Antenna ports determination of UL TX switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12294429-B2
Application number	US-202118268909-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2021
Priority date	Mar 3, 2021
Publication date	May 6, 2025
Grant date	May 6, 2025

Abstract

A UE may determine a number of antenna ports associated with a frequency band that includes one or more CCs. The determined number of antenna ports may be based on a plurality of UL Tx chains for the one or more CCs/frequency band. The UE may switch from a first UL Tx chain to a second UL Tx chain, at least one of which may be associated with the one or more CCs/frequency band. The number of antenna ports may correspond to a maximum number of antenna ports of an individual CC of the one or more CCs, or to a sum of antenna ports of the one or more CCs. For the latter, the number of antenna ports may be limited to an available number of UE antenna ports when the sum of antenna ports is greater than the available number of UE antenna ports.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
determining a number of antenna ports associated with a frequency band that includes one or more component carriers (CCs), the number of antenna ports based on a plurality of uplink (UL) transmit (Tx) chains for at least one of the one or more CCs or the frequency band; and
switching from a first UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains to a second UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains, at least one of the first UL Tx chain or the second UL Tx chain associated with the at least one of the one or more CCs or the frequency band.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of antenna ports is determined if the UE is configured for an UL Tx switching mode.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, to a base station, at least one indication of at least one UE capability, each UE capability indicated to the base station corresponding to a respective frequency band.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the number of antenna ports corresponds to a maximum number of antenna ports of an individual CC of the one or more CCs, and wherein the one or more CCs is included in one or more frequency bands configured for UL Tx switching.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least one indication of the at least one UE capability is based on a single UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first UL Tx chain corresponds to the frequency band and the second UL Tx chain corresponds to a different frequency band, at least one of the frequency band or the different frequency band being configured for UL Tx switching.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the number of antenna ports corresponds to a sum of antenna ports of the one or more CCs, the number of antenna ports being limited to an available number of UE antenna ports when the sum of antenna ports is greater than the available number of UE antenna ports.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one indication of the at least one UE capability is based on separate UL Tx chains of the plurality of UL Tx chains.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first UL Tx chain and the second UL Tx chain corresponds to the frequency band, the frequency band being configured for UL Tx switching.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one UE capability is indicative of whether the UE is capable of using a single UL Tx chain for the frequency band.

11. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving, from the base station, a configuration for switching from the first UL Tx chain to the second UL Tx chain based on the at least one indication of the at least one UE capability.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting, to a base station, the plurality of UL Tx chains based on a schedule for the number of antenna ports.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one UE capability is based on a default capability associated with a single UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains or separate UL Tx chains of the plurality of UL Tx chains when the at least one UE capability is not transmitted to a base station.

14. A method of wireless communication at a base station, comprising:
receiving, from a user equipment (UE), at least one indication of at least one UE capability, each UE capability indicated by the UE corresponding to a respective frequency band;
determining, based on the at least one indication of the at least one UE capability, a configuration for switching from a first uplink (UL) transmit (Tx) chain of a plurality of UL Tx chains to a second UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains based on a number of antenna ports determined in association with a frequency band that includes one or more component carriers (CCs); and
transmitting, to the UE, the configuration for switching from the first UL Tx chain to the second UL Tx chain, at least one of the first UL Tx chain or the second UL Tx chain associated with at least one of the one or more CCs or the frequency band.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising receiving, from the UE, the plurality of UL Tx chains based on a schedule for the number of antenna ports.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the number of antenna ports corresponds to a maximum number of antenna ports of an individual CC of the one or more CCs, and wherein the one or more CCs is included in one or more frequency bands configured for UL Tx switching.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one indication of the at least one UE capability is based on a single UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first UL Tx chain corresponds to the frequency band and the second UL Tx chain corresponds to a different frequency band, at least one of the frequency band or the different frequency band being configured for UL Tx switching.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the number of antenna ports corresponds to a sum of antenna ports of the one or more CCs, the number of antenna ports being limited to an available number of UE antenna ports when the sum of antenna ports is greater than the available number of UE antenna ports.

20. An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising:
a memory; and
at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to:
determine a number of antenna ports associated with a frequency band that includes one or more component carriers (CCs), the number of antenna ports based on a plurality of uplink (UL) transmit (Tx) chains for at least one of the one or more CCs or the frequency band; and
switch from a first UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains to a second UL Tx chain of the plurality of UL Tx chains, at least one of the first UL Tx chain or the second UL Tx chain associated with the at least one of the one or more CCs or the frequency band.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Cao Yiqing
• Gaal Peter
• Rico Alvarino Alberto
• Lu Enoch Shiao-Kuang
• Chen Wanshi
• Takeda Kazuki
• Li Yan
• Du Zhimin
• Han Bin

Classifications

• H04L5/001

  the frequencies being arranged in component carriers · CPC title

• H04W8/24 Primary

  Transfer of terminal data · CPC title

• H04B7/0413

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04B7/0604

  with predefined switching scheme · CPC title

• H04B7/0602

  using antenna switching (H04B7/0686 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24) · CPC title