam management and/or information of the CSI-RS resources that the receiver should deactivate for beam management.

The information of the CSI-RS resource may be one of: a CSI-RS resource identification (a plurality of CSI-RS resource identifications); a set of CSI-RS resources (identity); and CSI-RS resource setting (identification).

A receiver (e.g., a UE) receives a measurement configuration from a transmitter (e.g., a BS). The measurement configuration includes at least SS resource specific events. The receiver performs measurements on the SS resources according to the received measurement configuration.

The receiver autonomously activates/deactivates or switches the SS resources for beam management based on the one or more SS resources that trigger the one or more SS resource-specific events and the QCL relationship between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources.

The QCL relationship between the one or more CSI-RS resources and the one or more SS resources may be determined according to information of channel properties predefined or configured to the receiver or according to a QCL relationship provided to the receiver.

Any and all methods described herein are performed by or on one or more computing devices. Further, instructions for performing any or all of the methods described herein may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as any of the various types of memory described herein.

It should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described herein should be considered in descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Descriptions of features or aspects in each embodiment should generally be considered as available for other similar features or aspects in other embodiments. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope defined by the following claims. For example, the steps of the various methods may be reordered in a manner apparent to those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network, the method being performed by a user equipment, the method comprising:

performing beam management according to a first beam management configuration;

receiving a user equipment-specific reference signal;

receiving a cell-specific reference signal;

determining that resources of the received cell-specific reference signal have met criteria for a triggering event;

determining whether resources of the received user equipment-specific reference signal are quasi co-located with resources of the received user equipment reference signal; and

based on the trigger event determination and the quasi co-location determination, ceasing the performing of beam management according to the first beam management configuration and beginning performing beam management according to the second beam management configuration.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a first beam management configuration from the wireless network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving a measurement configuration from the wireless network, wherein the measurement configuration specifies the triggering event.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a message to the wireless network indicating that the user equipment is performing beam management according to the second beam management configuration.

5. A method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network, the method being performed by a node of the wireless network, the method comprising:

sending a measurement configuration to a user equipment, wherein the measurement configuration specifies a trigger event;

receiving a message from the user equipment indicating that resources of a cell-specific reference signal received by the user equipment have met the criteria of the trigger event;

determining whether resources of a user equipment-specific reference signal received by the user equipment are quasi co-located with resources of a received cell-specific reference signal; and

based on the received message and the quasi co-location determination, sending a beam management command to the user equipment, the beam management command indicating that the user equipment is to change its beam management configuration.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the message received from the user equipment includes information identifying resources of the cell-specific reference signal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the information identifying the resource of the cell-specific reference signal is a synchronization signal block identifier, a synchronization signal block group identifier, or an identifier of a synchronization signal block within a block group.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the beam management command specifies: an identification of one or more user equipment specific reference signal resources, an identification of a set of user equipment specific reference signal resources, or a user equipment specific resource setting.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising transmitting the user equipment-specific reference signal and the cell-specific reference signal.

10. The method of claim 1 or claim 5, wherein performing beam management comprises performing one or more of a beam scanning operation, a beam determination operation, a beam reporting operation, and a beam switching operation.

11. The method according to claim 1 or claim 5, wherein performing beam management comprises changing user equipment specific one or more reference signal beams that the user equipment should measure periodically.

12. The method of claim 1 or claim 5, wherein the beam management configuration specifies a user equipment-specific reference signal beam set.

13. The method according to claim 1 or claim 5, wherein the user equipment-specific reference signal is a channel state information reference signal and the cell-specific reference signal is a synchronization signal.

14. The method of claim 1 or claim 5, wherein determining that the resources of the user equipment-specific reference signal are quasi co-located with the resources of the cell-specific reference signal comprises:

determining channel properties of resources of the user equipment-specific reference signal;

determining channel properties of resources of the cell-specific reference signal; and

determining that the respective resource is quasi co-located based on a difference between the determined channel property of the resource of the user equipment-specific reference signal and the determined channel property of the resource of the cell-specific reference signal being within a predetermined threshold amount.

15. The method according to claim 1 or claim 5, wherein the triggering event comprises the user equipment entering a coverage area of the cell-specific reference signal.

16. The method according to claim 1 or claim 5, wherein the triggering event comprises the user equipment leaving a coverage area of the cell-specific reference signal.

17. A method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network, the method being performed by a first computing device, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving a first type of reference signal and a second type of reference signal;

performing measurements on resources of the first type of reference signal according to the received measurement configuration;

determining, based on the measurement results, that the resource of the first type of reference signal has triggered a resource-specific event of the first type of reference signal;

determining resources of the second type of reference signal that are quasi co-located with resources of the first type of reference signal; and

performing beam management on resources of the second type of reference signal.

18. The method of claim 17, the method further comprising:

wirelessly receiving the measurement configuration from a second computing device,

wherein the measurement configuration specifies resource-specific events for the first type of reference signal.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising receiving a configuration of resources for the second type of reference signal from a second computing device.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining resources of the second type of reference signal that are quasi co-located with resources of the first type of reference signal comprises:

determining that the corresponding resource is quasi co-located according to quasi co-location relationship information between the resource of the first type of reference signal and the resource of the second type of reference signal received from a second computing device.

21. A method for multi-beam resource management in a wireless network, the method being performed by a first computing device, the method comprising:

sending a measurement configuration to a second computing device, wherein the measurement configuration specifies resource-specific events for a first type of reference signal;

receiving, from the second computing device, a message indicating that resources of the first type of reference signal received by the second computing device have triggered a resource-specific event of the first type of reference signal;

determining resources of a second type of reference signal that are quasi co-located with resources of the first type of reference signal that have triggered resource-specific events of the first type of reference signal; and

transmitting a beam management signal to the second computing device indicating that the second computing device is to perform beam management in accordance with information contained in the beam management signal.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the message received from the second computing device includes information identifying resources of the first type of reference signal.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the information identifying the resource of the first type of reference signal is a synchronization signal block identifier, a synchronization signal block group identifier, or an identifier of a synchronization signal block within a block group.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the beam management signal specifies: an identification of one or more resources of the second type of reference signal used by the second computing device to perform beam management, an identification of one or more resource sets of the second type of reference signal used by the second computing device to perform beam management, or an identification of one or more resource set settings of the second type of reference signal used by the user device to perform beam management.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the beam management signal specifies: a configuration of one or more resources of the second type of reference signal used by the second computing device to perform beam management, a configuration of one or more resource sets of the second type of reference signal used by the second computing device to perform beam management, or a configuration of one or more resource set settings of the second type of RS used by the second computing device to perform beam management.

26. The method of claim 24 or claim 25, wherein the beam management signal further specifies: an identification of one or more resources of the second type of reference signal with which the second computing device is not performing beam management, an identification of one or more resource sets of the second type of reference signal with which the user device is not performing beam management, or an identification of one or more resource set settings of the second type of reference signal with which the user device is not performing beam management.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein performing beam management comprises performing one or more of a beam scanning operation, a beam determination operation, a beam reporting operation, and a beam switching operation.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein the first type of reference signal is a synchronization signal and the second type of reference signal is a channel state information reference signal.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the resource of the first type of reference signal is a synchronization signal block or a synchronization signal block group comprising a plurality of synchronization signal blocks.

30. The method of claim 17 or claim 21, wherein determining that resources of the second type of reference signal are quasi co-located with resources of the first type of reference signal comprises:

determining channel properties of resources of the second type of reference signal;

determining channel properties of resources of the first type of reference signal; and

determining that the respective resource is quasi co-located based on a difference between the determined channel property of the resource of the second type of reference signal and the determined channel property of the resource of the first type of reference signal being within a predetermined threshold amount.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the channel properties of the first type of reference signal and the channel properties of the second type of reference signal are doppler spread, doppler shift, delay spread, average delay, average gain, or spatial parameters.

32. The method of claim 17 or claim 21, wherein the resource-specific event of the first type of reference signal is one of:

the resources of the first type of reference signal become better than a threshold;

a signal power of a resource of the first type of reference signal is within a predetermined amount of power of an optimal resource of the first type of reference signal; and

the optimal resources for the first type of reference signal change.

33. A computing device configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-14, 17-20, and 21-32.

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, 17 to 20 and 21 to 32.