WO2022087489A1 - Downlink control information (dci) based beam indication for new radio (nr) - Google Patents

Abstract

The apparatus of New Radio (NR) user equipment (UE), a system, a method and a machine-readable medium. One or more processors of the UE are to: decode a downlink control information (DCI) sent by a NR evolved Node B (gNB), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; encode and send for transmission to the gNB an acknowledgment of a decoding of the DCI; after transmission of the acknowledgment to the gNB, apply the TCI state to the one or more UL communications; and send the one or more UL communications for transmission to the gNB.

Description

DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION (DCI) BASED BEAM INDICATION FOR NEW RADIO (NR)

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This Application claims the benefit of, and priority from, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/105157, entitled "DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION (DCI) BASED BEAM INDICATION" and filed October 23, 2020; and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/108206, entitled "DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION (DCI) BASED BEAM INDICATION FOR NEW RADIO (NR)" and filed October 30, 2020.

FIELD

[0002] Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to the field of communication in a cellular network compliant with one of more Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications.

BACKGROUND

[0003] In Release 15 (Rel-15) and Release 16 (Rel-16) NR MIMO, downlink (DL) beam indication for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is performed via transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state indication, wherein radio resource control (RRC) configures a set of TCI states to the user equipment (UE), a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command is used to activate at most 8 TCI states and when supported, a downlink control information (DCI) can indicate one of the 8 activated TCI states via a 3-bitmap. For physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) the TCI state is activated via MAC-CE only. Further for uplink, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) spatial relation information is activated via MAC-CE, and for sounding reference signal (SRS,) spatial relation information is configured per resource and indicated by the SRS resource indicator (SRI) field in DCI. For semi-persistent sounding reference signal (SRS), MAC-CE activation of spatial relation information is also supported. In order to unify the beam indication framework, the concept of TCI state for uplink or a joint uplink/downlink TCI has been agreed to be supported for Rel-17 NR. See Chairman's Notes, 3GPP RAN WGl#102-e, August 2020. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. The drawings illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present document. [0005] Fig. 1 illustrates a DCI format according to one embodiment to indicate a TCI state to a UE for downlink (DL), uplink (UL) or joint downlink/uplink communication.

[0006] Fig. 2 illustrates a DCI format according to another embodiment to indicate multiple TCI states to a UE for downlink (DL), uplink (UL) and/or joint downlink/uplink communication.

[0007] Fig. 3 illustrates a DCI format according to an alternative embodiment to indicate TCI states for DL, UL or joint downlink/uplink to a plurality of UEs.

[0008] Fig. 4 illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.

[0009] Fig. 5 illustrates a User Equipment (UE) and a Radio Access Node (RAN) in wireless communication according to various embodiments.

[0010] Fig. 6 illustrates components according to some example embodiments, the components able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

[0011] Fig. 7 illustrates a flow chart for a process according to a first embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases "A or B" and "A/B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0013] One goal in Rel-17 is to achieve a unified beam management framework for the UL and DL wireless links. In Rel-15 and Rel-16 provide TCI states for only the DL links. As noted previously, in order to unify the beam indication framework, the concept of TCI state for uplink or a joint uplink/downlink TCI has been agreed to be supported for Rel-17 NR. See Chairman's Notes, 3GPP RAN WGl#102-e, August 2020. In this case, however, if both downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) beam indication is performed via TCI state indication, a more unified TCI state activation framework is needed.

[0014] Embodiments herein may relate to the Rel-17 work related to supporting enhancements on MIMO beam management.

[0015] The UE is to recognize the TCI states from an information element in a radio resource control (RRC) message to the UE, which configures TCI states for the UE, including beam information, source reference signals, target reference signals, etc. In this manner, a UE configured with TCI states by the RRC message would recognize details of a TCI state during activation. The UE may be configured with M number of beams, for example 64, or 128 beams, but, as things stand, can switch between at most N beams, for example 8 beams, corresponding to 8 TCI states.

[0016] Activation of a TCI state at the UE (informing the UE that it should expect to use for communication one of more TCI states from the TCI states configured by the RRC message) may be implemented by a MAC CE command as noted above. The MA CE element may be sent in the form of data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

[0017] After activation, where multiple TCI states are indicated to the UE (configured by the RRC message and activated by way of the MAC CE command), a DCI as noted above may be used to tell the UE which channel or channels to apply the one or more activated TCI states to. [0018] In one embodiment, UL TCI states and joint uplink/downlink states are to share the same pool of TCI state IDs with DL TCI states. Thus, according to this embodiment, legacy DL TCI states are to remain and be used, and the same manner of identifying them may be used to identify TCI states for UL TCI states and for joint uplink/downlink TCI states. According to this embodiment, a message to the UE, or information element to the UE, that contains these TCI states would be similar for DL, UL and joint uplink/downlink TCI states, and whether the TCI state applies to DL, UL or join uplink/downlink may be determined through other information, such as by other content to the UE. Thus, other indication mechanisms, such as other signaling (possibly in a same message including the TCI state ID, or in a different message) or such as by way of a rule, may be used to allow the UE to know which one of DL, UL or joint uplink/downlink applies to a specified TCI state ID.

[0019] Thus, when the UE receives the MAC CE (where more than one TCI states are to be activated), the MAC CE may, according to an embodiment, be the same as a legacy MAC CE, and the UE would know which of DL,UL or joint uplink/downlink links the activation of the MAC CE would apply to.

[0020] In one embodiment, the UL TCI state configuration optionally includes parameters for PUCCH, which parameters can be applicable when the TCI state is activated for PUCCH. As an example, the UL TCI state can include information regarding power control, and SRS (such as SRS ID and UL BWP). Thus, power control parameters may be associated with a TCI state according to some embodiments. For example, the UL TCI State may include the following:

UplinkTCI-State ::= SEQUENCE { tci-Stateld TCI-Stateld, pucch-PathlossReferenceRS-ld PUCCH-PathlossReferenceRS-ld, OPTIONAL, pO-PUCCH-ld PO-PUCCH-ld, OPTIONAL, closedLoopIndex ENUMERATED { iO, il } OPTIONAL, qcl-Typel QCL-Info, qcl-Type2 QCL-Info OPTIONAL, - Need R

}

QCL-Info ::= SEQUENCE { cell ServCelllndex OPTIONAL, - Need R bwp-ld BWP-ld OPTIONAL, - Cond CSI-RS-lndicated referencesignal CHOICE { csi-rs NZP-CSI-RS-Resourceld, ssb SSB-lndex, srs SEQUENCE { resourceld SRS-Resourceld, uplinkBWP BWP-ld

} qcl-Type ENUMERATED {typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD},

}

[0021] In one embodiment, the UL TCI state indication or the joint uplink/downlink TCI state indication for TCI state IDs activated by MAC-CE can be performed through DCI signaling. By "indication" or "indicate" in the context of a TCI state, what is meant herein is that a TCI state is activated (such as via MAC CE) and indicated for application by a UE. For this purpose, a new DCI format may, according to an embodiment, be designed. A DCI may contain the following information:

• Channels and reference signals to which the indicated TCI state is applicable;

• TCI State ID of the UL, DL or joint uplink/downlink TCI state indication which is applicable to the channels/reference signals indicated by the bitmap;

• Serving Cell ID and BWP ID where the indicated TCI state is applicable; and/or

• Optionally additional fields related to specific channels and reference signals are also present, as shown in Figure 1.

[0022] Referring now to Fig. 1, a DCI format 100 according to a first embodiment is shown. As seen in Fig. 1, the DCI format 100 is to indicate a TCI state by way of a TCI State ID field 104. Conditionally present fields 106 may include, as noted above, PUCCH related fields 108 including information regarding power control 110, and SRS information 112 (such as SRS ID). The conditionally present fields 106 may also include PDCCH CORESET ID, and other PUCCH related fields 108, such as PUCCH resource ID, and closed loop index. The PUCCH related fields 108 may be present optionally, if not already configured such as by way of a TCI state. Thus, parameters such as power control may be associated with a TCI state even if not included in the DCI that indicates TCI state to the UE. The new DCI format 100 may also include serving cell ID, DL BWP ID, UL BWP ID.

[0023] Referring still to Fig. 1, with N activated TCI states where N is an integer (and recall that N may be activated by way of MAC CE), the DCI, such as DCI 100, may indicate the TCI state to be used. The bitmapl02 indicates the channels will are to use that one TCI state. Thus, a bit in the 6 bit bitmap relating to any of the channels could be turned on (set to 1 for example) to indicate that a corresponding channel for that bit is to use the TCI state indicated by the DCI in the TCI state ID field. The bits may relate to physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), SRS and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), as shown. When all 6 bits are turned on, the TCI state indicated will apply to all channels to be used by the UE. Thus, in one embodiment, when all fields of the 6-bit bitmap in Fig. 1 are set to l's, it indicates that the signaled TCI state is a common beam indication applicable to all the channels for both transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) beams. In one example of this embodiment, the TCI state ID can correspond to only a joint uplink/downlink TCI state when common beam indication is used.

[0024] In another embodiment, the bitmap indicating which channels the TCI state applies to can be less than 5 bits, that is, it may be only 3-bits and contain only indications for UL channels and reference signals (RSs) e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH and SRS.

[0025] In a second embodiment, as shown in the example DCI format 200 of Fig. 2, the DCI indication can contain different TCI state IDs 204 which are applicable to the channels indicated by the bitmap 202. This DCI format can therefore indicate more than one TCI state to a UE. Here TCI state IDs can correspond to UL, DL or joint uplink/downlink TCI states, and TCI states are applied, in order, to the channels indicated by the bit map 202. For example, if the channel bitmap 202 indicates 101000, the TCI state ID 1 is applicable to PDCCH at bit 1, and TCI state ID 2 (the next available indicated TCI state) is applicable to PUCCH. Thus, the bitmap decides which TCI state applies to which channel.

[0026] In one embodiment, when the bit map is all Is, the first TCI State ID is applied to all channels as common beam indication.

[0027] In another embodiment, the DCI can also be applicable to a group of UEs. In this example, the indication DCI is transmitted in a group-common PDCCH monitored in a common search space, and has its CRC scrambled by a group common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) e.g., G-RNTL In this option the indication DCI can be of the form of either single TCI activation as shown in Fig. 1 or multiple TCI state activation as shown in Fig. 2.

[0028] In one option of the above embodiment, the activation DCI may correspond to the DCI 300 of Fig. 3 for group common activation for multiple users appended as shown in Fig. 3. In DCI 300, a format 100 or 200 similar to the one shown in either of Fig. 1 or Fig. 2, respectively, may be used for any of the UE fields UE1-UEN shown in Fig. 3.

[0029] For a group-common DCI as shown in the example of Fig. 3, UEs can be configured by UE-specific RRC signaling or another group common DCI to identify their respective positions in the DCI and select the correct TCI activation. In this option, the activation DCI can also be sent over a PDCCH monitored in a common search space (CSS) and the DCI is scrambled by a group-common RNTI. Alternately, PDCCH can also be monitored in a UE specific search space (USS) with the DCI scrambled by C-RNTL

[0030] In one embodiment, an UL beam indication or TCI state activation, separate from DL beam indication, may be performed using a joint DL/UL TCI state which contains quasi co-located (Q.CL) source reference signals for both DL and UL beams.

[0031] In one example, a common UL beam "indication" (via MAC CE and DCI when more than one TCI state is activated to the UE, and via only MAC CE when a single TCI state is activated to the UE) is a common beam indication in that it applies to all UL channels.

[0032] In one embodiment, the UL beam indication via joint DL/UL TCI states is performed by activating a set of N joint DL/UL TCI states from the list of RRC configured TCI states, and the TCI state to be applied is signaled to the UE via a DL DCI e.g., DCI format 1_1, or 1_2, through the TCI field when tci-PresentlnDCI is enabled. [0033] Additionally, for UL separate beam indication, the UE may be signaled dynamically, through a new field in DCI to only apply the UL QCL source and ignore the configured DL QCL source in the joint TCI state.

[0034] In another example, the configured TCI state will be such that the DL QCL source will be restricted to remain identical to the current DL QCL source e.g., the DL beam is unchanged and only the UL source RS is updated.

[0035] In another embodiment, the UL QCL source RS can be indicated by a joint DL/UL TCI state signaled to the UE via an UL-beam indication DCI e.g., format 0_l, 0_2. The UE in this case updates only the UL beam indicated by the joint TCI state and ignores the DL QCL source.

[0036] In one embodiment, the UL beam indication or TCI state indication, separate from DL beam indication, is performed using a separate UL TCI state which contains QCL source reference signals for only UL. In one example, the beam indication is a common beam indication which applies to PUCCH/PUSCH/SRS. In one embodiment, the separate UL beam indication via UL TCI state activation may be signaled to the UE via the TCI field in a DL DCI format e.g., 1_1, 1_2. [0037] In one example, the UL TCI shares the same pool of TCI states with DL and/or joint DL/UL TCI and the UE can discern that the signaled TCI is applicable to UL beam indication based on the TCI state index of the activated TCI state list, where the TCI states are activated via a MAC- CE. A bitwidth in DCI, for example of 8 bits of codepoints, for example bits 0 to 7, may be used to indicate a TCI index that informs the US that TCI state in the DCI applies to UL beams. By decoding TCI index in the DCI, the UE may thus know which codepoints apply to UL and which to DL.

[0038] In the alternative, the UE may implicitly know from the activation MAC CE whether the TCI state indicated is to be for DL or for UL or for join.

[0039] In one embodiment, when the UE is indicated by a DCI to use a TCI state for DL or UL, or DL and UL, the UE may not apply the indicated TCI state before an acknowledgement for DCI decoding has been transmitted. Thus, in this embodiment, the UE will not apply the TCI state indicated to it by the DCI before it has transmitted an acknowledgement (ACK) for the DCI to the gNB. In one example, the TCI state can be a joint DL/UL TCI state which applies to all DL and UL channels/RSs. In another example, the TCI state can be a DL only or UL only TCI state. In another embodiment, the DCI indicating the TCI state can be a scheduling DCI and the acknowledgement of the DCI decoding can be the acknowledgement of the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. In one example, the UE can transmit the acknowledgement for decoding of the beam indication and/or scheduling DCI using the beam corresponding to the already activated TCI state, or to the transmit spatial filter without applying the TCI state update indicated in the DCI. In one embodiment, the indicated TCI state can be applied X OFDM symbols after transmission of the acknowledgement of the decoding of the beam indication DCI wherein, where the value of X is a UE capability and can be signaled to the gNB. In one example, the value of X can be 28 OFDM symbols, while in another example, the value of X can 1 OFDM symbol.

[0040] In another embodiment, the DCI can be a scheduling DCI which has additionally a separate acknowledgement transmitted independently of the acknowledgment of the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. In yet another embodiment, the UE may use the TCI state indicated by the TCI state activation DCI immediately on reception of such DCI. In one example, if the DCI is a scheduling DCI, the UE uses the indicated TCI state for reception of the PDSCH or PUSCH scheduled by the DCI. In another example, the UE also uses the TCI state indicated in the DCI to transmit the acknowledgement for the decoding of the DCI.

[0041] Systems and Implementations

[0042] Figs. 4-6 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments described above and below in relation to Fig. 5.

[0043] Fig. 6 illustrates a network 400 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 400 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.

[0044] The network 400 may include a UE 402, which may include any mobile or non- mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 404 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 402 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 404 by a Uu interface. The UE 402 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

[0045] In some embodiments, the network 400 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

[0046] In some embodiments, the UE 402 may additionally communicate with an AP 406 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 406 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 404. The connection between the UE 402 and the AP 406 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 406 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 402, RAN 404, and AP 406 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 402 being configured by the RAN 404 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0047] The RAN 404 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 408. AN 408 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 402 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 408 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 420 and the UE 402. In some embodiments, the AN 408 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 408 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 408 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

[0048] In embodiments in which the RAN 404 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 404 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 404 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0049] The ANs of the RAN 404 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 402 with an air interface for network access. The UE 402 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 404. For example, the UE 402 and RAN 404 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 402 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

[0050] The RAN 404 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCel Is/Scel Is. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0051] In V2X scenarios the UE 402 or AN 408 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU"; an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU"; a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU"; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

[0052] In some embodiments, the RAN 404 may be an LTE RAN 410 with eNBs, for example, eNB 412. The LTE RAN 410 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.

[0053] In some embodiments, the RAN 404 may be an NG-RAN 414 with gNBs, for example, gNB 416, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 418. The gNB 416 may connect with 5G- enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 416 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 418 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 416 and the ng-eNB 418 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

[0054] In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 414 and a UPF 448 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN414 and an AMF 444 (e.g., N2 interface).

[0055] The NG-RAN 414 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH. [0056] In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 402 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 402, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 402 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 402 and in some cases at the gNB 416. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

[0057] The RAN 404 is communicatively coupled to CN 420 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 402). The components of the CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 420 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0058] In some embodiments, the CN 420 may be an LTE CN 422, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 422 may include MME 424, SGW 426, SGSN 428, HSS 430, PGW 432, and PCRF 434 coupled with one another over interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 422 may be briefly introduced as follows.

[0059] The MME 424 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 402 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

[0060] The SGW 426 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 422. The SGW 426 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. [0061] The SGSN 428 may track a location of the UE 402 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 428 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 424; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 424 and the SGSN 428 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.

[0062] The HSS 430 may include a database for network users, including subscription- related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The HSS 430 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 430 and the MME 424 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 420.

[0063] The PGW 432 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 436 that may include an application/content server 438. The PGW 432 may route data packets between the LTE CN 422 and the data network 436. The PGW 432 may be coupled with the SGW 426 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 432 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 432 and the data network YX 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 432 may be coupled with a PCRF 434 via a Gx reference point. [0064] The PCRF 434 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 422. The PCRF 434 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 438 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 432 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCL

[0065] In some embodiments, the CN 420 may be a 5GC 440. The 5GC 440 may include an AUSF 442, AMF 444, SMF 446, UPF 448, NSSF 450, NEF 452, NRF 454, PCF 456, UDM 458, and AF 460 coupled with one another over interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 440 may be briefly introduced as follows. [0066] The AUSF 442 may store data for authentication of UE 402 and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF 442 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 440 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 442 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. [0067] The AMF 444 may allow other functions of the 5GC 440 to communicate with the UE 402 and the RAN 404 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 402. The AMF 444 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 402), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 444 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 402 and the SMF 446, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 444 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 402 and an SMSF. AMF 444 may interact with the AUSF 442 and the UE 402 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 444 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 404 and the AMF 444; and the AMF 444 may be a termination point of NAS (N 1) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 444 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 402 over an N3 IWF interface.

[0068] The SMF 446 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 448 and AN 408); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 448 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 444 over N2 to AN 408; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 402 and the data network 436.

[0069] The UPF 448 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 436, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 448 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, uplink/downlink rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF- to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 448 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

[0070] The NSSF 450 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 402. The NSSF 450 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 450 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 402, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 454. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 402 may be triggered by the AMF 444 with which the UE 402 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 450, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 450 may interact with the AMF 444 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 450 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0071] The NEF 452 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 460), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 452 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 452 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 460 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 452 may translate between an AF-Service-ldentifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 452 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 452 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 452 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 452 may exhibit an Nnef servicebased interface.

[0072] The NRF 454 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 454 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiation," and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an "instance" may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 454 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

[0073] The PCF 456 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 456 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 458. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 456 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

[0074] The UDM 458 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 402. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 458 and the AMF 444. The UDM 458 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 458 and the PCF 456, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 402) for the NEF 452. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 421 to allow the UDM 458, PCF 456, and NEF 452 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 458 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

[0075] The AF 460 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to

NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. [0076] In some embodiments, the 5GC 440 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 402 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 440 may select a UPF 448 close to the UE 402 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 448 to data network 436 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 460. In this way, the AF 460 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 460 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 460 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 460 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

[0077] The data network 436 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 438.

[0078] Fig. 5 schematically illustrates a wireless network 500 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 500 may include a UE 502 in wireless communication with an AN 504. The UE 502 and AN 504 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like- named components described elsewhere herein.

[0079] The UE 502 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 504 via connection 506. The connection 506 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

[0080] The UE 502 may include a host platform 508 coupled with a modem platform 510. The host platform 508 may include application processing circuitry 512, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 514 of the modem platform 510. The application processing circuitry 512 may run various applications for the UE 502 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 512 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations

[0081] The protocol processing circuitry 514 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 506. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 514 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

[0082] The modem platform 510 may further include digital baseband circuitry 516 that may implement one or more layer operations that are "below" layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 514 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0083] The modem platform 510 may further include transmit circuitry 518, receive circuitry 520, RF circuitry 522, and RF front end (RFFE) 524, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 526. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 518 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 520 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 522 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 524 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 518, receive circuitry 520, RF circuitry 522, RFFE 524, and antenna panels 526 (referred generically as "transmit/receive components") may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

[0084] In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 514 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components. [0085] A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 526, RFFE 524, RF circuitry 522, receive circuitry 520, digital baseband circuitry 516, and protocol processing circuitry 514. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 526 may receive a transmission from the AN 504 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 526.

[0086] A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 514, digital baseband circuitry 516, transmit circuitry 518, RF circuitry 522, RFFE 524, and antenna panels 526. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 504 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 526.

[0087] Similar to the UE 502, the AN 504 may include a host platform 528 coupled with a modem platform 530. The host platform 528 may include application processing circuitry 532 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 534 of the modem platform 530. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 536, transmit circuitry 538, receive circuitry 540, RF circuitry 542, RFFE circuitry 544, and antenna panels 546. The components of the AN 504 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 502. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 508 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0088] Fig. 6 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Fig. 6 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 600 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 610, one or more memory/storage devices 620, and one or more communication resources 630, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 640 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 602 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources

600.

[0089] The processors 610 may include, for example, a processor 612 and a processor 614. The processors 610 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0090] The memory/storage devices 620 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 620 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0091] The communication resources 630 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 604 or one or more databases 606 or other network elements via a network 608. For example, the communication resources 630 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

[0092] Instructions 650 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 610 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 650 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 610 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 620, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 650 may be transferred to the hardware resources 600 from any combination of the peripheral devices 604 or the databases 606. Accordingly, the memory of processors 610, the memory/storage devices 620, the peripheral devices 604, and the databases 606 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0093] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

[0094] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

[0095] Fig. 7 shows a process 700 according to an embodiment. At operation 702, the process includes decoding a downlink control information (DCI) sent by a NR evolved Node B (gNB), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB. At operation 704, the process includes encoding and sending for transmission to the gNB an acknowledgment of a decoding of the DCI; at operation 706, the process includes, after transmission of the acknowledgment to the gNB, applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications. At operation 708, the process includes sending the one or more UL communications for transmission to the gNB.

[0096] Examples

[0097] Additional examples of the presently described embodiments include the following, non-limiting implementations. Each of the following non-limiting examples may stand on its own or may be combined in any permutation or combination with any one or more of the other examples provided below or throughout the present disclosure.

[0098] Example 1 includes an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE), the apparatus including a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions, and the one or more processors to implement the instructions to: decode a downlink control information (DCI) sent by a NR evolved Node B (gNB), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; encode and send for transmission to the gNB an acknowledgment of a decoding of the DCI; after transmission of the acknowledgment to the gNB, apply the TCI state to the one or more UL communications; and send the one or more UL communications for transmission to the gNB.

[0099] Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a joint uplink/downlink TCI state, the one or more processors to further apply the joint uplink/downlink TCI state to all downlink (DL) and all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

[00100] Example 3 includes the subject matter of Example 2, wherein the DCI corresponds to one of a DCI format 1_1 or a DCI format 1_2.

[00101] Example 4 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the TCI state includes a quasi co-location source reference signal for only the UL communications.

[00102] Example 5 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4, the one or more processors to determine power control parameters associated with the TCI state.

[00103] Example 6 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a common UL beam indication, the one or more processors to apply the common UL beam indication to all UL communications from the UE, and to send said all UL communications for transmission to the gNB.

[00104] Example 7 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 and 6, the one or more processors to further: decode a radio resource control (RRC) message sent by the gNB, the RRC message to configure a plurality of TCI states to the UE; configure the UE with the plurality of TCI states; decode a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command from the gNB; and activate one or more of the plurality of TCI states at the UE based on the MAC-CE command, the one or more TCI states including the TCI state.

[00105] Example 8 includes the subject matter of Example 7, the one or more processors to further determine from the MAC-CE whether one or more TCI states in the DCI are to apply to UL beams, DL beams, or join uplink/downlink beams.

[00106] Example 9 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 and 6, wherein the DCI is a scheduling DCI, and the acknowledgment corresponds to an acknowledgment of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI.

[00107] Example 10 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 and 6, wherein encoding the acknowledgment includes encoding the acknowledgment in a beam to the gNB corresponding to the TCI state.

[00108] Example 11 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 and 6, wherein applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications includes applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications a number X orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after transmission of the acknowledgment.

[00109] Example 12 includes the subject matter of Example 11, wherein X corresponds to a capacity of the UE, the one or more processors further to encode and send for transmission to the gNB a communication indicating X.

[00110] Example 13 includes the subject matter of Example 1, the DCI further including TCI state index to indicate that the TCI state is to apply to the UL communications.

[00111] Example 14 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 and 6, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a plurality of TCI states including the TCI state, the one or more processors to further determine a correspondence between the plurality of TCI states and one or more respective UL or downlink (DL) channels or reference signals of the UE, and to apply the plurality to TCI states to corresponding ones of the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals.

[00112] Example 15 includes the subject matter of Example 14, wherein the indication of the plurality of TCI states includes a plurality of respective TCI IDs. [00113] Example 16 includes the subject matter of Example 14, the one or more processors to further determine the correspondence from signaling other than the DCI.

[00114] Example 17 includes the subject matter of Example 14, wherein the DCI includes a field to indicate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more processors to decode the field to determine the correspondence.

[00115] Example 18 includes the subject matter of Example 17, wherein the field corresponds to a bitfield including respective bits to designate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS), and a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI- RS), a bit of the bitfield set to 1 is to indicate that one of the plurality of TCI states is to be applied to a UL or DL channel or reference signal corresponding to the bit.

[00116] Example 19 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4 and 6, the DCI further including a sounding reference signal (SRS) ID field.

[00117] Example 20 includes the subject matter of Example 1, wherein the DCI corresponds to a group-common DCI including an indication of a plurality of TCI states corresponding to a plurality of UEs, the one or more processors to determine one or more of the TCI states of the plurality of TCI states from the group-common DCI, and apply the one or more TCI states to one or more respective UL or downlink (DL) channels or reference signals of the UE.

[00118] Example 21 includes the subject matter of Example 20, wherein the group-common DCI is part of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is scrambled by a group-common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), the one or more processors to monitor the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS).

[00119] Example 22 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-4, 6, 13, 20 and 21, further including communications resources coupled to the one or more processors to communicate wirelessly with the gNB.

[00120] [00121] Example 23 includes an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) evolved Node B (gNB), the apparatus including a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions, and the one or more processors to implement the instructions to: encode and send for transmission to a user equipment (UE) a downlink control information (DCI), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; decode the one or more UL communications received from the UE, the one or more UL communications based on the TCI state.

[00122] Example 24 includes the subject matter of Example 23, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a joint uplink/downlink TCI state to be applied by the UE to all downlink (DL) and all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

[00123] Example 25 includes the subject matter of Example 24, wherein the DCI corresponds to one of a DCI format 1_1 or a DCI format 1_2.

[00124] Example 26 includes the subject matter of Example 23, wherein the TCI state includes a quasi co-location source reference signal for only the UL communications.

[00125] Example 27 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26, the one or more processors to determine power control parameters associated with the TCI state.

[00126] Example 28 includes the subject matter of Example 23, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a common UL beam indication to be applied by the UE to all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

[00127] Example 29 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26 and 28, the one or more processors to further: encode and send for transmission to the UE a radio resource control (RRC) message, the RRC message to configure a plurality of TCI states to the UE; and encode and send for transmission to the UE a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command to be used by the UE to activate one or more TCI states of the plurality of TCI states, the one or more TCI states including the TCI state.

[00128] Example 30 includes the subject matter of Example 29, the MAC-CE to indicate whether the one or more TCI states in the DCI are to apply to UL beams, DL beams, or join uplink/downlink beams. [00129] Example 31 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26 and 28, wherein the DCI is a scheduling DCI, and the acknowledgment corresponds to an acknowledgment of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI.

[00130] Example 32 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26 and 28, the acknowledgment is in a beam based on the TCI state.

[00131] Example 33 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26 and 28, the one or more processors to further decode from the UE a communication indicating X, wherein X represents a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols that the UE is to wait after transmission of the acknowledgment before applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications.

[00132] Example 34 includes the subject matter of Example 23, the DCI further including TCI state index to indicate that the TCI state is to apply to the UL communications.

[00133] Example 35 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26 and 28, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a plurality of TCI states including the TCI state.

[00134] Example 36 includes the subject matter of Example 35, wherein the indication of the plurality of TCI states includes a plurality of respective TCI IDs.

[00135] Example 37 includes the subject matter of Example 35, wherein the DCI includes a field to indicate one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals to correspond to respective ones of the plurality of TCI states.

[00136] Example 38 includes the subject matter of Example 37, wherein the field corresponds to a bitfield including respective bits to designate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS), and a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI- RS), a bit of the bitfield set to 1 is to indicate that one of the plurality of TCI states is to be applied to a UL or DL channel or reference signal corresponding to the bit. [00137] Example 39 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26 and 28, the DCI further including a sounding reference signal (SRS) ID field.

[00138] Example 40 includes the subject matter of Example 23, wherein the DCI corresponds to a group-common DCI including an indication of a plurality of TCI states corresponding to a plurality of UEs.

[00139] Example 41 includes the subject matter of Example 40, wherein the group-common DCI is part of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is scrambled by a group-common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[00140] Example 42 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 23-26, 6, 13, 20 and 21, further including communications resources coupled to the one or more processors to communicate wirelessly with the UE.

[00141] Example 43 includes a method to be performed at a New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE), the method including: decoding a downlink control information (DCI) sent by a NR evolved Node B (gNB), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; encoding and sending for transmission to the gNB an acknowledgment of a decoding of the DCI; after transmission of the acknowledgment to the gNB, applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications; and sending the one or more UL communications for transmission to the gNB. [00142] Example 44 includes the subject matter of Example 43, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a joint uplink/downlink TCI state, the method further including applying the joint uplink/downlink TCI state to all downlink (DL) and all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

[00143] Example 45 includes the subject matter of Example 44, wherein the DCI corresponds to one of a DCI format 1_1 or a DCI format 1_2.

[00144] Example 46 includes the subject matter of Example 43, wherein the TCI state includes a quasi co-location source reference signal for only the UL communications.

[00145] Example 47 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46, the method further including determining power control parameters associated with the TCI state.

[00146] Example 48 includes the subject matter of Example 43, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a common UL beam indication, the method further including applying the common UL beam indication to all UL communications from the UE, and sending said all UL communications for transmission to the gNB.

[00147] Example 49 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46 and 48, the method further including: decoding a radio resource control (RRC) message sent by the gNB, the RRC message to configure a plurality of TCI states to the UE; configuring the UE with the plurality of TCI states; decoding a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command from the gNB; and activating one or more of the plurality of TCI states at the UE based on the MAC-CE command, the one or more TCI states including the TCI state.

[00148] Example 50 includes the subject matter of Example 49, the method further including determining from the MAC-CE whether one or more TCI states in the DCI are to apply to UL beams, DL beams, or join uplink/downlink beams.

[00149] Example 51 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46 and 48, wherein the DCI is a scheduling DCI, and the acknowledgment corresponds to an acknowledgment of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI.

[00150] Example 52 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46 and 48, wherein encoding the acknowledgment includes encoding the acknowledgment in a beam to the gNB corresponding to the TCI state.

[00151] Example 53 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46 and 48, wherein applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications includes applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications a number X orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after transmission of the acknowledgment.

[00152] Example 54 includes the subject matter of Example 11, wherein X corresponds to a capacity of the UE, the method further including encoding and sending for transmission to the gNB a communication indicating X.

[00153] Example 55 includes the subject matter of Example 43, the DCI further including TCI state index to indicate that the TCI state is to apply to the UL communications.

[00154] Example 56 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46 and 48, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a plurality of TCI states including the TCI state, the method further including determining a correspondence between the plurality of TCI states and one or more respective UL or downlink (DL) channels or reference signals of the UE, and applying the plurality to TCI states to corresponding ones of the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals.

[00155] Example 57 includes the subject matter of Example 56, wherein the indication of the plurality of TCI states includes a plurality of respective TCI IDs.

[00156] Example 58 includes the subject matter of Example 56, the method further including determining the correspondence from signaling other than the DCL

[00157] Example 59 includes the subject matter of Example 56, wherein the DCI includes a field to indicate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the method further including decoding the field to determine the correspondence.

[00158] Example 60 includes the subject matter of Example 17, wherein the field corresponds to a bitfield including respective bits to designate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS), and a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI- RS), a bit of the bitfield set to 1 is to indicate that one of the plurality of TCI states is to be applied to a UL or DL channel or reference signal corresponding to the bit.

[00159] Example 61 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46 and 48, the DCI further including a sounding reference signal (SRS) ID field.

[00160] Example 62 includes the subject matter of Example 43, wherein the DCI corresponds to a group-common DCI including an indication of a plurality of TCI states corresponding to a plurality of UEs, the method further including determining one or more of the TCI states of the plurality of TCI states from the group-common DCI, and apply the one or more TCI states to one or more respective UL or downlink (DL) channels or reference signals of the UE. [00161] Example 63 includes the subject matter of Example 20, wherein the group-common

DCI is part of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is scrambled by a group-common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI ), the method further including monitoring the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS).

[00162] Example 64 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-46, 48, 55, 62 and 63, further including communicating wirelessly with the gNB using communications resources of the UE.

[00163] Example 65 includes a method to be performed at a New Radio (NR) evolved Node B (gNB), the method including: encoding and sending for transmission to a user equipment (UE) a downlink control information (DCI), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; decoding the one or more UL communications received from the UE, the one or more UL communications based on the TCI state.

[00164] Example 66 includes the subject matter of Example 65, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a joint uplink/downlink TCI state to be applied by the UE to all downlink (DL) and all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

[00165] Example 67 includes the subject matter of Example 66, wherein the DCI corresponds to one of a DCI format 1_1 or a DCI format 1_2.

[00166] Example 68 includes the subject matter of Example 65, wherein the TCI state includes a quasi co-location source reference signal for only the UL communications.

[00167] Example 69 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68, the method including determining power control parameters associated with the TCI state.

[00168] Example 70 includes the subject matter of Example 65, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a common UL beam indication to be applied by the UE to all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

[00169] Example 71 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68 and 70, the method including: encoding and sending for transmission to the UE a radio resource control (RRC) message, the RRC message to configure a plurality of TCI states to the UE; and encoding and sending for transmission to the UE a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command to be used by the UE to activate one or more TCI states of the plurality of TCI states, the one or more TCI states including the TCI state. [00170] Example 72 includes the subject matter of Example 71, the MAC-CE to indicate whether the one or more TCI states in the DCI are to apply to UL beams, DL beams, or join uplink/downlink beams.

[00171] Example 73 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68 and 70, wherein the DCI is a scheduling DCI, and the acknowledgment corresponds to an acknowledgment of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI.

[00172] Example 74 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68 and 70, the acknowledgment is in a beam based on the TCI state.

[00173] Example 75 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68 and 70, the method including decoding from the UE a communication indicating X, wherein X represents a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols that the UE is to wait after transmission of the acknowledgment before applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications.

[00174] Example 76 includes the subject matter of Example 65, the DCI further including TCI state index to indicate that the TCI state is to apply to the UL communications.

[00175] Example 77 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68 and 70, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a plurality of TCI states including the TCI state.

[00176] Example 78 includes the subject matter of Example 77, wherein the indication of the plurality of TCI states includes a plurality of respective TCI IDs.

[00177] Example 79 includes the subject matter of Example 77, wherein the DCI includes a field to indicate one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals to correspond to respective ones of the plurality of TCI states.

[00178] Example 80 includes the subject matter of Example 77, wherein the field corresponds to a bitfield including respective bits to designate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS), and a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI- RS), a bit of the bitfield set to 1 is to indicate that one of the plurality of TCI states is to be applied to a UL or DL channel or reference signal corresponding to the bit.

[00179] Example 81 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68 and 70, the DCI further including a sounding reference signal (SRS) ID field.

[00180] Example 82 includes the subject matter of Example 65, wherein the DCI corresponds to a group-common DCI including an indication of a plurality of TCI states corresponding to a plurality of UEs.

[00181] Example 83 includes the subject matter of Example 82, wherein the group-common DCI is part of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is scrambled by a group-common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI).

[00182] Example 84 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 65-68, 70, 76, 82 and 83, further including communications resources coupled to the method including communicating wirelessly with the UE.

[00183] Example 85 includes a machine readable medium including code, which, when executed, is to cause a machine to perform Example X includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-84.

[00184] Example 86 includes an apparatus including means to perform Example X includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 43-84.

[00185] Example Z01 includes an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or any other method or process described herein.

[00186] Example Z02 includes one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or any other method or process described herein.

[00187] Example Z03 includes an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or any other method or process described herein. [00188] Example Z04 includes a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions or parts thereof.

[00189] Example Z05 includes an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions thereof.

[00190] Example Z06 includes a signal as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions or parts thereof.

[00191] Example Z07 includes a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[00192] Example Z08 includes a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[00193] Example Z09 includes a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[00194] Example Z10 includes an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions thereof.

[00195] Example Zll includes a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 37-72, or portions thereof.

[00196] Example Z12 includes a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[00197] Example Z13 includes a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[00198] Example Z14 includes a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. [00199] Example Z15 includes a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[00200] An example implementation is an edge computing system, including respective edge processing devices and nodes to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00201] Another example implementation is a client endpoint node, operable to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00202] Another example implementation is an aggregation node, network hub node, gateway node, or core data processing node, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00203] Another example implementation is an access point, base station, road-side unit, street-side unit, or on-premise unit, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00204] Another example implementation is an edge provisioning node, service orchestration node, application orchestration node, or multi-tenant management node, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00205] Another example implementation is an edge node operating an edge provisioning service, application or service orchestration service, virtual machine deployment, container deployment, function deployment, and compute management, within or coupled to an edge computing system, operable to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00206] Another example implementation is an edge computing system operable as an edge mesh, as an edge mesh with side car loading, or with mesh-to-mesh communications, operable to invoke or perform the operations of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00207] Another example implementation is an edge computing system including aspects of network functions, acceleration functions, acceleration hardware, storage hardware, or computation hardware resources, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00208] Another example implementation is an edge computing system adapted for supporting client mobility, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), or vehicle-to- infrastructure (V2I) scenarios, and optionally operating according to ETSI MEC specifications, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00209] Another example implementation is an edge computing system adapted for mobile wireless communications, including configurations according to an 3GPP 4G/LTE or 5G network capabilities, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00210] Another example implementation is a computing system adapted for network communications, including configurations according to an O-RAN capabilities, operable to invoke or perform the use cases discussed herein, with use of Examples 37-72, or other subject matter described herein.

[00211] Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[00212] Terminology

[00213] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specific the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operation, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. [00214] For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase "A and/or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase "A, B, and/or C" means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C). The description may use the phrases "in an embodiment," or "In some embodiments," which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," "having," and the like, as used with respect to embodiments of the present disclosure, are synonymous.

[00215] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or ink, and/or the like. [00216] The term "circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuitry" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

[00217] The term "processor circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuitry" and/or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, "processor circuitry."

[00218] The term "memory" and/or "memory circuitry" as used herein refers to one or more hardware devices for storing data, including RAM, MRAM, PRAM, DRAM, and/or SDRAM, core memory, ROM, magnetic disk storage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices or other machine readable mediums for storing data. The term "computer-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, memory, portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing or carrying instructions or data.

[00219] The term "interface circuitry" as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.

[00220] The term "user equipment" or "UE" as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[00221] The term "network element" as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

[00222] The term "computer system" as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" and/or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term "computer system" and/or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.

[00223] The term "appliance," "computer appliance," or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource. The term "element" refers to a unit that is indivisible at a given level of abstraction and has a clearly defined boundary, wherein an element may be any type of entity including, for example, one or more devices, systems, controllers, network elements, modules, etc., or combinations thereof. The term "device" refers to a physical entity embedded inside, or attached to, another physical entity in its vicinity, with capabilities to convey digital information from or to that physical entity. The term "entity" refers to a distinct component of an architecture or device, or information transferred as a payload. The term "controller" refers to an element or entity that has the capability to affect a physical entity, such as by changing its state or causing the physical entity to move. [00224] The term "cloud computing" or "cloud" refers to a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable computing resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand and without active management by users. Cloud computing provides cloud computing services (or cloud services), which are one or more capabilities offered via cloud computing that are invoked using a defined interface (e.g., an API or the like). The term "computing resource" or simply "resource" refers to any physical or virtual component, or usage of such components, of limited availability within a computer system or network. Examples of computing resources include usage/access to, for a period of time, servers, processor(s), storage equipment, memory devices, memory areas, networks, electrical power, input/output (peripheral) devices, mechanical devices, network connections (e.g., channels/links, ports, network sockets, etc.), operating systems, virtual machines (VMs), software/applications, computer files, and/or the like. A "hardware resource" may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A "virtualized resource" may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term "network resource" or "communication resource" may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. As used herein, the term "cloud service provider" (or CSP) indicates an organization which operates typically large-scale "cloud" resources comprised of centralized, regional, and edge data centers (e.g., as used in the context of the public cloud). In other examples, a CSP may also be referred to as a Cloud Service Operator (CSO). References to "cloud computing" generally refer to computing resources and services offered by a CSP or a CSO, at remote locations with at least some increased latency, distance, or constraints relative to edge computing.

[00225] As used herein, the term "data center" refers to a purpose-designed structure that is intended to house multiple high-performance compute and data storage nodes such that a large amount of compute, data storage and network resources are present at a single location. This often entails specialized rack and enclosure systems, suitable heating, cooling, ventilation, security, fire suppression, and power delivery systems. The term may also refer to a compute and data storage node in some contexts. A data center may vary in scale between a centralized or cloud data center (e.g., largest), regional data center, and edge data center (e.g., smallest). [00226] As used herein, the term "edge computing" refers to the implementation, coordination, and use of computing and resources at locations closer to the "edge" or collection of "edges" of a network. Deploying computing resources at the network's edge may reduce application and network latency, reduce network backhaul traffic and associated energy consumption, improve service capabilities, improve compliance with security or data privacy requirements (especially as compared to conventional cloud computing), and improve total cost of ownership). As used herein, the term "edge compute node" refers to a real-world, logical, or virtualized implementation of a compute-capable element in the form of a device, gateway, bridge, system or subsystem, component, whether operating in a server, client, endpoint, or peer mode, and whether located at an "edge" of an network or at a connected location further within the network. References to a "node" used herein are generally interchangeable with a "device", "component", and "sub-system"; however, references to an "edge computing system" or "edge computing network" generally refer to a distributed architecture, organization, or collection of multiple nodes and devices, and which is organized to accomplish or offer some aspect of services or resources in an edge computing setting.

[00227] Additionally or alternatively, the term "Edge Computing" refers to a concept that enables operator and 3rd party services to be hosted close to the UE's access point of attachment, to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. As used herein, the term "Edge Computing Service Provider" refers to a mobile network operator or a 3rd party service provider offering Edge Computing service. As used herein, the term "Edge Data Network" refers to a local Data Network (DN) that supports the architecture for enabling edge applications. As used herein, the term "Edge Hosting Environment" refers to an environment providing support required for Edge Application Server's execution. As used herein, the term "Application Server" refers to application software resident in the cloud performing the server function. [00228] The term "Internet of Things" or "loT" refers to a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines capable of transferring data with little or no human interaction, and may involve technologies such as real-time analytics, machine learning and/or Al, embedded systems, wireless sensor networks, control systems, automation (e.g., smart-home, smart building and/or smart city technologies), and the like. loT devices are usually low-power devices without heavy compute or storage capabilities. "Edge loT devices" may be any kind of loT devices deployed at a network's edge.

[00229] As used herein, the term "cluster" refers to a set or grouping of entities as part of an edge computing system (or systems), in the form of physical entities (e.g., different computing systems, networks or network groups), logical entities (e.g., applications, functions, security constructs, containers), and the like. In some locations, a "cluster" is also referred to as a "group" or a "domain". The membership of cluster may be modified or affected based on conditions or functions, including from dynamic or property-based membership, from network or system management scenarios, or from various example techniques discussed below which may add, modify, or remove an entity in a cluster. Clusters may also include or be associated with multiple layers, levels, or properties, including variations in security features and results based on such layers, levels, or properties.

[00230] The term "application" may refer to a complete and deployable package, environment to achieve a certain function in an operational environment. The term "AI/ML application" or the like may be an application that contains some AI/ML models and applicationlevel descriptions. The term "machine learning" or "ML" refers to the use of computer systems implementing algorithms and/or statistical models to perform specific task(s) without using explicit instructions, but instead relying on patterns and inferences. ML algorithms build or estimate mathematical model(s) (referred to as "ML models" or the like) based on sample data (referred to as "training data," "model training information," or the like) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience with respect to some task and some performance measure, and an ML model may be any object or data structure created after an ML algorithm is trained with one or more training datasets. After training, an ML model may be used to make predictions on new datasets. Although the term "ML algorithm" refers to different concepts than the term "ML model," these terms as discussed herein may be used interchangeably for the purposes of the present disclosure.

[00231] The term "machine learning model," "ML model," or the like may also refer to ML methods and concepts used by an ML-assisted solution. An "ML-assisted solution" is a solution that addresses a specific use case using ML algorithms during operation. ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), decision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithms, etc.) unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and the like. Depending on the implementation a specific ML model could have many sub-models as components and the ML model may train all sub-models together. Separately trained ML models can also be chained together in an ML pipeline during inference. An "ML pipeline" is a set of functionalities, functions, or functional entities specific for an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or several data sources in a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and an actor. The "actor" is an entity that hosts an ML assisted solution using the output of the ML model inference). The term "ML training host" refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts the training of the model. The term "ML inference host" refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts model during inference mode (which includes both the model execution as well as any online learning if applicable). The ML-host informs the actor about the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor takes a decision for an action (an "action" is performed by an actor as a result of the output of an ML assisted solution). The term "model inference information" refers to information used as an input to the ML model for determining inference(s); the data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine inferences may overlap, however, "training data" and "inference data" refer to different concepts.

[00232] The terms "instantiate," "instantiation," and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An "instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. The term "information element" refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term "field" refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. As used herein, a "database object", "data structure", or the like may refer to any representation of information that is in the form of an object, attribute-value pair (AVP), key-value pair (KVP), tuple, etc., and may include variables, data structures, functions, methods, classes, database records, database fields, database entities, associations between data and/or database entities (also referred to as a "relation"), blocks and links between blocks in block chain implementations, and/or the like.

[00233] An "information object," as used herein, refers to a collection of structured data and/or any representation of information, and may include, for example electronic documents (or "documents"), database objects, data structures, files, audio data, video data, raw data, archive files, application packages, and/or any other like representation of information. The terms "electronic document" or "document," may refer to a data structure, computer file, or resource used to record data, and includes various file types and/or data formats such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, multimedia items, webpage and/or source code documents, and/or the like. As examples, the information objects may include markup and/or source code documents such as HTML, XML, JSON, Apex®, CSS, JSP, MessagePack™, Apache® Thrift™, ASN.l, Google® Protocol Buffers (protobuf), or some other document(s)/format(s) such as those discussed herein. An information object may have both a logical and a physical structure. Physically, an information object comprises one or more units called entities. An entity is a unit of storage that contains content and is identified by a name. An entity may refer to other entities to cause their inclusion in the information object. An information object begins in a document entity, which is also referred to as a root element (or "root"). Logically, an information object comprises one or more declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions, all of which are indicated in the information object (e.g., using markup).

[00234] The term "data item" as used herein refers to an atomic state of a particular object with at least one specific property at a certain point in time. Such an object is usually identified by an object name or object identifier, and properties of such an object are usually defined as database objects (e.g., fields, records, etc.), object instances, or data elements (e.g., mark-up language elements/tags, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the term "data item" as used herein may refer to data elements and/or content items, although these terms may refer to difference concepts. The term "data element" or "element" as used herein refers to a unit that is indivisible at a given level of abstraction and has a clearly defined boundary. A data element is a logical component of an information object (e.g., electronic document) that may begin with a start tag (e.g., "<element>") and end with a matching end tag (e.g., "</element>"), or only has an empty element tag (e.g., "<element />"). Any characters between the start tag and end tag, if any, are the element's content (referred to herein as "content items" or the like).

[00235] The content of an entity may include one or more content items, each of which has an associated datatype representation. A content item may include, for example, attribute values, character values, URIs, qualified names (qnames), parameters, and the like. A qname is a fully qualified name of an element, attribute, or identifier in an information object. A qname associates a URI of a namespace with a local name of an element, attribute, or identifier in that namespace. To make this association, the qname assigns a prefix to the local name that corresponds to its namespace. The qname comprises a URI of the namespace, the prefix, and the local name. Namespaces are used to provide uniquely named elements and attributes in information objects. Content items may include text content (e.g., "<element>content item</element>"), attributes (e.g., "<element attribute="attributeValue">"), and other elements referred to as "child elements" (e.g., "<elementlxelement2>content item</element2x/elementl>"). An "attribute" may refer to a markup construct including a name-value pair that exists within a start tag or empty element tag. Attributes contain data related to its element and/or control the element's behavior.

[00236] The term "channel" as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term "channel" may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to "communications channel," "data communications channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radiofrequency carrier," and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. As used herein, the term "radio technology" refers to technology for wireless transmission and/or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transfer. The term "radio access technology" or "RAT" refers to the technology used for the underlying physical connection to a radio based communication network. As used herein, the term "communication protocol" (either wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and/or system to communicate with other devices and/or systems, including instructions for packetizing/depacketizing data, modulating/demodulating signals, implementation of protocols stacks, and/or the like.

[00237] As used herein, the term "radio technology" refers to technology for wireless transmission and/or reception of electromagnetic radiation for information transfer. The term "radio access technology" or "RAT" refers to the technology used for the underlying physical connection to a radio based communication network. As used herein, the term "communication protocol" (either wired or wireless) refers to a set of standardized rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and/or system to communicate with other devices and/or systems, including instructions for packetizing/depacketizing data, modulating/demodulating signals, implementation of protocols stacks, and/or the like. Examples of wireless communications protocols may be used in various embodiments include a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) radio communication technology, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) radio communication technology, an Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) radio communication technology, and/or a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) radio communication technology including, for example, 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Freedom of Multimedia Access (FOMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE Advanced), LTE Extra, LTE-A Pro, cdmaOne (2G), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA 2000), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), Mobitex, Circuit Switched Data (CSD), High-Speed CSD (HSCSD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDM), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), HSPA Plus (HSPA+), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD- CDMA), Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), LTE LAA, MuLTEfire, UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data Only (EV-DO), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), Total Access Communication System/Extended Total Access Communication System (TACS/ETACS), Push-to-talk (PTT), Mobile Telephone System (MTS), Improved Mobile Telephone System (IMTS), Advanced Mobile Telephone System (AMTS), Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD), DataTAC, Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), Personal Digital Cellular (PDC), Personal Handy-phone System (PHS), Wideband Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (WiDEN), iBurst, Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), also referred to as also referred to as 3GPP Generic Access Network, or GAN standard), Bluetooth®, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), IEEE 802.15.4 based protocols (e.g., IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks (6L0WPAN), WirelessHART, MiWi, Thread, 802.11a, etc.) WiFi-direct, ANT/ANT+, ZigBee, Z-Wave, 3GPP device-to-device (D2D) or Proximity Services (ProSe), Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Low-Power Wide-Area-Network (LPWAN), Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRA) or LoRaWAN™ developed by Semtech and the LoRa Alliance, Sigfox, Wireless Gigabit Alliance (WiGig) standard, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), mmWave standards in general (e.g., wireless systems operating at 10-300 GHz and above such as WiGig, IEEE 802. Had, IEEE 802.11ay, etc.), V2X communication technologies (including 3GPP C-V2X), Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) communication systems such as Intelligent-Transport-Systems (ITS) including the European ITS-G5, ITS-G5B, ITS-G5C, etc. In addition to the standards listed above, any number of satellite uplink technologies may be used for purposes of the present disclosure including, for example, radios compliant with standards issued by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), among others. The examples provided herein are thus understood as being applicable to various other communication technologies, both existing and not yet formulated.

[00238] The term "access network" refers to any network, using any combination of radio technologies, RATs, and/or communication protocols, used to connect user devices and service providers. In the context of WLANs, an "access network" is an IEEE 802 local area network (LAN) or metropolitan area network (MAN) between terminals and access routers connecting to provider services. The term "access router" refers to router that terminates a medium access control (MAC) service from terminals and forwards user traffic to information servers according to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

[00239] The term "SMTC" refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. The term "SSB" refers to a synchronization signa l/Physica I Broadcast Channel (SS/PBCH) block, which includes a Primary Syncrhonization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Syncrhonization Signal (SSS), and a PBCH. The term "a "Primary Cell" refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. The term "Primary SCG Cell" refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation. The term "Secondary Cell" refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA. The term "Secondary Cell Group" refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC. The term "Serving Cell" refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell. The term "serving cell" or "serving cells" refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA. The term "Special Cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "Special Cell" refers to the Peel I .

[00240] Furthermore, any of the disclosed embodiments and example implementations can be embodied in the form of various types of hardware, software, firmware, middleware, or combinations thereof, including in the form of control logic, and using such hardware or software in a modular or integrated manner. Additionally, any of the software components or functions described herein can be implemented as software, program code, script, instructions, etc., operable to be executed by processor circuitry. These components, functions, programs, etc., can be developed using any suitable computer language such as, for example, Python, PyTorch, NumPy, Ruby, Ruby on Rails, Scala, Smalltalk, Java™, C++, C#, "C", Kotlin, Swift, Rust, Go (or "Golang"), EMCAScript, JavaScript, Typescript, Jscript, ActionScript, Server-Side JavaScript (SSJS), PHP, Pearl, Lua, Torch/Lua with Just-In Time compiler (LuaJIT), Accelerated Mobile Pages Script (AMPscript), VBScript, JavaServer Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Node.js, ASP.NET, JAMscript, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), extensible HTML (XHTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), XML User Interface Language (XUL), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML), wiki markup or Wikitext, Wireless Markup Language (WML), Java Script Object Notion (JSON), Apache® MessagePack™, Cascading Stylesheets (CSS), extensible stylesheet language (XSL), Mustache template language, Handlebars template language, Guide Template Language (GTL), Apache® Thrift, Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.l), Google® Protocol Buffers (protobuf), Bitcoin Script, EVM® bytecode, Solidity™, Vyper (Python derived), Bamboo, Lisp Like Language (LLL), Simplicity provided by Blockstream™, Rholang, Michelson, Counterfactual, Plasma, Plutus, Sophia, Salesforce® Apex®, and/or any other programming language or development tools including proprietary programming languages and/or development tools. The software code can be stored as a computer- or processor-executable instructions or commands on a physical non-transitory computer-readable medium. Examples of suitable media include RAM, ROM, magnetic media such as a hard-drive or a floppy disk, or an optical medium such as a compact disk (CD) or DVD (digital versatile disk), flash memory, and the like, or any combination of such storage or transmission devices.

[00241] The foregoing description provides illustration and description of various example embodiments, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Where specific details are set forth in order to describe example embodiments of the disclosure, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosure can be practiced without, or with variation of, these specific details. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the concepts of the present disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives consistent with the present disclosure and the appended claims

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a New Radio (NR) User Equipment (UE), the apparatus including a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory storing instructions, and the one or more processors to implement the instructions to: decode a downlink control information (DCI) sent by a NR evolved Node B (gNB), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; encode and send for transmission to the gNB an acknowledgment of a decoding of the DCI; after transmission of the acknowledgment to the gNB, apply the TCI state to the one or more UL communications; and send the one or more UL communications for transmission to the gNB.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a joint uplink/downlink TCI state, the one or more processors to further apply the joint uplink/downlink TCI state to all downlink (DL) and all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TCI state includes a quasi co-location source reference signal for only the UL communications.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, the one or more processors to determine power control parameters associated with the TCI state.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, the one or more processors to further: decode a radio resource control (RRC) message sent by the gNB, the RRC message to configure a plurality of TCI states to the UE; configure the UE with the plurality of TCI states; decode a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command from the gNB; and activate one or more of the plurality of TCI states at the UE based on the MAC-CE

6. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, wherein encoding the acknowledgment includes encoding the acknowledgment in a beam to the gNB corresponding to the TCI state.

7. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, wherein applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications includes applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications a number X orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols after transmission of the acknowledgment.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein X corresponds to a capacity of the UE, the one or more processors further to encode and send for transmission to the gNB a communication indicating X.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, the DCI further including TCI state index to indicate that the TCI state is to apply to the UL communications.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the DCI includes an indication of a plurality of TCI states including the TCI state, the one or more processors to further determine a correspondence between the plurality of TCI states and one or more respective UL or downlink (DL) channels or reference signals of the UE, and to apply the plurality to TCI states to corresponding ones of the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, the one or more processors to further determine the correspondence from signaling other than the DCI.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the DCI includes a field to indicate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more processors to decode the field to determine the correspondence, wherein the field corresponds to a bitfield including respective bits to designate the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals, the one or more respective UL or DL channels or reference signals including a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS), and a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) (CSI-RS), a bit of the bitfield set to 1 is to indicate that one of the plurality of TCI states is to be applied to a UL or DL channel or reference signal corresponding to the bit.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DCI corresponds to a group-common DCI including an indication of a plurality of TCI states corresponding to a plurality of UEs, the one or more processors to determine one or more of the TCI states of the plurality of TCI states from the group-common DCI, and apply the one or more TCI states to one or more respective UL or downlink (DL) channels or reference signals of the UE.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the group-common DCI is part of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and is scrambled by a group-common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), the one or more processors to monitor the PDCCH in a common search space (CSS).

15. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, 9, 13 and 14, further including communications resources coupled to the one or more processors to communicate wirelessly with the gNB.

16. A method to be performed at a New Radio (NR) evolved Node B (gNB), the method including: encoding and sending for transmission to a user equipment (UE) a downlink control information (DCI), the DCI including an indication of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state for one or more uplink (UL) communications from the UE to the gNB; decoding the one or more UL communications received from the UE, the one or more UL communications based on the TCI state.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a joint uplink/downlink TCI state to be applied by the UE to all downlink (DL) and all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the TCI state includes a quasi co-location source reference signal for only the UL communications.

19. The method of claim 16, the method including determining power control parameters associated with the TCI state.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the TCI state corresponds to a common UL beam indication to be applied by the UE to all UL communications from the UE to the gNB.

21. The method of claim 16, the method including: encoding and sending for transmission to the UE a radio resource control (RRC) message, the RRC message to configure a plurality of TCI states to the UE; and encoding and sending for transmission to the UE a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC-CE) command to be used by the UE to activate one or more TCI states of the plurality of TCI states, the one or more TCI states including the TCI state.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the DCI is a scheduling DCI, and the acknowledgment corresponds to an acknowledgment of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the DCI.

23. The method of claim 16, the method including decoding from the UE a communication indicating X, wherein X represents a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing symbols that the UE is to wait after transmission of the acknowledgment before applying the TCI state to the one or more UL communications.

24. A machine readable medium including code, which, when executed, is to cause a machine to perform the method of any one of claims 16-23.

25. An apparatus including means to perform the method of any one of claims 16-23.