Wireless communication system that performs beam reporting based on a combination of reference signal receive power and channel state information metrics

1. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

a radio transceiver configured to transceive beams with a base station (BS); and

a processor configured to:

compute reference signal receive power (RSRP) of N beams transmitted during a beam sweep performed by the BS;

sort the N beams by the computed RSRP;

select a top Y of the N beams sorted by the computed RSRP, wherein N is an integer greater than Y;

select a top X of the Y beams sorted by the computed RSRP, wherein Y is an integer greater than X, wherein X is an integer that is at least 1;

compute channel state information (CSI) for the selected X beams;

report to the BS the RSRP of the selected Y beams; and

report at least a portion of the CSI of the selected X beams;

wherein the UE reports a CSI computation capability of the UE to the BS before the BS performs the beam sweep;

wherein the BS configures the UE with the X value based on the reported computation capability before performing the beam sweep; and

wherein the CSI computation capability is information about the UE's ability to compute multiple CSI metrics as a beam selection metric and is for use by the BS to configure beam reporting.

2. The UE of claim 1 ,

wherein the UE performs physical layer processing that is UE implementation-specific, wherein the physical layer processing comprises physical layer filtering.

3. The UE of claim 1 ,

wherein the UE performs network layer processing configured to the UE via Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration, wherein the network layer processing comprises network layer filtering.

4. The UE of claim 1 ,

wherein the UE CSI computation capability is encoded in a UE category.

5. The UE of claim 1 ,

wherein the UE indicates the CSI computation capability during an initial access to the BS.

6. The UE of claim 5 ,

wherein the UE determines whether the CSI computation capability indication is supported by a system configuration and if not, refrains from indicating the CSI computation capability during the initial access to the BS.

7. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a base station (BS), a report of channel state information (CSI) computation capability from a user equipment (UE);

configuring, by the BS, the UE with an X value based on the reported computation capability, wherein Y is an integer greater than X which is an integer that is at least 1;

performing, by the BS, a beam sweep by transmitting N direction-unique beams, wherein N is an integer greater than Y;

receiving, by the BS, a beam measurement report from the UE comprising a reference signal receive power (RSRP) of Y strongest beams of the N transmitted beams and at least a portion of the CSI of X strongest beams of the Y beams;

selecting, based on the beam measurement report, one of the X beams to configure the UE for subsequent data and control channel transmissions; and

wherein the CSI computation capability is information about the UE's ability to compute multiple CSI metrics as a beam selection metric and is for use by the BS to configure beam reporting.

8. The method of claim 7 ,

computing, by the UE, the RSRP of the beams transmitted during the beam sweep;

sorting, by the UE, the beams by the computed RSRP;

selecting, by the UE, the top Y beams sorted by the computed RSRP;

selecting, by the UE, the top X beams sorted by the computed RSRP;

computing, by the UE, the channel state information (CSI) for the selected X beams;

reporting, by the UE, to the BS the RSRP of the selected Y beams; and

reporting, by the UE, to the BS at least a portion of the CSI of the selected X beams.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

performing, by the UE, physical layer processing that is UE implementation-specific, wherein the physical layer processing comprises physical layer filtering.

10. The method of claim 7 ,

performing, by the UE, network layer processing configured to the UE via Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration, wherein the network layer processing comprises network layer filtering.

11. The method of claim 7 ,

wherein the UE CSI computation capability is encoded in a UE category.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

indicating, by the UE, the CSI computation capability during an initial access to the BS.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

determining, by the UE, whether the CSI computation capability indication is supported by a system configuration and if not, refraining from indicating the CSI computation capability during the initial access to the BS.

14. A base station (BS), comprising:

a radio transceiver configured to transceive beams with a user equipment (UE); and

a processor configured to:

receive a report of channel state information (CSI) computation capability from the UE;

configure the UE with an X value based on the reported computation capability, wherein Y is an integer greater than X which is an integer at least 1;

perform a beam sweep by transmitting N direction-unique beams, wherein N is an integer greater than Y;

receive a beam measurement report from the UE comprising a reference signal receive power (RSRP) of Y strongest beams of the transmitted beams and at least a portion of the CSI of X strongest beams of the Y beams;

select, based on the beam measurement report, one of the X beams to configure the UE for subsequent data and control channel transmissions; and

wherein the CSI computation capability is information about the UE's ability to compute multiple CSI metrics as a beam selection metric and is for use by the BS to configure beam reporting.

15. The BS of claim 14 ,

wherein the UE CSI computation capability is encoded in a UE category.

16. The BS of claim 15 ,

wherein the CSI computation capability is indicated by the UE during an initial access to the BS.

17. The BS of claim 16 ,

wherein the CSI computation capability is not indicated during the initial access to the BS if the CSI computation capability indication is not supported by a system configuration.