CN116918292A - Reference signal signaling for secondary cells - Google Patents

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. The network entity may identify a set of cells associated with performing communications with a User Equipment (UE). The network entity may send a configuration signal to the UE indicating one or more reference signal format sets, each reference signal format set including a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells in the set of cells. The network entity may send a trigger signal to the UE indicating an active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets, the trigger signal indicating reference signal transmissions from cells in the set of cells according to a reference signal format associated with the active reference signal format set.

Description

Reference signal signaling for secondary cells

Cross reference

This patent application claims to enjoy the priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/687,433 entitled "REFERENCE SIGNAL SIGNALING FOR SECONDARY CELLS" filed by TAKEDA et al at 2022, 3, 4, which claims to enjoy the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.63/159,413 entitled "REFERENCE SIGNAL SIGNALING FOR SECONDARY CELLS", filed by TAKEDA et al at 2021, 3, 10, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application.

Technical Field

The following relates to wireless communications, including reference signal signaling for secondary cells.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems are able to support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems (e.g., long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-advanced (LTE-a) systems, or LTE-a Pro systems) and fifth generation (5G) systems (which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems). These systems may employ techniques such as: code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or discrete fourier transform spread-spectrum orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communication system may include one or more network entities (e.g., base stations) or one or more network access nodes, each of which simultaneously supports communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise referred to as User Equipment (UE).

Disclosure of Invention

The described technology relates to improved methods, systems, devices, and apparatuses supporting Reference Signal (RS) signaling for a secondary cell (SCell). In summary, the described techniques provide for a network entity (e.g., a primary cell (PCell)) to configure a User Equipment (UE) (e.g., using Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) with multiple sets of RS formats, each mapping an RS format to a respective cell. For example, a network entity (e.g., a base station) may configure a UE with a table of possible field values associated with rows in the table (e.g., corresponding to available aperiodic channel state information (a-CSI) request fields or other fields). The columns of the table may correspond to PCell and available scells for the UE. The point corresponding to a particular row/column may provide an indication of the RS format for the PCell or SCell. The network entity may transmit a trigger signal (downlink control information (DCI) signal) for indicating one of the field values to the UE. The UE may then determine the activation status of each cell in the row and then use the columns to determine the RS format for the corresponding cell. While the table and corresponding row may indicate a particular RS format to monitor, the UE may choose to follow the table based on the activation status of the cell. If the SCell is deactivated, the UE may ignore the indicated RS format for monitoring. If the SCell has been activated, the UE may choose to follow the indicated RS format (if the format corresponds to an RS format suitable for the cell that has been activated (e.g., a-CSI-RS or Tracking Reference Signal (TRS)), if the SCell is activated, the UE may choose to follow the indicated RS format (if the format corresponds to a format suitable for the cell to be activated (e.g., a new temporary RS)), based on the configured and triggered RS format and the activation status of the cell, the UE may determine and implement a monitoring scheme for the cell.

A method for wireless communication at a UE is described. The method may include: receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells; receiving a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set; identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells; determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from the at least one SCell.

An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE is described. The apparatus may include a processor, a memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells; receiving a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set; identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells; determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from the at least one SCell.

Another apparatus for wireless communication at a UE is described. The apparatus may include: means for receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells; means for receiving a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats; means for identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells; means for determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats; and means for performing the monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from the at least one SCell.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to: receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells; receiving a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set; identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells; determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from the at least one SCell.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell may be an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell may have been activated; determining that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the active state of the at least one SCell being the activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the temporary aperiodic RS format.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that downlink transmissions may be scheduled using overlapping resources that overlap with the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell; and decoding the downlink transmission based on an assumption that the downlink transmission is punctured or rate matched around the overlapping resources.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell may be an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell may have been activated; determining the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes tracking RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the tracking RS format.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell may be a state to be activated, wherein the at least one SCell may be in the process of being activated; determining the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes tracking RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the to-be-activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the tracking RS format.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell may be a state to be activated, wherein the at least one SCell may be in the process of being activated; determining that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the to-be-activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the temporary aperiodic RS format.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the active RS format set indicates a first RS format associated with a first active state and a second RS format associated with a second active state; and selecting the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell based on whether the at least one SCell may be in the first activation state or the second activation state.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: receiving an SCell activation message indicating that the at least one SCell may be activated at the UE; and determining that the at least one SCell may be in the first activation state based on the SCell activation message.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: identifying the set of active RS formats in the set of one or more RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, wherein the first portion and the second portion may be in consecutive slots.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: identifying the active one of the one or more sets of RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, wherein the first portion and the second portion may be in consecutive time slots and the tracking RS may be repeated in non-consecutive time slots.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: identifying the set of active RS formats in the set of one or more RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, wherein the first portion and the second portion may be in non-contiguous time slots.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell may be an inactive state in which the at least one SCell may be deactivated; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the active state of the at least one SCell being the inactive state.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: an SCell activation message is received indicating that the at least one SCell may be activated at a UE, wherein the activation status of the at least one SCell may be based on the SCell activation message.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the SCell activation message may be received using a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) message.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the trigger signal may be received during a time window that is based on a delay time and a threshold time limit after the configuration signal may be received; and applying the set of active RS formats based on the trigger signal being received during the time window.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the trigger signal may be received before a time window, the time window being based on a delay time and a threshold time limit after the configuration signal may be received; and refraining from applying the set of active RS formats based on the trigger signal being received prior to the time window.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: determining that the trigger signal may be received after a time window that is based on a delay time and a threshold time limit after the configuration signal may be received; and applying an active RS format of the set of active RS formats based on the trigger signal being received after the time window.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the configuration signal may be received in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the trigger signal may be received in a non-periodic channel state information request field of a MAC CE or Downlink Control Information (DCI).

A method for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The method may include: identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE; transmitting, to the UE, a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells; and transmitting, to the UE, a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to the RS format associated with the active RS format set.

An apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The apparatus may include a processor, a memory coupled with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions may be executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE; transmitting, to the UE, a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells; and transmitting, to the UE, a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to the RS format associated with the active RS format set.

Another apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The apparatus may include: means for identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE; means for transmitting a configuration signal to the UE indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells; and means for sending a trigger signal to the UE indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to the RS format associated with the active set of RS formats.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a network entity is described. The code may include instructions executable by a processor to: identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE; transmitting, to the UE, a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells; and transmitting, to the UE, a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to the RS format associated with the active RS format set.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats indicates a first RS format associated with a first activation state and a second RS format associated with a second activation state.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: and transmitting an SCell activation message to the UE indicating that the at least one SCell may be activated at the UE, wherein the at least one SCell may be in the first activation state based on the SCell activation message.

Some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein may also include operations, features, units, or instructions to: and transmitting an SCell activation message indicating that the at least one SCell may be activated at the UE, wherein an activation state of the at least one SCell may be based on the SCell activation message.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the SCell activation message may be sent using a MAC CE message.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the configuration signal may be sent in an RRC message.

In some examples of the methods, apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable media described herein, the trigger signal may be sent in an aperiodic channel state information request field of a MAC CE or DCI.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system supporting Reference Signal (RS) signaling for a secondary cell (SCell) in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

Fig. 3A and 3B illustrate examples of RS format configurations supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4A, 4B, and 4C illustrate examples of RS format structures supporting RS signaling for scells according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a procedure supporting RS signaling for an SCell according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 and 7 illustrate block diagrams of devices supporting RS signaling for an SCell according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a communication manager supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

Fig. 9 illustrates a diagram of a system including a device supporting RS signaling for an SCell, according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 and 11 illustrate block diagrams of devices supporting RS signaling for an SCell according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of a communication manager supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

Fig. 13 illustrates a diagram of a system including a device supporting RS signaling for an SCell, according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 to 17 show flowcharts illustrating methods of supporting RS signaling for an SCell according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Recently, agreement has been reached to use a temporary Reference Signal (RS) to improve secondary cell (SCell) activation. The temporary RS may be an RS different from the existing RS and may be optimized for fast activation of scells. For example, a primary cell (PCell) may configure an SCell to be activated to transmit a temporary RS in order to allow a User Equipment (UE) to quickly perform Automatic Gain Control (AGC), where the UE adjusts its receive amplifier gain and performs time/frequency tuning with the SCell. Without the temporary RS, the UE would use a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) transmission that has a relatively long period relative to activating the SCell. The UE may be signaled: the SCell may be configured to transmit these temporary RSs, but sometimes the UE may want to have additional flexibility in deciding whether to monitor the temporary RSs. In some cases, the UE may prefer to use aperiodic channel state information reference signals (a-CSI-RS), tracking Reference Signals (TRS), etc. to monitor the SCell that has been active for channel performance measurement/tuning.

Aspects of the present disclosure are first described in the context of a wireless communication system. In summary, the described techniques provide for a network entity (e.g., a PCell) to configure a UE with multiple sets of RS formats (e.g., using Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling), each set mapping an RS format to a respective cell. For example, a network entity (e.g., a base station) may configure a UE with a table of possible field values associated with rows in the table (e.g., corresponding to available aperiodic channel state information (a-CSI) request fields or other fields). The columns of the table may correspond to PCell and available scells for the UE. The point corresponding to a particular row/column may provide an indication of the RS format for the PCell or SCell. The network entity may transmit a trigger signal (downlink control information (DCI) signal) for indicating one of the field values to the UE. The UE may then determine the activation status of each cell in the row and then use the column to determine the RS format for the corresponding cell. While the table and corresponding row may indicate a particular RS format to monitor, the UE may choose to follow the table based on the activation status of the cell. If the SCell is deactivated, the UE may ignore the indicated RS format for monitoring. If the SCell has been activated, the UE may choose to follow the indicated RS format (if the format corresponds to an RS format (e.g., a-CSI-RS or TRS) appropriate for the cell that has been activated). If the SCell is being activated, the UE may choose to follow the indicated RS format (if the format corresponds to a format suitable for the cell to be activated (e.g., a new temporary RS). Based on the configured and triggered RS format and the activation state of the cell, the UE may determine and implement a monitoring scheme for the cell.

Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by, and described with reference to, apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts relating to reference signal signaling for scells.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 100 supporting reference signal signaling for scells in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more network entities 105, one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-advanced (LTE-a) network, an LTE-a Pro network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latency communications, or communications with low cost and low complexity devices, or any combination thereof.

The network entities 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic region to form the wireless communication system 100 and may be devices of different forms or with different capabilities. The network entity 105 and the UE 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each network entity 105 may provide a coverage area 110 over which the ue 115 and the network entity 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. Coverage area 110 may be an example of such a geographic area: over the geographic area, network entity 105 and UE 115 may support transmitting signals according to one or more radio access technologies.

The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary, or mobile, or both, at different times. The UE 115 may be a different form or device with different capabilities. Some example UEs 115 are shown in fig. 1. The UEs 115 described herein are capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, network entities 105, or network devices (e.g., core network nodes, relay devices, integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network devices), as shown in fig. 1.

The network entity 105 may communicate with the core network 130, or with each other, or both. For example, the network entity 105 may interface with the core network 130 through one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3, or another interface). The network entities 105 may communicate with each other directly (e.g., directly between the network entities 105) over the backhaul link 120 (e.g., via an X2, xn, or other interface), indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130), or both. In some examples, the backhaul link 120 may be or may include one or more wireless links.

One or more of the network entities 105 described herein may include or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as a base station transceiver, a base station, a wireless base station, an access point, a wireless transceiver, a node B, an evolved node B (eNB), a next generation node B or gigabit node B (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a home node B, a home evolved node B, or some other suitable terminology.

UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a user equipment, or some other suitable terminology, where "device" may also be referred to as a unit, station, terminal, or client, among other examples. The UE 115 may also include or be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular telephone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personal computer. In some examples, the UE 115 may include or be referred to as a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, an internet of things (IoT) device, a internet of things (IoE) device, or a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, among other examples, that may be implemented in various objects such as appliances, or vehicles, meters, among other examples.

The UEs 115 described herein are capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115 that may sometimes act as relays, as well as network entities 105 and network devices, including macro enbs or gnbs, small cell enbs or gnbs, or relay network entities 105, among other examples, as shown in fig. 1.

The UE 115 and the network entity 105 may communicate wirelessly with each other over one or more carriers via one or more communication links 125. The term "carrier" refers to a collection of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication link 125. For example, the carrier for the communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth portion (BWP)) that operates according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE-A, LTE-a Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling, user data, or other signaling that coordinates the operation of the carrier. The wireless communication system 100 may support communication with UEs 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation. According to a carrier aggregation configuration, the UE 115 may be configured with a plurality of downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers. Carrier aggregation may be used with both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) component carriers and Time Division Duplex (TDD) component carriers.

In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates operations for other carriers. The carrier may be associated with a frequency channel, e.g., an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) absolute radio frequency channel number (EARFCN), and may be placed according to a channel grid for discovery by the UE 115. The carrier may operate in an independent mode, where the UE 115 makes initial acquisition and connection via the carrier, or the carrier may operate in a non-independent mode, where different carriers (e.g., of the same or different radio access technologies) are used to anchor the connection.

The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include an uplink transmission from the UE 115 to the network entity 105, or a downlink transmission from the network entity 105 to the UE 115. The carrier may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in FDD mode) or may be configured to carry downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in TDD mode).

The carrier may be associated with a particular bandwidth of the radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth may be referred to as the "system bandwidth" of the carrier or wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a determined number of bandwidths (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz)) for a number of carriers of a particular radio access technology. Devices of wireless communication system 100 (e.g., network entity 105, UE 115, or both) may have a hardware configuration that supports communication over a particular carrier bandwidth or may be configured to support communication over one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, wireless communication system 100 may include a network entity 105 or UE 115 that supports simultaneous communication via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured to operate over part (e.g., sub-band, BWP) or all of the carrier bandwidth.

The signal waveform transmitted on the carrier may be composed of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may be composed of one symbol period (e.g., the duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Thus, the more resource elements received by the UE 115 and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate for the UE 115 may be. The wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of radio frequency spectrum resources, time resources, and spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate or data integrity for communication with the UE 115.

One or more digital schemes (numerology) for carriers may be supported, where a digital scheme may include a subcarrier spacing (Δf) and a cyclic prefix. The carrier wave may be divided into one or more BWP with the same or different digital schemes. In some examples, UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWP. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communication for UE 115 may be limited to one or more active BWPs.

May be in a basic time unit (which may be referred to as T, for example _s ＝1/(Δf _max ·N _f ) Sampling period of seconds, where Δf _max Can represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and N _f A multiple of a maximum supported Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) size) may be represented to represent a time interval for the network entity 105 or UE 115. The time intervals of the communication resources may be organized according to radio frames each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a System Frame Number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

Each frame may include a plurality of consecutively numbered subframes or slots, and each subframe or slot may have the same duration. In some examples, a frame may be divided (e.g., in the time domain) into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into a plurality of slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of slots, and the number of slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include multiple symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix added before each symbol period). In some wireless communication systems 100, a time slot may be further divided into a plurality of minislots containing one or more symbols. Excluding cyclic prefixes, each symbol period may contain one or more (e.g., N _f A number) of sampling periods. The duration of the symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating frequency band.

A subframe, slot, minislot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a Transmission Time Interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 (e.g., in a burst of shortened TTIs (sTTI)) may be dynamically selected.

The physical channels may be multiplexed on the carrier according to various techniques. For example, the physical control channels and physical data channels may be multiplexed on the downlink carrier using one or more of Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) for a physical control channel may be defined by a plurality of symbol periods and may extend over a system bandwidth or a subset of the system bandwidth of a carrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESET) may be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more of UEs 115 may monitor or search for control regions for control information according to one or more sets of search spaces, and each set of search spaces may include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. The aggregation level for control channel candidates may refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control Channel Elements (CCEs)) associated with coding information for a control information format having a given payload size. The set of search spaces may include a common set of search spaces configured to transmit control information to a plurality of UEs 115 and a UE-specific set of search spaces configured to transmit control information to a particular UE 115.

Each network entity 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells (e.g., macro cells, small cells, hot spots, or other types of cells, or any combination thereof). The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity that communicates with the network entity 105 (e.g., on a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a Physical Cell Identifier (PCID), a Virtual Cell Identifier (VCID), or other identifier) that is used to distinguish between neighboring cells. In some examples, a cell may also refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion (e.g., a sector) of geographic coverage area 110 over which a logical communication entity operates. Such cells may range from smaller areas (e.g., structures, subsets of structures) to larger areas depending on various factors such as the capabilities of the network entity 105. For example, a cell may be or include a building, a subset of buildings, or an outside space between or overlapping geographic coverage areas 110, as well as other examples.

A macro cell typically covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs 115 with service subscription with the network provider supporting the macro cell. The small cell may be associated with a lower power network entity 105 than the macro cell, and the small cell may operate in the same or a different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed) frequency band as the macro cell. The small cell may provide unrestricted access to UEs 115 with service subscription with the network provider or may provide restricted access to UEs 115 with association with the small cell (e.g., UEs 115 in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs 115 associated with users in a home or office). The network entity 105 may support one or more cells and may also support communication over one or more cells using one or more component carriers.

In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)) that may provide access to different types of devices.

In some examples, the network entity 105 may be mobile and, thus, provide communication coverage for the mobile geographic coverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may overlap, but different geographic coverage areas 110 may be supported by the same network entity 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may be supported by different network entities 105. The wireless communication system 100 may include, for example, heterogeneous networks in which different types of network entities 105 use the same or different radio access technologies to provide coverage for respective geographic coverage areas 110.

The wireless communication system 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the network entities 105 may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different network entities 105 may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the network entities 105 may have different frame timings, and in some examples, transmissions from different network entities 105 may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for synchronous or asynchronous operation.

Some UEs 115 (e.g., MTC or IoT devices) may be low cost or low complexity devices and may provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication techniques that allow devices to communicate with each other or network entity 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communications or MTC may include communications from devices integrated with sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application that utilizes the information or presents the information to humans interacting with the application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or to implement automated behavior of a machine or other device. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, device monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, climate and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based business billing.

Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ a reduced power consumption mode of operation, such as half-duplex communications (e.g., a mode that supports unidirectional communications via transmission or reception rather than simultaneous transmission and reception). In some examples, half-duplex communications may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power saving techniques for UE 115 include: when not engaged in active communications, when operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communications), or a combination of these techniques, a deep sleep mode of power saving is entered. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol type associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., a set of subcarriers or Resource Blocks (RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard band of a carrier, or outside of a carrier.

The wireless communication system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low-latency communication, or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) or mission critical communications. The UE 115 may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low latency, or critical functions (e.g., mission critical functions). Ultra-reliable communications may include private communications or group communications, and may be supported by one or more mission-critical services, such as mission-critical push-to-talk (push-to-talk), mission-critical video (MCVideo), or mission-critical data (MCData). Support for mission critical functions may include prioritization of services, and mission critical services may be used for public safety or general business applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low latency, mission critical, and ultra-reliable low latency may be used interchangeably herein.

In some examples, the UE 115 is also capable of communicating directly (e.g., using peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocols) with other UEs 115 over a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135. One or more UEs 115 utilizing D2D communication may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of the network device 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside of the geographic coverage area 110 of the network device 105 or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the network device 105. In some examples, multiple groups of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each UE 115 transmits to each other UE 115 in the group. In some examples, the network device 105 facilitates scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In some other cases, D2D communication is performed between UEs 115 without involving network device 105.

In some systems, D2D communication link 135 may be an example of a communication channel (such as a side-link communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UEs 115). In some examples, the vehicle may communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, or some combination of these. The vehicle may signal information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergency, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, a vehicle in the V2X system may communicate with a roadside infrastructure, such as a roadside unit, or with a network via one or more network nodes (e.g., network entity 105) using vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, or both.

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or a 5G core (5 GC), which may include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) for managing access and mobility, and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a User Plane Function (UPF)) for routing or interconnecting packets to an external network. The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for UEs 115 served by the network entity 105 associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be transmitted through a user plane entity that may provide IP address assignment, as well as other functions. The user plane entity may be connected to IP services 150 for one or more network operators. IP services 150 may include access to the internet, intranets, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or packet switched streaming services.

Some of the network devices (e.g., network entity 105) may include a subcomponent such as access network entity 140, which may be an example of an Access Node Controller (ANC). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with UEs 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmit/receive points (TRPs). Each access network transport entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels. In some configurations, the various functions of each access network entity 140 or base station may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or incorporated into a single network entity 105 (e.g., base station).

The wireless communication system 100 may operate using one or more frequency bands, typically in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). Typically, the region from 300MHz to 3GHz is referred to as the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band, because wavelengths range in length from approximately one decimeter to one meter. UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by building and environmental features, but the waves may be sufficiently transparent to the structure for a macrocell to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHF waves may be associated with smaller antennas and shorter distances (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) than transmission of smaller and longer waves using the High Frequency (HF) or Very High Frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

The wireless communication system 100 may also operate in the ultra-high frequency (SHF) region using a frequency band from 3GHz to 30GHz (also referred to as a centimeter frequency band) or in the extremely-high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30GHz to 300 GHz) (also referred to as a millimeter frequency band). In some examples, wireless communication system 100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between UE 115 and network entity 105, and EHF antennas of respective devices may be even smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, this may facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may suffer from even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter distances than SHF or UHF transmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be employed across transmissions using one or more different frequency regions, and the designated use of frequency bands across these frequency regions may vary depending on the country or regulatory agency.

The wireless communication system 100 may utilize both licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 may employ Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), LTE unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in unlicensed frequency bands, such as the 5GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) frequency bands. Devices such as network entity 105 and UE 115 may employ carrier sensing for collision detection and avoidance when operating in the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band. In some examples, operation in the unlicensed band may be based on a carrier aggregation configuration that incorporates component carriers operating in a licensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in the unlicensed spectrum may include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among other examples.

The network entity 105 or UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication, or beamforming. The antennas of network entity 105 or UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels (which may support MIMO operation or transmit or receive beamforming). For example, one or more network entity antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located at an antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. In some examples, antennas or antenna arrays associated with network entity 105 may be located in different geographic locations. The network entity 105 may have an antenna array with rows and columns of antenna ports that the network entity 105 may use to support beamforming for communications with the UE 115. Also, UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna panel may support radio frequency beamforming for signals transmitted via the antenna ports.

The network entity 105 or UE 115 may utilize multipath signal propagation using MIMO communication and improve spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. Such techniques may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. For example, the transmitting device may transmit multiple signals via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Also, the receiving device may receive multiple signals via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the plurality of signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream and may carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the same codeword) or a different data stream (e.g., a different codeword). Different spatial layers may be associated with different antenna ports for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) (in which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device) and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) (in which multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices).

Beamforming (which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission or directional reception) is a signal processing technique as follows: the techniques may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., network entity 105 or UE 115) to form or steer antenna beams (e.g., transmit beams, receive beams) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device. Beamforming may be achieved by: signals transmitted via antenna elements of the antenna array are combined such that some signals propagating in a particular orientation with respect to the antenna array experience constructive interference while other signals experience destructive interference. The adjusting of the signal transmitted via the antenna element may include: the transmitting device or the receiving device applies an amplitude offset, a phase offset, or both to the signal carried via the antenna element associated with the device. The adjustment associated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by a set of beamforming weights associated with a particular orientation (e.g., relative to an antenna array of the transmitting device or the receiving device, or relative to some other orientation).

As part of the beamforming operation, the network entity 105 or UE 115 may use beam scanning techniques. For example, network entity 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communications with UE 115. The network entity 105 may send some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) multiple times in different directions. For example, the network entity 105 may transmit signals according to different sets of beamforming weights associated with different transmission directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used (e.g., by a transmitting device (such as network entity 105) or by a receiving device (such as UE 115)) to identify a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by network entity 105.

The network entity 105 may transmit some signals (e.g., data signals associated with a particular receiving device (e.g., UE 115)) in a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with the receiving device). In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along a single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by network entity 105 in different directions and may report an indication to network entity 105 of the signal received by UE 115 with the highest signal quality or otherwise acceptable signal quality.

In some examples, the transmission by the device (e.g., by the network entity 105 or UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for the transmission (e.g., from the network entity 105 to the UE 115). The UE 115 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions and the feedback may correspond to a configured number of beams spanning a system bandwidth or one or more subbands. The network entity 105 may transmit reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)) that may or may not be precoded. The UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted by network entity 105 in one or more directions, UE 115 may employ similar techniques to transmit signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., to identify a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by UE 115) or in a single direction (e.g., to transmit data to a receiving device).

Upon receiving various signals, such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals, from the network entity 105, a receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may attempt multiple reception configurations (e.g., directed listening). For example, the receiving device may attempt multiple directions of reception by receiving via different antenna sub-arrays, by processing received signals according to different antenna sub-arrays, by receiving according to different sets of receive beamforming weights (e.g., different sets of directional listening weights) applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array, or by processing received signals according to different sets of receive beamforming weights applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array (any of the above operations may be referred to as "listening" according to different receive configurations or receive directions). In some examples, the receiving device may use a single receiving configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving a data signal). The single receive configuration may be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receive configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or otherwise acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

The wireless communication system 100 may be a packet-based network that operates according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, communications at the bearer or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer may be IP-based. The Radio Link Control (RLC) layer may perform packet segmentation and reassembly for transmission over logical channels. The Medium Access Control (MAC) layer may perform priority handling and multiplexing of logical channels to transport channels. The MAC layer may also use error detection techniques, error correction techniques, or both to support retransmissions at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol layer may provide establishment, configuration, and maintenance of an RRC connection between the UE 115 and the network entity 105 or core network 130, which supports radio bearers for user plane data. At the physical layer, transport channels may be mapped to physical channels.

The UE 115 and the network entity 105 may support retransmission of data to increase the likelihood that the data is successfully received. Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is a technique for increasing the likelihood that data is properly received over the communication link 125. HARQ may include a combination of error detection (e.g., using Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)), forward Error Correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request (ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the MAC layer under poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal and noise conditions). In some examples, a device may support the same slot HARQ feedback, where the device may provide HARQ feedback in a particular slot for data received in a previous symbol in the slot. In some other examples, the device may provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent time slot or according to some other time interval.

The UE 115 may receive a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. The UE 115 may receive a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set. The UE 115 may identify the activation status of each cell in the set of cells. The UE 115 may determine a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats. The UE 115 may perform a monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell.

The network entity 105 may identify a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE 115. The network entity 105 may send a configuration signal to the UE 115 indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells. The network entity 105 may send a trigger signal to the UE 115 indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system 200 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Wireless communication system 200 may implement aspects of wireless communication system 100. The wireless communication system 200 may include a network entity 205, a network entity 210, a network entity 215, a network entity 220, and a UE 225, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein.

That is, in some aspects, the network entity 205 may be configured to serve the PCell of the UE 225, and the network entity 210, the network entity 215, and/or the network entity 220 may be scells (e.g., active scells, scells to be activated, or inactive scells) that may be used for communication with the UE 225. However, it should be understood that the PCell and SCell may be associated with the same network entity and/or may be associated with different network entities. In examples where the PCell and SCell are associated with different network entities, such network entities may coordinate aspects of communication with the UE 225 wirelessly and/or via a wired connection (e.g., via a backhaul connection).

Some wireless communication systems may support temporary RSs to expedite the activation process during SCell activation, thereby improving efficiency. The temporary RS may be supported for SCell activation in, for example, frequency range one (FR 1), frequency range two (FR 2), and/or some other FR. In a broad sense, the temporary RS may support functions related to AGC settings, time and/or frequency tracking/tuning during SCell activation, etc.

In some aspects, the temporary RS may also be referred to as aperiodic RS, which may be examples of TRSs, aperiodic CSI-RS, persistent CSI-RS, semi-persistent CSI-RS, sounding Reference Signals (SRS), PSS/SSS-based reference signals, combinations of two or more of the above, and the like. Other examples of RS types that may be configured as aperiodic reference signals include, but are not limited to, phase tracking reference signals, beam tracking/management reference signals, and the like. Thus, the terms TRS, aperiodic reference signal, new temporary RS, etc. may be used interchangeably herein.

Thus, in some examples, the TRS waveform may be selected as a temporary RS (e.g., as an aperiodic RS) for SCell activation. In some examples, the temporary RS may be triggered by DCI, MAC CE, or the like. The UE 225 may measure the triggered temporary RS during the SCell activation procedure within a configured time threshold no earlier (e.g., no earlier than slot m).

Conventionally, when an SCell activation command is received in a slot, the UE 225 may support sending valid CSI reports and not later than the slotThe actions related to the SCell activation instruction are applied to the activated SCell. T (T) _HARQ May refer to the timing (in ms) between a downlink data transmission and an acknowledgement (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback) of the downlink data transmission. T (T) _{activation_time} May refer to SCell activation delay (in ms). If the activated SCell is known and belongs to FR1, T _{activation_time} May be T _FirstSSB +5ms (if SCell measurement period is equal to or less than 160ms (e.g., support fine tracking)) or T _{FirstSSB_Max} +T _rs +5ms (if SCell measurement period is greater than 160ms (e.g., AGC plus fine time/frequency tracking is supported). If the SCell is unknown and belongs to FR1 (provided that certain conditions are met), T _{activation_time} May be T _{FirstSSB_Max} +T _{SMTC_Max} +2*T _rs +5ms (e.g., supporting AGC, fine time/frequency tracking, and SSB detection). T (T) _rs May generally refer to SSB-based measurement and timing configuration (SMTC) periods of the activated SCell (if SMTC configuration for the SCell has been provided to the UE in the SCell addition message). Otherwise, T _rs May refer to SMTCs configured in measObjectNR with the same SSB frequency and subcarrier spacing. If no SMTC configuration or measurement object is provided to UE 225 on that frequency, then a reference T may be applied _rs Wherein T is _rs Equal to 5ms (assuming an SSB transmission period of 5 ms). T (T) _FirstSSB Can be pointed at the time slot->And then to the end of the first complete SSB burst indicated by SMTC. T (T) _{FirstSSB_Max} Can be referred to as in time slotsAnd then to the end of the first complete SSB burst indicated by SMTC. This may satisfy such requirements: that is, in FR1 and in the case of in-band SCell activation, when all active serving cells and activated or released scells are transmitting the SSB burst in the same time slot. In case of inter-band SCell activation, this may refer to the first occasion when the activated SCell is transmitting an SSB burst. In FR2, this may refer to the timing at which all active serving cells and activated or released scells transmit SSB bursts in the same time slot. / >

Thus, for using the temporary RS in FR1 and under certain conditions (e.g., SCell measurement period<= 160 ms), the SCell activation delay may be equal to the SCell activationAgain, T _HARQ Typically referred to as a timeline until the HARQ-ACK is transmitted. T (T) _{Activation_time} Generally referred to as T _FirstTempRS +5ms where T _FirstTempRS Is at n+T _HARQ +3ms later to the time of the start or end of the temporary reference signal. T (T) _{CSI Reporting} Typically referred to as the delay until a first available CSI report, which includes uncertainty of CSI resources in the CSI report.

Thus, in some examples, the temporary RS may be a Tracking RS (TRS) (e.g., a non-zero power (NZP) -CSI-RS resource set configured with parameter TRS-Info). Conventionally, this may include configuring two NZP-CSI-RS resources (on two OFDM symbols) in a slot or four NZP-CSI-RS resources in two consecutive slots. The TRS may span the bandwidth of a downlink BWP that will be active when the SCell is activated (e.g., at least initially). The downlink BWP may correspond to a first active DL-BWP-id configured for the UE 225.

The slot in which the temporary RS is transmitted, the NZP-CSI-RS resource set index, or any combination may be indicated by trigger signaling for the temporary RS. In one option, this may include transmitting trigger signaling in a MAC CE carried by the PDSCH. For example, the MAC CE triggering the temporary RS may be carried by the PDSCH, which also carries the MAC CE activating the SCell. In another example, the MAC CE triggering the temporary RS may be indicated by a PDSCH different from the PDSCH carrying the MAC CE activating the SCell. Another option may include transmitting trigger signaling in DCI. For example, this may include DCI scheduling PDSCH carrying MAC CE activating SCell. In another example, this may include DCI in addition to DCI scheduling PDSCH carrying MAC CE of the activated SCell.

According to such conventional techniques, the temporary RS time domain allocation may generally include two CSI-RS resources configured within a time slot or four CSI-RS resources configured into consecutive time slots (which may be the same across two consecutive time slots). This may be defined by the higher layer parameter CSI-RS-resource mapping.

Thus, a temporary RS configuration may be used to improve fast SCell activation. In this context, the SCell activation delay may correspond to:again, T _HARQ May correspond to a timeline until an ACK is sent. T (T) _{activation time} May be referred to generally as T _{temp RS} +5ms where T _{temp RS} Is at n+T _HARQ Time to TRS after +3 ms. In some aspects, the activation time may correspond to a time between the UE 225 sending HARQ-ACKs for the activation command, a time taken by the UE 225 to measure TRS, and a time until the UE 225 is ready to send CSI-RS reports based on the measurements.

For example, for a known SCell with a measurement period greater than 160ms, the temporary RS may include two portions of RS symbols separated in time. One part may be used for AGC and another part may be used for fine time/frequency tracking. The temporary RS may be a TRS set (e.g., a set of NZP-CSI-RS resources with TRS-info). In another option, the temporary RS may include one portion of an RS symbol, and the UE may use the temporary RS and SSB. For example, a temporary RS may be used for AGC and SSB may be used for fine time/frequency tracking and vice versa.

For an unknown SCell, the temporary RS may include four portions of RS symbols separated in time. The temporary RS may be a TRS set (e.g., a set of NZP-CSI-RS resources with TRS-info). In another option, the temporary RS may include one or more portions of an RS symbol, and the UE may use the temporary RS and SSB. For example, at least four portions of one or more temporary RSs and one or more SSBs may be used. Depending on the number of parts of the temporary RS, the number of necessary SSBs may be different, and in this case, SCell activation delays may be different.

While this approach may be applicable to scells activated with SCell measurement periods of < = 160ms, other problems may arise for scells activated with SCell measurement periods of >160 ms. For SCell measurement periods >160ms, two SSBs are typically used. Since the two SSBs are separated in the time domain by at least 5ms, the UE 225 has enough time to process AGC (e.g., using the first SSB) and track sequentially (e.g., using the second SSB for time/frequency tracking/fine tuning). However, the temporary RS technique discussed above may be limited such that the NZP-CSI-RS resources exist in one slot or two consecutive slots. That is, since the NZP-CSI-RS resources are contained within a short duration (e.g., within at most two time slots), the UE 225 may not have enough time to process AGC and also perform fine tracking. That is, for SCS at 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, and 120kHz, the slot duration (e.g., NR slot length) may be 1ms, 0.5ms, 0.25ms, and 0.125ms, respectively. Limiting the configuration for temporary RS resources to within a single slot or to span two consecutive slots may not provide enough time for the UE 225 to perform AGC operations and then fine tune using temporary RS.

Furthermore, for the case where AGC and time/frequency tracking are required for SCell activation, the UE 225 may need a certain level of time gap between the RS for AGC and the RS for time/frequency tracking. For example, a TRS (e.g., a set of NZP-CSI-RS resources with TRS-info) may be used for SCell activation. The TRS may contain a plurality of NZP-CSI-RS symbols in two consecutive slots with a minimum of four OFDM symbol intervals. In some cases, this may not be sufficient. Thus, aspects of the described techniques provide a sufficient time gap between two portions of the temporary RS (e.g., the first and second portions of the temporary RS may be separated by a sufficient distance in the time domain to support AGC and fine time/frequency tracking).

However, for an already active SCell, such a structure for temporary RS may not be necessary, but a-CSI-RS for CSI measurement and TRS (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS resource set with TRS-info) may still be useful for an active serving cell. That is, other forms of temporary RS are designed for some specific condition/purpose (e.g., known or unknown cells with a measurement period >160 ms) and thus may not be useful for cells that are already active (e.g., for cells that have an active state that is already active).

Thus, aspects of the described techniques may include the network entity 205 (e.g., the PCell serving the UE 225 in this example) configuring the UE 225 with one RS configuration for each cell at each code point in the configured table. For example, the network entity 205 may send or otherwise provide configuration signaling to the UE 225 identifying or otherwise indicating RS format sets, where each RS format set includes mapping RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells (e.g., to each of the network entity 205, the network entity 210, the network entity 215, and/or the network entity 220). In some aspects, the configuration signal may use RRC signaling or other signaling techniques from the network entity 205 to the UE 225.

In some examples, the set of RS formats may include a table listing (e.g., indicating) for each cell available for communication with the UE 225 the RS formats for use by that cell. The table may include a plurality of columns, with a first column corresponding to a field value (e.g., an indication) and other columns corresponding to each cell (e.g., a second column corresponding to PCell, a third column corresponding to SCell1, etc.). The table may include a plurality of rows, where each row has a set of RS formats for cells in a corresponding column. As discussed, each row may also include a column (e.g., a first column) corresponding to an indication provided in a trigger signal that signals which row of the table is activated for RS transmission (e.g., indicates which set of RS formats is active for the cell). For example, a first column in the table may correspond to a field indicating an active set of RS formats in the set of RS formats. That is, the field value column may include a different field value for each row, where the field value indicated in the trigger signal identifies which row/set of RS formats are active for the cell for RS transmission.

Thus, the network entity 205 can send or otherwise provide a trigger signal to the UE 225 indicating a set of active RS formats from the set of RS formats. The trigger signal may identify or otherwise indicate an RS transmission from the cell according to an RS format associated with the set of active RS formats. That is, the trigger signal (e.g., MAC CE, DCI, etc.) may include bits, fields, parameters, etc., that are set to a particular field value corresponding to the first column in the table. Specific field values corresponding to specific rows in the table may signal which RS formats are active for RS transmissions from the cell. The active RS format in the row corresponding to the indicated field value may signal to the cells in the corresponding column which RS format each cell is to use for such RS transmissions. In one non-limiting example, the indication provided in the trigger signal may be provided in an a-CSI request field of the DCI. However, the indication is not limited to the a-CSI request field of the DCI, but may alternatively be signaled in a different field and/or in a different signal (e.g., in a MAC CE).

In some aspects, the active RS format may be based on an activation state of each cell. For example, the UE 225 may identify or otherwise determine which cells are active for communication with the UE 225 or inactive (e.g., deactivated) for communication with the UE 255. Each cell may be in an inactive state, a current active state, or a state to be activated (e.g., the cell is inactive, but is transitioning to an active state to support communication with UE 225).

Based on the activation status of each cell, the UE 225 may select, identify, or otherwise determine a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells in addition to the set of active RS formats indicated in the trigger signal. That is, the UE 225 may generally determine how it will monitor for RS transmissions from the active cell and/or the cell to be activated using the RS format from the row of the table already indicated in the trigger signal.

The monitoring scheme may generally determine whether and/or how the UE 225 monitors RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells. For example, in addition to the activation status of each cell, the UE 225 may also use the set of active RS formats to determine whether to monitor for RS transmissions from the cell and, if so, how to monitor for RS transmissions from the cell. Thus, the UE 225 may implement a monitoring scheme for RS transmissions from at least one cell in the set of cells (e.g., perform RS transmissions from at least one cell in the set of cells).

Accordingly, aspects of the described technology provide for using an a-CSI request field (in some examples) of uplink DCI (e.g., DCI formats 0_1 and/or 0_2) to indicate a triggered set of RS formats. For cells associated with the field values, RRC signaling may be used as a configuration signal to configure the temporary RS format for each cell. The RS format may be a legacy TRS (e.g., NZP-CSI-RS resource set with TRS-info) or may be a new temporary RS format. For example, a code point (e.g., an indicated field value) in the trigger signal may indicate a legacy TRS for all indicated cells, or a new temporary RS for all indicated cells, or a legacy TRS for some cells and a new temporary RS format for other cells. As discussed, the association between a particular code point (e.g., a field value indicated in the trigger signal) and the configuration (e.g., set of RS formats) for each cell may be provided via a configuration signal (e.g., RRC signaling). In the event that a cell is not included in the configured set of RS formats, the UE 225 may ignore the cell when triggered by the trigger signal. That is, if one or more scells having an associated RS format configuration for a code point are deactivated (e.g., in an inactive state), and if the code point is indicated by the a-CSI request field, the UE 225 may ignore the indication of the cell for deactivation.

If one or more scells with associated RS format configuration for the code point are active (e.g., in an active state), and if the RS format is used for a new temporary RS, and if the code point is indicated by the a-CSI request field, the UE 225 may have different options available. In one option, the UE 225 may ignore the indication (e.g., not consider the new temporary RS to be sent by an already activated cell). For example, the UE 225 may identify or otherwise determine that the activation state of at least one SCell is an activated state (e.g., has been activated). The UE 225 may identify or otherwise determine that the RS format associated with the SCell is a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new RS format). Thus, in some examples, the UE 225 may implement or otherwise employ a monitoring scheme that includes avoiding monitoring RS transmissions from the SCell. In at least some aspects, this may be based on the activation state that has been activated and the SCell being configured with a temporary aperiodic RS format.

Avoiding monitoring RS transmissions from the SCell based on the already activated activation state and the temporary aperiodic RS format being configured and activated by the trigger signal may include different options for the UE 225. In one option, the UE 225 simply ignores the RS transmission from the SCell. In another option, if there is a PDSCH scheduled on the SCell that overlaps with RS resource elements, the UE 225 may assume that PDSCH resource elements are rate matched or punctured around the resource elements for the RS. That is, the UE 225 may determine that the downlink transmission (e.g., PDSCH) is scheduled using overlapping resources that overlap, at least to some extent, with the RS transmission from the SCell. In this example, UE 225 may decode the downlink transmission based on assumptions about the downlink transmission being punctured or rate matched around overlapping resources.

In some examples, the UE 225 may follow an RS format configured via RRC signaling and an active set of RS formats indicated in the trigger signal (e.g., may consider the RS to be being transmitted by the cell). For example, the UE 225 may determine that the SCell is in an active state and that the RS format associated with the SCell is a TRS format. The monitoring scheme implemented or otherwise employed by the UE 225 in this example may include the UE 225 monitoring for RS transmissions from the SCell according to configuration signals and trigger signals. For at least this example, the monitoring may be based on the activation status that has been activated and the RS format configured for the SCell being a TRS RS format (e.g., legacy TRS format).

In some examples, cells in a set of cells may be in an active state to be activated (e.g., in the process of being activated). In this case, the monitoring scheme implemented or otherwise employed by the UE 225 may be activated based on the RS format for the SCell. For example, if the UE 225 determines that the RS format for the SCell in the active set of RS formats is a TRS format, the monitoring scheme may include the UE 225 refraining from monitoring for RS transmissions from the SCell to be activated. In the event that the UE 225 determines that the RS format for the SCell in the active set of RS formats is a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new RS format), the UE 225 may implement or otherwise employ a monitoring scheme that includes the UE 225 monitoring for RS transmissions from the SCell to be activated.

Continuing with the SCell activation scenario, in some examples, UE 225 may receive an SCell activation message indicating that the SCell is to be activated for communication with UE 225. The SCell activation message may use MAC CE signaling and may identify the activated SCell. That is, in some examples, the SCell activation message may be sent separately from the trigger signal. In other examples, a trigger signal (e.g., DCI) may be used as the SCell activation message (e.g., the DCI may schedule the PDSCH carrying the MAC CE SCell activation message).

Thus, in addition to the active RS format set indicated by the trigger signal, the UE 225 may use the activation status of each cell in the set of cells to develop a monitoring scheme for the UE 225 to monitor for RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells. The UE 225 may perform a monitoring scheme for each cell in the set of cells according to the active RS format set and the configuration of the RS format set.

Fig. 3A and 3B illustrate examples of RS format configurations 300 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. RS format configuration 300 may implement aspects of wireless communication systems 100 and/or 200. Aspects of RS format configuration 300 may be implemented by a UE and/or a network entity (which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein). The network entity in this example may be configured as a PCell and/or SCell (e.g., a set of cells) that may be used for communication with the UE. In broad terms, both the RS format configuration 300-a and the RS format configuration 300-b of fig. 3A illustrate a non-limiting example of one or more RS format sets indicated for a UE, where the RS format configuration 300-a includes a single RS format configured for each RS format set for each cell, where the RS format configuration 300-b includes multiple RS formats configured for each RS format set for some cells.

As discussed above, aspects of the described technology provide various mechanisms that may improve RS transmissions from cells available for communication with a UE. For example, the network entity may use configuration signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) to configure or otherwise indicate one or more sets of RS formats to the UE.

Turning first to RS format configuration 300-a of fig. 3A, each RS format set may correspond to a row 305. For example, row 305-a may correspond to a first set of RS formats, row 305-b may correspond to a second set of RS formats, row 305-c may correspond to a third set of RS formats, and row 305-d may correspond to a fourth set of RS formats. It should be appreciated that the RS format set may include more or fewer RS format sets (e.g., more rows 305 or fewer rows 305). The top row (not labeled) of RS format configuration 300-a may simply be the header row.

Each RS format set may map an RS format to a corresponding cell in the set of cells. The set of cells in this example may correspond to PCell mapped to column 310-b, SCell1 mapped to column 310-c, SCell2 mapped to column 310-d, and SCell3 mapped to column 310-e. Column 310-a may correspond to a set of field values that may be included in the trigger signal to indicate which sets of RS formats are active. It should be understood that the set of cells may include more or fewer cells in the set of cells (e.g., more columns 310 or fewer columns 310). The first column 310-a generally corresponds to a set of field values that may be provided in a trigger signal to indicate which sets of RS formats are active.

The network entity may then send a trigger signal to the UE that carries or otherwise conveys an indication of the active one of the set of RS formats. In broad terms, the trigger signal may indicate that RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells are to be performed according to an RS format associated with the set of active RS formats. In some examples, this may include carrying or otherwise transmitting a trigger signal from the field value of column 310-a. For example, the trigger signal may indicate "00" to signal that the first set of RS formats is active for RS transmission, "01" to signal that the second set of RS formats is active for RS transmission, and so on.

The UE may then determine an activation status of each cell in the set of cells. The active state may generally correspond to an active state (e.g., the cell is already in an active state), an inactive state, or a state to be activated (e.g., for a cell being activated for communication with the UE). The UE may be aware of the cells that are in an active state (e.g., because the UE is already communicating with the active cells). The UE may or may not be aware of the cells in the inactive state (e.g., the UE may or may not have been configured with inactive cells). Based on the network entity sending or otherwise communicating to the UE an SCell activation message identifying which cells are being activated for communication with the UE, the UE may be aware of the cells in a state to be activated. In the non-limiting example shown in the RS format configuration 300-a of fig. 3A, PCell and SCell1 are in an active or to be active state, and SCell2 and SCell3 are in an inactive state.

Based on the activation status of each cell and the set of active RS formats indicated in the trigger signal, the UE may select, determine, or otherwise identify a monitoring scheme for cells in the set of cells. For example, if the trigger signal indicates that the active RS format set corresponds to row 305-a, the UE may know (e.g., based on configuration signaling) that both PCell and SCell1 will perform RS transmissions using the legacy TRS RS format. If the trigger signal indicates that the active RS format set corresponds to row 305-c, the UE may know (e.g., based on configuration signaling) that the PCell will perform RS transmissions using the a-CSI-RS format, and that SCell1 will perform RS transmissions using the new temporary RS format. Since both SCell2 and SCell3 are in an inactive state, the UE may ignore the RS format for these cells.

Thus, the UE may perform a monitoring scheme for RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells according to the active RS format configured by the RRC configuration signaling and the activation state of each cell. For example, the UE may refrain from monitoring for RS transmissions from an already activated cell configured with a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new temporary RS format), but may monitor for RS transmissions from an already activated cell configured with a TRS RS format (e.g., a legacy TRS format and/or an a-CSI-RS format). In another example, the UE may monitor for RS transmissions from cells to be activated that are configured with a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new temporary RS format), but may refrain from monitoring for RS transmissions from cells to be activated that are configured with a TRS RS format (e.g., a legacy TRS format and/or an a-CSI-RS format).

Turning now to RS format configuration 300-B of fig. 3B, again, each RS format set may correspond to a row 315. For example, row 315-a may correspond to a first set of RS formats, row 315-b may correspond to a second set of RS formats, row 315-c may correspond to a third set of RS formats, and row 315-d may correspond to a fourth set of RS formats. It should be appreciated that the set of RS formats may include more or fewer sets of RS formats (e.g., more rows 315 or fewer rows 315). The top row (not labeled) of RS format configuration 300-b may simply be the header row.

Each RS format set may map an RS format to a corresponding cell in the set of cells. The set of cells in this example may correspond to PCell mapped to column 320-b, SCell1 mapped to column 320-c, SCell2 mapped to column 320-d, and SCell3 mapped to column 320-e. Column 320-a may correspond to a set of field values that may be included in the trigger signal to indicate which sets of RS formats are active. It should be understood that the set of cells may include more or fewer cells in the set of cells (e.g., more columns 320 or fewer columns 320). The first column 320-a generally corresponds to a set of field values that may be provided in a trigger signal to indicate which sets of RS formats are active.

RS format configuration 300-b illustrates an example in which the configuration signaling may include more than one RS format configured for each RS format set for one or more cells in the set of cells. That is, the UE may identify or otherwise determine that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell includes a first RS format and a second RS format. Each RS format in this example may be associated with a particular activation state of a cell in the set of cells. For example, when the trigger signal indicates "00" (which signals that the row 315-a is an active RS format set), the UE may determine the activation states of SCell1, SCell2, and SCell 3. If the active state of each cell is an active state (e.g., has been active), the UE may determine that the active RS format for each cell is a legacy TRS RS format. If the active state of each cell is an active state to be activated (e.g., SCell is being activated, e.g., based on the UE receiving an SCell activation message), the UE may determine that the active RS format for each cell is a new temporary RS format.

Thus, the UE may select and execute a monitoring scheme using an active RS format for each cell based on the activation state of each cell. For example, if the trigger signal indicates "10" (signaling row 315-c corresponds to the active RS format set), the monitoring scheme may include: if SCell1 is in an activated state that has been activated, the UE uses the a-CSI-RS format to monitor for RS transmissions from SCell, or if SCell1 is in an activated state to be activated, the UE uses the new temporary RS format to monitor for transmissions from SCell 1. Thus, the UE may perform a monitoring scheme for cells in the set of cells according to the configured and activated RS format set and the activation state of each cell.

Accordingly, aspects of the described techniques may include using an a-CSI request field (e.g., DCI formats 0_1 and/or 0_2) in the uplink DCI to indicate the triggered RS. For serving cells associated with the code points of the fields, RRC signaling may configure one or more temporary RS structures (e.g., formats) for each serving cell, where the actual RS format is identified based on certain conditions. For example, the a-CSI request field indicating "10" may activate an a-CSI-RS or a new temporary RS format for SCell1 depending on the condition (e.g., activation state) of SCell1, and activate a legacy TRS or a new temporary RS format for SCell2 depending on the condition of SCell 2. As one non-limiting example, if SCell1 is in an inactive active state, this field may be considered to trigger a new temporary RS format for SCell1 (e.g., SCell1 is being activated). This field may be considered to trigger an a-CSI-RS on SCell1 if SCell1 is in an active state.

For the serving cells associated with the code points of the fields, RRC configuration signaling configures one or more temporary RS structures (e.g., formats) for each serving cell, and may identify the actual temporary RS format based on some condition (set).

For example, the condition may be whether the cell indicated by the field is associated with an SCell activation procedure. The SCell activation procedure may start from a slot n+k, where N is the slot in which a MAC-CE SCell activation command for the SCell is received, and k may be k1+n+1, where k1 is the time offset for HARQ-ACK feedback for PDSCH carrying the MAC-CE SCell activation command, and N is the number of slots corresponding to 3ms and up to slot n+m, where M corresponds to the number of slots corresponding to a certain period of time (e.g., 20 ms) necessary for SCell activation. This field triggers an RS (e.g., new temporary RS format) necessary for the SCell activation procedure if DCI is received from slot n+k until slot n+m that triggers an a-CSI-RS, legacy TRS, or new temporary RS on the SCell. This field triggers an RS format (e.g., a-CSI-RS or legacy TRS) that is useful for the active SCell if DCI is received after slot n+m that triggers an a-CSI-RS, legacy TRS or a new temporary RS on the SCell. If a DCI triggering an a-CSI-RS, legacy TRS or new temporary RS format on the SCell is received before slot n+k, the UE may ignore the indication for the SCell. The exact values of k and M may vary from that described above, and may depend on various other factors.

Thus, the UE may identify or otherwise determine that the trigger signal was received during a time window defined by the first threshold time limit and the second threshold time limit. The first threshold time limit may correspond to a delay time after receiving an SCell activation message activating the SCell. The second threshold time limit may correspond to an activation time of the SCell. The UE may apply the active RS format set when the trigger signal is received during the time window, or may refrain from applying the active RS format set when the trigger signal is received before the time window. If the trigger signal is received after the time window, the UE may apply an RS format (e.g., legacy TRS and/or a-CSI-RS format) associated with the activation state of the SCell to the activated SCell (e.g., independent of the active RS format set).

Fig. 4A-4C illustrate examples of an RS format structure 400 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. RS format structure 400 may implement aspects of wireless communication system 100 and/or 200 and/or aspects of RS format configuration 300. Aspects of RS format structure 400 may be implemented by a UE and/or a network entity (which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein). The network entity in this example may be configured as a PCell and/or SCell (e.g., a set of cells) that may be used for communication with the UE. In broad terms, the RS format structure 400-a of fig. 4A, the RS format structure 400-B of fig. 4B, and the RS format structure 400-c illustrate non-limiting examples of structures of how cells within a cell set may perform RS transmissions.

As discussed above, aspects of the described technology provide various mechanisms that may improve RS transmissions from cells available for communication with a UE. For example, the network entity may use configuration signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) to configure or otherwise indicate one or more sets of RS formats to the UE. Each RS format set may map an RS format to a corresponding cell in the set of cells. The set of cells in this example may correspond to a PCell and one or more scells. The network entity may then send a trigger signal to the UE that carries or otherwise conveys an indication of the active one of the set of RS formats. In broad terms, the trigger signal may indicate that RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells are to be performed according to an RS format associated with the set of active RS formats.

The UE may then determine an activation status of each cell in the set of cells. The active state may generally correspond to an active state (e.g., the cell is already in an active state), an inactive state, or a state to be activated (e.g., for a cell being activated for communication with the UE). The UE may be aware of the cells that are in an active state (e.g., because the UE is already communicating with the active cells). The UE may or may not be aware of the cells in the inactive state (e.g., the UE may or may not have been configured with inactive cells). Based on the network entity sending or otherwise communicating to the UE an SCell activation message identifying which cells are being activated for communication with the UE, the UE may be aware of the cells in a state to be activated. .

Based on the activation status of each cell and the set of active RS formats indicated in the trigger signal, the UE may select, determine or otherwise identify a monitoring scheme for cells in the set of cells. Thus, the UE may perform a monitoring scheme for RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells according to the active RS format configured by the RRC configuration signaling and the activation state of each cell. For example, the UE may refrain from monitoring for RS transmissions from an already activated cell configured with a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new temporary RS format), but may monitor for RS transmissions from an already activated cell configured with a TRS RS format (e.g., a legacy TRS format and/or an a-CSI-RS format). In another example, the UE may monitor for RS transmissions from cells to be activated that are configured with a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new temporary RS format), but may refrain from monitoring for RS transmissions from cells to be activated that are configured with a TRS RS format (e.g., a legacy TRS format and/or an a-CSI-RS format).

Turning first to the RS format structure 400-a of fig. 4A, the active RS format may include multiple portions of the RS transmission separated in the time domain. For example, the UE may identify or otherwise determine that the active RS format set includes an aperiodic RS 405 (e.g., a new temporary RS format, a legacy TRS format, and/or an a-CSI-RS format) that includes a first portion of RSs and a second portion of RSs in consecutive slots. For example, a first portion of the aperiodic RS 405 during a first slot (which in this example includes two RS transmissions) is followed by a second portion of the aperiodic RS 405 during a next slot (which in this example also includes two RS transmissions). In some examples, the RS format structure 400-a may be applied to known cells associated with measurement periods less than or equal to 160 ms.

Referring to the RS format structure 400-B of fig. 4B, an example is shown in which the aperiodic RS 405 can be split again into a first portion and a second portion across consecutive slots, but then repeated in non-consecutive slots. A first iteration of the first/second portion of the aperiodic RS 405 can be used by the UE for AGC purposes and a second iteration in a discontinuous slot can be used by the UE for fine frequency/time tuning. In some examples, the RS format structure 400-b may be applied to known or unknown cells associated with measurement periods greater than 160ms (e.g., to support both AGC and fine time/frequency tuning).

Referring to the RS format structure 400-C of fig. 4C, an example is shown in which the aperiodic RS 405 is split into a first portion and a second portion over non-contiguous time slots. A first portion of the aperiodic RS 405 may be used by the UE for AGC purposes during a first time slot and then a second portion of the aperiodic RS 405 may be used by the UE for fine frequency/time tuning during a second time slot.

As discussed above, aperiodic RS 405 may use various RS formats. For example, the temporary RS (e.g., aperiodic RS 405) may be TRA (e.g., one of the a-CSI-RS and/or NZP-CSI-RS resource sets configured with the parameter trs-info) (e.g., one type of known a-CSI-RS format may be used). Additionally or alternatively, the temporary RS (e.g., aperiodic RS 405) can be a modified TRS, e.g., where k > 0 (e.g., a new structure can be used for the TRS) with a first portion of the TRS in slot n and a second portion of the TRS in slot n+k. Additionally or alternatively, the temporary RSs may be repeated TRSs, wherein gaps between the repeated TRSs may be separated in the time domain by multiple slots or symbols (e.g., a completely new structure may be used for the temporary RSs).

Although the RS format structure 400 generally shows the aperiodic RS 405 split into two parts (e.g., supporting AGC and frequency/time tuning), it should be understood that in some examples, the RS may be split into more than two parts.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of a procedure 500 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Process 500 may implement aspects of wireless communication system 100 and/or 200, RS format configuration 300, and/or RS format structure 400. Aspects of the process 500 may be implemented by the PCell 505, UE 510, and/or SCell 515 (which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein) or at the PCell 505, UE 510, and/or SCell 515. In some aspects, the PCell 505 and SCell 515 may be associated with the same network entity or with separate network entities. It should be appreciated that more than one SCell may be included in a set of cells available for communication with UE 510.

At 520, PCell 505 may send or otherwise provide (and UE 510 may receive or otherwise obtain) a configuration signal carrying or otherwise conveying an indication of one or more sets of RS formats. Each set of RS formats may be mapped to or otherwise associated with an RS format for a respective cell in the set of cells. In some aspects, the configuration signaling may include RRC signaling or some other higher layer signaling for transmitting an indication of the set of RS formats. In some examples, the indication may be associated with a table having a plurality of rows, each row corresponding to a different set of RS formats, and each column corresponding to a different cell within the set of cells.

At 525, PCell 505 may transmit or otherwise provide (and UE 510 may receive or otherwise obtain) a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set from the configured RS format set. The trigger signal may indicate to the UE 510 that RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells are to be performed according to an RS format associated with the set of active RS formats. In one non-limiting example, the trigger signal may include DCI, and the indication of the set of active RS formats may be transmitted in an a-CSI request field of the DCI. In other examples, the trigger signal may be transmitted in the MAC CE or in some other signaling between the PCell 505 and the UE 510. In some examples, the indication carried or otherwise transmitted in the trigger signal may include a field value associated with a particular row in a table listing the set of RS formats.

At 530, the UE 510 may determine or otherwise identify an activation state of each cell in the set of cells. For example, UE 505 may determine whether each cell (e.g., each SCell) is in an activated state (where the cell is already active for communication with UE 510), in an inactive or deactivated state (where the cell is not communicating with UE 510), or in a to-be-activated state (where the cell is in the process of being activated for communication with UE 510). For example, the PCell 505 may send or otherwise provide (and the UE 510 may receive or otherwise obtain) an SCell activation message indicating that one or more cells in the set of cells are being activated for the UE 510. The activation status of these one or more cells may be based on SCell activation messages.

At 535, the UE 510 may identify or otherwise determine a monitoring scheme for at least one cell in the set of cells using the activation status of each cell in combination with the set of active RS formats indicated by the trigger signal. That is, the UE 510 may determine the activation state of the cell and the format for RS transmission from the cell based on the active RS format set. This may indicate to the UE whether it will monitor RS transmissions from cells in the set of cells, and if so, how such monitoring will be performed (e.g., which RS format to monitor). At 540, the UE 510 may perform a monitoring scheme for RS transmissions from at least one SCell (e.g., SCell 515) in the set of cells (except for RS transmissions from PCell 505 in some examples). For example, the UE 510 may monitor for RS transmissions from the PCell 505 using an active RS format configured for the PCell 505 and monitor for RS transmissions from the SCell 515 using an active RS format configured for the SCell 515.

In some aspects, the monitoring scheme may be based on the activation state of the cell in addition to the RS format for the cell activated by the trigger signal. In one example, this may include: when the active RS format is a temporary aperiodic RS format (e.g., a new temporary RS format), the UE 510 refrains from monitoring for RS transmissions from an already active cell. In another example, this may include: when the active RS format is a TRS format (e.g., legacy TRS format and/or a-CSI-RS format), the UE 510 monitors RS transmissions from the already activated cells. In yet another example, this may include: when the active RS format is the TRS format, the UE 510 refrains from monitoring for RS transmissions from the cell being activated. Instead, in another example, this may include: when the active RS format is a temporary aperiodic RS format, the UE 510 monitors RS transmissions from the cell being activated.

As discussed above, in some examples, the active RS format may include a plurality of RS formats configured for one or more cells in a set of cells, where the RS formats are selected based on an activation state of the cells. For example, the first RS format and the second RS format may be configured for a particular cell and indicated as active in the trigger signal. The UE 510 may identify or otherwise determine the activation state of the cell and then select from the first RS format or the second RS format based on the activation state. For example, the cell may be configured with a TRS format and a new temporary RS format. The UE 510 may select a TRS format if the cell has been activated, or a new temporary RS format if the cell is in the process of being activated, and vice versa.

As also discussed above, in some examples, the RS transmission may be split into a first portion and a second portion, which may be in consecutive time slots or in non-consecutive time slots. In examples where the first portion and the second portion are configured in consecutive slots, the cell may repeat the particular RS structure across non-consecutive slots in its RS transmission.

Fig. 6 illustrates a block diagram 600 of an apparatus 605 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The device 605 may be an example of aspects of the UE 115 as described herein. The device 605 may include a receiver 610, a transmitter 615, and a communication manager 620. The device 605 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 610 may provide means for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). Information may be passed to other components of the device 605. The receiver 610 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The transmitter 615 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 605. For example, the transmitter 615 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). In some examples, the transmitter 615 may be co-located with the receiver 610 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 615 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations thereof, or various components thereof, may be examples of means for performing various aspects of RS signaling for scells as described herein. For example, the communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof, may support methods for performing one or more of the functions described herein.

In some examples, the communication manager 620, the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof, may be implemented in hardware (e.g., in communication management circuitry). The hardware may include processors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinations thereof, configured or otherwise supporting units for performing the functions described in the present disclosure. In some examples, a processor and a memory coupled to the processor may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by the processor executing instructions stored in the memory).

Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the communication manager 620, receiver 610, transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof, may be implemented in code (e.g., as communication management software or firmware) that is executed by a processor. If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 620, receiver 610, transmitter 615, or various combinations or components thereof, may be performed by a general purpose processor, DSP, central Processing Unit (CPU), ASIC, FPGA, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices (e.g., configured or otherwise supporting units for performing the functions described in this disclosure).

In some examples, the communication manager 620 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit) using the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or both, or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or both. For example, the communication manager 620 may receive information from the receiver 610, send information to the transmitter 615, or be integrated with the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, or both to receive information, send information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

According to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 620 may support wireless communication at the UE. For example, the communication manager 620 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for receiving configuration signals indicative of one or more RS format sets, each RS format set including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. The communication manager 620 may be configured or otherwise support means for receiving a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The communication manager 620 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells. The communication manager 620 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in a set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in a set of active RS formats. The communication manager 620 may be configured or otherwise support means for performing a monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell.

By including or configuring the communication manager 620 according to examples as described herein, the device 605 (e.g., a processor controlling or otherwise coupled to the receiver 610, the transmitter 615, the communication manager 620, or a combination thereof) may support techniques for signaling RS formats/activation states of cells in a set of cells configured for communication with a UE.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram 700 of an apparatus 705 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Device 705 may be an example of aspects of device 605 or UE 115 as described herein. Device 705 may include a receiver 710, a transmitter 715, and a communication manager 720. Device 705 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 710 may provide means for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). Information may be passed to other components of device 705. The receiver 710 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

Transmitter 715 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of device 705. For example, the transmitter 715 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). In some examples, the transmitter 715 may be co-located with the receiver 710 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 715 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The apparatus 705 or various components thereof may be an example of means for performing various aspects of RS signaling for an SCell as described herein. For example, the communication manager 720 may include an RS format configuration manager 725, a trigger manager 730, an activation state manager 735, a monitoring scheme manager 740, or any combination thereof. Communication manager 720 may be an example of aspects of communication manager 620 as described herein. In some examples, the communication manager 720 or various components thereof may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit) using or otherwise in cooperation with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or both. For example, the communication manager 720 may receive information from the receiver 710, send information to the transmitter 715, or be integrated with the receiver 710, the transmitter 715, or both to receive information, send information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

According to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 720 may support wireless communication at the UE. The RS format configuration manager 725 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for receiving configuration signals indicative of one or more RS format sets, each RS format set including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. The trigger manager 730 may be configured or otherwise enabled to receive a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The activation state manager 735 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying an activation state of each cell in a set of cells. The monitoring scheme manager 740 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in a set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in a set of active RS formats. The monitoring scheme manager 740 may be configured or otherwise support means for performing a monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell.

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram 800 of a communication manager 820 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Communication manager 820 may be an example of aspects of communication manager 620, communication manager 720, or both, as described herein. The communication manager 820 or various components thereof may be an example of a means for performing various aspects of RS signaling for an SCell as described herein. For example, communication manager 820 can include an RS format configuration manager 825, a trigger manager 830, an activation status manager 835, a monitoring scheme manager 840, an active cell manager 845, a cell activation manager 850, a multiple RS format manager 855, an RS structure manager 860, an inactive cell manager 865, a trigger timing manager 870, or any combination thereof. Each of these components may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via one or more buses).

According to examples as disclosed herein, communication manager 820 may support wireless communication at a UE. The RS format configuration manager 825 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for receiving configuration signals indicative of one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells of the set of cells. The trigger signal manager 830 may be configured or otherwise support means for receiving a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The activation state manager 835 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying an activation state of each cell in a set of cells. The monitoring scheme manager 840 may be configured or otherwise enabled to determine a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats. In some examples, the monitoring scheme manager 840 may be configured or otherwise support means for performing a monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell.

In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an activation state of at least one SCell is an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell has been activated. In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an RS format in the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell includes a temporary aperiodic RS format. In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise enabled to perform a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being an activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising a temporary aperiodic RS format.

In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining to schedule downlink transmissions using overlapping resources that overlap with RS transmissions from at least one SCell. In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise support means for decoding downlink transmissions based on assumptions about the downlink transmissions being punctured or rate matched around overlapping resources.

In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an activation state of at least one SCell is an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell has been activated. In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise enabled to determine that an RS format in the active RS format set associated with the at least one SCell includes a unit to track the RS format. In some examples, the active cell manager 845 may be configured or otherwise enabled to perform a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell by monitoring RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being an activated state and the RS formats associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats including tracking RS formats.

In some examples, cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an activation state of at least one SCell is to be activated, wherein the at least one SCell is in the process of being activated. In some examples, cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an RS format in the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell includes a tracking RS format. In some examples, cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for performing a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being a state to be activated and the RS formats associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats including tracking RS formats.

In some examples, cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an activation state of at least one SCell is to be activated, wherein the at least one SCell is in the process of being activated. In some examples, cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that an RS format in the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell includes a temporary aperiodic RS format. In some examples, cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for performing a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell by monitoring RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being a state to be activated and the RS formats associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats including a temporary aperiodic RS format.

In some examples, the multi-RS format manager 855 may be configured or otherwise enabled to determine that an RS format associated with at least one SCell in the active RS format set indicates a first RS format associated with a first activation state and a second RS format associated with a second activation state. In some examples, the multi-RS format manager 855 may be configured or otherwise support means for selecting a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell based on whether the at least one SCell is in a first active state or a second active state.

In some examples, the multi-RS format manager 855 may be configured or otherwise enabled to receive an SCell activation message indicating that at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE. In some examples, the multi-RS format manager 855 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that at least one SCell is in a first active state based on the SCell activation message.

In some examples, RS structure manager 860 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying that an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, where the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive time slots.

In some examples, RS structure manager 860 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying that an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets includes a temporary aperiodic RS format that includes a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, where the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive time slots and the tracking RS is repeated in non-consecutive time slots.

In some examples, RS structure manager 860 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying that an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets includes a temporary aperiodic RS format that includes a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, where the first portion and the second portion are in non-contiguous time slots.

In some examples, the inactive cell manager 865 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining that the active state of the at least one SCell is an inactive state in which the at least one SCell is deactivated. In some examples, the inactive cell manager 865 may be configured or otherwise enabled to perform a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being inactive.

In some examples, the cell activation manager 850 may be configured or otherwise support means for receiving an SCell activation message indicating that at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE, wherein the activation state of the at least one SCell is based on the SCell activation message. In some examples, the SCell activation message is received using a MAC CE message.

In some examples, the trigger timing manager 870 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for determining that the trigger signal is received during a time window that is based on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal. In some examples, the trigger timing manager 870 may be configured or otherwise support a means for applying the set of active RS formats based on the trigger signal being received during the time window.

In some examples, the trigger timing manager 870 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for determining that the trigger signal was received prior to a time window that is based on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal. In some examples, the trigger timing manager 870 may be configured or otherwise support means for avoiding application of the active RS format set based on the trigger signal being received prior to the time window.

In some examples, the trigger timing manager 870 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for determining that the trigger signal is received after a time window that is based on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal. In some examples, the trigger timing manager 870 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for applying an active RS format in the set of active RS formats based on the trigger signal being received after a time window. In some examples, the configuration signal is received in an RRC message. In some examples, the trigger signal is received in an aperiodic channel state information request field of a MAC CE or DCI.

Fig. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of a system 900 including an apparatus 905 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The device 905 may be or include an example of or component of the device 605, the device 705, or the UE 115 as described herein. The device 905 may communicate wirelessly with one or more network entities 105, UEs 115, or any combination thereof. The device 905 may include components for two-way voice and data communications, including components for sending and receiving communications, such as a communications manager 920, an input/output (I/O) controller 910, a transceiver 915, an antenna 925, a memory 930, code 935, and a processor 940. These components may be coupled in electronic communication or in other manners (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more buses (e.g., bus 945).

The I/O controller 910 may manage input and output signals for the device 905. The I/O controller 910 may also manage peripheral devices that are not integrated into the device 905. In some cases, the I/O controller 910 may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral device. In some cases, I/O controller 910 may utilize a controller such as, for example Such as an operating system or another known operating system. Additionally or alternatively, the I/O controller 910 may represent or interact with a modem, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, or similar device. In some cases, I/O controller 910 may be implemented as a processor(s)Such as a portion of processor 940). In some cases, a user may interact with the device 905 via the I/O controller 910 or via hardware components controlled by the I/O controller 910.

In some cases, the device 905 may include a single antenna 925. However, in some other cases, the device 905 may have more than one antenna 925 that is capable of sending or receiving multiple wireless transmissions simultaneously. The transceiver 915 may communicate bi-directionally via one or more antennas 925, wired or wireless links as described herein. For example, transceiver 915 may represent a wireless transceiver and may bi-directionally communicate with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 915 may also include a modem to modulate packets, provide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 925 for transmission, and demodulate packets received from the one or more antennas 925. The transceiver 915 or the transceiver 915 and the one or more antennas 925 may be examples of a transmitter 615, a transmitter 715, a receiver 610, a receiver 710, or any combination thereof or component thereof as described herein.

Memory 930 may include Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM). The memory 930 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 935, the code 935 including instructions that, when executed by the processor 940, cause the device 905 to perform the various functions described herein. Code 935 may be stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as system memory or another type of memory. In some cases, code 935 may not be directly executable by processor 940, but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform the functions described herein. In some cases, memory 930 may contain, among other things, a basic I/O system (BIOS) that may control basic hardware or software operations, such as interactions with peripheral components or devices.

Processor 940 may include intelligent hardware devices (e.g., general purpose processors, DSPs, CPUs, microcontrollers, ASICs, FPGAs, programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or any combinations thereof). In some cases, processor 940 may be configured to operate the memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into the processor 940. The processor 940 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 930) to cause the device 905 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting RS signaling for scells). For example, the device 905 or components of the device 905 may include a processor 940 and a memory 930 coupled to the processor 940, the processor 940 and the memory 930 configured to perform various functions described herein.

According to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 920 may support wireless communication at the UE. For example, the communication manager 920 may be configured or otherwise support means for receiving a configuration signal indicative of one or more RS format sets, each RS format set including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. The communication manager 920 may be configured or otherwise support means for receiving a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The communication manager 920 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells. The communication manager 920 may be configured or otherwise support means for determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in a set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in a set of active RS formats. The communication manager 920 may be configured or otherwise support means for performing a monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell.

By including or configuring the communication manager 920 according to examples as described herein, the device 905 may support techniques for signaling RS formats/activation states of cells in a set of cells configured for communication with a UE.

In some examples, the communication manager 920 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit) using or in cooperation with the transceiver 915, one or more antennas 925, or any combination thereof. Although communication manager 920 is shown as a separate component, in some examples, one or more functions described with reference to communication manager 920 may be supported or performed by processor 940, memory 930, code 935, or any combination thereof. For example, code 935 may include instructions executable by processor 940 to cause device 905 to perform aspects of RS signaling for scells as described herein, or processor 940 and memory 930 may be otherwise configured to perform or support such operations.

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram 1000 of an apparatus 1005 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Device 1005 may be an example of aspects of network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1005 may include a receiver 1010, a transmitter 1015, and a communication manager 1020. The device 1005 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 1010 may provide means for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). Information may be passed to other components of the device 1005. The receiver 1010 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The transmitter 1015 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 1005. For example, the transmitter 1015 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). In some examples, the transmitter 1015 may be co-located with the receiver 1010 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 1015 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations thereof, or various components thereof, may be examples of means for performing various aspects of RS signaling for scells described herein. For example, communication manager 1020, receiver 1010, transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof, may support methods for performing one or more of the functions described herein.

In some examples, the communication manager 1020, the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof, may be implemented in hardware (e.g., in communication management circuitry). The hardware may include processors, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof configured or otherwise supporting units for performing the functions described in this disclosure. In some examples, a processor and memory coupled with the processor may be configured to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., by the processor executing instructions stored in the memory).

Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the communication manager 1020, receiver 1010, transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof, may be implemented in code (e.g., as communication management software or firmware) that is executed by a processor. If implemented in code executed by a processor, the functions of the communication manager 1020, receiver 1010, transmitter 1015, or various combinations or components thereof, may be performed by a general purpose processor, DSP, CPU, ASIC, FPGA, or any combination of these or other programmable logic devices (e.g., configured or otherwise supporting units for performing the functions described in this disclosure).

In some examples, communication manager 1020 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit) using receiver 1010, transmitter 1015, or both, or otherwise in cooperation with receiver 1010, transmitter 1015, or both. For example, communication manager 1020 may receive information from receiver 1010, send information to transmitter 1015, or be integrated with receiver 1010, transmitter 1015, or both to receive information, send information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

According to examples as disclosed herein, communication manager 1020 may support wireless communication at a network entity. For example, the communication manager 1020 may be configured or otherwise support a means for identifying a set of cells associated with performing communication with a UE. The communication manager 1020 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for transmitting configuration signals to a UE indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. The communication manager 1020 may be configured or otherwise support means for transmitting to the UE a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats.

By including or configuring the communication manager 1020 according to examples as described herein, the device 1005 (e.g., a processor controlling or otherwise coupled to the receiver 1010, the transmitter 1015, the communication manager 1020, or a combination thereof) can support techniques for signaling RS formats/activation status of cells in a set of cells configured for communication with a UE.

Fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram 1100 of an apparatus 1105 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Device 1105 may be an example of aspects of device 1005 or network entity 105 as described herein. The device 1105 may include a receiver 1110, a transmitter 1115, and a communication manager 1120. The device 1105 may also include a processor. Each of these components may communicate with each other (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 1110 may provide means for receiving information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). Information may be passed to other components of the device 1105. Receiver 1110 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The transmitter 1115 may provide a means for transmitting signals generated by other components of the device 1105. For example, the transmitter 1115 may transmit information (such as packets, user data, control information, or any combination thereof) associated with various information channels (e.g., control channels, data channels, information channels related to RS signaling for scells). In some examples, the transmitter 1115 may be co-located with the receiver 1110 in a transceiver module. The transmitter 1115 may utilize a single antenna or a set of multiple antennas.

The device 1105 or various components thereof may be an example of means for performing various aspects of RS signaling for an SCell as described herein. For example, the communication manager 1120 may include a multi-cell manager 1125, a configuration manager 1130, a trigger manager 1135, or any combination thereof. Communication manager 1120 may be an example of aspects of communication manager 1020 as described herein. In some examples, the communication manager 1120 or various components thereof may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit) using, or otherwise in cooperation with, the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, or both. For example, the communication manager 1120 may receive information from the receiver 1110, send information to the transmitter 1115, or be integrated with the receiver 1110, the transmitter 1115, or both to receive information, send information, or perform various other operations as described herein.

According to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1120 may support wireless communication at a network entity. The multi-cell manager 1125 may be configured or otherwise support means for identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE. The configuration manager 1130 may be configured or otherwise support a unit for transmitting configuration signals to the UE indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells. The trigger manager 1135 may be configured to or otherwise support means for transmitting to the UE a trigger signal indicating an active one of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats.

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram 1200 of a communication manager 1220 supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. Communication manager 1220 may be an example of aspects of communication manager 1020, communication manager 1120, or both, as described herein. The communication manager 1220 or various components thereof may be an example of a means for performing various aspects of RS signaling for an SCell as described herein. For example, the communication manager 1220 may include a multi-cell manager 1225, a configuration manager 1230, a trigger signal manager 1235, a cell activation trigger manager 1240, a cell activation manager 1245, or any combination thereof. Each of these components may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via one or more buses).

According to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1220 may support wireless communication at a network entity. The multi-cell manager 1225 may be configured or otherwise support means for identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with a UE. The configuration manager 1230 may be configured or otherwise support means for transmitting configuration signals to the UE indicating one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells of the set of cells. The trigger manager 1235 may be configured or otherwise enabled to transmit to the UE a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set.

In some examples, an RS format associated with at least one SCell in the active RS format set indicates a first RS format associated with a first activation state and a second RS format associated with a second activation state.

In some examples, the cell activation manager 1245 may be configured or otherwise support means for sending an SCell activation message to the UE indicating that at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE, wherein the at least one SCell is in a first active state based on the SCell activation message.

In some examples, the cell activation trigger manager 1240 may be configured or otherwise support means for transmitting an SCell activation message indicating that at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE, wherein the activation state of the at least one SCell is based on the SCell activation message. In some examples, the SCell activation message is sent using a MAC CE message. In some examples, the configuration signal is sent in an RRC message. In some examples, the trigger signal is sent in an aperiodic channel state information request field of the DCI.

Fig. 13 illustrates a diagram of a system 1300 that includes a device 1305 that supports RS signaling for scells in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Device 1305 may be or include an example of device 1005, device 1105, or network entity 105 as described herein. Device 1305 may communicate wirelessly with one or more network entities 105, UEs 115, or any combination thereof. Device 1305 may include components for bi-directional voice and data communications, including components for sending and receiving communications, such as communications manager 1320, network communications manager 1310, transceiver 1315, antenna 1325, memory 1330, code 1335, processor 1340, and inter-station communications manager 1345. These components may be coupled in electronic communication or in other ways (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1350).

The network communication manager 1310 may manage communications with the core network 130 (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). For example, the network communication manager 1310 may manage transmission of data communications for a client device (e.g., one or more UEs 115).

In some cases, device 1305 may include a single antenna 1325. However, in some other cases, device 1305 may have more than one antenna 1325 that is capable of sending or receiving multiple wireless transmissions simultaneously. The transceiver 1315 may communicate bi-directionally via one or more antennas 1325, wired or wireless links as described herein. For example, transceiver 1315 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1315 may also include a modem to modulate packets, provide the modulated packets to one or more antennas 1325 for transmission, and demodulate packets received from the one or more antennas 1325. The transceiver 1315 or transceiver 1315 and one or more antennas 1325 may be examples of a transmitter 1015, a transmitter 1115, a receiver 1010, a receiver 1110, or any combination thereof or component thereof as described herein.

The memory 1330 may include RAM and ROM. The memory 1330 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code 1335, the code 1335 including instructions that, when executed by the processor 1340, cause the device 1305 to perform the various functions described herein. Code 1335 may be stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as system memory or other type of memory. In some cases, code 1335 may not be directly executable by processor 1340, but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform the functions described herein. In some cases, memory 1330 may contain, among other things, a BIOS that may control basic hardware or software operations, such as interactions with peripheral components or devices.

Processor 1340 may include intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a general purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, an FPGA, a programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof). In some cases, processor 1340 may be configured to operate the memory array using a memory controller. In some other cases, the memory controller may be integrated into the processor 1340. Processor 1340 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., memory 1330) to cause device 1305 to perform various functions (e.g., functions or tasks to support RS signaling for scells). For example, device 1305 or a component of device 1305 may include a processor 1340 and a memory 1330 coupled to processor 1340, the processor 1340 and memory 1330 configured to perform the various functions described herein.

The inter-station communication manager 1345 may manage communications with other network entities 105 and may include a controller or scheduler for controlling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with other network entities 105. For example, inter-station communication manager 1345 may coordinate scheduling of transmissions to UEs 115 to implement various interference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or joint transmission. In some examples, the inter-station communication manager 1345 may provide an X2 interface within the LTE/LTE-a wireless communication network technology to provide communication between the network entities 105.

According to examples as disclosed herein, the communication manager 1320 may support wireless communication at a network entity. For example, the communication manager 1320 may be configured or otherwise support means for identifying a set of cells associated with performing communication with a UE. The communication manager 1320 may be configured or otherwise support a means for transmitting configuration signals to the UE indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells. The communication manager 1320 may be configured or otherwise support means for transmitting to the UE a trigger signal indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats.

By including or configuring the communication manager 1320 in accordance with examples as described herein, the device 1305 may support techniques for signaling RS format/activation status of cells in a set of cells configured for communication with a UE.

In some examples, the communication manager 1320 may be configured to perform various operations (e.g., receive, monitor, transmit) using or in cooperation with the transceiver 1315, one or more antennas 1325, or any combination thereof. Although communication manager 1320 is shown as a separate component, in some examples, one or more of the functions described with reference to communication manager 1320 may be supported or performed by processor 1340, memory 1330, code 1335, or any combination thereof. For example, code 1335 may include instructions executable by processor 1340 to cause device 1305 to perform aspects of RS signaling for scells as described herein, or processor 1340 and memory 1330 may be otherwise configured to perform or support such operations.

Fig. 14 shows a flow chart illustrating a method 1400 of supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The operations of method 1400 may be implemented by a UE or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1400 may be performed by UE 115 as described with reference to fig. 1-9. In some examples, the UE may execute a set of instructions to control a functional unit of the UE to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functionality.

At 1405, the method may include: a configuration signal is received indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. Operations of 1405 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1405 may be performed by RS format configuration manager 825 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1410, the method may include: a trigger signal is received indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The operations of 1410 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1410 may be performed by trigger signal manager 830 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1415, the method may include: an activation state of each cell in the set of cells is identified. The operations of 1415 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1415 may be performed by the activation state manager 835 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1420, the method may include: a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells is determined based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats. Operations of 1420 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1420 may be performed by the monitoring scheme manager 840 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1425, the method may include: the monitoring scheme is performed with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell. The operations of 1425 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1425 may be performed by the monitoring scheme manager 840 as described with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 15 shows a flow chart illustrating a method 1500 of supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The operations of method 1500 may be implemented by a UE or components thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1500 may be performed by UE 115 as described with reference to fig. 1-9. In some examples, the UE may execute a set of instructions to control a functional unit of the UE to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functionality.

At 1505, the method may include: a configuration signal is received indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells. The operations of 1505 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1505 may be performed by RS format configuration manager 825 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1510, the method may include: a trigger signal is received indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The operations of 1510 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1510 may be performed by trigger signal manager 830 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1515, the method may include: an activation state of each cell in the set of cells is identified. The operations of 1515 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1515 may be performed by the activation state manager 835 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1520, the method may include: the method includes determining that an activation state of at least one SCell is an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell has been activated. Operations of 1520 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1520 may be performed by the active cell manager 845 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1525, the method may comprise: the method includes determining that an RS format in the set of active RS formats associated with at least one SCell includes a temporary aperiodic RS format. The operations of 1525 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1525 may be performed by the active cell manager 845 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1530, the method may include: a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells is determined based on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats. The operations of 1530 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1530 may be performed by the monitoring scheme manager 840 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1535, the method may include: the monitoring scheme is performed with respect to RS transmissions from at least one SCell. Operations of 1535 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1535 may be performed by the monitoring scheme manager 840 as described with reference to fig. 8.

At 1540, the method may include: the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell is performed by avoiding monitoring RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based on the activation state of the at least one SCell being an activated state and the RS formats associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats comprising a temporary aperiodic RS format. Operations of 1540 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1540 may be performed by the active cell manager 845 as described with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 16 shows a flow chart illustrating a method 1600 of supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1600 may be implemented by a network entity or component thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of method 1600 may be performed by network entity 105 as described with reference to fig. 1-5 and 10-13. In some examples, the network entity may execute a set of instructions to control functional units of the network entity to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the network entity may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functionality.

At 1605, the method may include: a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE is identified. The operations of 1605 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1605 may be performed by multi-cell manager 1225 as described with reference to fig. 12.

At 1610, the method may include: a configuration signal is sent to the UE indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells. The operations of 1610 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1610 may be performed by configuration manager 1230 as described with reference to fig. 12.

At 1615, the method may include: a trigger signal is sent to the UE indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The operations of 1615 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1615 may be performed by trigger manager 1235 as described with reference to fig. 12.

Fig. 17 shows a flow chart illustrating a method 1700 of supporting RS signaling for an SCell in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The operations of method 1700 may be implemented by a network entity or component thereof as described herein. For example, the operations of the method 1700 may be performed by the network entity 105 as described with reference to fig. 1-5 and 10-13. In some examples, the network entity may execute a set of instructions to control functional units of the network entity to perform the described functions. Additionally or alternatively, the network entity may use dedicated hardware to perform aspects of the described functionality.

At 1705, the method may include: a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE is identified. The operations of 1705 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1705 may be performed by multi-cell manager 1225 as described with reference to fig. 12.

At 1710, the method may include: a configuration signal is sent to the UE indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells. Operations of 1710 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1710 may be performed by the configuration manager 1230 as described with reference to fig. 12.

At 1715, the method may include: a trigger signal is sent to the UE indicating an active set of RS formats of the one or more sets of RS formats, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from a cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active set of RS formats. The operations of 1715 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1715 may be performed by trigger manager 1235 as described with reference to fig. 12.

At 1720, the method may include: an SCell activation message is sent indicating that at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE, wherein an activation state of the at least one SCell is based on the SCell activation message. Operations of 1720 may be performed according to examples as disclosed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operation of 1720 may be performed by cell activation trigger manager 1240 as described with reference to fig. 12.

The following provides a summary of various aspects of the disclosure:

aspect 1: a method for wireless communication at a UE, comprising: receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more RS format sets, each RS format set comprising a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in a set of cells; receiving a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to an RS format associated with the active RS format set; identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells; determining a monitoring scheme for at least one SCell in the set of cells based at least in part on a respective activation state of the at least one SCell and a respective RS format in the set of active RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme with respect to RS transmissions from the at least one SCell.

Aspect 2: the method of aspect 1, further comprising: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell is an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell has been activated; determining that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the activated state and the RS formats associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats comprising the temporary aperiodic RS format.

Aspect 3: the method of aspect 2, further comprising: determining to schedule downlink transmissions using overlapping resources that overlap with the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell; and decoding the downlink transmission based at least in part on an assumption that the downlink transmission is punctured or rate matched around the overlapping resources.

Aspect 4: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 3, further comprising: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell is an activated state, wherein the at least one SCell has been activated; determining the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes tracking RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the tracking RS format.

Aspect 5: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 4, further comprising: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell is a state to be activated, wherein the at least one SCell is in the process of being activated; determining the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes tracking RS formats; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the to-be-activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the tracking RS format.

Aspect 6: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 5, further comprising: determining that the activation state of the at least one SCell is a state to be activated, wherein the at least one SCell is in the process of being activated; determining that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the to-be-activated state and the RS formats of the set of active RS formats associated with the at least one SCell comprising the temporary aperiodic RS format.

Aspect 7: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 6, further comprising: determining that the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the active RS format set indicates a first RS format associated with a first active state and a second RS format associated with a second active state; and selecting the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell based at least in part on whether the at least one SCell may be in the first active state or the second active state.

Aspect 8: the method of aspect 7, further comprising: receiving an SCell activation message indicating that the at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE; and determining that the at least one SCell is in the first activation state based at least in part on the SCell activation message.

Aspect 9: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 8, further comprising: identifying the set of active RS formats in the set of one or more RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, wherein the first portion and the second portion may be in consecutive slots.

Aspect 10: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 9, further comprising: identifying the active one of the one or more sets of RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive time slots and the tracking RS is repeated in non-consecutive time slots.

Aspect 11: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 10, further comprising: identifying the set of active RS formats in the set of one or more RS formats includes a temporary aperiodic RS format including a first portion of a tracking RS and a second portion of the tracking RS, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in non-contiguous time slots.

Aspect 12: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 11, further comprising: determining that the active state of the at least one SCell is an inactive state in which the at least one SCell is deactivated; and performing the monitoring scheme for the at least one SCell by avoiding monitoring the RS transmissions from the at least one SCell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one SCell being the inactive state.

Aspect 13: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 12, further comprising: an SCell activation message is received indicating that the at least one SCell is to be activated at a UE, wherein the activation status of the at least one SCell is based at least in part on the SCell activation message.

Aspect 14: the method of aspect 13, wherein the SCell activation message is received using a MAC CE message.

Aspect 15: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 14, further comprising: determining that the trigger signal is received during a time window, the time window being based at least in part on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal; and applying the set of active RS formats based at least in part on the trigger signal being received during the time window.

Aspect 16: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 15, further comprising: determining that the trigger signal was received prior to a time window, the time window being based at least in part on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal; and refraining from applying the set of active RS formats based at least in part on the trigger signal being received prior to the time window.

Aspect 17: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 16, further comprising: determining that the trigger signal is received after a time window, the time window being based at least in part on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal; and applying an active RS format of the set of active RS formats based at least in part on the trigger signal being received after the time window.

Aspect 18: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 17, wherein the configuration signal is received in an RRC message.

Aspect 19: the method of any one of aspects 1 to 18, wherein the trigger signal is received in an aperiodic channel state information request field of a MAC CE or DCI.

Aspect 20: a method for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising: identifying a set of cells associated with performing communications with the UE; transmitting, to the UE, a configuration signal indicating one or more sets of RS formats, each set of RS formats including a mapping of RS formats to respective cells in the set of cells; and transmitting, to the UE, a trigger signal indicating an active RS format set of the one or more RS format sets, the trigger signal indicating an RS transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to the RS format associated with the active RS format set.

Aspect 21: the method of aspect 20, wherein the RS format associated with the at least one SCell in the set of active RS formats indicates a first RS format associated with a first active state and a second RS format associated with a second active state.

Aspect 22: the method of aspect 21, further comprising: and transmitting, to the UE, an SCell activation message indicating that the at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE, wherein the at least one SCell is in the first activation state based at least in part on the SCell activation message.

Aspect 23: the method of any one of aspects 20 to 22, further comprising: an SCell activation message is sent indicating that the at least one SCell is to be activated at the UE, wherein an activation state of the at least one SCell is based at least in part on the SCell activation message.

Aspect 24: the method of aspect 23, wherein the SCell activation message is sent using a MAC CE message.

Aspect 25: the method of any one of aspects 20 to 24, wherein the configuration signal is sent in an RRC message.

Aspect 26: the method of any one of aspects 20 to 25, wherein the trigger signal is transmitted in an aperiodic channel state information request field of DCI.

Aspect 27: an apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 19.

Aspect 28: an apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, comprising at least one means for performing the method of any one of aspects 1-19.

Aspect 29: a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a UE, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform the method of any one of aspects 1-19.

Aspect 30: an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising: a processor; a memory coupled to the processor; and instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to perform the method according to any one of aspects 20 to 26.

Aspect 31: an apparatus for wireless communication at a network entity, comprising at least one unit for performing the method of any one of aspects 20 to 26.

Aspect 32: a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a network entity, the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to perform the method of any one of aspects 20-26.

It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possible implementations, and that the operations and steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified, and that other implementations are possible. Further, aspects from two or more methods may be combined.

Although aspects of the LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro or NR system may be described for purposes of example, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro or NR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniques described herein are applicable to areas outside of the LTE, LTE-A, LTE-a Pro or NR network. For example, the described techniques may be applicable to various other wireless communication systems such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM, and other systems and radio technologies not explicitly mentioned herein.

The information and signals described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The various illustrative blocks and components described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, CPU, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software for execution by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described herein may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwired or a combination of any of these items. Features that implement the functions may also be physically located at various locations including being distributed such that each portion of the functions is implemented at a different physical location.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Non-transitory storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory, compact Disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purpose processor. Further, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

As used herein (including in the claims), an "or" as used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items ending with a phrase such as "at least one of" or "one or more of" indicates an inclusive list, such that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B or C means a or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., a and B and C). Furthermore, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, example steps described as "based on condition a" may be based on both condition a and condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase "based on" should be interpreted in the same manner as the phrase "based at least in part on" is interpreted.

The term "determining" or "determining" includes a wide variety of actions, and thus, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Further, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and so forth. Further, "determining" may include parsing, selecting, establishing, and other such like actions.

In the drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference numerals. Furthermore, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a second label that is used to distinguish between similar components. If only a first reference label is used in the specification, the description applies to any one of the similar components having the same first reference label, irrespective of second or other subsequent reference labels.

The description set forth herein in connection with the appended drawings describes example configurations and is not intended to represent all examples that may be implemented or within the scope of the claims. The term "example" as used herein means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration," rather than "preferred" or "advantageous over other examples. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described technology. However, the techniques may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

The description herein is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (30)

1. A method for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more reference signal format sets, each reference signal format set comprising a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells in a set of cells;

receiving a trigger signal indicating an active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets, the trigger signal indicating reference signal transmissions from the cells of the set of cells according to a reference signal format associated with the active reference signal format set;

identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells;

Determining a monitoring scheme for at least one secondary cell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one secondary cell and a respective reference signal format in the set of active reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme is performed with respect to reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an activated state, wherein the at least one secondary cell has been activated;

determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by avoiding monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the active state of the at least one secondary cell being the activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the temporary aperiodic reference signal format.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining to schedule downlink transmissions using overlapping resources that overlap with the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell; and

the downlink transmission is decoded based at least in part on an assumption that the downlink transmission is punctured or rate matched around the overlapping resources.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an activated state, wherein the at least one secondary cell has been activated;

determining the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes tracking reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the active state of the at least one secondary cell being the activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the tracking reference signal format.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is a state to be activated, wherein the at least one secondary cell is in the process of being activated;

determining the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes tracking reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by avoiding monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the to-be-activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the tracking reference signal format.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is a state to be activated, wherein the at least one secondary cell is in the process of being activated;

determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format; and

The monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the to-be-activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the temporary aperiodic reference signal format.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats indicates a first reference signal format associated with a first active state and a second reference signal format associated with a second active state; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is selected based at least in part on whether the at least one secondary cell is in the first active state or the second active state.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a secondary cell activation message indicating that the at least one secondary cell is to be activated at the UE; and

Determining that the at least one secondary cell is in the first active state based at least in part on the secondary cell activation message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format including a first portion of a tracking reference signal and a second portion of the tracking reference signal, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive slots.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the active one of the one or more reference signal format sets includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format including a first portion of a tracking reference signal and a second portion of the tracking reference signal, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive slots and the tracking reference signal is repeated in non-consecutive slots.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format including a first portion of a tracking reference signal and a second portion of the tracking reference signal, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in non-contiguous slots.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the active state of the at least one secondary cell is an inactive state, wherein the at least one secondary cell is deactivated; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by avoiding monitoring the reference signal transmission from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the active state of the at least one secondary cell being the inactive state.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a secondary cell activation message is received indicating that the at least one secondary cell is to be activated at the UE, wherein the activation status of the at least one secondary cell is based at least in part on the secondary cell activation message.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the secondary cell activation message is received using a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) message.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the trigger signal is received during a time window, the time window being based at least in part on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal; and

The set of active reference signal formats is applied based at least in part on the trigger signal being received during the time window.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the trigger signal was received prior to a time window, the time window being based at least in part on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal; and

avoiding application of the active reference signal format set based at least in part on the trigger signal being received prior to the time window.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the trigger signal is received after a time window, the time window being based at least in part on a delay time and a threshold time limit after receiving the configuration signal; and

an active reference signal format of the set of active reference signal formats is applied based at least in part on the trigger signal being received after the time window.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration signal is received in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger signal is received in an aperiodic channel state information request field of a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) or Downlink Control Information (DCI).

20. An apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more reference signal format sets, each reference signal format set comprising a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells in a set of cells;

receiving a trigger signal indicating an active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets, the trigger signal indicating reference signal transmissions from the cells of the set of cells according to a reference signal format associated with the active reference signal format set;

identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells;

determining a monitoring scheme for at least one secondary cell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one secondary cell and a respective reference signal format in the set of active reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme is performed with respect to reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an activated state, wherein the at least one secondary cell has been activated;

determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by avoiding monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the active state of the at least one secondary cell being the activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the temporary aperiodic reference signal format.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determining to schedule downlink transmissions using overlapping resources that overlap with the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell; and

The downlink transmission is decoded based at least in part on an assumption that the downlink transmission is punctured or rate matched around the overlapping resources.

23. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is an activated state, wherein the at least one secondary cell has been activated;

determining the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes tracking reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the active state of the at least one secondary cell being the activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the tracking reference signal format.

24. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

Determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is a state to be activated, wherein the at least one secondary cell is in the process of being activated;

determining the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes tracking reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by avoiding monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the to-be-activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the tracking reference signal format.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determining that the activation state of the at least one secondary cell is a state to be activated, wherein the at least one secondary cell is in the process of being activated;

determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format; and

The monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is performed by monitoring the reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell based at least in part on the activation state of the at least one secondary cell being the to-be-activated state and the reference signal formats associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats including the temporary aperiodic reference signal format.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

determining that the reference signal format associated with the at least one secondary cell in the set of active reference signal formats indicates a first reference signal format associated with a first active state and a second reference signal format associated with a second active state; and

the monitoring scheme for the at least one secondary cell is selected based at least in part on whether the at least one secondary cell is in the first active state or the second active state.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

Receiving a secondary cell activation message indicating that the at least one secondary cell is to be activated at the UE; and

determining that the at least one secondary cell is in the first active state based at least in part on the secondary cell activation message.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:

identifying the active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets includes a temporary aperiodic reference signal format including a first portion of a tracking reference signal and a second portion of the tracking reference signal, wherein the first portion and the second portion are in consecutive slots.

29. An apparatus for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

means for receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more reference signal format sets, each reference signal format set comprising a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells in a set of cells;

means for receiving a trigger signal indicating an active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets, the trigger signal indicating a reference signal transmission from the cell of the set of cells according to a reference signal format associated with the active reference signal format set;

Means for identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells;

means for determining a monitoring scheme for at least one secondary cell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one secondary cell and a respective reference signal format in the set of active reference signal formats; and

the apparatus includes means for performing the monitoring scheme with respect to reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), the code comprising instructions executable by a processor to:

receiving a configuration signal indicating one or more reference signal format sets, each reference signal format set comprising a mapping of reference signal formats to respective cells in a set of cells;

receiving a trigger signal indicating an active reference signal format set of the one or more reference signal format sets, the trigger signal indicating reference signal transmissions from the cells of the set of cells according to a reference signal format associated with the active reference signal format set;

Identifying an activation state of each cell in the set of cells;

determining a monitoring scheme for at least one secondary cell in the set of cells based on a respective activation state of the at least one secondary cell and a respective reference signal format in the set of active reference signal formats; and

the monitoring scheme is performed with respect to reference signal transmissions from the at least one secondary cell.