Granted Patent B2

US 12,302,312 · App. 17/883,412 · Granted May 13, 2025

Inventors: Hong He (Cupertino, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Wei Zeng (San Diego, CA); Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Ankit Bhamri (Bad Nauheim, DE); Chunxuan Ye (San Diego, CA); Sigen Ye (San Diego, CA); Oghenekome Oteri (San Diego, CA); Seyed Ali Akbar Fakoorian (San Diego, CA); Jie Cui (San Jose, CA)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

H04W72/1263H04L5/0046H04W72/23H04W80/02

Abstract

Claims (88)

1. A method, comprising:

by a user equipment (UE):

receiving, from a cellular network, configuration of a plurality of transmission control indication (TCI) states associated with a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs);

receiving, from the cellular network, a first message:

indicating a subset of the plurality of TCI states; and

comprising a plurality of 1-bit fields, P, the plurality of 1-bit fields, P, comprising 2 M 1-bit fields, wherein M is greater than 3;

determining, based on the first message, an association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states of the subset of the plurality of TCI states;

receiving, from the cellular network, a second message indicating a first TCI codepoint;

determining, based on the first TCI codepoint and the association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states:

a first TCI state; and

a second TCI state;

communicating with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state;

receiving, from the cellular network, a third message indicating a second TCI codepoint;

determining, based on the second TCI codepoint and the association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states:

a third TCI state; and

a fourth TCI state; and

communicating with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the third TCI state and the fourth TCI state at the same time as the communicating with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the second message comprises a first field of M bits indicating the first TCI codepoint.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second message comprises a second field scheduling data.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the second message does not include a second field scheduling data; and

relative to a previous form of downlink control information (DCI) message format 1_1 or 1_2 that does not include data scheduling, the second message includes at least one additional bit in a TCI field.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein, relative to the previous form of DCI message format 1_1 or 1_2 that does not include data scheduling, the second message:

includes at least one less reserved bit; and

includes a same total number of bits.

6. The method of claim 5 , the at least one reserved bit:

comprises M-3 bits; and

is used as a most significant bit of the first field.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein respective 1-bit fields, Pi, of the plurality of 1-bit fields, P, can be one of the following two values:

a first value of a 1-bit field, P i , which indicates that an i-th TCI codepoint is associated with one TCI state; and

a second value of the 1-bit field, P i , which indicates that the i-th TCI codepoint is associated with two TCI states.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein:

the first message indicates an order of the subset of the plurality of TCI states; and

the method further comprises determining a first starting position in the order based on a value of the first TCI codepoint.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

a value of a first 1-bit field, Pi, of the plurality of 1-bit fields, P, associated with the first TCI codepoint is the second value;

the first TCI state comprises a TCI state in the starting position in the order; and

the second TCI state comprises a TCI state immediately subsequent to the starting position in the order.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the second message comprises a downlink control information (DCI) message; and

the first message comprises a media access control (MAC) control element (MAC-CE).

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration of the plurality of TCI states is received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first TCI state and the second TCI state correspond to a first TRP; and

the third TCI state and the fourth TCI state correspond to a second TRP.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the first TCI state and the third TCI state correspond to a first TRP; and

the second TCI state and the fourth TCI state correspond to a second TRP.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communicating with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the third TCI state and the fourth TCI state at the same time as the communicating with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state comprises communicating according to at least one of time division multiplexing or frequency division multiplexing.

15. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to cause a user equipment device (UE) to:

receive, from a cellular network, configuration of a plurality of transmission control indication (TCI) states associated with a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs);

receive, from the cellular network, a first message:

indicating a subset of the plurality of TCI states; and

comprising a plurality of 1-bit fields, P, the plurality of 1-bit fields, P, comprising 2 M 1-bit fields, wherein M is greater than 3;

determine, based on the first message, an association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states of the subset of the plurality of TCI states;

receive, from the cellular network, a second message indicating a first TCI codepoint;

determining, based on the first TCI codepoint and the association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states:

a first TCI state; and

a second TCI state;

communicate with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state;

receive, from the cellular network, a third message indicating a second TCI codepoint;

determine, based on the second TCI codepoint and the association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states:

a third TCI state; and

a fourth TCI state; and

communicate with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the third TCI state and the fourth TCI state at the same time as the communicating with the cellular network via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , further comprising a radio operably coupled to the processor.

17. A method, comprising:

at a cellular network:

transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), configuration of a plurality of transmission control indication (TCI) states associated with a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs);

transmitting, to the UE, a first message:

indicating a subset of the plurality of TCI states; and

comprising a plurality of 1-bit fields, P, the plurality of 1-bit fields, P, comprising 2 M 1-bit fields, wherein M is greater than 3;

determining an association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states of the subset of the plurality of TCI states;

transmitting, to the UE, a second message indicating a first TCI codepoint;

determining, based on the first TCI codepoint and the association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states:

a first TCI state; and

a second TCI state;

communicating with the UE via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state;

transmitting, to the UE, a third message indicating a second TCI codepoint;

determining, based on the second TCI codepoint and the association between respective TCI codepoints and respective TCI states:

a third TCI state; and

a fourth TCI state; and

communicating with the UE via the plurality of TRPs using the third TCI state and the fourth TCI state at the same time as the communicating with the UE via the plurality of TRPs using the first TCI state and the second TCI state.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein:

the second message comprises a first field of M bits indicating the first TCI codepoint.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the second message comprises a second field scheduling data.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (19)