DEVICE AND METHOD OF USING BRRS CONFIGURATION

• US 20190044601A1
• Filed: 06/27/2016
• Published: 02/07/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Chang, Wenting, Zhang, Yushu, Xiong, Gang, Zhu, Yuan, Niu, Huaning
• Granted Patent: US 11,088,749 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0413 MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0626 Channel coefficients, e.g. channel state information [CSI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0695 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/08 at the receiving station
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/088 using beam selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/26 Systems using multi-frequency codes H04L27/32 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2607 Cyclic extensions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/005 of common pilots, i.e. pilots destined for multiple users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0092 Indication of how the channel is divided
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0022 for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

Devices for and methods of beam refinement using a beam refinement reference signal (BRRS) are generally described. A UE receives BRRS information indicating a BRRS position of at least one OFDM symbol in a first or last symbol pair in a subframe. The BRRS replaces the xPD-CCH, the last two symbols of data (an xPDSCH or xPUSCH), or is TDMed with a GP. The data and BRRS are allocated to the UE or to different UEs. The BRRS information is provided via an indicator in the DCI or higher layer signaling. The UE refines either the current Rx beam or directly refines a candidate Rx beam and uses one or multiple symbols, as indicated by a BRRS format.

Claims

1. An apparatus of user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

processing circuitry in communication with the memory and arranged to;

decode beam refinement reference signal (BRRS) information that indicates a position of a BRRS in a BRRS subframe;

decode the BRRS received from an evolved NodeB (eNB); and

during reception of the BRRS in the BRRS subframe, vary a receive (Rx) beam direction and measure a signal characteristic of the BRRS to determine a refined Rx beam direction.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises 14 orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols, and

the position of the BRRS comprises at least one OFDM symbol of a first two OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe or a last two OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises a 5^th generation physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH) in which OFDM symbols of the xPDSCH are reserved for the at least one OFDM symbol, and

the BRRS information further comprises information that the xPDSCH and the BRRS are allocated to the UE.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises a 5^th generation (5G) physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH) in which OFDM symbols of the xPDSCH are reserved for the at least one OFDM symbol, and

the BRRS information further comprises information that the xPDSCH and BRRS allocated to different UEs.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises a 5G physical downlink control channel (xPDCCH) configured in accordance with a downlink control information (DCI), and

for a UE scheduled for the xPDSCH, at least one of the last two of the OFDM symbols are reserved for the BRRS through the use of a punctured indicator of the DCI, which is used to configure a resource reservation for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises a 5^th generation (5G) physical uplink shared channel (xPUSCH) in which OFDM symbols of the xPUSCH are reserved for the at least one OFDM symbol, and

the BRRS information further comprises information that the xPUSCH and the BRRS are allocated to the UE.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises a 5^th generation (5G) physical uplink shared channel (xPUSCH) in which OFDM symbols of the xPUSCH are reserved for the at least one OFDM symbol, and

the BRRS information further comprises that the xPUSCH and the BRRS are allocated to different UEs.

8. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

baseband circuitry configured to determine, from an indicator, which of the first and last two of the OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe the BRRS is transmitted in, the indicator configured within one of a downlink control information (DCI) or provided to the UE via higher layer signaling.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the BRRS information further indicates that the BRRS comprises repeated BRRS symbols within one OFDM symbol.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the position of the BRRS comprises a first two OFDM symbols of the BRRS subframe or a last two OFDM symbols of the BRRS subframe, and

the BRRS comprises repeated BRRS symbols within each OFDM symbol.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the BRRS is positioned in an initial OFDM symbol of the BRRS subframe or is a time divisional multiplexed with a guard period (GP) on an OFDM symbol of the BRRS subframe adjacent to the initial OFDM symbol.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the BRRS information further comprises a pattern of time divisional multiplexing between the GP and the BRRS, and

the BRRS information is one of pre-defined or configured by higher layer signaling.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the BRRS subframe comprises a 5^th generation (5G) physical downlink control channel (xPDCCH) configured in accordance with a downlink control information (DCI), and

the BRRS information further comprises information that at least one of an initial two OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe are reserved for the BRRS through the use of a punctured indicator of the DCI, which is used to configure resource reservation for the xPDCCH and the GP.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of:

the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a starting symbol index for the BRRS from at least one of a cell identifier (ID), a virtual cell ID, a BRRS ID or a subframe index, or

different BRRS transmissions from different cells use different eNB antenna ports allocated by the different cells.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the BRRS is transmitted using a current Rx beam and a candidate Rx beam, and

the processing circuitry is further configured to refine the candidate Rx beam as indicated by a BRRS format of the BRRS information.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

the BRRS format is selectable from among different BRRS formats that each indicate one of;

current Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises a single OFDM symbol in the BRRS subframe,

candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises a single OFDM symbol in the BRRS subframe,

current Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe,

candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe, and

current and candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of antennas configured to provide communications between the UE and the eNB.

18. An apparatus of an evolved NodeB (eNB), the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

processing circuitry in communication with the memory and arranged to;

generate for transmission to a user equipment (UE) beam refinement reference signal (BRRS) information that indicates a position of a BRRS in a BRRS subframe comprising orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols including an initial pair of OFDM symbols at a front of the BRRS subframe and a terminal pair of OFDM symbols at an end of the BRRS subframe, a 5^th generation (5G) physical downlink control channel (xPDCCH) configured in accordance with a downlink control information (DCI), and a data channel, the BRRS information indicating that the position of the BRRS comprises at least one OFDM symbol of the initial or terminal pair of OFDM symbols; and

generate the BRRS for transmission to the UE for receive (Rx) beam refinement, the BRRS comprising repeated BRRS symbols within at least one of the OFDM symbols in which the BRRS is present.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the data channel comprises one of a 5G physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH) or a 5G physical uplink shared channel (xPUSCH), and

the BRRS information further indicates that the xPDSCH or xPUSCH and the BRRS are allocated to the UE.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the data channel comprises one of a 5G physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH) or a 5G physical uplink shared channel (xPUSCH), and

the BRRS information further indicates that the xPDSCH or xPUSCH and the BRRS are allocated to different UEs.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the data channel comprises a 5G physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH), and for a UE scheduled for the xPDSCH, at least one of the initial pair or terminal pair of OFDM symbols are reserved for the BRRS through the use of a punctured indicator of the DCI, which is used to configure a resource reservation for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

22. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

provide a single bit indicator configured within the DCI or via higher layer signaling, the indicator indicating the position of the BRRS.

23. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the BRRS is positioned in an initial OFDM symbol of the BRRS subframe or is time divisional multiplexed with a guard period (GP) on an OFDM symbol of the BRRS subframe adjacent to the initial OFDM symbol, and

the BRRS information further comprises at least one of;

a pattern of time divisional multiplexing between the GP and the BRRS, or

information that at least one OFDM symbol of the initial pair of OFDM symbols is reserved for the BRRS through the use of a punctured indicator of the DCI, which is used to configure resource reservation for the xPDCCH and the GP.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the BRRS information further comprises a starting symbol index for the BRRS based on at least one of a cell identifier (ID), a virtual cell ID, a BRRS ID or a subframe index.

25. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the BRRS is transmitted via a current Rx beam and a candidate Rx beam, and

a BRRS format that indicates which of the current Rx beam and a candidate Rx beam for the UE to refine is selectable from among different BRRS formats that each indicate one of;

current Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises a single OFDM symbol in the BRRS subframe,

candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises a single OFDM symbol in the BRRS subframe,

current Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe,

candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe, and

current and candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe.

26. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein:

the BRRS information comprises a period and subframe offset of a periodic BRRS transmission opportunity.

27. A computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of user equipment (UE), the one or more processors to configure the UE to:

receive from an evolved NodeB (eNB) beam refinement reference signal (BRRS) information that indicates a position of a BRRS in a 5^th generation (5G) physical downlink control channel (xPDCCH) configured in accordance with a downlink control information (DCI), a guard period (GP), a 5G physical downlink shared channel (xPDSCH), or a 5G physical uplink shared channel (xPUSCH) of a BRRS subframe; and

receive from the eNB the BRRS for receive (Rx) beam refinement, the BRRS replacing orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols of the xPDCCH, replacing a portion of the OFDM symbols of the xPDSCH or xPUSCH, or time-division multiplexed with the GP.

28. The medium of claim 27, wherein the one or more processors further configure the UE to:

determine that the xPDSCH or xPUSCH and the BRRS are allocated to the UE or to different UEs based on the BRRS information.

29. The medium of claim 27, wherein:

the BRRS information further comprises a starting symbol index for the BRRS based on at least one of a cell identifier (ID), a virtual cell ID, a BRRS ID, or a subframe index.

30. The medium of claim 27, wherein:

the BRRS is received via a current Rx beam and a candidate Rx beam, and

a BRRS format that indicates which of the current Rx beam and a candidate Rx beam for the UE to refine is selectable from among different BRRS formats that each indicate one of;

current Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises a single OFDM symbol in the BRRS subframe,

candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises a single OFDM symbol in the BRRS subframe,

current Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe,

candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe, and

current and candidate Rx beam refinement using a BRRS having a position that comprises multiple OFDM symbols in the BRRS subframe.