Patent Description:
The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to wireless communications and more particularly relates to transmission configuration indicator state association.

In certain wireless communications networks, multiple layers for a single transmission occasion may be transmitted using a single transmission configuration indicator state. This may reduce the efficiency and/or flexibility of the transmission occasion.

Methods for transmission configuration indicator state association are disclosed. Apparatuses and systems also perform the functions of the methods. One embodiment of a method is defined in claim <NUM>.

One apparatus for transmission configuration indicator state association is defined in claim <NUM>.

CMCC, "<NPL>) discusses the indication of TCI states via codepoints in DCI.

<FIG> depicts an embodiment of a wireless communication system <NUM> for transmission configuration indicator state association. In one embodiment, the wireless communication system <NUM> includes remote units <NUM> and network units <NUM>. Even though a specific number of remote units <NUM> and network units <NUM> are depicted in <FIG>, one of skill in the art will recognize that any number of remote units <NUM> and network units <NUM> may be included in the wireless communication system <NUM>.

In one embodiment, the remote units <NUM> may include computing devices, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants ("PDAs"), tablet computers, smart phones, smart televisions (e.g., televisions connected to the Internet), set-top boxes, game consoles, security systems (including security cameras), vehicle on-board computers, network devices (e.g., routers, switches, modems), aerial vehicles, drones, or the like. Moreover, the remote units <NUM> may be referred to as subscriber units, mobiles, mobile stations, users, terminals, mobile terminals, fixed terminals, subscriber stations, user equipment ("UE"), user terminals, a device, or by other terminology used in the art. The remote units <NUM> may communicate directly with one or more of the network units <NUM> via UL communication signals. In certain embodiments, the remote units <NUM> may communicate directly with other remote units <NUM> via sidelink communication.

In certain embodiments, a network unit <NUM> may also be referred to and/or may include one or more of an access point, an access terminal, a base, a base station, a Node-B, an evolved node-B ("eNB"), a <NUM> node-B ("gNB"), a Home Node-B, a relay node, a device, a core network, an aerial server, a radio access node, an access point ("AP"), new radio ("NR"), a network entity, an access and mobility management function ("AMF"), a unified data management ("UDM"), a unified data repository ("UDR"), a UDM/UDR, a policy control function ("PCF"), a radio access network ("RAN"), a network slice selection function ("NSSF"), an operations, administration, and management ("OAM"), a session management function ("SMF"), a user plane function ("UPF"), an application function, an authentication server function ("AUSF"), security anchor functionality ("SEAF"), trusted non-3GPP gateway function ("TNGF"), or by any other terminology used in the art.

In one implementation, the wireless communication system <NUM> is compliant with NR protocols standardized in third generation partnership project ("3GPP"), wherein the network unit <NUM> transmits using an OFDM modulation scheme on the downlink ("DL") and the remote units <NUM> transmit on the uplink ("UL") using a single-carrier frequency division multiple access ("SC-FDMA") scheme or an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ("OFDM") scheme. More generally, however, the wireless communication system <NUM> may implement some other open or proprietary communication protocol, for example, WiMAX, institute of electrical and electronics engineers ("IEEE") <NUM> variants, global system for mobile communications ("GSM"), general packet radio service ("GPRS"), universal mobile telecommunications system ("UMTS"), long term evolution ("LTE") variants, code division multiple access <NUM> ("CDMA2000"), Bluetooth®, ZigBee, Sigfoxx, among other protocols.

In various embodiments, a remote unit <NUM> may receive, from at least one network device (e.g., network unit <NUM>), first information indicating a first set of transmission configuration indicator states. In various embodiments, the remote unit <NUM> may receive, from the at least one network device, second information indicating a second set of transmission configuration indicator states. In some embodiments, the remote unit <NUM> may determine an association between the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and a first set of transmission occasions. In various embodiments, the remote unit <NUM> may determine an association between the second set of transmission configuration indicator states and a second set of transmission occasions. Accordingly, the remote unit <NUM> may be used for transmission configuration indicator state association.

<FIG> depicts one embodiment of an apparatus <NUM> that may be used for transmission configuration indicator state association. The apparatus <NUM> includes one embodiment of the remote unit <NUM>. Furthermore, the remote unit <NUM> may include a processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, an input device <NUM>, a display <NUM>, a transmitter <NUM>, and a receiver <NUM>. In some embodiments, the input device <NUM> and the display <NUM> are combined into a single device, such as a touchscreen. In certain embodiments, the remote unit <NUM> may not include any input device <NUM> and/or display <NUM>. In various embodiments, the remote unit <NUM> may include one or more of the processor <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, the transmitter <NUM>, and the receiver <NUM>, and may not include the input device <NUM> and/or the display <NUM>.

For example, the display <NUM> may include, but is not limited to, a liquid crystal display ("LCD"), a light emitting diode ("LED") display, an organic light emitting diode ("OLED") display, a projector, or similar display device capable of outputting images, text, or the like to a user.

In certain embodiment, the receiver <NUM> may: receive, from at least one network device, first information indicating a first set of transmission configuration indicator states; and receive, from the at least one network device, second information indicating a second set of transmission configuration indicator states. In various embodiments, the processor <NUM> may: determine an association between the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and a first set of transmission occasions; and determine an association between the second set of transmission configuration indicator states and a second set of transmission occasions.

<FIG> depicts one embodiment of an apparatus <NUM> that may be used for transmission configuration indicator state association. The apparatus <NUM> includes one embodiment of the network unit <NUM>. Furthermore, the network unit <NUM> may include a processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, an input device <NUM>, a display <NUM>, a transmitter <NUM>, and a receiver <NUM>. As may be appreciated, the processor <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, the input device <NUM>, the display <NUM>, the transmitter <NUM>, and the receiver <NUM> may be substantially similar to the processor <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, the input device <NUM>, the display <NUM>, the transmitter <NUM>, and the receiver <NUM> of the remote unit <NUM>, respectively.

In various embodiments, multi-TRP communications may be used for physical downlink shared channel ("PDSCH") transmission with increased reliability. In certain embodiments, only up to <NUM> TCI state indication may be used, and the <NUM> TCI states may be associated with different transmission occasions. In such embodiments, there may be limited support relating to a number of beams and/or TRPs. Further, in such embodiments, combinations of transmissions in a spatial domain, frequency domain, and/or time domain may be used.

In some embodiments, a number of beams and/or a number of TRPs at a network side and a number of panels at a UE side may be greater for frequency range <NUM> ("FR2") (<NUM> to <NUM>) than for lower frequencies, and may be even greater for frequencies beyond FR2.

Described herein are various enhancements to beam management for frequencies beyond <NUM>, but also applicable to FR2 below <NUM>. In certain embodiments, TCI signaling framework may be enhanced for supporting a higher degree of beamforming from multiple TRPs across transmission occasions in different domains (e.g., FDM, spatial division multiplexing ("SDM"), and time division multiplexing ("TDM")).

In various embodiments, a set of layers (e.g., up to <NUM>) for a single transmission occasion may only be transmitted using a single TCI state from demodulation reference signal ("DMRS") ports within a single CDM group. In some embodiments, such as for beyond <NUM>, more than <NUM> TCI states may be used.

In certain embodiments, TCI signaling may enable implicit or explicit grouping of TCI states and TCI groups (and states within a group) may be associated with transmission occasions from single and/or multiple TRPs using combinations of spatial domain, frequency domain, and/or time domain multiplexing.

Various embodiments described herein enable flexible combinations of multi-beam transmissions from single and/or multiple TRPs with a higher degree of spatial relations compared to other configurations (e.g., for use in NR).

In some embodiments, multiple TCI state groups ("TSGs") may be configured for a UE by a network entity (e.g., gNB) via transmission to the UE. In such embodiments, a TCI state group ("TSG") may include up to 'N' TCI states. Moreover, the gNB may configure multiple DL TX beam combinations (e.g., TSGs) based on the UE's CSI reporting and/or the gNB's knowledge about DL TX beam patterns and TRP deployment. The gNB may dynamically indicate up to 'M' TSGs via a TCI codepoint of a TCI field in DCI. Further, the TCI codepoint may map to one or more TSGs (e.g., up to 'M' TSGs).

In certain embodiments, a gNB semi-statically configures a set of TSGs and a MAC control element ("CE") is used to activate a subset of the set of TSGs by combining one or more TSGs for each index of a TCI codepoint from a semi-static configuration. DCI may signal one index of the TCI codepoint.

In various embodiments, a TSG may have a single TCI state, and a number of TCI states in each configured TSG may be different. In such embodiments, a UE may receive multiple DMRS antenna port indications (e.g., up to 'N' indications) in DCI. Each DMRS antenna port indication of the multiple DMRS antenna port indications may be applicable to one or more TSGs with a particular number of TCI states. For example, two DMRS antenna port indications (e.g., one for TSGs with a single TCI state and another for TSGs with two TCI states) may be signaled in DCI by a gNB.

In some embodiments, TCI states within a TSG may correspond to spatial beams for different TRPs. In certain embodiments, TCI states within a TSG j may correspond to spatial beams associated with TRP j.

In certain embodiments, an enhanced TCI state group activation and/or deactivation for UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE may be identified by a MAC protocol data unit ("PDU") subheader with a logical channel identifier ("LCID"). The MAC CE may have a variable size including the following fields: <NUM>) Serving Cell ID: this field indicates the identity of the serving cell for which the MAC CE applies - the length of this field is <NUM> bits; <NUM>) bandwidth part ("BWP") ID: this field indicates a DL BWP for which the MAC CE applies as the codepoint of the DCI bandwidth part indicator field - the length of the BWP ID field is <NUM> bits; <NUM>) Ci,j: this field indicates whether an octet containing TCI state group IDi,j+<NUM> is present - if this field is set to "<NUM>", the octet containing TCI state group IDi,j+<NUM> is present - if this field is set to "<NUM>", the octet containing TCI state group IDi,j+<NUM> is not present; <NUM>) TCI state group IDi,j: this field indicates the TCI state group identified by TCI-StateGroupld, where i is the index of the codepoint of the DCI transmission configuration indication field and TCI state group IDi,j denotes the jth TCI state group indicated for the ith codepoint in the DCI transmission configuration indication field - the TCI codepoint to which the TCI state groups are mapped is determined by its ordinal position among all the TCI codepoints with sets of TCI state group IDi,j fields, i.e. the first TCI codepoint with TCI state group ID0,<NUM>,. , TCI state group ID0,J(<NUM>) shall be mapped to the codepoint value <NUM>, the second TCI codepoint with TCI state group ID1,<NUM>,. , TCI state ID1,J(<NUM>) shall be mapped to the codepoint value <NUM> and so on, where J(i) denotes the number of TCI state groups for the ith codepoint in the DCI transmission configuration indication field - the TCI state group IDi,<NUM>,. , TCI state group IDi,J(i) are optional based on the indication of the Ci,<NUM>,. , Ci,J(i)-<NUM> field - the maximum number of activated TCI codepoint is <NUM> and the maximum number of TCI state groups mapped to a TCI codepoint is Jmax, where Jmax is configured by radio resource control ("RRC") or predefined; and <NUM>) R: reserved bit, set to "<NUM>".

<FIG> is a diagram <NUM> illustrating one embodiment of the enhanced TCI state group activation/deactivation for a UE-specific PDSCH MAC CE.

In various embodiments, up to 'N' TCI states may be signaled by a gNB to a UE by a single index of a TCI codepoint in DCI and 'M-<NUM>' consecutive indices next to the signaled index of the activated TCI table may be implied as assigned and/or indicated to the UE. In such embodiments, if index n is signaled to the UE via the TCI codepoint in DCI, then indices n+<NUM>, n+<NUM>. , n+M-<NUM> may be implied as indicated to the UE (e.g., TCI states corresponding to TCI codepoints n, n+<NUM>, n+<NUM>. , n+M-<NUM> may be indicated to the UE, or if TCI state j indicated via the TCI codepoint in DCI - TCI states j+<NUM>, j+<NUM>,. j+M-<NUM> may be implicitly indicated to the UE).

In some embodiments, a value of M may be explicitly configured or indicated by a gNB to a UE such that an n+M-<NUM> index is less than or equal to a highest index of a TCI table. In certain embodiments, a value of M may be inferred from a number of transmission occasions that is separately configured or indicated by a gNB to a UE. In various embodiments, a value of M (e.g., Mi) may be configured for each TCI codepoint i.

In certain embodiments, up to 'N' TCI states may be signaled by a gNB to a UE by a single index of a TCI codepoint in DCI and 'M-<NUM>' consecutive indices next to the signaled index of the activated TCI table may be implied as assigned and/or indicated to the UE. In such embodiments, if index n is signaled to the UE via the TCI codepoint in DCI, then indices n-<NUM>, n-<NUM>. , n-M+<NUM>>=<NUM> may be implied as indicated to the UE (e.g., TCI states corresponding to TCI codepoints n, n-<NUM>, n-<NUM>. , n-M+<NUM> may be indicated to the UE, or if TCI state j indicated via the TCI codepoint in DCI - TCI states j-<NUM>, j-<NUM>,. j-M+<NUM> may be implicitly indicated to the UE).

In various embodiments, a value of M may be explicitly configured or indicated by a gNB to a UE and index n may be signaled such that an n-M+<NUM> index is greater than or equal to a lowest index (e.g., <NUM>) of a TCI table. In some embodiments, a value of M may be inferred from a number of transmission occasions that are separately configured or indicated by a gNB to a UE. In certain embodiments, if an index n is indicated to a UE, then all indices from <NUM> to n may be implied as indicated to the UE.

In some embodiments, up to 'N' TCI states may be signaled by a gNB to a UE by a single index of a TCI codepoint in DCI and these 'N' TCI states may be grouped such that each group includes 'K' TCI states, where 'K' is equal to a number of DM-RS code division multiplexing ("CDM") groups signaled by an antenna port field.

In some embodiments, up to 'N' TCI states may be signaled by a gNB to a UE by a single index of a TCI codepoint in DCI and these 'N' TCI states may be grouped into 'M' groups such that each group may include different number of TCI states.

In certain embodiments, a UE may be configured with multiple TCI states for a TCI codepoint i in a TCI table - TCI state IDi,j denotes the jth TCI state indicated for the ith codepoint. In one example, for an ith codepoint, M TSG may be formed such that TSG IDi,m m=<NUM>. M-<NUM> includes TCI states with TCI state IDk,j k=(i+m) mod N and for all j, N=number of codepoints in the TCI table, (e.g., TCI states corresponding to codepoint k form TSG with TSG IDi,m). In another example, for the ith codepoint, M TSG may be formed such that TSG IDi,m m=<NUM>. M-<NUM> includes TCI states with TCI state IDk,j k=(i-m) mod N and for all j. In a further example, for a kth codepoint, M TSG may be formed such that TSG IDi,m m=<NUM>. M-<NUM> includes TCI states with TCI state IDk,j k=(i+m - floor(M/<NUM>)) mod N and for all j.

In various embodiments, if a UE is configured by a higher layer parameter PDSCH-config that indicates at least one entry in pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList containing RepNumR16 in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation, the UE may expect to be explicitly or implicitly indicated with 'M <= RepNumR16' TSGs together with the DCI field "Time domain resource assignment' indicating an entry in pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList which contain RepNum16 in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation and DM-RS port(s) within 'N' CDM groups in the DCI field "Antenna Port(s)", where 'N' is equal to the number of TCI states within a TSG. In one example, 'N' is equal to a maximum number of TCI states within a TSG among the 'M' TSGs.

If 'M= RepNumR16' TSGs and 'N><NUM>' DM-RS CDM groups (e.g., TCI states within each TSG) are indicated to the UE, the UE may expect to receive the same transport block ("TB") with 'N' transmission occasions within one slot and 'N x M' transmissions occasions across 'M' slots. Each TSG may be associated to each slot in a sequential manner and each of the N TCI states within a TSG may be associated to transmission occasions within a slot in a sequential manner. For a slot 'k' (e.g., k=m), the UE may expect to receive 'N' transmissions occasions (e.g., of the same TB) on the same time-frequency resources within a slot, but on different receive beams and/or panels that are transmitted by N different beams (e.g., associated with TCI states within TSG 'm') of the same TRP or from different TRPs. Similarly, for the next slot 'k+<NUM>' (e.g., k=m), the UE may expect to receive another N transmission occasions (e.g., of the same TB) on the same time-frequency resources within that slot, but on different receive beams and/or panels that are transmitted by 'N' different beams (e.g., associated with TCI states within TSG 'm+<NUM>') of the same TRP or from different TRPs. This transmission scheme may continue until 'k+M-<NUM>' slots.

If 'M < RepNumR16' TSGs and 'N><NUM>' DM-RS CDM groups (e.g., TCI states within each TSG) are indicated to the UE, the UE may expect to receive a same TB with 'N' transmission occasions within one slot and 'N x RepNumR16' transmissions occasions across 'RepNumR16' slots. Each TSG may be associated to each slot in a sequential manner (e.g., TSG #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to <NUM> slots with RepNumR16 = <NUM> and M = <NUM>) and each of the N TCI states within a TSG may be associated with transmission occasions within a slot in a sequential manner. 'M' TSGs may be associated with slots in a cyclic manner (e.g., with modulo-M wrap-around, slot 'k' associated with TSG k mod M, TSG #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to <NUM> slots with RepNumR16 = <NUM> and M = <NUM>) or some other configured and/or indicated pattern.

If a number of TCI states (e.g., L) within a TSG for a slot is less than N, the TCI states of the TSG associated with the N transmission occasions with the slot may be determined in a sequential manner (e.g., TCI state #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to N=<NUM> transmission occasions with L=<NUM>), a cyclic manner (e.g., with modulo- L wrap-around, transmission occasion 't' associated with TCI state t mod L, TCI state #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to N=<NUM> transmission occasions with L=<NUM>), or some other configured and/or indicated pattern.

For the 'N' transmission occasions within a slot, a redundancy version to be applied may be derived according to an indicated RV sequence redundancy version identifier ("RVID") in DCI (e.g., as shown in <FIG>), where n = <NUM>, <NUM>,. (N-<NUM>) mod <NUM> are applied to the first transmission occasion, the second transmission occasion, and so on to the Nth transmission occasion within the slot. An RV sequence offset to the indicated RV sequence may be applied to determine the RV sequence for transmission occasions associated with different slots e.g., for slot 'k' (k=<NUM>,<NUM>,. RepNumR16-<NUM>), RV sequence offset rvs = k * RVSeqOffset and <FIG> may be used to determine the RV sequence for transmission occasions in slot 'k' where RVSeqOffset is configured by higher layers. <FIG> is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a table <NUM> indicating an applied redundancy version <NUM>. <FIG> is a diagram illustrating one embodiment of a table <NUM> indicating an applied redundancy version with RVSeqOffset.

In some embodiments, 'N' TCI states within a TSG may correspond to a single transmission occasion within a slot, but with 'N' layer transmission from 'N' different beams of the same or different TRPs. The redundancy version to be applied to the transmission occasion in slot 'n' may be derived according to an indicated RV sequence RVID in DCI and <FIG>.

In certain embodiments, if a UE is configured by higher layer parameter RepSchemeEnabler set to 'FDMSchemeA' or 'FDMSchemeB' and the UE is configured by the higher layer parameter PDSCH-config that indicates at least one entry in pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList containing RepNumR16 in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation, the UE may expect to be explicitly or implicitly indicated with 'M <= RepNumR16' TSGs together with the DCI field "Time domain resource assignment' indicating an entry in pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList which contains RepNum16 in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation and DM-RS ports within 'N' CDM groups in the DCI field "Antenna Port(s)", where 'N' is equal to a number of TCI states within a TSG. In one example, 'N' is equal to a maximum number of TCI states within a TSG among the 'M' TSGs.

If 'M= RepNumR16' TSGs and 'N><NUM>' DM-RS CDM groups (e.g., TCI states within each TSG) are indicated to the UE, the UE may expect to receive a same TB with 'N' transmission occasions within one slot (e.g., with 'FDMSchemeB') and 'N x M' transmission occasions across 'M' slots. Each TSG may be associated to each slot in a sequential manner and each of the N TCI states within a TSG may be associated to transmission occasions within a slot in a sequential manner. For a slot 'k' (e.g., k=m), the UE may expect to receive 'N' transmissions occasions (e.g., the same TB) on non-overlapping frequency domain resources on different receive beams and/or panels that are transmitted by N different beams (e.g., associated with TCI states within TSG 'm') of the same TRP or from different TRPs. Similarly, for the next slot 'k+<NUM>' (e.g., k=m), the UE may expect to receive another N transmission occasions (e.g., the same TB) on non-overlapping frequency domain resources on different receive beams and/or panels that are transmitted by 'N' different beams (e.g., associated with TCI states within TSG 'm+<NUM>') of the same TRP or from different TRPs. This transmission scheme may continue until 'k+M-<NUM>' slots.

If 'M < RepNumR16' TSGs and 'N><NUM>' DM-RS CDM groups (e.g., TCI states within each TSG) are indicated to the UE, the UE may expect to receive the same TB with 'N' transmission occasions within one slot and 'N x RepNumR16' transmission occasions across 'RepNumR16' slots. Each TSG may be associated with each slot in a sequential manner and each of the N TCI states within a TSG may be associated with transmission occasions within a slot in a sequential manner. 'M' TSGs may be associated with slots in a cyclic manner or some other configured and/or indicated pattern.

If the number of TCI states (e.g., L) within a TSG for a slot is less than N, the TCI states of the TSG associated with the N transmission occasions with the slot may be determined in a sequential manner (e.g., TCI state #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to N=<NUM> transmission occasions with L=<NUM>), a cyclic manner (e.g., with modulo- L wrap-around, transmission occasion 't' associated with TCI state t mod L, TCI state #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to N=<NUM> transmission occasions with L =<NUM>), or some other configured and/or indicated pattern.

For 'N' transmission occasions within a slot, the redundancy version to be applied is derived according to an indicated RV sequence RVID in DCI (e.g., <FIG>), where n = <NUM>, <NUM>,. (N-<NUM>) mod <NUM> are applied to the first transmission occasion, the second transmission occasion, and so on to the Nth transmission occasion within the slot. An RV sequence offset to the indicated RV sequence may be applied to determine the RV sequence for transmission occasions associated with different slots (e.g., for slot 'k' (k=<NUM>,<NUM>,. RepNumR16-<NUM>), RV sequence offset rvs = k * RVSeqOffset and <FIG> is used to determine the RV sequence for transmission occasions in slot 'k' where RVSeqOffset is configured by higher layers).

In certain embodiments, 'N' TCI states within a TSG may correspond to a single transmission occasion (e.g., with 'FDMSchemeA') within a slot, but with 'N' non-overlapping frequency domain resources associated with TCI states within TSG 'm', with the 'N' non-overlapping frequency domain resources received on different receive beams and/or panels and transmitted by N different beams of the same TRP or from different TRPs. The redundancy version to be applied to the transmission occasion in slot 'n' may be derived according to an indicated RV sequence RVID in DCI and <FIG>.

In some embodiments, if a UE is configured by higher layer parameter RepSchemeEnabler set to 'TDMSchemeA' and the UE is configured by the higher layer parameter PDSCH-config that indicates at least one entry in pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList containing RepNumR16 in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation, the UE may expect to be explicitly or implicitly indicated with 'M <= RepNumR16' TSGs together with the DCI field "Time domain resource assignment' indicating an entry in pdsch-TimeDomainAllocationList which contain RepNum16 in PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocation and DM-RS port(s) within 'N' CDM groups in the DCI field "Antenna Port(s)", where 'N' is equal to a number of TCI states within a TSG. In one example, 'N' is equal to a maximum number of TCI states within a TSG among the 'M' TSGs.

If 'M= RepNumR16' TSGs and 'N><NUM>' DM-RS CDM groups (e.g., TCI states within each TSG) are indicated to the UE, the UE may expect to receive the same TB with 'N' transmission occasions within one slot and 'N x M' transmissions occasions across 'M' slots. Each TSG may be associated with each slot in a sequential manner and each of the N TCI states within a TSG may be associated with transmission occasions within a slot in a sequential manner. For a slot 'k' (e.g., k=m), the UE may expect to receive 'N' transmissions occasions (e.g., the same TB) on non-overlapping time domain resources on different receive beams and/or panels that are transmitted by N different beams (e.g., associated with TCI states within TSG 'm') of the same transmission and reception point ("TRP") or from different TRPs. Similarly, for the next slot 'k+<NUM>', the UE may expect to receive another N transmission occasions (e.g., the same TB) on non-overlapping time domain resources on different receive beams and/or panels that are transmitted by 'N' different beams (e.g., associated with TCI states within TSG 'm+<NUM>') of the same TRP or from different TRPs. This transmission scheme continues till 'k+M-<NUM>' slots.

If the number of TCI states (e.g., L) within a TSG for a slot is less than N, the TCI states of the TSG associated with the N transmission occasions with the slot may be determined in a sequential manner (e.g., TCI state #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to N=<NUM> transmission occasions with L=<NUM>), a cyclic manner (e.g., with modulo- L wrap-around, transmission occasion 't' associated with TCI state t mod L, TCI state #<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM>#<NUM> are associated to N=<NUM> transmission occasions with L=<NUM>), or some other configured and/or indicated pattern.

For the 'N' transmission occasions within a slot, the redundancy version to be applied may be derived according to a indicated RV sequence RVID in DCI (e.g., <FIG>), where n = <NUM>, <NUM>,. (N-<NUM>) mod <NUM> are applied to the first transmission occasion, the second transmission occasion, and so on to the Nth transmission occasion within the slot. An RV sequence offset to the indicated RV sequence may be applied to determine the RV sequence for transmission occasions associated with different slots (for slot 'k' k=<NUM>,<NUM>,. RepNumR <NUM>-<NUM>), RV sequence offset rvs = k * RVSeqOffset and <FIG> may be used to determine the RV sequence for transmission occasions in slot 'k' where RVSeqOffset is configured by higher layers.

In various embodiments, N transmission occasions within a slot, instead of being associated with N TCI states of a TSG, may be associated with one TCI state from N TSGs (e.g., the N=<NUM> transmission occasions in a first slot may be associated with a lowest index TCI state from a first TSG and a lowest index TCI state from a second TSG, and the N=<NUM> transmission occasions in a second slot may be associated with a next lowest index (e.g., lowest index+<NUM>) TCI state from the first TSG and a next lowest index TCI state from the second TSG). In one example, 'N' is equal to the number of TSGs. Sequential or cyclic mapping may be used if a number of TCI states within a TSG is less than the number of slots.

Embodiments described herein may be applicable to downlink transmission (e.g., PDSCH from a network node to a UE), for uplink transmission (e.g., physical uplink shared channel ("PUSCH") from a UE to a network node) or sidelink transmission (e.g., physical sidelink shared channel ("PSSCH") from a first UE to a second UE). For transmissions from a UE, the TCI states may correspond to uplink and/or sidelink TCI states or spatial relations. The UE may be capable of simultaneous transmission associated with multiple TCI states using one or more RF chains, antenna arrays, antenna subarrays, and/or antenna panels.

In some embodiments, first set of TCI states are associated with first set of transmission occasions. In such embodiments, the first set of transmission occasions are downlink transmissions and the second set of TCI states are associated with second set of transmission occasions. Moreover, the second set of transmission occasions are uplink transmissions.

In some embodiments, the first set of TCI states associated with downlink transmissions and the second TCI states associated with uplink transmissions are indicated by a single TCI codepoint.

In some embodiments, the first set of TCI states associated with downlink transmissions and the second TCI states associated with uplink transmissions are indicated by a two separate TCI codepoints.

In some embodiments, an antenna port may be defined such that a channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the same antenna port is conveyed.

In certain embodiments, two antenna ports are said to be quasi co-located ("QCL") if large-scale properties of a channel over which a symbol on one antenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel over which a symbol on another antenna port is conveyed. Large-scale properties may include one or more of delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and/or spatial receive ("RX") parameters. Two antenna ports may be quasi co-located with respect to a subset of the large-scale properties and different subset of large-scale properties may be indicated by a QCL Type. For example, a qcl-Type may take one of the following values: <NUM>) 'QCL-TypeA': {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; <NUM>) 'QCL-TypeB': {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; <NUM>) 'QCL-TypeC': {Doppler shift, average delay}; and <NUM>) 'QCL-TypeD': {Spatial Rx parameter}.

In various embodiments, spatial RX parameters may include one or more of: angle of arrival ("AoA"), dominant AoA, average AoA, angular spread, power angular spectrum ("PAS") of AoA, average angle of departure ("AoD"), PAS of AoD, transmit and/or receive channel correlation, transmit and/or receive beamforming, and/or spatial channel correlation.

In some embodiments, an "antenna port" may be a logical port that may correspond to a beam (e.g., resulting from beamforming) or may correspond to a physical antenna on a device. In certain embodiments, a physical antenna may map directly to a single antenna port in which an antenna port corresponds to an actual physical antenna. In various embodiments, a set of physical antennas, a subset of physical antennas, an antenna set, an antenna array, or an antenna sub-array may be mapped to one or more antenna ports after applying complex weights and/or a cyclic delay to the signal on each physical antenna. The physical antenna set may have antennas from a single module or panel or from multiple modules or panels. The weights may be fixed as in an antenna virtualization scheme, such as cyclic delay diversity ("CDD"). A procedure used to derive antenna ports from physical antennas may be specific to a device implementation and transparent to other devices.

In some embodiments, a UE antenna panel may be a physical or logical antenna array including a set of antenna elements or antenna ports that share a common or a significant portion of a radio frequency ("RF") chain (e.g., in-phase and/or quadrature ("I/Q") modulator, analog to digital ("A/D") converter, local oscillator, phase shift network). The UE antenna panel or UE panel may be a logical entity with physical UE antennas mapped to the logical entity. The mapping of physical UE antennas to the logical entity may be up to UE implementation. Communicating (e.g., receiving or transmitting) on at least a subset of antenna elements or antenna ports active for radiating energy (e.g., active elements) of an antenna panel may require biasing or powering on of an RF chain which results in current drain or power consumption in a UE associated with the antenna panel (e.g., including power amplifier and/or low noise amplifier ("LNA") power consumption associated with the antenna elements or antenna ports). The phrase "active for radiating energy," as used herein, is not meant to be limited to a transmit function but also encompasses a receive function. Accordingly, an antenna element that is active for radiating energy may be coupled to a transmitter to transmit radio frequency energy or to a receiver to receive radio frequency energy, either simultaneously or sequentially, or may be coupled to a transceiver in general, for performing its intended functionality. Communicating on the active elements of an antenna panel enables generation of radiation patterns or beams.

In certain embodiments, depending on a UE's own implementation, a "UE panel" may have at least one of the following functionalities as an operational role of unit of antenna group to control its transmit ("TX") beam independently, unit of antenna group to control its transmission power independently, and/pr unit of antenna group to control its transmission timing independently. The "UE panel" may be transparent to a gNB. For certain conditions, a gNB or network may assume that a mapping between a UE's physical antennas to the logical entity "UE panel" may not be changed. For example, a condition may include until the next update or report from UE or include a duration of time over which the gNB assumes there will be no change to mapping. A UE may report its UE capability with respect to the "UE panel" to the gNB or network. The UE capability may include at least the number of "UE panels. " In one embodiment, a UE may support UL transmission from one beam within a panel. With multiple panels, more than one beam (e.g., one beam per panel) may be used for UL transmission. In another embodiment, more than one beam per panel may be supported and/or used for UL transmission.

In various embodiments, a transmission configuration indicator ("TCI") state associated with a target transmission may indicate a quasi-collocation relationship between a target transmission (e.g., target RS of demodulation reference signal ("DM-RS") ports of the target transmission during a transmission occasion) and source reference signals (e.g., synchronization signal block ("SSB"), channel state information reference signal ("CSI-RS"), and/or sounding reference signal ("SRS")) with respect to quasi co-location type parameters indicated in a corresponding TCI state. A UE may receive a configuration of multiple transmission configuration indicator states for a serving cell for transmissions on the serving cell.

In some embodiments, spatial relation information associated with a target transmission may indicate a spatial setting between a target transmission and a reference RS (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, and/or SRS). For example, a UE may transmit a target transmission with the same spatial domain filter used for receiving a reference RS (e.g., DL RS such as SSB and/or CSI-RS). In another example, a UE may transmit a target transmission with the same spatial domain transmission filter used for the transmission of a RS (e.g., UL RS such as SRS). A UE may receive a configuration of multiple spatial relation information configurations for a serving cell for transmissions on a serving cell.

<FIG> is a flow chart diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method <NUM> for transmission configuration indicator states association to transmission occasions. In some embodiments, the method <NUM> is performed by an apparatus, such as the remote unit <NUM>. In certain embodiments, the method <NUM> may be performed by a processor executing program code, for example, a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a CPU, a GPU, an auxiliary processing unit, a FPGA, or the like.

In various embodiments, the method <NUM> includes receiving <NUM>, from at least one network device, first information indicating a first set of transmission configuration indicator states. In various embodiments, the method <NUM> includes receiving <NUM>, from the at least one network device, second information indicating a second set of transmission configuration indicator states. In some embodiments, the method <NUM> includes determining <NUM> an association between the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and a first set of transmission occasions. In various embodiments, the method <NUM> includes determining <NUM> an association between the second set of transmission configuration indicator states and a second set of transmission occasions.

In various embodiments, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states comprises a downlink transmission configuration indicator, the second set of transmission configuration indicator states comprises an uplink transmission configuration indicator, the first set of transmission occasions is associated with downlink reception, the second set of transmission occasions is associated with uplink transmission, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states are indicated by a codepoint in downlink control information, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states contains N transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states contain the M transmission configuration indicator states indicated by a single transmission configuration indicator codepoint.

In some embodiments, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states is associated with a first transmission and reception point and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states is associated with a second transmission and reception point. In certain embodiments, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states are indicated by a codepoint in downlink control information, and a number of transmission configuration indicator states is variable across a plurality of sets of transmission configuration indicator states.

According to the invention, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states are indicated by a codepoint in downlink control information, the codepoint points to an index of an activated transmission configuration indicator table with at least one transmission configuration indicator state, and a plurality of consecutive neighboring indices of the index are implied as being indicated. In various embodiments, a number of the plurality of consecutive neighboring indices is explicitly indicated or configured in an increasing order of indexing with respect to the index or a decreasing order of indexing with respect to the index.

In some embodiments, a number of the plurality of consecutive neighboring indices is implied as a remaining number of indices above the index or a remaining number of indices below the index. In certain embodiments, multiple transmission configuration indicator states within a transmission configuration indicator set indicated by a transmission configuration indicator codepoint in downlink control information are associated with a single demodulation reference signal port. In one embodiment, transmission occasions within a slot are in a spatial domain, a frequency domain, a time domain, or some combination thereof.

In one embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, from at least one network device, first information indicating a first set of transmission configuration indicator states; receiving, from the at least one network device, second information indicating a second set of transmission configuration indicator states; determining an association between the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and a first set of transmission occasions; and determining an association between the second set of transmission configuration indicator states and a second set of transmission occasions.

In some embodiments, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states is associated with a first transmission and reception point and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states is associated with a second transmission and reception point.

In certain embodiments, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states are indicated by a codepoint in downlink control information, and a number of transmission configuration indicator states is variable across a plurality of sets of transmission configuration indicator states.

According to the invention, the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states are indicated by a codepoint in downlink control information, the codepoint points to an index of an activated transmission configuration indicator table with at least one transmission configuration indicator state, and a plurality of consecutive neighboring indices of the index are implied as being indicated.

In various embodiments, a number of the plurality of consecutive neighboring indices is explicitly indicated or configured in an increasing order of indexing with respect to the index or a decreasing order of indexing with respect to the index.

In some embodiments, a number of the plurality of consecutive neighboring indices is implied as a remaining number of indices above the index or a remaining number of indices below the index.

In certain embodiments, multiple transmission configuration indicator states within a transmission configuration indicator set indicated by a transmission configuration indicator codepoint in downlink control information are associated with a single demodulation reference signal port.

In one embodiment, transmission occasions within a slot are in a spatial domain, a frequency domain, a time domain, or some combination thereof.

In one embodiment, an apparatus comprises: a receiver that: receives, from at least one network device, first information indicating a first set of transmission configuration indicator states; and receives, from the at least one network device, second information indicating a second set of transmission configuration indicator states; and a processor that: determines an association between the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and a first set of transmission occasions; and determines an association between the second set of transmission configuration indicator states and a second set of transmission occasions.

Claim 1:
A method performed by an apparatus and comprising:
receiving, from at least one network device, first information indicating a first set of multiple transmission configuration indicator states;
receiving, from the at least one network device, second information indicating a second set of multiple transmission configuration indicator states;
determining an association between the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and a first set of transmission occasions; and
determining an association between the second set of transmission configuration indicator states and a second set of transmission occasions,
wherein the first set of transmission configuration indicator states and the second set of transmission configuration indicator states are indicated by a codepoint in downlink control information, the codepoint points to an index of an activated transmission configuration indicator table with at least one transmission configuration indicator state, and characterized in that a plurality of consecutive neighboring indices of the index are implicitly indicated.