阅读说明：本技术 防止频繁波束切换 (Preventing frequent beam switching ) 是由 C·帕迪 K-C·李 A·A·谢科 V·N·卡拉卡德凯萨万南布迪里 T·阿图尔佩鲁马尔 R 于 2019-06-20 设计创作，主要内容包括：本公开的各个方面一般涉及无线通信以及用于防止频繁波束切换的技术。在一些方面,用户装备(UE)可以确定该UE停留在波束上的时间历时。该UE可至少部分地基于确定该UE停留在该波束上的时间历时来更新存储在该UE的存储器中的数据结构以添加或修改与该波束相关联的所存储的历时值。该UE可以确定与所存储的历时值相关联的条件被满足。该UE可至少部分地基于确定与所存储的历时值相关联的条件被满足来结合波束选择规程修改该波束的优先级。提供了众多其他方面。(Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications and techniques for preventing frequent beam switching. In some aspects, a User Equipment (UE) may determine a duration of time that the UE stays on a beam. The UE may update a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam. The UE may determine that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied. The UE may modify the priority of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied. Numerous other aspects are provided.)

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

determining a time duration for which the UE stays on a beam;

updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam; and

modifying the priority of the beam for a beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the priority of the beam comprises at least one of:

removing the beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure;

adding or maintaining the beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure;

reducing a priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure;

increasing a priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure;

modifying one or more beam selection criteria for the beam in association with the beam selection procedure; or

Combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied comprises determining that the stored duration value satisfies a threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the duration of time the UE stays on the beam represents an amount of time between switching to the beam and switching away from the beam.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored duration value represents an average duration of time the UE remains on the beam after switching to the beam.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a set of beam parameters for a corresponding set of beams, wherein the set of beam parameters includes one or more beam parameters for one or more beams in the set of beams;

updating the data structure to add or modify the stored set of beam parameters for the corresponding set of beams based at least in part on determining the set of beam parameters; and

determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value and one or more stored beam parameters of the stored set of beam parameters is satisfied.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more beam parameters comprise at least one of:

the beam energy parameter is a function of,

the reference signal is received with a power parameter,

a cell selection criterion parameter that is a function of,

the reference signal is given a quality parameter of reception,

the received signal strength indicator parameter is used to determine,

signal to interference plus noise ratio parameter, or

Combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a stored beam parameter associated with the second beam;

determining that a second condition associated with the stored beam parameters is satisfied; and

prioritizing selection of the beam relative to the second beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that the condition and the second condition are satisfied.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein deprioritizing selection of the first beam relative to the second beam comprises at least one of:

selecting the second beam instead of the first beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure,

removing the first beam as a candidate for beam selection and maintaining the second beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure,

reducing the priority of the second beam relative to the first beam in a beam selection list associated with the beam selection procedure,

modifying one or more beam selection criteria for the first beam or the second beam in association with the beam selection procedure; or

Combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first beam is a neighbor cell beam and the second beam is a serving cell beam.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied further comprises determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the priority of the beam comprises at least one of:

modifying a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam,

modify a hysteresis timer associated with the beam, or

Combinations thereof.

13. A method of wireless communication performed by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from a beam satisfies a condition; and

modifying, based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies the condition, at least one of:

the search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or

A duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a duration of time that the UE remains on the beam based at least in part on determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition;

updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam;

determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied; and

prioritizing selection of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that the condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition comprises determining that the rate is greater than or equal to a threshold.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein modifying the search and measurement periodicity comprises increasing the search and measurement periodicity to perform searches and measurements less frequently for the beam.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein modifying the duration of the hysteresis timer comprises increasing the duration of the hysteresis timer, wherein beam selection of the beam is to be blocked before the hysteresis timer expires.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the search and measurement periodicity is modified for the beam and another search and measurement periodicity is maintained for one or more other beams.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein a duration of the hysteresis timer is modified for the beam and a duration of another hysteresis timer is maintained for one or more other beams.

20. A User Equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

determining a time duration for which the UE stays on a beam;

updating a data structure stored in the memory to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE dwells on the beam;

determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied; and

modifying the priority of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors, when modifying the priority of the beam, are configured to at least one of:

removing the beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure,

adding or maintaining the beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure,

reducing the priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure,

increasing a priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure,

modifying one or more beam selection criteria for the beam in association with the beam selection procedure,

modifying a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam,

modify a hysteresis timer associated with the beam, or

Combinations thereof.

22. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors, when determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied, are configured to determine that the stored duration value satisfies a threshold.

23. The UE of claim 20, wherein the duration of time the UE remains on the beam represents an amount of time between switching to the beam and switching away from the beam.

24. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

determining a set of beam parameters for a corresponding set of beams, wherein the set of beam parameters includes one or more beam parameters for each beam in the set of beams;

updating the data structure to add or modify the stored set of beam parameters for the corresponding set of beams based at least in part on determining the set of beam parameters; and is

Wherein determining that the condition is satisfied comprises determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value and one or more of the stored set of beam parameters is satisfied.

25. The UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors, when determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied, are configured to determine that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition.

26. A User Equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from a beam satisfies a condition; and

modifying, based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies the condition, at least one of:

the search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or

A duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam.

27. The UE of claim 26, wherein determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition comprises determining that the rate is greater than or equal to a threshold.

28. The UE of claim 26, wherein modifying the search and measurement periodicity comprises increasing the search and measurement periodicity to perform searches and measurements for the beam less frequently.

29. The UE of claim 26, wherein modifying the duration of the hysteresis timer comprises increasing the duration of the hysteresis timer, wherein beam selection of the beam is to be blocked before the hysteresis timer expires.

30. The UE of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

determining a duration of time that the UE remains on the beam based at least in part on determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition;

updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam;

determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied; and

prioritizing selection of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that the condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

Technical Field

Aspects of the technology described below relate generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to techniques and apparatus for preventing frequent beam switching. Some techniques and apparatuses described herein implement and provide wireless communication devices and systems configured to extend battery life and efficiently use apparatus and network resources.

Introduction to the design reside in

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasting. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access techniques capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, etc.). Examples of such multiple-access techniques include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE/LTE-advanced is an enhanced set of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standards promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP).

A wireless communication network may include a number of Base Stations (BSs) capable of supporting communication for a number of User Equipments (UEs). A User Equipment (UE) may communicate with a Base Station (BS) via a downlink and an uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. The BSs may be referred to as node BS, gNB, Access Points (AP), radio heads, Transmission Reception Points (TRP), New Radio (NR) BSs, 5G B nodes, and so on.

Multiple access techniques have been adopted in various telecommunications standards. Wireless communication standards provide a common protocol that enables different devices (e.g., user equipment) to communicate on a city, country, region, and even global level. New Radios (NR), which may also be referred to as 5G, are an enhanced set of LTE mobile standards promulgated by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to grow, there is a need for further improvements in LTE and NR technology. These improvements are applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunications standards employing these techniques.

Brief summary of some examples

The following presents a simplified summary of some aspects of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure, nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in a general form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Advances in wireless communication technology have been brought about by the use of various Radio Frequency (RF) transmission types. As discussed herein, one example of an RF transmission is a beam transmission. A beam transmission may include a scenario in which one or more antennas control the directionality of an RF transmission. Spaced apart antennas and/or antenna elements (described below) may form beam transmissions by controlling signal transmission (e.g., phase, amplitude, weighting, etc.). In a beam communication scenario, it may be desirable to switch to another beam (e.g., for better performance). However, too frequent switching between beams for communication presents challenges and may result in undesirable inefficiencies. The aspects described below enable and provide techniques for efficient RF beam communications.

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a User Equipment (UE) may comprise: determining a time duration for which the UE stays on the beam; updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam; and modifying the priority of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to: determining a time duration for which the UE stays on the beam; updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam; and modifying the priority of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the UE, may cause the one or more processors to: determining a time duration for which the UE stays on the beam; updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam; and modifying the priority of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may comprise: means for determining a time duration for which the UE stays on the beam; means for updating a data structure stored in a memory of the device to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the device remains on the beam; and means for modifying the priority of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a UE may comprise: determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition; and modifying at least one of the following based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies a condition: a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam.

In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to: determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition; and modifying at least one of the following based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies a condition: a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the UE, may cause the one or more processors to: determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition; and modifying at least one of the following based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies a condition: a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may comprise: means for determining that a rate at which the device switches to or from a beam satisfies a condition; and means for modifying at least one of: a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam.

Aspects generally include methods, apparatuses (devices), systems, computer program products, non-transitory computer-readable media, user equipment, base stations, wireless communication devices, and/or processing systems substantially as described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying figures and description.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of an example in accordance with the present disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. The features of the concepts disclosed herein, both as to their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages, will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description, and not for the purpose of defining the limits of the claims.

Brief Description of Drawings

In order that the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description is provided herein, with some aspects of the disclosure being illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings illustrate only some aspects of the disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication network in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a base station in communication with a UE in a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of an architecture 300 that supports determining a secondary dominant cluster in a millimeter wave (mmW) channel in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of frequent beam switching.

Fig. 5-6 are diagrams illustrating examples of preventing frequent beam switching according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7-8 are diagrams illustrating example procedures relating to preventing frequent beam switching, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the present disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently or in combination with any other aspect of the present disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. Moreover, the scope of the present disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method as practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or in addition to the various aspects of the present disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be implemented by one or more elements of a claim.

Several aspects of telecommunications systems will now be presented with reference to various devices and techniques. These apparatus and techniques are described in the following detailed description and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements" or "features"). These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

Although some aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to communication systems based on other generation lines (such as 5G and progeny, including NR technologies).

Although aspects and embodiments are described herein by way of illustration of some examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional implementations and use cases may be generated in many different arrangements and scenarios. The innovations described herein may be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, packaging arrangements. For example, embodiments and/or uses can be produced via integrated chip embodiments and/or other non-module component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchase devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). While some examples may or may not be specific to each use case or application, broad applicability of the described innovations may occur. Implementations may range from chip-level or modular components to non-module, non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregated, distributed, or OEM devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some practical environments, a device incorporating the described aspects and features may also include additional components and features as necessary to implement and practice the various embodiments as claimed and described. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals must include several components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including one or more antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, summers/summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, and the like, of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. The wireless network 100 may be an LTE network or some other wireless network, such as a 5G or NR network. Wireless network 100 may include several BSs 110 (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A BS is an entity that communicates with User Equipment (UE) and may also be referred to as a base station, NR BS, node B, gNB, 5G B Node (NB), access point, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), and so on. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular area (e.g., a fixed or varying geographic area). In some scenarios, BS 110 may be stationary or non-stationary. In some non-stationary scenarios, the mobile BS 110 may move at varying speeds, directions, and/or altitudes. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of BS 110 and/or a BS subsystem serving that coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and/or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. Additionally or alternatively, the BS may support access to unlicensed RF bands (e.g., Wi-Fi bands, etc.). Picocells may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A femtocell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a residence) and may allow restricted access by UEs associated with the femtocell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). The BS for the macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a picocell may be referred to as a pico BS. The BS for the femtocell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in fig. 1, BS 110a may be a macro BS for macro cell 102a, BS 110b may be a pico BS for pico cell 102b, and BS 110c may be a femto BS for femto cell 102 c. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms "eNB", "base station", "NR BS", "gNB", "TRP", "AP", "node B", "5G NB", and "cell" may be used interchangeably herein.

In some aspects, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of the mobile BS. In some aspects, BSs may be interconnected to each other and/or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in wireless network 100 by various types of backhaul interfaces, such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, and/or the like using any suitable transport network. In other scenarios, the BS may be implemented in a Software Defined Network (SDN) manner or via Network Function Virtualization (NFV) manner.

Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that can receive a transmission of data from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or a UE) and send the transmission of the data to a downstream station (e.g., the UE or the BS). The relay station may also be a UE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in fig. 1, relay 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and UE120 d to facilitate communication between BS 110a and UE120 d. The relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay base station, a relay, etc.

The wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, etc.). These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in wireless network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while a pico BS, a femto BS, and a relay BS may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

Network controller 130 may be coupled to a set of BSs and may provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicate with each other, directly or indirectly, e.g., via a wireless or wired backhaul.

UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as an access terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, station, etc. The UE may be a cellular telephone (e.g., a smartphone), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop, a cordless phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, medical devices or equipment, biometric sensors/devices, wearable devices (smartwatches, smartclothing, smartglasses, smartwristbands, smartjewelry (e.g., smartrings, smartbracelets)), entertainment devices (e.g., music or video devices, or satellite radios), vehicle components or sensors, smart meters/sensors, industrial manufacturing equipment, robots, drones, implantable devices, augmented reality devices, global positioning system devices, or any other suitable device configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

Some UEs may be considered Machine Type Communication (MTC) UEs, or evolved or enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, a robot, a drone, a remote device, a sensor, a meter, a monitor, a location tag, etc., which may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide connectivity for or to a network, e.g., a wide area network such as the internet or a cellular network, e.g., via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered internet of things (IoT) devices and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered Customer Premise Equipment (CPE). UE120 may be included within a housing that houses components of UE120, such as a processor component, a memory component, and so forth. These components may be integrated in various combinations and/or may be free-standing distributed components, taking into account design constraints and/or operational preferences.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a frequency channel, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE120 a and UE120 e) may communicate directly (e.g., without using base station 110 as an intermediary to communicate with each other) using one or more sidelink channels. For example, the UE120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communication, device-to-device (D2D) communication, a vehicle networking (V2X) protocol (e.g., which may include a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol, etc.), a mesh network, and so forth. In this case, UE120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by base station 110. A UE performing scheduling operations may include or perform base station-like functions in these deployment scenarios.

As indicated above, fig. 1 is provided by way of example only. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a design 200 of base station 110 and UE120, where base station 110 and UE120 may be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in fig. 1. The base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234T, while the UE120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252R, where T ≧ 1 and R ≧ 1 in general. The T and R antennas may be configured with multiple antenna elements (antenna elements) formed in an array for MIMO or massive MIMO deployment that may occur in millimeter wave (mmWave or mmW) communication systems.

At base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may perform several functions associated with communication. For example, transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 for one or more UEs, select one or more Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCSs) for each UE based at least in part on a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-Static Resource Partitioning Information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., Primary Synchronization Signals (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS)). A Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T Modulators (MODs) 232a through 232T. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232T may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234T, respectively. According to various aspects described in more detail below, a synchronization signal may be generated utilizing position coding to convey additional information.

At UE120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink RF signals. The downlink signals may be from and/or transmitted by base station 110 and/or other base stations. These signals may be provided to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254R, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. The channel processor may determine Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), and the like. In some aspects, one or more components of UE120 may be included in a housing.

For uplink communications, a UE may transmit data to another device, such as base station 110. For example, at UE120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information from a controller/processor 280 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). Transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to base station 110. At base station 110, the uplink signals from UE120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide decoded data to a data sink 239 and decoded control information to controller/processor 240. The base station 110 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate with the network controller 130 via the communication unit 244. Network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller/processor 290, and a memory 292.

Controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE120, and/or any other component(s) of fig. 2 may perform one or more techniques associated with preventing frequent beam switching, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE120, and/or any other component(s) of fig. 2 may perform or direct operations of, for example, process 700 of fig. 7, process 800 of fig. 8, and/or other processes as described herein. Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for base station 110 and UE120, respectively. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

In some aspects, UE120 may include various means or components for implementing communication functions. For example, the various devices may include: means for determining a time duration for which UE120 is camped on a beam; means for updating a data structure stored in a memory of UE120 to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time UE120 is camped on the beam; among other things, means for modifying a priority of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied. Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may include means for determining that a rate at which UE120 switches to or from a beam satisfies a condition; means for modifying at least one of: a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam, etc.

UE120 may also include various structural components for performing the functions of various devices. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of UE120 described in connection with fig. 2, such as antennas 252, DEMOD 254, MOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, controller/processor 280, and/or the like.

As indicated above, fig. 2 is provided by way of example only. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 2.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of an architecture 300 that supports determining a secondary dominant cluster in a millimeter wave (mmW) channel in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, architecture 300 may implement aspects of wireless network 100. In some aspects, architecture 300 may be an example of a transmitting device (e.g., a first wireless device, UE, or base station) and/or a receiving device (e.g., a second wireless device, UE, or base station), as described herein.

Broadly, fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating example hardware components of a wireless device according to certain aspects of the present disclosure. The illustrated components may include those that may be used for antenna element selection and/or beamforming for wireless signal transmission. There are numerous architectures for antenna element selection and implementing phase shifting, of which only one example is illustrated herein. Architecture 300 includes a modem (modulator/demodulator) 302, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC)304, a first mixer 306, a second mixer 308, and a splitter 310. The architecture 300 also includes a plurality of first amplifiers 312, a plurality of phase shifters 314, a plurality of second amplifiers 316, and an antenna array 320 including a plurality of antenna elements 318. Transmission lines or other waveguides, wires, traces, etc., are shown connecting the various components to illustrate how signals to be transmitted may travel between the components. Blocks 322, 324, 326, and 328 indicate regions in the architecture 300 in which different types of signals travel or are processed. Specifically, block 322 indicates a region in which the digital baseband signal is traveling or processed, block 324 indicates a region in which the analog baseband signal is traveling or processed, block 326 indicates a region in which the analog Intermediate Frequency (IF) signal is traveling or processed, and block 328 indicates a region in which the analog Radio Frequency (RF) signal is traveling or processed. The architecture also includes a local oscillator a 330, a local oscillator B332, and a controller/processor 334.

Each of the antenna elements 320 may include one or more sub-elements (not shown) for radiating or receiving RF signals. For example, a single antenna element 320 may include a first subelement that is cross-polarized with a second subelement that may be used to independently communicate cross-polarized signals. The antenna elements 320 may include patch antennas or other types of antennas arranged in a linear, two-dimensional, or other pattern. The spacing between the antenna elements 320 may be such that signals having desired wavelengths separately transmitted by the antenna elements 320 may interact or interfere (e.g., to form a desired beam). For example, given an expected range of wavelengths or frequencies, the spacing may provide a quarter wavelength, half wavelength, or other fraction of a wavelength of the spacing between adjacent antenna elements 320 to allow for interaction or interference of signals transmitted by individual antenna elements 320 within the expected range.

The modem 302 processes and generates digital baseband signals and may also control the operation of the DAC 304, the first and second mixers 306, 308, the splitter 310, the first amplifier 312, the phase shifter 314, and/or the second amplifier 316 to communicate signals via one or more or all of the antenna elements 320. Modem 302 may process signals and control operations in accordance with a communication standard, such as the wireless standards discussed herein. DAC 304 may convert digital baseband signals received from (and to be transmitted by) modem 302 to analog baseband signals. The first mixer 306 uses local oscillator a 330 to up-convert the analog baseband signal to an analog IF signal within the IF. For example, the first mixer 306 may mix the signal with an oscillating signal generated by the local oscillator a 330 to "move" the baseband analog signal to IF. In some cases, some processing or filtering (not shown) may be performed at the IF. The second mixer 308 uses the local oscillator B332 to up-convert the analog IF signal to an analog RF signal. Similar to the first mixer, the second mixer 308 may mix the signal with an oscillating signal generated by the local oscillator B332 to "shift" the IF analog signal to RF, or a frequency at which its signal is to be transmitted or received. Modem 302 and/or controller/processor 334 may adjust the frequency of local oscillator a 330 and/or local oscillator B332 such that a desired IF and/or RF frequency is generated and used to facilitate processing and transmission of signals within a desired bandwidth.

In the illustrated architecture 300, the signal upconverted by the second mixer 308 is split or replicated into multiple signals by a splitter 310. The splitter 310 in architecture 300 splits the RF signal into a plurality of identical or nearly identical RF signals, as indicated by its presence in block 328. In other examples, any type of signal (including a baseband digital signal, a baseband analog signal, or an IF analog signal) may be split. Each of these signals may correspond to an antenna element 320 and the signal travels through or is processed by amplifiers 312, 316, phase shifter 314, and/or other elements corresponding to the respective antenna element 320 to be provided to or transmitted by the respective antenna element 320 of the antenna array 318. In one example, the splitter 310 may be an active splitter that is connected to a power supply and provides some gain so that the RF signal exiting the splitter 310 is at a power level equal to or greater than the signal entering the splitter 310. In another example, the splitter 310 is a passive splitter that is not connected to a power source, and the RF signal exiting the splitter 310 may be at a lower power level than the RF signal entering the splitter 310.

After being split by the splitter 310, the resulting RF signal may enter an amplifier (such as the first amplifier 312) or a phase shifter 314 corresponding to the antenna element 320. The first amplifier 312 and the second amplifier 316 are illustrated in dashed lines, as one or both of them may not be necessary in some implementations. In one implementation, both the first amplifier 312 and the second amplifier 314 are present. In another implementation, neither the first amplifier 312 nor the second amplifier 314 is present. In other implementations, one of the two amplifiers 312, 314 is present, but the other is not. As an example, if the splitter 310 is an active splitter, the first amplifier 312 may not be used. As a further example, if phase shifter 314 is an active phase shifter that can provide gain, second amplifier 316 may not be used. The amplifiers 312, 316 may provide a desired level of positive or negative gain. Positive gain (positive dB) may be used to increase the amplitude for signals radiated by a particular antenna element 320. Negative gain (negative dB) may be used to reduce the amplitude of the signal and/or suppress radiation of the signal by a particular antenna element. Each of the amplifiers 312, 316 may be independently controlled (e.g., by the modem 302 or the controller/processor 334) to provide independent control of gain for each antenna element 320. For example, modem 302 and/or controller/processor 334 may have at least one control line connected to each of splitter 310, first amplifier 312, phase shifter 314, and/or second amplifier 316, which may be used to configure the gain to provide a desired amount of gain for each component, and thus each antenna element 320.

The phase shifter 314 may provide a configurable phase shift or phase offset to the corresponding RF signal to be transmitted. Phase shifter 314 may be a passive phase shifter that is not directly connected to a power source. Passive phase shifters may introduce some insertion loss. The second amplifier 316 may boost the signal to compensate for insertion loss. Phase shifter 314 may be an active phase shifter connected to a power supply such that the active phase shifter provides a certain amount of gain or prevents insertion loss. The settings of each phase shifter 314 are independent, meaning that each phase shifter may be set to provide a desired amount of phase shift or the same amount of phase shift or some other configuration. Modem 302 and/or controller/processor 334 may have at least one control line connected to each phase shifter 314 and the at least one control line may be used to configure phase shifters 314 to provide a desired amount or amount of phase shift between antenna elements 320.

In the illustrated architecture 300, RF signals received by the antenna elements 320 are provided to one or more of the first amplifiers 356 to enhance signal strength. The first amplifier 356 may be connected to the same antenna array 318, e.g., for TDD operation. The first amplifier 356 may be connected to a different antenna array 318. The enhanced RF signal is input to one or more of the phase shifters 354 to provide a configurable phase shift or phase offset for the corresponding received RF signal. Phase shifter 354 may be an active phase shifter or a passive phase shifter. The settings of the phase shifters 354 are independent, meaning that each phase shifter may be set to provide a desired amount of phase shift or the same amount of phase shift or some other configuration. Modem 302 and/or controller/processor 334 may have at least one control line connected to each phase shifter 354 and the at least one control line may be used to configure phase shifters 354 to provide a desired amount or amount of phase shift between antenna elements 320.

The output of the phase shifter 354 may be input to one or more second amplifiers 352 for signal amplification of the phase shifted received RF signal. The second amplifier 352 may be individually configured to provide a configured amount of gain. The second amplifiers 352 may be individually configured to provide an amount of gain to ensure that the signals input to the combiner 350 have the same amplitude. Amplifiers 352 and/or 356 are illustrated in dashed lines, as they may not be necessary in some implementations. In one implementation, both amplifier 352 and amplifier 356 are present. In another implementation, neither amplifier 352 nor amplifier 356 is present. In other implementations, one of amplifiers 352, 356 is present, but the other is not.

In the illustrated architecture 300, the signals output by the phase shifters 354 (via the amplifiers 352 when the amplifiers 352 are present) are combined in the combiner 350. The combiner 350 in the architecture combines the RF signals into a signal, as indicated by its presence in block 328. Combiner 350 may be a passive combiner (e.g., not connected to a power supply), which may result in some insertion loss. The combiner 350 may be an active combiner (e.g., connected to a power supply), which may result in some signal gain. When combiner 350 is an active combiner, it may provide a different (e.g., configurable) amount of gain for each input signal so that the input signals have the same amplitude when combined. When combiner 350 is an active combiner, it may not require second amplifier 352 because the active combiner may provide signal amplification.

The output of the combiner 350 is input to mixers 348 and 346. Mixers 348 and 346 typically down-convert the received RF signal using inputs from local oscillators 372 and 370, respectively, to produce an intermediate or baseband signal carrying the encoded and modulated information. The outputs of the mixers 348 and 346 are input into an analog-to-digital converter (ADC)344 for conversion to an analog signal. The analog signal output from ADC 344 is input to modem 302 for baseband processing, e.g., decoding, deinterleaving, etc.

The architecture 300 is presented by way of example only to illustrate an architecture for transmitting and/or receiving signals. It will be understood that the architecture 300 and/or each portion of the architecture 300 may be repeated multiple times within the architecture to accommodate or provide any number of RF chains, antenna elements, and/or antenna panels. Moreover, numerous alternative architectures are possible and contemplated. For example, although only a single antenna array 318 is shown, two, three, or more antenna arrays may be included, each antenna array having one or more of its own respective amplifiers, phase shifters, splitters, mixers, DACs, ADCs, and/or modems. For example, a single UE may include two, four, or more antenna arrays for transmitting or receiving signals at different physical locations or in different directions on the UE. Further, mixers, splitters, amplifiers, phase shifters, and other components may be located in different signal type regions (e.g., different ones of blocks 322, 324, 326, 328) in different implementation architectures. For example, splitting a signal to be transmitted into multiple signals may occur at analog RF, analog IF, analog baseband, or digital baseband frequencies in different examples. Similarly, amplification and/or phase shifting may also occur at different frequencies. For example, in some contemplated implementations, one or more of the splitter 310, amplifiers 312, 316, or phase shifter 314 may be located between the DAC 304 and the first mixer 306 or between the first mixer 306 and the second mixer 308. In one example, the functionality of one or more components may be combined into one component. For example, phase shifter 314 may perform amplification to include or replace first amplifier 312 and/or second amplifier 316. As another example, the phase shift may be implemented by the second mixer 308 to eliminate the need for a separate phase shifter 314. This technique is sometimes referred to as Local Oscillator (LO) phase shifting. In one implementation of this configuration, there may be multiple IF-to-RF mixers within the second mixer 308 (e.g., for each antenna element chain), and the local oscillator B332 will provide a different local oscillator signal (with a different phase offset) to each IF-to-RF mixer.

The modem 302 and/or controller/processor 334 may control one or more of the other components 304 and 472 to select one or more antenna elements 320 and/or to form a beam for transmitting one or more signals. For example, the antenna elements 316 may be individually selected for transmission of a signal (or signals) or deselected by controlling the amplitude of one or more corresponding amplifiers, such as the first amplifier 312 and/or the second amplifier 316. Beamforming includes generating a beam using multiple signals on different antenna elements, where one or more or all of the multiple signals are phase-shifted relative to each other. The formed beams may carry physical or higher layer reference signals or information. As each of the plurality of signals is radiated from a respective antenna element 320, the radiated signals interact, interfere (constructive and destructive interference) and amplify each other to form a resulting beam. The shape (such as the amplitude, width and/or presence of side lobes) and direction (such as the angle of the beam relative to the surface of the antenna array 318) may be dynamically controlled by modifying the phase shift or phase offset imparted by the phase shifter 314 and the amplitude imparted by the amplifiers 312, 316 of the plurality of signals relative to each other.

When the architecture 300 is configured as a receiving device, the controller/processor 334 may transmit a first beam measurement report to the first wireless device indicating a first set of beam measurements for a wireless channel between the first wireless device and the second wireless device. Controller/processor 334 may receive a cluster validity metric for at least one beam in a first beam measurement report from a first wireless device. Controller/processor 334 may transmit a second beam measurement report to the first wireless device based at least in part on the cluster validity metric, the second beam measurement report indicating a second set of beam measurements for the wireless channel, as described herein. When architecture 300 is configured as a transmitting device, controller/processor 334 may receive a first beam measurement report from a second wireless device indicating a first set of beam measurements for a wireless channel between the first wireless device and the second wireless device. Controller/processor 334 may transmit the cluster validity metric for at least one beam in the first beam measurement report to the second wireless device. Controller/processor 334 may receive a second beam measurement report from a second wireless device indicating a second set of beam measurements for the wireless channel in response to transmitting the cluster validity metric. Controller/processor 334 may select a beam for transmission to the second wireless device based at least in part on the first and second beam measurement reports, as discussed herein. Controller/processor 334 may reside partially or completely within one or more other components of architecture 300. For example, in at least one implementation, controller/processor 334 may be located within modem 302.

As indicated above, fig. 3 is provided by way of example only. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example 400 of frequent beam switching that may occur from time to time in a communication scenario.

In some radio access technologies (such as NR, etc.), beamforming may be used for directional communication between wireless nodes, such as between base station 110 and UE 120. A beam selection procedure may be performed to select a beam to be used for communication between base station 110 and UE 120. A beam selection procedure may be performed in association with initial network access. The beam selection procedure may also be used to perform beam switching or beam reselection from an active beam (e.g., currently used for data communication) to a candidate beam (e.g., detected by UE120 but not currently used for data communication). For example, the UE120 and the base station 110 may switch from using the first beam to using the second beam based at least in part on beam parameters of the first beam and/or the second beam (such as when a beam selection criterion or a beam switching criterion is met).

As shown in fig. 4, the UE120 may detect multiple beams, some of which may be beams of the serving base station 110 and some of which may be beams of the neighbor base stations 110. Although fig. 4 shows UE120 detecting beams from both the serving base station 110 and the neighbor base stations, in some cases, UE120 may only detect beams from the serving base station 110 and not from the neighbor base stations 110. Alternatively, the UE120 may detect beams from the serving base station 110 and multiple neighbor base stations 110. In some cases, if the UE120 leaves the coverage area of the serving base station 110, the UE120 may only detect beams from one or more neighbor base stations 110, but not the serving base station 110. In example 400, the UE120 detects two beams (B1 and B2) from the serving base station 110 and detects two beams (B3 and B4) from the neighbor base station 110.

In some scenarios, the UE120 may frequently switch between different beams. For example, the UE120 may be in a mobility scenario where measured beam parameters change frequently, the UE120 may be located near a cell edge and/or near an edge of service coverage provided by a beam, the UE120 may be subject to beam fading or interference due to the location of the UE120 and/or the environment in which the UE120 operates, etc.

When the UE120 detects a candidate beam having better beam parameters (e.g., meeting the beam switching criteria and/or threshold) than the active beam, the UE120 may switch to the candidate beam. For example, UE120 may transmit beam measurements to base station 110, and base station 110 may instruct UE120 to switch to the candidate beam. Additionally or alternatively, the UE120 may request a handover to a candidate beam. However, if the UE120 remains on the candidate beam for a short period of time (e.g., less than 5 minutes, less than 1 minute, less than 30 seconds, less than 10 seconds, less than 1 second, less than 100 milliseconds, less than 10 milliseconds, etc.), overall performance may suffer because the switching between beams requires UE resources (e.g., processing power, memory, battery power, etc.), base station resources (e.g., processing power, memory, etc.), network resources (e.g., time, frequency, and/or spatial resources), etc. for signaling information associated with the beam switch, despite the better beam parameters of the candidate beam. Furthermore, frequent switching between beams may interrupt data transmission, thereby increasing latency and/or reducing throughput. Furthermore, if the beam switch results in a switch from the beam of the serving base station 110 to the beam of the neighbor base station 110 (e.g., an inter-cell beam switch), this may consume additional resources compared to a switch between beams of the serving base station 110 (e.g., an intra-cell beam switch), as the UE120 and the base station(s) 110 will need to perform a cell reselection procedure in addition to the beam reselection procedure.

Some techniques and apparatuses described herein prevent frequent beam switching in some scenarios, thereby saving UE resources, base station resources, and/or network resources that would otherwise be used to perform beam reselection procedures and/or cell reselection procedures. Furthermore, some of the techniques and apparatus described herein reduce latency and/or increase throughput by maintaining data communications that would otherwise be interrupted by beam switching. Additional details are provided below.

As indicated above, fig. 4 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from the example described with respect to fig. 4.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example 500 of preventing frequent beam switching, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 5, UE120 may detect multiple beams. Some beams may be from the serving base station 110 and some may be beams of the neighbor base stations 110. Although fig. 5 shows UE120 detecting beams from both serving base station 110 and neighboring base stations, in some cases, UE120 may only detect beams from serving base station 110 and not from neighboring base stations 110. Alternatively, the UE120 may detect beams from the serving base station 110 and multiple neighbor base stations 110. In some cases, if the UE120 leaves the coverage area of the serving base station 110, the UE120 may only detect beams from one or more neighbor base stations 110, but not the serving base station 110. In example 500, the UE120 detects two beams (B1 and B3) from the serving base station 110 and detects one beam (B2) from the neighbor base station 110. Additionally or alternatively, multiple beams may be detected in a non-cellular communication scenario.

As shown by reference numeral 510, the UE120 may determine a dwell time for one or more beams selected by the UE 120. As an example, this may include one or more beams that UE120 selects and/or switches to as part of a beam selection procedure. Dwell time may refer to a time duration or period of time for which UE120 remains on a beam. Dwelling on a beam may include camping on the beam, monitoring the beam, connecting to the beam, tuning to the beam, active and/or inactive communication on the beam, and/or many other connection characteristics. For example, dwell time may refer to an amount of time that elapses between a first time when UE120 switches to a beam and a second time when UE120 switches away from the beam. The dwell time may also include other timing points of interest or timing points as needed according to a particular deployment scenario.

The dwell time determination may vary and include various arrangements. In some aspects, when UE120 switches to the first beam, UE120 may store an indication of a first time at which the switching to the first beam occurs. When UE120 switches away from the first beam and switches to the second beam, UE120 may determine a second time at which the switch occurs away from the first beam. UE120 may determine a difference between the second time and the first time to determine a dwell time for the first beam. UE120 may perform similar operations to determine the dwell time for the second beam, and so on.

Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may determine one or more other beam parameters for one or more beams (e.g., in addition to dwell time). For example, UE120 may determine a beam energy parameter for a beam, a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) parameter for a beam, a Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) parameter for a beam, a cell selection receive (Rx) level (Srxlev) parameter, a cell selection quality (Squal) parameter, a cell selection criterion parameter for a beam (e.g., an S-criterion parameter, an Srxlev parameter, a Squal parameter, etc.), a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) parameter for a beam, a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) parameter for a beam, a handover rate for a beam, and so forth. The beam switching rate may represent a rate at which the UE120 switches to or from a beam, such as a number of times to switch to or from a beam over a period of time. The beam parameters may generally be specific to the beam at one or more particular time instances, but in some deployments, the beam parameters may be averaged or otherwise combined (e.g., over time or over several instances).

The determination of the beam parameters may occur in various ways. For example, UE120 may determine one or more of these parameters based at least in part on one or more measurements of UE 120. These measurements may occur as part of a beam selection procedure (e.g., which may result in the UE120 switching to or switching away from a beam), may occur as part of a search and measurement procedure (e.g., periodic beam search and measurement), and so on. The beam parameters may also be provided by other components (e.g., base station 110) and/or stored in memory (e.g., from a previous time instance).

In some aspects, UE120 may determine and/or store the beam parameter using a single measurement for the beam parameter. UE120 may do so in association with a particular procedure. For example, the UE120 may determine and/or store the beam parameters using a single measurement associated with a beam selection procedure that results in the UE120 switching to a beam, a single measurement associated with a beam selection procedure that results in the UE120 switching away from a beam, a single measurement associated with a single search and measurement occasion, and/or the like. Alternatively, the UE120 may determine and/or store the beam parameter based at least in part on a plurality of measurements for the beam parameter (such as measurements associated with a beam selection procedure that results in the UE120 switching to a beam, measurements associated with a beam selection procedure that results in the UE120 switching away from a beam, measurements associated with one or more search and measurement occasions, and so forth). For example, UE120 may determine an average value for a beam parameter based at least in part on a plurality of measurements of the beam parameter (e.g., during a dwell time of the beam).

As indicated by reference numeral 520, the UE120 may access or modify beam related data stored in memory. This may include UE120 updating a data structure 505 (shown as a table) stored in a memory of UE120 to add or modify one or more beam parameter values associated with a beam. A data structure may be a logical representation of stored data (as shown in a table) and generally refers to memory locations in physical memory. As shown, the data structure may store a beam identifier for a beam and information identifying one or more beam parameters for the beam. As indicated above, the beam parameters may include dwell time (e.g., a duration of time for which UE120 remains on the beam), beam energy parameter, RSRP parameter, RSRQ parameter, S-criteria parameter, Srxlev parameter, RSSI parameter, SINR parameter, handover rate, and so forth. UE120 may update the data structure based at least in part on determining and/or measuring the beam parameters, as described above. For example, the UE120 may update the data structure for the beam based at least in part on switching away from the beam, at which point the UE120 may determine the dwell time and/or other beam parameter(s) for the beam.

Using the beam-related data in data structure 505, UE120 may reduce frequent beam switching to reduce signaling overhead. Not all beams may be prevented from switching because beam switching may be based on one or more specific beams in a beam set. As an example, historical operations may be considered to adapt the search and measurement periodicity of a particular beam. If UE120 observes frequent changes in beams, UE120 may slow the search and/or measurement period for beams by increasing the periodicity of the search and/or measurement to avoid too frequent beam reporting and beam changes.

In some aspects, UE120 may search and/or perform a lookup in a data structure to determine whether a beam identifier for a beam is stored in the data structure and/or whether one or more beam parameter values for a beam are stored in the data structure. If UE120 determines that the beam identifier is not stored in the data structure, UE120 may add the beam identifier to the data structure. Similarly, if UE120 determines that the beam identifier is not stored in the data structure or that the beam parameter values for the beam are not stored in the data structure, UE120 may add the determined beam parameter values to the data structure. If UE120 determines that the beam identifier is stored in the data structure and the beam parameter values for the beam are stored in the data structure, UE120 may update the stored beam parameter values using the determined beam parameter values. In some aspects, UE120 may replace the stored beam parameter values with the determined beam parameter values.

In some aspects, UE120 may use the stored beam parameter values and the determined beam parameter values to calculate new beam parameter values to store. For example, UE120 may determine an average beam parameter value based on the stored beam parameter values and the determined beam parameter values. In some aspects, UE120 may store a plurality of predetermined beam parameter values (e.g., a threshold number of predetermined beam parameter values) and may calculate an average beam parameter value using the plurality of predetermined beam parameter values and the newly determined beam parameter value. In some aspects, the average may be a moving average.

As illustrated by reference numeral 530, UE120 may determine that a condition associated with one or more stored values for one or more beam parameters is satisfied. For example, UE120 may determine that a condition associated with a stored duration value (corresponding to a dwell time) is satisfied. Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may determine that a condition associated with one or more other beam parameters is satisfied. As described below, the condition may be a condition for a single beam or a condition for a plurality of beams.

In some aspects, UE120 may determine that a condition is satisfied based at least in part on a determination that a stored duration value (i.e., a stored dwell time value) satisfies a threshold. For example, UE120 may determine that the stored duration value is less than or equal to a threshold value. In this case, UE120 stays on the beam for a shorter amount of time, so switching to the beam may waste UE resources, may waste base station resources, may waste network resources, may increase latency, may decrease throughput, etc., as described above. To prevent such waste, UE120 may prioritize the selection of the beam when this condition is met, as described below. As another example, UE120 may determine that the stored duration value is greater than or equal to a threshold value. In this case, the UE120 stays on the beam for a longer amount of time, and thus the beam may be a relatively good beam (e.g., with good performance). To improve performance, UE120 may prioritize the selection of the beam when this condition is met, as described below.

In some aspects, the threshold is a fixed value (e.g., 5 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds, 10 seconds, 1 second, 100 milliseconds, 10 milliseconds, etc.). In example 500, the threshold may be a fixed value of 100 seconds. As shown, beam B2 has an average dwell time of 50 seconds, which is less than the threshold of 100 seconds. Accordingly, UE120 may lower the priority of selection of beam B2, as described below. In some aspects, the threshold is a relative value of one or more stored dwell times relative to one or more other beams. For example, the threshold may be a relative value that is less than or equal to a fraction or percentage of the average of the dwell times of the other beams. In example 500, the threshold for a beam may be a relative value of 1/3 for the average dwell time of other beams. In example 500, the average dwell time for beams B1 and B2 is 175 seconds, while beam B2 has an average dwell time of 50 seconds, which is less than 1/3 the average dwell time for beams B1 and B2. Accordingly, UE120 may lower the priority of selection of beam B2, as described below. In some aspects, the threshold may depend on the channel conditions measured by the UE120, the category of the UE120, the capabilities of the UE120, and so on. In some aspects, the threshold may be stored in a memory of UE120 and not configured by base station 110. In some aspects, the threshold may be indicated to the UE120 by the base station 110, such as in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message or another type of signaling message.

In some aspects, UE120 may determine that the condition is satisfied based at least in part on a plurality of stored beam parameter values for the beam. For example, UE120 may determine that the condition is satisfied based at least in part on a determination that the stored dwell time value for the beam satisfies a first threshold and the stored value for another beam parameter satisfies a threshold (e.g., the stored RSRP value satisfies a threshold, the stored Srxlev value satisfies a threshold, the stored handover rate value satisfies a threshold, etc.).

In some aspects, UE120 may determine that a condition is satisfied based at least in part on determining that a first condition associated with a first beam is satisfied and that a second condition associated with a second beam is satisfied. In some aspects, UE120 may identify the first beam and the second beam based at least in part on a beam switching pattern, which may indicate an order in which beam switching occurs. For example, the UE120 may determine that the UE120 switched from the first beam (e.g., beam B2 in example 500) to the second beam (e.g., beam B3 in example 500) a threshold number of times and/or at a rate that satisfies a threshold. In this case, the UE120 may decrease the priority of the first beam relative to the second beam if the first condition and the second condition are satisfied.

For example, if the stored dwell time of a first beam (e.g., beam B2) is less than or equal to a threshold and the stored RSRP value (and/or Srxlev value, etc.) of a second beam (e.g., beam B3) is greater than or equal to a threshold, the UE120 may decrease the priority of the first beam relative to the second beam, as described in more detail below. Although fig. 5 illustrates the first beam (B2) as the beam of the neighbor base station 110 and the second beam (B3) as the beam of the serving base station 110, in some aspects both the first beam and the second beam are the beams of the serving base station 110. Alternatively, in some aspects, both the first beam and the second beam are beams of the neighbor base station 110. Alternatively, in some aspects, the first beam is a beam of a first neighbor base station 110 and the second beam is a beam of a second neighbor base station 110.

As shown by reference numeral 540, UE120 may modify the priority of the beams (e.g., in connection with a beam selection procedure) based at least in part on determining that a condition is satisfied. In some aspects, the UE120 may modify the priority of the beam by prioritizing the selection of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure or by deprioritizing the selection of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure. In some aspects, UE120 may modify the priority of a beam by removing the beam as a candidate for beam selection (e.g., to lower the priority of selection of the beam), thereby preventing the beam from being selected as part of a beam selection procedure. For example, a beam may be a candidate for beam selection based at least in part on one or more beam measurements for the beam, and UE120 may lower the priority of the beam by removing the beam as a candidate for beam selection. In some aspects, UE120 may remove the beam from the beam selection list that identifies candidate beams for beam selection. In some aspects, the UE120 may reduce the priority of the first beam relative to the second beam by removing the first beam as a candidate for beam selection and keeping the second beam as a candidate for beam selection. By removing a beam as a candidate for beam selection, UE120 may prevent frequent beam selection of a beam (e.g., when a beam is associated with a dwell time less than or equal to a threshold), thereby conserving UE resources, conserving base station resources, conserving network resources, reducing latency, and/or increasing throughput, as described above.

In some aspects, UE120 may modify the priority of a beam (e.g., to prioritize selection of the beam) by adding or maintaining the beam as a candidate for beam selection, thereby permitting the beam to be selected as part of a beam selection procedure. For example, a beam may be a candidate for beam selection based at least in part on one or more beam measurements for the beam, and UE120 may prioritize the beam by adding or maintaining the beam as a candidate for beam selection. In some aspects, the UE120 may add a beam to a beam selection list that identifies candidate beams for beam selection (e.g., based at least in part on measurement (s)) or, if the beam is added to the list, maintain the beam on the list based at least in part on the measurement(s).

In some aspects, UE120 may modify the priority of a beam to reduce the priority of selection of the beam by reducing the priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection. For example, the priority of a beam may be indicated to UE120 by base station 110, and UE120 may lower the priority of selection of the beam by modifying the priority of the beam so that the beam has a lower priority than another beam. For example, the first beam may be configured with a higher priority than the second beam, and the UE120 may decrease the priority of the first beam by modifying the priority of the first beam and/or the second beam such that the first beam has a lower priority than the second beam. In some aspects, UE120 may modify the position of the beam in an ordered beam selection list that identifies the order of candidate beams for beam selection. By lowering the priority of a beam, UE120 may reduce the likelihood of frequent beam selection for the beam (e.g., when the beam is associated with a dwell time less than or equal to a threshold), thereby conserving UE resources, conserving base station resources, conserving network resources, reducing latency, and/or increasing throughput, as described above.

In some aspects, UE120 may modify the priority of a beam to prioritize the selection of the beam by increasing the priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection. For example, the priority of a beam may be indicated to UE120 by base station 110, and UE120 may prioritize the selection of the beam by modifying the priority of the beam so that the beam has a higher priority than another beam. For example, a first beam may be configured with a higher priority than a second beam, and UE120 may prioritize the second beam by modifying the priority of the first beam and/or the second beam such that the second beam has a higher priority than the first beam. In some aspects, UE120 may modify the position of the beam in an ordered beam selection list that identifies the order of candidate beams for beam selection. By increasing the priority of a beam, UE120 may increase the likelihood that the beam is selected when the beam has good performance (e.g., when the beam is associated with a dwell time greater than or equal to a threshold), thereby improving performance.

In some aspects, the UE120 may modify the priority of a beam by modifying one or more beam selection criteria for that beam (and/or for other beams). For example, UE120 may modify the threshold that the beam to be selected for beam selection needs to satisfy. In some aspects, the value of the threshold may be increased to lower the priority of selection of beams. For example, the threshold may represent an amount by which a value of a beam parameter of a beam (e.g., RSRP value, S-criteria value, Srxlev value, etc.) must exceed a corresponding value of the beam parameter for another beam in order for the beam to be selected. By increasing the threshold, the UE120 reduces the likelihood that the beam will be selected. In some aspects, the value of the threshold may be decreased to prioritize the selection of beams. In this manner, UE120 may reduce the likelihood of frequent beam selection for the beam (e.g., when the beam is associated with a dwell time less than or equal to a threshold), thereby conserving UE resources, conserving base station resources, conserving network resources, reducing latency, and/or increasing throughput, as described above.

In some aspects, the UE120 may reduce the priority of the first beam relative to the second beam by modifying one or more beam selection criteria for the first beam or the second beam in association with a beam selection procedure. For example, the UE120 may increase the beam selection threshold for the first beam and/or may decrease the beam selection threshold for the second beam. In this manner, UE120 may reduce the likelihood of frequent beam selection for the first beam when selecting the second beam (e.g., which satisfies a condition), thereby saving UE resources, saving base station resources, saving network resources, reducing latency, and/or increasing throughput, as described above. Additionally or alternatively, the UE120 may reduce the priority of the first beam relative to the second beam by selecting the second beam instead of the first beam during the beam selection procedure.

In some aspects, UE120 may modify the priority of a beam by modifying the search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam. For example, UE120 may increase the search and measurement periodicity for a beam to lower the priority of selection of the beam, thereby resulting in less frequent execution of the search and measurement procedure for the beam. In this way, the likelihood of switching to a beam is reduced, thereby conserving UE resources, conserving base station resources, conserving network resources, reducing latency and/or increasing throughput, as described above. As another example, UE120 may reduce the search and measurement periodicity for a beam to prioritize the selection of the beam, thereby resulting in search and measurement procedures for the beam being performed more frequently. If a beam has good performance as indicated by one or more stored values (e.g., dwell time and/or one or more other beam parameters), this may improve performance by increasing the likelihood that a beam with good performance is selected.

In some aspects, the UE120 may modify the priority of a beam by modifying a hysteresis timer associated with the beam. UE120 may use a hysteresis timer for a beam to prevent switching back to the beam for a period of time after switching off the beam. For example, UE120 may start a hysteresis timer after switching off a beam, and may avoid switching back to the beam until after the hysteresis timer expires. In some aspects, UE120 may increase the duration of the hysteresis timer to lower the priority of selection of the beam. In this manner, UE120 may increase the amount of time that must elapse before switching the echo beam, thereby reducing the likelihood of a beam being selected and thus saving UE resources, saving base station resources, saving network resources, reducing latency, and/or increasing throughput, as described above. As another example, UE120 may decrease the duration of the hysteresis timer to prioritize the selection of beams. If a beam has good performance as indicated by one or more stored values (e.g., dwell time and/or one or more other beam parameters), this may reduce the amount of time that must elapse before switching back to the beam, thereby increasing the likelihood that a beam with good performance is selected.

In some aspects, UE120 may employ various techniques described above to modify the priority of the beams. For example, to reduce the priority of selection of a beam, UE120 may reduce the priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams that are candidates for beam selection in association with a beam selection procedure, may modify one or more beam selection criteria for the beam in association with the beam selection procedure, may modify search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, may modify a hysteresis timer associated with the beam, and so on.

As indicated above, fig. 5 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from the example described with respect to fig. 5.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example 600 of preventing frequent beam switching, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 6, the UE120 may detect multiple beams, some of which may be beams of the serving base station 110 and some of which may be beams of the neighbor base stations 110. Although fig. 6 shows UE120 detecting beams from both the serving base station 110 and the neighbor base stations, UE120 may detect beams from only the serving base station 110, from multiple neighbor base stations 110, from only one or more neighbor base stations 110, etc., as described above in connection with fig. 5. In the example 600, the UE120 detects two beams (B1 and B3) from the serving base station 110 and detects one beam (B2) from the neighbor base station 110.

As indicated by reference numeral 610, the UE120 may determine a rate at which the UE switches to or from a beam, sometimes referred to as a handover rate. The switching rate may indicate a number of measured or observed switches per time period, such as a number of switches per minute, a number of switches per 5 minutes, a number of switches per 10 minutes, a number of switches per hour, a number of switches per day, and so forth. For example, when UE120 switches to a beam, switches away from a beam, or both, UE120 may increment the number of handovers.

As illustrated by reference numeral 620, UE120 may update a data structure (shown as a table) stored in a memory of UE120 to add or modify the stored handover rate values associated with the beams. As shown, the data structure may store a beam identifier for a beam and information identifying a switching rate for the beam. In some aspects, UE120 may update the data structure for the beam based at least in part on switching to the beam or switching away from the beam. Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may update the data structure for one or more other beam parameter values associated with the beam (e.g., in addition to the handover rate). The beam parameters may include one or more of the beam parameters described above in connection with fig. 5. UE120 may update the data structure by adding or updating stored values for beams, as described above in connection with fig. 5.

As shown by reference numeral 630, UE120 may determine that a condition associated with the stored handover rate value is satisfied. Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may determine that a condition associated with one or more other stored beam parameter values satisfies a threshold. The condition may be a condition for a single beam parameter (e.g., a handover rate) or a condition for multiple beam parameters. For example, UE120 may determine that a rate at which the UE switches to or from a beam is greater than or equal to a threshold.

The threshold may be a fixed value or a relative value, as described above in connection with fig. 5. As further described above in connection with fig. 5, the threshold may be stored in a memory of UE120 and not configured by base station 110, or may be indicated to UE120 by base station 110, such as in an RRC message or another type of signaling message.

As illustrated by reference numeral 640, based at least in part on determining that the handover rate and/or one or more other beam parameters satisfy the condition, the UE120 may modify a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam and/or a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam. For example, UE120 may increase the duration of the hysteresis timer, as described above in connection with fig. 5. In some aspects, UE120 may use different hysteresis timer durations for different beams. For example, UE120 may use a beam-specific hysteresis timer duration or a beam group-specific hysteresis timer duration. In this case, the UE120 may modify the hysteresis timer duration for the one or more beams for which the condition is satisfied and may maintain (e.g., refrain from modifying) the hysteresis timer duration for the one or more beams for which the condition is not satisfied.

Additionally or alternatively, UE120 may increase the search and measurement periodicity for a beam, thereby resulting in less frequent execution of search and measurement procedures for that beam. In this way, the likelihood of switching to a beam is reduced, thereby conserving UE resources, conserving base station resources, conserving network resources, reducing latency and/or increasing throughput, as described above. In some aspects, UE120 may use different search and measurement periodicities for different beams. For example, UE120 may use a beam-specific search and measurement periodicity or a beam group-specific search and measurement periodicity. In this case, UE120 may modify the search and measurement periodicity for the one or more beams for which the condition is satisfied and may maintain (e.g., avoid modifying) the search and measurement periodicity for the one or more beams for which the condition is not satisfied.

In some aspects, UE120 may perform one or more operations described above in connection with fig. 5 based at least in part on determining that a switching rate for a beam satisfies a condition. For example, based at least in part on determining that the handover rate for the beam satisfies the condition, UE120 may determine a duration of time that UE120 stays on the beam and/or may determine one or more other beam parameters associated with the beam. UE120 may then update the data structure to add or modify the stored beam parameter values associated with the beam, may determine that the condition associated with the stored beam parameter values is satisfied, and may decrease the priority of the selection of the beam based at least in part on determining that the condition associated with the stored beam parameter values is satisfied. Thus, a determination that a handover rate for a beam satisfies a condition may be a trigger for measuring one or more other beam parameters for the beam, for storing a beam parameter value based at least in part on the measurement, for determining whether a condition associated with the stored beam parameter value is satisfied, for reducing a priority of selection of the beam, and/or the like.

In this manner, UE120 may prevent switching to a beam and/or may reduce the likelihood of switching to a beam when such a switch may waste resources, such as when a beam is associated with a high switching rate, low dwell time, or one or more other beam parameters indicating, for example, poor performance for the beam. This may save UE resources, base station resources, network resources, latency, throughput, reliability, etc.

As indicated above, fig. 6 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from the example described with respect to fig. 6.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example process 700, e.g., performed by a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The example process 700 is an example in which a UE (e.g., the UE120, etc.) performs operations associated with preventing frequent beam switching.

As shown in fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include determining a duration of time for which the UE remains on the beam (block 710). For example, the UE may determine (e.g., using controller/processor 280, memory 282, etc.) a duration of time that the UE stays on the beam, as described above.

As further shown in fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam (block 720). For example, the UE (e.g., using controller/processor 280, memory 282, etc.) may update a data structure to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam, as described above. In some aspects, the data structure is stored in a memory of the UE.

As further shown in fig. 7, in some aspects, process 700 may include modifying a priority of the beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied (block 730). For example, the UE (e.g., using controller/processor 280, memory 282, etc.) may modify the priority of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied, as described above.

Process 700 may include additional aspects, such as any single implementation or any combination of aspects described below and/or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, modifying the priority of the beam comprises at least one of: removing the beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with a beam selection procedure, adding or maintaining the beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with a beam selection procedure, decreasing the priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams as candidates for beam selection in association with a beam selection procedure, increasing the priority of the beam relative to one or more other beams as candidates for beam selection in association with a beam selection procedure, modifying one or more beam selection criteria for the beam in association with a beam selection procedure, or a combination thereof.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied comprises determining that the stored duration value satisfies a threshold.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to second aspects, a duration of time for which the UE stays on the beam represents an amount of time between switching to the beam and switching away from the beam.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the stored duration value represents an average duration of time that the UE stayed on the beam after switching to the beam.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, the process 700 includes determining a set of beam parameters for a corresponding set of beams, wherein the set of beam parameters includes one or more beam parameters for each beam in the set of beams; and updating the data structure to add or modify the stored set of beam parameters for the corresponding set of beams based at least in part on determining the set of beam parameters.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, determining that the condition is satisfied comprises determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value and one or more stored beam parameters of the stored set of beam parameters is satisfied.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to sixth aspects, the one or more beam parameters comprise at least one of: a beam energy parameter, a reference signal received power parameter, a Srxlev parameter, an S-criteria parameter, a reference signal received quality parameter, a received signal strength indicator parameter, a signal to interference plus noise ratio parameter, or a combination thereof.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to seventh aspects, the beam is a first beam and the condition is a first condition; and process 700 includes: determining a stored beam parameter associated with the second beam; determining that a second condition associated with the stored beam parameters is satisfied; and reducing the priority of selection of the first beam relative to the second beam in connection with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that the first condition and the second condition are satisfied.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eighth aspects, prioritizing the selection of the first beam relative to the second beam comprises at least one of: selecting a second beam instead of the first beam in conjunction with a beam selection procedure, removing the first beam as a candidate for beam selection and maintaining the second beam as a candidate for beam selection in association with the beam selection procedure, lowering a priority of the second beam relative to the first beam in a beam selection list associated with the beam selection procedure, modifying one or more beam selection criteria for the first beam or the second beam in association with the beam selection procedure, or a combination thereof.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to ninth aspects, the first beam is a neighbor cell beam and the second beam is a serving cell beam.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to tenth aspects, determining that the condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied further comprises determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, modifying the priority of the beam comprises at least one of: modifying a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, modifying a hysteresis timer associated with the beam, or a combination thereof.

Although fig. 7 shows example blocks of the process 700, in some aspects the process 700 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in fig. 7. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of process 700 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example process 800, e.g., performed by a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The example process 800 is an example in which a UE (e.g., the UE120, etc.) performs operations associated with preventing frequent beam switching.

As shown in fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include determining that a rate at which a UE switches to or from a beam satisfies a condition (block 810). For example, the UE (e.g., using controller/processor 280, memory 282, etc.) may determine that a rate at which the UE switches to or from a beam satisfies a condition, as described above.

As further shown in fig. 8, in some aspects, process 800 may include modifying at least one of the following based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies the condition: a search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or a duration of a hysteresis timer associated with the beam (block 820). For example, the UE (e.g., using controller/processor 280, memory 282, etc.) may modify at least one of the following based at least in part on determining that the rate satisfies the condition: the search and measurement periodicity associated with the beam, or the duration of the hysteresis timer associated with the beam, as described above.

Process 800 may include additional aspects, such as any single implementation or any combination of aspects described below and/or in conjunction with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition includes determining that the rate is greater than or equal to a threshold.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, modifying the search and measurement periodicity comprises increasing the search and measurement periodicity to perform searches and measurements for the beam less frequently.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to second aspects, modifying the duration of the hysteresis timer comprises increasing the duration of the hysteresis timer, wherein beam selection of the beam is to be blocked prior to expiration of the hysteresis timer.

In a fourth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, the search and measurement periodicity is modified for the beam and another search and measurement periodicity is maintained for one or more other beams.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fourth aspects, a duration of the hysteresis timer is modified for the beam and a duration of another hysteresis timer is maintained for one or more other beams.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, the process 800 comprises: determining a duration of time that the UE remains on the beam based at least in part on determining that a rate at which the UE switches to or from the beam satisfies a condition; updating a data structure stored in a memory of the UE to add or modify a stored duration value associated with the beam based at least in part on determining the duration of time the UE remains on the beam; determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied; and reducing a priority of selection of the beam in conjunction with the beam selection procedure based at least in part on determining that a condition associated with the stored duration value is satisfied.

Although fig. 8 shows example blocks of the process 800, in some aspects the process 800 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in fig. 8. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of the process 800 may be performed in parallel.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit aspects to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practicing various aspects.

As used herein, the term "component" is intended to be broadly interpreted as hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software.

Some aspects are described herein in connection with a threshold. As used herein, meeting a threshold may refer to: a value is greater than a threshold, greater than or equal to a threshold, less than or equal to a threshold, not equal to a threshold, etc.

It will be apparent that the systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented in various forms of hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement the systems and/or methods is not limiting in every respect. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to the specific software code-it being understood that software and hardware may be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein.

Although particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of the various aspects. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each of the dependent claims listed below may be directly dependent on only one claim, the disclosure of the various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination with each other claim in the set of claims. A phrase referring to "at least one of a list of items" refers to any combination of these items, including a single member. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass: a. b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, and any combination of multiple identical elements (e.g., a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c, or any other ordering of a, b, and c).

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles "a" and "an" are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with "one or more. Further, as used herein, the terms "set" and "group" are intended to include one or more items (e.g., related items, non-related items, combinations of related and non-related items, etc.) and may be used interchangeably with "one or more. Where only one item is intended, the phrase "only one" or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms "having," "containing," "including," and the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase "based on" is intended to mean "based, at least in part, on" unless explicitly stated otherwise.