IP Library Granted Patent US 10,541,741
Granted Patent B2
US 10,541,741 · App. 15/488,402 · Granted Jan 21, 2020

System and method for beam switching and reporting

Inventors: Muhammad Nazmul Islam (Edison, NJ); Bilal Sadiq (Basking Ridge, NJ); Tao Luo (San Diego, CA); Sundar Subramanian (Bridgewater, NJ); Junyi Li (Chester, NJ)
Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
H04B7/0814H01Q1/245H04B7/0404H04B7/0417H04B7/061H04B7/0617H04B7/0626H04B7/0628H04B7/0634H04B7/0639H04W16/28H04W28/0231H04W40/248H04W74/085H04W74/0858
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,541,741
App. No.
15/488,402
Granted
Jan 21, 2020
Kind
B2
Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable mediums associated with a user equipment (UE) and a base station are provided for herein. In aspects, a UE may receive, from a base station, a beam modification command indicating at least one beam index for communicating through at least one beam on at least one channel. In an aspect, each beam index of the at least one beam index may indicate at least a direction for communicating through a corresponding beam of the at least one beam. The UE may communicate, with the base station, through the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index on the at least one channel.

Claims (49)

1. A method of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving, from a base station, a beam modification command indicating at least one beam index for communicating through at least one beam on at least one channel and indicating the at least one channel corresponding to the at least one beam, each beam index of the at least one beam index indicating at least a direction for communicating through a corresponding beam of the at least one beam, wherein the beam modification command is received on a control channel and the at least one channel comprises a downlink data channel; and

communicating, with the base station, through the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index on the at least one channel.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

communicating, with the base station, through a serving beam corresponding to a serving beam index; and

switching, after receiving the beam modification command, from the serving beam to the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index indicated by the beam modification command.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the switching from the serving beam to the at least one beam is performed at a predetermined time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the predetermined time is associated with at least one of a symbol or subframe, and wherein the beam modification command indicates the at least one of the symbol or the subframe.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one beam index comprises a plurality of beam indexes, and the at least one channel comprises a plurality of channels.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one beam index is applicable to one of uplink communication or downlink communication.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam modification command is received in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam modification command is received in a downlink control information (DCI) message.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining the at least one channel based on a DCI format of the DCI message.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam modification command is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one channel indicated by the beam modification command comprises at least one of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a channel associated with a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or a channel associated with a sounding reference signal (SRS).

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, from the base station, a second beam modification command indicating that the UE is to continue communication with the base station through a current beam; and

continuing communication with the base station through the current beam based on the second beam modification command.

13. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a base station, a beam modification command indicating at least one beam index for communicating through at least one beam on at least one channel and indicating the at least one channel corresponding to the at least one beam index, each beam index of the at least one beam index indicating at least a direction for communicating through a corresponding beam of the at least one beam, wherein the beam modification command is received on a control channel and the at least one channel comprises a downlink data channel; and

means for communicating, with the base station, through the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index on the at least one channel.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising:

means for communicating, with the base station, through a serving beam corresponding to a serving beam index; and

means for switching, after receiving the beam modification command, from the serving beam to the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index indicated by the beam modification command.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the means for switching from the serving beam to the at least one beam is configured to switch from the serving beam to the at least one beam at a predetermined time.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the predetermined time is associated with at least one of a symbol or subframe, and wherein the beam modification command indicates the at least one of the symbol or the subframe.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one beam index comprises a plurality of beam indexes, and the at least one channel comprises a plurality of channels.

18. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the at least one beam index is applicable to one of uplink communication or downlink communication.

19. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the beam modification command is received in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

20. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the beam modification command is received in a downlink control information (DCI) message.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising:

means for determining the at least one channel based on a DCI format of the DCI message.

22. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the beam modification command is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

23. An apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:

receive, from a base station, a beam modification command indicating at least one beam index for communicating through at least one beam on at least one channel and indicating the at least one channel corresponding to the at least one beam index, each beam index of the at least one beam index indicating at least a direction for communicating through a corresponding beam of the at least one beam, wherein the beam modification command is received on a control channel and the at least one channel comprises a downlink data channel; and

communicate, with the base station, through the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index on the at least one channel.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

communicate, with the base station, through a serving beam corresponding to a serving beam index; and

switch, after receiving the beam modification command, from the serving beam to the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index indicated by the beam modification command.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the switching from the serving beam to the at least one beam is performed at a predetermined time that is associated with at least one of a symbol or subframe, and wherein the beam modification command indicates the at least one of the symbol or the subframe.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the at least one beam index comprises a plurality of beam indexes, and the at least one channel comprises a plurality of channels.

27. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the beam modification command is received in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), in a downlink control information (DCI) message, or via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

28. The apparatus of claim 27 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine the at least one channel based on a DCI format of the DCI message.

29. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising code to:

receive, from a base station, a beam modification command indicating at least one beam index for communicating through at least one beam on at least one channel and indicating the at least one channel corresponding to the at least one beam index, each beam index of the at least one beam index indicating at least a direction for communicating through a corresponding beam of the at least one beam, wherein the beam modification command is received on a control channel and the at least one channel comprises a downlink data channel; and

communicate, with the base station, through the at least one beam corresponding to the at least one beam index on the at least one channel.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 26, 2017
From: ISLAM, MUHAMMAD NAZMUL; SADIQ, BILAL; LUO, TAO; SUBRAMANIAN, SUNDAR; LI, JUNYI
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 042155/0382 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 62343798 · May 31, 2016
Provisional Application 62342174 · May 26, 2016
Related Publication 20170346544A1 · Nov 30, 2017
Cited By (4)
US 12,341,719 US 12,470,277 US 12,615,078 US 12,696,336