Methods for early stoppage of beam refinement in millimeter wave systems

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

receiving at least one signal over a plurality of beams from a base station in a beam refinement procedure during a hierarchical beamforming process; and

transmitting an indication to the base station, the indication comprising at least one of a beam switching capability of the UE, mobility information for the UE, Doppler estimate information for the UE, or a plurality of training signals on a selected beam, wherein the indication causes the beam refinement procedure at the base station to stop prior to completion of the beam refinement procedure.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication indicates a beam switching capability of the UE.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the beam switching capability comprises a beam switching rate for the UE.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the indication is associated with a quantized value that is configured by the base station.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication indicates mobility information for the UE or Doppler estimate information for the UE.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the mobility information or the Doppler estimate information is based on a plurality of measurements from at least one sensor at the UE, wherein the at least one sensor comprises one or more of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, or a tachometer.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication comprises a plurality of training signals on a selected beam.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of training signals comprises a plurality of sounding reference signals (SRSs).

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising

transmitting the plurality of training signals over a plurality of symbols or over a plurality of sub-symbols.

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

receiving at least one signal over a plurality of beams from a base station in a beam refinement procedure during a hierarchical beamforming process; and

transmitting an indication to the base station, the indication comprising at least one of a beam switching capability of the UE, mobility information for the UE, Doppler estimate information for the UE, or a plurality of training signals on a selected beam, wherein the indication indicates a beam switching capability of the UE and a time for the UE to complete a beam scan of the plurality of beams from the base station.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the time is based on a scan of the plurality of beams at a pseudo-omni beam level or at a directional beam level.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the indication indicates a number of beams on which the time is based.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the time is based at least in part on one or more of an antenna beam weight settling latency and a radio frequency circuit related latency or the time is based on a power saving constraint at the UE, and wherein the indication further indicates the power saving constraint.

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

receiving at least one signal over a plurality of beams from a base station in a beam refinement procedure during a hierarchical beamforming process; and

transmitting an indication to the base station, the indication comprising at least one of a beam switching capability of the UE, mobility information for the UE, Doppler estimate information for the UE, or a plurality of training signals on a selected beam, wherein the indication indicates a beam switching rate of a beam switching capability of the UE, wherein the indication further indicates a power consumption, and wherein an absence of a power consumption indicates a nominal power consumption that is configured by the base station.

15. 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:

receive at least one signal over a plurality of beams from a base station in a beam refinement procedure during a hierarchical beamforming process; and

transmit an indication to the base station, the indication comprising at least one of a beam switching capability of the UE, mobility information for the UE, Doppler estimate information for the UE, or a plurality of training signals on a selected beam, wherein the indication causes the beam refinement procedure at the base station to stop prior to completion of the beam refinement procedure.

16. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

transmitting at least one signal over a plurality of beams in a beam refinement procedure with a User Equipment (UE);

receiving an indication from the UE indicative of an effect upon the UE if the base station stops the beam refinement procedure prior to a completion of the beam refinement procedure; and

determining whether to stop the beam refinement procedure prior to the completion of the beam refinement procedure based, at least in part, on the indication received from the UE.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the base station determines whether to stop the beam refinement procedure further based on an angular spread for the base station.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

receiving, from the UE, a plurality of signals on a beam over a plurality of symbols or a plurality of sub-symbols; and

determining the angular spread for the base station based on the plurality of signals.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of signals comprises a plurality of sounding reference signals (SRSs), the method, further comprising

estimating a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) for a set of beams having an adjacent or partially overlapping orientation, the estimating based on the plurality of signals.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the angular spread is determined based on the RSRP for each of the set of beams.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the indication indicates a beam switching capability of the UE.

22. The method of claim 16 , wherein the indication indicates mobility information for the UE.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the indication comprises Doppler estimate information for the UE.

24. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

transmitting at least one signal over a plurality of beams in a beam refinement procedure with a User Equipment (UE);

receiving an indication from the UE, wherein the indication indicates a beam switching capability of the UE and a time for the UE to complete a beam scan of a plurality of beams from the base station; and

determining whether to stop the beam refinement procedure prior to a completion of the beam refinement procedure based, at least in part, on the indication received from the UE.

25. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

transmitting at least one signal over a plurality of beams in a beam refinement procedure with a User Equipment (UE);

receiving an indication from the UE, wherein the indication indicates a beam switching capability of the UE and power consumption at the UE related to the beam refinement procedure; and

determining whether to stop the beam refinement procedure prior to a completion of the beam refinement procedure based, at least in part, on the indication received from the UE.

26. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

transmitting at least one signal over a plurality of beams in a beam refinement procedure with a User Equipment (UE);

receiving an indication from the UE; and

determining whether to stop the beam refinement procedure prior to a completion of the beam refinement procedure based, at least in part, on the indication received from the UE, and further based on an amount of data to be conveyed from the base station to the UE.

27. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

transmitting at least one signal over a plurality of beams in a beam refinement procedure with a User Equipment (UE);

receiving an indication from the UE; and

determining whether to stop the beam refinement procedure prior to a completion of the beam refinement procedure based, at least in part, on the indication received from the UE, and further based on a number of Component Carriers (CCs) or bandwidth allocated to the UE.

28. An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

a memory; and

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

transmit at least one signal over a plurality of beams in a beam refinement procedure with a User Equipment (UE);

receive an indication from the UE indicative of an effect upon the UE if the base station stops the beam refinement procedure prior to a completion of the beam refinement procedure; and

determine whether to stop the beam refinement procedure prior to the completion of the beam refinement procedure based, at least in part, on the indication received from the UE.

29. The apparatus of claim 28 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether to stop the beam refinement procedure further based on an angular spread for the base station.

30. The apparatus of claim 29 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

receive, from the UE, a plurality of signals on a beam over a plurality of symbols or a plurality of sub-symbols; and

determine the angular spread for the base station based on the plurality of signals.