Method of Operating Uplink Beacons to Support Inter-Frequency Mobility

A method in a non-serving transmit-receive point (TRP) for operating uplink (UL) reference signals to support inter-frequency mobility, comprising:

• receiving, at the non-serving TRP, a transmission gap pattern from a serving TRP, the transmission gap pattern to be used for sending a reference signal on a non-serving TRP UL frequency, the non-serving TRP UL frequency being different from a serving TRP UL frequency, and the transmission gap pattern representing a set of time intervals during which the UE is not scheduled by the serving TRP UL frequency;
• receiving, at the on-serving TRP, the reference signal from the UE during the transmission gap pattern;
• and
• measuring a parameter of the reference signal, the parameter measurement used to determine whether to handover the UE from the serving TRP to the non-serving TRP.

A method in a user equipment (UE) for operating uplink (UL) reference signals to support inter-frequency mobility, comprising:

• transmitting, by the UE, a first reference signal on a first frequency to a serving transmit-receive point (TRP);
• receiving, at the UE, a transmission gap pattern configuration to be used for sending a second reference signal on a second frequency, the second frequency corresponding to an UL frequency of a non-serving TRP, the transmission gap pattern representing a set of time intervals during which the UE is not scheduled by the serving TRP, and the first frequency not being equal to the second frequency;
• and
• transmitting, by the UE, the second reference signal on the second frequency to the non-serving TRP.

A network component for operating uplink (UL) reference signals to support inter-frequency mobility, the network component comprising:

• a memory storage comprising instructions;
• and
• one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processors execute the instructions to:
• receive a first reference signal from a user equipment (UE), the first reference signal transmitted on a serving TRP UL frequency;
• configure a transmission gap pattern to be used for sending a second reference signal on a non-serving TRP UL frequency, the non-serving TRP UL frequency being different from the serving TRP UL frequency, and the transmission gap pattern representing a set of time intervals during which the UE is not scheduled by the serving TRP UL frequency;
• and
• send a transmission gap pattern configuration and a second reference signal configuration to the UE.

A network component for operating uplink (UL) reference signals to support inter-frequency mobility, the network component comprising:

• a memory storage comprising instructions;
• and
• one or more processor in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processor execute the instructions to:
• receive a transmission gap pattern from a serving transmit-receive point (TRP), the transmission gap pattern to be used for sending a reference signal to a non-serving TRP on a non-serving TRP UL frequency, the non-serving TRP UL frequency being different from a serving TRP UL frequency, and the transmission gap pattern representing a set of time intervals during which the user equipment (UE) is not scheduled by the serving TRP UL frequency;
• receive the reference signal from the UE during the transmission gap pattern;
• and
• measure a parameter of the reference signal, the parameter measurement used to determine whether to handover the UE from the serving TRP to the non-serving TRP.

A user equipment (UE) for operating uplink (UL) reference signals to support inter-frequency mobility, the network component comprising:

• a memory storage comprising instructions;
• and
• one or more processors in communication with the memory, wherein the one or more processor execute the instructions to:
• transmit, by the UE, a first reference signal on a first frequency to a serving transmit-receive point (TRP);
• receive, at the UE, a transmission gap pattern configuration to be used for sending a second reference signal on a second frequency, the second frequency corresponding to an UL frequency of a non-serving TRP, the transmission gap pattern representing a set of time intervals during which the UE is not scheduled by the serving TRP, and the first frequency not being equal to the second frequency;
• and
• transmit, by the UE, the second reference signal on the second frequency to the non-serving TRP.