Layer 1 based uplink-only cell switch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11778528-B2
Application number	US-202117195325-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 8, 2021
Priority date	Mar 13, 2020
Publication date	Oct 3, 2023
Grant date	Oct 3, 2023

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment may transmit, to a base station, a request for a cell switch based at least in part on a trigger condition associated with an uplink-only cell switch being satisfied; and perform the uplink-only cell switch based at least in part on a physical-layer or medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation with the base station based at least in part on transmitting the request. Numerous other aspects are provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising:
transmitting, to a base station, a request for a cell switch responsive at least in part to a trigger condition associated with an uplink-only cell switch being satisfied;
performing the uplink-only cell switch in accordance at least in part with a physical-layer operation or a medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation;
receiving, responsive to performing the uplink-only cell switch, downlink communications using a first beam; and
transmitting, responsive to performing the uplink-only cell switch, uplink communications using a second beam, the first beam being used for an uplink of the UE before the uplink-only cell switch and the second beam being used for the uplink of the UE after the uplink-only cell switch.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for the cell switch is a request for the uplink-only cell switch.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the uplink-only cell switch is in accordance at least in part with information configuring the uplink-only cell switch, the method further comprising receiving the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch using at least one of:
radio resource control signaling,
a medium access control control element, or
downlink control information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch identifies at least one of:
a remote radio head for a target uplink cell of the uplink-only cell switch,
a physical cell identifier for the target uplink cell, or
a synchronization signal block for the target uplink cell.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a first training operation for the first beam and a second training operation, different than the first training operation, for the second beam.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the uplink communications using the second beam include at least one of uplink data or an acknowledgment associated with downlink data.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising scrambling the uplink communications using a first physical cell identifier; and
wherein receiving the downlink communications further comprises descrambling the downlink communications using a second physical cell identifier that is different than the first physical cell identifier.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the uplink communications and the downlink communications are associated with one of:
a same cell that uses a first physical cell identifier and a second physical cell identifier, or
two different cells that use the first physical cell identifier and the second physical cell identifier, respectively.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the uplink-only cell switch in accordance at least in part with the physical-layer operation or the medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation comprises:
performing the uplink-only cell switch in accordance at least in part with the physical- layer operation using physical layer signaling or the medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation using medium-access-control layer signaling.

10. A method of wireless communication performed by a base station, comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a request for a cell switch responsive at least in part to a trigger condition associated with an uplink-only cell switch being satisfied;
transmitting, to the UE, information configuring the uplink-only cell switch;
performing the uplink-only cell switch with the UE in accordance with the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch and in accordance with a physical-layer operation or a medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation;
transmitting, responsive to performing the uplink-only cell switch, downlink communications using a first beam; and
receiving, responsive to performing the uplink-only cell switch, uplink communications using a second beam, the first beam being used for an uplink of the UE before the uplink-only cell switch and the second beam being used for the uplink of the UE after the uplink-only cell switch.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising configuring the UE with information indicating the trigger condition.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein receiving the request for the cell switch includes receiving uplink control information that indicates the uplink-only cell switch is to be performed.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising transmitting the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch using at least one of:
radio resource control signaling,
a medium access control control element, or
downlink control information, the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch identifying at least one of:
a remote radio head for a target uplink cell of the uplink-only cell switch,
a physical cell identifier for the target uplink cell, or
a synchronization signal block for the target uplink cell.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch in accordance at least in part with a reference signal received power associated with a synchronization signal block corresponding to a physical cell identifier for a target uplink cell of the uplink-only cell switch.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
performing a first training operation for the first beam and a second training operation, different than the first training operation, for the second beam.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the uplink communications using the second beam include at least one of uplink data or an acknowledgment associated with downlink data.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising descrambling the uplink communications using a first physical cell identifier; and
scrambling the downlink communications using a second physical cell identifier that is different than the first physical cell identifier.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the uplink communications and the downlink communications are associated with one of:
a same cell that uses a first physical cell identifier and a second physical cell identifier, or
two different cells that use the first physical cell identifier and the second physical cell identifier, respectively.

19. The method of claim 10 , wherein performing the uplink-only cell switch with the UE in accordance with the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch and in accordance with the physical-layer operation or the medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation comprises:
performing the uplink-only cell switch in accordance with the information configuring the uplink-only cell switch and in accordance with the physical-layer operation using physical layer signaling or the medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation using medium-access-control layer signaling.

20. A user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors operatively coupled with the memory, the one or more processors configured to:
transmit, to a base station, a request for a cell switch responsive at least in part to a trigger condition associated with an uplink-only cell switch being satisfied;
perform the uplink-only cell switch in accordance at least in part with a physical-layer operation or a medium-access-control layer inter-cell mobility operation with the base station;

receive, responsive to the uplink-only cell switch, downlink communicat

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Zhang Qian
• Li Junyi
• Zhou Yan
• Bai Tianyang
• Venugopal Kiran
• Ding Ling
• Ryu Jung Ho
• Luo Tao

Classifications

• H04W36/085

  involving beams of access points · CPC title

• H04W36/362 Primary

  Conditional handover · CPC title

• H04W36/087

  between radio units of access points · CPC title

• H04W36/322

  by location data · CPC title

• H04W36/00837 Primary

  Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off · CPC title