IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,963,201
Granted Patent B2
US 11,963,201 · App. 17/212,732 · Granted Apr 16, 2024

User equipment antenna subarray selection dependent beam switching capability reporting

Inventors: Vasanthan Raghavan (West Windsor Township, NJ); Tao Luo (San Diego, CA); Junyi Li (Franklin Park, NJ)
Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
H04W72/51H04B7/0602H04W72/046
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,963,201
App. No.
17/212,732
Granted
Apr 16, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may transmit, to a base station, an indication of a beam switching capability of the UE that is based at least in part on an antenna subarray from an antenna array of the UE, and communicate, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE, based at least in part on the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Claims (111)

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

transmitting, to a base station, an indication of a beam switching capability of the UE that is based on an antenna subarray from an antenna array of the UE,

the antenna subarray being determined based on an architectural constraint of the UE associated with a radio frequency design or a circuit design of the UE, and

the beam switching capability indicating a maximum number of beam switches that the UE is capable of performing per slot; and

communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE, based on the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the antenna subarray includes a subset of antenna elements, from a set of antenna elements of the antenna array, to be used for reception or transmission.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE includes an indication of at least one of:

a number of antenna elements included in the antenna subarray,

a shape or geometry of the antenna subarray, or

one or more antenna element indices corresponding to one or more antenna elements included in the antenna subarray.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beam switching capability of the UE further indicates:

a time duration for the UE to apply quasi co-location (QCL) information.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the time duration for the UE to apply QCL information is a minimum number of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for the UE to apply the QCL information received in a downlink control information communication to one or more physical downlink shared channel communications.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, to the base station, an indication of a plurality of beam switching capabilities of the UE, wherein the plurality of beam switching capabilities of the UE are based on one or more antenna subarrays of the UE; and

transmitting an indication of the antenna subarray, wherein the antenna subarray is included in the one or more antenna subarrays of the UE, and

wherein communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE is based on transmitting the indication of the plurality of beam switching capabilities of the UE and transmitting the indication of the antenna subarray.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a first antenna subarray of the antenna array of the UE to be used for reception or transmission;

determining a second antenna subarray of the antenna array of the UE to be used for reception or transmission;

transmitting an indication of a first beam switching capability of the UE based on the first antenna subarray; and

transmitting an indication of a second beam switching capability of the UE based on the second antenna subarray.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the antenna subarray from the antenna array of the UE based on at least one of:

a communication rate parameter,

a communication reliability parameter,

a power constraint, or

a thermal constraint.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE comprises:

communicating, with the base station, using an operating frequency above 24.25 GHz.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE comprises:

transmitting the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE using at least one of dynamic Layer 1 signaling or dynamic Layer 2 signaling.

11. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors, coupled to the one or more memories, the one or more processors individually or collectively configured to:

transmit, to a base station, an indication of a beam switching capability of the UE that is based on an antenna subarray from an antenna array of the UE,

the antenna subarray being determined based on an architectural constraint of the UE associated with a radio frequency design or a circuit design of the UE, and

the beam switching capability indicating a maximum number of beam switches that the UE is capable of performing per slot; and

communicate, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE, based on the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE.

12. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

determine that the antenna subarray includes a subset of antenna elements, from a set of antenna elements of the antenna array, to be used for reception or transmission.

13. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE includes an indication of at least one of:

a number of antenna elements included in the antenna subarray,

a shape or geometry of the antenna subarray, or

one or more antenna element indices corresponding to one or more antenna elements included in the antenna subarray.

14. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the beam switching capability of the UE further indicates:

a time duration for the UE to apply quasi co-location (QCL) information.

15. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the time duration for the UE to apply QCL information is a minimum number of orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols for the UE to apply the QCL information received in a downlink control information communication to one or more physical downlink shared channel communications.

16. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

transmit, to the base station, an indication of a plurality of beam switching capabilities of the UE, wherein the plurality of beam switching capabilities of the UE are based on one or more antenna subarrays of the UE; and

transmit an indication of the antenna subarray, wherein the antenna subarray is included in the one or more antenna subarrays of the UE, and

wherein communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE is based on transmitting the indication of the plurality of beam switching capabilities of the UE and transmitting the indication of the antenna subarray.

17. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

determine a first antenna subarray of the antenna array of the UE to be used for reception or transmission;

determine a second antenna subarray of the antenna array of the UE to be used for reception or transmission;

transmit an indication of a first beam switching capability of the UE based on the first antenna subarray; and

transmit an indication of a second beam switching capability of the UE based t on the second antenna subarray.

18. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

determine the antenna subarray from the antenna array of the UE based on at least one of:

a communication rate parameter,

a communication reliability parameter,

a power constraint, or

a thermal constraint.

19. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors, to communicate, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE, are configured to:

communicate, with the base station, using an operating frequency above 24.25 GHz.

20. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors, to transmit the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE, are configured to:

transmit the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE using at least one of dynamic Layer 1 signaling or dynamic Layer 2 signaling.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions for wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to:

transmit, to a base station, an indication of a beam switching capability of the UE that is based on an antenna subarray from an antenna array of the UE,

the antenna subarray being determined based on an architectural constraint of the UE associated with a radio frequency design or a circuit design of the UE, and

the beam switching capability indicating a maximum number of beam switches that the UE is capable of performing per slot; and

communicate, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE, based on the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE includes an indication of at least one of:

a number of antenna elements included in the antenna subarray,

a shape or geometry of the antenna subarray, or

one or more antenna element indices corresponding to one or more antenna elements included in the antenna subarray.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the beam switching capability of the UE further indicates:

a time duration for the UE to apply quasi co-location (QCL) information.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the one or more instructions further cause the UE to:

transmit, to the base station, an indication of one or more beam switching capabilities of the UE, wherein the one or more beam switching capabilities of the UE are based on one or more antenna subarrays of the UE,

wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the UE to transmit the indication of the beam switching capability of the UE, cause the UE to:

transmit an indication of the antenna subarray, wherein the antenna subarray is included in the one or more antenna subarrays of the UE, and

wherein communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the UE is based on transmitting the indication of the one or more beam switching capabilities of the UE and transmitting the indication of the antenna subarray.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 21 , wherein the one or more instructions further cause the UE to:

determine a first antenna subarray of the antenna array of the UE to be used for reception or transmission;

determine a second antenna subarray of the antenna array of the UE to be used for reception or transmission;

transmit an indication of a first beam switching capability of the UE based on the first antenna subarray; and

transmit an indication of a second beam switching capability of the UE based on the second antenna subarray.

26. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for transmitting, to a base station, an indication of a beam switching capability of the apparatus that is based on an antenna subarray from an antenna array of the apparatus,

the antenna subarray being determined based on an architectural constraint of the apparatus associated with a radio frequency design or a circuit design of the apparatus, and

the beam switching capability indicating a maximum number of beam switches that the apparatus is capable of performing per slot; and

means for communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the apparatus, based on the indication of the beam switching capability of the apparatus.

27. The apparatus of claim 26 , wherein the indication of the beam switching capability of the apparatus includes an indication of at least one of:

a number of antenna elements included in the antenna subarray,

a shape or geometry of the antenna subarray, or

one or more antenna element indices corresponding to one or more antenna elements included in the antenna subarray.

28. The apparatus of claim 26 , wherein the beam switching capability of the apparatus further indicates:

a time duration for the apparatus to apply quasi co-location (QCL) information.

29. The apparatus of claim 26 , further comprising:

means for transmitting, to the base station, an indication of one or more beam switching capabilities of the apparatus, wherein the one or more beam switching capabilities of the apparatus are based on one or more antenna subarrays of the apparatus,

wherein the means for transmitting the indication of the beam switching capability of the apparatus comprises:

means for transmitting an indication of the antenna subarray, wherein the antenna subarray is included in the one or more antenna subarrays of the apparatus, and

wherein communicating, with the base station, using the antenna subarray in accordance with the beam switching capability of the apparatus is based on transmitting the indication of the one or more beam switching capabilities of the apparatus and transmitting the indication of the antenna subarray.

30. The apparatus of claim 26 , further comprising:

means for determining a first antenna subarray of the antenna array of the apparatus to be used for reception or transmission;

means for determining a second antenna subarray of the antenna array of the apparatus to be used for reception or transmission;

means for transmitting an indication of a first beam switching capability of the apparatus based on the first antenna subarray; and

means for transmitting an indication of a second beam switching capability of the apparatus based on the second antenna subarray.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 5, 2021
From: RAGHAVAN, VASANTHAN; LUO, TAO; LI, JUNYI
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 056140/0299 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63016675 · Apr 28, 2020
Related Publication 20210337530A1 · Oct 28, 2021