IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,634,950
Granted Patent B2
US 12,634,950 · App. 18/261,973 · Granted May 19, 2026

Downlink control information (DCI) format for beam indication without scheduling data and capability reporting

Inventors: Tianyang Bai (Somerville, NJ); Yan Zhou (San Diego, CA); Fang Yuan (Beijing, CN); Tao Luo (San Diego, CA); Junyi Li (Fairless Hills, PA)
Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
H04W72/23H04B7/06952H04L5/0053
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,634,950
App. No.
18/261,973
Granted
May 19, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatuses that enable abase station (BS) to transmit downlink control information (DCI) without downlink data to indicate a transmission configuration indicator (TCI). In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) may transmit a capability indication associated with whether the UE can receive DCI with a TCI and without a data assignment. The UE may receive DCI with one or more configured fields and without downlink data and may interpret the DCI, based on the one or more configured fields, to identify a TCI. The TCI may be a Type 1 beam indication or another type of beam indication. The DCI may C be a DCI format 1_1 or 1_2 or another DCI format, such as DCI format 1_0 or a DCI scheduling an uplink configuration, among other CN examples, and may indicate another configuration with the TCI.

Claims (77)

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

transmitting a capability indication indicating whether the UE supports a downlink control information (DCI) format without a downlink assignment and indicating whether the UE supports another DCI format with a downlink assignment;

receiving DCI having the DCI format, wherein the DCI includes one or more configured fields, and wherein the DCI does not include scheduling data; and

communicating in accordance with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) associated with the one or more configured fields.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI format is DCI format 1I or DCI format 12, and wherein the DCI includes an indication of the TCI and does not include another type of indication.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI format is a DCI format 1_0 or an uplink DCI format, and wherein the DCI includes a first indication of the TCI and a second indication of another setting.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the second indication includes at least one of:

a secondary cell (SCell) dormancy indication,

a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) release indication, an SPS activation indication, or

a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indication.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the TCI is based on a value for a TCI field parameter of the DCI, a value for a non-TCI field parameter of the DCI, or one or more control resource set (CORESET) beams of the DCI.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI indicates a plurality of TCIs or a single TCI associated with a TCI pool from which to configure the plurality of TCIs.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI includes a TCI field indicating an identifier of a set of TCIs, and wherein the set of TCIs is a single configured grouping of TCIs or a group of TCIs, selected from a plurality of configured groupings of TCIs, with a common attribute.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the TCI includes a downlink TCI and an uplink TCI.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the TCI is based on at least one of:

a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the DCI,

a mandatory field of the DCI,

a validation sequence configured for beam indication, or

a value of a validation sequence associated with a non-TCI configuration.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a configured field associated with the TCI is not present in the one or more configured fields of the DCI, and wherein the UE is configured to determine the TCI based on at least one of:

another DCI,

another indicator that is not a DCI,

another configured field that is present in the one or more configured fields of the DCI, or a default configuration.

11 . A method of wireless communication performed by an apparatus of a base station (BS), comprising:

receiving a capability indication indicating whether a user equipment (UE) supports a downlink control information (DCI) format without a downlink assignment and indicating whether the UE supports another DCI format with a downlink assignment;

transmitting DCI having the DCI format, wherein the DCI includes one or more configured fields, and wherein the DCI does not include scheduling data; and

communicating in accordance with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) associated with the one or more configured fields.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the DCI format is DCI format 11 or DCI format 12, and wherein the DCI includes an indication of the TCI and does not include another type of indication.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the DCI format is a DCI format 1_0 or an uplink DCI format, and wherein the DCI includes a first indication of the TCI and a second indication of another setting.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the second indication includes at least one of:

a secondary cell (SCell) dormancy indication,

a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) release indication, an SPS activation indication, or

a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indication.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the TCI is based on a value for a TCI field parameter of the DCI, a value for a non-TCI field parameter of the DCI, or one or more control resource set (CORESET) beams of the DCI.

16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the DCI indicates a plurality of TCIs or a single TCI associated with a TCI pool from which to configure the plurality of TCIs.

17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the DCI includes a TCI field indicating an identifier of a set of TCIs, and wherein the set of TCIs is a single configured grouping of TCIs or a group of TCIs, selected from a plurality of configured groupings of TCIs, with a common attribute.

18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the TCI includes a downlink TCI and an uplink TCI.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the TCI is based on at least one of: a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the DCI,

a mandatory field of the DCI,

a validation sequence configured for beam indication, or

a value of a validation sequence associated with a non-TCI configuration.

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

transmitting a capability indicator, wherein the capability indicator is associated with whether the UE supports downlink control information (DCI) having a DCI format, wherein the DCI format includes one or more configured fields, wherein the DCI format does not include scheduling data, and wherein at least one of:

the capability indicator is included in an optional field of an uplink control information (UCI) message, or

the capability indicator is a single capability indicator indicating support for the DCI format not including scheduling data and for another DCI format including scheduling data; and

communicating in accordance with the capability indicator.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the one or more configured fields are associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI).

22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the capability indicator identifies UE support for the DCI having the DCI format.

23 . The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

receiving the DCI having the DCI format, and

wherein communicating in accordance with the capability indicator comprises:

communicating in accordance with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) associated with the one or more configured fields.

24 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the capability indicator is included in the optional field of the UCI message.

25 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the capability indicator is the single capability indicator indicating support for the DCI format not including scheduling data and for the other DCI format including scheduling data.

26 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the capability indicator is a first capability indicator indicating support for the DCI format not including scheduling data.

27 . The method of claim 26 , further comprising:

transmitting a second capability indicator indicating support for the other DCI format including scheduling data; and

wherein communicating in accordance with the capability indicator comprises:

communicating in accordance with the first capability indicator and the second capability indicator.

28 . A method of wireless communication performed by an apparatus of a base station (BS), comprising:

receiving a capability indicator, wherein the capability indicator is associated with whether a user equipment (UE) supports downlink control information (DCI) having a DCI format, wherein the DCI format includes one or more configured fields, wherein the DCI format does not include scheduling data, and wherein at least one of:

the capability indicator is included in an optional field of an uplink control information (UCI) message, or

the capability indicator is a single capability indicator indicating support for the DCI format not including scheduling data and for another DCI format including scheduling data; and

communicating in accordance with the capability indicator.

29 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the one or more configured fields are associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI).

30 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the capability indicator identifies UE support for the DCI having the DCI format.

31 . The method of claim 30 , further comprising:

transmitting the DCI having the DCI format, and

wherein communicating in accordance with the capability indicator comprises:

communicating in accordance with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) associated with the one or more configured fields.

32 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the capability indicator is included in the optional field of the UCI message.

33 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the capability indicator is the single capability indicator indicating support for the DCI format not including scheduling data and for the other DCI format including scheduling data.

34 . The method of claim 28 , wherein the capability indicator is a first capability indicator indicating support for the DCI format not including scheduling data.

35 . The method of claim 34 , further comprising:

receiving a second capability indicator indicating support for the other DCI format including scheduling data; and

wherein communicating in accordance with the capability indicator comprises:

communicating in accordance with the first capability indicator and the second capability indicator.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 19, 2023
From: BAI, TIANYANG; ZHOU, YAN; YUAN, FANG; LUO, TAO; LI, JUNYI
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 064347/0084 →
Priority Claims (1)
WO PCT/CN2021/080375 · Mar 12, 2021 · international
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20240089977A1 · Mar 14, 2024
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