Autonomous quasi co-location status redefinition by receiver in coordinated multipoint downlink

1. A method of operating a User Equipment (UE) in a downlink of a wireless radiocommunication network operative to transmit signals from a plurality of transmission points, wherein first and second antenna ports are defined or signaled by the network to be quasi co-located (QCL), or to not be quasi-co-located, with respect to a given long term channel property, whereby the first and second antenna ports are QCL if the given long term channel property may be assumed to be the same for both the first and second antenna ports by the UE, the method comprising:

ascertaining, by predefinition or signaling from the network, a default QCL status of the first and second antenna ports;

estimating, by the UE, one or more wireless network operating parameters; wherein the estimating comprises estimating one or more of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of received cell-specific reference signals (CRS), received channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), or received demodulation reference signals (DMRS);

autonomously adopting an assumption of a QCL status, different from the default QCL status, of the first and second antenna ports, in response to the one or more wireless network operating parameters.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising signaling to the network that the UE is capable of autonomously adopting the assumption of the QCL status of the first and second antenna ports.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving from the network a configuration of QCL assumptions to be adopted in response to the one or more wireless network operating parameters.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving from the network an identification of the one or more wireless network operating parameters on which to base the autonomous adoption of the QCL status assumption.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the QCL status assumption autonomously adopted is that cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), and demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are QCL with respect to certain long term channel properties.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the QCL status assumption autonomously adopted is that demodulation reference signals are not QCL with CRS.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

estimating the one or more wireless network operating parameters comprises estimating the SNR of DMRS;

wherein the QCL status assumption autonomously adopted is that CRS, CSI-RS, and DMRS are QCL with respect to certain long term channel properties.

8. A User Equipment (UE) operative in a wireless radiocommunication network transmitting signals from a plurality of transmission points, wherein first and second antenna ports are defined or signaled by the network to be quasi co-located (QCL), or to not be quasi co-located, with respect to a given long term channel property, whereby the first and second antenna ports are QCL if the given long term channel property may be assumed to be the same for both the first and second antenna ports by the UE, the UE comprising:

radio circuitry operative to receive the signals from the network;

memory; and

processing circuitry operatively connected to the memory and the radio circuitry, the processing circuitry operative to:

ascertain, by predefinition or signaling from the network, a default QCL status of the first and second antenna ports;

estimate one or more wireless network operating parameters by estimating one or more of the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of received cell-specific reference signals (CRS), received channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), or received demodulation reference signals (DMRS);

autonomously adopt an assumption of a QCL status, different from the default QCL status, of the first and second antenna ports, in response to the one or more wireless network operating parameters.

9. The UE according to claim 8 , wherein the processing circuitry is further operative to signal to the network that the UE is capable of autonomously adopting the assumption of the QCL status of the first and second antenna ports.

10. The UE according to claim 8 , wherein the radio circuitry is operative to receive from the network a configuration of QCL assumptions to be adopted in response to the one or more wireless network operating parameters.

11. The UE according to claim 8 , wherein the radio circuitry is operative to receive, from the network, an identification of the one or more wireless network operating parameters on which to base the autonomous adoption of the QCL status assumption.

12. The UE according to claim 8 , wherein the QCL status assumption autonomously adopted is that cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), and demodulation reference signals (DMRS) are QCL with respect to certain long term channel properties.

13. The UE according to claim 8 , wherein the QCL status assumption autonomously adopted is that demodulation reference signals are not QCL with CRS.

14. The UE according to claim 8 , wherein:

the processing circuitry is operative to estimate the one or more wireless network operating parameters by estimating the SNR of DMRS;

the QCL status assumption autonomously adopted is that CRS, CSI-RS, and DMRS are QCL with respect to certain long term channel properties.