IP Library Granted Patent US 12,341,726
Granted Patent B2
US 12,341,726 · App. 17/429,973 · Granted Jun 24, 2025

System and method for UE triggered CSI-RS

Inventors: Yushu Zhang (Beijing, CN); Gang Xiong (Portland, OR); Guotong Wang (Beijing, CN); Alexei Davydov (Nizhny Novgorod, RU)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04L5/0085H04L5/0048
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,341,726
App. No.
17/429,973
Granted
Jun 24, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and one or more computer-readable media (CRM) storing instructions for the triggering of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) by user equipment (UE) in a wireless cellular network. The UE measures a downlink reference signal. The UE also determines a condition for triggering a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is satisfied based on the downlink reference signal. Then, the UE transmits a request for a base station of the wireless cellular network to provide the CSI-RS to the UE based on the condition being satisfied.

Claims (42)

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (CRM) comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) associated with a wireless cellular network, cause the UE to perform operations, the operations comprising:

measuring a downlink reference signal;

determining a condition for triggering a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is satisfied based on the downlink reference signal; and

transmitting a request for a base station of the wireless cellular network to provide the CSI-RS to the UE based on the condition being satisfied,

wherein the request comprises a quasi-co-locate (QCL) source of the CSI-RS, a number of requested CSI-RS resources, a component carrier (CC) index, and a bandwidth part (BWP) index.

2. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the downlink reference signal is configured in active Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a control resource set (CORESET).

3. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the condition comprises a quality metric associated with the downlink reference signal being less than a threshold.

4. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein determining the condition for triggering the CSI-RS is satisfied comprises determining that a difference between a quality metric associated with the downlink reference signal received using a current UE beam and a quality metric associated with the downlink reference signal received using a wide beam being less than a threshold.

5. The non-transitory CRM of claim 4 , wherein the quality metric is based on at least one of: layer 1 reference signal receiving power (L1-RSRP), layer 1 signal-to-interference plus noise (L1-SINR), hypothetical block error rate (BLER), or channel quality indicator (CQI).

6. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the QCL source of the CSI-RS is the downlink reference signal being measured, or a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state configured by either a radio resource control (RRC), or a MAC control element (CE).

7. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the request is transmitted using a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) configured in format 2, format 3, or format 4.

8. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the request further comprises transmitting a scheduling request (SR) using at least one of: a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource.

9. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the request is transmitted using a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and a MAC control element (CE).

10. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an uplink grant has not been received within N slots after determining that the condition is satisfied,

wherein the request is transmitted using a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure in response to the uplink grant not having been received.

11. The non-transitory CRM of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that an uplink grant has not been received within N slots after determining the condition is satisfied;

determining that the UE is not configured for a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure;

transmitting a scheduling request to the base station in response to determining that the uplink grant has not been received and the UE is not configured for the 2-step RACH procedure; and

receiving an uplink grant after the scheduling request is transmitted,

wherein the request is transmitted via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) after the uplink grant is received.

12. A method for operating a base station in a wireless cellular network, comprising:

receiving a request for a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) from a user equipment (UE) in the wireless cellular network; and

triggering the CSI-RS in response to the request,

wherein the request comprises a quasi-co-locate (QCL) source of the CSI-RS, a number of requested CSI-RS resources, a component carrier (CC) index, and a bandwidth part (BWP) index.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the request is received using a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) configured in format 2, format 3, or format 4.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein receiving the request comprises receiving a scheduling request (SR) using at least one of: a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

transmitting a message associated with contention resolution,

wherein the request is associated with a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure.

16. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

radio front end circuitry configured to receive, from a radio access network node, first control signaling, the first control signaling indicating a wake up command; and

processor circuitry, coupled to the radio front end circuitry, the processor circuitry configured to:

measure a downlink reference signal;

determine a condition for triggering a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) is satisfied based on the downlink reference signal; and

transmit a request for a base station of a wireless cellular network to provide the CSI-RS to the UE based on the condition being satisfied,

wherein the request comprises a quasi-co-locate (QCL) source of the CSI-RS, a number of requested CSI-RS resources, a component carrier (CC) index, and a bandwidth part (BWP) index.

17. The UE of claim 16 , wherein:

determining the condition for triggering the CSI-RS is satisfied comprises determining that a difference between a quality metric associated with the downlink reference signal received using a current UE beam and a quality metric associated with the downlink reference signal received using a wide beam being less than a threshold, and

the quality metric is based on at least one of: layer 1 reference signal receiving power (L1-RSRP), layer 1 signal-to-interference plus noise (L1-SINR), hypothetical block error rate (BLER), or channel quality indicator (CQI).

18. The UE of claim 16 , wherein the request is transmitted using a 2-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure in response to an uplink grant not having been received.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 9, 2025
From: ZHANG, YUSHU; XIONG, GANG; WANG, GUOTONG; DAVYDOV, ALEXEI
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 071645/0552 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 20, 2025
From: INTEL CORPORATION
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 070272/0855 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62805617 · Feb 14, 2019
Related Publication 20220131676A1 · Apr 28, 2022
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