Methods and apparatus to facilitate user equipment beam selection based on service demands

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

communicating on a current uplink (UL) beam, wherein the current UL beam is associated with a current beamforming direction;

identifying a first UL beam having a higher effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) capability than a current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when an amount of data in a buffer of the UE is greater than a data threshold, the data threshold being greater than zero bytes; and

transmitting an UL communication on the first UL beam.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting a first downlink (DL) beam based on the first UL beam; and

receiving, from a base station, a DL communication on the first DL beam.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first DL beam is a same beam as the first UL beam.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein selecting the first DL beam based on the first UL beam is performed when there is UL/DL beam correspondence.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying a set of UL beams, each UL beam of the set of UL beams being associated with a respective EIRP capability satisfying an EIRP capability threshold,

wherein the first UL beam is identified from the set of UL beams.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein an EIRP capability of the first UL beam is based on a first quantity of antenna elements associated with the first UL beam, and wherein the first UL beam has the higher EIRP capability than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when the first quantity of the antenna elements associated with the first UL beam is greater than a second quantity of the antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein an EIRP capability of the first UL beam is higher than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when a first quantity of antenna elements associated with the first UL beam is greater than a second quantity of the antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the first UL beam having the higher EIRP capability than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam comprises:

identifying the first UL beam having a first quantity of antenna elements that is greater than a second quantity of the antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying the first UL beam when a target transmit power based on a transmit power command (TPC) exceeds the current beam EIRP capability.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the target transmit power exceeds the current beam EIRP capability when the target transmit power exceeds a transmit power associated with the current UL beam, and wherein the transmit power associated with the current UL beam is based on a quantity of antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the current beam EIRP capability is represented by a quantity of antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first UL beam is identified based on the first UL beam having a first beamforming direction that is more similar to the current beamforming direction than a second beamforming direction of a second UL beam, the second UL beam having a second EIRP capability that is higher than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

monitoring a buffer status report (BSR) to determine when the amount of data in the buffer of the UE is greater than the data threshold.

14. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for communicating on a current uplink (UL) beam, wherein the current UL beam is associated with a current beamforming direction;

means for identifying a first UL beam having a higher effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) capability than a current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when an amount of data in a buffer of the UE is greater than a data threshold, the data threshold being greater than zero bytes; and

means for transmitting an UL communication on the first UL beam.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:

means for selecting a first downlink (DL) beam based on the first UL beam; and

means for receiving, from a base station, a DL communication on the first DL beam.

16. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:

a memory; and

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

communicate on a current uplink (UL) beam, wherein the current UL beam is associated with a current beamforming direction;

identify a first UL beam having a higher effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) capability than a current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when an amount of data in a buffer of the UE is greater than a data threshold, the data threshold being greater than zero bytes; and

transmit an UL communication on the first UL beam.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

select a first downlink (DL) beam based on the first UL beam; and

receive, from a base station, a DL communication on the first DL beam.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the first DL beam is a same beam as the first UL beam.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to select the first DL beam based on the first UL beam when there is UL/DL beam correspondence.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

identify a set of UL beams, each UL beam of the set of UL beams being associated with a respective EIRP capability satisfying an EIRP capability threshold,

wherein the first UL beam is identified from the set of UL beams.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein an EIRP capability of the first UL beam is based on a first quantity of antenna elements associated with the first UL beam, and wherein the first UL beam has the higher EIRP capability than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when the first quantity of the antenna elements associated with the first UL beam is greater than a second quantity of the antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein an EIRP capability of the first UL beam is higher than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when a first quantity of antenna elements associated with the first UL beam is greater than a second quantity of the antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

23. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein to identify the first UL beam having the higher EIRP capability than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam, the at least one processor is further configured to:

identify the first UL beam having a first quantity of antenna elements that is greater than a second quantity of the antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

24. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify the first UL beam when a target transmit power based on a transmit power control (TPC) exceeds the current beam EIRP capability.

25. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the target transmit power exceeds the current beam EIRP capability when the target transmit power exceeds a transmit power associated with the current UL beam, and wherein the transmit power associated with the current UL beam is based on a quantity of antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

26. The apparatus of claim 24 , wherein the current beam EIRP capability is represented by a quantity of antenna elements associated with the current UL beam.

27. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to identify the first UL beam based on the first UL beam having a first beamforming direction that is more similar to the current beamforming direction than a second beamforming direction of a second UL beam, the second UL beam having a second EIRP capability that is higher than the current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam.

28. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to monitor a buffer status report (B SR) to determine when the amount of data in the buffer of the UE is greater than the data threshold.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform a method of wireless communication, comprising:

communicating on a current uplink (UL) beam, wherein the current UL beam is associated with a current beamforming direction;

identifying a first UL beam having a higher effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) capability than a current beam EIRP capability associated with the current UL beam when an amount of data in a buffer of the UE is greater than a data threshold the data threshold being greater than zero bytes; and

transmitting an UL communication on the first UL beam.