Network-independent intelligent reflecting surface

A method of operating a user equipment (UE) device in a system that includes a wireless base station and an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), the method comprising:

• wirelessly conveying, using wireless circuitry, control signals within a virtual UE device via a channel control plane (CCP), the virtual UE device including the UE device and the IRS;
• configuring, using the CCP, antenna elements on the IRS using a set of beamforming coefficients;
• receiving, via reflection off the IRS, wireless signals transmitted by the wireless base station while the antenna elements are configured using the set of beamforming coefficients;
• generating, using one or more processors, channel measurements associated with radio-frequency propagation between the UE device and the IRS;
• generating, using the one or more processors, the beamforming coefficients based on the channel measurements;
• and
• transmitting, using a transmitter and the CCP, the beamforming coefficients to the IRS.

An electronic device comprising:

• one or more antennas configured to transmit wireless signals to external equipment via reflection off an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), the wireless signals operating over a control plane and a data plane of the external equipment;
• a transmitter configured to use the one or more antennas to transmit control signals that control operation of the IRS to the IRS over a channel control plane (CCP) that is different from the control plane and the data plane of the external equipment;
• and
• a receiver configured to use the one or more antennas to receive an identifier transmitted over the CCP by an additional IRS, the additional IRS being controlled, via the CCP, by another electronic device.