PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11956048-B2
Application Number: US-201917277133-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Systems and methods for measurement period and accuracy for beam reporting based on L1-RSRP

Abstract:
Systems and methods provide for beam detection in a wireless communication system. An apparatus for a UE may be configured to identify a plurality of CSI-RS resources corresponding to different Tx beams configured for measurement by the UE, measure an L1-RSRP for the plurality of CSI-RS resources, determine a selected Tx beam of the different Tx beams based on measured L1-RSRP values for the plurality of CSI-RS resources, and determine a measurement accuracy of a first L1-RSRP value corresponding to the selected Tx beam based on successful beam detection probability.

Claims:
The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:
 a memory interface to send or receive, to or from a memory device, data for a report to send to a g Node B (gNB) in a wireless network; 
 measurement circuitry to measure a layer one reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) for a plurality of resources corresponding to different transmit (Tx) beams configured for measurement by the UE; and 
 a baseband processor to: 
 determine a selected Tx beam of the different Tx beams based on measured L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources, wherein an L1-RSRP value corresponding to the selected Tx beam is measured with a predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy to provide that the selected Tx beam is within a number of largest L1-RSRP values of the measured L1-RSRP of the different Tx beams; and 
 generate the report including an indication of the selected Tx beam and the L1-RSRP value measured with the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy, 
 wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 and a bandwidth of 48 physical resource blocks (PRBs) is ±4.5 dB when the corresponding SNR is at least −3 dB. 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises to measure a plurality of samples of the L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources, the baseband processor further to average the plurality of samples corresponding to each of the plurality of resources. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises to measure a single sample of L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources. 
     
     
       4. A method for beam management by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
 identifying a plurality of resources corresponding to different transmit (Tx) beams configured for measurement by the UE; 
 measuring a layer one reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) for the plurality of resources; 
 determining a selected Tx beam of the different Tx beams based on measured L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources, wherein an L1-RSRP value corresponding to the selected Tx beam is measured with a predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy to provide that the selected Tx beam is within a number of largest L1-RSRP values of the measured L1-RSRP of the different Tx beams; and 
 generating a report including an indication of the selected Tx beam and the L1-RSRP value measured with the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy, 
 wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 and a bandwidth of 48 physical resource blocks (PRBs) is ±4.5 dB when the corresponding SNR is at least −3 dB. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises measuring a plurality of samples of the L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources, the method further comprising averaging the plurality of samples corresponding to each of the plurality of resources. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 4 , wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises measuring a single sample of L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application is a national stage filing under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2019/053210, filed Sep. 26, 2019 which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/738,268, filed Sep. 28, 2018, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     This application relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more specifically to L1-RSRP measurement and reporting. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between a base station and a wireless mobile device. Wireless communication system standards and protocols can include the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE); the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is commonly known to industry groups as worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX); and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLAN), which is commonly known to industry groups as Wi-Fi. In 3GPP radio access networks (RANs) in LTE systems, the base station can include a RAN Node such as a Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB) and/or Radio Network Controller (RNC) in an E-UTRAN, which communicate with a wireless communication device, known as user equipment (UE). In fifth generation (5G) wireless RANs, RAN Nodes can include a 5G Node, new radio (NR) node or g Node B (gNB). 
     RANs use a radio access technology (RAT) to communicate between the RAN Node and UE. RANs can include global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and/or E-UTRAN, which provide access to communication services through a core network. Each of the RANs operates according to a specific 3GPP RAT. For example, the GERAN implements GSM and/or EDGE RAT, the UTRAN implements universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, and the E-UTRAN implements LTE RAT. 
     A core network can be connected to the UE through the RAN Node. The core network can include a serving gateway (SGW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW), an access network detection and selection function (ANDSF) server, an enhanced packet data gateway (ePDG) and/or a mobility management entity (MME). 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is flowchart illustrating a method for beam management by a UE in a wireless communication system in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates an example beam measurement model in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates a system in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  4    illustrates a device in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  5    illustrates an example interfaces in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates components in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  7    illustrates a system in accordance with one embodiment. 
         FIG.  8    illustrates components in accordance with one embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase “A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). 
     Layer 1 (L1)-Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) may be used for beam reporting. L1-RSRP measurement reporting may include synchronization signal block (SSB) based L1-RSRP reporting and/or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) based L1-RSRP reporting. However, the definition of the L1-RSRP measurement accuracy and period for beam reporting are not clear. Embodiments herein define the L1-RSRP measurement period and accuracy for beam reporting. 
     For beam management, a UE may measure the L1-RSRP for different beams and choose the proper beams to indicate to a gNB. A remaining issues for beam management is the number of samples to use for L1-RSRP measurement. For LTE and NR RSRP, the number of samples or measurements is derived such that a minimum measurement accuracy requirement can be met. For L1-RSRP, a similar approach may be taken. 
     However, it has not previously been determined how accurate of an L1-RSRP measurement is accurate enough. L1-RSRP accuracy should be better than SSB-based RSRP accuracy. The reason is that L1-RSRP beam density should be higher than SSB-based RSRP beam density. To distinguish a beam with high beam density, the measurement should be more accurate. 
     In recognition of the above deficiencies, the inventors of the application investigated the L1-RSRP difference between different transmit (TX) beams. By statistically calculating the L1-RSRP difference, a sufficient measurement accuracy was determined to distinguish between the different Tx beams. Table 1 lists certain simulation assumptions used for the analysis. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Simulation parameters 
                 Comments/values 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                 Tx beam configuration  
                 8*4(horizontal Tx elements number, vertical  
               
               
                 with 32 beams 
                 Tx elements number) 
               
               
                 Tx beam configuration  
                 4*4(horizontal Tx elements number, vertical  
               
               
                 with 16 beams 
                 Tx elements number) 
               
               
                 Tx beam configuration  
                 2*4(horizontal Tx elements number, vertical  
               
               
                 with 8 beams 
                 Tx elements number) 
               
               
                 Tx beamforming 
                 Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) codebook 
               
               
                 UE receive antennas 
                 4*2(horizontal Rx elements number, vertical  
               
               
                   
                 Rx elements number) 
               
               
                 Rx beamforming 
                 DFT codebook 
               
               
                 Propagation conditions 
                 Clustered Delay Line (CDL)-C (delay spread:  
               
               
                   
                 30 ns UE speed: 3 km/h) 
               
               
                 SINR 
                 No noise and interference are considered. 
               
               
                 Angle between gNB  
                 Random during drops 
               
               
                 and UE 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     Different beam densities may be considered and defined by the number of beams, M, covering the whole spatial domain. In this example M=32 beams, 16 beams, and 8 beams. In certain embodiments, the UE measures the L1-RSRP for each of M Tx beams respectively and sorts the beams in decreasing order based on the measured L1-RSRP. For example, the UE may sort the Tx beams where a first beam is the beam with the highest L1-RSRP and the M-th beam is the beam with the lowest L1-RSRP. Table 2 summarizes the resolution of beams and the corresponding L1-RSRP accuracy. 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
               
             
               
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Geni L1-RSRP 
                 L1-RSRP  
               
               
                   
                   
                 difference  
                 accuracy to  
               
               
                   
                   
                 at 10 
                 achieve the  
               
               
                   
                 Resolution of beams 
                 percentile 
                 resolution 
               
               
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Total # 
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 0.4  
                 dB 
                 N/A 
               
               
                 of Tx  
                 strongest and the 2nd strongest 
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 beam  
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 9.2  
                 dB 
                 ±2.6  
                 dB 
               
               
                 is 8 
                 strongest and the 5th strongest 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Total # 
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 0.3  
                 dB 
                 N/A 
               
               
                 of Tx  
                 strongest and the 2nd strongest 
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 beam  
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 6.2  
                 dB 
                 ±1.1  
                 dB 
               
               
                 is 16 
                 strongest and the 6th strongest 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 9  
                 dB 
                 ±2.5  
                 dB 
               
               
                   
                 strongest and the 8th strongest 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 Total # 
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 0.2  
                 dB 
                 N/A 
               
               
                 of Tx  
                 strongest and the 2nd strongest 
                   
                   
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                 beam  
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 4.5  
                 dB 
                 ±0.25  
                 dB 
               
               
                 is 32 
                 strongest and the 6th strongest 
                   
                   
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Distinguish between 1st 
                 9  
                 dB 
                 ±2.5  
                 dB 
               
               
                   
                 strongest and the 12th strongest 
               
               
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
     As derived from Table 2, an L1-RSRP accuracy with plus or minus (±) 2.5 decibels (dB) (e.g., with no implementation margin considered) may guarantee that the reported beam can be within the best 5/8/12 beams for total 8/16/32 beams in 90% cases respectively. In other words, with an L1-RSRP accuracy of ±2.5 dB, when the total number of Tx beams is 8 the reported beam is within the best 5 beams, when the total number of Tx beams is 16 the reported beam is within the best 8 beams, and when the total number of Tx beams is 32 the reported beam is within the best 12 beams. 
     For periodic CSI-RS based L1-RSRP, there may be two options for measurement period: single slot or single sample measurement; and averaging with X samples. For aperiodic CSI-RS, only single sample measurement can be applied. For simplicity, single sample based measurement can be defined for periodic CSI-RS as well. Otherwise, two different test cases will be defined which will bring more complexity. On the other hand, single sample based measurement brings more flexibility. For SSB L1-RSRP, single sample based measurement can be applied as well. In certain embodiments, it is left to the gNB to average the measurement reports. 
     Certain embodiments provide different options for defining the L1-RSRP measurement accuracy for beam reporting based on one sample measurement. 
     For example, in one embodiment using a single sample measurement, an SSB based L1-RSRP accuracy requirement is 5.5 dB for a first frequency range (FR1) when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is −3 dB. For CSI-RS based L1-RSRP with a density (D) of 3, the L1-RSRP accuracy requirement is 5.5 dB for FR1 when SNR=−3 dB. 
     In another embodiment using a single sample measurement, the SSB based L1-RSRP accuracy requirement is 4.5 dB for FR1 when SNR&gt;=−2 dB. For CSI-RS based L1-RSRP with D=3, The L1-RSRP accuracy requirement is 4.5 dB for FR1 when SNR&gt;=−2 dB. 
     In another embodiment, for CSI-RS based L1-RSRP with D=3 where the resource block (RB) number is larger than 48RB, the L1-RSRP accuracy requirement is 4.5 dB for FR1 when SNR=−3 dB. 
     In these example embodiments, FR1 may be in a frequency range of about 450 MHz-6 GHz. 
     Depending on the density of CSI-RS, measurement bandwidth, Doppler and numerology, the L1-RSRP estimation accuracy may not be guaranteed by single sample. Certain embodiments herein perform averaging between samples to help improve the measurement accuracy. One sample or multiple samples can be used to calculate the L1-RSRP for different Tx beams. In one embodiment, for example, if L1-RSRP based on a single sample does not achieve a beam detection probability that is greater than about 90%, multiple samples are used to improve the estimation accuracy. The exact sample number may be determined through simulation. The measurement accuracy may then be defined based by the sample number. Similar with other RSRP requirements, for example, by plotting the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of an RSRP measurement accuracy curve, the maximum RSRP delta corresponding to 5% and 95% of the curve can be defined. 
     The Tx beam pattern may have an impact on the beam detection probability. If a Tx beam has high correlation and the beam direction of the various Tx beams are close to one another, it may be more difficult to distinguish the best beam. In certain embodiments, Tx beams are equally sampled in the spatial domain. For example, Tx beam direction is equally divided by/N where N is the Tx beam number. In addition, or in other embodiments, another simplified method with different power boosting is provided for different Tx beams since the beamforming gain can be equal to effective SNR to some extent. For example, for four Tx beams, the power boosting for different Tx beams can be OdB, 2 dB, 4 dB, 5 dB. 
     The CSI-RS resources configured for L1-RSRP measurement may be transmitted corresponding to a number of resource element (RE) per resource block (RB) per port. Increasing the density may improve measurement accuracy. For example, the L1-RSRP accuracy may degrade in extended typical urban (ETU) channel compared with an extended pedestrian A (EPA) channel. Also, the L1-RSRP accuracy based on a density of D=1 performs much worse than that based on D=3 in an ETU channel for both 24 RB and 96 RB. As a further example, for 24 RB with D=1, the worst L1-RSRP accuracy may be 4.5 dB for one sample, which is larger than 2.5 dB with five samples at an SNR=0 dB in an ETU channel. Thus, various embodiments herein define a density of D=3 as the baseline for CSI-RS based L1-RSRP reporting. In other embodiments, a density three or great may be used. 
       FIG.  1    is flowchart illustrating a method  100  for beam management by a UE in a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. In block  102 , the method  100  identifies a plurality of resources corresponding to different Tx beams configured for measurement by the UE. In block  104 , the method  100  measures an L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources. In block  106 , the method  100  determines a selected Tx beam of the different Tx beams based on measured L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources, wherein an L1-RSRP value corresponding to the selected Tx beam is measured with a predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy to provide that the selected Tx beam is within a number of largest L1-RSRP values of the measured L1-RSRP of the different Tx beams. In block  108 , the method  100  generates a report including an indication of the selected Tx beam and the L1-RSRP value measured with the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy. 
     Beam Management. 
     In new radio (NR) implementations, beam management may refer to a set of L1/L2 procedures to acquire and maintain a set of TRP(s) and/or UE beams that can be used for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmission/reception, which may include beam determination, which may refer to TRxP(s) or UE ability to select of its own transmission (Tx)/reception (Rx) beam(s); beam measurement, which may refer to transmission/reception point(s) (TRP or TRxP) or UE ability to measure characteristics of received beamformed signals; beam reporting, which may refer the UE ability to report information of beamformed signal(s) based on beam measurement; and beam sweeping, which may refer to operation(s) of covering a spatial area, with beams transmitted and/or received during a time interval in a predetermined manner. 
     Tx/Rx beam correspondence at a TRxP holds if at least one of the following conditions are satisfied: TRxP is able to determine a TRxP Rx beam for the uplink reception based on UE&#39;s downlink measurement on TRxP&#39;s one or more Tx beams; and TRxP is able to determine a TRxP Tx beam for the downlink transmission based on TRxP&#39;s uplink measurement on TRxP&#39;s one or more Rx beams. Tx/Rx beam correspondence at a UE holds if at least one of the following is satisfied: UE is able to determine a UE Tx beam for the uplink transmission based on UE&#39;s downlink measurement on UE&#39;s one or more Rx beams; UE is able to determine a UE Rx beam for the downlink reception based on TRxP&#39;s indication based on uplink measurement on UE&#39;s one or more Tx beams; and Capability indication of UE beam correspondence related information to TRxP is supported. 
     In some implementations, DL beam management may include procedures P-1, P-2, and P-3. Procedure P-1 may be used to enable UE measurement on different TRxP Tx beams to support selection of TRxP Tx beams/UE Rx beam(s). For beamforming at TRxP, procedure P-1 typically includes an intra/inter-TRxP Tx beam sweep from a set of different beams. For beamforming at the UE, procedure P-1 typically includes a UE Rx beam sweep from a set of different beams. 
     Procedure P-2 may be used to enable UE measurement on different TRxP Tx beams to possibly change inter/intra-TRxP Tx beam(s). Procedure P-2 may be a special case of procedure P-1 wherein procedure P-2 may be used for a possibly smaller set of beams for beam refinement than procedure P-1. Procedure P-3 may be used to enable UE measurement on the same TRxP Tx beam to change UE Rx beam in the case UE uses beamforming. Procedures P-1, P-2, and P-3 may be used for aperiodic beam reporting. 
     UE measurements based on RS for beam management (at least CSI-RS) is composed of K beams (where K is a total number of configured beams), and the UE may report measurement results of N selected Tx beams (where N may or may not be a fixed number). The procedure based on RS for mobility purpose is not precluded. Beam information that is to be reported may include measurement quantities for the N beam(s) and information indicating N DL Tx beam(s), if N&lt;K. Other information or data may be included in or with the beam information. When a UE is configured with K′&gt;1 non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources, a UE can report N′ CSI-RS Resource Indicator (CRIs). 
     In some NR implementations, a UE can trigger a mechanism to recover from beam failure, which may be referred to a “beam recovery”, “beam failure recovery request procedure”, and/or the like. A beam failure event may occur when the quality of beam pair link(s) of an associated control channel falls below a threshold, when a time-out of an associated timer occurs, or the like. The beam recovery mechanism may be triggered when beam failure occurs. The network may explicitly configure the UE with resources for UL transmission of signals for recovery purposes. Configurations of resources are supported where the base station (e.g., a TRP, gNB, or the like) is listening from all or partial directions (e.g., a random access region). The UL transmission/resources to report beam failure can be located in the same time instance as a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) or resources orthogonal to PRACH resources, or at a time instance (configurable for a UE) different from PRACH. Transmission of DL signal is supported for allowing the UE to monitor the beams for identifying new potential beams. 
     For beam failure recovery, a beam failure should be declared if all the serving PDCCH beams fail. The beam failure recovery request procedure may be initiated when a beam failure is declared. For example, the beam failure recovery request procedure may be used for indicating to a serving gNB (or TRP) of a new SSB or CSI-RS when beam failure is detected on a serving SSB(s)/CSI-RS(s). A beam failure may be detected by the lower layers and indicated to a Media Access Control (MAC) entity of the UE. 
     In some implementations, beam management may include providing or not providing beam-related indications. When beam-related indication is provided, information pertaining to UE-side beamforming/receiving procedure used for CSI-RS-based measurement can be indicated through QCL to the UE. The same or different beams on the control channel and the corresponding data channel transmissions may be supported. 
     Downlink (DL) beam indications may be based on a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state(s). The TCI state(s) may be indicated in a TCI list that is configured by radio resource control (RRC) and/or Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). In some implementations, a UE can be configured up to M TCI-States by higher layer signaling to decode PDSCH according to a detected PDCCH with downlink control information (DCI) intended for the UE and the given serving cell where M depends on the UE capability. Each configured TCI state includes one reference signal (RS) set TCI-RS-SetConfig. Each TCI-RS-SetConfig may include parameters for configuring quasi co-location relationship(s) between the RSs in the RS set and the demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) port group of the PDSCH. The RS set may include a reference to either one or two DL RSs and an associated quasi co-location type (QCL-Type) for each DL RS(s) configured by the higher layer parameter QCL-Type. For the case of two DL RSs, the QCL types shall not be the same, regardless of whether the references are to the same DL RS or different DL RSs. The quasi co-location types indicated to the UE are based on the higher layer parameter QCL-Type and may take one or a combination of the following types: QCL-TypeA: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread}; QCL-TypeB: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread}; QCL-TypeC: {average delay, Doppler shift}; QCL-TypeD: {Spatial Rx parameter}. 
     The UE may receive a selection command (e.g., in a MAC CE), which may be used to map up to 8 TCI states to the codepoints of the DCI field TCI-states. Until a UE receives higher layer configuration of TCI states and before reception of the activation command, the UE may assume that the antenna ports of one DM-RS port group of PDSCH of a serving cell are spatially quasi co-located with the SSB determined in the initial access procedure. When the number of TCI states in TCI-States is less than or equal to 8, the DCI field TCI-states directly indicates the TCI state. 
     A beam failure recovery request could be delivered over dedicated PRACH or Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resources. For example, a UE can be configured, for a serving cell, with a set (q0) of periodic CSI-RS resource configuration indexes by higher layer parameter Beam-Failure-Detection-RS-ResourceConfig and with a set (q1) of CSI-RS resource configuration indexes and/or SS/PBCH block indexes by higher layer parameter Candidate-Beam-RS-List for radio link quality measurements on the serving cell. If there is no configuration, the beam failure detection could be based on CSI-RS or SSB, which is spatially Quasi Co-Located (QCLed) with the PDCCH Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS). For example, if the UE is not provided with the higher layer parameter Beam-Failure-Detection-RS-ResourceConfig, the UE may determine set (q0) to include SS/PBCH blocks and periodic CSI-RS configurations with same values for higher layer parameter TCI-StatesPDCCH as for control resource sets (CORESET) that the UE is configured for monitoring PDCCH. 
     The physical layer of a UE may assess the radio link quality according to a set of resource configurations against a threshold Q out,LR . The threshold Q out,LR  corresponds to a default value of higher layer parameter RLM-IS-OOS-thresholdConfig and Beam-failure-candidate-beam-threshold, respectively. For the set (q0), the UE may assess the radio link quality only according to periodic CSI-RS resource configurations or SS/PBCH blocks that are quasi co-located, with the DM-RS of PDCCH receptions DM-RS monitored by the UE. The UE applies the configured Q in,LR  threshold for the periodic CSI-RS resource configurations. The UE applies the Q out,LR  threshold for SS/PBCH blocks after scaling a SS/PBCH block transmission power with a value provided by higher layer parameter Pc_SS. 
     In some implementations, if a beam failure indication has been received by a MAC entity from lower layers, then the MAC entity may start a beam failure recovery timer (beamFailureRecoveryTimer) and initiate a Random Access procedure. If the beamFailureRecoveryTimer expires, then the MAC entity may indicate a beam failure recovery request failure to upper layers. If a downlink assignment or uplink grant has been received (e.g., on a PDCCH addressed for a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI)), then the MAC entity may stop and reset beamFailureRecoveryTimer and consider the beam failure recovery request procedure to be successfully completed. 
     Beam Measurement. 
     In embodiments, a UE (e.g., in RRC_CONNECTED mode) may measure multiple beams (at least one) of a cell and the measurements results (power values) are averaged to derive the cell quality. The UE may be configured to consider a subset of the detected beams, such as the N best beams above an absolute threshold. Filtering may take place at two different levels include at the physical layer (PHY) to derive beam quality and then at the RRC level to derive cell quality from multiple beams. Cell quality from beam measurements may be derived in the same way for the serving cell(s) and for the non-serving cell(s). Measurement reports may contain the measurement results of the X best beams if the UE is configured to do so by the gNB. For channel state estimation purposes, the UE may be configured to measure CSI-RS resources and estimate a downlink channel state based on the CSI-RS measurements. The UE may feed the estimated channel state back to the gNB to be used in link adaptation. 
     An example beam measurement model  200  is shown by  FIG.  2   . The example beam measurement model  200  includes UE implementation specific circuitry  202 , L1 filtering circuitry  204 , beam consolidation/selection circuitry  206 , L3 filtering for cell quality circuitry  208 , evaluation of reporting criteria circuitry  210 , L3 beam filtering circuitry  212 , and beam selection for reporting circuitry  214 . In  FIG.  2   , point A may include measurements (e.g., beam specific samples) internal to the PHY. Layer 1 (L1) filtering may include internal L1 filtering circuitry  204  for filtering the inputs measured at point A. The exact filtering mechanisms and how the measurements are actually executed at the PHY may be implementation specific. The measurements (e.g., beam specific measurements) may be reported by the L1 filtering circuitry  204  to the L3 beam filtering circuitry  212  and the beam consolidation/selection circuitry  206  at point A 1 . 
     The beam consolidation/selection circuitry  206  may include circuitry where beam specific measurements are consolidated to derive cell quality. For example, if N&gt;1, else when N=1 the best beam measurement may be selected to derive cell quality. The configuration of the beam may be provided by RRC signaling. A measurement (e.g., cell quality) derived from the beam-specific measurements may then be reported to L3 filtering for cell quality circuitry  208  after beam consolidation/selection. In some embodiments, the reporting period at point B may be equal to one measurement period at point A 1 . 
     The L3 filtering for cell quality circuitry  208  may be configured to filter the measurements provided at point B. The configuration of the Layer 3 filters may be provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling or different/separate RRC signaling. In some embodiments, the filtering reporting period at point C may be equal to one measurement period at point B. A measurement after processing in the L3 filtering for cell quality circuitry  208  may be provided to the evaluation of reporting criteria circuitry  210  at point C. In some embodiments, the reporting rate may be identical to the reporting rate at point B. This measurement input may be used for one or more evaluation of reporting criteria. 
     The evaluation of reporting criteria circuitry  210  may be configured to check whether actual measurement reporting is necessary at point D. The evaluation can be based on more than one flow of measurements at reference point C. In one example, the evaluation may involve a comparison between different measurements, such as a measurement provided at point C and another measurement provided at point Cl. In embodiments, the UE may evaluate the reporting criteria at least every time a new measurement result is reported at point C, Cl. The reporting criteria configuration may be provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling (UE measurements) or different/separate RRC signaling. After the evaluation, measurement report information (e.g., as a message) may be sent on the radio interface at point D. 
     Referring back to point A 1 , measurements provided at point A 1  may be provided to the L3 beam filtering circuitry  212 , which may be configured to perform beam filtering of the provided measurements (e.g., beam specific measurements). The configuration of the beam filters is provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling or different/separate RRC signaling. In embodiments, the filtering reporting period at point E may be equal to one measurement period at A 1 . The K beams may correspond to the measurements on New Radio (NR)-synchronization signal (SS) block (SSB) or Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources configured for L3 mobility by a gNB and detected by the UE at L1. 
     After processing in the beam filter measurement (e.g., beam-specific measurement), a measurement may be provided to the beam selection for reporting circuitry  214  at point E. This measurement may be used as an input for selecting the X measurements to be reported. In embodiments, the reporting rate may be identical to the reporting rate at point A 1 . The beam selection for reporting circuitry  214  may be configured to select the X measurements from the measurements provided at point E. The configuration of this module may be provided by the aforementioned RRC signaling or different/separate RRC signaling. The beam measurement information to be included in a measurement report may be sent or scheduled for transmission on the radio interface at point F. 
     The measurement reports may include a measurement identity of an associated measurement configuration that triggered the reporting. The measurement reports may include cell and beam measurement quantities to be included in measurement reports that are configured by the network (e.g., using RRC signaling). The measurement reports may include number of non-serving cells to be reported can be limited through configuration by the network. Cell(s) belonging to a blacklist configured by the network may not be used in event evaluation and reporting. By contrast, when a whitelist is configured by the network, only the cells belonging to the whitelist may be used in event evaluation and reporting. The beam measurements to be included in measurement reports may be configured by the network, and such measurement reports may include or indicate a beam identifier only, a measurement result and beam identifier, or no beam reporting. 
     Example Systems and Devices. 
       FIG.  3    illustrates an architecture of a system  300  of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system  300  is shown to include a UE  302 ; a 5G access node or RAN node (shown as (R)AN node  308 ); a User Plane Function (shown as UPF  304 ); a Data Network (DN  306 ), which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5G Core Network (5GC) (shown as CN  310 ). 
     The CN  310  may include an Authentication Server Function (AUSF  314 ); a Core Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF  312 ); a Session Management Function (SMF  318 ); a Network Exposure Function (NEF  316 ); a Policy Control Function (PCF  322 ); a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF  320 ); a Unified Data Management (UDM  324 ); and an Application Function (AF  326 ). The CN  310  may also include other elements that are not shown, such as a Structured Data Storage network function (SDSF), an Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF), and the like. 
     The UPF  304  may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN  306 , and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF  304  may also perform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforce user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection); traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for user plane (e.g. packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF  304  may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN  306  may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. 
     The AUSF  314  may store data for authentication of UE  302  and handle authentication related functionality. The AUSF  314  may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. 
     The AMF  312  may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE  302 , etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF  312  may provide transport for SM messages for the SMF  318 , and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF  312  may also provide transport for short message service (SMS) messages between UE  302  and an SMS function (SMSF) (not shown by  FIG.  3   ). AMF  312  may act as Security Anchor Function (SEA), which may include interaction with the AUSF  314  and the UE  302 , receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE  302  authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used, the AMF  312  may retrieve the security material from the AUSF  314 . AMF  312  may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF  312  may be a termination point of RAN CP interface (N2 reference point), a termination point of NAS (NI) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. 
     AMF  312  may also support NAS signaling with a UE  302  over an N3 interworking-function (IWF) interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 and N3 interfaces for control plane and user plane, respectively, and as such, may handle N2 signaling from SMF and AMF for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, mark N3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated to such marking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS (NI) signaling between the UE  302  and AMF  312 , and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE  302  and UPF  304 . The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE  302 . 
     The SMF  318  may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation &amp; management (including optional Authorization); Selection and control of UP function; Configures traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces towards Policy control functions; control part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI System); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink Data Notification; initiator of AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; determine SSC mode of a session. The SMF  318  may include the following roaming functionality: handle local enforcement to apply QoS SLAB (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI System); support for interaction with external DN for transport of signaling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. 
     The NEF  316  may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF  326 ), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF  316  may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF  316  may also translate information exchanged with the AF  326  and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF  316  may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF  316  may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF  316  as structured data, or at a data storage NF using a standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF  316  to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. 
     The NRF  320  may support service discovery functions, receive NF Discovery Requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF  320  also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. 
     The PCF  322  may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF  322  may also implement a front end (FE) to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of UDM  324 . 
     The UDM  324  may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE  302 . The UDM  324  may include two parts, an application FE and a User Data Repository (UDR). The UDM may include a UDM FE, which is in charge of processing of credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing; user identification handling; access authorization; registration/mobility management; and subscription management. The UDR may interact with PCF  322 . UDM  324  may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed previously. 
     The AF  326  may provide application influence on traffic routing, access to the Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC and AF  326  to provide information to each other via NEF  316 , which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE  302  access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF  304  close to the UE  302  and execute traffic steering from the UPF  304  to DN  306  via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF  326 . In this way, the AF  326  may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF  326  is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF  326  to interact directly with relevant NFs. 
     As discussed previously, the CN  310  may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from the UE  302  to/from other entities, such as an SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF  312  and UDM  324  for notification procedure that the UE  302  is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM  324  when UE  302  is available for SMS). 
     The system  300  may include the following service-based interfaces: Namf: Service-based interface exhibited by AMF; Nsmf: Service-based interface exhibited by SMF; Nnef: Service-based interface exhibited by NEF; Npcf: Service-based interface exhibited by PCF; Nudm: Service-based interface exhibited by UDM; Naf: Service-based interface exhibited by AF; Nnrf: Service-based interface exhibited by NRF; and Nausf: Service-based interface exhibited by AUSF. 
     The system  300  may include the following reference points: N1: Reference point between the UE and the AMF; N2: Reference point between the (R)AN and the AMF; N3: Reference point between the (R)AN and the UPF; N4: Reference point between the SMF and the UPF; and N6: Reference point between the UPF and a Data Network. There may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs, however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted for clarity. For example, an NS reference point may be between the PCF and the AF; an N7 reference point may be between the PCF and the SMF; an N11 reference point between the AMF and SMF; etc. In some embodiments, the CN  310  may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME(s)  608 ) and the AMF  312  in order to enable interworking between CN  310  and CN  606 . 
     Although not shown by  FIG.  3   , the system  300  may include multiple RAN nodes (such as (R)AN node  308 ) wherein an Xn interface is defined between two or more (R)AN node  308  (e.g., gNBs and the like) that connecting to 5GC  410 , between a (R)AN node  308  (e.g., gNB) connecting to CN  310  and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to CN  310 . 
     In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE  302  in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more (R)AN node  308 . The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving (R)AN node  308  to new (target) serving (R)AN node  308 ; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving (R)AN node  308  to new (target) serving (R)AN node  308 . 
     A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP—U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on an SCTP layer. The SCTP layer may be on top of an IP layer. The SCTP layer provides the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein. 
       FIG.  4    illustrates example components of a device  400  in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device  400  may include application circuitry  402 , baseband circuitry  404 , Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry (shown as RF circuitry  420 ), front-end module (FEM) circuitry (shown as FEM circuitry  430 ), one or more antennas  432 , and power management circuitry (PMC) (shown as PMC  434 ) coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device  400  may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device  400  may include fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry  402 , and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device  400  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations). 
     The application circuitry  402  may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry  402  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device  400 . In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry  402  may process IP data packets received from an EPC. 
     The baseband circuitry  404  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry  404  may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  420  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  420 . The baseband circuitry  404  may interface with the application circuitry  402  for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  420 . For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  404  may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor (3G baseband processor  406 ), a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor (4G baseband processor  408 ), a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor (5G baseband processor  410 ), or other baseband processor(s)  412  for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry  404  (e.g., one or more of baseband processors) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  420 . In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the illustrated baseband processors may be included in modules stored in the memory  418  and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU  414 ). The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry  404  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  404  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  404  may include a digital signal processor (DSP), such as one or more audio DSP(s)  416 . The one or more audio DSP(s)  416  may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  404  and the application circuitry  402  may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC). 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  404  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  404  may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), or a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry  404  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     The RF circuitry  420  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  420  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. The RF circuitry  420  may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  430  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  404 . The RF circuitry  420  may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  404  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  430  for transmission. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  420  may include mixer circuitry  422 , amplifier circuitry  424  and filter circuitry  426 . In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  420  may include filter circuitry  426  and mixer circuitry  422 . The RF circuitry  420  may also include synthesizer circuitry  428  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  430  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  428 . The amplifier circuitry  424  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  426  may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry  404  for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry  428  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  430 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  404  and may be filtered by the filter circuitry  426 . 
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  422  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  422  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  422  may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  422  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  422  of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation. 
     In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry  420  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  404  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  420 . 
     In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  428  may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry  428  may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. 
     The synthesizer circuitry  428  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  422  of the RF circuitry  420  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  428  may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer. 
     In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry  404  or the application circuitry  402  (such as an applications processor) depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry  402 . 
     Synthesizer circuitry  428  of the RF circuitry  420  may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. 
     In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  428  may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry  420  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     The FEM circuitry  430  may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas  432 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  420  for further processing. The FEM circuitry  430  may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  420  for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas  432 . In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  420 , solely in the FEM circuitry  430 , or in both the RF circuitry  420  and the FEM circuitry  430 . 
     In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry  430  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry  430  may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry  430  may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry  420 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  430  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by the RF circuitry  420 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas  432 ). 
     In some embodiments, the PMC  434  may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry  404 . In particular, the PMC  434  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC  434  may often be included when the device  400  is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device  400  is included in a UE. The PMC  434  may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics. 
       FIG.  4    shows the PMC  434  coupled only with the baseband circuitry  404 . However, in other embodiments, the PMC  434  may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, the application circuitry  402 , the RF circuitry  420 , or the FEM circuitry  430 . 
     In some embodiments, the PMC  434  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device  400 . For example, if the device  400  is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device  400  may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. 
     If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device  400  may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device  400  goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device  400  may not receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it transitions back to an RRC_Connected state. 
     An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable. 
     Processors of the application circuitry  402  and processors of the baseband circuitry  404  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  404 , alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry  402  may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates example interfaces  500  of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry  404  of  FIG.  4    may comprise 3G baseband processor  406 , 4G baseband processor  408 , 5G baseband processor  410 , other baseband processor(s)  412 , CPU  414 , and a memory  418  utilized by said processors. As illustrated, each of the processors may include a respective memory interface  502  to send/receive data to/from the memory  418 . 
     The baseband circuitry  404  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface  504  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  404 ), an application circuitry interface  506  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  402  of  FIG.  4   ), an RF circuitry interface  508  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  420  of  FIG.  4   ), a wireless hardware connectivity interface  510  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface  512  (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC  434 . 
       FIG.  6    illustrates components  600  of a core network in accordance with some embodiments. The components of the CN  606  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  606  may be referred to as a network slice  602  (e.g., the network slice  602  is shown to include the HSS  614 , the MME(s)  608 , and the S-GW  610 ). A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  606  may be referred to as a network sub-slice  604  (e.g., the network sub-slice  604  is shown to include the P-GW  612  and the PCRF  616 ). 
     NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
       FIG.  7    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system  700  to support NFV. The system  700  is illustrated as including a virtualized infrastructure manager (shown as VIM  702 ), a network function virtualization infrastructure (shown as NFVI  704 ), a VNF manager (shown as VNFM  706 ), virtualized network functions (shown as VNF  708 ), an element manager (shown as EM  710 ), an NFV Orchestrator (shown as NFVO  712 ), and a network manager (shown as NM  714 ). 
     The VIM  702  manages the resources of the NFVI  704 . The NFVI  704  can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system  700 . The VIM  702  may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI  704  (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of virtual machines (VMs) associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems. 
     The VNFM  706  may manage the VNF  708 . The VNF  708  may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM  706  may manage the life cycle of the VNF  708  and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNF  708 . The EM  710  may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNF  708 . The tracking data from the VNFM  706  and the EM  710  may comprise, for example, performance measurement (PM) data used by the VIM  702  or the NFVI  704 . Both the VNFM  706  and the EM  710  can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system  700 . 
     The NFVO  712  may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI  704  in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM  714  may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM  710 ). 
       FIG.  8    is a block diagram illustrating components  800 , according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically,  FIG.  8    shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  802  including one or more processors  812  (or processor cores), one or more memory/storage devices  818 , and one or more communication resources  820 , each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus  822 . For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  804  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  802 . 
     The processors  812  (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor  814  and a processor  816 . 
     The memory/storage devices  818  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  818  may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc. 
     The communication resources  820  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  806  or one or more databases  808  via a network  810 . For example, the communication resources  820  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. 
     Instructions  824  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  812  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  824  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  812  (e.g., within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  818 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  824  may be transferred to the hardware resources  802  from any combination of the peripheral devices  806  or the databases  808 . Accordingly, the memory of the processors  812 , the memory/storage devices  818 , the peripheral devices  806 , and the databases  808  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
     For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section. 
     Example Section. 
     The following examples pertain to further embodiments. 
     Example 1 is an apparatus a user equipment (UE). The apparatus includes a memory interface, measurement circuitry, and a baseband processor. The memory interface to send or receive, to or from a memory device, data for a report to send to a g Node B (gNB) in a wireless network. The measurement circuitry to measure a layer one reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) for a plurality of resources corresponding to different transmit (Tx) beams configured for measurement by the UE. The baseband processor to: determine a selected Tx beam of the different Tx beams based on measured L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources, wherein an L1-RSRP value corresponding to the selected Tx beam is measured with a predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy to provide that the selected Tx beam is within a number of largest L1-RSRP values of the measured L1-RSRP of the different Tx beams; and generate the report including an indication of the selected Tx beam and the L1-RSRP value measured with the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy. 
     Example 2 is the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy is ±2.5 dB. 
     Example 3 is the apparatus of Example 2, wherein the different Tx beams comprise 8 Tx beams, and wherein the number of largest L1-RSRP values correspond to 5 best beams of the 8 Tx beams. 
     Example 4 is the apparatus of Example 2, wherein the different Tx beams comprise 16 Tx beams, and wherein the number of largest L1-RSRP values correspond to 8 best beams of the 16 Tx beams. 
     Example 5 is the apparatus of Example 2, wherein the different Tx beams comprise 32 Tx beams, and wherein the number of largest L1-RSRP values correspond to 12 best beams of the 32 Tx beams. 
     Example 6 is the apparatus of Example 1, wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises to measure a plurality of samples of the L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources, the baseband processor further to average the plurality of samples corresponding to each of the plurality of resources. 
     Example 7 is the apparatus of Example 1, wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises to measure a single sample of L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources. 
     Example 8 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as synchronization signal block (SSB) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the SSB is ±5.5 dB when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is at least −3 dB. 
     Example 9 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 is ±5.5 dB when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is at least −3 dB. 
     Example 10 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as synchronization signal block (SSB) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the SSB is ±2 dB when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is greater than or equal to −2 dB. 
     Example 11 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 is ±4.5 dB when the corresponding SNR is greater than or equal to −2 dB. 
     Example 12 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 and a bandwidth of 48 physical resource blocks (PRBs) is ±4.5 dB when the corresponding SNR is at least −3 dB. 
     Example 13 is a method for beam management by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. The method includes: identifying a plurality of resources corresponding to different transmit (Tx) beams configured for measurement by the UE; measuring a layer one reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) for the plurality of resources; determining a selected Tx beam of the different Tx beams based on measured L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources, wherein an L1-RSRP value corresponding to the selected Tx beam is measured with a predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy to provide that the selected Tx beam is within a number of largest L1-RSRP values of the measured L1-RSRP of the different Tx beams; and generating a report including an indication of the selected Tx beam and the L1-RSRP value measured with the predetermined L1-RSRP accuracy. 
     Example 14 is the method of Example 13, wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy is ±2.5 dB. 
     Example 15 is the method of Example 14, wherein the different Tx beams comprise 8 Tx beams, and wherein the number of largest L1-RSRP values correspond to 5 best beams of the 8 Tx beams. 
     Example 16 is the method of Example 14, wherein the different Tx beams comprise 16 Tx beams, and wherein the number of largest L1-RSRP values correspond to 8 best beams of the 16 Tx beams. 
     Example 17 is the method of Example 14, wherein the different Tx beams comprise 32 Tx beams, and wherein the number of largest L1-RSRP values correspond to 12 best beams of the 32 Tx beams. 
     Example 18 is the method of Example 13, wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises measuring a plurality of samples of the L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources, the method further comprising averaging the plurality of samples corresponding to each of the plurality of resources. 
     Example 19 is the method of Example 13, wherein to measure the L1-RSRP for the plurality of resources comprises measuring a single sample of L1-RSRP for each of the plurality of resources. 
     Example 20 is the method of Example 19, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as synchronization signal block (SSB) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the SSB is ±5.5 dB when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is at least −3 dB. 
     Example 21 is the method of Example 19, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 is ±5.5 dB when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is at least −3 dB. 
     Example 22 is the method of Example 19, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as synchronization signal block (SSB) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the SSB is ±2 dB when a corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is greater than or equal to −2 dB. 
     Example 23 is the method of Example 19, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 is ±4.5 dB when the corresponding SNR is greater than or equal to −2 dB. 
     Example 24 is the method of Example 19, wherein the plurality of resources is configured as channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resources corresponding to the different Tx beams, and wherein the predetermined L1 RSRP accuracy for the CSI-RS transmitted with a density of 3 and a bandwidth of 48 physical resource blocks (PRBs) is ±4.5 dB when the corresponding SNR is at least −3 dB. 
     Example 25 is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when processed by a processor, configure the processor to perform the method of any one of Example 13 to Example 24. 
     Any of the above described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. 
     Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations, which may be embodied in machine-executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. A computer system may include one or more general-purpose or special-purpose computers (or other electronic devices). The computer system may include hardware components that include specific logic for performing the operations or may include a combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. 
     It should be recognized that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments can be combined into single systems, partially combined into other systems, split into multiple systems or divided or combined in other ways. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters/attributes/aspects/etc. of one embodiment can be used in another embodiment. The parameters/attributes/aspects/etc. are merely described in one or more embodiments for clarity, and it is recognized that the parameters/attributes/aspects/etc. can be combined with or substituted for parameters/attributes/etc. of another embodiment unless specifically disclaimed herein. 
     Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles thereof. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both the processes and apparatuses described herein. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered illustrative and not restrictive, and the description is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20190926
Publication Date: 20240409
Grant Date: 20240409
Priority Date: 20180928
Inventors: LI, HUA
CUI, JIE
TANG, YANG
LI, QIMING
RAGHAVAN, Manasa
YU, ZHIBIN
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04B7/0695", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0626", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B17/318", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W56/001", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0695", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0695", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W24/10", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0408", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L5/0048", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B17/327", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W52/42", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L5/0023", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/063", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0632", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0639", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B17/318", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04B7/0626", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W56/001", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 69952564