EP4691006A1

EP4691006A1 - Spatial adaptation for network energy saving

Info

Publication number: EP4691006A1
Application number: EP23931415.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Kamakshi LAKSHMINARAYANAPURAM KRISHNAKUMAR; Matha DEGHEL; Naizheng ZHENG
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-04-06
Filing date: 2023-04-06
Publication date: 2026-02-11
Also published as: MX2025011817A; KR20250164311A; EP4691006A4; WO2024207346A1; CN120898479A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of spatial adaptation for network energy saving. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and transmitting, to the network device, at least one channel state information (CSI) report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.

Description

SPATIAL ADAPTATION FOR NETWORK ENERGY SAVING

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of spatial adaptation for network energy saving (ES) .

BACKGROUND

Energy consumption in 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) new radio (NR) has been studied in the past few years, especially for the Radio Access Network (RAN) , which may consume quite large part of the total energy consumption in the 5G network. As one of the key points for the topic of energy consumption, the network ES in time, frequency, spatial/antenna, and power domain has been discussed.
SUMMARY
In a first aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and transmit, to the network device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In a second aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to transmit, to a terminal device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and receive, from the terminal device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In a third aspect, there is provide a method. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and transmitting, to the network device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In a fourth aspect, there is provide a method. The method comprises transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and receiving, from the terminal device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for receiving, from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; means for transmitting, to the network device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for transmitting, to a terminal device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to carry out the method according to the third aspect or the fourth aspect.
Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will also be apparent from the following description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;
FIG. 2 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process of spatial adaptation for network ES according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
FIG. 3 shows an example diagram of CSI-RS resource configuration for different patterns according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
FIG. 4 shows an example diagram of configuration of slot offset for the spatial adaptation patterns according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method of spatial adaptation for network ES according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method of spatial adaptation for network ES according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;
FIG. 7 shows a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and
FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals may represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.
In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein may have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.
References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.
As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.
As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.
As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:
(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and
(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :
(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and
(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and
(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.
This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.
As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.
As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.
The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.
As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.
FIG. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110. Hereinafter the terminal device 110 may also be referred to as a UE or a terminal device.
The communication network 100 may further include a network device 120. Hereinafter the network device 120 may also be referred to as a gNB or a network device. The terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120.
It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.
In some example embodiments, links from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 may be referred to as a downlink (DL) , while links from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 may be referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the network device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the terminal device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver) . In UL, the terminal device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and the network device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .
Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , includes, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, includes but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) , Time Division Duplex (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.
Network energy saving is of great importance for environmental sustainability, to reduce environmental impact (greenhouse gas emissions) , and for operational cost savings. As 5G is becoming pervasive across industries and geographical areas, handling more advanced services and applications requiring very high data rates (e.g., XR) , networks are being denser, use more antennas, larger bandwidths and more frequency bands. The environmental impact of 5G needs to stay under control, and novel solutions to improve network energy savings need to be developed.
As analysed, the RAN networks consume the highest power and is of big concern to the operators. Network energy savings is one of the aspects taken up by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in release 18. For the RAN sites with massive antenna deployments, there is a good possibility of turning off the transceiver chains during low load scenarios. The transceiver chains with the power amplifier consume good amount of power and turning off the circuitry provides energy savings.
During the release 18 study item for network energy savings, it has been agreed to specify any necessary enhancements on CSI and beam management related procedures including measurement and report, and signaling to enable efficient adaptation of spatial elements (e.g., antenna ports, active transceiver chains) . Further, release 18 has specified necessary enhancements on CSI related procedures including measurement and report, and signaling to enable efficient adaptation of power offset values between Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) and CSI-RS.
In some embodiments, for spatial element adaptation, the study that each CSI-RS resource/resource set/resource setting can be associated with only one spatial adaptation pattern and each CSI-RS resource/resource set/resource setting can be associated with one or more spatial adaptation patterns may be further discussed.
In some embodiments, for spatial element adaptation, the study that independent/separate CSI report configurations where each CSI report configuration corresponds to one spatial adaptation pattern and one CSI report configuration contains multiple CSI report sub-configurations where each sub-configuration corresponds to one spatial adaptation pattern may be further discussed.
Most of the massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) configurations are used for the Time Division Duplexing (TDD) bands where the channel reciprocity can be leveraged to derive the beam patterns at the network device 120. In such deployments, the terminal device 110 are configured with Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resources. The network device 120 processes the UL signals from each terminal device with the multiple antennas and using different decomposition schemes. Then the network device 120 can derive the beam weights and estimate the Direction-of-arrival for each terminal device 110. This type of beam-forming is referred to as non-codebook based beamforming. The terminal device 110 may be configured to report Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) , rank and the CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) based on the transmitted CSI-RS signals. The Link adaptation uses the CSI reported to decide the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) and number of layers used for the DL transmission.
The configuration of non-codebook-based beamforming is allowed currently and allows the terminal device 110 to be configured to report a non-PMI feedback example resource indicator-rank indicator-channel quality indicator (CRI-RI-CQI) . The terminal device 110 can be configured with multiple CSI-RS-resources and the port index for reporting the ranks using the non-PMI-PortIndication. This parameter is an array and allows to configure the resources from one or more ResourceSets. But there is no means for the UE to understand and identify the resources to be used for different Spatial adaptation patterns.
For the topic of network energy saving, multiple options for configuring spatial adaptation patterns are being explored. This includes configuring the additional CSI-RS resources within a ResourceSet or in a different ResourceSet. There is also discussion spatial adaptation where the UE adapted number of ports can be a subset of the initial configured ports.
There are no solutions yet for achieving this. Also, when the UEs are configured for/with non-precoding matrix indicator (PMI) feedback and configured with a ‘non-PMI-PortIndication’ , there is no way to indicate to the UE which of the resources correspond to a particular adaptation pattern. And currently there is no possibility to enable this non-PMI feedback considering dynamic spatial/antenna pattern adaptation.
According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for spatial adaptation for network ES. In the solution, the network device 120 transmit information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at a network device to the terminal device 110. The information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at a network device comprises one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; and/or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device. Then the terminal device 110 transmits, to the network device 120, at least one CSI report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which shows a signaling chart 200 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 200. Although a single terminal device 110 is illustrated in FIG. 2, it would be appreciated that there may be a plurality of terminal devices performing similar operations as described with respect to the terminal device 110 below.
A network device 120 may be able to derive beam patterns for different spatial adaptations. If the feedback from the terminal device 110 is available before hand, the network device 120 may apply the adaptation dynamically at any point in time.
The network device 120 transmits (202) information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device 120. As an option, the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation may include one or more pattern sets. Each pattern set may correspond to a spatial pattern and be associated with a group of CSI-RS resources. Optionally or additionally, the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation may include or one or more port subsets. Each subset may indicate number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device.
For example. the terminal device 110 may be indicated via a radio resource control (RRC) signalling which of the CSI-RS resources are mapped to a certain spatial Adaptation pattern.
After receiving the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation, the terminal device 110 may perform (204) corresponding CSI measurement (s) associated with one or more spatial patterns at the network device 120.
In some embodiment, a terminal device may be configured with one or more CSI-RS resources in one or more (CSI-RS) ResourceSets. A terminal device may be configured with the “non-PMI-PortIndication” , to indicate the CSI-RS port indices to be used to derive the rank indicator.
For example, there are 2 options of configuring CSI-RS resources associated with different spatial adaptations, namely the Option 1 –configures one ResourceSet per spatial pattern; and Option 2 -configures groups of multiple CSI-RS Resources within a ResourceSet, where each group corresponds to spatial/antenna pattern.
An example of configuring CSI-RS resources associated with different spatial adaptations are shown in FIG. 3, wherein two options 301 and 302, referring to the Option 1 and Option 2 as mentioned above, respectively, are listed. Even without explicitly configuring the CSI-RS resources, a terminal device shall be configured to report CSI for multiple adaptation pattern.
As described above, the terminal device 110 may be provided, e.g., from the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation, with one or more pattern sets, which may also be referred to as a parameter “PatternSet” , to indicate groups of resources that are mapped for a particular spatial/antenna (adaptation) pattern. That is, each pattern set in the one or more pattern sets may correspond to a spatial pattern and be associated with a group of CSI-RS resources. An example of the message is listed as below:
Table 1: an example of “PatternSet” indication
As shown in Table 1, for each PatternSet, within the patternList, the terminal device 110 may perform the CSI measurement (s) and/or report CSI according to the linked CSI-ReportConfig.
In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform a CSI measurement for a group of CSI-RS resources associated with a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets and generate a CSI report for the spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the CSI measurement and a CSI report configuration.
When the terminal device 110 is configured with non-PMI-PortIndication, the terminal device 110 may need to know the set of CSI-RS resources for determining the CRI. Thus, the terminal device 110 may apply the patternList (including one or more pattern sets) to the non-PMI-PortIndication list and derive the set (subset) of CSI-RS resources which needs to be measured and determine the CRI or RI for a specific pattern. A mapping between the patternList and the non-PMI-port-indication is listed as below.
Table 2: Mapping patternList to the non-PMI-port-indication
In some embodiments, if the non-PMI-port-indication is configured, the terminal device 110 may apply the one or more pattern sets to a set of CSI RS resources in the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications and determine a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
In this situation, the terminal device 110 may report the ‘cri-ri-CQI’ for each PatternSet in the CSI report. The bitwidths for the various CSI (such as CRI and rank indicator) fields shall be derived based on the number of resources configured within the PatternSet.
In some embodiments, as described above, the terminal device 110 may be provided with, e.g., from the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation, with one or more port subsets, which may also be referred to as a parameter “PortSubset” , each subset may indicate number or a set of ports in the spatial pattern. Then the terminal device 110 may derive the CSI-RS location using this parameter and the Code Division Multiplexing (CDM) group in the original CSI-RS resource configuration. An example of the message is listed as below:
Table 3: an example of “PortSubset” indication
When the terminal device is not explicitly configured with the CSI-RS resources for each pattern, the terminal device 110 shall be provided with the PortSubset for each pattern. This contains the number of ports and the parameter indicates how many CSI-RS ports apply to the new pattern. The indication of PortSubset may also contain the slotOffset, which indicates when the CSI-RS for the new pattern shall be transmitted in reference to the configured CSI-RS. The slotOffsets shall be configured such that there is sufficient time for the terminal device to measure the different patterns and report CSI in the same reporting interval configured.
In some embodiments, as shown in Table 3, at least one slot offset may be configured along with the one or more port subsets. Each slot offset may be associated with a port subset, wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured. The slot offset may be with reference to the original CSI-RS transmission.
FIG. 4 shows an example of configuration of slot offset for the spatial adaptation patterns according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the terminal device 11o may derive when the CSI-RS resources 402 associated with a first spatial pattern to be measured based on an original CSI-RS transmission 401 and the slot offset 411 and derive when the CSI-RS resources 403 associated with a second spatial pattern to be measured based on an original CSI-RS transmission 401 and the slot offset 412.
Furthermore, in some embodiments, based on the Table 2 as listed above, if the non-PMI-port-indication is configured, the terminal device 110 may apply the one or more port subsets to the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications and determine a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
Based on the CSI measurements performed by the terminal device 110 as described above, the terminal device 110 may generate at least one CSI report and transmit (206) it to the network device 120.
In some example embodiments, a reporting factor, namely, a parameter “reportingFactor” , may also be provided to the terminal device 110. The reporting factor may be configured per pattern and indicate a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern. The reporting factor may reduce the overhead of the CSI reports for each pattern.
For example, depending on the reporting factor, the terminal device may report the CSI for all the patterns, in every reporting instance, or every alternate reporting instance and so on. That is, in some example embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit the CSI report to the network devices 120 based on the reporting factor.
Based on the solution of the present disclosure, a mechanism for indicating to the UE which of the resources correspond to a particular adaptation pattern can be achieved and therefore the network energy saving may be further enhanced.
FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 for the spatial adaptation for network ES according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at the terminal device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
At 510, the terminal device 110 receives, from a network device 120, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device.
At 420, the terminal device 110 transmits, to the network device 120, at least one CSI report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 performs a CSI measurement for a group of CSI-RS resources of CSI-RS resources associated with a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets; and generates a CSI report for the spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the CSI measurement and a CSI report configuration.
In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 obtains PMI port indications; applies the one or more pattern sets to a set of CSI RS resources in the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications; and determines a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
In some example embodiments, the one or more port subsets are associated with a set of ports in the spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 obtains at least one slot offset, each slot offset being associated with a port subset, wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured; and performs a CSI measurement based on the at least one slot offset and an original CSI-RS resource indicated in a CSI report configuration.
In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 obtains PMI port indications; applies the one or more port subsets to the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications; and determines a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 obtains a reporting factor associated with a reporting configuration for a certain spatial pattern; and transmits a CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern based on the reporting factor.
In some example embodiments, the reporting factor indicates a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern.
FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 of the spatial adaptation for network ES according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 may be implemented at the network device 120 shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
At 610, the network device 120 transmit, to the terminal device 110, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device 120, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device.
At 620, the network device 120 receives, from the terminal device 110, at least one CSI report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In some example embodiments, the one or more port subsets are associated with a set of ports in the spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, the network device 120 provides at least one slot offset along with the number of ports, wherein each slot offset is associated with a port subset, and wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured by the terminal device.
In some example embodiments, the network device 120 configures, to the terminal device 110, a reporting factor associated with a reporting configuration for a certain spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, the reporting factor indicates a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 500 (for example, implemented at the terminal device 110) may include means for receiving, from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of: one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of CSI-RS resources; or one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to the network device, at least one CSI report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for performing a CSI measurement for a group of CSI-RS resources of CSI-RS resources associated with a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets. The apparatus further comprises means for generating a CSI report for the spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the CSI measurement and a CSI report configuration.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining PMI port indications, means for applying the one or more pattern sets to a set of CSI RS resources in the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications; and means for determining a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
In some example embodiments, the one or more port subsets are associated with a set of ports in the spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining at least one slot offset, each slot offset being associated with a port subset, wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured; and means for performing a CSI measurement based on the at least one slot offset and an original CSI-RS resource indicated in a CSI report configuration.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining PMI port indications; applying the one or more port subsets to the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications and means for determining a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining a reporting factor associated with a reporting configuration for a certain spatial pattern and means for transmitting a CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern based on the reporting factor.
In some example embodiments, the reporting factor indicates a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 600 (for example, implemented at the network device 120) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some example embodiments, the one or more port subsets are associated with a set of ports in the spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for providing at least one slot offset along with the number of ports, wherein each slot offset is associated with a port subset, and wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured by the terminal device.
In some example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for configuring, to the terminal device, a reporting factor associated with a reporting configuration for a certain spatial pattern.
In some example embodiments, the reporting factor indicates a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern.
FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.
The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.
The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.
The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.
A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The instructions of the program 730 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 730 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 724. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 722.
The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 6 to FIG. 6. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.
In some example embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .
FIG. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 800 has the program 730 stored thereon.
Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.
Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.
Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.
In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.
The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.
Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.
Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive, from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of:

one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, resources; or

one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and

transmit, to the network device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

perform a CSI measurement for a group of CSI-RS resources of CSI-RS resources associated with a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets; and

generate a CSI report for the spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the CSI measurement and a CSI report configuration.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

obtain non-precoding matrix indicator, PMI, port indications;

apply the one or more pattern sets to a set of CSI RS resources in the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications; and

determine a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more port subsets are associated with a set of ports in the spatial pattern.
The apparatus of claim 1 or 4, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

obtain at least one slot offset, each slot offset being associated with a port subset, wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured; and

perform a CSI measurement based on the at least one slot offset and an original CSI-RS resource indicated in a CSI report configuration.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

obtain non-precoding matrix indicator, PMI, port indications;

apply the one or more port subsets to the non-PMI port indications in order to determine at least one subset of CSI RS resources from the non-PMI port indications; and

determine a CSI report for a spatial pattern in the one or more pattern sets based on the determined at least one subset of CSI RS resources.
The apparatus of any of claims 1-6, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

obtain a reporting factor associated with a reporting configuration for a certain spatial pattern; and

transmit a CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern based on the reporting factor.
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the reporting factor indicates a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern.
An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

transmit, to a terminal device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of:

one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, resources; or

one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and

receive, from the terminal device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more port subsets are associated with a set of ports in the spatial pattern.
The apparatus of claim 9 or 10, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

provide at least one slot offset along with the number of ports, wherein each slot offset is associated with a port subset, and wherein each slot offset indicates when one or more CSI-RS resources for the number of ports associated with the corresponding port subset are to be measured by the terminal device.
The apparatus of claim 9 or 10, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

configure, to the terminal device, a reporting factor associated with a reporting configuration for a certain spatial pattern.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the reporting factor indicates a time interval for reporting the CSI report associated with certain spatial pattern.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of:

one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, resources; or

one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and

transmitting, to the network device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
A method comprising:

transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of:

one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, resources; or

one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and

receiving, from the terminal device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a network device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of:

one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, resources; or

one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device;

means for transmitting, to the network device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a terminal device, information associated with spatial pattern adaptation at the network device, the information including at least one of:

one or more pattern sets, each corresponding to a spatial pattern and being associated with a group of channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS, resources; or

one or more port subsets, each subset indicating number of ports in a spatial pattern at the network device; and

means for receiving, from the terminal device, at least one channel state information, CSI, report generated at least based on the information associated with spatial pattern adaptation.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 14 or claim 15.