# US 12,015,468 B2 · Techniques for adaptive beam level selection > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,015,468 B2 - Document ID: US12015468B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/667,387 - Filed: 2022-02-08 - Published: 2023-08-10 - Granted: 2024-06-18 - Earliest claimed: 2022-02-08 - Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Applicants: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Inventors: Jun Zhu; Mihir Vijay Laghate; Raghu Narayan Challa; Brian Clarke Banister - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12015468B2 ## CPC - H04B 7/0408: using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity - H04B 7/0695: {using beam selection} - H04B 7/0404: the mobile station comprising multiple antennas, e.g. to provide uplink diversity - H04B 7/0608: {Antenna selection according to transmission parameters} - H04B 7/0693: {switching off a diversity branch, e.g. to save power} - H04B 7/0802: {using antenna selection (H04B7/0868 takes precedence; antenna beam directivity switching H01Q3/24)} - H04B 7/0874: {using subgroups of receive antennas} - H04B 17/309: Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters - H04L 5/0048: {Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver (allocation of control signalling H04L5/0053; use of control signalling H04L5/0091)} - H04B: TRANSMISSION - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract Techniques and devices for wireless communication are described. A communication device may identify a set of beam level selection parameters. The set of beam level selection parameters may include traffic information, channel information, application information, or any combination thereof. The communication device may select, based on the identified set of beam level selection parameters, a beam level, from a set of beam levels, different from a baseline beam level associated with the wireless communication. The selected beam level may be associated with a number of antenna elements different from a number of antenna elements associated with the baseline beam level. The communication device may perform the wireless communication based on the selected beam level. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: identifying a set of beam level selection parameters, the set of beam level selection parameters comprising uplink traffic information, uplink channel information, application information, or any combination thereof; selecting, based at least in part on the identified set of beam level selection parameters, a beam level, from a set of beam levels, different from a baseline beam level associated with the wireless communication, the selected beam level is associated with a number of antenna elements different from a number of antenna elements associated with the baseline beam level; and transmitting an uplink signal associated with the wireless communication based at least in part on the selected beam level and the associated number of antenna elements. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a respective threshold for one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein: the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a first number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being greater than a threshold, and the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a second number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being less than the threshold, the first number of antenna elements being greater than the second number of antenna elements. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising: transmitting the uplink signal associated with the wireless communication using an increased number of antenna elements of the UE relative to a baseline number of antenna elements at the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being greater than a threshold. ### Claim 5 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising: transmitting the uplink signal associated with the wireless communication using a decreased number of antenna elements of the UE relative to a baseline number of antenna elements at the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being less than a threshold. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters is based at least in part on a step size associated with the selected beam level of the set of beam levels. ### Claim 7 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining the set of beam level selection parameters during a temporal window based at least in part on a configuration. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining uplink data in a memory buffer associated with the UE based at least in part on the uplink traffic information, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined uplink data in the memory buffer associated with the UE. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein: the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a first number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the determined uplink data in the memory buffer associated with the UE being greater than a threshold, and the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a second number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the determined uplink data in the memory buffer associated with the UE being less than the threshold, the first number of antenna elements being greater than the second number of antenna elements. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a channel metric associated with the UE based at least in part on the uplink channel information, the channel metric corresponding to an uplink channel or a downlink channel, or both, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined channel metric associated with the UE. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein the determined channel metric comprises virtual power headroom information, signal-to-noise-ratio information, spectral efficiency information, throughput, or any combination thereof. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, wherein: the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a first number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the channel metric associated with the UE being greater than a threshold, and the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a second number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the channel metric associated with the UE being less than the threshold, the first number of antenna elements being greater than the second number of antenna elements. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a set of uplink channel metrics associated with the UE based at least in part on the uplink channel information, the determined set of uplink channel metrics comprising virtual power headroom information, signal-to-noise-ratio information, spectral efficiency information, throughput, or any combination thereof; and determining a respective priority of each uplink channel metric of the determined set of uplink channel metrics, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined respective priority of each uplink channel metric of the determined set of uplink channel metrics. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13, further comprising: ranking each uplink channel metric of the determined set of uplink channel metrics in accordance with the respective priority of each uplink channel metric of the determined set of uplink channel metrics and based at least in part on each uplink channel metric of the determined set of uplink channel metrics being less than or greater than a respective threshold. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a throughput for an application associated with the UE based at least in part on the application information, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined throughput for the application associated with the UE. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein: the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a first number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the determined throughput for the application associated with the UE being greater than a threshold, and the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a second number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the determined throughput for the application associated with the UE being less than the threshold, the first number of antenna elements being less than the second number of antenna elements. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, wherein the determined throughput for the application associated with the UE corresponds to an estimated throughput for the application associated with the UE. ### Claim 18 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a bin rate for an application associated with the UE based at least in part on the application information, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined bin rate for the application associated with the UE. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18, wherein: the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a first number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the determined bin rate for the application associated with the UE being greater than a threshold, and the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a second number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the determined bin rate for the application associated with the UE being less than the threshold, the first number of antenna elements being greater than the second number of antenna elements. ### Claim 20 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the baseline beam level associated with the wireless communication based at least in part on a beam sweep operation associated with a set of reference signals and a set of quality metrics associated with the set of reference signals, wherein selecting the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined baseline beam level. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the baseline beam level is different than the selected beam level. ### Claim 22 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, further comprising: receiving the set of reference signals based at least in part on the beam sweep operation; and determining one or more quality metrics of the set of quality metrics for each beam level of the set of beam levels based at least in part on the received set of reference signals, wherein determining the baseline beam level from the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication is further based at least in part on the determined one or more quality metrics for each beam level of the set of beam levels. ### Claim 23 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the set of reference signals comprises synchronization signal blocks, channel state information reference signals, demodulation reference signals, or any combination thereof. ### Claim 24 (depends on 20) The method of claim 20, wherein the set of quality metrics comprises a reference signal received power, a signal-to-noise ratio, a spectral efficiency, a throughput, or any combination thereof. ### Claim 25 An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more processors; one or more memories coupled with the one or more processors; and instructions stored in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: identify a set of beam level selection parameters, the set of beam level selection parameters comprising uplink traffic information, uplink channel information, application information, or any combination thereof; select, based at least in part on the identified set of beam level selection parameters, a beam level, from a set of beam levels, different from a baseline beam level associated with the wireless communication, the selected beam level is associated with a number of antenna elements different from a number of antenna elements associated with the baseline beam level; and transmit an uplink signal associated with the wireless communication based at least in part on the selected beam level and the associated number of antenna elements. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: determine a respective threshold for one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters, wherein the instruction to select the beam level of the set of beam levels associated with the wireless communication are further executable by the processor based at least in part on the determined respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters. ### Claim 27 (depends on 26) The apparatus of claim 26, wherein: the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a first number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being greater than a threshold, and the selected beam level of the set of beam levels corresponds to a second number of antenna elements of the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being less than the threshold, the first number of antenna elements being greater than the second number of antenna elements. ### Claim 28 (depends on 26) The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the instructions are further executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: transmit the uplink signal associated with the wireless communication using an increased number of antenna elements of the UE relative to a baseline number of antenna elements at the UE based at least in part on the respective threshold for the one or more beam level selection parameters of the identified set of beam level selection parameters being greater than a threshold. ### Claim 29 An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: means for identifying a set of beam level selection parameters, the set of beam level selection parameters comprising uplink traffic information, uplink channel information, application information, or any combination thereof; means for selecting, based at least in part on the identified set of beam level selection parameters, a beam level, from a set of beam levels, different from a baseline beam level associated with the wireless communication, the selected beam level is associated with a number of antenna elements different from a number of antenna elements associated with the baseline beam level; and means for transmitting an uplink signal associated with the wireless communication based at least in part on the selected beam level and the associated number of antenna elements. ### Claim 30 A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), the code comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to: identify a set of beam level selection parameters, the set of beam level selection parameters comprising uplink traffic information, uplink channel information, application information, or any combination thereof; select, based at least in part on the identified set of beam level selection parameters, a beam level, from a set of beam levels, different from a baseline beam level associated with the wireless communication, the selected beam level is associated with a number of antenna elements different from a number of antenna elements associated with the baseline beam level; and transmit an uplink signal associated with the wireless communication based at least in part on the selected beam level and the associated number of antenna elements.