System and method for beamformed broadcast and synchronization signals in massive multiple input multiple output communications systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10568053-B2
Application number	US-201816224173-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 18, 2018
Priority date	Jul 27, 2016
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

A method for synchronizing a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method includes determining a first beam identifier associated with a transmission beam conveying a first received beamformed synchronization signal, determining if a first synchronization cycle is complete, and based on the first synchronization cycle not being complete, repeating the determining the first beam identifier, and the determining if the first synchronization cycle is not complete until the first synchronization cycle is complete.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for synchronizing a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving, by the UE from a first transmit-receive point (TRP), a first beamformed synchronization signal in accordance with a first set of spatially-separated transmission beams;
receiving, by the UE from the first TRP, a first beamformed broadcast signal in accordance with the first set of spatially-separated transmission beams;
determining, by the UE, a first beam identifier associated with a first transmission beam conveying the first beamformed synchronization signal;
determining, by the UE, if a first cycle is complete; and
based on the first cycle not being complete,
repeating, by the UE, the receivings, the determining the first beam identifier, and the determining if the first cycle is not complete, for a rotated first set of spatially-separated transmission beams, until the first cycle is complete.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising participating, by the UE, in a random access procedure with the TRP.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein participating in the random access procedure comprises transmitting, by the UE, a random access signal to the first TRP.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein transmitting the random access procedure comprises transmitting a beamformed random access signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, by the UE, information about a beam index.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the information about the beam index is transmitted to a second TRP connected to the UE.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
determining, by the UE, a second beam identifier associated with a second transmission beam conveying a second received beamformed synchronization signal;
determining, by the UE, if a second cycle is complete;
based on the second cycle not being complete,
repeating, by the UE, the determining the second beam identifier, and the determining if the second cycle is not complete until the second cycle is complete; and

determining, by the UE, a beam index associated with a selected transmission beam oriented towards the UE in accordance with at least one of the first beam identifier or the second beam identifier.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising transmitting, by the UE, information about the beam index.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the information about the beam index is transmitted to a second TRP connected to the UE.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising participating, by the UE, in a random access procedure with the first TRP.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein participating in the random access procedure comprises transmitting, by the UE, a random access signal to the first TRP.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein transmitting the random access procedure comprises transmitting a beamformed random access signal.

13. A user equipment (UE) comprising:
a non-transitory memory storage comprising instructions; and
one or more processors in communication with the non-transitory memory storage, wherein the one or more processors executes the instructions to:
receive, from a transmit-receive point (TRP), a first beamformed synchronization signal in accordance with a first set of spatially-separated transmission beams,
receive, from the TRP, a first beamformed broadcast signal in accordance with the first set of spatially-separated transmission beams,
determine a first beam identifier associated with a transmission beam conveying the first beamformed synchronization signal,
determine if a first cycle is complete, and
based on the first cycle not being complete,
repeat the receivings, the determining the first beam identifier, and

determining if the first cycle is not complete, for a rotated first set of spatially-separated transmission beams, until the first cycle is complete.

14. The UE of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to configure the UE to:
determine a second beam identifier associated with a second transmission beam conveying a second received beamformed synchronization signal;
determine if a second cycle is complete;
based on the second cycle not being complete, repeat determining the second beam identifier, and determining if the second cycle is not complete until the second cycle is complete; and
determine a beam index associated with a selected transmission beam oriented towards the UE in accordance with at least one of the first beam identifier or the second beam identifier.

15. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to configure the UE to transmit information about the beam index.

16. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to participate in a random access procedure with a first transmit-receive point (TRP).

17. The UE of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to transmit a random access signal to the first TRP.

18. The UE of claim 17 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to transmit a beamformed random access signal.

19. The UE of claim 13 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to participate in a random access procedure with the TRP.

20. The UE of claim 19 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to transmit a random access signal to the first TRP.

21. The UE of claim 20 , wherein the one or more processors further executes the instructions to transmit a beamformed random access signal.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Stirling-Gallacher Richard
• Liu Bin
• Ghanbarinejad Majid
• Cheng Qian

Classifications

• H04L5/0053

  Allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals · CPC title

• H04B7/028

  Spatial transmit diversity using a single antenna at the transmitter · CPC title

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04H20/16

  Arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly · CPC title

• H04W56/00

  Synchronisation arrangements · CPC title