Repeater device for 5G new radio communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12368497-B2
Application number	US-202017011042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2020
Priority date	Jul 11, 2017
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

A repeater device for New Radio (NR) communication, includes a baseband processor that establishes a communication link with a base station and decodes control information that is received from the base station through a control channel. The baseband processor further aligns a timing reference of the repeater device with that of an NR cell frame for an uplink or a downlink time division duplex (TDD) switching, based on the decoded control information. The baseband processor further selects and forms one or more donor beams of RF signals at a donor side of the repeater device and one or more service beams of RF signals at a service side of the repeater device, based on the decoded control information and the aligned timing reference with that of the NR cell frame for the uplink or the downlink TDD switching for communication in an NR frequency band.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A repeater device for New Radio (NR) communication, comprising:
a baseband processor configured to:
establish a communication link with a base station, wherein the communication link established with the base station is a side link;
receive, from the base station, control information as a modulated pulse through a control channel, wherein the control information is side control information and the control channel is a side control channel;
decode the received control information which includes primary synchronization signals (PSS) that indicate a timing boundary of a 5G NR radio frame;
align, based on the decoded control information, a timing reference of the repeater device with that of an NR cell frame for one of an uplink or a downlink time division duplex (TDD) switching;
select a first operating mode from a plurality of operating modes of the repeater device based on at least one of a number of a plurality of user equipment (UEs), a distance of the plurality of UEs from the base station, or a spatial distribution of the plurality of UEs, wherein
the plurality of operating modes includes a beam widening mode, a switching multi-beam mode, a concurrent multi-beam mode, and a static beam mode, and an operating mode that includes one or more specified combination of the static beam mode, the beam widening mode, the switching multi-beam mode, and the concurrent multi-beam mode;

receive feedback from the plurality of UEs, wherein the feedback indicates one of:
which type of beam is suitable for the plurality of UEs, or
one of whether to cover one of the plurality of UEs by an individual beam, a group of UEs from the plurality of UEs by a single beam, or the group of UEs by multiple concurrent beams;

select and form a plurality of donor beams of Radio Frequency (RF) signals at a donor side of the repeater device and a plurality of service beams of RF signals at a service side of the repeater device, based on the decoded control information, the aligned timing reference with that of the NR cell frame for one of the uplink or the downlink TDD switching for communication in an NR frequency band, and the first operating mode, wherein
the selection and formation of the plurality of service beams of RF signals is further based on the received feedback;

form the plurality of donor beams of RF signals, concurrently towards one of a plurality of target base stations or a plurality of repeater devices different from the repeater device, based on the first operation mode, a plurality of requested donor beam identifiers, and a plurality of pre-stored donor beam identifiers, wherein the plurality of requested donor beam identifiers is shared by at least one of the plurality of target base stations through the control channel to reach the repeater device;
track a trajectory of motion of each of the plurality of UEs to be within a coverage area of the one or more service beams of RF signals without constantly tracking locations of each of the plurality of UEs; and
dynamically adjust the coverage area of the plurality of service beams of RF signals based on the trajectory of motion of the plurality of UEs.

2. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to decode NR synchronization signals and Physical Broadcast Channels (PBCHs) as a part of the decoded control information for the alignment of the timing reference for one of the uplink or the downlink TDD switching.

3. The repeater device according to claim 2 , wherein the decoded control information in addition to the NR synchronization signals and the Physical Broadcast Channels (PBCHs) further comprises one or more of: a periodicity and a downlink/uplink cycle ratio, a TDD pattern, a NR TDD slot format, or a plurality of NR TDD slot formats in a periodic sequence.

4. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to:
obtain a physical cell identifier (PCID), an absolute radio-frequency channel number (ARFCN), and properties of the base station through a network; and
automatically align one donor beam of the one or more donor beams of the RF signals towards the base station based on the PCID, the ARFCN, and the properties of the base station.

5. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein
the baseband processor is further configured to form the plurality of service beams of RF signals concurrently towards one of the plurality of UEs or the plurality of repeater devices, based on a plurality of requested service beam identifiers, and
the plurality of requested service beam identifiers is shared to the repeater device via one or more control messages by at least one of a plurality of base stations, or the plurality of UEs.

6. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to:
receive a request through the control channel; and
adjust, based on the request, a forward end-to-end gain of the repeater device for one of a downlink or an uplink communication.

7. The repeater device according to claim 1 , further comprising a filter, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to:
receive, from the base station, information that corresponds to one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) of one or more NR frequency bands that the repeater device is expected to amplify and forward in a downlink direction or an uplink direction, wherein the information that corresponds to the one or more BWPs is received through the control channel; and
tune, based on the received information that corresponds to the one or more BWPs, a user plane's frequency response via the filter in the downlink direction.

8. The repeater device according to claim 1 , further comprising a filter, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to:
receive, from the base station, information that corresponds to one or more bandwidth parts (BWPs) of one or more NR frequency bands that the repeater device is expected to amplify and forward in a downlink direction or an uplink direction, wherein the information that corresponds to the one or more BWPs is received through the control channel; and
tune, based on the received information that corresponds to the one or more BWPs, a user plane's frequency response via the filter in the uplink direction.

9. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to apply a change in a frequency in a relayed signal at the service side in a downlink direction relative to a received signal at the donor side.

10. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to apply a change in a frequency in a relayed signal at the donor side in an uplink direction relative to a received signal at the service side.

11. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to apply a defined power back-off from a set of amplifiers in a downlink radio frequency chain at the service side.

12. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to apply a defined power back-off from a set of amplifiers in an uplink radio frequency chain at the donor side.

13. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to communicate, via the established communication link, a channel quality indicator and a plurality of channel estimates to one of the base station or a network.

14. The repeater device according to claim 1 , wherein the baseband processor is further configured to communicate with a specified remote

Assignees

• Movandi Corp

Inventors

• Rofougaran Ahmadreza
• Ibrahim Brima
• Mulagada Raghu
• Nabhane Walid
• Pourkhaatoun Mohsen
• Kim Wan-Jong
• Rofougaran Maryam
• Gharavi Sam

Classifications

• H04B7/06954

  Sidelink beam training with support from third instance, e.g. the third instance being a base station · CPC title

• H04W52/46

  in multi-hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks · CPC title

• H04L5/0023

  Time-frequency-space · CPC title

• H04B7/1555

  Selecting relay station antenna mode, e.g. selecting omnidirectional -, directional beams, selecting polarizations · CPC title

• H04B7/15

  Active relay systems · CPC title