WO2018031241A1

WO2018031241A1 - High mobility transmission beam selection

Info

Publication number: WO2018031241A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/044159
Authority: WO
Inventors: Guotong Wang; Yuan Zhu; Candy YIU
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2016-08-11
Filing date: 2017-07-27
Publication date: 2018-02-15

Abstract

The present disclosure provides for systems and methods to reduce scan delay in a 5G system. A user equipment (UE) may be configured to modify its beamwidth during transmission reception point (TRP) transmission beam selection. The variable beamwidth may be based on TRP permission, a link budget threshold, or the mobility of the UE.

Description

HIGH MOBILITY TRANSMISSION BEAM SELECTION

Related Applications

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/373,736, filed August 1 1 , 2016, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to selecting a transmission beam. In particular, the present disclosure relates to selecting a transmission beam when the user equipment is moving at a high speed.

Background

[0003] 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 802.1 1 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 an 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 communicates with a wireless communication device, known as user equipment (UE). In fifth generation (5G) wireless RANs, RAN Nodes can include a 5G Node (e.g., 5G eNB or gNB). As used herein, a gNB or other access point in a wireless network may be referred to as a Transmission Reception Point (TRP).

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0004] FIG. 1 shows a graph illustrating the performance for a UE using omni reception to select a TRP transmission beam in a high speed case in accordance with some embodiments. [0005] FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for a TRP to process variable beamwidth reception modes during transmission of a beam selection in accordance with some embodiments.

[0006] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method that a UE may use to select a reception mode for transmission beam selection in accordance with some

embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 4A illustrates the UE using the directional reception mode in accordance with some embodiments.

[0008] FIG. 4B illustrates the UE using a wide variable beamwidth reception mode in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] FIG. 4C illustrates the UE using an omni variable beamwidth reception mode.

[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture of a system of a network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

[0014] In some wireless networks, beam forming may be used to increase antenna gain. In some wireless network embodiments, both a TRP and a UE may use beam forming (e.g., in a dual beam forming wireless network). For example, in the 5G system, beam forming may be used at both the TRP side and the UE side. The TRP and the UE should maintain a good link using a paired TRP transmission beam and UE reception beam for communication. The pair of TRP transmission beam and UE reception beam changes dynamically due to the channel variation, UE movement and rotation. Therefore, the pair of TRP transmission beam and UE reception beam may be updated based on the dynamic changes to maintain link quality.

[0015] In some embodiments, the pair of beams may need to be updated frequently. For example, if the UE is traveling at a high rate of speed, the TRP transmission beam and UE reception beam may be updated frequently to maintain link quality. Selecting the TRP transmission beam and the UE reception beam may become a challenge in these embodiments as delay is expected in order to select a proper pair due to the number of possible beam pair combinations. When the UE is moving at a high speed, the TRP transmission beam and the UE reception beam may need to change very fast. In this case, it might be difficult to track the fast TRP transmission beam change due to the delay used to scan all the TRP transmission beams and all the UE reception beams. Large delay can cause inaccurate TRP beam selection leading to data transmission failure since the radio channel varies quickly at high speeds. As a result, the performance may be degraded and errors may be introduced in high speed scenarios.

[0016] Described herein are systems to reduce scanning delays when performing beam optimization on a dual beam forming wireless network. Adjusting the beamwidth of a UE for TRP beam selection based on a mobility state of a UE may reduce delays caused by scanning all of the TRP transmission beams and all of the UE reception beams to find the best pair. A larger UE reception beamwidth may result in fewer UE reception beams to scan, thereby reducing scan time. A reduction in scan time may limit delays that cause errors. Example embodiments provide mechanisms for a UE to use omni-reception to quickly select the TRP transmission beam when the UE has a sufficient link budget in a high mobility state.

[0017] Disclosed herein are apparatuses, computer-readable storage media, and communication devices configured to adjust a reception mode of a UE for TRP transmission beam selection based on a mobility state of the UE. In some embodiments, a UE may include a memory interface to access, from a memory device, system information from a TRP. The UE may further include baseband processor circuitry to control radio frequency (RF) circuitry to perform TRP

transmission beam selection in either a directional reception mode or a variable beamwidth reception mode. In some embodiments, the RF circuitry may extract, from the system information, a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value. If the permission flag is not set, the RF circuitry may select the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection. If the permission flag is set, the RF circuitry may determine that the UE is in a high mobility state and a measured reference signal received power (RSRP) value is greater than or equal to the link budget threshold value. In response to the high mobility and link budget determination, the RF circuitry may select the variable beamwidth reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection.

[0018] In some embodiments, a TRP may comprise baseband processor circuitry to determine a setting for a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and for a link budget threshold value. The TRP may further comprise a memory storage device to store system information comprising the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value. The TRP may also include radio frequency (RF) circuitry to transmit the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value, receive a transmit beam for a UE, and receive information about an operating mode of the UE.

[0019] In the following description, various aspects of the illustrative

implementations will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosure may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative

implementations. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the disclosure may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well- known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative implementations.

[0020] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm acts described in connection with embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and acts are described generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the embodiments of the disclosure described herein.

[0021] In addition, it is noted that the embodiments may be described in terms of a process that is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a structure diagram, a signaling diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart or signaling diagram may describe operational acts as a sequential process, many of these acts can be performed in another sequence, in parallel, or substantially concurrently. In addition, the order of the acts may be rearranged. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. Furthermore, the methods disclosed herein may be implemented in hardware, software, or both. If

implemented in software, the functions may be stored or transmitted as one or more computer-readable instructions (e.g., software code) on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media (i.e., non-transitory media) and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.

[0022] The term variable beamwidth reception mode as used herein refers to a mode in which a UE may alter its directionality during transmission beam selection to facilitate faster beam pairing. During variable beamwidth reception mode, the UE may use a wide beam. For example, in some embodiments, the UE may use an omni beam with little or no beamforming. In some embodiments, the width of the beam may vary based on factors such as antenna gain, UE speed, and distance between TRPs.

[0023] Additional details and examples are provided with reference to the figures below. The embodiments of the disclosure can be understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout. The components of the disclosed embodiments, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the systems and methods of the disclosure is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, as claimed, but is merely representative of possible embodiments.

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a graph 100 illustrating the performance for a UE using omni reception 102 to select a TRP transmission beam in a high speed case compared to other scan techniques. The ideal search 104 refers to when the UE searches all the TRP and UE beam pairs within one Beam Reference Signal (BRS) transmission interval. The ideal search is used as the performance upper bound, but it is not realistic since the UE may not be able to scan all the combinations of the TRP transmission beam and UE reception beam within one BRS transmission.

Hierarchical search 106, sub tx 108, and full tx 1 10 represent different scan delays for beam selection. It can be observed that the performance of omni reception is very close to the ideal search.

[0025] In a 5G system, the TRP sends a BRS periodically. When the BRS is sent, the UE may scan the TRP transmission beams with the UE reception beams. Due to the UE hardware limitation, the UE may not be able to scan all of the UE reception beams during one BRS transmission interval. Thus, there may be a scan delay in order to scan many or all combination pairs of the TRP transmission beam and the UE reception beam. When the UE moves at a relatively high speed, the TRP transmission beam may change rapidly. The scan delay may introduce error to the UE reception since the UE is not able to track the TRP transmission beam change in a timely manner.

[0026] To quickly track the TRP transmission beam change when a UE is in high mobility, example embodiments use omni reception or wide beam reception instead of directional reception at the UE for TRP transmission beam selection in high speed cases. However, when a wider beam is used, it is expected to have some loss on the link budget compared with directional reception (e.g., antenna gain loss). In the case of the UE with a sufficient link budget, the impact of the loss is limited. As shown, a UE using omni reception when the UE is in high mobility and moving close to the TRP may be very close to an ideal search.

[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 200 for a TRP to process variable beamwidth reception mode during transmission beam selection. As shown, the TRP may control variables that determine whether a UE may use variable beamwidth reception mode (e.g., permission flag and link budget).

[0028] The TRP may set 202 a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception. The permission flag may allow the TRP to control whether variable beamwidths may be used by a UE during transmission beam selection. In some embodiments, the TRP may set the TRP flag to false to force UEs to use beamforming. The

directionality of beamforming extends coverage of the TRP. In some embodiments, the permission flag may be set manually by a technician. In some embodiments, the permission flag may be set based on the distance between TRPs.

[0029] In some embodiments, the permission flag or other parameter set by the TRP may indicate a maximum width that the UE may use in variable beamwidth reception mode. The maximum width may be based on the UE antenna gain. For example, the TRP may define a mapping table to map different beamwidth options according to antenna gain. The TRP may transmit the mapping table to the UE, and the UE may select a beamwidth corresponding to the antenna gain of the UE.

[0030] The TRP may set 204 a link budget threshold for variable beamwidth reception. The link budget may be used by the UE to determine whether the UE's link budget is sufficient for variable beamwidth reception mode for TRP beam selection. For example, if the RSRP is higher than a value indicated by the link budget threshold, then the UE may consider its link budget status as sufficient. In some embodiments, the TRP may indicate to the UE what is the absolute minimum threshold it can use for measurement, and the UE may use the minimum to calculate how much antenna gain it can potentially drop (by how many dB). Based on that calculation, the UE may determine if a wider beam can be used.

[0031] The TRP may transmit 206 the permission flag and link budget threshold to a UE. In some embodiments, the TRP may periodically broadcast the System Information Block (SIB). The permission flag and link budget threshold may be included in the SIB. For example, in order to indicate whether the UE may use omni reception instead of directional reception for TRP transmission beam selection, two new fields may be added into the SIB: omniRxForHighMobility and

NnkBudgetThreshold. If omniRxForHighMobility is set to TRUE, a UE with sufficient link budget should switch to omni reception for TRP beam selection when the UE is in high mobility. Otherwise, the UE may continue to use directional reception for TRP beam selection. In another embodiment, the TRP may send the

omniRxForHighMobility and the NnkBudgetThreshold to the UE via a dedicated signaling message, such as in radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0032] In some embodiments, the TRP may receive 208 UE operating information. For example, the TRP may receive a reception beamwidth of the UE, an antenna gain, and a UE speed. In some embodiments, the TRP may determine a maximum reception beamwidth of the UE based on the received operating information. For example, in some embodiments, the TRP may define a mapping table for a plurality of possible UE reception beamwidths. The mapping table may determine a reception beamwidth of the UE based at least partially on the antenna gain. For instance, the mapping table may associate certain antenna gains with specific reception beamwidths (e.g., 60, 120, 360). In some embodiments, the UE may report an antenna gain and the TRP may use the mapping table to determine the width of the UE reception beam. [0033] The TRP may send 210 a set of BRSs to determine a preferred BRS for a UE. The UE may determine the preferred BRS based on the received signal power for each BRS. The preferred BRS may be received 212 by the TRP and used as the transmit beam for the UE.

[0034] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 300 that a UE may use to select a reception mode for transmission beam selection. As shown, based on parameters sent by the TRP and the UE mobility state, the UE may select from variable beamwidth reception mode or directional reception mode. Specifically, the UE may receive 302 for the TRP a variable beamwidth permission parameter (omniRxForHighMobility) and a link budget threshold (NnkBudgetThreshold). As explained with reference to FIG. 2, the parameters may be sent via the SIB or a dedicated signaling message.

[0035] The UE may check 304 the value of the omniRxForHighMobility and NnkBudgetThreshold obtained through the broadcasted SIB or the dedicated signaling. If the value of the omniRxForHighMobility is FALSE, the UE may utilize 310 directional reception for TRP transmission beam selection.

[0036] If the value of the omniRxForHighMobility is TRUE, the UE may further check 306 its mobility state and link budget status. A high mobility state may be defined by network parameters. For example, the speed at which a UE travels to be considered in a high mobility state may be based on factors such as directionality of the TRP, directionality of the UE, cell size, and distance between the UE and the TRP. For instance, when the directionality of the TRP is increased, the speed to enter a high mobility state may be decreased because the increased directionality may create more transmission beams to scan. The speed of the UE may be determined based on GPS data, received power change, triangulation, or other methods.

[0037] If the UE is in high mobility mode and the link budget is sufficient, the UE may switch 308 its radio frequency (RF) module to omni reception for TRP transmission beam selection. This may reduce scan delay and prevent errors from occurring due to the high mobility of the UE. Otherwise, the UE may still utilize 310 directional reception. Using directional reception facilitates a better link, and because the UE is not moving quickly, the scan delay may not cause errors.

[0038] To determine whether its link budget is sufficient, the UE may compare the RSRP with the link budget threshold. If the received RSRP is higher than the link budget threshold, then the UE may consider its link budget as sufficient for variable beamwidth reception mode for TRP beam selection. Otherwise, the UE may consider its link budget as insufficient for omni reception for TRP beam selection. The beamwidth used by the UE may vary based on the comparison of the RSRP and link budget threshold. For instance, when the RSRP is high, the UE may use an omni-reception beam. In other situations, smaller beamwidths may be sued to maintain the RSRP above the threshold (e.g. 60, 120, 360).

[0039] FIGS. 4A-4C illustrate a UE 404 utilizing different reception modes during TRP transmission beam selection. The TRP 402 may periodically broadcast an SIB and transmission beams 408 corresponding to respective BRS signals. The SIB may include an "RX" field that indicates if variable beamwidth may be used during TRP transmission beam selection. The SIB may also include a link budget threshold. In some embodiments the RX field and link budget threshold may be transmitted to the UE via a dedicated signal.

[0040] The UE 404 may include a baseband modem and a Radio Frequency (RF) module. The baseband modem can process the data information sent to or received from the TRP 402. The RF module may operate with various beamwidths based on the RX field, the link budget threshold, and the mobility of the UE 404. For example, if the RX field is true and the link is sufficient to be above the threshold, the UE 404 may enter a variable beamwidth reception mode as illustrated in FIGS. 4B-4C (e.g., 410, 412). If either of these conditions is not met, the UE 404 may use directional reception mode 406 as shown in FIG. 4A.

[0041] FIG. 4A illustrates the UE 404 using the directional reception mode 406. This mode may provide additional antenna gain thereby allowing a better link.

However, if the UE 404 is moving rapidly, the scan delay may prevent proper TRP transmission beam selection.

[0042] FIG. 4B illustrates the UE 404 using a wide variable beamwidth reception mode 410. As shown, the UE 404 may adjust its RF module to cover greater area with fewer beams. FIG. 4C illustrates the UE 404 using an omni variable beamwidth reception mode 412. As the beam widens, the scan delay may decrease.

[0043] FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture of a system 500 of a network in accordance with some embodiments. The system 500 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 501 and a UE 502. The UEs 501 and 502 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0044] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 501 and 502 can comprise an Internet of Things (loT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power loT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An loT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type

communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to- device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or loT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An loT network describes interconnecting loT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The loT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the loT network.

[0045] The UEs 501 and 502 may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 510. The RAN 510 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs 501 and 502 utilize connections 503 and 504, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 503 and 504 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push- to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0046] In this embodiment, the UEs 501 and 502 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 505. The ProSe interface 505 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery

Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0047] The UE 502 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 506 via connection 507. The connection 507 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.1 1 protocol, wherein the AP 506 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 506 is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0048] The RAN 510 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 503 and 504. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 510 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node 51 1 , and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node 512.

[0049] Any of the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 501 and 502. In some

embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 510 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0050] In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 501 and 502 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various

communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. [0051] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 to the UEs 501 and 502, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time- frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid

corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0052] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 501 and 502. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 501 and 502 about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 502 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 501 and 502. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 501 and 502.

[0053] The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1 , 2, 4, or 8).

[0054] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

[0055] The RAN 510 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 520— via an S1 interface 513. In embodiments, the CN 520 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the S1 interface 513 is split into two parts: the S1 -U interface 514, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 and a serving gateway (S-GW) 522, and an S1 -mobility management entity (MME) interface 515, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 51 1 and 512 and MMEs 521.

[0056] In this embodiment, the CN 520 comprises the MMEs 521 , the S-GW 522, a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 523, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 524. The MMEs 521 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 521 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 524 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions. The CN 520 may comprise one or several HSSs 524, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

[0057] The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 513 towards the RAN 510, and routes data packets between the RAN 510 and the CN 520. In addition, the S- GW 522 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0058] The P-GW 523 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 523 may route data packets between the CN 520 (e.g., an EPC network) and external networks such as a network including the application server 530

(alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 525. Generally, an application server 530 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 523 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 530 via an IP communications interface 525. The application server 530 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 501 and 502 via the CN 520.

[0059] The P-GW 523 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. A Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 526 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 520. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 526 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 530 via the P-GW 523. The application server 530 may signal the PCRF 526 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 526 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 530.

[0060] FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 600 may include application circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 606, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 608, one or more antennas 610, and power management circuitry (PMC) 612 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 600 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some

embodiments, the device 600 may include fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 602, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 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).

[0061] The application circuitry 602 may include one or more application

processors. For example, the application circuitry 602 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 600. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

[0062] The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. Baseband processing circuity 604 may interface with the application circuitry 602 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 606. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 604A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 604B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 604C, or other baseband processor(s) 604D 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 604 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 604A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 606. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 604A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 604G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 604E. 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 604 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments,

encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604 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.

[0063] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 604F. The audio DSP(s) 604F may be 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 604 and the application circuitry 602 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0064] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 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 604 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0065] RF circuitry 606 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. The RF circuitry 606 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 604. RF circuitry 606 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 608 for transmission.

[0066] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include mixer circuitry 606A, amplifier circuitry 606B and filter circuitry 606C. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606 may include filter circuitry 606C and mixer circuitry 606A. RF circuitry 606 may also include

synthesizer circuitry 606D for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606A of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606A of the receive signal path may be configured to down- convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 606D. The amplifier circuitry 606B may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 606C 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 604 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 606A of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0067] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606A of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 606D to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 608. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may be filtered by the filter circuitry 606C.

[0068] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606A 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 606A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606A 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 606A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606A may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 606A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 606A of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0069] 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 606 may include analog-to- digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 606.

[0070] 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.

[0071] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606D 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 606D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0072] The synthesizer circuitry 606D may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 606A of the RF circuitry 606 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606D may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

[0073] 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 604 or the application circuitry 602 (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 lookup table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 602.

[0074] Synthesizer circuitry 606D of the RF circuitry 606 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.

[0075] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 606D 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 606 may include an IQ/polar converter.

[0076] FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 610, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 606 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 610. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 606, solely in the FEM circuitry 608, or in both the RF circuitry 606 and the FEM circuitry 608.

[0077] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 608 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 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 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by the RF circuitry 606), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 610).

[0078] In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 604. In particular, the PMC 612 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 612 may often be included when the device 600 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device 600 is included in a UE. The PMC 612 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0079] FIG. 6 shows the PMC 612 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 612 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 602, the RF circuitry 606, or the FEM circuitry 608.

[0080] In some embodiments, the PMC 612 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if the device 600 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 600 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[0081] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 600 may transition off to an RRCJdle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 600 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 600 may not receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it transitions back to an RRC_Connected state.

[0082] 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.

[0083] Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of the baseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 604, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 602 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.

[0084] FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 604 of FIG. 6 may comprise processors 604A-604E and a memory 604G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 604A-604E may include a memory interface, 704A-704E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 604G.

[0085] The baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 712 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 604), an application circuitry interface 714 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 602 of FIG. 6), an RF circuitry interface 716 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 606 of FIG. 6), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 718 (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 720 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 612.

[0086] FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating components, 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 800 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 810, one or more memory/storage devices 820, and one or more communication resources 830, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 840. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 802 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 800.

[0087] The processors 810 (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 812 and a processor 814.

[0088] The memory/storage devices 820 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 820 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.

[0089] The communication resources 830 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 806 via a network 808. For example, the communication resources 830 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.

[0090] Instructions 850 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 810 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 850 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 810 (e.g., within the processor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 820, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 850 may be transferred to the hardware resources 800 from any combination of the peripheral devices 804 or the databases 806. Accordingly, the memory of processors 810, the memory/storage devices 820, the peripheral devices 804, and the databases 806 are examples of computer-readable and machine- readable media.

Example Embodiments

[0091] Example 1 is an apparatus for user equipment (UE). The apparatus comprising a memory interface to access, from a memory device, system information from a transmission reception point (TRP). The apparatus also comprising baseband processor circuitry to control radio frequency (RF) circuitry to perform TRP transmission beam selection in either a directional reception mode or a variable beamwidth reception mode, and extract, from the system information, a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value. If the permission flag is not set, the baseband processor circuitry selects the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection. If the permission flag is set, the baseband processor circuitry determines that the UE is in a high mobility state and a measured reference signal received power (RSRP) value is greater than or equal to the link budget threshold value, and in response to the determination, selects the variable beamwidth reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection.

[0092] Example 2 is the apparatus of Example 1 , wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to select the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection when the RSRP is less than the link budget threshold or the UE is not in the high mobility state.

[0093] Example 3 is the apparatus any of Examples 1 -2, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is configured to decode a system information block (SIB) to extract the system information.

[0094] Example 4 is the apparatus any of Examples 1 -2, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is configured to decode a dedicated signal from the TRP to extract the system information.

[0095] Example 5 is the apparatus of Example 4, wherein the dedicated signal comprises a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

[0096] Example 6 is the apparatus of any of Examples 1 -5, wherein the permission flag is set when an omniRxForHighMobility variable is TRUE.

[0097] Example 7 is the apparatus of any of Examples 1 -6, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a minimum antenna gain based on the link budget threshold value. [0098] Example 8 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a beamwidth in variable beamwidth reception mode based on the minimum antenna gain.

[0099] Example 9 is the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the beamwidth is selected from a plurality of mapped beamwidths.

[0100] Example 10 is the apparatus of any of Examples 1 -9, further comprising the RF circuitry to receive a beam reference signal for TRP transmission beam selection, wherein the RF circuitry has an omnidirectional radiation pattern when the variable beamwidth selection mode is selected, and wherein the RF circuitry has a directional radiation pattern when the directional reception mode is selected.

[0101] Example 1 1 is a user equipment (UE) comprising radio frequency (RF) circuitry to operate in either a directional reception mode or a variable beamwidth reception mode and receive system information from a transmission reception point (TRP). The UE also comprising baseband processor circuitry to provide instructions that when executed by the baseband processor circuitry cause the baseband processor circuitry to extract from the system information a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value; set the operating mode of the RF circuitry based on a mobility of the UE, a reference signal received power (RSRP), the link budget threshold value, and the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception, wherein the operating mode is set to variable beamwidth reception mode when the mobility of the UE is set, the RSRP is at least equal to the link budget threshold value, and the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception is set, and wherein the operating mode is set to directional reception mode when conditions for variable width beam mode are not met.

[0102] Example 12 is the UE of Example 1 1 , wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to select a TRP transmission beam during a beam reference signal

(BRS) transmission interval, and transmit, via the RF circuitry, an indication of the selected TRP transmission beam to a transmission reception point.

[0103] Example 13 is the UE of any of Examples 1 1 -12, wherein RF circuitry receives the system information via a system information block (SIB).

[0104] Example 14 is the UE of any of Examples 1 1 -12, wherein RF circuitry receives the system information via a dedicated message from the TRP. [0105] Example 15 is the UE of any of Examples 1 1 -14, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a minimum antenna gain based on the link budget threshold value.

[0106] Example 16 is the UE of Example 15, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a beamwidth in variable beamwidth selection mode based on the minimum antenna gain.

[0107] Example 17 is the UE of Example 15, wherein the beamwidth is selected from a plurality of mapped beamwidths.

[0108] Example 18 is the UE of any of Examples 1 1 -17, wherein when the operating mode is set to variable beamwidth selection mode, the RF circuitry has an omnidirectional radiation pattern, and wherein the RF circuitry has a directional radiation pattern when the directional reception mode is selected.

[0109] Example 19 is the UE of any of Examples 1 1 -18, further comprising a memory storage device to store system information from the TRP.

[0110] Example 20 is a transmission reception point (TRP), comprising baseband processor circuitry to determine a setting for a permission flag for variable

beamwidth reception and for a link budget threshold value, and a memory storage device to store system information comprising the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value. The transmission reception point further comprising radio frequency (RF) circuitry to transmit the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value, receive a transmit beam for a user equipment (UE), and receive information about an operating mode of the UE.

[0111] Example 21 is the TRP of Example 20, wherein the RF circuitry further defines a mapping table for a plurality of possible UE beamwidths.

[0112] Example 22 is the TRP of any of Examples 20-21 , wherein the information about the operating mode comprises a beamwidth of the UE.

[0113] Example 23 is the TRP of any of Examples 20-22, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises an antenna gain, and wherein the baseband processor circuitry determines a beamwidth of the UE based on the antenna gain.

[0114] Example 24 is an apparatus for transmission reception point (TRP), comprising a memory interface to access, from a memory device, system information from a user quipment (UE) comprising a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold, and baseband processor circuitry to transmit the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value, receive a transmit beam for a user equipment (UE), and receive information about an operating mode of the UE.

[0115] Example 25 is the apparatus of Example 24, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises a beamwidth of the UE.

[0116] Example 26 is the apparatus of any of Examples 24-25, wherein system information comprises a beamwidth of the UE.

[0117] Example 27 is the apparatus of any of Examples 24-26, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises an antenna gain, and wherein the baseband processor circuitry determines a beamwidth of the UE based on the antenna gain.

[0118] Example 28 is a method of selecting a reception mode to perform TRP transmission beam selection, comprising controlling radio frequency (RF) circuitry to perform TRP transmission beam selection in either a directional reception mode or a variable beamwidth reception mode. The method also comprising extracting, from system information, a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value if the permission flag is not set, selecting the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection, and if the permission flag is set determining that the UE is in a high mobility state and a measured reference signal received power (RSRP) value is greater than or equal to the link budget threshold value, and in response to the determination, selecting the variable beamwidth reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection.

[0119] Example 29 is the method of Example 28, further comprising selecting the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection when the RSRP is less than the link budget threshold or the UE is not in the high mobility state.

[0120] Example 30 is the method of any of Examples 28-29, further comprising decoding a system information block (SIB) to extract the system information.

[0121] Example 31 is the method of any of Examples 28-29, further comprising decoding a dedicated signal from the TRP to extract the system information.

[0122] Example 32 is the method of Example 31 , wherein the dedicated signal comprises a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

[0123] Example 33 is the method of any of Examples 28-32 wherein the permission flag is set when an omniRxForHighMobility variable is TRUE. [0124] Example 34 is the method of any of Examples 28-33, further comprising determining a minimum antenna gain based on the link budget threshold value.

[0125] Example 35 is the method of Example 34, further comprising determining a beamwidth in variable beamwidth reception mode based on the minimum antenna gain.

[0126] Example 36 is the method of Example 35, wherein the beamwidth is selected from a plurality of mapped beamwidths.

[0127] Example 37 is the method of any of Examples 28-35, further comprising receiving a beam reference signal for TRP transmission beam selection, wherein the TRP transmission beam reference signal is received by RF circuitry that has an omnidirectional radiation pattern when the variable beamwidth selection mode is selected, and wherein the RF circuitry has a directional radiation pattern when the directional reception mode is selected.

[0128] Example 38 is a method comprising extracting from system information a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value. The method also comprising setting the operating mode of RF circuitry based on a mobility of the UE, a reference signal received power (RSRP), the link budget threshold value, and the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception, wherein the operating mode is set to variable beamwidth reception mode when the mobility of the UE is set, the RSRP is at least equal to the link budget threshold value, and the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception is set, and wherein the operating mode is set to directional reception mode when conditions for variable width beam mode are not met.

[0129] Example 39 is the method of Example 38, further comprising selecting a TRP transmission beam during a beam reference signal (BRS) transmission interval, and transmitting, via the RF circuitry, an indication of the selected TRP transmission beam to a transmission reception point.

[0130] Example 40 is the method of any of Examples 38-39 further comprising receiving the system information via a system information block (SIB).

[0131] Example 41 is the method of any of Examples 38-39, further comprising receiving the system information via a dedicated message from the TRP.

[0132] Example 42 is the method of any of Examples 38-41 , further comprising determining a minimum antenna gain based on the link budget threshold value. [0133] Example 43 is the method of Example 42, further comprising determining a beamwidth in variable beamwidth selection mode based on the minimum antenna gain.

[0134] Example 44 is the method of Example 43, wherein the beamwidth is selected from a plurality of mapped beamwidths.

[0135] Example 45 is the method of any of Examples 38-44, wherein when the operating mode is set to variable beamwidth selection mode, the RF circuitry has an omnidirectional radiation pattern, and wherein the RF circuitry has a directional radiation pattern when the directional reception mode is selected.

[0136] Example 46 is the method of any of Examples 38-45, further comprising storing system information from the TRP.

[0137] Example 47 is a method for a transmission reception point (TRP) to perform transmission beam selection, comprising determining a setting for a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and for a link budget threshold value. The method further comprising storing system information comprising the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value, and transmitting the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value, receiving a transmit beam for a user equipment (UE), and receiving information about an operating mode of the UE.

[0138] Example 48 is the method of Example 47, further comprising defining a mapping table for a plurality of possible UE beamwidths.

[0139] Example 49 is the method of any of Examples 47-48, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises a beamwidth of the UE.

[0140] Example 50 is the method of any of Examples 47-49, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises an antenna gain, and wherein the baseband processor circuitry determines a beamwidth of the UE based on the antenna gain.

[0141] Example 51 is a method comprising accessing, from a memory device, system information from a user equipment (UE) comprising a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold. The method further comprising transmitting the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value, receiving a transmit beam for a user equipment (UE), and receiving information about an operating mode of the UE. [0142] Example 52 is the method of Example 51 , further comprising defining a mapping table for a plurality of possible UE beamwidths.

[0143] Example 53 is the method of any of Examples 51 -52, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises a beamwidth of the UE.

[0144] Example 54 is the method of any of Examples 51 -53, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises an antenna gain, and wherein the baseband processor circuitry determines a beamwidth of the UE based on the antenna gain.

[0145] Example 51 is an apparatus comprising means to perform a method as recited in any of Examples 28-50.

[0146] Example 52 is a machine readable medium including code, when executed, to cause a machine to perform the method of any one of Examples 28-50.

[0147] Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the various techniques. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device may include a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. The volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements may be a RAM, an EPROM, a flash drive, an optical drive, a magnetic hard drive, or another medium for storing electronic data. The eNodeB (or other base station) and UE (or other mobile station) may also include a transceiver component, a counter component, a processing component, and/or a clock component or timer component. One or more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniques described herein may use an application programming interface (API), reusable controls, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high-level procedural or an object-oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) may be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or an interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations. [0148] It should be understood that many of the functional units described in this specification may be implemented as one or more components, which is a term used to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a component may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom very large scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A component may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, or the like.

[0149] Components may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified component of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object, a procedure, or a function.

Nevertheless, the executables of an identified component need not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations that, when joined logically together, comprise the component and achieve the stated purpose for the component.

[0150] Indeed, a component of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several different code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices.

Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within

components, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network. The components may be passive or active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.

[0151] Reference throughout this specification to "an example" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrase "in an example" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

[0152] As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on its presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and examples may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as de facto equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous representations of embodiments.

[0153] 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 embodiments are not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

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

a memory interface to access, from a memory device, system information from a transmission reception point (TRP); and

baseband processor circuitry to:

control radio frequency (RF) circuitry to perform TRP transmission beam selection in either a directional reception mode or a variable beamwidth reception mode;

extract, from the system information, a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value;

if the permission flag is not set, select the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection; and

if the permission flag is set:

determine that the UE is in a high mobility state and a measured reference signal received power (RSRP) value is greater than or equal to the link budget threshold value; and

in response to the determination, select the variable beamwidth reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to select the directional reception mode for TRP transmission beam selection when the RSRP is less than the link budget threshold or the UE is not in the high mobility state.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor circuitry is configured to decode a system information block (SIB) to extract the system information.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor circuitry is configured to decode a dedicated signal from the TRP to extract the system information.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the dedicated signal comprises a radio resource control (RRC) signal.

6. The apparatus of any of claims 1 -5, wherein the permission flag is set when an omniRxForHighMobility variable is TRUE.

7. The apparatus of any of claims 1 -5, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a minimum antenna gain based on the link budget threshold value.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a beamwidth in variable beamwidth reception mode based on the minimum antenna gain.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the beamwidth is selected from a plurality of mapped beamwidths.

10. The apparatus of any of claims 1 -5, further comprising the RF circuitry to receive a beam reference signal for TRP transmission beam selection, wherein the RF circuitry has an omnidirectional radiation pattern when the variable beamwidth selection mode is selected, and wherein the RF circuitry has a directional radiation pattern when the directional reception mode is selected.

1 1 . User equipment (UE), comprising:

radio frequency (RF) circuitry to operate in either a directional reception mode or a variable beamwidth reception mode and receive system information from a transmission reception point (TRP);

baseband processor circuitry to provide instructions that when executed by the baseband processor circuitry cause the baseband processor circuitry to:

extract from the system information a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and a link budget threshold value;

set the operating mode of the RF circuitry based on a mobility of the UE, a reference signal received power (RSRP), the link budget threshold value, and the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception,

wherein the operating mode is set to variable beamwidth reception mode when the mobility of the UE is set, the RSRP is at least equal to the link budget threshold value, and the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception is set, and

wherein the operating mode is set to directional reception mode when conditions for variable width beam mode are not met.

12. The UE of claim 1 1 , wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to: select a TRP transmission beam during a beam reference signal (BRS) transmission interval; and transmit, via the RF circuitry, an indication of the selected TRP transmission beam to a transmission reception point.

13. The UE of claim 1 1 , wherein RF circuitry receives the system information via a system information block (SIB).

14. The UE of claim 1 1 , wherein RF circuitry receives the system information via a dedicated message from the TRP.

15. The UE of any of claims 1 1 -14, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a minimum antenna gain based on the link budget threshold value.

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein the baseband processor circuitry is further to determine a beamwidth in variable beamwidth selection mode based on the minimum antenna gain.

17. The UE of claim 15, wherein the beamwidth is selected from a plurality of mapped beamwidths.

18. The UE of any of claims 1 1 -14, wherein when the operating mode is set to variable beamwidth selection mode, the RF circuitry has an omnidirectional radiation pattern, and wherein the RF circuitry has a directional radiation pattern when the directional reception mode is selected.

19. The UE of any of claims 1 1 -14, further comprising a memory storage device to store system information from the TRP.

20. A transmission reception point (TRP), comprising:

baseband processor circuitry to determine a setting for a permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and for a link budget threshold value;

a memory storage device to store system information comprising the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value; and

radio frequency (RF) circuitry to:

transmit the permission flag for variable beamwidth reception and the link budget threshold value,

receive a transmit beam for a user equipment (UE), and

receive information about an operating mode of the UE.

21 . The TRP of claim 20, wherein the RF circuitry further defines a mapping table for a plurality of possible UE beamwidths.

22. The TRP of any of claims 20-21 , wherein the information about the operating mode comprises a beamwidth of the UE.

23. The TRP of claim 20, wherein the information about the operating mode comprises an antenna gain, and wherein the baseband processor circuitry determines a beamwidth of the UE based on the antenna gain.