Patent Grant
11863281
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to wireless communication utilising cross-carrier beams.
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.
These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of a continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with Internet of Things (IoT)), and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communications (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC). Some aspects of 5G NR may be based on the 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. There exists a need for further improvements in 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.
The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.
In some examples, a wireless device (e.g., a user equipment (UE)) may communicate using multiple carriers. For example, a UE configured for dual connectivity may be connected to two different base stations, and may be able to simultaneously transmit and receive data on multiple component carriers of the two different base stations. A UE configured for carrier aggregation may be able to simultaneously transmit and receive data on multiple component carriers from a same base station. In some such examples in which different carriers are used for communication, a synchronization signal block (SSB) burst may be assigned to each carrier. An SSB burst may include one or more SSBs, and each SSB associated with an SSB burst may be allocated to a beam. In some examples, the different carriers may be intra-band carriers. In some examples, the different carriers may be inter-band carriers within a same frequency range. In some examples, the different carriers may be inter-band carriers in different frequency ranges.
In an aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided for wireless communication of a UE. An example apparatus for wireless communication at a UE includes receiving, from a base station, an indication of a cross-carrier beam association associated with a first carrier and a second carrier different than the first carrier. The example apparatus also determines an association between a first set of beams of the first carrier and a second set of beams of the second carrier based on the indication of the cross-carrier beam association. Additionally, the example apparatus receives on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association.
In another aspect of the disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided for wireless communication of a base station. An example apparatus for wireless communication at a base station includes determining a cross-carrier beam association between a first set of beams of a first carrier and a second set of beams of a second carrier, the first carrier being different than the second carrier. The example apparatus also transmits, to a UE, an indication of the cross-carrier beam association associated with the first carrier and the second carrier. Additionally, the example apparatus transmits, to the UE, on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.
The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.
Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements”). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.
By way of example, an element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on a chip (SoC), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.
Accordingly, in one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or encoded as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of the aforementioned types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.
As used herein, the term computer-readable medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As used herein, “computer-readable medium,” “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable memory,” and “machine-readable memory” may be used interchangeably.
In some examples, a wireless device (e.g., a UE) may communicate using multiple carriers. For example, a UE configured for dual connectivity may be connected to two different base stations, and may be able to simultaneously transmit and receive data on multiple component carriers of the two different base stations. A UE configured for carrier aggregation may be able to simultaneously transmit and receive data on multiple component carriers from a same base station. In some examples in which different carriers are used for communication, a synchronization signal block (SSB) burst may be assigned to each carrier. An SSB burst may include one or more SSBs, and each SSB associated with an SSB burst may be allocated to a beam. In some examples, the different carriers may be intra-band carriers. In some examples, the different carriers may be inter-band carriers within a same frequency range. In some examples, the different carriers may be inter-band carriers in different frequency ranges.
Example techniques disclosed herein enable associating cross-carrier beams based on, for example, one or more similar characteristics. For example, one or more beams of a first carrier may be cross-carrier associated with one or more beams of a second carrier. In some examples, when a first beam of a first carrier is indicated as being cross-carrier associated with a second beam of a second carrier, then characteristics associated with the first beam may be applied to the second beam. For example, if the first beam and the second beam are indicated as having a similar delay spread, then a UE can determine the delay spread for the first beam and apply the determined delay spread to the second beam without separately determining the delay spread for the second beam.
Still referring to
Although the following description provides examples of cross-carrier beam associations directed to instances including two carriers, the concepts described herein may be applicable to any suitable quantity of carriers. Furthermore, while the following description provides examples directed to 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and/or other wireless technologies, in which cross-carrier beam associations may be beneficial.
The wireless communications system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes the base stations 102, the UEs 104, an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G Core (5GC)). The base stations 102 may include macrocells (high power cellular base station) and/or small cells (low power cellular base station). The macrocells include base stations. The small cells include femtocells, picocells, and microcells.
The base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 through first backhaul links 132 (e.g., S1 interface). The base stations 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with core network 190 through second backhaul links 184. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: transfer of user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC 160 or core network 190) with each other over third backhaul links 134 (e.g., X2 interface). The first backhaul links 132, the second backhaul links 184, and the third backhaul links 134 may be wired or wireless.
The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, the small cell 102′ may have a coverage area 110′ that overlaps the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. The base stations 102/UEs 104 may use spectrum up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) bandwidth per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz (x component carriers) used for transmission in each direction. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL). The component carriers may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. A primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).
Certain UEs 104 may communicate with each other using device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use the DL/UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communications systems, such as for example, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.
The wireless communications system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 in communication with Wi-Fi stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154, e.g., in a 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum or the like. When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the STAs 152/AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.
The small cell 102′ may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell 102′ may employ NR and use the same unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz, or the like) as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102′, employing NR in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network.
The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency/wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a “millimeter wave” band.
With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, or may be within the EHF band.
A base station 102, whether a small cell 102′ or a large cell (e.g., macro base station), may include and/or be referred to as an eNB, gNodeB (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations, such as gNB 180 may operate in a traditional sub 6 GHz spectrum, in millimeter wave frequencies, and/or near millimeter wave frequencies in communication with the UE 104. When the gNB 180 operates in millimeter wave or near millimeter wave frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a millimeter wave base station. The millimeter wave base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the path loss and short range. The base station 180 and the UE 104 may each include a plurality of antennas, such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays to facilitate the beamforming.
The base station 180 may transmit a beamformed signal to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182′. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182″. The UE 104 may also transmit a beamformed signal to the base station 180 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 180 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 180/UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for each of the base station 180/UE 104. The transmit and receive directions for the base station 180 may or may not be the same. The transmit and receive directions for the UE 104 may or may not be the same.
The EPC 160 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a Serving Gateway 166, a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) Gateway 168, a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC) 170, and a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the EPC 160. Generally, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the Serving Gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN Gateway 172. The PDN Gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The PDN Gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to the IP Services 176. The IP Services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a PS Streaming Service, and/or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmission, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS Bearer Services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to the base stations 102 belonging to a Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a particular service, and may be responsible for session management (start/stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.
The core network 190 may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a Session Management Function (SMF) 194, and a User Plane Function (UPF) 195. The AMF 192 may be in communication with a Unified Data Management (UDM) 196. The AMF 192 is the control node that processes the signaling between the UEs 104 and the core network 190. Generally, the AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet protocol (IP) packets are transferred through the UPF 195. The UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation as well as other functions. The UPF 195 is connected to the IP Services 197. The IP Services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), a Packet Switch (PS) Streaming (PSS) Service, and/or other IP services.
The base station may include and/or be referred to as a gNB, Node B, eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmit reception point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC 160 or core network 190 for a UE 104. Examples of UEs 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor/actuator, a display, or any other similar functioning device. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meter, gas pump, toaster, vehicles, heart monitor, etc.). The UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communications device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.
Other wireless communication technologies may have a different frame structure and/or different channels. A frame (10 ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1 ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. Subframes may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the slot configuration. For slot configuration 0, each slot may include 14 symbols, and for slot configuration 1, each slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also referred to as single carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power limited scenarios; limited to a single stream transmission). The number of slots within a subframe is based on the slot configuration and the numerology. For slot configuration 0, different numerologies μ 0 to 4 allow for 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots, respectively, per subframe. For slot configuration 1, different numerologies 0 to 2 allow for 2, 4, and 8 slots, respectively, per subframe. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and numerology μ, there are 14 symbols/slot and 2μ slots/subframe. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length/duration are a function of the numerology. The subcarrier spacing may be equal to 2μ*15 kHz, where μ is the numerology 0 to 4. As such, the numerology μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz and the numerology μ=4 has a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz. The symbol length/duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing.
A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each time slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) that extends 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into multiple resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
The transmit (TX) processor (e.g., a TX processor 316) and the receive (RX) processor (e.g., an RX processor 370) implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318 TX. Each transmitter 318 TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.
At the UE 350, each receiver 354 RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 352. Each receiver 354 RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to an RX processor 356. A TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they may be combined by the RX processor 356 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 310 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to a controller/processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.
The controller/processor 359 can be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller/processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.
Similar to the functionality described in connection with the DL transmission by the base station 310, the controller/processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.
Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by the TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antenna 352 via separate transmitters 354 TX. Each transmitter 354 TX may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.
The UL transmission is processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 350. Each receiver 318 RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318 RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the RX processor 370.
The controller/processor 375 can be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer-readable medium. In the UL, the controller/processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. IP packets from the controller/processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller/processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using an ACK and/or NACK protocol to support HARQ operations.
At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the example UE cross-carrier beam association handling component 198 of
At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the example base station cross-carrier beam association handling component 199 of
In the illustrated example of
In the illustrated example of
In some examples, a carrier (e.g., the carriers 410, 420) may be associated with an operating band and a frequency range. For example, a first frequency range (FR1) may include frequencies between 410 MHz and 7125 MHz, and a second frequency range (FR2) may include frequencies between 24250 MHz and 52600 MHz. The respective frequency ranges may be further divided into operating bands that define a subset of frequencies. For example, a first operating band within FR1 may include frequencies between 1920 MHz and 1980 MHz for uplink transmissions and frequencies between 2110 MHz and 2170 MHz for downlink transmissions. A second operating band within FR1 may include frequencies between 1850 MHz and 1910 MHz for uplink transmissions and frequencies between 1930 MHz and 1990 MHz for downlink transmissions. The second frequency range (FR2) may also include operating bands. For example, a first operating band within FR2 may include frequencies between 26500 MHz and 29500 MHz for uplink transmissions and downlink transmissions, and a second operating band within FR2 may include frequencies between 24500 MHz and 27500 MHz for uplink transmissions and downlink transmissions.
Although the following description provides examples of SSB bursts associated with the cross-carrier communication 450 of
An SSB may be used during a cell search procedure. For example, the UE 404 may search for synchronization signals when scanning for a cell to camp on. An SSB burst may be used to facilitate beamforming and/or beam sweeping. An SSB burst may include one or more SSBs and may be contained within a time window (e.g., 5 milliseconds). In some examples, the quantity and/or shape of a beam transmitting an SSB within an SSB burst may vary based on the operating band associated with the carrier. In the illustrated example of
The beams of a carrier may be associated with one or more characteristics (sometimes referred to as “beam characteristics” or “radio channel characteristics”). For example, a beam may be associated with a Doppler shift, a Doppler spread, an average delay, a delay spread, and/or spatial information. While the beams associated with the first carrier 410 and the second carrier 420 may be associated with different operating bands and/or frequency ranges, in some examples, one or more beam(s) of the first carrier 410 may be related to one or more beam(s) of the second carrier 420. For example, in the illustrated example of
Example techniques disclosed herein enable a base station to indicate a cross-carrier beam association between a first set of beams of a first carrier and a second set of beams of a second carrier. The cross-carrier beam association may indicate cross-carrier beams that share similar characteristics. For example, the cross-carrier beam association may indicate that the beam A1 of the first carrier 410 has similar spatial characteristics to the beams B1 and B2 of the second carrier 420. In some examples, a UE may use the cross-carrier beam association to assist with channel estimation, frequency offset estimations, and/or synchronization procedures. For example, if the beams A1, B1, and B2 are indicated as being cross-carrier associated, then the UE may measure a characteristic of the beam A1 and apply the value measured for the beam A1 of the first carrier 410 to the beams B1 and B2 of the second carrier 420.
In some examples, the first carrier 510 and the second carrier 520 of
In the illustrated example of
In some examples, based on the beams that are determined to be cross-carrier associated, a base station may transmit a message identifying cross-carrier beam associations. For example, the base station may transmit a message identifying a first cross-carrier beam association 530a between the beam A1 of the first set of beams 514 and the beam B1 of the second set of beams 524, a second cross-carrier beam association 530b between the beam A2 of the first set of beams 514 and the beam B2 of the second set of beams 524, a third cross-carrier beam association 530c between the beam A3 of the first set of beams 514 and the beam B3 of the second set of beams 524, and a fourth cross-carrier beam association 530d between the beam A4 of the first set of beams 514 and the beam B4 of the second set of beams 524.
In the illustrated example of
As shown in the example of
Similar to the example of
In some examples, based on the beams that are determined to be cross-carrier associated, a base station may transmit a message identifying cross-carrier beam associations. For example, the base station may transmit a message identifying a first cross-carrier beam association 580a between the beam A1 of the first set of beams 564 and the beams B1 and B2 of the second set of beams 574, a second cross-carrier beam association 580b between the beam A2 of the first set of beams 564 and the beams B3 and B4 of the second set of beams 574, a third cross-carrier beam association 580c between the beam A3 of the first set of beams 564 and the beams B5 and B6 of the second set of beams 574, and a fourth cross-carrier beam association 580d between the beam A4 of the first set of beams 564 and the beams B7 and B8 of the second set of beams 574.
Although not shown in the illustrated example of
While the example of
While the examples of
In the illustrated example of
At 620, the base station 602 determines a cross-carrier beam association associated with a first carrier and a second carrier. In some examples, the first carrier and the second carrier may be intra-band carriers. For example, the first carrier and the second carrier may be associated with a same operating band within a same frequency range. In some examples, the first carrier and the second carrier may be inter-band carriers within a same frequency range. For example, the first carrier and the second carrier may be associated with different operating bands within a first frequency range (FR1). In some examples, the first carrier and the second carrier may be inter-band carriers across different frequency ranges. For example, the first carrier may be associated with a first operating band within the first frequency range (FR1) and the second carrier may be associated with a second operating band within the second frequency range (FR2).
In some examples, the cross-carrier beam associations may be based on spatial information, as described above in connection with
The base station 602 transmits a cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 that is received by the UE 604. The cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 may include information identifying one or more beams of a first carrier that are cross-carrier associated with one or more beams of a second carrier. For example, the cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 may include, or otherwise indicate, the cross-carrier beam associations 530a-530d of
At 640, the UE 604 determines an association between a first set of beams of the first carrier and a second set of beams of the second carrier based on the cross-carrier beam associations indication 630. In some examples, the UE 604 may determine, based on the cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 which one or more beams of the first carrier are cross-carrier associated with one or more beams of the second carrier. For example, and with respect to the example of
The base station 602 may transmit transmissions using a first set of beams 650 that are received by the UE 604. The base station 602 may additionally or alternatively transmit transmissions using a second set of beams 652 that are received by the UE 604. The first set of beams 650 may be of the first carrier (e.g., the first set of beams 514 of the first carrier 510 of
In some examples, the UE 604 may use the cross-carrier beam associations to improve performance at the UE. For example, the UE 604 may use the cross-carrier beam associations to help with channel estimation, frequency offset estimation, and/or synchronization procedures.
For example, in some examples, the cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 may indicate that an SSB of the first set of beams is associated with a random access channel (RACH) occasion (RO). In some examples, measuring SSBs on a first carrier (e.g., in the first frequency range (FR1)) may be more power efficient than measuring SSBs on a second carrier (e.g., in the second frequency range (FR2)). However, it may be more beneficial for the UE to use the second carrier to transmit a RACH message. At 660, the UE 604 may determine a subset of beams of the second set of beams to use for transmitting a RACH message. For example, while operating in an idle mode or an inactive mode, the UE 604 may measure SSBs received on a first carrier and transmit a RACH message on a second carrier. For example, and referring to the illustrated example of
In some examples, the UE 604 may further refine the beams used for transmitting the RACH message 680. At 670, the UE 604 may refine the subset of beams of the second set of beams. For example, the UE 604 may measure SSBs received on the second subset of beams of the second set of beams 574 of the second carrier 570. For example, the UE 604 may measure SSBs B3, B4, B5, and B6 received on the beams B3, B4, B5, and B6 of the second carrier 570. The UE 604 may then refine the beams in the second subset of beams of the second set of beams 574 based on the measured SSBs received through the respective beams. For example, based on the measured SSBs B3, B4, B5, and B6, the UE 604 may determine to transmit the RACH message 680 through the beams B5 and B6. In some such examples, the UE 604 may perform the refining of the beams used for transmitting the RACH message 680 without measuring SSBs received on all of the beams of the second set of beams 574 of the second carrier 570.
It may be appreciated that by employing one or more of the techniques disclosed herein, the UE 604 may conserve resources (e.g., processing resources) by applying one or more characteristics associated with a beam of a first carrier to one or more beams of a second carrier. In some such examples, the UE 604 may avoid performing measurements on the one or more beams of the second carrier.
At 702, the UE may transmit, to a base station, a capability indicating support of cross-carrier beam association, as described in connection with the UE capability 610 of
At 704, the UE receives, from the base station, an indication of a cross-carrier beam association associated with a first carrier and a second carrier different than the first carrier, as described in connection with the cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 of
In some examples, the first carrier may be different than the second carrier. In some examples, the first carrier and the second carrier may be intra-band carriers, as described above in connection with
At 706, the UE determines an association between a first set of beams of the first carrier and a second set of beams of the second carrier based on the indication of the cross-carrier beam association, as described in connection with 640 of
In some examples, the first set of beams may include a first quantity of beams and the second set of beams may include a second quantity of beams that is the same as the first quantity of beams, as described above in connection with
In some examples, the cross-carrier beam association between the first carrier and the second carrier may be determined based on a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship of the first set of beams and the second set of beams, as described above in connection with
At 708, the UE receives on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association, as described in connection with the transmissions using the first set of beams 650 and the transmissions using the second set of beams 652 of
In some examples, the indication (e.g., received at 704) may indicate that an SSB of the first set of beams is associated with a RACH occasion (RO). In some such examples, at 710, the UE may select a first subset of beams of the first set of beams based on measurements of an SSB received on the first carrier, as described above in connection with 660 of
At 712, the UE may determine a second subset of beams of the second set of beams where the second subset of beams correspond to the first subset of beams based on the cross-carrier beam association, as described in connection with 660 of
At 718, the UE may transmit, to the base station, a RACH message through the second subset of beams at the RO, as described in connection with the RACH message 680 of
In some examples, the UE may employ techniques for refining the one or more beams used for transmitting the RACH message. For example, at 714, the UE may measure SSBs received through the second subset of beams, as described above in connection with 670 of
At 716, the UE may refine beams in the second subset of beams based on the measured SSBs received through the second set of beams, as described above in connection with 670 of
The UE may then, at 718, transmit a RACH message through the refined beams in the second subset of beams based on the measured SSBs, as described above in connection with the RACH message 680 of
The communication manager 832 includes a capabilities component 840 that is configured to transmit, to a base station, a capability indicating support of cross-carrier beam association, for example, as described in connection with 702 of
The communication manager 832 also includes an associations reception component 842 that is configured to receive, from the base station, an indication of a cross-carrier beam association associated with a first carrier and a second carrier different than the first carrier, for example, as described in connection with 704 of
The communication manager 832 also includes an associations handler component 844 that is configured to determine an association between a first set of beams of the first carrier and a second set of beams of the second carrier based on the indication of the cross-carrier beam association, for example, as described in connection with 706 of
The communication manager 832 also includes a beams reception component 846 that is configured to receive on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association, for example, as described in connection with 708 of
The communication manager 832 also includes a beam selection component 848 that is configured to select a first subset of beams of the first set of beams based on measurements of an SSB received on the first carrier, for example, as described in connection with 710 of
The communication manager 832 also includes a RACH transmission component 850 that is configured to transmit, to the base station, a RACH message through the second subset of beams at the RO and/or transmit a RACH message through the refined beams in the second subset of beams based on the measured SSBs, for example, as described in connection with 718 of
The communication manager 832 also includes a measurement component 852 that is configured to measure SSBs received through the second subset of beams, for example, as described in connection with 714 of
The communication manager 832 also includes a beam refinement component 854 that is configured to refine beams in the second subset of beams based on the measured SSBs received through the second set of beams, for example, as described in connection with 716 of
The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowchart of
In one configuration, the apparatus 802, and in particular the cellular baseband processor 804, includes means for receiving, from a base station, an indication of a cross-carrier beam association associated with a first carrier and a second carrier different than the first carrier. The example apparatus 802 also includes means for determining an association between a first set of beams of the first carrier and a second set of beams of the second carrier based on the indication of the cross-carrier beam association. The example apparatus 802 also includes means for receiving on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 802 may also include means for selecting a first subset of beams of the first set of beams based on measurements of an SSB received on the first carrier. The example apparatus 802 also includes means for determining a second subset of beams of the second set of beams, the second subset of beams corresponding to the first subset of beams based on the cross-carrier beam association. The example apparatus 802 also includes means for transmitting, to the base station, a RACH message through the second subset of beams at the RO.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 802 may also include means for measuring SSBs received through the second subset of beams. The example apparatus 802 also includes means for refining beams in the second subset of beams based on the measured SSBs received through the second set of beams.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 802 may also include means for receiving the indication via system information (SI) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 802 may also include means for transmitting, to the base station, a capability indicating support of cross-carrier beam association, and where the indication is received in a radio resource control (RRC) message.
The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 802 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the apparatus 802 may include the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller/processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.
At 902, the base station determines a cross-carrier beam association between a first set of beams of a first carrier and a second set of beams of a second carrier, as described in connection with 620 of
In some examples, the first carrier may be different than the second carrier. In some examples, the first carrier and the second carrier may be intra-band carriers, as described above in connection with
In some examples, the first set of beams may include a first quantity of beams and the second set of beams may include a second quantity of beams that is the same as the first quantity of beams, as described above in connection with
In some examples, the cross-carrier beam association between the first carrier and the second carrier may be determined based on a QCL relationship of the first set of beams and the second set of beams, as described above in connection with
At 904, the base station may receive, from a UE, a capability indication support of cross-carrier beam association, as described in connection with the UE capability 610 of
At 906, the base station transmits, to the UE, an indication of the cross-carrier beam association associated with the first carrier and the second carrier, as described above in connection with the cross-carrier beam associations indication 630 of
At 908, the base station transmits, to the UE, on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association, as described above in connection with the transmissions using the first set of beams 650 and the transmissions using the second set of beams 652 of
In some examples, the indication (e.g., transmitted at 906) may indicate that an SSB of the first set of beams is associated with a RACH occasion (RO). In some such examples, at 910, the base station may receive, from the UE, a RACH message through a subset of beams of the second set of beams at an RO, as described above in connection with the RACH message 680 of
The communication manager 1032 includes an association determination component 1040 that is configured to determine a cross-carrier beam association between a first set of beams of a first carrier and a second set of beams of a second carrier, for example, as described in connection with 902 of
The communication manager 1032 also includes a capabilities component 1042 that is configured to receive, from a UE, a capability indication support of cross-carrier beam association, for example, as described in connection with 904 of
The communication manager 1032 also includes an indication transmission component 1044 that is configured to transmit, to the UE, an indication of the cross-carrier beam association associated with the first carrier and the second carrier, for example, as described in connection with 906 of
The communication manager 1032 also includes a beams transmission component 1046 that is configured to transmit, to the UE, on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association, for example, as described in connection with 908 of
The communication manager 1032 also includes a RACH handling component 1048 that is configured to receive, from the UE, a RACH message through a subset of beams of the second set of beams at an RO, for example, as described in connection with 910 of
The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowchart of
In one configuration, the apparatus 1002, and in particular the baseband unit 1004, includes means for determining a cross-carrier beam association between a first set of beams of a first carrier and a second set of beams of a second carrier, the first carrier being different than the second carrier. The example apparatus 1002 also includes means for transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), an indication of the cross-carrier beam association associated with the first carrier and the second carrier. The example apparatus 1002 also includes means for transmitting, to the UE, on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 1002 may also include means for receiving, from the UE, a RACH message through a subset of beams of the second set of beams at the RO.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 1002 may also include means for transmitting the indication via system information (SI) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
In another configuration, the example apparatus 1002 may also include means for receiving, from the UE, a capability indicating support of cross-carrier beam association, and where the indication is transmitted in a radio resource control (RRC) message.
The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus 1002 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the apparatus 1002 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller/processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.
Example techniques disclosed herein enable associating cross-carrier beams based on, for example, one or more similar characteristics. For example, one or more beams of a first carrier may be cross-carrier associated with one or more beams of a second carrier. In some examples, when a first beam of a first carrier is indicated as being cross-carrier associated with a second beam of a second carrier, then characteristics associated with the first beam may be applied to the second beam. For example, if the first beam and the second beam are indicated as having a similar delay spread, then a UE can determine the delay spread for the first beam and apply the determined delay spread to the second beam without separately determining the delay spread for the second beam.
It may be appreciated that by employing one or more of the techniques disclosed herein, the UE may conserve resources (e.g., processing resources) by applying one or more characteristics associated with a beam of a first carrier to one or more beams of a second carrier. In some such examples, the UE may avoid performing measurements on the one or more beams of the second carrier.
It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches. Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes/flowcharts may be rearranged. Further, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.
The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless specifically so stated, but rather “one or more.” Terms such as “if,” “when,” and “while” should be interpreted to mean “under the condition that” rather than imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, e.g., “when,” do not imply an immediate action in response to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring a specific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, or multiples of C. Specifically, combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, or C,” “at least one of A, B, and C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” and “A, B, C, or any combination thereof” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any such combinations may contain one or more member or members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. The words “module,” “mechanism,” “element,” “device,” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means.” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for.”
The following aspects are illustrative only and may be combined with other aspects or teachings described herein, without limitation.
Aspect 1 is a method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from a base station, an indication of a cross-carrier beam association associated with a first carrier and a second carrier different than the first carrier; determining an association between a first set of beams of the first carrier and a second set of beams of the second carrier based on the indication of the cross-carrier beam association; and receiving on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association.
Aspect 2 is the method of aspect 1, further including that the indication indicates that a synchronization signal block (SSB) of the first set of beams is associated with a random access channel (RACH) occasion (RO), the method further comprising: selecting a first subset of beams of the first set of beams based on measurements of an SSB received on the first carrier; determining a second subset of beams of the second set of beams, the second subset of beams corresponding to the first subset of beams based on the cross-carrier beam association; and transmitting, to the base station, a RACH message through the second subset of beams at the RO.
Aspect 3 is the method of any of aspect 1 or aspect 2, further including: measuring SSBs received through the second subset of beams; and refining beams in the second subset of beams based on the measured SSBs received through the second set of beams.
Aspect 4 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 3, further including that the first set of beams comprises a first quantity of beams and the second set of beams comprises a second quantity of beams that is a same quantity as the first quantity of beams or that is a different quantity than the first quantity of beams.
Aspect 5 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 4, further including that the first set of beams comprises N beams and the second set of beams comprises N*M beams.
Aspect 6 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 5, further including that the first carrier and the second carrier are inter-band carriers.
Aspect 7 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 6, further including that the first carrier is associated with a first frequency range and the second carrier is associated with a second frequency range that is a same frequency range as the first frequency range or that is a different frequency range than the second frequency range.
Aspect 8 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 5, further including that the first carrier and the second carrier are intra-band carriers.
Aspect 9 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 8, further including that the first set of beams are each associated with a first beam width, where the second set of beams are each associated with a second beam width, and where the second set of beams based on the second beam width overlap the first set of beams based on the first beam width.
Aspect 10 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 9, further including that the second beam width is a same beam width as the first beam width or that is a different beam width than the first beam width.
Aspect 11 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 10, further including that the second beam width is approximately equal to 1/M the first beam width.
Aspect 12 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 11, further including that the cross-carrier beam association between the first carrier and the second carrier is determined based on a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship of the first set of beams and the second set of beams.
Aspect 13 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 12, further including that the indication is received via system information (SI) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
Aspect 14 is the method of any of aspects 1 to 13, further including: transmitting, to the base station, a capability indicating support of cross-carrier beam association, and where the indication is received in a radio resource control (RRC) message.
Aspect 15 is an apparatus for wireless communication including a memory and at least one processor coupled to a memory, the memory and the at least one processor configured to implement a method as in any of aspects 1 to 14.
Aspect 16 is an apparatus for wireless communication including means for implementing a method as in any of aspects 1 to 14.
Aspect 17 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable code, where the code, when executed, causes a processor to implement a method as in any of aspects 1 to 14.
Aspect 18 is a method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising: determining a cross-carrier beam association between a first set of beams of a first carrier and a second set of beams of a second carrier, the first carrier being different than the second carrier; transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), an indication of the cross-carrier beam association associated with the first carrier and the second carrier; and transmitting, to the UE, on the first set of beams and the second set of beams based on the determined cross-carrier beam association.
Aspect 19 is the method of aspect 18, further including that the indication indicates that a synchronization signal block (SSB) of the first set of beams is associated with a random access channel (RACH) occasion (RO), the method further comprising: receiving, from the UE, a RACH message through a subset of beams of the second set of beams at the RO.
Aspect 20 is the method of any of aspect 18 or aspect 19, further including that the first set of beams comprises a first quantity of beams and the second set of beams comprises a second quantity of beams that is a same quantity as the first quantity of beams or that is a different quantity than the first quantity of beams.
Aspect 21 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 20, further including that the first set of beams comprises N beams and the second set of beams comprises N*M beams.
Aspect 22 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 21, further including that the first carrier and the second carrier are inter-band carriers.
Aspect 23 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 22, further including that the first carrier is associated with a first frequency range and the second carrier is associated with a second frequency range that is a same frequency range as the first frequency range or that is a different frequency range than the second frequency range.
Aspect 24 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 21, further including that the first carrier and the second carrier are intra-band carriers.
Aspect 25 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 24, further including that the first set of beams are each associated with a first beam width, where the second set of beams are each associated with a second beam width, and where the second set of beams based on the second beam width overlap the first set of beams based on the first beam width.
Aspect 26 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 25, further including that the second beam width is a same beam width as the first beam width or that is a different beam width than the first beam width.
Aspect 27 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 26, further including that the second beam width is approximately equal to 1/M the first beam width.
Aspect 28 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 27, further including that the cross-carrier beam association between the first carrier and the second carrier is determined based on a quasi co-location (QCL) relationship of the first set of beams and the second set of beams.
Aspect 29 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 28, further including that the indication is transmitted via system information (SI) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
Aspect 30 is the method of any of aspects 18 to 29, further including: receiving, from the UE, a capability indicating support of cross-carrier beam association, and where the indication is transmitted in a radio resource control (RRC) message.
Aspect 31 is an apparatus for wireless communication including a memory and at least one processor coupled to a memory, the memory and the at least one processor configured to implement a method as in any of aspects 18 to 30.
Aspect 32 is an apparatus for wireless communication including means for implementing a method as in any of aspects 18 to 30.
Aspect 33 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer executable code, where the code, when executed, causes a processor to implement a method as in any of aspects 18 to 30.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/018,399, entitled “Methods and Apparatus to Facilitate Cross-Carrier Beam Association,” and filed on Apr. 30, 2020, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
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