CN116647885A

CN116647885A - Demodulation performance degradation for autonomous reception beam switching by a UE

Info

Publication number: CN116647885A
Application number: CN202310144212.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: L·达尔斯加德; 杜蕾; 陈月姬
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2022-02-23
Filing date: 2023-02-21
Publication date: 2023-08-25
Also published as: WO2023159403A1

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus, method, device, and computer-readable storage medium for limiting demodulation performance degradation for autonomous reception beam switching by a User Equipment (UE). In an example embodiment, the device receives downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of the device. Further, the device determines autonomous receive beam switching by the device. Further, in accordance with a determination that the reception timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a reception timing difference threshold, the apparatus performs autonomous reception beam switching and allows: demodulation performance on symbols up to the first scale deteriorates; or demodulation performance over up to a second proportion of time slots.

Description

Demodulation performance degradation for autonomous reception beam switching by a UE

Technical Field

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications and, in particular, relate to an apparatus, method, device, and computer-readable storage medium for limiting demodulation performance degradation for User Equipment (UE) autonomous reception (Rx) beam switching.

Background

The Reception Timing Difference (RTD) is referred to as the reception timing difference between Downlink (DL) transmissions from the primary cell and the secondary cell to the UE. UE performance can be guaranteed without negative impact only if the RTD between the primary and secondary cells is below a certain threshold. If the RTD exceeds a certain threshold, the UE is allowed to degrade certain demodulation performance, for example, due to network driven Rx beam switching or UE autonomous Rx beam switching. However, how to limit the demodulation performance degradation of the UE remains an open problem to be solved among other open problems.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus, method, apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium for limiting demodulation performance degradation for UE autonomous Rx beam switching.

In a first aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to receive downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of the apparatus. Further, the device is caused to determine autonomous receive beam switching by the device. Further, in accordance with a determination that the reception timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a reception timing difference threshold, the apparatus is caused to perform autonomous reception beam switching and to allow: demodulation performance on symbols up to the first scale deteriorates; or demodulation performance over up to a second proportion of time slots.

In a second aspect, a method is provided. In the method, the terminal device receives downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of the terminal device. Furthermore, the terminal device determines autonomous reception beam switching by the terminal device. Furthermore, in accordance with a determination that the reception timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a reception timing difference threshold, the terminal device performs autonomous reception beam switching and allows the following: demodulation performance on symbols up to the first scale deteriorates; or demodulation performance over up to a second proportion of time slots.

In a third aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to the second aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions stored thereon is provided. The instructions, when executed by a processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method according to the second aspect.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the example embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 3 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these example embodiments are described merely for the purpose of illustrating and helping those skilled in the art understand and practice the present disclosure and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various other ways besides those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a device via which services can be provided to terminal devices in a communication network. As an example, the network device may include a base station. As used herein, the term "base station" (BS) refers to a network device via which services may be provided to terminal devices in a communication network. A base station may comprise any suitable device via which a terminal device or UE may access a communication network. Examples of base stations include relay stations, access Points (APs), transmission points (TRPs), node bs (nodebs or NB), evolved nodebs (eNodeB or eNB), new Radio (NR) nodebs (gNB), remote radio modules (RRU), radio Headers (RH), remote Radio Heads (RRH), low power nodes (such as femto, pico, etc.).

As used herein, the term "terminal device" or "user equipment" (UE) refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication with each other or with a base station. Communication may involve the transmission and/or reception of wireless signals using electromagnetic signals, radio waves, infrared signals, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over the air. In some example embodiments, the UE may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may transmit information to the base station according to a predetermined schedule when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the network side.

Examples of user devices include, but are not limited to, smartphones, wireless tablets, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), sensors, metering devices, personal wearable devices (such as watches), and/or vehicles capable of communication. For purposes of discussion, some example embodiments will be described with reference to a UE as an example of a terminal device, and the terms "terminal device" and "user equipment" (UE) may be used interchangeably in the context of this disclosure.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) A pure hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor (s)), software, and memory(s) with software that work together to cause a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions, and

(c) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware)

The operation is performed, but the software may not exist when the operation is not required.

The definition of circuitry is applicable to all uses of that term in the present application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuitry or processor (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular base station, or other computing or base station.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "including" and variations thereof are to be construed as open-ended terms, meaning "including, but not limited to. The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be understood as "at least one other embodiment". Other explicit and implicit definitions may be included below.

As used herein, the terms "first," "second," and the like may be used to describe various elements, which should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

In the third generation partnership project (3 GPP), some discussions are made on UE Maximum Reception Timing Difference (MRTD) requirements for frequency range 2 (FR 2) inter-band Carrier Aggregation (CA). In 3GPP release 16 (Rel-16), MRTD requirements for an Independent Beam Management (IBM) capable UE have been discussed. The FR2 inter-band Carrier Aggregation (CA) and IBM capable UEs may operate UE reception (Rx) beams in each frequency band independently of each other based on reference signals for beam management received in each frequency band. For an inter-band NR CA and IBM capable UE, the UE should be able to handle at least the relative RTD between the slot timings of all carrier pairs to be aggregated at the UE receiver, as shown in table 1.

Table 1: MRTD requirement for inter-band NR carrier aggregation

Then, in release 17 (Rel-17) RAN 4, some discussions are made about UE MRTD requirements of Common Beam Management (CBM) capable UEs. UEs capable of FR2 inter-band CA and CBM can only operate using common UE Rx beam(s) in two bands, where the reference signals used for beam management are received in one of these bands. Recently, CBMs have been widely discussed. However, for UEs capable of FR2 inter-band CA using common beam management, no requirement has been defined.

In recent conferences, for CBM-capable UEs, the MRTD of the FR2 inter-band CA in FR2 (which the UE should be able to cope with) is agreed to be up to 3us. As described above, UE performance can be guaranteed without negative impact only if the RTD between the primary and secondary cells is below a certain threshold. If the observed RTD experienced by the UE exceeds a certain threshold, the UE is allowed a certain demodulation performance degradation, e.g. due to network driven Rx beam switching or UE autonomous Rx beam switching.

Network controlled Beam Management (BM) is done using the TCI state framework. Based on UE measurement reports, e.g., L1-RSRP measurement reports, with respect to downlink reference signals of a BM (BM-RS), the network may send a TCI state activation command to inform about the change of TCI state. The UE will adjust its Rx beam to accommodate the new TCI state. This means that DL RSs for BM are controlled by the network and are changed only by the network.

Since UE autonomous Rx beam switching is entirely dependent on UE implementation, that is, the UE is allowed to autonomously switch Rx beams at any time without any limitation, this means that it is not possible from a network perspective to know or predict when the UE will change its Rx beam and thus when there may be a potential impact from UE autonomous Rx beam switching and associated potential demodulation performance degradation.

There is no limitation on when the UE can change its Rx beam, nor on the frequency at which the UE is allowed to change its Rx beam. When the RTD is within a threshold (e.g., one CP length), the UE Rx beam switch has no effect on network performance, but in the FR2 inter-band CA where the RTD may exceed the threshold, the Rx beam switch may cause demodulation performance to deteriorate. If the network does not know when or how long the UE may lose some symbols, it is difficult to guarantee minimum performance due to autonomous Rx beam switching by the UE.

Therefore, it is necessary to limit demodulation performance degradation of the UE. Furthermore, to date, there has been no effective method to limit demodulation performance degradation of the UE to further improve transmission efficiency.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a restriction scheme for demodulation performance degradation of UE autonomous Rx beam switching. With this scheme, a device, such as a UE, receives downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of a terminal device. Furthermore, the terminal device determines autonomous reception beam switching by the terminal device. Furthermore, in accordance with a determination that the reception timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a reception timing difference threshold, the terminal device performs autonomous reception beam switching and allows the following: demodulation performance on symbols up to the first scale deteriorates; or demodulation performance over up to a second proportion of time slots.

This scheme limits demodulation performance degradation of UE autonomous Rx beam switching. Thus, it is allowed to avoid serious demodulation performance degradation of the UE.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

The environment 100 (which may be part of a communication network) includes two devices 110 and 120 that communicate with each other or with other devices via each other.

Devices 110 and 120 may be implemented by any suitable device in a communication network. In some example embodiments, device 110 may be implemented by a terminal device and device 120 may be implemented by a network device, or vice versa. In some other example embodiments, both devices 110 and 120 may be implemented by a terminal device or a network device. For discussion purposes only, in this example, a terminal device is taken as an example of device 110 and a network device is taken as an example of device 120.

It should be understood that two devices are shown in environment 200 for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, environment 200 may include additional devices in communication with devices 110 and 120. In some example embodiments, the device 110 may be connected to two cells (referred to as a primary cell and a secondary cell) under the control of the device 120.

Communications in environment 100 may conform to any suitable communications standard or protocol that already exists or will be developed in the future, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) standards, and employ any suitable communications technology including, for example, multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), time Division Multiplexing (TDM), frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), code Division Multiplexing (CDM), bluetooth, zigBee, and Machine Type Communications (MTC), enhanced mobile broadband (embbb), large-scale machine type communications, ultra-reliable low delay communications (URLLC), carrier Aggregation (CA), dual Connectivity (DC), and new radio unlicensed (NR-U) technologies.

Fig. 2 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 200 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 200 may be implemented by the device 110 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in fig. 2, at block 205, device 110 receives downlink transmissions from device 120 using at least one receive beam of device 110.

Then, at block 210, the device 110 determines autonomous receive beam switching. In some example embodiments, the device 110 may be slightly moved or rotated. In this case, device 110 may then determine autonomous receive beam switching to optimize beam alignment with the current active Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state.

In block 215, in accordance with a determination that the receive timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above the receive timing difference threshold, the device 110 performs autonomous receive beam switching and allows for: demodulation performance on symbols up to the first scale deteriorates; or demodulation performance over up to a second proportion of time slots.

For example, demodulation performance degradation may be determined based on one or more downlink reference signals that may be used by device 110 to monitor or track active DL beams or TCI states. In some example embodiments, the first proportion of symbols and the second proportion of slots may be determined based on one or more periodicities of one or more downlink reference signals. For example, the one or more downlink reference signals may include one or more reference signals for beam management. Alternatively or additionally, the one or more downlink reference signals may include at least one of: a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) for layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement or layer 3 reference signal transmitted power (L3-RSRR) measurement; channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for L1-RSRP measurements or L3-RSRP measurements; a reference signal for radio link monitoring; a reference signal for beam fault detection; or a reference signal for beam management.

In some example embodiments, the first proportion of symbols may be determined as a number of affected symbols divided by a number of symbols available for a duration associated with one or more downlink reference signals. For example, the number of affected symbols may be 1.

In some example embodiments, the second proportion of time slots may be determined as the number of affected time slots divided by the number of time slots available for a duration associated with one or more downlink reference signals. For example, the number of affected slots may be 1.

In embodiments where the one or more downlink reference signals comprise a single reference signal for beam management, the duration may be determined based at least on the periodicity of the reference signal for beam management. For example, the duration may be determined to be equal to the periodicity of the reference signals for beam management.

In embodiments where the one or more downlink reference signals include multiple reference signals for beam management having the same or different periodicity, the duration may be determined based on at least one of: a minimum periodicity among the periodicities of the plurality of reference signals for beam management; a weighted periodicity of the plurality of reference signals for beam management; or a minimum time distance between multiple reference signals for beam management, i.e., a minimum time gap in the time domain. For example, the duration may be determined to be equal to a minimum periodicity among the periodicities of the plurality of reference signals for beam management. As another example, the duration may be determined to be equal to a weighted periodicity of the plurality of reference signals for beam management. In this case, the weight factor may be determined based on any selection criteria. Alternatively, the duration may be determined to be equal to a minimum temporal distance between the plurality of reference signals for beam management.

In embodiments in which the one or more downlink reference signals include one or more reference signals for beam management on a first frequency band of the primary cell and additional downlink reference signals on a second frequency band of the secondary cell, the duration may be determined based on at least one of: the minimum periodicity among the periodicity of the one or more reference signals and the additional downlink reference signal for beam management; weighted periodicity of one or more reference signals and additional downlink reference signals for beam management; a minimum time distance between one of the one or more reference signals for beam management and one of the additional downlink reference signals; or a minimum time distance between two of the additional downlink reference signals. For example, the duration may be determined to be equal to a minimum periodicity of the one or more reference signals and the additional downlink reference signal for beam management. As an example, the duration may be determined to be equal to a weighted periodicity of one or more reference signals and additional downlink reference signals for beam management. In this case, the weight factor may be determined based on any selection criteria or determined as a predefined value. As another example, the duration may be determined to be equal to a minimum temporal distance between one of the one or more reference signals for beam management and one of the additional downlink reference signals. Alternatively, the duration may be determined to be equal to a minimum temporal distance between two of the additional downlink reference signals.

In some example embodiments, the allowed demodulation performance degradation on symbols up to a first scale or the allowed demodulation performance degradation on timeslots up to a second scale may be determined taking into account measurement relaxation for radio link monitoring and/or beam fault detection. For example, the first proportion of symbols or the second proportion of slots may be determined based on a periodicity of reference signals for radio link monitoring and/or reference signals for beam fault detection multiplied by a relaxation factor.

Thus, for example, by limiting demodulation performance degradation of UE autonomous Rx beam switching, serious demodulation performance degradation of UE can be avoided.

Fig. 3 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 300 suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 300 may be implemented at or as part of device 110 or device 120 as shown in fig. 1.

As shown, the device 300 includes a processor 310, a memory 320 coupled to the processor 310, a communication module 330 coupled to the processor 310, and a communication interface (not shown) coupled to the communication module 330. The memory 320 stores at least the program 340. The communication module 330 is used for bi-directional communication, for example, via multiple antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication.

The program 340 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the relevant processor 310, enable the device 300 to operate in accordance with example embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to fig. 1-2. The example embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 310 of the device 300, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 310 may be configured to implement various example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Memory 320 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as non-transitory computer readable storage media, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and devices, fixed memory, and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. Although only one memory 320 is shown in device 300, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in device 300. As a non-limiting example, the processor 310 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 300 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

When device 300 is acting as device 110 or a portion of device 110, processor 310 and communication module 330 may cooperate to implement method 200 described above with reference to fig. 1. All of the operations and features described above with reference to fig. 1-2 are equally applicable to the apparatus 300 and have similar effects. Details will be omitted for simplicity.

In general, the various example embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the example embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the method 200 described above with reference to fig. 1. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various example embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, a computer-readable medium.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular example embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate example embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple exemplary embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Various example embodiments of the technology have been described. In addition to or as an alternative to the above, the following examples are described. The features described in any of the examples below may be used with any of the other examples described herein.

In some aspects, a method comprises:

receiving downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of a terminal device;

determining autonomous reception beam switching by a terminal device, and

in accordance with a determination that the receive timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a receive timing difference threshold, autonomous receive beam switching is performed and the following is allowed:

demodulation performance on symbols up to the first scale deteriorates; or alternatively

Demodulation performance over up to the second proportion of time slots deteriorates.

In some example embodiments, the first proportion of symbols and the second proportion of slots are determined based on one or more periodicities of one or more downlink reference signals.

In some example embodiments, the first ratio of symbols is determined as the number of affected symbols divided by the number of symbols available during a duration associated with one or more downlink reference signals.

In some example embodiments, the second proportion of time slots is determined as the number of affected time slots divided by the number of time slots available during a duration associated with one or more downlink reference signals.

In some example embodiments, the number of affected symbols/slots is 1.

In some example embodiments, the one or more downlink reference signals comprise a single reference signal for beam management, and the duration is determined based at least on a periodicity of the reference signal for beam management.

In some example embodiments, the one or more downlink reference signals include a plurality of reference signals for beam management having the same or different periodicity, and the duration is determined based at least on one of:

a minimum periodicity among the periodicities of the plurality of reference signals for beam management;

a weighted periodicity of the plurality of reference signals for beam management; or alternatively

Minimum time distance between multiple reference signals for beam management.

In some example embodiments, the one or more downlink reference signals include one or more reference signals for beam management on a first frequency band for the primary cell and additional downlink reference signals on a second frequency band for the secondary cell, and the duration is determined based at least on one of:

the minimum periodicity among the periodicity of the one or more reference signals and the additional downlink reference signal for beam management;

Weighted periodicity of one or more reference signals and additional downlink reference signals for beam management;

a minimum time distance between one of the one or more reference signals for beam management and one of the additional downlink reference signals; or alternatively

The minimum time distance between two of the additional downlink reference signals.

In some example embodiments, the downlink reference signal includes at least one of:

a synchronization signal block;

channel state information reference signals;

a reference signal for radio link monitoring;

a reference signal for beam fault detection; or alternatively

Reference signals for beam management.

In some example embodiments, the allowed demodulation performance degradation on symbols up to a first scale or the allowed demodulation performance degradation on timeslots up to a second scale is determined taking into account measurement relaxation for radio link monitoring and/or beam fault detection.

In some example embodiments, the first proportion of symbols or the second proportion of slots is determined based on a periodicity of reference signals for radio link monitoring and/or reference signals for beam fault detection multiplied by a relaxation factor.

In some aspects, an apparatus comprises:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

receiving downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of the device;

determining autonomous receive beam switching by the device; and

In some example embodiments, the number of affected symbols/slots is 1.

Minimum time distance between multiple reference signals for beam management.

a synchronization signal block;

channel state information reference signals;

a reference signal for radio link monitoring;

a reference signal for beam fault detection; or alternatively

Reference signals for beam management.

In some aspects, an apparatus comprises:

means for receiving downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of a terminal device;

means for determining autonomous reception beam switching by a terminal device, and

means for performing autonomous reception beam switching in accordance with a determination that a reception timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a reception timing difference threshold and allowing:

In some example embodiments, the number of affected symbols/slots is 1.

Minimum time distance between multiple reference signals for beam management.

a synchronization signal block;

channel state information reference signals;

a reference signal for radio link monitoring;

a reference signal for beam fault detection; or alternatively

Reference signals for beam management.

In some aspects, a computer-readable storage medium includes program instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a processor of a device, cause the device to perform a method according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

receiving downlink transmissions using at least one receive beam of the device;

determining autonomous receive beam switching by the device; and

in accordance with a determination that the receive timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a receive timing difference threshold, performing the autonomous receive beam switching, and allowing:

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first proportion of symbols and the second proportion of slots are determined based on one or more periodicities of one or more downlink reference signals.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first proportion of symbols is determined as a number of affected symbols divided by a number of symbols available during a duration associated with the one or more downlink reference signals.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the second proportion of time slots is determined as a number of affected time slots divided by a number of time slots available during a duration associated with one or more downlink reference signals.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the number of affected symbols/slots is 1.

6. The apparatus of any of claims 3-5, wherein the one or more downlink reference signals comprise a single reference signal for beam management, and wherein the duration is determined based at least on a periodicity of the reference signal for beam management.

7. The apparatus of any of claims 3-5, wherein the one or more downlink reference signals comprise a plurality of reference signals for beam management having the same or different periodicity, and wherein the duration is determined based at least on one of:

A minimum temporal distance between the plurality of reference signals for beam management.

8. The apparatus of any of claims 3-5, wherein the one or more downlink reference signals comprise one or more reference signals for beam management on a first frequency band of the primary cell and additional downlink reference signals on a second frequency band of the secondary cell, and wherein the duration is determined based on at least one of:

a minimum periodicity among the periodicity of the one or more reference signals and the additional downlink reference signal for beam management;

a weighted periodicity of the one or more reference signals and the additional downlink reference signal for beam management;

a minimum time distance between one of the one or more reference signals and one of the additional downlink reference signals for beam management; or alternatively

A minimum time distance between two of the additional downlink reference signals.

9. The apparatus of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises at least one of:

a synchronization signal block;

channel state information reference signals;

a reference signal for radio link monitoring;

a reference signal for beam fault detection; or alternatively

Reference signals for beam management.

10. The apparatus according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the allowed demodulation performance degradation on symbols up to the first ratio or on timeslots up to the second ratio is determined taking into account measurement relaxation for radio link monitoring and/or beam fault detection.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the first proportion of symbols or the second proportion of slots is determined based on a periodicity of reference signals for radio link monitoring and/or reference signals for beam fault detection multiplied by a relaxation factor.

12. A method for communication, comprising:

Determining autonomous reception beam switching by the terminal device, and

in accordance with a determination that the receive timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a receive timing difference threshold, performing the autonomous receive beam switching and allowing:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first proportion of symbols and the second proportion of slots are determined based on one or more periodicities of one or more downlink reference signals.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first proportion of symbols is determined as a number of affected symbols divided by a number of symbols available during a duration associated with the one or more downlink reference signals.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the second proportion of time slots is determined as a number of affected time slots divided by a number of time slots available during a duration associated with one or more downlink reference signals.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the number of affected symbols/slots is 1.

17. The method of any of claims 14-16, wherein the one or more downlink reference signals comprise a single reference signal for beam management, and wherein the duration is determined based at least on a periodicity of the reference signal for beam management.

18. The method of any of claims 14-16, wherein the one or more downlink reference signals comprise a plurality of reference signals for beam management having the same or different periodicity, and wherein the duration is determined based at least on one of:

19. The method of any of claims 14-16, wherein the one or more downlink reference signals comprise one or more reference signals for beam management on a first frequency band of the primary cell and additional downlink reference signals on a second frequency band of the secondary cell, and wherein the duration is determined based on at least one of:

20. The method of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the downlink reference signal comprises at least one of:

a synchronization signal block;

channel state information reference signals;

a reference signal for radio link monitoring;

a reference signal for beam fault detection; or alternatively

Reference signals for beam management.

21. The method according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the allowed demodulation performance degradation on symbols up to the first ratio or on timeslots up to the second ratio is determined taking into account measurement relaxation for radio link monitoring and/or beam fault detection.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first proportion of symbols or the second proportion of slots is determined based on a periodicity of reference signals for radio link monitoring and/or reference signals for beam fault detection multiplied by a relaxation factor.

23. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

means for determining autonomous reception beam switching by the terminal device, and

means for performing the autonomous reception beam switching in accordance with a determination that a reception timing difference between the primary cell and the secondary cell is above a reception timing difference threshold and allowing: