EP4649605A1

EP4649605A1 - Method for group-cast beam configuration, activation, and indication

Info

Publication number: EP4649605A1
Application number: EP23713269.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jong-Kae Fwu; Yushu Zhang
Original assignee: Google LLC
Current assignee: Google LLC
Priority date: 2023-02-17
Filing date: 2023-02-17
Publication date: 2025-11-19
Also published as: CN120770127A; WO2024168853A1

Abstract

Methods, systems, and techniques herein provide group-east (also referred to as: group cast, groupcast, broadcast, cast, etc.) beam configuration, activation, and indication, such as for a group of user equipments (UEs). The group-east operations allow for a reduction of signaling overhead of beam activation and/or indication of beams from a common network entity for a group of UEs that share certain common physical properties, such as locations or movement trajectories, so that the group of UEs may use (e.g., by receiving a configuration from a network entity) a common beam pool (e.g., a list of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states) and provide feedback when the network entity activates a beam. An example method includes group-casting a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool of multiple beams usable by a group of UEs.

Description

METHOD FOR GROUP-CAST BEAM CONFIGURATION, ACTIVATION, AND INDICATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and more particularly, to beam management.

BACKGROUND

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies a radio interface referred to as fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) (5G NR) . An architecture for a 5G NR wireless communication system includes a 5G core (5GC) network, a 5G radio access network (5G-RAN) , a user equipment (UE) , etc. The 5G NR architecture seeks to provide increased data rates, decreased latency, and/or increased capacity compared to prior generation cellular communication systems.
Wireless communication systems, in general, may be configured to provide various telecommunication services (e.g., telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, etc. ) based on multiple-access technologies, such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technologies, that support communication with multiple UEs. Improvements in mobile broadband continue the progression of such wireless communication technologies.
To increase the link budget, analog beamforming may be utilized at the gNB and UE side. A gNB/UE may maintain a plurality of beams. A good gNB-UE beam pair may greatly increase the link budget, thus providing significant coverage gain. The beam selection procedure has been defined since Rel-15 and is typically performed in two steps: 1) beam measurement and report; 2) beam indication. For example, GPP TS 38.321 section 5.18.23 defines the details of beam activation such as transmission configuration indicator (TCI) activation. 3GPP TS 38.214 section 5.1.5 defines the details of beam indication such as TCI indication and quasi-co-located (QCL) indication for a gNB to indicate the UE beam.
SUMMARY
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects. This summary neither identifies key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineates the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
The present disclosure provides methods, systems, and techniques for providing group-cast (also referred to as: group cast, groupcast, broadcast, cast, etc. ) beam configuration, activation, and indication, such as for a group of user equipments (UEs) . The group-cast operations allow for a reduction of signaling overhead of beam activation and/or indication of beams from a common network entity for a group of UEs that share certain common physical properties, such as locations or movement trajectories, so that the group of UEs may use (e.g., by receiving a configuration from a network entity) a common beam pool (e.g., a list of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states) and provide feedbacks when the network entity activates a beam.
A network entity, such as a base station (BS) , may use analogue beamforming and maintain multiple beams with a UE. For example, a good BS-UE beam selected from the multiple beams may increase the link budget and provide significant coverage gain. To select a good beam (e.g., TCI triggering) , the BS-UE pair performs procedures including: (1) beam configuration by the BS (e.g., configuring TCI related parameters) , (2) the BS sending to the UE a beam activation command for a number of TCI states (e.g., up to eight or eight pairs) , (3) the UE sending acknowledgement (e.g., HARQ-ACK) to the BS, and (4) the BS performing beam indication (e.g., via downlink control information (DCI) ) . For example, the network entity may use TCI activation for beam activation (e.g., activating TCI states via MAC CE, 3GPP TS 38.321 §§ 5.18.23 and 6.1.3.14) . The network entity then indicates to the UE which beam is selected for signaling (3GPP TS 38.214 §5.1.5) . Herein, the term “beam (s) ” includes the meaning of “TCI state (s) . ”
According to existing practice, however, the network entity activates and/or indicates a beam among multiple configured beams to a specific UE (e.g., the activation signaling applies only to the specific UE and not another UE) . This requirement stays true even if another UE may use the same downlink beam from the network entity when the channel conditions are substantially similar, such as, for example, when both UEs are traveling together (e.g., one UE being integrated into a vehicle while the other UE being a mobile phone in the vehicle) . As such, separate beam activations or indications to each of the two UEs are unnecessary and create duplicative signaling overhead.
The present disclosure provides methods and techniques for performing group-cast beam configuration, activation, and indication to a group of UEs, to avoid such duplicative signaling overhead and improve beam activation/indication efficiency. The reduction in the overhead may improve the overall system performance, such as by reducing the beam management and/or selection latency.
Aspects of this disclosure include a wireless communication method by a network entity. The example method includes transmitting (e.g., by group-casting) a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool of multiple beams usable by a group of UEs. The beam pool includes respective beam information of the multiple beams. In some cases, the beam pool includes a table or list of TCI states of the multiple beams for the UE to use (e.g., by activation and indication) . A leader UE, selected by the network entity or determined among the group of UEs, may manage the group of UEs regarding the beam pool configuration, beam activation, and beam indication. For example, the network entity may select the leader UE based on the UE capabilities (e.g., in terms of the number of beams that the UE may handle and manage for other UEs) , the UE’s role (e.g., whether or not the UE provides support, such as near field communications or sidelink communications, to other UEs) , and/or other performance considerations (e.g., sources of power, mobility, etc. )
One of the group of UEs (regardless whether the UE is the leader UE) may have, prior to receiving the wireless signal, transmitted a message indicating a capability, or a lack thereof, of at least one of: (1) a capability supporting a groupcast of beam pool configuration; (2) a capability supporting the groupcast of beam pool activation; (3) a capability of indicating a beam selection of the groupcast of beam pool activation; (4) a maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) , per component carrier (CC) , per band, per band combination, or per UE; or (5) a maximum number of indicated beams per BWP, per CC, per band, per band combination, or per UE.
In some cases, the one of the group of UEs may also have provided to the network entity group information (e.g., obtained via sidelink) . For example, the group information may include identifiers or identifications of member UEs in the group of UEs, as well as acknowledgement (or the lack thereof) of beams configuration, activation, and/or indication. The network entity may group-cast the wireless signal and/or identify/select the leader UE accordingly (e.g., based on the identifiers and/or acknowledgement information) .
The method further includes the network entity receiving, from one of the plurality of UEs, a feedback associated with the wireless signal. The feedback may include an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative ACK (NACK) regarding each UE’s reception of the activation/indication control signals from the network entity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a wireless communications system that includes a plurality of user equipments (UEs) and network entities in communication over one or more cells.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of one scenario for the UEs sharing the same network beam.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example procedure for group-cast beam pool configuration.
FIG. 4 illustrates an example alternative procedure for group-cast beam pool configuration.
FIG. 5 illustrates an example alternative procedure for group-cast beam pool configuration.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of UE behavior for group-cast beam pool configuration.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of network entity behavior for group-cast beam pool configuration.
FIG. 8 illustrates an example of procedure for group-cast beam activation
FIG. 9 illustrates an example alternative procedure for group-cast beam activation.
FIG. 10 illustrates an example alternative procedure for group-cast beam activation.
FIG. 11 illustrates an example of UE behavior for group-cast beam activation.
FIG. 12 illustrates an example of network entity behavior for group-cast beam activation.
FIG. 13 illustrates an example for separate ACK/NACK feedback with multiple uplink resources.
FIG. 14 illustrates an example for joint ACK/NACK feedback with ACK/NACK multiplexing in one uplink resource.
FIG. 15 illustrates an example for joint ACK/NACK feedback with ACK/NACK bundling in one uplink resource.
FIG. 16 illustrates an example for joint ACK/NACK feedback with ACK/NACK bundling in one uplink resource.
FIG. 17 illustrates an example procedure for group-cast beam indication.
FIG. 18 illustrates an example alternative procedure for group-cast beam indication.
FIG. 19 illustrates an example alternative procedure for group-cast beam indication.
FIG. 20 illustrates an example of UE behavior for group-cast beam indication.
FIG. 21 illustrates an example of network entity behavior for group-cast beam indication.
FIG. 22 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a UE.
FIG. 23 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a network entity.
FIG. 24 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a UE.
FIG. 25 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a network entity.
FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a hardware implementation for an example UE apparatus.
FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating a hardware implementation for one or more example network entities.
Like numerals indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure provides methods for group-casting beam activation and beam indication for a group of UEs that share the same or similar trajectory, including: UE-group based beam/TCI configuration, UE-group based beam/TCI activation, and UE-group based beam/TCI indication. The disclosure achieves several technology advantages. The advantages of the proposed designs are reduced signaling overhead for beam activation and indication. The reduction in beam activation and indication overhead may improve the overall system performance. The reduced signaling overhead may indirectly reduce the beam management/selection latency.
FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram 100 of a wireless communications system associated with a plurality of cells 190. The wireless communications system includes user equipments (UEs) 102 and base stations/network entities 104. Some base stations may include an aggregated base station architecture and other base stations may include a disaggregated base station architecture. The aggregated base station architecture includes a radio unit (RU) 106, a distributed unit (DU) 108, and a centralized unit (CU) 110 that are configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single radio access network (RAN) node. A disaggregated base station architecture utilizes a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (e.g., RUs 106, DUs 108, CUs 110) . For example, a CU 110 is implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs 108 may be co-located with the CU 110, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs 108 may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs 106. Each of the RU 106, the DU 108 and the CU 110 may be implemented as virtual units, such as a virtual radio unit (VRU) , a virtual distributed unit (VDU) , or a virtual central unit (VCU) . The base station/network entity 104 (e.g., an aggregated base station or disaggregated units of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110) , may be referred to as a transmission reception point (TRP) .
Operations of the base station 104 and/or network designs may be based on aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base station architectures are utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open-radio access network (O-RAN) network, or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN) , which may also be referred to a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) . Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across the two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which may enable flexibility in network designs. The various units of the disaggregated base station architecture, or the disaggregated RAN architecture, may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit. For example, the base stations 104a/104e and/or the RUs 106a-106d may communicate with the UEs 102a-102d and 102s via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links based on a Uu interface. In examples, multiple RUs 106 and/or base stations 104 may simultaneously serve the UEs 102, such as by intra-cell and/or inter-cell access links between the UEs 102 and the RUs 106/base stations 104.
The RU 106, the DU 108, and the CU 110 may include (or may be coupled to) one or more interfaces configured to transmit or receive information/signals via a wired or wireless transmission medium. A base station 104 or any of the one or more disaggregated base station units may be configured to communicate with one or more other base stations 104 or one or more other disaggregated base station units via the wired or wireless transmission medium. In examples, a processor, a memory, and/or a controller associated with executable instructions for the interfaces may be configured to provide communication between the base stations 104 and/or the one or more disaggregated base station units via the wired or wireless transmission medium. For example, a wired interface may be configured to transmit or receive the information/signals over a wired transmission medium, such as via the fronthaul link 160 between the RU 106d and the baseband unit (BBU) 112 of the base station 104d associated with the cell 190d. The BBU 112 includes a DU 108 and a CU 110, which may also have a wired interface (e.g., midhaul link) configured between the DU 108 and the CU 110 to transmit or receive the information/signals between the DU 108d and the CU 110d. In further examples, a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver, such as an RF transceiver, configured to transmit and/or receive the information/signals via the wireless transmission medium, such as for information communicated between the RU 106a of the cell 190a and the base station 104e of the cell 190e via cross-cell communication beams 136-138 of the RU 106a and the base station 104e.
The RUs 106 may be configured to implement lower layer functionality. For example, the RU 106 is controlled by the DU 108 and may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or lower layer PHY functionality, such as execution of fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc. The functionality of the RU 106 may be based on the functional split, such as a functional split of lower layers.
The RUs 106 may transmit or receive over-the-air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 102. For example, the RU 106b of the cell 190b communicates with the UE 102b of the cell 190b via a first set of communication beams 132 of the RU 106b and a second set of communication beams 134b of the UE 102b, which may correspond to inter-cell communication beams or, in some examples, cross-cell communication beams. For instance, the UE 102b of the cell 190b may communicate with the RU 106a of the cell 190a via a third set of communication beams 134a of the UE 102b and a fourth set of communication beams 136 of the RU 106a. Both real-time and non-real-time features of control plane and user plane communications of the RUs 106 may be controlled by associated DUs 108.
Any combination of the RU 106, the DU 108, and the CU 110, or reference thereto individually, may correspond to a base station 104. Thus, the base station 104 may include at least one of the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110. The base stations 104 provide the UEs 102 with access to a core network. The base stations 104 might relay communications between the UEs 102 and the core network. The base stations 104 may be associated with macrocells for high-power cellular base stations and/or small cells for low-power cellular base stations. For example, the cell 190e may correspond to a macrocell, whereas the cells 190a-190d may correspond to small cells. Small cells include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc. A cell structure that includes at least one macrocell and at least one small cell may be referred to as a “heterogeneous network. ”
Transmissions from a UE 102 to a base station 104/RU 106 are referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions, whereas transmissions from the base station 104/RU 106 to the UE 102 are referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. Uplink transmissions may also be referred to as reverse link transmissions and downlink transmissions may also be referred to as forward link transmissions. For example, the RU 106d utilizes antennas 114 of the base station 104d of cell 190d to transmit a downlink/forward link communication to the UE 102d or receive an uplink/reverse link communication from the UE 102d based on the Uu interface associated with the access link between the UE 102d and the base station 104d/RU 106d.
Communication links between the UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may be based on multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be associated with one or more carriers. The UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may utilize a spectrum bandwidth of Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, 800, 1600, 2000, etc. MHz) per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz, where x component carriers (CCs) are used for communication in each of the uplink and downlink directions. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other along a frequency spectrum. In examples, uplink and downlink carriers may be allocated in an asymmetric manner, more or fewer carriers may be allocated to either the uplink or the downlink. A primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers may be included in the component carriers. The primary component carrier may be associated with a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be associated with as a secondary cell (SCell) .
Some UEs 102, such as the UEs 102 and 102a, may perform device-to-device (D2D) communications over sidelink. For example, a sidelink communication/D2D link utilizes a spectrum for a wireless wide area network (WWAN) associated with uplink and downlink communications. The sidelink communication/D2D link may also use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) , a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH) , a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) , and/or a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) , to communicate information between UEs 102 and 102a. Such sidelink/D2D communication may be performed through various wireless communications systems, such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, Bluetooth systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, New Radio (NR) systems, etc.
In some cases, the UEs 102 and 102a may be considered as a UE group, such as by agreement over the sidelink communications or be treated as a group by the network entity because the network entity may use some common signaling (e.g., group-casting) to control and/or communicate with the UEs 102 and 102a.
The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided into different classes, bands, channels, etc., based on different frequencies/wavelengths associated with the electromagnetic spectrum. Fifth-generation (5G) NR is generally associated with two operating frequency ranges (FRs) referred to as frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2) . FR1 ranges from 410 MHz –7.125 GHz and FR2 ranges from 24.25 GHz –71.0 GHz, which includes FR2-1 (24.25 GHz –52.6 GHz) and FR2-2 (52.6 GHz –71.0 GHz) . Although a portion of FR1 is actually greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to as the “sub-6 GHz” band. In contrast, FR2 is often referred to as the “millimeter wave” (mmW) band. FR2 is different from, but a near subset of, the “extremely high frequency” (EHF) band, which ranges from 30 GHz –300 GHz and is sometimes also referred to as a “millimeter wave” band. Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as “mid-band” frequencies. The operating band for the mid-band frequencies may be referred to as frequency range 3 (FR3) , which ranges 7.125 GHz –24.25 GHz. Frequency bands within FR3 may include characteristics of FR1 and/or FR2. Hence, features of FR1 and/or FR2 may be extended into the mid-band frequencies. Higher operating frequency bands have been identified to extend 5G NR communications above 52.6 GHz associated with the upper limit of FR2. Three of these higher operating frequency bands include FR2-2, which ranges from 52.6 GHz –71.0 GHz, FR4, which ranges from 71.0 GHz –114.25 GHz, and FR5, which ranges from 114.25 GHz –300 GHz. The upper limit of FR5 corresponds to the upper limit of the EHF band. Thus, unless otherwise specifically stated herein, the term “sub-6 GHz” may refer to frequencies that are less than 6 GHz, within FR1, or may include the mid-band frequencies. Further, unless otherwise specifically stated herein, the term “millimeter wave” , or mmW, refers to frequencies that may include the mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2-1, FR4, FR2-2, and/or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.
The UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may each include a plurality of antennas. The plurality of antennas may correspond to antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays that may facilitate beamforming operations. For example, the RU 106b transmits a downlink beamformed signal based on a first set of communication beams 132 to the UE 102b in one or more transmit directions of the RU 106b. The UE 102b may receive the downlink beamformed signal based on a second set of communication beams 134b from the RU 106b in one or more receive directions of the UE 102b. In a further example, the UE 102b may also transmit an uplink beamformed signal to the RU 106b based on the second set of communication beams 134b in one or more transmit directions of the UE 102b. The RU 106b may receive the uplink beamformed signal from the UE 102b in one or more receive directions of the RU 106b.
The UE 102b may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for the beamformed signals. The transmit and receive directions for the UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 might or might not be the same. In further examples, beamformed signals may be communicated between a first base station/RU 106a and a second base station 104e. For instance, the base station 104e of the cell 190e may transmit a beamformed signal to the RU 106a based on the communication beams 138 in one or more transmit directions of the base station 104e. The RU 106a may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 104e of the cell 190e based on the RU communication beams 136 in one or more receive directions of the RU 106a. In further examples, the base station 104e transmits a downlink beamformed signal to the UE 102e based on the communication beams 138 in one or more transmit directions of the base station 104e. The UE 102e receives the downlink beamformed signal from the base station 104e based on UE communication beams 130 in one or more receive directions of the UE 102e. The UE 102e may also transmit an uplink beamformed signal to the base station 104e based on the UE communication beams 130 in one or more transmit directions of the UE 102e, such that the base station 104e may receive the uplink beamformed signal from the UE 102e in one or more receive directions of the base station 104e.
The base station 104 may include and/or be referred to as a network entity. That is, “network entity” may refer to the base station 104 or at least one unit of the base station 104, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, and/or the CU 110. The base station 104 may also include and/or be referred to as a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB) , a generation NB (gNB) , an evolved NB (eNB) , an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS) , an extended service set (ESS) , a TRP, a network node, network equipment, or other related terminology. The base station 104 or an entity at the base station 104 may be implemented as an IAB node, a relay node, a sidelink node, an aggregated (monolithic) base station with an RU 106 and a BBU 112 that includes a DU 108 and a CU 110, or as a disaggregated base station including one or more RUs 106, DUs 108, and/or CUs 110. A set of aggregated or disaggregated base stations may be referred to as a next generation-radio access network (NG-RAN) . In some examples, the UE 102a operates in dual connectivity (DC) with the base station 104e and the base station/RU 106a. In such cases, the base station 104e may be a master node and the base station/RU 160a may be a secondary node.
Uplink/downlink signaling may also be communicated via a satellite positioning system (SPS) 114. In an example, the SPS 114 of the cell 190c may be in communication with one or more UEs 102, such as the UE 102c, and one or more base stations 104/RUs 106, such as the RU 106c. The SPS 114 may correspond to one or more of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) , a global position system (GPS) , a non-terrestrial network (NTN) , or other satellite position/location system. The SPS 114 may be associated with LTE signals, NR signals (e.g., based on round trip time (RTT) and/or multi-RTT) , wireless local area network (WLAN) signals, a terrestrial beacon system (TBS) , sensor-based information, NR enhanced cell ID (NR E-CID) techniques, downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) , downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) , uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) , uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA) , and/or other systems, signals, or sensors.
Still referring to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, any of the UEs 102 may include a beam management component 140 configured to receive, from the network entity 104, a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of UEs having a leader UE. The configuration of the beam pool includes respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams. The UEs 102 then transmit, to the network entity, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams.
In certain aspects, any of the base stations 104 or a network entity of the base stations 104 may include a beam management component 150 configured to group-casting a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to UEs 102 or indicating beam activations in the UEs (e.g., UEs already having configured beam pools) . In some cases, group-casting the wireless signal is for activating one or more beams in a beam pool (e.g., otherwise configured in the UEs) . The configuration of the beam pool includes respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams, and wherein one of the plurality of UEs is a leader UE. The base stations 104 receive, from the leader UE, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams.
Accordingly, FIG. 1 describes a wireless communication system that may be implemented in connection with aspects of one or more other figures described herein, such as aspects illustrated in FIGS. 2-27. Further, although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as 5G-Advanced and future versions, LTE, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , and other wireless technologies, such as 6G.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of one scenario 200 for the UEs 102 and 102a sharing the same network beam 204. As shown, a network entity 104 is capable of generating (e.g., by beamforming) multiple downlink beams 202, 204, and 206. During operation, each of the UEs 102, 102a, 102b, and 102c may be configured to communicate with the network entity 104 using one of the downlink beams 202, 204, and 206. In some cases, two or more of the UEs 102 and 102a may use a common downlink beam 204 when quasi-colocation conditions are satisfied (e.g., when the UEs 102 and 102a share common location, orientation, and movement characteristics) .
For example, the UEs 102 and 102a may be within a proximity with each other while traveling in the same direction/trajectory and at the same velocities, such as when the UEs 102 and 102a are two smartphones on a public transportation vehicle, or when UE 102 is a smartphone on a vehicle that is the UE 102a. The UEs 102 and 102a may use respective and similar uplink beams 214 and 215 to communicate with the network entity 104.
Unlike the UEs 102 and 102a, even though the UE 102b is traveling in the same trajectory as the UEs 102a and 102 (e.g., by being on a common moving platform 208) , the UE 102b may communicate with the network entity 104 using a different downlink beam 202 and form a beam pair with the network entity 104 using the uplink beam 212. The UE 102c, outside of the common platform 208, receives signals from the network entity 104 via the downlink beam 206 and transmits signals using the uplink beam 216.
As such, the UEs 102 and 102a (or a group of UEs) may take advantage of a common downlink beam (such as the beam 204) . The beam activation and beam indication signaling, according to existing practice, is UE-specific. That is, to update a beam in a UE, the network entity needs to send the beam indication signaling for and to the particular UE. The network entity may need to further transmit the beam activation signaling before the beam indication signaling if the indicated beam is not one of the activated beams.
As shown in the example of FIG. 2, some UEs may share the same or similar trajectory, e.g., the UEs 102 and 102a may be in a car or are in proximity to each other. Therefore, the best network beam (downlink) for the UEs in the same group may be common to the plural UEs in the group. The UE 102, UE 102a and UE 102b share the same trajectory, e.g., they may be in a car. The UE 102c has a different trajectory. Among the UE 102, UE 102a and UE 102b, the UE 102 and UE 102a share the same orientation, which results in a common network beam 204 for both UEs. Therefore, UE-specific beam activation and indication for the UE 102 and UE 102a would lead to higher signaling overhead in existing practice. The present disclosure provides methods and techniques for reducing the beam activation and beam indication signaling overhead for such UEs (e.g., a group of UEs) .
In aspects, this disclosure provides methods for group-casting beam activation and beam indication for a group of UEs that may use a common downlink beam of a network entity as the respective best downlink beam. The disclosed methods may include UE-group based beam/TCI configuration, UE-group based beam/TCI activation, and UE-group based beam/TCI indication. By configuring, activating, and indicating a group-common downlink beam, the disclosure achieves several technology advantages, including reduced signaling overhead for beam activation and indication, and improved overall system performance due to the overhead reduction. The system performance improvement may include beam management/selection latency reduction.
FIG. 3 illustrates an example procedure 300 for group-cast beam pool configuration. As shown, the network entity 104 may group-cast a common downlink beam to a group of UEs, including at least the UE 102 and the UE 102a. During operation, the UE 102 may optionally transmit 302 the UE capability on group-cast beam configuration to the network 104. Similarly, the UE 102a may optionally transmit 302a the UE capability on group-cast beam configuration to the network 104.
The network entity 104 group-cast 304 a first control signaling configuring at least one beam pool (e.g., a table of TCI states or multiple beams configurable in the UEs) . The beam pool includes at least one beam (e.g., one TCI state) . Upon receiving the configuration signaling from the network entity 104, the UE 102 and the UE 102a may respectively send 306 and 306a acknowledgement messages to the network entity 104. The network entity 104 and the UEs 102 and 102a perform 310 further beam activation and beam indication based on the configured beam pool as discussed below (e.g., FIGS. 7-25) .
In some embodiments, members in a UE group may report respective UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast based beam configuration. Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 transmits a control signaling in group-cast manner to the multiple UE members. The control signaling configures at least one beam pool for at least one bandwidth part (BWP) or serving cell (i.e., component carrier) , e.g., dl-OrJoint-TCIStateList and/or ul-TCI-StateList.
In some cases, the network entity may transmit/group-cast the first control signaling by radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The member UEs may directly transmit the acknowledgement (ACK) or negative ACK (NACK) regarding the first control signaling separately to the network entity. Then the network entity may perform further beam activation and indication based on the configured beam pool for both the first UE and the second UE.
In aspects, a beam may indicate a beam related configuration, e.g., a TCI state, spatial relation info, power control configuration (e.g., pathloss reference signal) , among others. A beam ID may indicate an identifier (ID) for a beam related configuration, e.g., TCI state ID, spatial relation info ID, power control configuration (e.g., pathloss reference signal) ID, among others.
Although FIG. 3 shows the group-case beam pool configuration for a group of two UEs 102 and 102a, it is understood that aspects disclosed herein may be applicable to a group of more than two UEs and that the number of UEs in the group may be adjusted as UEs are added/removed from the group.
FIG. 4 illustrates another example procedure 400 for group-cast beam pool configuration. The UEs 102 and 102a may, similar to the procedure 300, respectively provide 302 and 302a the UE capabilities about group-cast beam configuration. Unlike the procedure 300, the network entity 104 transmits 404 the first control signaling to the first UE 102. The first control signaling configures the UE identifier (ID) for at least a second UE 102a (or another member UE in a UE group of the UE 102) .
In some cases, the first control signaling may also configure the resource, e.g., time and frequency domain resource, for the first UE 102 to communicate with the second UE 102a, in addition to the at least one beam pool for at least one BWP or serving cell, e.g., dl-OrJoint-TCIStateList and/or ul-TCI-StateList.
The first UE 102 then transmits 404a a second control signaling via media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or RRC signaling configuring the received beam pool (s) to the second UE 102a. The first UE 102 then receives 406a the ACK/NACK for the second control signaling from the second UE 102a.
The first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may communicate with each other via sidelink or other device-to-device wireless technologies, e.g., wireless area networks (WiFi) , nearfield communications (Bluetooth) , among others. The first UE 102 transmits 406 an aggregated (e.g., in a joint setting) or separate (e.g., in turn or in time) ACK/NACK (s) of the first control signaling for both the first UE and the second UE to the network entity. The network entity 104 and the UEs 102 and 102a perform 310 further beam activation and beam indication based on the configured beam pool as discussed below (e.g., FIGS. 7-25) .
In some cases, the UE 102 (signaling on behalf of another member UE, such as the UE 102a) may be referred to as a leader UE in this disclosure. The leader UE may be determined amongst the UEs in the UE group or may be appointed by the network entity 104. For example, the leader UE may be, by agreement or identification, a UE that has the capacity in handling the most beam configurations, activations, and/or indications on behalf other member UEs. In some cases, the leader UE may be based on hardware capacity, such as power source/battery life, bandwidth/throughput, etc. In some cases, the leader UE may be based on an identifiable role. For example, a smartphone may be a leader UE amongst multiple wearable devices, including headset, smartwatches, etc. The same smartphone may be a member UE when placed in a motor-vehicle, which may serve as a leader UE.
FIG. 5 illustrates another procedure 500 for group-cast beam pool configuration. The UEs 102 and 102a may, similar to the procedure 300, respectively provide 302 and 302a the UE capabilities about group-cast beam configuration. Similarly, the network entity 104 transmits 404 the first control signaling to the first UE 102. The first UE 102 then transmits 404a a second control signaling configuring the beam pool in the second UE 102a.
Unlike the procedure 400, the first UE 102 transmits 508 and 508a the ACK/NACK of the first control signaling for the first UE and the second UE respectively (and separately) to the network entity 104. The network entity 104 and the UEs 102 and 102a perform 310 further beam activation and beam indication based on the configured beam pool as discussed below (e.g., FIGS. 7-25) .
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of UE behavior 600 for group-cast beam pool configuration. The UE behavior 600 may correspond to the operations by the UE 102 in FIGS. 3-5, or a leader UE in a UE group. As shown, the UE may optionally transmit 602 the UE capability of group-cast beam configuration to the network entity. The UE then receives 604 a first control signaling configuring at least a beam pool with at least one beam. The first control signaling may optionally indicate at least one UE ID for a second UE that shares the same beam pool and a wireless resource for the UE (e.g., a leader UE) to communicate with the second UE (e.g., a member UE) .
The UE determines 608 whether the ID of the second UE is included in the first control signaling. If first control signaling does not include the ID of the second UE, the UE optionally transmits 610a a feedback (e.g., ACK/NACK) regarding the first control signaling to the network entity. Otherwise, when the first control signaling includes the ID of the second UE (or another member UE) , the UE transmits 610, to the second UE, a second control signaling that configures the beam pool in the second UE.
In response to the configuration by the second control signaling, the UE receives 612 a feedback (ACK/NACK) from the second UE. The UE then optionally transmits 614 the ACK/NACK for the second control signaling received from the second UE to the network entity. In some cases, the UE may collectively transmit a joint feedback including both the ACK/NACK regarding the first control signaling and the ACK/NACK regarding the second control signaling.
FIG. 7 illustrates an example of network entity behavior 700 for group-cast beam pool configuration. The example network entity behavior 700 is complementary to the UE behavior 600 of FIG. 6. As shown, the network entity may optionally receive 702 the UE capability (from a group of, or two or more, UEs) on group-cast beam configuration.
The network entity transmits 704 a first control signaling configuring a beam pool with at least one beam. The first control signaling optionally indicates at least one UE ID regarding a second UE that shares the same beam pool and the resource as a first UE receiving the first control signaling, for the first UE to communicate with the second UE. The network entity may optionally receive 706 the feedback (ACK/NACK) from the first UE regarding the first control signaling.
In this disclosure, in general, an RRC signaling from the network entity to UE may indicate an RRC reconfiguration message, or a System Information Block (SIB) . The SIB may be an existing SIB (e.g., SIB1) or a new SIB (e.g., SIB J, where J is an integer above 21) transmitted by the network entity.
An RRC signaling from a first UE to a second UE may indicate UE forwarded RRC reconfiguration message. In this disclosure, unless specified, the network entity may receive 702 the UE capability from a UE or from a core network (e.g., Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) ) or another network entity.
In an embodiment regarding the UE capability, the UE may transmit the UE capability indicating at least one of the elements: whether the UE supports group-cast beam pool configuration; maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) and/or per component carrier (CC) and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; the UE ID that it may communicate with by sidelink or non-3GPP based wireless technologies. For example, if the first UE and the second UE belong to the same user, it may report the UE capability indicating the UE ID for the first or the second UE that it may communicate with. Examples of the control signaling and acknowledgement
In an embodiment regarding group-cast beam pool configuration, the network entity transmits the first control signaling by RRC signaling in group-cast manner. In some implementations, the network entity may transmit the first control signaling by SIB or a group-cast based RRC message. The network entity may transmit the first control signaling based on a predefined radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) or an RNTI configured by the network entity by an RRC signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration. The first control signaling may include at least one beam pool, e.g., a list of TCI state (s) , for at least one bandwidth part (BWP) or serving cell, e.g., dl-OrJoint-TCIStateList and/or ul-TCI-StateList.
In some implementations, the first and the second UE may send the ACK/NACK for the first control signaling to the network entity on an uplink resource dedicatedly or commonly configured by the network entity. The UEs in a group for group-cast beam pool configuration may have different capabilities of maximum number of configured beams.
In some embodiments, the network entity sends 704 the first control signaling for group-cast beam pool configuration with a number of beam (s) less than or equal to the minimum UE capability on the maximum number of configured beams among the UEs in the group. In some implementations, the network entity transmits 704 the first control signaling for group-cast beam pool configuration to configure the number of beams for each UE and/or the configured beam index (es) for each UE.
In some implementations, the UE applies the N beam (s) among the configured beam (s) , where N is the UE capability of the maximum number of configured beams or N is configured by the network entity by RRC signaling or indicated in the beam pool configuration signaling. In some implementations, the UE applies the first or last N configured beams. In some implementations, the UE applies the N configured beams with lowest or highest IDs.
In another embodiment regarding UE-dedicated (or UE-specific) beam pool configuration with forwarding, the network entity sends the first control signaling through RRC signaling in UE-dedicated manner to the first UE. In one example, the network entity sends the first control signaling by RRCReconfiguration. In another example, the network entity transmits the first control signaling through a dedicated RRC message, e.g., TCIPoolReconfiguration. The first control signaling may include at least one beam pool for at least one bandwidth part (BWP) or serving cell, e.g., dl-OrJoint-TCIStateList and/or ul-TCI-StateList, and the UE-ID for the second UE. The first control signaling may further include the resource for side link communication between the first user equipment and the second user equipment, e.g., time and frequency domain resource.
In some implementations, the first UE 102 may transmit 610 the second control signaling including at least the received beam pool to the second UE in UE-dedicated manner by RRC signaling or MAC CE. In some implementations, the first UE may transmit 610 the second control signaling including at least the received beam pool to the second UE and other UEs in group-cast manner by RRC signaling or MAC CE, where the first UE may transmit the second control signaling based on an ID, e.g., an RNTI or a group ID, for a group of UEs including at least the second UE.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the ID for at least the first and the second UEs by RRC signaling or MAC CE. In some implementations, the ID may be predefined.
The first UE may transmit the ACK/NACK for the first control signaling for the first UE and second UE by one message or separate messages. For the ACK/NACK report, the first UE may indicate the ACK/NACK and the UE ID.
The UEs in a group for group-cast beam pool configuration may have different capabilities of maximum number of configured beams.
In some implementations, the network entity transmits the first control signaling for group-cast beam pool configuration with number of beam (s) smaller than or equal to the minimum UE capability on the maximum number of configured beams among the UEs in the group.
In some implementations, the network entity transmits the first control signaling for group-cast beam pool configuration configuring the number of beams for each UE and/or the configured beam index (es) for each UE.
In some implementations, the UE applies the N beam (s) among the configured beam (s) , where N is the UE capability of the maximum number of configured beams or N is configured by the network entity by RRC signaling or indicating in the beam pool configuration signaling. In some implementations, the UE applies the first or last N configured beams. In some implementations, the UE applies the N configured beams with lowest or highest IDs.
FIG. 8 illustrates the procedure 800 for group-cast beam activation. The first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may respectively report 802, 802a, UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast beam activation to the network entity 104.
Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 may transmit 804 a first and/or a second control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner (as well as, or a UE-dedicated manner) . The first or the second signaling configures at least one beam pool for at least one BWP or serving cell, e.g., dl-OrJoint-TCIStateList and/or ul-TCI-StateList.
The network entity 104 may transmit 804 the first or second control signaling by RRC signaling. The network entity 104 may transmit 810 a third control signaling activating at least one beam or beam ID from the configured beam pool (s) for both of the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a.
In some implementations, the network entity 104 may transmit 810 the third control signaling by MAC CE. In some implementations, the network entity 104 may transmit 810 the third control signaling by DCI. The UEs 102 and 102a may respectively transmit 812, 812a, feedbacks (ACK/NACK) regarding the third control signaling.
In some implementations, if more than one beams are activated, the network entity 104 may perform 820 further beam indication based on the activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) for both the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a. Otherwise, the network entity 104 communicates with the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a based on the activated beam. In some implementations, the network entity 104 communicates with the first UE 102 and second UE 102a based on one of the activated beams, e.g., the first activated beam or the one with lowest ID, e.g., TCI ID, among the activated beams.
FIG. 9 illustrates another procedure 900 for group-cast beam activation. Similar to the procedure 800, in the procedure 900, the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may respectively report 802, 802a, UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast beam activation to the network entity 104. Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 may transmit 804 a first and/or a second control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner.
Unlike the procedure 800, in the procedure 900, the network entity 104 transmits 910 the third control signaling to the first UE 102. The third control signaling indicates the UE identifier (ID) for at least a second UE 102a. In some embodiments, the third control signaling indicates the resource, e.g., time and frequency domain resources, for the first UE 102 to communicate with the second UE 102a, in addition to the at least one activated beam or beam ID for beam activation.
The first UE 102 then transmits 910a a fourth control signaling via MAC CE or DCI indicating the received activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) to the second UE 102a. The first UE 102 receives 912a the ACK/NACK for the fourth control signaling from the second UE 102a.
The first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may communicate with each other via sidelink (e.g., D2D, V2X, etc. ) or other device-to-device wireless technologies, e.g., wireless area network (WiFi) , nearfield communications (Bluetooth) , among others.
Then the first UE 102 transmits 912 the ACK/NACK of the third control signaling on beam activation for both the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a to the network entity 104. The network entity 104 may perform 820 further beam indication based on the activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) for both the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a.
FIG. 10 illustrates another procedure 1000 for group-cast beam activation. Similar to the procedures 800 and 900, in the procedure 1000, the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may also respectively report 802, 802a, UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast beam activation to the network entity 104. Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 may also transmit 804 a first and/or a second control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner.
Similar to the procedure 900, the network entity 104 transmits 910 the third control signaling to the first UE 102. The third control signaling indicates the UE identifier (ID) for at least a second UE 102a. In some embodiments, the third control signaling indicates the resource, e.g., time and frequency domain resources, for the first UE 102 to communicate with the second UE 102a, in addition to the at least one activated beam or beam ID for beam activation. The first UE 102 then transmits 910a a fourth control signaling via MAC CE or DCI indicating the received activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) to the second UE 102a. The first UE 102 receives 912a the ACK/NACK for the fourth control signaling from the second UE 102a.
Unlike the procedures 800 or 900, in the procedure 1000, the first UE 102 transmits 1012, 1014, the feedback (ACK/NACK) of the third control signaling for the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a separately to the network entity 104. That is, the first UE 102 first transmits 1012 feedback regarding the third control signaling to the network entity 104. Upon receiving 912a the feedback from the second UE 102a, the first UE 102 transmits 1014 the feedback of the second UE 102a regarding the fourth control signaling to the UE 102.
The network entity 104 may perform 820 further beam indication based on the activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) for both the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a.
FIG. 11 illustrates the UE behavior 1100 on group-cast beam activation. For example, the UE may be the first UE 102 (e.g., a leader UE of a UE group) of FIGS. 8-10. As shown, the UE may transmit 1102 the UE capability on group-cast beam activation to a network entity (e.g., the network entity 104) . The UE receives 1104 a first and/or a second control signaling configuring at least one beam pool. The at least one beam pool includes at least one beam (e.g., one or more TCI states) .
The UE receives 1116 a third control signaling activating at least one beam from the configured beam pool. The third signaling optionally indicates at least one UE ID for a second UE (e.g., the second UE 102a) , which shares the activated beam or beam IDs with the UE. The third signaling may also indicate, to the UE, the resource for the communication with the second UE.
The UE then determines 1118 whether the UE ID for the second UE is included in the third control signaling. When the third control signaling does not include the second UE ID, the UE transmits 1120a the ACK/NACK regarding the third control signaling to the network entity. Otherwise, when the third control signaling includes the second UE ID, the UE transmits 1120 a fourth control signaling to the second UE. The fourth control signaling activates the beam or beam ID (s) received from the third control signaling in the second UE.
In response to transmitting the fourth control signaling, the UE receives 1122 the ACK/NACK from the second UE regarding the fourth control signaling. The UE transmits 1124 the ACK/NACK regarding the fourth control signaling to the network entity. In some cases, the UE also transmits the ACK/NACK regarding the third control signaling to the network entity. As further discussed below (FIGS. 14-16) , the multiple ACK/NACK feedback of the UE and one or more other member UEs may be multiplexed or joined for transmission.
FIG. 12 illustrates the network entity behavior 1200 on group-cast beam activation. The network behavior 1200 is complementary to the UE behavior 1100 of FIG. 11. As shown, the network entity optionally receives 1202, from one or more UEs of a UE group, the UE capability on group-cast beam activation. The network entity then transmits 1204, to a first UE (e.g., the UE 102) a first or a second control signaling configuring at least one beam pool (for the UE group) . For example, the at least one beam pool includes one or more beams, such as a list or table of TCI states.
The network entity transmits 1206 a third control signaling activating at least one beam from the configured beam pool in the first UE. The third control signaling optionally indicates at least one UE ID of a second UE, which shares the activated beam or beam IDs with the first UE. The third control signaling optionally indicates the resource for the communication with the second UE. The network entity then receives 1208 the ACK/NACK for the third control signaling.
In an embodiment, a UE may transmit the UE capability including and indicating at least one of the elements, including: whether the UE supports group-cast beam activation; a maximum number of activated beams per BWP, per CC, per band, per band combination, and/or per UE (e.g., based on one or more of these aspects) .
The UE may also transmit, to the network entity, the UE ID that the UE may use in communications via sidelink and/or other non-3GPP based wireless technologies. For example, if the first UE and the second UE belong to the same user, the first or the second UE may report the UE capability indicating the UE ID for the first or the second UE that it may communicate with (e.g., the first UE may communicate through near-field or sidelink communications with the second UE) .
In an embodiment regarding MAC CE based beam activation, the network entity sends the third control signaling through a MAC CE by PDSCH with a configured RNTI, e.g., TCI activation RNTI (TA-RNTI) . The network entity may configure the RNTI by RRC signaling or MAC CE. The network entity may configure the UEs in the same group for group-cast beam activation with the same RNTI.
In some implementations, the network entity configures the absolute value of the RNTI by RRC signaling or MAC CE. In implementations, the network entity configures the differential value of the RNTI through RRC signaling or MAC CE with another RNTI as the reference, e.g., C-RNTI. After X ms after the UE transmits the ACK for the RRC signaling or MAC CE, the UE starts to apply the configured RNTI in the RRC signaling or MAC CE, where X may be predefined, e.g., X=3, or be configured by the network entity via RRC signaling, or reported by the UE via UE capability report.
In some implementations, the network entity configures enabling or disabling the group-cast beam activation by RRC signaling. In some implementations, the network entity configures enabling or disabling the group-cast beam activation by MAC CE. In one example, the network entity disables the group-cast beam activation by indicating an invalid value of the configured RNTI for group-cast beam activation, e.g., RNTI=0, and enables the group-cast beam activation by indicating other values for the configured RNTI for group-cast beam activation.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the resource for the PDSCH through RRC signaling, e.g., time-domain and frequency-domain resource, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port (s) , etc. In one example, the network entity may configure the elements in a DCI format, e.g., DCI format 1_0, used to schedule PDSCH by RRC signaling. Then, the network entity may directly send the MAC CE based on the configured resource for PDSCH with the configured RNTI, e.g., TA-RNTI, for group-cast beam activation.
In some implementations, the network entity may send a DCI scheduling the PDSCH, where the network entity sends the PDCCH with the DCI based on the RNTI (e.g., TA-RNTI) configured for the group-cast TCI activation. The network entity transmits the scheduled PDSCH based on the RNTI configured for group-cast TCI activation. In some implementations, the network entity configures a common RNTI for both PDCCH and PDSCH for group-cast TCI activation.
In some implementations, the network entity configures separate RNTIs for PDCCH and PDSCH for group-cast TCI activation. The network entity may transmit the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS) , e.g., Type3-CSS as defined in 3GPP TS 38.213 section 10.1. In some implementations, the network entity may transmit the PDCCH and/or the PDSCH in a dedicated bandwidth part for group-cast or multi-cast scheduling, where the network entity configures the dedicated bandwidth part for each UE by RRC signaling.
The network entity may transmit the MAC CE for group-cast beam activation with at least one of the elements:
1. Serving cell index or serving cell list index indicating the target serving cell or target serving cell index for the indicated activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
2. BWP index indicating the target BWP index for the indicated activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
3. Activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , where the network entity may indicate the source reference signal for each activated beam or indicate an ID from the configured beam pool.
4. Action delay for each activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , where the network entity may configure a common action delay for all the activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) or separate action delay for each activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
5. Uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) indicating the target uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) for the indicated activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , e.g., control channel resource set (CORESET) index (es) or CORESET pool index (es) , CSI-RS resource or CSI-RS resource set index (es) , SRS resource or SRS resource set index (es) , PUCCH resource or resource set or resource group index (es) , and whether the activated beam (s) are applicable to PDSCH and/or PUSCH.
6. The UEs in a group for group-cast beam activation may have different capabilities of maximum number of activated beams.
In some implementations, the network entity may transmit the third control signaling for group-cast beam activation with number of activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) smaller than or equal to the minimum UE capability on the maximum number of activated beams among the UEs in the group.
In some implementations, the network entity transmits the third control signaling for group-cast beam activation indicating the number of beams for each UE and/or the indicated beam index (es) for each UE.
In some implementations, the UE activates the M beam (s) among the indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , where M is the UE capability of the maximum number of active beams or M is configured by the network entity by RRC signaling or indicating in the beam activation signaling. In some implementations, the UE activates the first or last N indicated beams. In some implementations, the UE activates the M indicated beams with lowest or highest IDs.
In another embodiment regarding group-cast DCI based beam activation, the network entity transmits the third control signaling by a DCI with a configured RNTI for group-cast beam activation, e.g., TA-RNTI. The network entity may configure the UEs in the same group with the same value of the configured RNTI.
Compared to the methods in the above embodiment, in this embodiment, the network entity transmits a PDCCH for group-cast beam activation without PDSCH transmission and the network entity may indicate a subset of or all the parameters in MAC CE in the above embodiment by the DCI.
In some embodiments, the network entity may schedule group-cast PDSCH transmission by the PDCCH for group-cast beam activation, and indicate a subset of or all the parameters in MAC CE in the above embodiment, e.g., activated beam ID (s) , in the DCI.
The network entity may transmit the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS) , e.g., Type3-CSS as defined in 3GPP TS 38.213 section 10.1. The CSS may be predefined, or configured by the network entity by RRC signaling. In some implementations, the network entity may transmit the PDCCH in a dedicate CORESET, where the CORESET ID may be predefined or configured by the network entity by RRC signaling.
In an embodiment regarding dedicated MAC CE based beam activations, the network entity transmits the third control signaling by a MAC CE to the first UE. The network entity may transmit the MAC CE by PDSCH with C-RNTI.
Compared to the above embodiment, in this embodiment, the network entity transmits the MAC CE to the first UE only. Then the first UE may transmit a fourth control signaling by sidelink or other device-to-device wireless communication technologies (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and others) , to the second UE.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the UE ID for the second UE by the MAC CE. In some implementations, the network entity may configure the UE ID for the second UE by RRC signaling and indicate in the MAC CE a flag indicating whether the activated beam (s) or beam ID (s) in the MAC CE may be forwarded to the second UE.
In some implementations, the network entity may further configure the resources by RRC signaling or in the MAC CE for beam activation, e.g., time domain and frequency domain resource, for the first UE to communicate with the second UE by sidelink. In some implementations, the first UE may configure the action delay or action time for the activated beam by the fourth control signaling based on the received action delay for the beam activation signaling. Then the UEs in a group may have the same action time for the activated beam (s) .
In an embodiment regarding dedicated DCI based beam activation, the network entity transmits the third control signaling by a DCI to the first UE. The network may transmit the DCI by PDCCH with C-RNTI. Compared to the above embodiment, the difference is that, in this embodiment, the network entity transmits the DCI to the first UE only. The network entity may transmit the PDCCH in a CSS or UE-specific search space (USS) .
In an embodiment, the network entity configures multiple uplink resources, e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH or PRACH resources, for ACK/NACK feedback, where each uplink resource is used for the ACK/NACK of the beam activation status for a UE. The uplink resources may be multiplexed in time-domain multiplexing (TDM) and/or frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM) and/or spatial-domain multiplexing (SDM) manner. In some implementations, the first UE transmits the ACK/NACK foe each UE at the configured uplink resources. In some implementations, each UE transmits its own ACK/NACK at the corresponding configured uplink resources.
FIG. 13 illustrates an example 1300 for separate ACK/NACK feedback with multiple uplink resources. As shown, the first uplink resource 1310 may be used by the first UE to transmit ACK/NACK of beam activation. The second uplink resource 1320 may be used by the second UE to transmit ACK/NACK of beam activation. In some implementations, the network entity may configure the uplink resources 1310 and 1320 for each UE by RRC signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration. The network entity may configure the offset between the last symbol of the third control signaling and the first symbol for the ACK/NACK for each UE by RRC signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the uplink resources for each UE by the third control signaling. In one example, the network entity may configure multiple resources by RRC signaling. The network entity may configure different resources for different UEs by RRC signaling. In the third control signaling, the network entity indicates at least one of the resource ID to trigger the ACK/NACK feedback for each UE. Then the UE may transmit the ACK/NACK at the resource (s) indicated by the resource ID (s) .
In some cases, the network entity indicates multiple resource IDs for multiple UEs, different UEs may select different resource IDs. The network entity may configure the offset between the last symbol of the third control signaling and the first symbol for the ACK/NACK for each UE by the third control signaling or by RRC signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the uplink resources for each UE by the PDCCH that triggers the MAC CE for group-cast beam activation. The network entity may configure the offset between the last symbol of the third control signaling and the first symbol for the ACK/NACK for each UE by the PDCCH or by the third control signaling or by RRC signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration.
In some implementations, the network entity configures at least one PUCCH resource for a UE to transmit the ACK/NACK. The UE transmits the ACK/NACK explicitly by the configured PUCCH resource (s) . The network entity may configure at least the time-domain and frequency-domain resource for the PUCCH resource by RRC signaling. In some other implementations, the network entity configures at least one PUSCH resource for a UE to transmit the ACK/NACK.
The network entity may configure at least the time-domain and frequency-domain resource, modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port (s) , by RRC signaling. The UE transmits the ACK/NACK explicitly by the configured PUSCH resource (s) . In some other implementations, the network entity configures at least two PRACH resources for a UE to transmit the ACK/NACK. The first configured PRACH corresponds to ACK and the second configured PRACH corresponds to NACK. The UE transmits the ACK/NACK implicitly by selecting one of the configured PUSCH/PRACH resources.
In an embodiment, the network entity configures at least one uplink resource, e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH or PRACH resource, for ACK/NACK feedback for the beam activation status for all UEs in the group for group-cast beam activation.
Compared to the above embodiments, the difference is that, in this embodiment, the first UE multiplexes the ACK/NACK of the beam activation signaling from all UEs and transmits the ACK/NACK at the configured uplink resource (s) .
In an embodiment regarding ACK only report with separate uplink resources, the network entity configures multiple uplink resources, e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH or PRACH resources, for ACK feedback, where each uplink resource is used for the ACK of the beam activation status for a UE.
Compared to the above embodiments, in this embodiment, the UE only transmits the uplink resource if the UE decodes the control signaling for the beam activation successfully. If the UE fails to decode the control signaling for the beam activation, the UE does not transmit the uplink resource.
In an embodiment regarding NACK only report with separate uplink resources, the network entity configures multiple uplink resources, e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH or PRACH resources, for NACK feedback, where each uplink resource is used for the NACK of the beam activation status for a UE.
Compared to the above embodiment, in this embodiment, the UE only transmits the uplink resource if it fails to decode the control signaling for the beam activation successfully. If the UE decodes the control signaling for the beam activation successfully, it does not transmit the uplink resource.
FIG. 14 illustrates an example 1400 for joint ACK/NACK feedback with ACK/NACK multiplexing in one uplink resource. As shown, feedbacks of multiple UEs of the UE group may be multiplexed or joined in the resource 1410. The first UE (or the leader UE if the first UE is not the leader UE) may generate 1420 an uplink signal and use resource mapping for the multiple feedbacks (ACK/NACKs) from the multiple UEs of the UE group by multiplexing. The generated uplink signal may be mapped to the resource 1430 as illustrated for transmission to the network entity. As such, respective overhead for the beam activation or indication feedbacks (ACK/NACKs) may be saved or substantially reduced.
In some implementations, the first UE multiplexes the ACK/NACK from each UE at the configured uplink resource (s) based on a predefined order, e.g., based on the UE ID, or an order configured by the network entity by RRC signaling or MAC CE. In one example, the network entity may configure the bit index (es) for each UE in a UE group.
FIG. 15 illustrates an example 1500 for joint ACK/NACK feedback with ACK/NACK bundling in one uplink resource. As shown, feedbacks of multiple UEs of the UE group may be joined or multiplexed in the resource 1510. Unlike the multiplexing example 1400, the first UE (or the leader UE) may determine whether the feedbacks from all members of the UE group are positive (ACK) . If so, the first UE transmits 1520 ACK to the network entity; otherwise, the first UE transmits 1520 NACK to the network entity. In other words, if all UEs decodes the group-cast beam activation signaling correctly, the UE transmits an ACK; otherwise, the UE transmits a NACK.
In some implementations, the first UE transmits 1520 a single bundled ACK/NACK with ACK/NACK bundling based on the ACK/NACK from all the UEs in the group for group-cast beam activation at the configured uplink resource (s) . The UE may generate 1530 uplink signals and resource mapping for the bundled feedbacks, and use the resource 1540 for the uplink transmission to the network entity.
FIG. 16 illustrates an example 1600 for joint ACK/NACK feedback with ACK/NACK bundling in one uplink resource. The example 1600 illustrates joint ACK/NACK feedback with hybrid ACK/NACK bundling and multiplexing in one uplink resource.
As shown, the first UE transmits one or more than one bundled ACK/NACK 1610. In the bundled feedback 1610, each bundled ACK/NACK is based on the ACK/NACK from a sub-set (e.g., a group) of the UEs in the group for group-cast beam activation at the configured uplink resource (s) . The example 1600 illustrates the feedbacks of UEs of a first group (group 1, including UE₁, UE₂, …UE_x-1) as well as the feedbacks of UEs of a second group (group 2, including UE_x, UE_x+1, …) .
The UE further bundles, aggregates, joins, or multiplexes 1620 the group feedbacks. The UE then generates 1630 uplink signals and resource mapping for the group bundled feedbacks, and use the resource 1640 for the uplink transmission to the network entity.
In some embodiments, the network entity may configure the UEs within an ACK/NACK bundling group by RRC signaling or MAC CE. In some implementations, the network entity may configure the bit index for each ACK/NACK bundling group by RRC signaling or MAC CE. In some implementations, the bit index for each ACK/NACK bundling group is based on the group index, e.g., bit x for the ACK/NACK bundling group x.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the feedback scheme for ACK/NACK for group-cast beam activation signaling by RRC signaling, e.g., ACK/NACK bundling or ACK/NACK multiplexing. In some implementations, the UE may report a UE capability indicating the supported feedback scheme (s) for ACK/NACK for group-cast beam activation signaling by RRC signaling, e.g., ACK/NACK bundling or ACK/NACK multiplexing.
In an embodiment regarding ACK only report with common uplink resource (s) , the network entity configures at least one uplink resource, e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH or PRACH resource, for ACK feedback for the beam activation status for all UEs in the group for group-cast beam activation.
Compared to the above embodiments, the difference is that, in this embodiment, the UE only transmits the uplink resource if the UE decodes the control signaling for the beam activation successfully. If the UE fails to decode the control signaling for the beam activation, the UE does not transmit the uplink resource. In some implementations, the network configures the same resource (s) for all the UEs in the group. In some implementations, the network only configures the resource (s) for one of the UEs in the group, e.g., the first UE.
In an embodiment regarding NACK only report with common uplink resources, the network entity configures at least one uplink resource, e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH or PRACH resource, for NACK feedback for the beam activation status for all UEs in the group for group-cast beam activation.
Compared to embodiment above, the difference is that, in this embodiment, the UE only transmits the uplink resource if the UE fails to decode the control signaling for the beam activation successfully. If the UE decodes the control signaling for the beam activation successfully, the UE does not transmit the uplink resource. In some implementations, the network configures the same resource (s) for all the UEs in the group. In some implementations, the network only configures the resource (s) for one of the UEs in the group, e.g., the first UE.
In an embodiment regarding the configurable ACK/NACK feedback mode, the network entity configures the ACK/NACK feedback mode, e.g., ACK/NACK feedback, or ACK only, or NACK only, and/or whether an uplink resource is used for ACK/NACK feedback from multiple UEs or one UE by RRC signaling. Then the UE and the network entity may perform the ACK/NACK transmission and reception based on the corresponding embodiments above. In some implementations, the UE reports its capability of supported ACK/NACK feedback mode (s) , e.g., ACK/NACK feedback, or ACK only, or NACK only and/or whether it supports to bundle or multiplex the ACK/NACK from multiple UEs in one uplink resource.
FIG. 17 illustrates the procedure 1700 for group-cast beam indication. Similar to the procedure 800, the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may respectively report 802, 802a UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast beam indication. Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 may transmit 804 a first or a second control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner or UE-dedicated manner configuring at least one beam pool for at least one BWP or serving cell, e.g., dl-OrJoint-TCIStateList and/or ul-TCI-StateList. The network entity 104 may transmit the first or second control signaling by RRC signaling.
Unlike the previous procedures, the network entity 104 may transmit 1710 a third or a fourth control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner or UE-dedicated manner activating more than one beams from the configured beam pool.
Then, the network entity 104 transmits 1720 a fifth control signaling indicating at least one beam or beam ID from the activated beams for both of the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a. In some implementations, the network entity 104 may transmit the fifth control signaling by MAC CE. In some implementations, the network entity 104 may transmit the fifth control signaling by DCI.
The first and the second UEs 102 and 102a may respectively report 1722 and 1722a the ACK/NACK for the fifth control signaling separately to the network entity 104. Then the network entity 104 may communicate 1730 with the first and the second UEs based on the indicated beam if it received an ACK.
FIG. 18 illustrates another procedure 1800 for group-cast beam indication. Similar to the procedure 800 and 1700, the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may respectively report 802, 802a UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast beam indication. Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 may transmit 804 a first or a second control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner or UE-dedicated manner configuring at least one beam pool for at least one BWP or serving cell.
Unlike the procedure 1700, in the procedure 1800, the network entity 104 sends 1820 the fifth control signaling to the first UE 102. The fifth control signaling indicates the UE identifier (ID) for at least a second UE (e.g., the second UE 102a) . The fifth control signaling optionally indicates the resource (e.g., time and frequency domain resource) for the first UE 102 to communicate with the second UE 102a, in addition to the at least one indicated beam or beam ID.
The first UE 102 then sends 1820a a sixth control signaling via MAC CE or DCI indicating the received indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) to the second UE 102a. The first UE 102 receives 1822a the ACK/NACK for the sixth control signaling from the second UE 102a.
The first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may communicate with each other through sidelink or other wireless technologies, e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth and on the like. Then the first UE 102 sends 1822 the ACK/NACK of the fifth control signaling for beam indication for both the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a to the network entity 104. Then the network entity 104 may communicate 1730 with the first and the second UEs based on the indicated beam if it received an ACK.
FIG. 19 illustrates another procedure 1900 for group-cast beam indication. Similar to the procedures 800 and 1700, the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a may respectively report 802, 802a UE capabilities indicating the support of group-cast beam indication. Based on the received UE capabilities, the network entity 104 may transmit 804 a first or a second control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner or UE-dedicated manner configuring at least one beam pool for at least one BWP or serving cell.
The network entity 104 may transmit 1710 a third or a fourth control signaling to the first UE 102 and the second UE 102a in group-cast manner or UE-dedicated manner activating more than one beams from the configured beam pool. Similar to the procedure 1800, the network entity 104 sends 1820 the fifth control signaling to the first UE 102. The first UE 102 then sends 1820a a sixth control signaling via MAC CE or DCI indicating the received indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) to the second UE 102a. The first UE 102 receives 1822a the ACK/NACK for the sixth control signaling from the second UE 102a.
Unlike the procedures 800, 1700, and 1800, in the procedure 1900, the first UE 102 sends 1922 the ACK/NACK of the fifth control signaling for the first UE 102 to the network entity 104. The first UE 102 then separately sends 1924 the ACK/NACK for the fifth control signal for the second UE to the network entity 104. Then the network entity 104 may communicate 1730 with the first and the second UEs based on the indicated beam if it received an ACK.
FIG. 20 illustrates the UE behavior 2000 on group-cast beam indication, corresponding to the procedures 1700, 1800, and 1900 of FIGS. 17 to 19. The UE may be the first UE 102 or a leader UE in a UE group. As shown, the UE optionally transmits 2002 the UE capability on group-cast beam activation to the network entity. The UE receives 2004 a first or a second control signaling configuring at least one beam pool with at least one beam and a third or fourth control signaling activating more than one beams from the configured beam pool.
The UE receives 2006 a fifth control signaling indicating at least one beam or beam ID from the activated beams. The fifth control signaling optionally indicates at least one UE ID of a second UE that share the indicated beam or beam ID with the UE. The fifth control signaling optionally indicates the resource for the UE to communicate with the second UE.
The UE determines 2008 whether the fifth control signaling includes the second UE ID. When the fifth control signaling does not include the second UE ID, the UE transmits 2010a the ACK/NACK regarding the fifth control signaling to the network entity. Otherwise, when the fifth control signaling includes the second UE ID, the UE transmits 2010 a sixth control signaling to the second UE indicating at least one beam or beam ID from the activated beams. The UE receives 2012 the ACK/NACK feedback regarding the sixth control signaling from the second UE. The UE then transmits 2014 the ACK/NACK for the sixth control signaling received from the second UE to the network entity.
FIG. 21 illustrates the network entity behavior 2100 on group-cast beam indication. The network entity behavior 2100 is complementary to the UE behavior 2000, corresponding to the procedures 1700, 1800, and 1900 of FIGS. 17 to 19. As shown, the network entity optionally receives 2102 the UE capability on group-cast beam indication.
The network entity transmits 2104 a first and/or a second control signaling configuring at least one beam pool with at least one beam to one or more UEs (of a UE group) . The network entity also transmits 2104 a third and/or fourth control signaling activating more than one beam from the configured beam pool in the UEs configured by the group-cast first and/or second control signaling.
The network entity transmits 2106 a fifth control signaling indicating at least one beam or beam ID from the activated beams (e.g., in a first UE or a leader UE) . The fifth control signaling optionally indicates at least one UE ID for a second UE (e.g., a member UE) that shares the indicated beam or beam ID with the first UE. The fifth control signaling optionally indicates the resource (s) for the first UE to communicate with the second UE.
The network entity receives 2108 the feedbacks (ACK/NACKs) regarding the fifth control signaling from the first UE. In some cases, the feedbacks are bundled with multiple feedbacks from multiple UEs in the UE group.
In an embodiment, the UE capability may indicate at least one of the elements: whether the UE supports group-cast beam indication; maximum number of indicated beams per BWP and/or per CC and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; the UE ID that it may communicate with through sidelink or non-3GPP based wireless technologies. For example, if the first UE and the second UE belong to the same user, it may report the UE capability indicating the UE ID for the first or the second UE that it may communicate with (e.g., the first UE may communicate through Bluetooth or sidelink with the second UE) .
In an embodiment regarding the fifth or the sixth control signaling and acknowledgement in FIG. 20, the network entity may transmit the fifth or sixth control signaling for group-cast beam indication based on group-cast MAC CE, or group-cast DCI, or dedicated MAC CE, or dedicated DCI as in embodiments above.
In some implementations, the network entity may configure the same RNTI, e.g., TCI update RNTI (TU-RNTI) , for group-cast beam activation and group-cast beam indication. In some implementations, the network entity may configure the different RNTI, e.g., TCI activation RNTI (TA-RNTI) and TCI indication RNTI (TI-RNTI) , for group-cast beam activation and group-cast beam indication.
The network entity may transmit the control signaling for group-cast beam indication with at least one of the elements:
1. Serving cell index or serving cell list index indicating the target serving cell or target serving cell index for the indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
2. BWP index indicating the target BWP index for the indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
3. Indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , where the network entity may indicate the source reference signal for each indicated beam or indicate an ID from the configured beam pool.
4. Action delay for each indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , where the network entity may configure a common action delay for all the indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) or separate action delay for each indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
5. Uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) indicating the target uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) for the indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , e.g., control channel resource set (CORESET) index (es) or CORESET pool index (es) , CSI-RS resource or CSI-RS resource set index (es) , SRS resource or SRS resource set index (es) , PUCCH resource or resource set or resource group index (es) , and whether the indicated beam (s) are applicable to PDSCH and/or PUSCH.
6. The UEs in a group for group-cast beam indication may have different capabilities of maximum number of indicated beams.
In some implementations, the network entity may send the fifth control signaling for group-cast beam indication with number of indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) smaller than or equal to the minimum UE capability on the maximum number of indicated beams among the UEs in the group.
In some implementations, the network entity sends the fifth control signaling for group-cast beam indication indicating the number of beams for each UE and/or the indicated beam index (es) for each UE.
In some implementations, the UE applies the R indicated beam (s) among the indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) , where R is the UE capability of the maximum number of indicated beams or R is configured by the network entity by RRC signaling or indicating in the beam activation signaling. In some implementations, the UE applies the first or last R indicated beams. In some implementations, the UE applies the R indicated beams with lowest or highest IDs.
In some implementations, the UE transmits the ACK/NACK for the group-cast beam indication signaling based on ACK/NACK, ACK only, or NACK only in separate uplink resource or a common resource with ACK/NACK multiplexing and/or bundling as in embodiments above.
FIG. 22 is a flowchart 2200 of a method of wireless communication at a UE. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 26, the method may be performed by the UE 102 (e.g., a leader UE) , the UE apparatus 2602, etc., which may include the memory 2626', 2606', 2616, and which may correspond to the entire UE 102 or the entire UE apparatus 2602, or a component of the UE 102 or the UE apparatus 2602, such as the wireless baseband processor 2626 and/or the application processor 2606.
In FIG. 22, the UE optionally transmits 2202 UE capability (examples discussed above) on group-cast beam indication to a network entity. The UE receives 2204, from the network entity, a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of UEs having a leader UE. The configuration of the beam pool includes respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams.
The UE optionally receives 2210 from the network entity, an activation signaling that at least activates or indicates one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool. The UE transmits 2212 to the network entity, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams.
FIG. 23 is a flowchart 2300 of a method of wireless communication at a network entity. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 27, the method may be performed by one or more network entities 104, which may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, the CU 110, an RU processor 2706, a DU processor 2726, a CU processor 2746, etc. The one or more network entities 104 may include memory 2706’/2726’/2746’, which may correspond to an entirety of the one or more network entities 104, or a component of the one or more network entities 104, such as the RU processor 2706, the DU processor 2726, or the CU processor 2746.
In FIG. 23, the network entity receives 2302 UE capability on group-cast beam indication. The network entity group-cast 2304 a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of user equipments, UEs. The configuration of the beam pool includes respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams, and wherein one of the plurality of UEs is a leader UE.
The network entity transmits 2310, to the plurality of UEs, an activation signaling that at least activates or indicates one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool. The network entity then receives 2312, from the leader UE, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams.
FIG. 24 is a flowchart 2400 of a method of wireless communication at a UE. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 26, the method may be performed by the UE 102 (e.g., a leader UE) , the UE apparatus 2602, etc., which may include the memory 2626', 2606', 2616, and which may correspond to the entire UE 102 or the entire UE apparatus 2602, or a component of the UE 102 or the UE apparatus 2602, such as the wireless baseband processor 2626 and/or the application processor 2606.
The flowchart 2400 provides high-level illustrative behavior of the leader UE participating group-cast beam configuration, activation, and indication. In FIG. 24, the UE transmits 2402 the UE capability on group-cast beam indication to a network entity. The UE receives 2404 group-cast beam pool configuration from the network entity. The UE receives 2406 activation for one or more group-common beams for selection. The UE receives 2410 indication of a beam selection from the network entity for communication with the network entity.
FIG. 25 is a flowchart 2500 of a method of wireless communication at a network entity. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 27, the method may be performed by one or more network entities 104, which may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, the CU 110, an RU processor 2706, a DU processor 2726, a CU processor 2746, etc. The one or more network entities 104 may include memory 2706’/2726’/2746’, which may correspond to an entirety of the one or more network entities 104, or a component of the one or more network entities 104, such as the RU processor 2706, the DU processor 2726, or the CU processor 2746.
The flowchart 2500 provides high-level illustrative behavior of the network entity performing group-cast beam configuration, activation, and indication. In FIG. 25, the network entity receives 2502 UE capability on group-cast beam indication. The network entity group-cast 2504 beam pool configuration to one or more UEs in a UE group. The network entity transmits 2506 activation signaling for one or more group-common beams for selection. The network entity transmits 2510 indication signaling of a beam selection. Various detailed aspects for the flowcharts 2200, 2300, 2400, and 2500 are provided below.
In aspects, the wireless signal received by the UE may configure, based on a control signaling of the wireless signal via a system information block (SIB) or a radio resource control (RRC) message, the beam pool for beam measurements and reports.
In aspects, the UE obtains, from the network entity, a selection from the network entity regarding the leader UE of the plurality of UEs. The selection is indicated by the wireless signal including an identifier of the leader UE. In some cases, the wireless signal may configure, based on the wireless signal, a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource for communicating with the leader UE.
In aspects, the UE receives, from the leader UE of the plurality of UEs, member information of the plurality of the UEs. In aspects, the UE transmits, to the network entity, an identifier of the UE as the leader UE and member information of the plurality of the UEs. In some cases, the UE transmits, to the network entity, a message indicating a capability, or a lack thereof, of at least one of: (1) a capability supporting a groupcast of beam pool configuration; (2) a capability supporting the groupcast of beam pool activation; (3) a capability of indicating a beam selection of the groupcast of beam pool activation; (4) a maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) , per component carrier (CC) , per band, per band combination, or per UE; (5) a maximum number of indicated beams per BWP, per CC, per band, per band combination, or per UE; or (6) an identifier of a sidelink UE among the plurality of UEs for sidelink communications or a different form of wireless communications with other UEs of the plurality of UEs, the different form of wireless communications implemented differently from that between the network entity and the sidelink UE.
In aspects, the UE receives, from the network entity, an activation signaling that activates, indicates, or activates and indicates, one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool. In some cases, the activation signaling includes at least one of: a serving cell index indicating: a target serving cell or an associated index for the one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool; an index indicating a target BWP index for the one of the plurality of beams; one or more activated beams or beam identifiers (IDs) , indicating a source reference signal for each activated beam or indicating an ID of a beam from the beam pool or activated beams; an action delay for each one of the plurality of beams; or one or more uplink or downlink resources indicating, for the one of the plurality of beams, target uplink or downlink resources.
In some cases, the activation signaling is a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI) . In some cases, the control signaling is based on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) , or is based on a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) .
In aspects, the UE receives, from the network entity, an ID of a second UE that shares the activated or indicated one of the plurality of beams. The UE configures, when the UE is the leader UE, a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource to communicate with the second UE. In aspects, the UE configures uplink resources for feedback transmission regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams, wherein the selecting the one of the plurality of beams includes activating or indicating the one of the plurality of beams.
In some cases, the UE further transmits a feedback to the network entity over the uplink resources regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams, wherein the respective feedback includes an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative ACK (NACK) .
In aspects, the UE configures, based on the wireless signal, one uplink resource for feedback transmission regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams. In some cases, the UE transmits a single multiplexed or bundled feedback to the network entity over the one uplink resource regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams.
FIG. 26 is a diagram 2600 illustrating an example hardware implementation for a UE apparatus 2602. The UE apparatus 2602 may be the UE 102, a component of the UE 102, or may implement UE functionality. The UE apparatus 2602 may include an application processor 2606, which may have on-chip memory 2606’. In examples, the application processor 2606 may be coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 2608 and/or a display 2610. The application processor 2606 may also be coupled to a sensor (s) module 2612, a power supply 2614, an additional module of memory 2616, a camera 2618, and/or other related components. For example, the sensor (s) module 2612 may control a barometric pressure sensor/altimeter, a motion sensor such as an inertial management unit (IMU) , a gyroscope, accelerometer (s) , a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) device, a radio-assisted detection and ranging (RADAR) device, a sound navigation and ranging (SONAR) device, a magnetometer, an audio device, and/or other technologies used for positioning.
The UE apparatus 2602 may further include a wireless baseband processor 2626, which may be referred to as a modem. The wireless baseband processor 2626 may have on-chip memory 2626'. Along with, and similar to, the application processor 2606, the wireless baseband processor 2626 may also be coupled to the sensor (s) module 2612, the power supply 2614, the additional module of memory 2616, the camera 2618, and/or other related components. The wireless baseband processor 2626 may be additionally coupled to one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) card (s) 2620 and/or one or more transceivers 2630 (e.g., wireless RF transceivers) .
Within the one or more transceivers 2630, the UE apparatus 2602 may include a Bluetooth module 2632, a WLAN module 2634, an SPS module 2636 (e.g., GNSS module) , and/or a cellular module 2638. The Bluetooth module 2632, the WLAN module 2634, the SPS module 2636, and the cellular module 2638 may each include an on-chip transceiver (TRX) , or in some cases, just a transmitter (TX) or just a receiver (RX) . The Bluetooth module 2632, the WLAN module 2634, the SPS module 2636, and the cellular module 2638 may each include dedicated antennas and/or utilize antennas 2640 for communication with one or more other nodes. For example, the UE apparatus 2602 may communicate through the transceiver (s) 2630 via the antennas 2640 with another UE 102 (e.g., sidelink communication) and/or with a network entity 104 (e.g., uplink/downlink communication) , where the network entity 104 may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110.
The wireless baseband processor 2626 and the application processor 2606 may each include a computer-readable medium /memory 2626', 2606', respectively. The additional module of memory 2616 may also be considered a computer- readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory 2626', 2606', 2616 may be non-transitory. The wireless baseband processor 2626 and the application processor 2606 may each be responsible for general processing, including execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory 2626', 2606', 2616. The software, when executed by the wireless baseband processor 2626 /application processor 2606, causes the wireless baseband processor 2626 /application processor 2606 to perform the various functions described herein. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the wireless baseband processor 2626 /application processor 2606 when executing the software. The wireless baseband processor 2626 /application processor 2606 may be a component of the UE 102. The UE apparatus 2602 may be a processor chip (e.g., modem and/or application) and include just the wireless baseband processor 2626 and/or the application processor 2606. In other examples, the UE apparatus 2602 may be the entire UE 102 and include the additional modules of the apparatus 2602.
The beam management component 140 may perform various methods and operations discussed above and be within the application processor 2606 (e.g., at 140a) , the wireless baseband processor 2626 (e.g., at 140b) , or both the application processor 2606 and the wireless baseband processor 2626. The beam management component 140a-140b may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by the one or more processors, or a combination thereof.
The UE apparatus 2602 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In examples, the UE apparatus 2602, and in particular the wireless baseband processor 2626 and/or the application processor 2606, includes means for receiving, from a network entity, a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of UEs having a leader UE, wherein the configuration of the beam pool includes respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams; and means for transmitting, to the network entity, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams. The means may be the beam management component 140a-140b of the UE apparatus 2602 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.
FIG. 27 is a diagram 2700 illustrating an example hardware implementation for one or more network entities 104. The one or more network entities 104 may be a base station, a component of a base station, or may implement base station functionality. The one or more network entities 104 may include, or may correspond to, at least one of the RU 106, the DU, 108, or the CU 110. The CU 110 may include a CU processor 2746, which may have on-chip memory 2746'. In some aspects, the CU 110 may further include an additional module of memory 2756 and/or a communications interface 2748, both of which may be coupled to the CU processor 2746. The CU 110 may communicate with the DU 108 through a midhaul link 162, such as an F1 interface between the communications interface 2748 of the CU 110 and a communications interface 2728 of the DU 108.
The DU 108 may include a DU processor 2726, which may have on-chip memory 2726'. In some aspects, the DU 108 may further include an additional module of memory 2736 and/or the communications interface 2728, both of which may be coupled to the DU processor 2726. The DU 108 may communicate with the RU 106 through a fronthaul link 160 between the communications interface 2728 of the DU 108 and a communications interface 2708 of the RU 106.
The RU 106 may include an RU processor 2706, which may have on-chip memory 2706'. In some aspects, the RU 106 may further include an additional module of memory 2716, the communications interface 2708, and one or more transceivers 2730, all of which may be coupled to the RU processor 2706. The RU 106 may further include antennas 2740, which may be coupled to the one or more transceivers 2730, such that the RU 106 may communicate through the one or more transceivers 2730 via the antennas 2740 with the UE 102.
The on-chip memory 2706', 2726', 2746' and the additional modules of memory 2716, 2736, 2756 may each be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory may be non-transitory. Each of the processors 2706, 2726, 2746 is responsible for general processing, including execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor (s) 2706, 2726, 2746 causes the processor (s) 2706, 2726, 2746 to perform the various functions described herein. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor (s) 2706, 2726, 2746 when executing the software. In examples, the beam management component 150 may sit at any of the one or more network entities 104, such as at the CU 110; both the CU 110 and the DU 108; each of the CU 110, the DU 108, and the RU 106; the DU 108; both the DU 108 and the RU 106; or the RU 106.
The beam management component 150 may perform various methods and operations discussed above and be within one or more processors of the one or more network entities 104, such as the RU processor 2706 (e.g., at 150a) , the DU processor 2726 (e.g., at 150b) , and/or the CU processor 2746 (e.g., at 150c) . The beam management component 150a-150c may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors 2706, 2726, 2746 configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by the one or more processors 2706, 2726, 2746, or a combination thereof.
The one or more network entities 104 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In examples, the one or more network entities 104 include means for group-casting a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of UEs or indicating an activation of one or more beams in the UEs. The configuration of the beam pool includes respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams, and wherein one of the plurality of UEs is a leader UE; and means for receiving, from the leader UE, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams. The means may be the beam management component 150a-150c of the one or more network entities 104 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.
The specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes and flowcharts disclosed herein is an illustration of example approaches. Hence, the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes and flowcharts may be rearranged. Some blocks may also be combined or deleted. Dashed lines may indicate example/optional elements of the diagrams. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in an example order, and are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented in the claims, processes, and flowcharts.
The detailed description set forth herein describes various configurations in connection with the drawings and does not represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough explanation of various concepts. However, these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.
Aspects of wireless communication systems, such as telecommunication systems, are presented with reference to various apparatuses and methods. These apparatuses and methods are described in the following detailed description and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, call flows, systems, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.
An element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs) , central processing units (CPUs) , application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems-on-chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other similar hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software, which may be referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.
If the functionality described herein is implemented in software, the functions may be stored on, or encoded as, one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media and may include a random-access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of these types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that may be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that may be accessed by a computer. Storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer.
Aspects, implementations, and/or use cases described herein may be implemented across many differing platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, the aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may come about via integrated chip implementations and other non-module-component based devices, such as end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI) -enabled devices, machine learning (ML) -enabled devices, etc. The aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular or non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregate, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more techniques described herein.
Devices incorporating the aspects and features described herein may also include additional components and features for the implementation and practice of the claimed and described aspects and features. For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes a number of components for analog and digital purposes, such as hardware components, antennas, RF-chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor (s) , interleavers, adders/summers, etc. Techniques described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc., of varying configurations.
The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not limited to the aspects described herein, but are to be interpreted in view of the full scope of the present disclosure consistent with the language of the claims.
Reference to an element in the singular does not mean “one and only one” unless specifically stated, but rather “one or more. ” Terms such as “if, ” “when, ” and “while” do not imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, e.g., “when, ” do not imply an immediate action in response to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring a specific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The terms “may” , “might” , and “may” , as used in this disclosure, often carry certain connotations. For example, “may” refers to a permissible feature that may or may not occur, “might” refers to a feature that probably occurs, and “may” refers to a capability (e.g., capable of) . The phrase “For example” often carries a similar connotation to “may” and, therefore, “may” is sometimes excluded from sentences that include “for example” or other similar phrases.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C” or “one or more of A, B, or C” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, such as A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, and/or multiples of C, or may include A only, B only, or C only. Sets may be interpreted as a set of elements where the elements number one or more.
Unless otherwise specifically indicated, ordinal terms such as “first” and “second” do not necessarily imply an order in time, sequence, numerical value, etc., but are used to distinguish between different instances of a term or phrase that follows each ordinal term. Reference numbers, as used in the specification and figures, are sometimes cross-referenced among drawings to denote same or similar features. A feature that is exactly the same in multiple drawings may be labeled with the same reference number in the multiple drawings. A feature that is similar among the multiple drawings, but not exactly the same, may be labeled with reference numbers that have different leading numbers, but have one or more of the same trailing numbers (e.g., 206, 306, 406, etc., may refer to similar features in the drawings) . Sometimes an “X” is used to universally denote multiple variations of a feature. For instance, “X06” may universally refer to all reference numbers that end in “06” (e.g., 206, 306, 406, etc. ) .
Structural and functional equivalents to elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are encompassed by the claims. The words “module, ” “mechanism, ” “element, ” “device, ” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means. ” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for. ” As used herein, the phrase “based on”shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, or the like. In other words, the phrase “based on A” , where “A” may be information, a condition, a factor, or the like, shall be construed as “based at least on A” unless specifically recited differently.
The following examples are illustrative only and may be combined with other examples or teachings described herein, without limitation.
Example 1. An apparatus, comprising a processor configured to cause a User Equipment (UE) to:
receive, from a base station (BS) , a control signaling configuring at least one parameter for group-cast beam pool configuration, and/or group-cast beam activation, and/or group-cast beam indication;
transmit, at least one acknowledgement (ACK) or non-acknowledgement (NACK) of control signaling.
Example 2. The apparatus according to Example 1, wherein UE transmits the UE capability indicating at least one of the elements: whether the UE supports group-cast beam pool configuration; whether the UE supports group-cast beam activation; whether the UE supports group-cast beam indication; maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) and/or per component carrier (CC) and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; maximum number of activated beams per BWP and/or per CC and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; maximum number of indicated beams per BWP and/or per CC and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; the UE ID that it may communicate with by sidelink or non-3GPP based wireless technologies.
Example 3. The apparatus according to Example 1, wherein the UE receives a control signaling configuring at least a beam pool with at least one beam.
Example 4. The apparatus according to Example 3, wherein the UE receives the control signaling by a system information block or a group-cast RRC message.
Example 5. The apparatus according to Example 3, wherein the UE receives the control signaling indicating at least a UE identifier (ID) for a second UE that shares the same beam pool configuration.
Example 6. The apparatus according to Example 5, wherein the UE receives the control signaling indicating at least one time-domain and frequency-domain resource for the UE to communicate with the second UE.
Example 7. The apparatus according to Examples 5-6, wherein the UE transmits the received beam pool to at least the second UE.
Example 8. The apparatus according to Example 1, wherein the UE receives a control signaling activating and/or indicating at least one beam from a configured beam pool.
Example 9. The apparatus according to Example 8, wherein the control signaling indicates at least one of the elements: serving cell index or serving cell list index indicating the target serving cell or target serving cell index for the activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) ; BWP index indicating the target BWP index for the activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) ; activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) indicating the source reference signal for each activated beam or indicate an ID from the configured beam pool or activated beams; action delay for each activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) ; uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) indicating the target uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) for the activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
Example 10. The apparatus according to Examples 8-9, wherein the UE receives the control signaling by MAC CE or DCI.
Example 11. The apparatus according to Examples 8-10, wherein the UE receives the control signaling based on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) other than cell RNTI (C-RNTI) .
Example 12. The apparatus according to Examples 8-10, wherein the UE receives a control signaling configuring the RNTI by RRC signaling or MAC CE.
Example 13. The apparatus according to Examples 8-10, wherein the UE receives the control signaling based on C-RNTI.
Example 14. The apparatus according to Example 13, wherein the UE receives the control signaling indicating at least a UE identifier (ID) for a second UE that shares the same activated and/or indicated beam.
Example 15. The apparatus according to Example 14, wherein the UE receives the control signaling indicating at least one time-domain and frequency-domain resource for the UE to communicate with the second UE.
Example 16. The apparatus according to Examples 13-14, wherein the UE transmits the received activated and/or indicated beam or beam ID (s) to at least the second UE.
Example 17. The apparatus according to Example 1, wherein the UE receives a control signaling configuring more than one uplink resources for ACK/NACK feedback for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication.
Example 18. The apparatus according to Example 17, wherein the UE transmits an ACK/NACK for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication for different UE at different resources.
Example 19. The apparatus according to Example 1, wherein the UE receives a control signaling configuring one uplink resource for ACK/NACK feedback for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication.
Example 20. The apparatus according to Example 19, wherein the UE multiplexes the ACK/NACK for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication for different UEs and transmits the multiplexed ACK/NACK at the configured uplink resource.
Example 21. The apparatus according to Example 19, wherein the UE bundles the ACK/NACK for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication for different UEs and transmits the bundled ACK/NACK at the configured uplink resource.
Example 22. An apparatus, comprising a processor configured to cause a Base Station (BS) to:
transmit a control signaling configuring at least one parameter for group-cast beam pool configuration, and/or group-cast beam activation, and/or group-cast beam indication;
receive, at least one acknowledgement (ACK) or non-acknowledgement (NACK) of control signaling.
Example 23. The apparatus according to Example 22, wherein BS receives the UE capability indicating at least one of the elements: whether the UE supports group-cast beam pool configuration; whether the UE supports group-cast beam activation; whether the UE supports group-cast beam indication; maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) and/or per component carrier (CC) and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; maximum number of activated beams per BWP and/or per CC and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; maximum number of indicated beams per BWP and/or per CC and/or per band and/or per band combination and/or per UE; the UE ID that it may communicate with by sidelink or non-3GPP based wireless technologies.
Example 24. The apparatus according to Example 22, wherein the BS transmits a control signaling configuring at least a beam pool with at least one beam.
Example 25. The apparatus according to Example 24, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling by a system information block or a group-cast RRC message.
Example 26. The apparatus according to Example 24, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling indicating at least a UE identifier (ID) for a second UE that shares the same beam pool configuration.
Example 27. The apparatus according to Example 26, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling indicating at least one time-domain and frequency-domain resource for the UE to communicate with the second UE.
Example 28. The apparatus according to Example 22, wherein the BS transmits a control signaling activating and/or indicating at least one beam from a configured beam pool.
Example 29. The apparatus according to Example 28, wherein the control signaling indicates at least one of the elements: serving cell index or serving cell list index indicating the target serving cell or target serving cell index for the activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) ; BWP index indicating the target BWP index for the activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) ; activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) indicating the source reference signal for each activated beam or indicate an ID from the configured beam pool or activated beams; action delay for each activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) ; uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) indicating the target uplink and/or downlink channel (s) or resource (s) for the activated or indicated beam (s) or beam ID (s) .
Example 30. The apparatus according to Examples 28-29, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling by MAC CE or DCI.
Example 31. The apparatus according to Examples 28-30, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling based on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) other than cell RNTI (C-RNTI) .
Example 32. The apparatus according to Examples 28-30, wherein the BS transmits a control signaling configuring the RNTI by RRC signaling or MAC CE.
Example 33. The apparatus according to Examples 28-30, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling based on C-RNTI.
Example 34. The apparatus according to Example 33, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling indicating at least a UE identifier (ID) for a second UE that shares the same activated and/or indicated beam.
Example 35. The apparatus according to Example 34, wherein the BS transmits the control signaling indicating at least one time-domain and frequency-domain resource for the UE to communicate with the second UE.
Example 36. The apparatus according to Example 22, wherein the BS transmits a control signaling configuring more than one uplink resources for ACK/NACK feedback for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication.
Example 37. The apparatus according to Example 36, wherein the BS receives an ACK/NACK for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication for different UE at different resources.
Example 38. The apparatus according to Example 22, wherein the BS transmits a control signaling configuring one uplink resource for ACK/NACK feedback for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication.
Example 39. The apparatus according to Example 38, wherein the BS receives the multiplexed ACK/NACK for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication for different UEs at the configured uplink resource.
Example 40. The apparatus according to Example 38, wherein the BS receives the bundled ACK/NACK for the control signaling for beam activation and/or indication for different UEs at the configured uplink resource.

Claims

A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE) , the method comprising:

receiving (304, 404) , from a network entity, a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of UEs, wherein the configuration of the beam pool comprises respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams; and

transmitting (306, 406, 508, 508a) , to the network entity, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams.
The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the wireless signal comprises:

configuring, based on a control signaling of the wireless signal via a system information block (SIB) or a radio resource control (RRC) message, the beam pool for beam measurements and reports.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of UEs comprises a leader UE and the method further comprising:

obtaining, from the network entity, a selection from the network entity regarding the leader UE of the plurality of UEs, wherein the selection is indicated by the wireless signal including an identifier of the leader UE.
The method of claim 3, wherein the receiving the wireless signal further comprises:

configuring, based on the wireless signal, a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource for communicating with the leader UE.
The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving, from the leader UE of the plurality of UEs, member information of the plurality of the UEs.
The method of claim 3, further comprising:

transmitting, to the network entity, an identifier of the UE as the leader UE and member information of the plurality of the UEs.
The method of any one of claims 1-5, further comprising:

transmitting, to the network entity, a message indicating a capability, of at least one of:

(1) a capability supporting a groupcast of beam pool configuration;

(2) a capability supporting the groupcast of beam pool activation;

(3) a capability of indicating a beam selection of the groupcast of beam pool activation;

(4) a maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) , per component carrier (CC) , per band, per band combination, or per UE;

(5) a maximum number of indicated beams per BWP, per CC, per band, per band combination, or per UE; or

(6) an identifier of a sidelink UE among the plurality of UEs for sidelink communications or a different form of wireless communications with other UEs of the plurality of UEs, the different form of wireless communications implemented differently from that between the network entity and the sidelink UE.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

receiving, from the network entity, an activation signaling that activates, indicates, or activates and indicates, one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool.
The method of claim 8, wherein the activation signaling comprises at least one of:

a serving cell index indicating a target serving cell or an associated index for the one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool;

an index indicating a target BWP index for the one of the plurality of beams;

one or more activated beams or beam identifiers (IDs) , indicating a source reference signal for each activated beam or indicating an ID of a beam from the beam pool or activated beams;

an action delay for each one of the plurality of beams; or

one or more uplink or downlink resources indicating, for the one of the plurality of beams, target uplink or downlink resources.
The method of claim 8 or 9, wherein the activation signaling is a media access control (MAC) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI) .
The method of claim 10, wherein the control signaling is based on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) , or is based on a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) .
The method of any one of claims 3 to 11, further comprising:

receiving, from the network entity, an ID of a second UE that shares the activated or indicated one of the plurality of beams; and

configuring, when the UE is the leader UE, a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource to communicate with the second UE.
The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the receiving the wireless signal comprises:

configuring uplink resources for feedback transmission regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams, wherein the selecting the one of the plurality of beams comprises activating or indicating the one of the plurality of beams.
The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a feedback to the network entity over the uplink resources regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams, wherein the respective feedback comprises an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative ACK (NACK) .
The method of any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the receiving the wireless signal comprises:

configuring one uplink resource for feedback transmission regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting a single multiplexed or bundled feedback to the network entity over the one uplink resource regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams.
A method for wireless communications by a network entity, the method comprising:

group-casting (304) a wireless signal indicating a configuration of a beam pool to a plurality of user equipments, UEs, wherein the configuration of the beam pool comprises respective beam information of a plurality of beams for the plurality of UEs to receive transmissions from the network entity via a common one of the plurality of beams, and wherein one of the plurality of UEs is a leader UE; and

receiving (306, 406, 508, 508a) , from the leader UE, a feedback associated with the common one of the plurality of beams.
The method of claim 17, wherein the group-casting the wireless signal comprises:

groupcasting or broadcasting a control signaling using a system information block (SIB) or a radio resource control (RRC) message, wherein the control signaling indicates to the plurality of UEs the configuration of the beam pool.
The method of claim 17 or 18, further comprising:

appointing the leader UE to the plurality of UEs, wherein the appointing comprises indicating an identifier of the leader UE to a second UE of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 19, wherein the group-casting the wireless signal further comprises:

transmitting the wireless signal to indicate a time domain resource and a frequency domain resource for the leader UE to communicate with the second UE of the plurality of UEs, wherein the indicating the identifier of the leader UE is via the wireless signal.
The method of claim 17 or 18, further comprising:

receiving, from the plurality of UEs, an identifier of the leader UE and member information of the plurality of the UEs.
The method of any one of claims 17-21, further comprising:

receiving, from one or more of the plurality of the UEs, a message indicating a capability of at least one of:

(1) a capability supporting a groupcast of beam pool configuration;

(2) a capability supporting the groupcast of beam pool activation;

(3) a capability of indicating a beam selection of the groupcast of beam pool activation;

(4) a maximum number of configured beams per bandwidth part (BWP) , per component carrier (CC) , per band, per band combination, or per UE; or

(5) a maximum number of indicated beams per BWP, per CC, per band, per band combination, or per UE.
The method of claim 22, wherein the message further comprises:

an identifier of a sidelink UE among the plurality of UEs for sidelink communications or a different form of wireless communications with other UEs of the plurality of UEs, the different form of wireless communications implemented differently from that between the network entity and the sidelink UE.
The method of claim 22, wherein appointing the leader UE to the plurality of UEs is based on:

one or more capabilities indicated the received message,

a signal quality of the leader UE, or

a device class or role of the leader UE.
The method of any one of claims 17 to 24, further comprising:

transmitting, to the plurality of UEs, an activation signaling that at least activates one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool.
The method of claim 25, wherein the activation signaling further indicates the one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool.
The method of claim 25 or 26, wherein the activation signaling comprises at least one of:

a serving cell index indicating a target serving cell for the one of the plurality of beams of the beam pool;

an index indicating a target BWP index for the one of the plurality of beams;

one or more beam identifiers (IDs) , indicating (1) a source reference signal for each activated beam or (2) an ID of a beam from the beam pool or activated beams;

an action delay for each one of the plurality of beams; or

one or more uplink or downlink resources indicating, for the one of the plurality of beams, target uplink or downlink resources.
The method of any one of claims 18 to 27, wherein the control signaling is based on a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) , or is based on a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) .
The method of any one of claims 17 to 28, further comprising:

transmitting, to the leader UE, an ID of a third UE that shares the activated or indicated one of the plurality of beams; and

indicating, to the leader UE, a time-domain resource and a frequency-domain resource for the leader UE to communicate with the third UE.
The method of any one of claims 17 to 29, wherein the transmitting the wireless signal comprises:

configuring, in the plurality of UEs, at least two or more uplink resources for feedback transmission regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams, wherein the selecting the one of the plurality of beams comprises activating or indicating the one of the plurality of beams.
The method of claim 30, further comprising:

receiving a respective feedback from the plurality of UEs over the at least two or more uplink resources regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams, wherein the respective feedback comprises an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative ACK (NACK) .
The method of any one of claims 17 to 29, wherein the transmitting the wireless signal comprises:

configuring, in the plurality of UEs, one uplink resource for feedback transmission regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams.
The method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving a single multiplexed or bundled feedback from the plurality of UEs over the one uplink resource regarding selecting one of the plurality of beams.
An apparatus for wireless communication comprising a transceiver and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to implement a method as in any of claims 1-33.