Beam management systems and methods

1. A method for beam management, the method comprising:

a network node determining a first transmit (TX) beam for use in communicating with a first user equipment (UE);

the network node determining a second TX beam for use in communicating with a second UE; and

performing a procedure to allow the first UE to evaluate different receive (RX) beams and to select an RX beam for use by the first UE in receiving signals transmitted by the network node, wherein the procedure comprises:

transmitting to the first UE a first message comprising information that a) identifies a resource that will be used to transmit a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS 2 , for a second UE, b) causes the first UE to treat CSI-RS 2 for the second UE as an interfering signal, c) identifies a resource that will be used to transmit another channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), CSI-RS 1 , and d) causes the first UE to not treat CSI-RS 1 as an interfering signal;

transmitting CSI-RS 1 using the first TX beam; and

transmitting CSI-RS 2 using the second TX beam.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first message is one of: i) a first downlink control information, DCI, message transmitted using a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, ii) a first Radio Resource Control message, and iii) a first Media Access Control message.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting to the second UE a second message comprising information that a) identifies the resource that is used to transmit CSI-RS 1 and b) causes the second UE to treat CSI-RS 1 as an interfering signal.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the second message further comprises information that a) identifies the resource that is used to transmit CSI-RS 2 and b) causes the second UE to not treat CSI-RS 2 as an interfering signal.

5. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein

CSI-RS 1 and CSI-RS 2 are transmitted during the same symbol.

6. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the method according to claim 1 .

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information identifying a resource that is used to transmit CSI-RS 2 identifies a subcarrier that is used to transmit CSI-RS 2 .

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information identifying a resource that is used to transmit CSI-RS 2 identifies a resource element (RE) that is used to transmit CSI-RS 2 .

9. A network node, the network node comprising:

a local storage unit; and

a data processing apparatus coupled to the local storage unit, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to:

determine a first transmit, TX, beam for use in communicating with a first user equipment, UE;

determine a second TX beam for use in communicating with a second UE; and

perform a procedure to allow the first UE to evaluate different receive (RX) beams and to select an RX beam for use by the first UE in receiving signals transmitted by the network node, wherein the procedure comprises:

transmitting to the first UE a first message comprising information that a) identifies a resource that will be used to transmit a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS 2 , for a second UE, b) causes the first UE to treat CSI-RS 2 for the second UE as an interfering signal, c) identifies a resource that will be used to transmit another channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), CSI-RS 1 , and d) causes the first UE to not treat CSI-RS 1 as an interfering signal;

transmitting CSI-RS 1 using the first TX beam; and

transmitting CSI-RS 2 using the second TX beam.

10. The network node of claim 9 , wherein the network node is configured to:

transmit to the second UE a second message comprising information that a) identifies the resource that is used to transmit CSI-RS 1 and b) causes the second UE to treat CSI-RS 1 as an interfering signal.

11. The network node claim 9 , wherein the network node is configured to:

transmit CSI-RS 1 using the first TX beam; and

transmit CSI-RS 2 using the second TX beam, wherein

CSI-RS 1 and CSI-RS 2 are transmitted in-during the same symbol.

12. A network node, the network node being adapted to:

determine a first transmit (TX) beam for use in communicating with a first user equipment (UE);

determine a second TX beam for use in communicating with a second UE; and

perform a procedure to allow the first UE to evaluate different receive (RX) beams and to select an RX beam for use by the first UE in receiving signals transmitted by the network node, wherein the procedure comprises:

transmitting to the first UE a first message comprising information that a) identifies a resource that will be used to transmit a channel state information reference signal, CSI-RS 2 , for a second UE, b) causes the first UE to treat CSI-RS 2 for the second UE as an interfering signal, c) identifies a resource that will be used to transmit another channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), CSI-RS 1 , and d) causes the first UE to not treat CSI-RS 1 as an interfering signal;

transmitting CSI-RS 1 using the first TX beam; and

transmitting CSI-RS 2 using the second TX beam.

13. A method for beam management performed by a user equipment, UE, the method comprising:

receiving a message transmitted by a network node, the message comprising information that a) identifies a resource that is used to transmit a reference signal, RS 2 , and b) causes the UE to treat RS 2 as an interfering signal;

during a first period of time, receiving RS 2 and another RS, RS 1 , using a first receive, RX, beam which points in a first direction, wherein during the first time period a first TX beam was used to transmit RS 1 and a second TX beam was used to transmit RS 2 ; and

during a second period of time, receiving RS 2 and RS 1 using a second RX beam which points in a second direction that is different than the first direction, wherein during the second time period the first TX beam was used to transmit RS 1 and the second TX beam was used to transmit RS 2 .

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the message further comprises information that a) identifies a resource that is used to transmit RS 1 and b) causes the UE to not treat RS 1 as an interfering signal.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the message is one of: i) a first downlink control information, DCI, message transmitted using a physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, ii) a first Radio Resource Control, RRC, message, and iii) a first Media Access Control, MAC, message.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

producing a first power value, P 1 , indicative of the power of the received RS 1 received using the first RX beam;

producing a second power value, P 2 , indicative of the power of the received RS 2 received using the first RX beam;

calculating a first value, V 1 , using P 1 and P 2 as inputs to the calculation; and

selecting an RX beam from a set of candidate RX beams using the calculated first value, V 1 , wherein said set of candidate RX beams includes the first RX beam.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

producing a third power value, P 3 , indicative of the power of RS 1 received using the second RX beam;

producing a fourth power value, P 4 , indicative of the power of RS 2 received using the second RX beam;

calculating a second value, V 2 , using P 3 and P 4 as inputs to the calculation; and

selecting an RX beam from a set of candidate RX beams using both V 1 and V 2 , wherein said set of candidate RX beams further includes the second RX beam.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein selecting an RX beam from the set of candidate RX beams using both V 1 and V 2 comprises comparing V 1 with V 2 .

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein

calculating V 1 comprises calculating V 1 =P 1 /(P 2 +N 1 ), wherein N 1 is a determined noise value and N 1 is greater than or equal to zero; and

calculating V 2 comprises calculating V 2 =P 3 /(P 4 +N 2 ), wherein N 2 is a determined noise value and N 2 is greater than or equal to zero.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein selecting an RX beam from the set of candidate RX beams using both V 1 and V 2 comprises:

comparing V 1 with V 2 to determine which is greater; and

performing one of: i) selecting the first RX beam as a result of determining that V 1 is greater than V 2 and ii) selecting the second RX beam as a result of determining that V 2 is greater than V 1 .

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein

calculating V 1 comprises calculating V 1 =P 1 /(P 2 +N 1 ), wherein N 1 is a determined noise value and N 1 is greater than or equal to zero.

22. The method of claim 13 , wherein

RS 1 is a first channel state information RS, CSI-RS, and

RS 2 is a second CSI-RS.

23. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the method according to claim 13 .

24. A user equipment (UE), the UE comprising:

a local storage unit; and

a data processing apparatus coupled to the local storage unit, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to:

process a message transmitted by a network node, the message comprising information that a) identifies a resource that is used to transmit a reference signal, RS 2 , and b) causes the UE to treat RS 2 as an interfering signal;

receive, during a first period of time, RS 2 and another RS, RS 1 , using a first receive, RX, beam which points in a first direction, wherein during the first time period a first TX beam was used to transmit RS 1 and a second TX beam was used to transmit RS 2 ; and

receive, during a second period of time, RS 2 and RS 1 using a second RX beam which points in a second direction that is different than the first direction, wherein during the second time period the first TX beam was used to transmit RS 1 and the second TX beam was used to transmit RS 2 .

25. A user equipment (UE), the UE being adapted to:

process a message transmitted by a network node, the message comprising information that a) identifies a resource that is used to transmit a reference signal, RS 2 , and b) causes the UE to treat RS 2 as an interfering signal;

receive, during a first period of time, RS 2 and another RS, RS 1 , using a first receive, RX, beam which points in a first direction, wherein during the first time period a first TX beam was used to transmit RS 1 and a second TX beam was used to transmit RS 2 ; and

receive, during a second period of time, RS 2 and RS 1 using a second RX beam which points in a second direction that is different than the first direction, wherein during the second time period the first TX beam was used to transmit RS 1 and the second TX beam was used to transmit RS 2 .