Patent Description:
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and other types of content. A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes that may simultaneously support communication for multiple communication devices (e.g., user equipment (UE)).

Some wireless signals transmitted within a wireless communication system may be limited by path-loss through the air, physical blockers, or other constraints. To address this issue, wireless communications systems may use wireless repeaters for repeating and extending signals sent between various system nodes. A signal received at a repeater may be a signal transmitted by a base station intended for a UE, a signal transmitted by a UE intended for a base station, a signal transmitted by one UE intended for another UE, or a signal transmitted by one base station intended for another base station.

<CIT> relates to a base station repeater. <CIT> relates to a self-configuring repeater system and method.

The system may be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the disclosure.

The systems and techniques described in this detailed description provide various mechanisms for controlling gains and/or transmission power at nodes within a repeater communication system. A repeater in a repeater communication system serves to relay communications between a first device (e.g., a base station, user equipment (UE), or another repeater) and a second device (e.g., a base station, UE, or another repeater). In one example, the repeater receives, amplifies, and forwards a downlink signal sent from a base station intended for a UE. In another example, the repeater receives, amplifies, and forwards an uplink signal sent from a UE intended for a base station.

One issue that may arise in a repeater communication system is how to control the gain value at the repeater for initial access messages received and forwarded through the repeater. During the initial access procedure, a base station may send one or more downlink initial access messages to the UE, and the UE may send one or more uplink initial access messages to the base station. In an example system where a base station and UE communicate through a repeater for the initial access procedure, the system may desire to jointly coordinate the downlink gain value applied at the repeater for the downlink initial access messages in connection with the uplink gain value applied at the repeater for the corresponding uplink initial access messages. In some situations, the system may desire to set the uplink and downlink gain values at the repeater to be equal. In other situations, the system may desire to set the uplink gain value to be different than the downlink gain value.

A controlling node (such as a base station or the repeater itself or another entity) may determine when to set the uplink gain value to be equal to the downlink gain value, and when to make the uplink gain value different than the downlink gain value. In some implementations, the decision by the controlling node as to whether to set the gain values to be equal or different may be based on a noise level related to a channel between the repeater and another device such as a UE transmitting to the base station through the repeater. As one example, the controlling node may choose to set the uplink gain value at the repeater to be equal to the downlink gain value at the repeater in situations when a noise level on a communication channel between a UE and the repeater would result in a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on an uplink communication from the UE through the repeater to the base station. As another example, the controlling node may choose to set the uplink gain value at the repeater to be less than the downlink gain value at the repeater in situations when a noise level on a communication channel between a UE and the repeater would result in a relatively low SNR on an uplink communication from the UE through the repeater to the base station. As will be discussed in the examples below, the controlling node for the power control scheme described herein may be a base station, a UE, a repeater, a network node/function, a cloud-based management entity, or any other control entity. Where the description herein discusses certain implementations with a base station performing actions related to configuring the gain values at the repeater, other example implementations may use other types of controlling nodes to configure the repeater in the same or similar manner.

By setting the uplink gain value to be less than the downlink gain value in certain situations, the system may reduce some noise boosting interference to the system that may occur when the repeater amplifies the noise present on the uplink channel between the UE and repeater. In some implementations, the system dynamically sets the uplink gain value at the repeater based on the corresponding downlink gain value and the noise level between the UE and the repeater. This dynamic gain selection process may allow the system to balance the potentially competing goals of: (<NUM>) increasing initial access performance by one or more UEs communicating through a repeater; and (<NUM>) increasing global initial access performance for all UEs (including one or more UEs that do not communicate through the repeater). Further details of the disclosed power control techniques will be discussed below (see, e.g., <FIG>).

<FIG> illustrates an example of a wireless communications system <NUM> that includes one or more repeaters <NUM> in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system <NUM> includes one or more repeater <NUM>, one or more base stations <NUM>, one or more UEs <NUM>, and one or more core networks <NUM>. In some examples, the wireless communications system <NUM> may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, a fifth generation (<NUM>) New Radio (NR) network, or another type of network. In some cases, wireless communications system <NUM> may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latency communications, or communications with low-cost and low-complexity devices.

A UE <NUM> may also be referred to as a wireless communication device, a communication device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where the "device" may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client.

Base stations <NUM> may communicate with one another over backhaul links <NUM> (e.g., via an X2, Xn, or other interface) either directly (e.g., directly between base stations <NUM>) or indirectly (e.g., via core network <NUM> or via a repeater <NUM>).

The core network <NUM> may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or <NUM> core (5GC), which may include at least one control plane entity that manages access and mobility (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) and at least one user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)). The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management for the UEs <NUM> served by the base stations <NUM> associated with the core network <NUM>. User IP packets may be transferred through the user plane entity, which may provide IP address allocation as well as other functions. The user plane entity may be connected to the network operators IP services. The operators IP services may include access to the Internet, Intranet(s), an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or a Packet-Switched Streaming Service.

In some systems, millimeter wave (mmW) communications may occur in a frequency range (also known as "FR2") that exists above <NUM> (which may include portions of the total frequency range that are within the millimeter band as well as near the millimeter band).

In some examples, a base station <NUM>, UE <NUM>, or repeater <NUM> may be equipped with multiple antennas, which may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. For example, wireless communications system <NUM> may use a transmission scheme between a transmitting device (e.g., a base station <NUM>) and a receiving device (e.g., a repeater <NUM>), where the transmitting device is equipped with multiple antennas and the receiving device is equipped with one or more antennas.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station <NUM>, UE <NUM>, or repeater <NUM>) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting device and the receiving device.

In one example, a base station <NUM> may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays to conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE <NUM>, another base station <NUM>, or a repeater <NUM>. For instance, some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted by a base station <NUM> multiple times in different directions, which may include a signal being transmitted according to different beamforming weight sets associated with different directions of transmission. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used to identify (e.g., by the base station <NUM> or a receiving device, such as a UE <NUM> or repeater <NUM>) a beam direction for subsequent transmission and/or reception by the base station <NUM>. Additionally, a UE <NUM> or repeater <NUM> may perform similar beamforming operations (as described herein for the base station <NUM>) for directional communications with other devices (e.g., a base station, a UE, or another repeater).

Some signals, such as data signals associated with a particular receiving device, may be transmitted by a base station <NUM> in a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with the receiving device, such as a repeater <NUM>). In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmissions along a single beam direction may be determined based at least in in part on a signal that was transmitted in different beam directions. For example, a repeater <NUM> may receive one or more of the signals transmitted by the base station <NUM> in different directions, and the repeater <NUM> may report to the base station <NUM> an indication of the signal it received with a highest signal quality, or an otherwise acceptable signal quality. Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted in one or more directions by a base station <NUM>, a UE <NUM> or repeater <NUM> may employ similar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., for identifying a beam direction for subsequent transmission or reception by the UE <NUM>), or transmitting a signal in a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).

A receiving device (e.g., a UE <NUM> or repeater <NUM>, which may be examples of a mmW receiving device) may try multiple receive beams when receiving various signals from the base station <NUM>, such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals.

Likewise, a UE <NUM> or a repeater <NUM> may have one or more antenna arrays that may support various MIMO or beamforming operations.

An individual node (e.g., base station, UE, or repeater) within the wireless communications system <NUM> may include multiple different communication interfaces each configured for a different type of communication protocol. As one example, a base station <NUM>, a UE <NUM>, or a repeater <NUM> may include both a wide area network interface (e.g., <NUM> or <NUM> cellular) and a local area network interface (e.g., IEEE <NUM> Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth). As another example, a base station <NUM>, a UE <NUM>, or a repeater <NUM> may include both a high frequency network interface (e.g., mmWave) and a lower frequency network interface that uses a lower frequency band than the mmWave interface (e.g., LTE, sub-<NUM> NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.).

Wireless communications system <NUM> may include one or more wireless repeaters <NUM> (also known as a relay or a hybrid node). The repeaters <NUM> may include functionality of base station <NUM> and/or UE <NUM> for repeating, forwarding, relaying, extending, and/or redirecting wireless signals. In some cases, a repeater <NUM> may be used in line of site (LOS) or non-line of sight (NLOS) scenarios. In a LOS scenario, transmissions, such as mmW transmissions, may be limited by path-loss through air, which may be overcome using beamforming techniques at the wireless repeater <NUM>. In a NLOS scenario, such as in an urban area or indoors, mmW transmissions may be limited by signal blocking or signal interfering physical objects.

The repeater <NUM> may provide an uplink path from a UE to a base station, a downlink path from a base station to a UE, a P2P or D2D path from one UE to another UE, and/or a wireless backhaul path between the base station and a core network device (e.g., via one or more other base stations). In a first example, a mmW beamforming repeater <NUM> may be utilized to receive a signal from a base station <NUM> and transmit the signal to the UE <NUM>, such as by receiving the signal on wireless link <NUM> and then transmitting the signal on wireless link <NUM>. In a second example, a mmW beamforming repeater <NUM> may be utilized to receive a signal from a UE <NUM> and transmit the signal to the base station <NUM>, such as by receiving the signal on wireless link <NUM> and then transmitting the signal on wireless link <NUM>. In a third example, a mmW beamforming repeater <NUM> may be utilized to receive a signal from one base station <NUM> and transmit the signal to a different base station <NUM> (e.g., in a wireless backhaul configuration), such as by receiving the signal on wireless link <NUM> and then transmitting the signal on wireless link <NUM>. In a fourth example, a mmW beamforming repeater <NUM> may be utilized to receive a signal from one UE <NUM> and transmit the signal to a different UE <NUM> (e.g., in a P2P or D2D protocol configuration), such as by receiving the signal on wireless link <NUM> and then transmitting the signal on wireless link <NUM>. In each of these examples, the signal transmitted may be a processed version of the received signal (e.g., an amplified version of the received signal with or without further processing such as signal phase shifting, splitting, and/or combining). Beamforming and gain control techniques may be utilized to improve signal quality between the base station <NUM>, repeater <NUM>, and UE <NUM> by isolating signals (e.g., via beamforming) and improving or maintaining stability within a signal processing chain of the repeater (e.g., via gain control).

The repeater <NUM> may include an array of reception antennas and an array of transmission antennas. In some cases, the array of reception antennas and the array of transmission antennas comprise the same set of dual-pole antennas, wherein the dual pole antennas function in a first polarization as the array of reception antennas and the dual pole antennas function in a second polarization as the array of transmission antennas. In some cases, the antennas comprise meta-material antennas or antenna arrays. The repeater <NUM> may further include a beam control system, which may comprise a processor or system on chip (SoC) for controlling transmit and/or receive beams to reduce signal interference caused by retransmission.

In some cases, the repeater <NUM> is an analog RF repeater, and the repeater <NUM> may include a signal processing chain connected (e.g., coupled, linked, attached) between the array of reception of antennas and the array of transmission antennas. The signal processing chain may be implemented as a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), which may include RF/microwave components such as one or more phase shifters, (low noise amplifiers) LNAs, (power amplifiers) PAs, PA drivers, gain controllers, power detectors, or other circuitry. The phase shifters may be controlled by one or more beam controllers for beamforming to reduce signal interference. The signal processing chain may include a feedback path for monitoring the output of one or more PAs, and adjusting gains to one or more PA drivers to the PAs and gains to one or more LNAs based on the output. The gain adjustment may function to stabilize the signal reception and transmission and improve signal quality between devices such as base station <NUM> and UE <NUM>. Accordingly, through beamforming and gain control, signal quality (e.g., mmW signals) may be improved in LOS and NLOS scenarios.

As described, the repeater <NUM> may include components (e.g., antenna arrays and signal processing chain circuitry) in the analog/RF domain. Accordingly, in some implementations, the repeater may not include any digital components for certain features described herein. For example, the repeater, in some implementations, may not include any digital signal processing functionality that would allow the repeater to decode and interpret the contents of a received mmW signal. As another example, the repeater, in some implementations, may not include any digital signal processing functionality that would allow the repeater to generate new content for a mmWave signal to be sent to another device. However, in other implementations, the repeater may include additional functionality to allow the repeater to decode signals, interpret the contents of the signals, and generate new signals.

In some cases, the repeater may include one or more side channel components that allow the repeater to decode and interpret other types of messages (e.g., non-mmW signals). For example, the repeater may include a side channel communication interface for sending or receiving control messages. Incoming control messages may include power control messages from a base station <NUM> or another device, such as instructions regarding a gain to be applied at the repeater or an output power to be used by the repeater. Outgoing control messages may include gain configuration information of the repeater to be sent to the base station. Example side channel communication interfaces may be implemented using one or more of Bluetooth, ultra-wide band, wireless LAN (e.g., IEEE <NUM> Wi-Fi), LTE, or sub-<NUM> NR protocols (or other wireless communication protocols). As such, the repeater may include circuitry and/or processors for transmitting, receiving, and/or processing signals via those protocols and controlling gain levels or output power levels based on those signals one the side channel communication interface.

<FIG> illustrates an example block diagram <NUM> of a repeater <NUM>. In some examples, the devices of <FIG> may implement aspects of wireless communications system <NUM>, and the repeater <NUM> may be an example of the repeater <NUM> of <FIG>. The repeater <NUM> includes a reception antenna array <NUM> including a set of antennas and a transmission antenna array <NUM> including a set of antennas. In some cases, the reception antenna array <NUM> and the transmission antenna array <NUM> are the same antenna arrays including the same set of dual pole antennas functioning in first and second polarizations as the reception and the transmission antenna array. In other cases, the reception antenna array <NUM> and the transmission antenna array <NUM> are physically separate arrays. In some cases, the reception antenna array <NUM> and/or the transmission antenna array <NUM> comprise meta-material antennas.

The repeater <NUM> may further include one or more processors <NUM>, memory <NUM>, and one or more transceivers <NUM>. The processor is <NUM> is coupled with the memory <NUM>, where the processor <NUM> executes instructions stored on the memory <NUM> to implement the various functions performed by the repeater <NUM> described herein. The one or more transceivers <NUM> may include multiple transceivers to support multiple communication interfaces. In one example, one transceiver may support a first communication technology (e.g., mmWave interface) while another transceiver may support as second communication technology (e.g., a non-mmWave interface, such as an interface associated with LTE, sub-<NUM> NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.). The non-mmWave interface may use a frequency range that is lower than a frequency range associated with the mmWave interface. In another example, one transceiver may support a first radio access technology (RAT) while another transceiver may support a second RAT different than the first RAT.

In some implementations, the repeater <NUM> uses a first transceiver for sending and/or receiving control messages (e.g., exchanging control messages with a base station), and the repeater <NUM> uses a second transceiver for sending and/or receiving other signals when the repeater <NUM> is acting as an amplifying intermediary or relay between two other devices. As one example of using the second interface for relayed signals, the repeater <NUM> may receive signals from a base station <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with a second communication interface of the repeater <NUM>) according to a beamforming configuration and retransmit the signals to a UE <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration. The repeater <NUM> may further receive signals from a UE <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration and retransmit the signals to a base station <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration. As such, the repeater <NUM> may function to implement uplink and downlink communications. The repeater <NUM> may also receive signals from one base station <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration and retransmit the signals to a different base station <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration (e.g., for wireless backhaul). The repeater <NUM> may also receive signals from one UE <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration and retransmit the signals to a different UE <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a beamforming configuration (e.g., D2D or P2P). Additionally, the repeater <NUM> may also receive signals from another repeater <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) or send signals to another repeater <NUM> via the second transceiver (associated with the second communication interface) according to a receive and/or transmit beamforming configuration (e.g., in a multi-hop repeater path).

<FIG> illustrates an example of a block diagram <NUM> of a base station <NUM> in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the devices of <FIG> may implement aspects of wireless communications system <NUM>, and the base station <NUM> may be an example of the base station <NUM> of <FIG>. The base station <NUM> includes a reception antenna array <NUM> including a set of antennas and a transmission antenna array <NUM> including a set of antennas. The antenna arrays <NUM> and <NUM> may receive signals from, and transmit signals to, various other communication devices, including UEs <NUM>, repeaters <NUM>, and/or other base stations <NUM>.

The base station <NUM> may further include one or more processors <NUM>, memory <NUM>, and one or more transceivers <NUM>. The processor is <NUM> is coupled with the memory <NUM>, where the processor <NUM> executes instructions stored on the memory <NUM> to implement the various functions performed by the base station <NUM> described herein. The one or more transceivers <NUM> may include multiple transceivers to support multiple communication interfaces. In one example, one transceiver may support a first communication technology (e.g., mmWave interface) while another transceiver may support as second communication technology (e.g., a non-mmWave interface, such as an interface associated with LTE, sub-<NUM> NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.). The non-mmWave interface may use a frequency range that is lower than a frequency range associated with the mmWave interface. In another example, one transceiver may support a first radio access technology (RAT) while another transceiver may support a second RAT different than the first RAT.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a communication system <NUM> that uses one or more repeaters in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. <FIG> describes the repeaters in the context of mmWave transmissions, although the repeaters may be used for other communication types as well. Because millimeter wave communications have a higher frequency and shorter wavelength than other types of radio waves used for communications (e.g., sub-<NUM> communications), millimeter wave communications may have shorter propagation distances and may be more easily blocked by obstructions than other types of radio waves. For example, a wireless communication that uses sub-<NUM> radio waves may be capable of penetrating a wall of a building or a structure to provide coverage to an area on an opposite side of the wall from a base station <NUM> that communicates using the sub-<NUM> radio waves. However, a millimeter wave may not be capable of penetrating the same wall (e.g., depending on a thickness of the wall, a material from which the wall is constructed, and/or the like). Some techniques and apparatuses described herein use a millimeter wave repeater <NUM> to increase the coverage area of a base station <NUM>, to extend coverage to UEs <NUM> without line of sight to the base station <NUM> (e.g., due to an obstruction), to extend coverage from one base station <NUM> to another base station <NUM> (e.g., due to an obstruction or due to other forms of path loss), and/or the like. Furthermore, the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> described herein may be a layer <NUM> or an analog millimeter wave repeater, which is associated with a lower cost, less processing, and lower latency than a layer <NUM> or layer <NUM> repeater. In other implementations, the repeater <NUM> may be a layer <NUM> or layer <NUM> repeater that has increased communication functionality relative to a layer <NUM> repeater.

As shown in <FIG>, a millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may perform directional communication by using beamforming to communicate with a base station <NUM> via a first beam (e.g., a backhaul beam over a backhaul link with the base station <NUM>) and to communicate with a UE <NUM> via a second beam (e.g., an access beam over an access link with the UE <NUM>). Alternatively, the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may communicate between two base stations <NUM> (e.g., in a wireless backhaul link) or between two UEs <NUM> (e.g., in a D2D or P2P link). To achieve long propagation distances and/or to satisfy a required link budget, the millimeter wave repeater may use narrow beams (e.g., with a beamwidth less than a threshold) for such communications.

However, using a narrower beam requires the use of more resources of the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> (e.g., processing resources, memory resources, power, battery power, and/or the like) and more network resources (e.g., time resources, frequency resources, spatial resources, and/or the like), as compared to a wider beam, to perform beam training (e.g., to determine a suitable beam), beam maintenance (e.g., to find suitable beam as conditions change due to mobility and/or the like), beam management, and/or the like. This may use resources of the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> and/or network resources as compared to using a wider beam, and may lead to increased cost of production of millimeter wave repeaters <NUM>, which may be deployed extensively throughout a radio access network.

For example, a millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may be deployed in a fixed location with limited or no mobility, similar to a base station <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may use a narrower beam to communicate with the base station <NUM> without unnecessarily consuming network resources and/or resources of the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> because the need for beam training, beam maintenance, and/or beam management may be limited, due to limited or no mobility of the base station <NUM> and the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> (and/or due to a line of sight communication path between the base station <NUM> and the millimeter wave repeater <NUM>).

As further shown in <FIG>, the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may use a wider beam (e.g., a pseudo-omnidirectional beam and/or the like) to communicate with one or more UEs <NUM>. This wider beam may provide wider coverage for access links, thereby providing coverage to mobile UEs <NUM> without requiring frequent beam training, beam maintenance, and/or beam management. In this way, network resources and/or resources of the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may be conserved. Furthermore, if the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> does not include digital signal processing capabilities on the mmWave communication interface, resources of the base station <NUM> (e.g., processing resources, memory resources, and/or the like) may be conserved that would otherwise be used to perform such signal processing for the millimeter wave repeater <NUM>, and network resources may be conserved that would otherwise be used to communicate input to or output of such processing between the base station <NUM> and the millimeter wave repeater <NUM>. In this way, the millimeter wave repeater <NUM> may increase a coverage area, provide access around obstructions (as shown), and/or the like, while conserving resources of the base station <NUM>, resources of the millimeter wave repeater <NUM>, network resources, and/or the like.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a downlink communication path from a base station <NUM> to a UE <NUM> through a repeater <NUM>. In the downlink communication path example of <FIG>, the base station <NUM> transmits at power level PTX,B, which represents the transmission (TX) power (P) at the base station (B). The transmitted signal experiences an amount of path loss (PL<NUM>) when transmitted from the base station <NUM> to the repeater <NUM>. The path loss results in the transmitted signal being received at the repeater <NUM> at receive power PRX,R(DL), which represents receive (RX) power (P) at the repeater (R) for a downlink (DL) transmission. The repeater <NUM> applies a gain (GDL) to the signal received from the base station <NUM>. The gain applied to the received signal at the repeater <NUM> results in the repeater <NUM> transmitting the signal to the UE <NUM> at power level PTX,R(DL). The transmitted signal experiences an amount of path loss (PL<NUM>) when transmitted from the repeater <NUM> to the UE <NUM>. The path loss results in the transmitted signal being received at the UE <NUM> at receive power PRX,U, which represents receive (RX) power (P) at the UE (U) for a downlink (DL) transmission. The path loss values (PL<NUM> and PL<NUM>) represent any over-the-air losses experienced in the communication channel offset by any transmit array gains or receive array gains applied to the signal, such as beamforming gains.

The difference between the power level PTX,B used at the base station <NUM> and the power level PTX,R(DL) used at the repeater <NUM> is represented in <FIG> as a delta (ΔDL,dB). The delta value ΔDL,dB may be customized by the base station <NUM> to be zero (e.g., a same transmission power level at both devices), or to be another other value to meet the performance goals of the system. The base station <NUM> may customize, adjust, or dynamically set the delta by selecting the transmission power used by the base station <NUM>, selecting the gain value applied at the repeater <NUM>, selecting the transmission power used by the repeater <NUM> (which could be used by the repeater <NUM> to derive the gain value to apply to a received downlink signal), or any combination thereof. Although <FIG> illustrates a single repeater between the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, other implementations may include additional repeaters creating a multi-hop repeater network between the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>.

The gain value (GDL) at the repeater <NUM> may be adjusted by the base station <NUM> or the repeater itself. The available gain values may be subject to one or more constraints, such as a maximum gain or a maximum output power at the repeater <NUM>. The maximum gain may be established as a function of loop gain, input power, or other factors. In some implementations, the base station <NUM> jointly sets (or adjusts) its own transmission power and the relays power gain (or transmission power). Having multiple power or gain adjustment points may allow the base station <NUM> to achieve a desired target receive power at the UE <NUM>, achieve interference management goals, achieve power savings at the base station or the repeater, or any combination thereof.

As one example, the base station <NUM> may save power at the repeater <NUM> by setting the gain value at the repeater <NUM> to a relatively low value within a range of available gain values, thus resulting in a relatively low transmission power level at the repeater <NUM> which would use less power than if a higher repeater transmission power was used. As another example, the base station <NUM> may reduce interference in the signal received at the UE <NUM> by transmitting from the base station <NUM> at a relatively high value within a range of available transmit power levels, thus avoiding the need for a relatively high gain value at the repeater <NUM> which may otherwise boost any interference received with the signal incoming to the repeater <NUM>. As yet another example, the base station <NUM> may achieve a target receive power of the signal at the UE <NUM> by setting the gain value at the repeater <NUM> to a relatively high value within a range of available gain values, thus resulting in a higher receive power at the UE <NUM> than if a lower gain value was applied at the repeater <NUM>.

In the downlink path of <FIG>, the power transmitted by the repeater may be calculated as PTX,R(DL) = PTX,B - PL<NUM> + GDL = PTX,B - ΔDL,dB, where ΔDL,dB = PL<NUM> - GDL. In some situations, the system parameters may be set so that ΔDL,dB=<NUM> (e.g., repeater PA gain can compensate for the path loss between the base station and repeater and thus the output power of repeater is equal to the output power of the base station). In some situations, ΔDL,dB may not equal zero, such as if the maximum output transmission power of the repeater may be less than the transmission power of the base station, or if the maximum PA gain of the repeater is less than PL<NUM>. The received power of the transmission at the UE may be calculated as PRX,U = PTX,R(DL) - PL<NUM> = PTX,B - (PL<NUM> +ΔDL,dB). Further, the UE may estimate the path loss based on a downlink transmission from the base station, such as a synchronization signal block (SSB) message. The UE is provided with the transmission power of the base station for the SSB (e.g., PTX,B) and thus may estimate the effective end-to-end path loss as PLe2e = PL<NUM> + PL<NUM> - GDL (e.g., PTX,B - PRX,U = PL<NUM> + ΔDL,dB).

<FIG> illustrates an example of an uplink communication path from a UE <NUM> to a base station <NUM> through a repeater <NUM>. In the uplink communication path example of <FIG>, the UE <NUM> transmits at power level PTX,U, which represents the transmission (TX) power (P) at the UE (U). The transmitted signal experiences an amount of path loss (PL<NUM>) when transmitted from the UE <NUM> to the repeater <NUM>. The path loss results in the transmitted signal being received at the repeater <NUM> at receive power PRX,R(UL), which represents receive (RX) power (P) at the repeater (R) for an uplink (UL) transmission. The repeater <NUM> applies a gain (GUL) to the signal received from the UE <NUM>. The gain applied to the received signal at the repeater <NUM> results in the repeater <NUM> transmitting the signal to the base station <NUM> at power level PTX,R(UL). The transmitted signal experiences an amount of path loss (PL<NUM>) when transmitted from the repeater <NUM> to the base station <NUM>. The path loss results in the transmitted signal being received at the base station <NUM> at receive power PRX,B, which represents receive (RX) power (P) at the base station (B). The path loss values (PL<NUM> and PL<NUM>) represent any over-the-air losses experienced in the communication channel offset by any transmit array gains or receive array gains applied to the signal, such as beamforming gains.

The base station <NUM> may control the transmission power levels at the UE <NUM>, the repeater <NUM>, or both. For example, the base station <NUM> may control the difference between the power level PTX,U used at the UE <NUM> and the power level PTX,R(UL) used at the repeater <NUM>. The delta value between these two transmission levels may be customized by the base station <NUM> to be zero (e.g., a same transmission power level at both devices), or to be another other value to meet the performance goals of the system. The base station <NUM> may customize, adjust, or dynamically set the delta by selecting the transmission power used by the UE <NUM>, selecting the gain value applied at the repeater <NUM>, selecting the transmission power used by the repeater <NUM> (which could be used by the repeater <NUM> to derive the gain value to apply to a received uplink signal), or any combination thereof. Although <FIG> illustrates a single repeater between the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, other implementations may include additional repeaters creating a multi-hop repeater network between the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>.

The gain value (GUL) at the repeater <NUM> may be adjusted by the base station <NUM> or the repeater itself. The available gain values may be subject to one or more constraints, such as a maximum gain or a maximum output power at the repeater <NUM>. The maximum gain may be established as a function of loop gain, input power, or other factors. In some implementations, the base station <NUM> jointly sets (or adjusts) the transmission power of the UE and the power gain (or transmission power) of the repeater. Having multiple power or gain adjustment points may allow the base station <NUM> to achieve a desired target receive power at the base station <NUM>, achieve interference management goals, achieve power savings at the UE or the repeater, or any combination thereof.

As one example, the base station <NUM> may save power at the repeater <NUM> by setting the gain value at the repeater <NUM> to a relatively low value within a range of available gain values, thus resulting in a relatively low transmission power level at the repeater <NUM> which would use less power than if a higher repeater transmission power was used. As another example, the base station <NUM> may save power at the UE <NUM> by setting the transmission power level at the UE <NUM> to a relatively low value within a range of available gain values, which would use less power than if a higher UE transmission power was used. As yet another example, the base station <NUM> may reduce interference in the signal received at the base station <NUM> by instructing the UE <NUM> to transmit at a relatively high value within a range of available transmit power levels, thus avoiding the need for a relatively high gain value at the repeater <NUM> which may otherwise boost any interference received with the signal incoming to the repeater <NUM>. As still another example, the base station <NUM> may achieve a target receive power of the signal at the base station <NUM> by setting the gain value at the repeater <NUM> to a relatively high value within a range of available gain values, thus resulting in a higher receive power at the base station <NUM> than if a lower gain value was applied at the repeater <NUM>.

In the uplink path of <FIG>, one system objective may be for the base station <NUM> to receive an uplink initial access message at a target receive power selected for the uplink initial access message transmission. The uplink initial access message may be a random-access channel (RACH) preamble message, which may also be known as a RACH message <NUM> (Msg1) transmission. The transmit power of the transmission from the UE <NUM> may be represented as PTX,U = PtargetRACH + estPL = PtargetRACH + PL<NUM> + (PL<NUM> - GDL), where PtargetRACH is the target base station receive power selected for the uplink initial access message transmission (e.g., the target receive power at the base station for the RACH Msg1 transmission) and estPL is the estimated end-to-end path loss (e.g., an end-to-end path loss estimated at the UE based on a downlink transmission from the base station to the UE). The received power of the transmission at the repeater <NUM> may be represented as PRX,R(UL) = PtargetRACH + (PL<NUM> - GDL).

After the repeater <NUM> amplifies and forwards the uplink initial access message, the received power at the base station <NUM> may be represented as PRX,B = PRX,R(UL) + GUL - PL<NUM> = PtargetRACH + (GUL - GDL), where GDL is the gain used at the repeater <NUM> for a downlink initial access message, such as an SSB message, and GUL is the gain used at the repeater <NUM> for the corresponding uplink initial access message, such as a RACH Msg1 transmission in response to the SSB message. Given that the receive power at the base station may be represented as PRX,B = PtargetRACH + (GUL - GDL), it may be beneficial in some situations for GUL to be equal to GDL so that the PRX,B = PtargetRACH (e.g., the received power experienced for the uplink initial access message is equal to the target power pre-selected for the uplink initial access message transmission). This allows use of the same uplink and downlink gain values for a RACH opportunity (RO) and the SSB associated with the RO. In many situations, the received power of the RACH message at the repeater <NUM> is relatively small (e.g., the operating point may be negative SNR), and may be smaller than the received power of the SSB message at the repeater <NUM>. Thus, the same downlink repeater gain can safely be used for uplink RACH amplification and forwarding from the repeater <NUM> to the base station <NUM>.

However, in other situations, it may be more beneficial to set GUL to be different than GDL, such as when the noise level on the path between the UE <NUM> and the repeater <NUM> is relatively high. For example, RACH operating SNR may be relatively low in some situations. Thus, the uplink gain value applied at the repeater <NUM> may result in a noise boosting situation where the repeater <NUM> amplifies the noise present on the first hop (UE <NUM> to repeater <NUM>) of the transmission. This amplified noise will then be received by the base station <NUM> when the repeater <NUM> forwards the amplified RACH to the base station <NUM>. The amplified noise may potentially interfere with other UEs trying to send RACH messages to the base station <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a communication system <NUM> that does not include a repeater. During an initial access procedure for an example system that includes one base station (BS) and two UEs (UE1 and UE2), the signal received by the base station for a RACH opportunity may be represented as yBS(RACH) = hUE<NUM>xUE<NUM> + hUE2xUE2 + ω, where hUE1 represents the channel between UE1 and the base station, xUE<NUM> represents the signal (e.g., RACH) transmitted from UE1, hUE2 represents the channel between UE2 and the base station, xUE2 represents the signal (e.g., RACH) transmitted from UE2, and ω represents the additive noise in the system. The target received power at the base station for a RACH transmission may be represented as |hUE<NUM>|<NUM>|xUE1|<NUM> = |hUE<NUM>|<NUM>|xUE2|<NUM> = PtargetRACH. Also, the power of the additive noise in the system may be represented as Pω = σ<NUM>, where σ represents a measure of thermal noise.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a communication system <NUM> that includes a repeater. During an initial access procedure for an example system that includes one base station (BS), a first UE (UE1) connecting to the base station without a repeater, and a second UE (UE2) connecting to the base station through a repeater (R), the signal received by the base station for a RACH opportunity may be represented as yBS(RACH) = hUE<NUM>xUE<NUM> + hR-BS gUL(hR-UE<NUM>xUE2 + ωR) + ω, where hR-BS represents the channel between the repeater and the base station, gUL represents the gain applied by the repeater for the uplink RACH message, hR-UE<NUM> represents the channel between UE2 and the repeater, ωR represents the received noise at the repeater that will be amplified by the repeater, and ω represents other system noise. The target received power at the base station for a RACH transmission by UE1 may be represented as |hUE<NUM>|<NUM>|xUE<NUM>|<NUM> = PtargetRACH. One relationship between the target receive power, the transmitted signals, the channels, and the repeater gain may be expressed as <MAT>. PtargetRACH where the received power at the base station for a RACH transmission by UE2 is <MAT>. PtargetRACH. The total effective noise can be expressed as ω̂: = hR-BS gULωR + ω. One relationship between the channel, repeater gain value, and noise may be expressed as <MAT>, and the power of the noise ω̂ may be represented as Pω̂ = <MAT>. The delta Δ, in dB, can be represented as ΔdB := <NUM> log<NUM> Δ = PL<NUM> - |gUL|<NUM> = ΔDL,DB + (|gDL|<NUM> - |gUL|<NUM>), where PL<NUM> := -<NUM> log<NUM>|hR-BS|<NUM> is the pathloss between the repeater and base station, and ΔDL,dB := PTX,B - PTX,R(DL) = PL<NUM> - |gDL|<NUM>. In one example, the noise boost, i.e. <MAT>, created by the amplification at the receiver may be 3dB for (ΔdB = 0dB), <NUM>. 7dB for (ΔdB = 3dB), and 1dB for (ΔdB = 6dB).

As shown by the relationships expressed above, a larger Δ (or ΔdB) value would reduce the impact of noise boosting created by the amplification at the repeater of an uplink message that includes a noise component. In one example, the DL and UL gains at the repeater may be selected to be the same, i.e. |gDL|<NUM> = |gUL|<NUM>. In this example, ΔdB = ΔDL,dB = PL<NUM> - |gDL|<NUM>, and a larger ΔdB is equivalent to larger ΔDL,dB and smaller |gDL|<NUM>. Hence, a larger Δ (or ΔdB) value may reduce the coverage of downlink initial access messages (e.g., SSBs). In another example, a larger Δ (or ΔdB) value may correspond to use of an uplink gain value at the repeater that is lower than the downlink gain applied at the repeater for a pair of corresponding initial access messages (i.e. |gUL|<NUM> < |gDL|<NUM>). In this example, the larger Δ value may reduce the chance of achieving the target base station receive power for an uplink response (e.g., RACH preamble message) to the SSB message for a UE sending the RACH message through the repeater.

Thus, there are tradeoffs to consider when selecting between a larger Δ value (e.g., a relatively larger difference between the downlink gain value and uplink gain value, such as a greater than 3dB difference from downlink gain value to uplink gain value) and a smaller Δ value (e.g., a relatively smaller difference between the downlink gain value and uplink gain value, such as a 0dB difference or less than 3dB difference from downlink gain value to uplink gain value). In the example of <FIG>, a larger Δ value used at the repeater would reduce the impact of noise boosting at the base station, which would improve the RACH performance of UE1 (and other UEs not communicating through the repeater) due to less noise interference at the base station. However, a larger Δ value used at the repeater would reduce the gain amplification for an uplink message, which may reduce the RACH performance of UEs (such as UE2) that do communicate through the repeater. Thus, it may be beneficial for a controlling node in the system, such as the base station, repeater, or another system node, to monitor conditions (e.g., noise conditions on specific links) and select between a relatively larger Δ value for the repeater in some conditions and a relatively lower Δ value for the repeater in other conditions. The controlling node may select the relatively larger Δ value when the noise on the link between the UE2 and the repeater is relatively high (thus, causing some concern to global RACH performance in the network due to interference from repeater noise boosting), and may select the relatively smaller Δ value when the noise on the link between the UE2 and the repeater is relatively low (thus, not causing as much concern of a large noise boosting issue). The controlling node may also address these tradeoffs and performance goals in other ways. In one example, the controlling node may compensate for a relatively low uplink gain at a repeater for a UE who is connected via the repeater by instructing or configuring this UE to send its uplink messages (such as one or more non-initial RACH messages) at a higher transmission power (e.g., increased by a certain number of dB) than a typical UE that does not connect to the base station via the repeater.

<FIG> is a flow diagram illustrating one example of a process <NUM> for a repeater to amplify and relay communications between a first communication device (e.g., a UE, a base station, or another repeater) and a second communication device (e.g., a UE, a base station, or another repeater). The operations of process <NUM> may be implemented by a repeater, such as repeater <NUM> (<FIG> and <FIG>), repeater <NUM> (<FIG>), repeater <NUM> (<FIG>), repeater <NUM> (<FIG>) or one or more sub-components of the repeater. For example, with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the operations of process <NUM> may be performed by one or more transceivers <NUM> (e.g., the transmission and/or receiving actions of process <NUM>), one or more processors <NUM>, and/or instructions stored in memory <NUM> that are executed by a processor <NUM> to enable the repeater to perform the recited actions (e.g., the processing actions of process <NUM>).

At block <NUM>, the repeater determines a downlink gain value to use for one or more downlink initial access messages received at the repeater. In some implementations, the repeater determines the desired downlink gain value locally based on static pre-configured settings or dynamically changing information collected at the repeater (e.g., a noise level or channel conditions or other performance data). In other implementations, the repeater may receive gain configuration information from a controlling node. In some systems, the controlling node that sends the gain configuration information to the repeater may be the same base station that exchanges data traffic with the repeater. In other systems, the controlling node may be a different entity, such as a UE, a second repeater, a second base station different from the base station that sends downlink traffic to be amplified at the repeater, a cloud-based management entity, another network entity or function, or another type of controlling node.

The gain configuration information received at the repeater may include an indication of the downlink gain value to apply at the repeater. The repeater may identify which downlink gain value to use, from multiple possible gain values, based on the gain configuration information received from the controlling node, such as a base station or other entity. The gain configuration information may explicitly recite the downlink gain value, may provide information that allows the repeater to derive the desired downlink gain value, or may provide some other indication of the downlink gain value.

At block <NUM>, the repeater determines an uplink gain value to use for one or more downlink initial access messages received at the repeater. The downlink gain value and uplink gain value may be related in some way. As one example, in some conditions, the uplink gain value may be determined to be equal to the downlink gain value. As another example, in other conditions, the uplink gain value may be determined to be different than the downlink value, such by selecting the uplink gain value to be less than the downlink gain value.

In some implementations, the repeater determines the desired uplink gain value locally based on static pre-configured settings or dynamically changing information collected at the repeater (e.g., a noise level or channel conditions or other performance data). In other implementations, the repeater may receive gain configuration information from a controlling node, such as a base station or other entity. The gain configuration information may include an indication of the uplink gain value to apply at the repeater, either alone or together with an indication of the downlink gain value to apply at the repeater. The repeater may identify which uplink gain value to use, from multiple possible gain values, based on the gain configuration information received from the controlling node, such as a base station or other entity. The gain configuration information may explicitly recite the uplink gain value (e.g., via an explicit instruction or explicit indication of the uplink gain value for use at the repeater), may provide information that allows the repeater to derive the desired uplink gain value, or may provide some other indication of the uplink gain value. In one specific implementation, the gain configuration information may include an offset value usable by the repeater to derive the uplink gain value to apply. For example, the repeater may calculate the uplink gain value based on a reduction relative to the downlink gain value by an amount of the offset value signaled by the controlling node, such as a base station or other entity. The offset value may instruct the repeater to use an uplink gain value that is <NUM> dB, 3dB, 6dB (or any other desired offset value) less than the downlink gain value used for a downlink initial access message associated with the planned uplink initial access message.

The uplink gain value may be based on the downlink gain value and a noise level related to a channel between the repeater and the UE that is sending the uplink communication to be amplified at the repeater. The repeater may determine the relationship between the downlink gain value and the uplink gain value locally or based on gain configuration information received from another device, such as a base station. In some noise level situations, the uplink gain value is selected to be equal to the downlink gain value used for a corresponding downlink initial access message. In other noise level situations, the uplink gain value is selected to be different than the downlink gain value used for a corresponding downlink initial access message.

When the controlling node, such as a base station or other entity, coordinates the selection of gain values at the repeater, the base station (or other controlling node) detects the possibility of a noise boosting situation at the repeater. For example, the base station may determine a noise level between the repeater and the UE that is sending the uplink communication to be amplified at the repeater. The base station may determine this information based on a noise level report sent from the repeater, the UE, or another device. The base station then uses the noise level information to select an appropriate uplink gain level for the repeater to achieve a desired performance goal. For example, the base station may select an uplink gain value for the repeater that is less than the downlink gain value when the base station detects that noise boosting at the repeater may adversely impact its communication with other UEs. As another example, the base station may select an uplink gain value for the repeater that is equal to the downlink gain value when the base station detects that noise boosting at the repeater is less likely to adversely impact its communication with other UEs.

Based on the noise level information acquired by the base station, the base station may send gain configuration information to the repeater that includes an instruction for the repeater to set the uplink gain value to be equal to the downlink gain value in response to a determination at the base station that the noise level is below a threshold. Alternatively, the gain configuration information may include an instruction for the repeater to set the uplink gain value to be less than the downlink gain value in response to a determination at the base station that the noise level is above the threshold.

In some implementations, the repeater determines the noise level itself and sets the uplink gain value accordingly. For example, the repeater may determine the noise level related to the channel between the communication device and the repeater, compare the noise level to a threshold, and select the uplink gain value to be equal to the downlink gain value in response to a determination that the noise level is below the threshold. As another example, the repeater determines the noise level related to the channel between the communication device and the repeater, compares the noise level to a threshold, and selects the uplink gain value to be less than the downlink gain value in response to a determination that the noise level is above the threshold. The noise level determined by the controlling node, base station, or repeater for use in the uplink gain level selection process may be a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (which includes other ratios or metrics that quantify an amount of desired signal present in a communication relative to an amount of noise and/or interference present in the communication), and the threshold used for the comparison may be a SNR threshold.

At block <NUM>, the repeater receives a downlink initial access message. The downlink initial access message may be a synchronization signal block (SSB) message or another type of downlink message. At block <NUM>, the repeater applies the downlink gain value determined at block <NUM> to the downlink initial access message. The repeater then transmits a gain adjusted version of the downlink initial access message to the communication device via one or more transmission antennas of the repeater.

At block <NUM>, the repeater receives an uplink initial access message. The uplink initial access message may be a random-access channel (RACH) preamble message (e.g., RACH Msg1) or another type of uplink message. At block <NUM>, the repeater applies the uplink gain value determined at block <NUM> to the uplink initial access message. The repeater then transmits a gain adjusted version of the uplink initial access message to the base station via one or more transmission antennas of the repeater.

In some implementations, the repeater may be a millimeter wave repeater, such as a layer-<NUM> millimeter wave repeater. In this configuration, the repeater may receive an analog millimeter wave signal via one or more receive antennas and based on receive beamforming (at block <NUM>), amplify the analog millimeter wave signal without performing analog-to-digital conversion of the analog millimeter wave signal (at block <NUM>), and transmit a gain adjusted version of the analog millimeter wave signal via one or more transmit antennas and based on transmit beamforming.

In the process <NUM>, the repeater may send and receive various communications, including receiving a downlink message (block <NUM>), receiving an uplink message (block <NUM>), transmitting amplified versions of the received messages, transmitting control information (e.g., power configuration parameters sent to the base station or noise level measurements sent to the base station), and receiving control information (e.g., the gain configuration information received from the base station that may be used to determine the gain levels at blocks <NUM> and <NUM>). These communications may all be on a single radio access technology (RAT) or may be split between multiple RATs. In some implementations, the repeater may use a side link or out-of-band (OOB) communication path for control information. In this option, the repeater uses a first RAT to receive the gain configuration information, and the repeater uses a second RAT, different than the first RAT, to receive the initial access messages (blocks <NUM> and <NUM>) and transmit the gain adjusted versions of these communications. The first RAT may be a non-mmWave interface, such as an interface associated with LTE, sub-<NUM> NR, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc., and the second RAT may be a mmWave NR interface. In other implementations, the repeater may use a first frequency range within a single RAT to receive the gain configuration information, and the repeater uses a second frequency range, different than the first frequency range, within the single RAT to receive the initial access messages (blocks <NUM> and <NUM>) and transmit the gain adjusted versions of these communications. In still other implementations, the repeater may use different bandwidth parts (BWPs) for different types of communications. In this option, the repeater uses a first BWP within a single frequency range of a single RAT to receive the gain configuration information, and the repeater uses a second BWP, different than the first BWP, within the single frequency range of the single RAT to receive the initial access messages (blocks <NUM> and <NUM>) and transmit the gain adjusted versions of these communications.

<FIG> is a flow diagram illustrating one example of a process <NUM> for a controlling node, such as a base station, to determine one or more gain values for a repeater as part of a wireless communication system where the repeater amplifies and relays communications between a first communication device (e.g., a UE, a base station, or another repeater) and a second communication device (e.g., a UE, a base station, or another repeater). In some systems, the operations of process <NUM> may be implemented by a base station, such as base station <NUM> (<FIG> and <FIG>), base station <NUM> (<FIG>), base station <NUM> (<FIG>), base station <NUM> (<FIG>) or one or more sub-components of the base station. For example, with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>, the operations of process <NUM> may be performed by one or more transceivers <NUM> (e.g., the transmission and/or receiving actions of process <NUM>), one or more processors <NUM>, and/or instructions stored in memory <NUM> that are executed by a processor <NUM> to enable the repeater to perform the recited actions (e.g., the processing actions of process <NUM>). Although <FIG> will be discussed below in connection with a system where a base station is the controlling node for the repeater, other types of controlling nodes (e.g., a UE, a second repeater, a second base station different from the base station that sends downlink traffic to be amplified at the repeater, a cloud-based management entity, another network entity or function, etc.) may execute the operations of process <NUM> in alternative systems.

At block <NUM>, the base station determines a downlink gain value for use at the repeater for one or more downlink initial access messages received at the repeater. At block <NUM>, the base station determines an uplink gain value for use at the repeater for one or more uplink initial access messages received at the repeater. At block <NUM>, the base station selects the uplink gain value based on the downlink gain value and a noise level related to a channel between the communication device and the repeater. In some implementations, the processing of block <NUM> may be considered a sub-portion of the processing of block <NUM>.

In some noise conditions, the base station may select the uplink gain value from multiple possible gain values by determining the noise level related to the channel between a UE and the repeater, comparing the noise level to a threshold, and selecting the uplink gain value to be equal to the downlink gain value in response to a determination that the noise level is below the threshold. In other noise conditions, the base station may select the uplink gain value by determining the noise level related to the channel between the communication device and the repeater, comparing the noise level to a threshold, and selecting the uplink gain value to be less than the downlink gain value in response to a determination that the noise level is above the threshold. The noise level determined by the base station or repeater for use in the uplink gain level selection process may be a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) (which includes other ratios or metrics that quantify an amount of desired signal present in a communication relative to an amount of noise and/or interference present in the communication), and the threshold used for the comparison may be a SNR threshold.

At block <NUM>, the base station sends gain configuration information to the repeater that includes an indication of the downlink gain value, an indication of the uplink gain value, or both. Further details of the gain configuration information sent from the base station to the repeater are discussed above in connection with blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>. The various options and possible configurations discussed in connection with blocks <NUM> and <NUM> also apply to the corresponding base station processing of gain configuration information at block <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the base station sends a downlink initial access message to the repeater to be amplified based on the downlink gain value. The downlink initial access message may be a synchronization signal block (SSB) message or another type of downlink message. Further details of the transmission and amplification of the downlink initial access message are discussed above in connection with blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>. At block <NUM>, the base station receives an uplink initial access message from the repeater that is amplified based on the uplink gain value. The uplink initial access message may be a random-access channel (RACH) preamble message (e.g., RACH Msg1) or another type of uplink message. Further details of the transmission and amplification of the uplink initial access message are discussed above in connection with blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>. The actions in blocks <NUM> and <NUM> may not be performed by the controlling node in some implementations. In some systems, the controlling node that configures one or more gain values at the repeater may be the same base station that exchanges data traffic with the repeater. In this example, the base station may perform blocks <NUM> and <NUM>. In other systems, the controlling node may be a different entity than the base station that exchanges data traffic with the repeater, and thus the controlling node may not perform the operations of blocks <NUM> and <NUM>.

As discussed above, in some noise conditions, the repeater may apply an uplink gain value to uplink communications that is lower than the downlink gain value applied to downlink communications. Although this lower uplink gain may help reduce the impact of a potential repeater noise boosting situation that could add to the noise received at the base station, the lower uplink gain value may also disadvantage a UE communicating through the repeater that uses this lower uplink gain value. The controlling node, such as a base station, may attempt to reduce the negative impact of the lower uplink gain value at the repeater by configuring the UE that communicates through this repeater to transmit at a higher power level than it would otherwise use for a given uplink communication. Having the UE transmit at a higher level may allow the base station to receive the uplink transmission at a target receive power even though the repeater uses a lower uplink gain value. The controlling node (e.g., base station or other entity) may configure the UE operating through the repeater with a different power configuration (with a higher transmission power level) than UEs not operating through the repeater. In some implementations, the base station is able to configure the transmit power of the UE for the initial access procedure. In other implementations, the base station may not be able to configure the UE transmit power for the initial access procedure but may configure the power of the UE for a non-initial RACH messages or other uplink messages.

In one implementation, the controlling node (e.g., base station or other entity) may configure different UEs with different transmit power configurations based on whether or not an individual UE communicates with the base station through a repeater (or whether a repeater uses an uplink gain that is lower than the downlink gain). For example, the base station may send a first power configuration message to a first UE that communicates with the base station through the repeater. The first power configuration message comprises a first transmission power level to be used at the first UE for transmission of an uplink message. The base station also sends a second power configuration message to a second UE that communications with the base station without the repeater. The second power configuration message comprises a second transmission power level to be used at the second communication device for transmission of an uplink message. To account for the relatively low gain value at the repeater (e.g., when the uplink gain value is less than the downlink gain value at the repeater), the base station may set the first transmission power level for the first UE to be higher than the second transmission power level for the second UE based on a selection of the uplink gain value for the uplink initial access message from the communication device to be less than the downlink gain value at the repeater.

The hardware and data processing apparatus used to implement the various illustrative components, logics, logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose single- or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A processor may be a microprocessor, or, any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor also may be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some implementations, particular processes, operations and methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.

As described above, in some aspects implementations of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented as software. For example, various functions of components disclosed herein or various blocks or steps of a method, operation, process or algorithm disclosed herein can be implemented as one or more modules of one or more computer programs. Such computer programs can include non-transitory processor- or computer-executable instructions encoded on one or more tangible processor- or computer-readable storage media for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus including the components of the devices described herein. By way of example, and not limitation, such storage media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store program code in the form of instructions or data structures. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of storage media.

Further, the drawings may schematically depict one more example processes in the form of a flowchart or flow diagram. However, other operations that are not depicted can be incorporated in the example processes that are schematically illustrated. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or between any of the illustrated operations. In some circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

Claim 1:
A repeater (<NUM>) that relays communications, comprising:
a processor (<NUM>, <NUM>); and
a memory (<NUM>, <NUM>) coupled with the processor (<NUM>, <NUM>), wherein the memory (<NUM>, <NUM>) includes instructions executable by the processor (<NUM>, <NUM>) to cause the repeater (<NUM>) to:
determine a downlink gain value to use for one or more downlink initial access messages received at the repeater (<NUM>);
determine an uplink gain value to use for one or more uplink initial access messages received at the repeater (<NUM>);
determine a noise level related to a channel between a communication device (<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) and the repeater (<NUM>);
compare the noise level to a threshold;
select the uplink gain value to be less than the downlink gain value in response to the noise level being above the threshold;
receive a downlink initial access message;
apply the downlink gain value to the downlink initial access message;
receive an uplink initial access message; and
apply the uplink gain value to the uplink initial access message.