US-12627998-B2 - Methods and devices for beam directivity at network-controlled repeaters

US12627998B2US 12627998 B2US12627998 B2US 12627998B2US-12627998-B2

Abstract

The present disclosure is related to techniques for configuring a repeater device by control signaling in a wireless communications system. In some embodiments, a repeater device is configured to form separate coverage regions. For example, the repeater device determines a first coverage region based on a first beam at the repeater device paired with a network device, wherein the first coverage region corresponds to a direction such that the first beam falls within the first coverage region for serving a control link or a backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device. Based on a first indication, the repeater device determines one or more coverage regions with respect to the first coverage region, wherein the one or more coverage regions are configured to communicate with a user equipment via an access link of the repeater device.

Inventors

Ankit BHAMRI
Hong He
Wei Zeng
Sigen Ye
Haitong Sun
Huaning Niu
Dawei Zhang
Chunxuan Ye

Assignees

APPLE INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220808

Claims (20)

1 . A repeater device, comprising: one or more antennas configured to perform wireless communications; a transceiver coupled to the one or more antennas; and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to cause the repeater device to: determine a first coverage region with a first index such that a first beam between the repeater device and a network device falls within the first coverage region, wherein the first beam corresponds to a transmission beam for transmission to the network device via a control link or a backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device, a reception beam for reception from the network device via the control link or the backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device, or both the transmission beam and the reception beam; determine, based on the first coverage region, an index for each of one or more coverage regions configured to respectively indicate a beam direction for an access link of the repeater device, wherein the index is in a sequential order with respect to the first index; and direct multiple access link beams within a second coverage region of the one or more coverage regions for communication with a user equipment.
2 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein the first beam is determined based on a beam management procedure between the repeater device and the network device.
3 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein the first beam is determined based on an initial setup of the repeater device.
4 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein a quantity of the one or more coverage regions is determined based on a capability of the repeater device and communicated by the network device, and the one or more coverage regions are formed such that any neighbors of the one or more coverage regions are spaced substantially equally.
5 . The repeater device of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to activate the second coverage region based on an index of the second coverage region received from the network device, and wherein the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to activate the one or more coverage regions separately or in a periodic sweeping manner, and activation durations for the one or more coverage regions are the same or different.
6 . The repeater device of claim 5 , wherein the multiple access link beams are directed within the second coverage region based on a beam configuration associated with the second coverage region.
7 . The repeater device of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the quantity of the one or more coverage regions, the index of the second coverage region, or the beam configuration is hard-coded on the repeater device or is semi-statically or dynamically configured by the network device via at least one of: an RRC signaling; a MIB; a SIB; a MAC CE; or a DCI.
8 . The repeater device of claim 6 , wherein the first coverage region is implemented as a beam wider than the first beam, and/or the second coverage region is implemented as a beam wider than any of the multiple access link beams.
9 . The repeater device of claim 8 , wherein, for a second beam of the multiple access link beams within the second coverage region, the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to: indicate an index of a source coverage region, in addition to an index of a source reference signal, in a corresponding TCI state, wherein the source reference signal comprises at least one of an SSB or a CSI-RS; and indicate a type of QCL in the corresponding TCI state, wherein the type of QCL is QCL Type-D.
10 . The repeater device of claim 6 , wherein at least one of the quantity of the one or more coverage regions, the index of the second coverage region, or the beam configuration is included in a side control information transmitted over the control link.
11 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein, for a second beam of the multiple access link beams within the second coverage region, the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to identify the second beam based on a DCI from the network device, wherein the DCI indicates an index of the second coverage region and an index of the second beam via a single DCI code point or via separate DCI code points.
12 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to provide a capability of the repeater device to the network device, and wherein the capability comprises information indicating at least one of: a total number of coverage regions per frequency range; whether the repeater device supports separate configuration for horizontal coverage regions and/or separate configuration for vertical coverage regions; a number of horizontal and/or vertical coverage regions per frequency range; whether the repeater device supports a coverage region based beamforming; or a number of beams within at least one coverage region per frequency range.
13 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to obtain multiple TCI states from a TCI state index, wherein the multiple TCI states comprise: at least one TCI state for a PDCCH from the network device to the repeater device; at least one TCI state for a PDSCH from the network device to the repeater device; at least one TCI state for a PUCCH from the repeater device to the network device; at least one TCI state for a PUSCH from the repeater device to the network device; at least one TCI state for a downlink forwarding from the repeater device to the user equipment; and/or at least one TCI state for an uplink reception at the repeater device from the user equipment.
14 . The repeater device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the repeater device to obtain multiple TCI states from a TCI state index, wherein the multiple TCI states are determined from a joint TCI indication and comprise: at least one joint TCI state for a PDCCH from the network device to the repeater device, a PDSCH from the network device to the repeater device, a PUCCH from the repeater device to the network device, and a PUSCH from the repeater device to the network device; and/or at least one joint TCI state for a downlink forwarding from the repeater device to the user equipment, and an uplink reception at the repeater device from the user equipment.
15 . A network device, comprising: one or more antennas configured to perform wireless communications; a transceiver coupled to the one or more antennas; and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to cause the network device to: determine a first coverage region of a repeater device with a first index such that a first beam between the network device and the repeater device falls within the first coverage region, wherein the first beam corresponds to a transmission beam for transmission to the repeater device via a control link or a backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device, a reception beam for reception from the repeater device via the control link or the backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device, or both the transmission beam and the reception beam; and provide, to the repeater device and based on a capability of the repeater device, a quantity of one or more coverage regions each with an index in a sequential order with respect to the first index, wherein the one or more coverage regions correspond to respective wider directions for determining multiple beams that are configured for communicating with a user equipment via an access link of the repeater device.
16 . The network device of claim 15 , wherein the first beam is determined based on a beam management procedure between the repeater device and the network device.
17 . The network device of claim 15 , wherein the first beam is determined based on an initial setup of the repeater device.
18 . The network device of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the network device to provide an index of a second coverage region of the one or more coverage regions, to the repeater device for activating the second coverage region, or wherein the processor is further configured to cause the network device to activate the one or more coverage regions separately or in a periodic sweeping manner, and activation durations for the one or more coverage regions are the same or different.
19 . The network device of claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the network device to provide configurations of beams associated with at least one of the one or more coverage regions, wherein at least one beam configuration is either associated with a specific coverage region or associated with a group of coverage regions.
20 . The network device of claim 19 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the network device to semi-statically or dynamically configure at least one of the quantity of the one or more coverage regions, the index of the second coverage region, or the beam configuration via at least one of: an RRC signaling; a MIB; a SIB; a MAC CE; or a DCI.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates generally to wireless communication systems, including wireless communication systems with a repeater device which is controlled by another device. BACKGROUND Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between a base station and a wireless communication device. Wireless communication system standards and protocols can include, for example, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) (e.g., 4G), 3GPP new radio (NR) (e.g., 5G), and IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLAN). As contemplated by the 3GPP, different wireless communication systems standards and protocols can use various radio access networks (RANs) for communicating between a base station of the RAN (which may also sometimes be referred to generally as a RAN node, a network node, or simply a node) and a wireless communication device known as a user equipment (UE). 3GPP RANs can include, for example, global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and/or Next-Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN). Each RAN may use one or more radio access technologies (RATs) to perform communication between the base station and the UE. For example, the GERAN implements GSM and/or EDGE RAT, the UTRAN implements universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, the E-UTRAN implements LTE RAT (sometimes simply referred to as LTE), and NG-RAN implements NR RAT (sometimes referred to herein as 5G RAT, 5G NR RAT, or simply NR). In certain deployments, the E-UTRAN may also implement NR RAT. In certain deployments, NG-RAN may also implement LTE RAT. A base station used by a RAN may correspond to that RAN. One example of an E-UTRAN base station is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB). One example of an NG-RAN base station is a next generation Node B (also sometimes referred to as a or g Node B or gNB). A RAN provides its communication services with external entities through its connection to a core network (CN). For example, E-UTRAN may utilize an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), while NG-RAN may utilize a 5G Core Network (5GC). Frequency bands for 5G NR may be separated into two or more different frequency ranges. For example, Frequency Range 1 (FR1) may include frequency bands operating in sub-6 GHz frequencies, some of which are bands that may be used by previous standards, and may potentially be extended to cover new spectrum offerings from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. Frequency Range 2 (FR2) may include frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Bands in the millimeter wave (mmWave) range of FR2 may have smaller coverage but potentially higher available bandwidth than bands in the FR1. Skilled persons will recognize these frequency ranges, which are provided by way of example, may change from time to time or from region to region. SUMMARY In accordance with a first aspect, a repeater device including one or more antennas, a transceiver, and a processor is disclosed. In some embodiments, the processor is configured to cause the repeater device to: determine a first coverage region based on a first beam at the repeater device paired with a network device, wherein the first coverage region corresponds to a direction such that the first beam falls within the first coverage region for serving a control link or a backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device; and based on a first indication, determine one or more coverage regions with respect to the first coverage region, wherein the one or more coverage regions are configured to communicate with a user equipment via an access link of the repeater device. In accordance with a second aspect, a network device including one or more antennas, a transceiver, and a processor is disclosed. In some embodiments, the processor is configured to cause the network device to: determine a first coverage region of a repeater device based on a first beam at the network device paired with the repeater device, wherein the first coverage region corresponds to a direction such that the first beam falls within the first coverage region for serving a control link or a backhaul link between the repeater device and the network device; and provide, to the repeater device, a first indication of a number of one or more coverage regions, wherein the number of the one or more coverage regions is based at least on a capability of the repeater device, and the one or more coverage regions are to be determined with respect to the first coverage region by the repeater device, wherein the one or more coverage regions correspond to respective wider directions for determining beams that may be configured for communicating w