IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,627,438
Granted Patent B2
US 12,627,438 · App. 18/006,546 · Granted May 12, 2026

Mapping reference signal resources to virtual panels

Inventors: Muhammad Sayed Khairy Abdelghaffar (San Jose, CA); Yan Zhou (San Diego, CA); Wooseok Nam (San Diego, CA); Mostafa Khoshnevisan (San Diego, CA); Yu Zhang (San Diego, CA)
Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
H04L5/0051H04L5/1469H04W16/28
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,627,438
App. No.
18/006,546
Granted
May 12, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may determine a plurality of virtual antenna panels, wherein the plurality of virtual antenna panels correspond to a plurality of groups of antenna ports and map to one or more portions of at least one physical antenna panel. The UE may map a plurality of reference signal resources to the plurality of virtual antenna panels. The UE may transmit, to a base station and based at least in part on the mapping, reference signals using the plurality of reference signal resources. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Claims (71)

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

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to:

determine a plurality of virtual antenna panels, wherein the plurality of virtual antenna panels correspond to a plurality of groups of antenna ports and map to one or more portions of one or more physical antenna panels;

map a plurality of reference signal resources to the plurality of virtual antenna panels;

assign a first reference signal of a plurality of reference signals to a first virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels, and assign a second reference signal of the plurality of reference signals to a second virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels;

based on a determination that the first virtual antenna panel and the second virtual antenna panel correspond to a same physical antenna panel of the one or more physical antenna panels, transmit the first reference signal and the second reference signal by time duplexing with a first gap time between the first reference signal and the second reference; and

based on a determination that the first virtual antenna panel and the second virtual antenna panel correspond to different physical antenna panels of the one or more physical antenna panels, transmit the first reference signal and the second reference signal by time duplexing with a second gap time between the first reference signal and the second reference, wherein the second gap time is larger than the first gap time.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the groups of antenna ports are configured for simultaneous reception and are not configured for simultaneous transmission.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

apply a same spatial-domain transmission filter to transmit on the plurality of reference signal resources.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein a power status of a target one of the plurality of virtual antenna panels is at least based on whether a corresponding physical antenna panel of the one or more physical antenna panels is idle or fully powered.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the first gap time or the second gap time are further based at least in part on a mapping between the one or more portions of the one or more physical antenna panels and the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

transmit two or more gap times based at least in part on power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive, based at least in part on the two or more gap times, two or more time-domain resources configurations corresponding to each of the plurality of reference signal resources,

wherein the plurality of reference signals are transmitted on the plurality of reference signal resources based at least in part on the power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

transmit information indicating the power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 ,

wherein the information further indicates gap times associated with powering up the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

10 . The apparatus of claim 7 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive instructions to reconfigure the power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

11 . An apparatus for wireless communication at a network node, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processors configured to:

transmit an indication of a plurality of reference signal resources;

receive an indication of a plurality of virtual antenna panels, wherein the plurality of virtual antenna panels correspond to a plurality of groups of antenna ports and map to one or more portions of one or more physical antenna panels;

assign a first reference signal of a plurality of reference signals to a first virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels, and assign a second reference signal of the plurality of reference signals to a second virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels;

based on a determination that the first virtual antenna panel and the second virtual antenna panel correspond to a same physical antenna panel of the one or more physical antenna panels, transmit the first reference signal and the second reference signal by time duplexing with a first gap time between the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and

based on a determination that the first virtual antenna panel and the second virtual antenna panel correspond to different physical antenna panels of the one or more physical antenna panels, transmit the first reference signal and the second reference signal by time duplexing with a second gap time between the first reference signal and the second reference signal, wherein the second gap time is larger than the first gap time.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

transmit a spatial-domain transmission filter to use on the plurality of reference signal resources.

13 . The apparatus of claim 11 ,

wherein a power status of a target one of the plurality of virtual antenna panels is at least based on whether a corresponding physical antenna panel of the one or more physical antenna panels is idle or fully powered.

14 . The apparatus of claim 11 ,

wherein the first gap time or the second gap time are further based at least in part on a mapping between the one or more portions of the one or more physical antenna panels and the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

15 . The apparatus of claim 11 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive two or more gap times based at least in part on power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

transmit, based at least in part on the two or more gap times, two or more time-domain resources configurations corresponding to each of the plurality of reference signal resources,

wherein the plurality of reference signals are received on the plurality of reference signal resources based at least in part on the power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 ,

wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive information indicating the power statuses of the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

18 . A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment, comprising:

determining a plurality of virtual antenna panels, wherein the plurality of virtual antenna panels correspond to a plurality of groups of antenna ports and map to one or more portions of one or more physical antenna panels;

mapping a plurality of reference signal resources to the plurality of virtual antenna panels;

assigning a first reference signal of a plurality of reference signals to a first virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels, and assign a second reference signal of the plurality of reference signals to a second virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels;

based on a determination that the first virtual antenna panel and the second virtual antenna panel correspond to a same physical antenna panel of the one or more physical antenna panels, transmitting the first reference signal and the second reference signal by time duplexing with a first gap time between the first reference signal and the second reference signal; and

based on a determination that the first virtual antenna panel and the second virtual antenna panel correspond to different physical antenna panels of the one or more physical antenna panels, transmitting the first reference signal and the second reference signal by time duplexing with a second gap time between the first reference signal and the second reference signal, wherein the second gap time is larger than the first gap time.

19 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,

wherein to transmit the plurality of reference signals, the one or more processors are further configured to:

map each reference signal of the plurality of reference signals to a respective virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels; and

time duplex the reference signals across the plurality of virtual antenna panels to transmit only one of the plurality of reference signals at any given point in time.

20 . The apparatus of claim 11 ,

wherein to receive the plurality of reference signals, the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive an indication of mapping each reference signal of the plurality of reference signals to a respective virtual antenna panel of the plurality of virtual antenna panels; and

receive only one of the plurality of reference signals at any given point in time, wherein the plurality of reference signals are time duplexed across the plurality of virtual antenna panels.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 24, 2023
From: ABDELGHAFFAR, MUHAMMAD SAYED KHAIRY; ZHOU, YAN; NAM, WOOSEOK; KHOSHNEVISAN, MOSTAFA; ZHANG, YU
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 062480/0215 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230299915A1 · Sep 21, 2023
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