Granted Patent B2

US 12,284,016 · App. 18/475,468 · Granted Apr 22, 2025

Inventors: Manasa Raghavan (Sunnyvale, CA); Jie Cui (San Jose, CA); Yushu Zhang (Beijing, CN); Andrey Chervyakov (Nizhny Novgorod, RU); Yang Tang (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

H04B7/063

Abstract

Claims (92)

1. A base station comprising:

radio front end circuitry; and

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

generate a first message including a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state change command;

transmit the first message to a user equipment (UE); and

receive a second message indicating a time delay for the UE to be prepared to receive a reference signal associated with a new TCI state, wherein the time delay depends on whether a time offset/frequency offset (TO/FO) and a reception (Rx) beam for the new TCI state are known by the UE.

2. The base station of claim 1 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is unknown and the Rx beam is unknown; and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a TO/FO acquisition;

perform a Rx beam refinement; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a TO/FO acquisition time or a synchronization time, and a Rx beam acquisition time.

3. The base station of claim 2 ,

wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to transmit the TCI state change command via a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

set a UE preparation time for a TCI state change; and

calculate the time delay based at least on the UE preparation time and a summation of the TO/FO acquisition time or the synchronization time, and the Rx beam acquisition time.

4. The base station of claim 2 ,

wherein the processor circuitry is further configured to transmit the TCI state change command via downlink control information (DCI), and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

set a UE preparation time for a TCI state change based on a UE capability parameter timeDurationForQCL; and

calculate the time delay based at least on the UE preparation time and a larger of the TO/FO acquisition time or the synchronization time, and the Rx beam acquisition time.

5. The base station of claim 1 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is known and the Rx beam is unknown, and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a Rx beam refinement without performing a TO/FO acquisition; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a Rx beam acquisition time.

6. The base station of claim 1 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is unknown and the Rx beam is known, and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a TO/FO acquisition without performing a Rx beam refinement; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a TO/FO acquisition time or a synchronization time.

7. The base station of claim 1 , wherein the radio front end circuitry is further configured to receive a signal indicating that the new TCI state has been tracked by the UE.

8. A method of operating a base station, the method comprising:

generating a first message including a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state change command;

transmitting the first message to a user equipment (UE); and

receiving a second message indicating a time delay for the UE to be prepared to receive a reference signal associated with a new TCI state, wherein the time delay depends on whether a time offset/frequency offset (TO/FO) and a reception (Rx) beam for the new TCI state are known by the UE.

9. The method of claim 8 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is unknown and the Rx beam is unknown; and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a TO/FO acquisition;

perform a Rx beam refinement; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a TO/FO acquisition time or a synchronization time, and a Rx beam acquisition time.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting the TCI state change command via a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

set a UE preparation time for a TCI state change; and

calculate the time delay based at least on the UE preparation time and a summation of the TO/FO acquisition time or the synchronization time, and the Rx beam acquisition time.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising transmitting the TCI state change command via downlink control information (DCI), and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

set a UE preparation time for a TCI state change based on a UE capability parameter timeDurationForQCL; and

calculate the time delay based at least on the UE preparation time and a larger of the TO/FO acquisition time or the synchronization time, and the Rx beam acquisition time.

12. The method of claim 8 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is known and the Rx beam is unknown, and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a Rx beam refinement without performing a TO/FO acquisition; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a Rx beam acquisition time.

13. The method of claim 8 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is unknown and the Rx beam is known, and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a TO/FO acquisition without performing a Rx beam refinement; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a TO/FO acquisition time or a synchronization time.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving a signal indicating that the new TCI state has been tracked by the UE.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause a base station, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the base station, to perform operations comprising:

generating a first message including a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state change command;

transmitting the first message to a user equipment (UE); and

receiving a second message indicating a time delay for the UE to be prepared to receive a reference signal associated with a new TCI state, wherein the time delay depends on whether a time offset/frequency offset (TO/FO) and a reception (Rx) beam for the new TCI state are known by the UE.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is unknown and the Rx beam is unknown; and

wherein the operations further comprise:

performing a TO/FO acquisition;

performing a Rx beam refinement; and

calculating the time delay based at least on a TO/FO acquisition time or a synchronization time, and a Rx beam acquisition time.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 ,

wherein the operations further comprise transmitting the TCI state change command via media access control (MAC) control element (CE), and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

set a UE preparation time for a TCI state change; and

calculate the time delay based at least on the UE preparation time and a summation of the TO/FO acquisition time or the synchronization time, and the Rx beam acquisition time.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16 ,

wherein the operations further comprise transmitting the TCI state change command via downlink control information (DCI), and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

set a UE preparation time for a TCI state change based on a UE capability parameter timeDurationForQCL; and

calculate the time delay based at least on the UE preparation time and a larger of the TO/FO acquisition time or the synchronization time, and the Rx beam acquisition time.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is known and the Rx beam is unknown, and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a Rx beam refinement without performing a TO/FO acquisition; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a Rx beam acquisition time.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 15 ,

wherein the TCI state change command indicates that the TO/FO is unknown and the Rx beam is known, and

wherein the TCI state change command configures the UE to:

perform a TO/FO acquisition without performing a Rx beam refinement; and

calculate the time delay based at least on a TO/FO acquisition time or a synchronization time.

Continuity (3)

References Cited (25)