IP Library › Granted Patent US 12713440
Granted Patent B2
US 12713440 · App. 18/283,317 · Granted Aug 18, 2026

User equipment configured for staying on component carrier during SRS carrier switching in 5G networks

Inventors: Guotong Wang (Beijing, CN); Alexei Davydov (Nizhny Novgorod, RU)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
H04W72/232H04L5/001H04L5/0048
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12713440
App. No.
18/283,317
Granted
Aug 18, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

An apparatus and system are described to provide carrier switching rules for multiple aperiodic Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) resource sets triggered by a single downlink control information (DCI). Whether the user equipment (UE) retunes between a source component carrier (CC) and a target CC for an SRS transmission is dependent on a time period between adjacent SRS resource sets in addition to priorities of the SRS transmission on the target CC and a simultaneous transmission on the source CC. In addition, timing of another DCI scheduling the simultaneous transmission received prior to the associated SRS transmission affects which of the simultaneous transmission or the associated SRS transmission is transmitted.

Claims (59)

1 . An apparatus for a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) network, the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry; and memory, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode a downlink control information (DCI) format triggering aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission;

when the UE is configured for SRS carrier switching and a serving cell is not configured for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE for the aperiodic SRS transmission including:

transmitting an SRS resource set on a target component carrier (CC);

switching to a source CC; and

switching back to the target CC,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the UE to temporarily suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during the transmission of the SRS resource set on the target CC, and

wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to:

stay on the target CC during a period between the SRS resource set transmissions if a time between the SRS resource set transmissions is smaller than an RF switching time for the UE to switch to the source CC and back to the target CC and a higher priority UL transmission and/or DL reception is not scheduled on the source CC in the period between the SRS resource set transmissions.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when the UE does not support staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to switch back to the source CC between the SRS resource set transmissions.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is configured to

encode signalling for transmission to a gNB indicating that the UE supports the staying on target CC for SRS switching as part of a carrier aggregation capability.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to decode radio resource control (RRC) signalling received from the gNB to configure the UE for the SRS carrier switching.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during an interruption due to RF retuning time when switching from the source CC to the target CC.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to apply dropping rules and/or timelines to target-source CC pairs for SRS carrier switching.

7 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein for the aperiodic SRS transmissions, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to commence transmission of the SRS resource set based on timing of the DCI.

8 . An apparatus for a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) network, the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry; and memory, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode a downlink control information (DCI) format triggering aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission;

when the UE is configured for SRS carrier switching and a serving cell is not configured for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE for the aperiodic SRS transmission including:

transmitting an SRS resource set on a target component carrier (CC);

switching to a source CC; and

switching back to the target CC,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the UE to temporarily suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during the transmission of the SRS resource set on the target CC, and

wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to:

switch back to the source CC between the SRS resource set transmissions when a higher priority UL transmission and/or DL reception is scheduled on the source CC in a period between the SRS resource set transmissions.

9 . An apparatus for a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) network, the apparatus comprising: processing circuitry; and memory, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode a downlink control information (DCI) format triggering aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission;

when the UE is configured for SRS carrier switching and a serving cell is not configured for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE for the aperiodic SRS transmission including:

transmitting an SRS resource set on a target component carrier (CC);

switching to a source CC; and

switching back to the target CC,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the UE to temporarily suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during the transmission of the SRS resource set on the target CC, and

wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to:

switch back to the source CC between the SRS resource set transmissions when a time between the SRS resource set transmissions is not smaller than an RF switching time for the UE to switch to the source CC and back to the target CC.

10 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) network, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: decode a downlink control information (DCI) format triggering aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission;

when the UE is configured for SRS carrier switching and a serving cell is not configured for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE for the aperiodic SRS transmission including:

transmitting an SRS resource set on a target component carrier (CC);

switching to a source CC; and

switching back to the target CC,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the UE to temporarily suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during the transmission of the SRS resource set on the target CC,

wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is configured to encode signalling for transmission to a gNB indicating that the UE supports the staying on target CC for SRS switching as part of a carrier aggregation capability.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to:

stay on the target CC during a period between the SRS resource set transmissions if a time between the SRS resource set transmissions is smaller than an RF switching time for the UE to switch to the source CC and back to the target CC and a higher priority UL transmission and/or DL reception is not scheduled on the source CC in the period between the SRS resource set transmissions.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein when the UE does not support staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to switch back to the source CC between the SRS resource set transmissions.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to decode radio resource control (RRC) signalling received from the gNB to configure the UE for the SRS carrier switching.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during an interruption due to RF retuning time when switching from the source CC to the target CC.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to apply dropping rules and/or timelines to target-source CC pairs for SRS carrier switching.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein for the aperiodic SRS transmissions, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to commence transmission of the SRS resource set based on timing of the DCI.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , when the UE supports the staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the processing circuitry is to configure the UE to:

switch back to the source CC between the SRS resource set transmissions when a higher priority UL transmission and/or DL reception is scheduled on the source CC in the period between the SRS resource set transmissions.

18 . A method performed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured for operation in a fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) network, the method comprising:

decoding a downlink control information (DCI) format triggering aperiodic sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission;

when the UE is configured for SRS carrier switching and a serving cell is not configured for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, configuring the UE for the aperiodic SRS transmission including:

transmitting an SRS resource set on a target component carrier (CC);

switching to a source CC; and

switching back to the target CC,

causing the UE to temporarily suspend an uplink transmission on the source CC during the transmission of the SRS resource set on the target CC, and

wherein when the UE supports staying on the target CC for SRS switching, the method further comprises configuring the UE to:

stay on the target CC during a period between the SRS resource set transmissions if a time between the SRS resource set transmissions is smaller than an RF switching time for the UE to switch to the source CC and back to the target CC and a higher priority UL transmission and/or DL reception is not scheduled on the source CC in the period between the SRS resource set transmissions.