User Equipment-Autonomously Triggered-Sounding Reference Signals

A method performed by a base station for forming an active coordination set (ACS) specific to a user equipment (UE) based on an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS) from the UE, the method comprising:

• monitoring for transmission of the uplink SRS by monitoring SRS air interface resources allocated to the UE for autonomous transmission of the uplink SRS;
• receiving, over a wireless network and using a first SRS air interface resource of the SRS air interface resources, the uplink SRS from the UE;
• identifying, based on the first SRS air interface resource, a selection of one or more base stations the UE requests for inclusion in the ACS;
• forming the ACS by negotiating with each base station in the selection;
• and
• jointly communicating, over the wireless network, with the UE as part of the ACS.

A user equipment comprising:

• at least one wireless transceiver;
• a processor;
• and
• computer-readable storage media comprising instructions, responsive to execution by the processor, for directing the user equipment to:
• generate a link quality parameter for each broadcast signal in a set of broadcast signals received from a set of base stations;
• select, from the set of base stations and based on the link quality parameter for each broadcast signal in the set of broadcast signals, one or more base stations for inclusion in an active coordination set (ACS);
• identify a sounding reference signal (SRS) air interface resource that maps to the selected one or more base stations;
• request the inclusion of the selected one or more base stations in the ACS by autonomously transmitting, to a first base station, an uplink SRS using the identified SRS air interface resource;
• and
• communicate over a wireless network using the ACS formed with the selected one or more base stations.

A base station comprising:

• at least one wireless transceiver;
• a processor;
• and
• computer-readable storage media comprising instructions, responsive to execution by the processor, for directing the base station to:
• monitoring for transmission of an uplink sounding reference signal (SRS), from a user equipment (UE), by monitoring SRS air interface resources allocated to the UE for autonomous transmission of the uplink SRS;
• receive, over a wireless network and using a first SRS air interface resource of the SRS air interface resources, the uplink SRS from the UE;
• identify, based on the first SRS air interface resource, a selection of one or more base stations the UE requests for inclusion in an active coordination set (ACS);
• form the ACS by negotiating with each base station in the selection;
• and
• jointly communicate, over the wireless network, with the UE as part of the ACS.