Abstract: A method of beam failure recovery for multi-beam operation in wireless communication systems with beamforming is proposed. Specifically, a four-step beam failure recovery procedure is proposed. In a first step of beam failure detection, UE detects a beam failure condition of the original serving beam pair link. In a second step of new candidate beam identification, UE performs measurements for candidate beam selection. In a third step of beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) transmission, UE transmits a BFRQ message to BS upon the triggering condition for BFRQ transmission is satisfied. In a fourth step of monitoring BS response, UE monitors BS response to decide the success or failure of the beam failure recovery.

Abstract: A method for harmonized operation between radio link monitor and beam failure recovery is proposed. In one example, upon indication of unsuccessful recovery from beam failure, a counter is initiated to count a configured number of OOS indication before RLF is declared due to beam failure. In another example, upon indication of successful recovery from beam failure, a counter is initiated to count a configured number of IS indication before starting over RLM procedure on its previous observations on failed beams. As a result, either early RLF declaration or RLM reset may be triggered based on BFR procedure to more accurately maintain the link quality.

Abstract: A method of group-based beam reporting is proposed. The BS TX beams are grouped into groups to increase beam reporting efficiency. After measuring reference signals for beam management, UE reports RS quality to the network in beam groups. The beam grouping can be done either implicitly or explicitly. The grouping within the beam report is done by the UE with or without help from the network. According to principles of grouping mechanism, the grouping methods can be divided into two different categories. A first category is referred to as beam set based group, where UE groups TX beam information in a beam report based on its RX beam set(s). A second category is referred to as antenna group-based grouping, where UE groups TX beam information in a beam report based on UE antenna group.

Abstract: A method of sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission and channel state information (CSI) reporting during and after active bandwidth part (BWP) switching in a wireless communication system is proposed. In the uplink, if an SRS transmission is triggered when UE is operating in a first active UL BWP, and the SRS is scheduled for transmission when UE is operating in a second active UL BWP, then UE drops the SRS transmission. In the downlink, if a CSI report is triggered when UE is operating in a first active DL/UL BWP, and the CSI report is scheduled for transmission when UE is operating in a second active DL/UL BWP, then UE drops the CSI report.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided to detect radio link failure in a NR access system. In one novel aspect, the radio link failure is detected upon detection of one or more radio link failure conditions on the serving beam. In one embodiment, the physical layer problem is considered as detected when one or more predefined events occur for a number of consecutive times on the serving beam. In another embodiment, the UE further considers potential recoveries to avoid frequent triggering of the radio link failure condition. In one embodiment, the UE performs the initial alignment procedure to recover the connection. In one embodiment, UE performs the initial alignment procedure without performing radio link recovery on the serving beam. In other embodiments, the UE performs the initial alignment procedure after performing radio link recovery on the serving beam and/or selects one or more beams for initial beam alignment.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides a lithography system. The lithography system includes an exposing module configured to perform a lithography exposing process using a mask secured on a mask stage; and a cleaning module integrated in the exposing module and designed to clean at least one of the mask and the mask stage using an attraction mechanism.

Abstract: A method of default uplink beam determination after radio resource control (RRC) connection reestablishment in a beamforming system is proposed. For uplink (UL) transmission, the BS provides dedicated physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource configuration to UE. The configuration includes spatial relation information that indicates the spatial domain transmission filter to be used by UE for the corresponding PUCCH transmission. After RRC connection re-establishment and before a dedicated PUCCH configuration is received, a default UE TX beam can be determined based on the UE TX beam used during the RRC connection re-establishment procedure, e.g., the UE TX beam used to transmit MSG3 in a four-step random-access channel (RACH) procedure triggered by the RRC connection re-establishment procedure.

Abstract: A method of default uplink beam determination after a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure in a beamforming system is proposed. For uplink (UL) transmission, the BS provides physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource configuration to UE. The configuration includes spatial relation information that indicates the spatial filter to be used by UE for the corresponding PUCCCH transmission. After BFR procedure is completed and before the first spatial relation information indication for a PUCCH resource is received by UE, a default UE TX beam for the PUCCH resource can be determined based on the UE TX beam used during the BFR procedure, e.g., the UE TX beam used to transmit a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) during the BFR procedure.

Abstract: A method of control signaling in a beamforming system is proposed. A user equipment (UE) receives control beam transmission from a base station using a set of control beams in a beamforming network. Each control beam comprises a set of DL control resource blocks, a set of UL control resource blocks, and an associated set of beamforming weights. The UE selects a control beam for establishing a connection with the base station. The UE then performs random access with the base station using the selected control beam.

Abstract: A UE determines (a) resources of a PDCCH indicating a PDSCH that contains a random access message or indicating an uplink grant for transmitting a random access message and (b) resources of a second PDCCH. The UE further determines, in a time domain, (a) that the first PDCCH overlaps with the second PDCCH, (b) that the first PDCCH overlaps with a second PDSCH that contains system data or user data and indicated by the second PDCCH, (c) that the first PDSCH overlaps with the second PDCCH, or (d) that the first PDSCH overlaps with the second PDSCH. The UE then determines that monitoring the second PDCCH is an unexpected operation.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for reception of simultaneously transmitted downlink channels having different spatial quasi-co-location (sQCL) assumptions. The method can include receiving a configuration specifying a control resource set (CORESET) monitoring occasion of a first physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) at a user equipment (UE), receiving a second PDCCH scheduling or activating transmission of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the UE, determining whether the PDSCH overlaps the first PDCCH in time domain, determining whether a first spatial quasi-co-location (sQCL) assumption for reception of the first PDCCH and a second sQCL assumption for reception of the PDSCH are different, and prioritizing the reception of the first PDCCH when the PDSCH overlaps the first PDCCH in time domain and the first and second sQCL assumptions are different.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided to handle the intermittent disconnections in an mmW system. In one novel aspect, the beam tracking failure is determined upon detection of one or more tracking failure conditions. In one embodiment, the UE further considers potential recoveries to avoid frequent triggering of the beam-tracking failure condition. In another novel aspect, the UE performs one or more recovery procedures based on one or more recovery conditions. In one embodiment, the UE performs the initial alignment procedure to recover the connection. In another embodiment, the UE performs the beam-switching request procedure before triggers the initial alignment procedure. In one embodiment, timers are used to supervise the recovery procedures. In another embodiment, macro-assisted procedures are used for the beam-switching request procedure. In yet another novel aspect, the UE performs reestablishment of a new connection at the upper layer upon receiving the beam-tracking failure indicator.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for determination of a transmission or reception beam format in a random access process. The method can include determining, at a local entity, the Tx beam format or the Rx beam format for communication between the local entity and a remote entity during the random access process between the local entity and the remote entity in a wireless communication system employing beamforming techniques according to historical operations and channel reciprocity availability. The method can further includes transmitting or receiving, at the local entity, a random access message exchanged between the local entity and the remote entity according to the determined Tx beam format or Rx beam format, respectively.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided to for RRM measurement in the new radio (NR) access system. In one novel aspect, multiple transmission (TX) beams are measured by a user equipment (UE) with multiple receiving (RX) beams, stores the measured TX-RX pair in a measurement matrix, and calculates a consolidation measurement for each cell based on a consolidation rule. In one embodiment, the consolidation rule indicates generating a RX consolidated vector by consolidating all RX beams with the same TX beam ID, and subsequently, generating the consolidation measurement for the cell based on the RX consolidated vector. In another embodiment, the measurement matrix is layer-3 filtered and consolidated. In yet another embodiment, the UE sends a measurement report, either contains the consolidated measurement or the measurement vector, to the NR network based on the consolidation measurement. In one embodiment, the network performs consolidation on the received measurement vector.

Abstract: Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for beam management at a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system. The method can include transmitting a beam training reference signal (RS) resource configuration from a base station (BS) to a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, transmitting an anchor association index indicating an association between a beam pair link and a set of second transmit beams of the BS, wherein the beam pair link is formed by a first transmit beam of the BS and a receive beam of the UE, transmitting beam training RSs according to the beam training RS resource configuration on the set of second transmit beams, and receiving a measurement report including quality measurements of beamformed channels over the receive beam and a subset of the second transmit beams.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided to handle the intermittent disconnections in an mmW system. In one novel aspect, the beam tracking failure is determined upon detection of one or more tracking failure conditions. In one embodiment, the UE further considers potential recoveries to avoid frequent triggering of the beam-tracking failure condition. In another novel aspect, the UE performs one or more recovery procedures based on one or more recovery conditions. In one embodiment, the UE performs the initial alignment procedure to recover the connection. In another embodiment, the UE performs the beam-switching request procedure before triggers the initial alignment procedure. In one embodiment, timers are used to supervise the recovery procedures. In another embodiment, macro-assisted procedures are used for the beam-switching request procedure. In yet another novel aspect, the UE performs reestablishment of a new connection at the upper layer upon receiving the beam-tracking failure indicator.

Abstract: A method of uplink beam indication for uplink transmission in a beamforming network is proposed. After entering connected mode, both downlink and uplink have a default beam pair link (BPL). Based on uplink beam management, the network establishes mapping between uplink beam indication states and reference signal (RS) resources. The network then signals the uplink beam indication states mapping to UE. UE performs subsequent uplink transmission based on the uplink beam indication, where UE determines its TX beams by mapping from RS resources to corresponding UE TX beams. The uplink beam indication is updated whenever a mapping between a beam indication state to a UE TX beam is changed.

Abstract: An incremental scheduling scheme is proposed in a wireless communication system with beamforming. In an initial stage (stage-1), coarse scheduling plan is granted via control beam transmission. In a second stage (stage-2), fine scheduling plan is granted via dedicated beam transmission. Such incremental scheduling scheme provides load balancing for overhead channels on control/dedicated beams via stage-2 scheduling. It utilizes dedicated beam transmission that is more resource efficient and more UE-specific. Furthermore, it provides UE natural power-saving opportunities via stage-1 scheduling.

Abstract: Apparatus and methods are provided using interleaved frequency division multiple access (IFDMA)-based beam management reference signal for TX and RX beam sweeping. In one novel aspect, a set of IFDMA-based BM RS for TX and RX beam sweeping is configured by decomposing a defined reference numerology into N equal-length sub-time units such that the TX and RX beams can switch across sub-time unit boundary. In another novel aspect, a set of IFDMA-based beam management RS for TX and RX beams are configured by concatenating a plurality of IFDMA signals each defined over a corresponding numerology, wherein at least two IFDMA signals have different numerologies. TX and RX beam sweeping are performed based on corresponding TX and RX beam switching points. In another embodiment, the RS is a channel state information RS for a downlink measurement and a sounding reference signal for an uplink measurement.

Abstract: A method of beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) transmission is proposed. UE can search for UE-specific control channel in a search space that is signaled specifically for monitoring network response of the BFRQ. Furthermore, configurations indicated specifically for BFRQ can be carried by dedicated signaling such as high-layer radio resource control (RRC) signaling. After successfully rebuilding connection, UE assumes the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports of UE-specific control channel to be spatially quasi-co-located (QCL-ed) with the reference signals identified during the beam failure recovery procedure.