Electronic devices, methods, and storage media for wireless communication systems

Abstract

This invention relates to electronic devices, methods, and storage media for wireless communication systems. This disclosure provides an electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising: processing circuitry configured to: receive from a terminal device capability information indicating at least whether the terminal device supports an uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI state; if, based on the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device supports an UL TCI state: configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and indicate a first UL TCI state using downlink control information (DCI), wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device intends to use in uplink transmission.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure generally relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to techniques related to the indication of uplink transmission beams in wireless communication systems. Background Technology

[0002] In wireless communication systems, terminal devices may have multiple beams (in other words, beam directions) available for uplink transmission. In this case, the terminal device typically needs to select one beam or beam direction (e.g., the beam that provides the best link transmission quality) from among the multiple beams for communication. Generally, the base station indicates to the terminal device the uplink transmission beam to use.

[0003] However, traditional uplink beam indication schemes generally involve complex signaling flows and the uplink beam indication process is quite lengthy.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for an indication mechanism for uplink transmission beams in wireless communication systems, so as to quickly and effectively indicate the beams to be used for uplink transmission. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In response to the above situation, this disclosure proposes an indication scheme for uplink transmission beams in a wireless communication system. Specifically, this disclosure provides an electronic device, method, and computer-readable medium for a wireless communication system.

[0006] One aspect of this disclosure relates to an electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising: processing circuitry configured to: receive capability information from a terminal device that at least indicates whether the terminal device supports an uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI state; if, based on the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device supports an UL TCI state: configure an UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and indicate a first UL TCI state using downlink control information (DCI), wherein the first UL TCI state indicates a beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission.

[0007] Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a method for a wireless communication system, comprising: receiving from a terminal device capability information indicating at least whether the terminal device supports an uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI state; if it is determined based on the capability information that the terminal device supports an UL TCI state: configuring an UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and indicating a first UL TCI state using downlink control information DCI, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates a beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission.

[0008] Another aspect of this disclosure relates to an electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising: processing circuitry configured to: send to a control device capability information indicating at least whether the electronic device supports an uplink transmission configuration indicating a UL TCI state; if the electronic device supports a UL TCI state: receive information about a pool of UL TCI states configured by the control device; and receive downlink control information DCI indicating a first UL TCI state, wherein the first indicates a beam to be used by the electronic device in the uplink transmission.

[0009] Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a method for a wireless communication system, comprising: sending to a control device capability information indicating at least whether the electronic device supports an uplink transmission configuration indicating a UL TCI state; if the electronic device supports a UL TCI state: receiving information about a pool of UL TCI states configured by the control device; and receiving downlink control information DCI indicating a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates a beam to be used by the electronic device in uplink transmission.

[0010] Another aspect of this disclosure relates to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the methods described in the above aspects.

[0011] Another aspect of this disclosure relates to an apparatus comprising: a processor, a storage device storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the method as described above. Attached Figure Description

[0012] A better understanding of this disclosure can be obtained by considering the following detailed description of the embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The same or similar reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote the same or similar parts. The drawings, together with the following detailed description, are incorporated in and form a part of this specification to illustrate embodiments of the disclosure and explain the principles and advantages of the disclosure. Wherein:

[0013] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating the signaling for indicating the uplink beam in a conventional manner is shown.

[0014] Figure 2 A schematic diagram illustrating the beam indication dependency of PUSCH in the conventional method is shown.

[0015] Figure 3A The information elements related to the downlink Transmit Beam Indication (TCI) state pool are schematically shown;

[0016] Figure 3B The information elements of the downlink TCI status are schematically shown;

[0017] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the communication system used according to this disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 5 A conceptual configuration of an electronic device on the control device side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated schematically;

[0019] Figure 6 The information elements of the uplink (UL) TCI status are schematically shown;

[0020] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating the activation of the UL TCI state using a control element (MACCE) of the Media Access Control layer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0021] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of a UL TCI status indication according to a first example of a first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0022] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of a UL TCI status indication according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0023] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of a UL TCI status indication according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure is shown;

[0024] Figure 11 A conceptual operation flow of an electronic device on the control device side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated schematically;

[0025] Figure 12 A conceptual configuration of an electronic device on the terminal device side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated schematically;

[0026] Figure 13 The schematic diagram illustrates a conceptual operation flow of an electronic device on the terminal device side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 14 The signaling interaction between the control device and the terminal device according to embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated schematically.

[0028] Figure 15 A block diagram of an example structure of a personal computer that may be used as an information processing device in embodiments of this disclosure;

[0029] Figure 16 A block diagram illustrating a first example of a illustrative configuration of a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied;

[0030] Figure 17A block diagram illustrating a second example of a illustrative configuration of a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure may be applied;

[0031] Figure 18 A block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone to which the technologies of this disclosure can be applied; and

[0032] Figure 19 A block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device to which the techniques of this disclosure can be applied.

[0033] While the embodiments described in this disclosure may be readily modified and alternatively implemented, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the accompanying drawings and are described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and the detailed description thereof are not intended to limit the embodiments to the specific forms disclosed, but rather are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives that fall within the spirit and scope of the claims. Detailed Implementation

[0034] The following description illustrates representative applications of the devices and methods described herein. These examples are provided merely to provide context and aid in understanding the described embodiments. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments described below can be practiced without some or all of the specific details provided. In other instances, well-known process steps have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the described embodiments. Other applications are also possible, and the scope of this disclosure is not limited to these examples.

[0035] Typically, a wireless communication system includes at least a control device and terminal devices, with the control device providing communication services to one or more terminal devices.

[0036] In this disclosure, the terms "base station" or "control device" are used in their full breadth of their common meaning and include at least a wireless communication station that is part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication. For example, a base station may be an eNB of the 4G communication standard, a gNB of the 5G communication standard, a remote radio head, a wireless access point, a drone control tower, or a communication device that performs similar functions. In this disclosure, "base station" and "control device" may be used interchangeably, or a "control device" may be implemented as part of a "base station." The following describes application examples of base stations / control devices in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0037] In this disclosure, the terms "terminal device" or "user equipment (UE)" are used in their full breadth of their usual meaning and include at least a terminal device that is part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication. For example, a terminal device may be a mobile phone, laptop computer, tablet computer, vehicle communication device, or a component thereof. In this disclosure, "terminal device" and "user equipment" (hereinafter referred to simply as "user") may be used interchangeably, or a "terminal device" may be implemented as part of a "user equipment." Subsequent sections will describe in detail application examples of terminal devices / UEs using terminal devices as an example.

[0038] In this disclosure, the term "control equipment side" / "base station side" has the full breadth of its usual meaning and generally refers to the side of a communication system's downlink that transmits data. Similarly, the term "terminal equipment side" / "user equipment side" has the full breadth of its usual meaning and can accordingly refer to the side of a communication system's downlink that receives data.

[0039] In this disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the term "beam" refers to a directional beam formed by focusing a transmitted signal in certain specific spatial directions through beamforming. Furthermore, the term "beam" is generally equivalent to the term "spatial domain filter." More specifically, a transmit beam (Tx beam) is equivalent to a transmit spatial filter, and a receive beam (Rx beam) is equivalent to a receive spatial filter.

[0040] In this disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the terms "uplink beam" and "uplink transmission beam" are equivalent, referring to the beam used by the terminal equipment for uplink transmission / transmission. The terms "downlink beam" and "downlink transmission beam" are equivalent, referring to the beam used by the base station for downlink transmission / transmission.

[0041] In this disclosure, the term "beam symmetry" means that the transmit beam of a transmitter can be symmetrical (i.e., directionally symmetrical) with respect to the receive beam of a receiver. Furthermore, the receive beam of a receiver relative to a transmitter can also be symmetrical with respect to the transmit beam of that transmitter. For example, the downlink transmission beam of a base station can be symmetrical with the receive beam of a terminal device, and consequently with the uplink transmission beam of the terminal device.

[0042] In this disclosure, the terms “Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameter” and “RRC signaling” can generally have equivalent meanings, both referring to information transmitted in the RRC layer or information elements defined in the RRC layer.

[0043] It should be noted that although the following description of embodiments of this disclosure is primarily based on a communication system including a base station and terminal equipment, these descriptions can be extended accordingly to communication systems including any other type of control device side and terminal equipment side. For example, in the case of a downlink, the operation of the control device side may correspond to the operation of the base station, and the operation of the terminal equipment side may correspondingly correspond to the operation of the terminal equipment.

[0044] Figure 1 A flowchart illustrating the signaling for indicating uplink beams in a conventional manner is shown, representing, for example, the uplink beam indication process according to 3GPP Rel.15.

[0045] Generally, terminal devices use the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) for uplink data transmission, and both codebook-based and non-codebook-based uplink transmission schemes can typically be used for PUSCH. This article uses codebook-based PUSCH as an example to briefly introduce the uplink transmission beam indication process in the traditional method.

[0046] like Figure 1 As shown, the terminal device (UE) and the network side (NW, e.g., base station) first perform a beam scanning process to measure the uplink beam. Figure 1 As shown, the network side first triggers a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource set for Beam Management (BM). Based on the triggered SRS resource set, the UE sends an SRS beam scan to the network side; that is, the UE uses the triggered SRS resources to send multiple SRSs to the network side, and the beam used for each SRS is different. In other words, the UE uses multiple beam directions to send multiple SRSs to the network side. Subsequently, the network side performs measurements on the corresponding SRS resources and determines the optimal SRS resource, i.e., determines the optimal uplink beam direction. Next, based on the determined optimal uplink beam direction, the base station reconfigures the spatial relationships of the SRS resource set for codebook-based uplink transmission to indicate the uplink beam used for CB SRS (e.g., using the SRS-SpatialRelationInfo information element).

[0047] Subsequently, the UE and the network side engage in signaling interactions related to the codebook-based uplink transmission scheme. For example... Figure 1As shown, the network side triggers the CB SRS resource set. Next, the UE transmits SRS within the triggered SRS resource set. The network side determines information related to codebook-based uplink transmission based on the SRS transmitted by the US, such as the Transmit Precoding Matrix Indicator (TPMI), rank, and Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS). Subsequently, the network side schedules the transmission of PUSCH and sends the determined relevant information to the UE. Next, the UE modulates and codes the data based on the MCS indicated by the network side, and determines precoding-related information based on TPMI, rank, etc., thereby precoding the data and transmitting it.

[0048] Generally, the network side indicates SRS resources, i.e., triggers the SRS resource set, through the Sounding Reference Signal Resource Indicator (SRI) in the Downlink Control Information (DCI). Generally, regardless of whether the uplink transmission is codebook-based or non-codebook-based, the content and length of the SRI are related to the number of SRS resources configured in the SRS resource set. (See reference...) Figure 1 Understandably, the beam direction of an SRS resource in a CB SRS resource set (i.e., the beam direction of an SRS transmitted using that SRS resource) depends on the SRS-SpatialRelationInfo configured on the network side. Within this SRS-SpatialRelationInfo element, another reference signal is used to indicate the uplink beam direction. For example, in the absence of beam symmetry, the SRS-SpatialRelationInfo element indicates an SRS during uplink beam scanning, thus indicating the uplink beam direction as the indicated SRS. In other words, in the absence of beam symmetry, the SRS-SpatialRelationInfo indicates another SRS resource used for uplink beam scanning. In cases of beam symmetry, a downlink reference signal (such as a Channel Status Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) or Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)) is indicated in the SRS-SpatialRelationInfo information element, thereby indicating that the uplink beam direction is an uplink beam direction symmetrical to the downlink beam direction of the indicated downlink reference signal.

[0049] Figure 2This further illustrates an example of the complex mapping relationships in the traditional uplink beam indication mechanism. For example... Figure 2 As shown, the uplink beam direction of the PUSCH depends on SRS resource 2 in SRS resource set 1 triggered for "codebook", and the uplink beam direction corresponding to SRS resource 2 depends on SRS resource 4 in SRS resource set 2 triggered for "beam management". Further as... Figure 2 As shown, the uplink beam direction of the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), which is generally used to transmit uplink control information, also has a similar complex mapping relationship.

[0050] As can be seen, in this traditional approach, uplink beam indication involves a relatively lengthy process, during which complex signaling interactions are required. Therefore, a simpler and more efficient uplink beam indication mechanism is needed.

[0051] Current 3GPP standards (e.g., Rel.15) already include a mechanism for downlink beam indication using Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) status. See below for reference. Figure 3A and Figure 3B This mechanism will be briefly explained.

[0052] Generally, before downlink transmission begins (e.g., during RRC connection establishment), the base station and terminal equipment transmit reference signals, such as Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RS) and Synchronization Signal Blocks (SSBs), and these reference signals may be transmitted via one or more beams. Therefore, before downlink transmission begins, the terminal equipment may have already measured some spatially directional downlink reference signals and can use the receiving beam that previously received the downlink reference signals to receive new channels or signals.

[0053] Specifically, beamforming can be performed using TCI states. A TCI state is an RRC parameter, and each TCI state corresponds to a downlink beam direction.

[0054] like Figure 3A As shown, for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), for example, the TCI state pool used to indicate the downlink beam can be configured using the PDSCH-Config information element (e.g., by...). Figure 3A The TCI state pools shown in "tci-statesToAddModList" and "tci-statesToReleaseList" are examples of this.

[0055] like Figure 3B As shown, the TCI state can contain an index of a downlink reference signal, such as a CSI-RS (Channel State Information-Reference Signal) index or an SSB (Synchronization Signal Block) index. Through the TCI state information element, one or more downlink reference signals can be associated with a corresponding quasi-co-location (QCL) type, where Type D represents quasi-co-location in the spatial direction. That is, when associating a downlink reference signal with a Type D quasi-co-location using the TCI state information element, the index of the downlink reference signal contained in the TCI state information element can instruct the base station to use the beam direction for downlink transmission of the reference signal represented by that index. In other words, the terminal device can use the receive beam for receiving the reference signal represented by that index to receive the target channel or signal. In short, there is a directional relationship between the reference channel / signal and the target channel / signal. Further reference... Figure 3B The reference signal index can be associated with the quasi-co-address type using "CHOICE" and "ENUMBERATED", thereby setting the downlink beam by configuring the TCI state.

[0056] In this downlink beam indication mechanism, since the downlink beam can be directly indicated using the TCI state, the complex mapping relationship present in traditional uplink beam indication mechanisms does not exist, thus enabling relatively simple and effective beam indication. Therefore, the scheme disclosed herein considers introducing an uplink TCI (UL TCI) state to indicate the uplink beam, allowing for more flexible uplink beam indication.

[0057] Furthermore, the introduction of the new UL TCI state parameter presents compatibility challenges for existing legacy protocols (such as Rel.15). Therefore, this disclosure also proposes a scheme with minimal modifications to the existing architecture to support uplink beam management based on the UL TCI state.

[0058] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the communication system used according to this disclosure is shown. For example... Figure 4 As shown, the base station and the terminal device communicate using multiple beams. Specifically, the terminal device can use one of the multiple beams (i.e., beam directions) to communicate with the base station during uplink transmission. Figure 4The diagram schematically illustrates three beams between terminal device 20A and base station 10; however, the number of beams between the base station and terminal device is not limited to this, and there may be more than three beams (e.g., eight or more) or fewer than three beams capable of being used for communication between them. Furthermore, although... Figure 4 Only a schematic beam between terminal device 20A and base station 10 is shown, but similar multiple beams also exist between other terminal devices (such as terminal devices 20B and 20C) and the base station.

[0059] According to this disclosure, UL TCI status is introduced for uplink beam indication. This is in consideration of existing conventional uplink beam indication mechanisms (such as those mentioned in reference 1). Figure 1 The compatibility issue of the uplink beam indication mechanism (as described in 3GPP Rel.15) requires determining which uplink beam indication mechanism to use based on whether the terminal device supports UL TCI states. According to this disclosure, the base station can receive capability information from the terminal device indicating at least whether the terminal device supports uplink transmission configuration indicating UL TCI states; and if it is determined based on the capability information that the terminal device supports UL TCI states: configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and utilize DCI to indicate a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in uplink transmission.

[0060] According to this disclosure, a portion of the UL TCI states in the configured UL TCI state pool can be activated using the control element MAC CE of the media access control layer, such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states, and in subsequent processes, the DCI is used to indicate one of the activated UL TCI states in order to indicate the uplink beam.

[0061] The communication system according to this disclosure has been briefly introduced above. The configuration and operation of the electronic equipment in the communication system of this disclosure will be described in detail below.

[0062] The structure and operation of the electronic equipment on the control device side according to this disclosure

[0063] The following will refer to Figure 5 This describes a conceptual configuration of an electronic device (e.g., a base station) on the control device side according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0064] This electronic device can be implemented as a device for indicating uplink beams. For example, it can be implemented as a base station (BS), small cell, Node B, e-Node B, g-Node B, relay, etc., in a cellular communication system; a terminal device in a machine-type communication system; a sensor node in an ad hoc network; or a coexistence manager (CM) or SAS in a cognitive radio system. For example, it can be implemented as any type of evolved Node B (eNB), such as a macro eNB (associated with a macro cell) and a small eNB (associated with a small cell). A small eNB can be an eNB covering a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico eNB, micro eNB, and femtocell eNB. Alternatively, it can be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a network node in a next-generation network like a gNB, Node B, and base transceiver station (BTS). The electronic device may include: a subject configured to control wireless communication (also called a base station device); and one or more remote radio heads (RRHs) located in a different location from the subject. Furthermore, the various types of devices described later can function as this electronic device by temporarily or semi-persistently performing base station functions. It should be noted that electronic devices may be included in the base station as a component of the base station, or they may be separate from the base station and used to control the base station.

[0065] like Figure 5 As shown, the electronic device 50 may include processing circuitry 500. This processing circuitry 500 may be configured to control operations related to uplink beam indication. For example, the processing circuitry 500 may employ different uplink beam indication methods based on capability information received from the terminal device, at least indicating whether the terminal device supports an uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI state, and, if it is determined that the terminal device supports the UL TCI state: configure a ULTCI state pool for the terminal device; and utilize DCI to indicate a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device intends to use in uplink transmission.

[0066] The processing circuit 500 can be in the form of a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processing circuit, such as an ASIC. For example, the processing circuit 400 can be constructed from circuitry (hardware) or a central processing unit (such as a central processing unit (CPU)). Furthermore, the processing circuit 400 can carry a program (software) for making the circuitry (hardware) or the central processing unit function. This program can be stored in memory (such as arranged in memory 401) or in an externally connected storage medium, and can be downloaded via a network (such as the Internet).

[0067] According to some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the electronic device may include various units to implement the embodiments according to this disclosure.

[0068] For example, the processing circuit may include a terminal device capability determination unit 5002. This terminal device capability determination unit 5002 may, for example, determine whether the terminal device supports UL TCI status based on capability information received from the terminal device via the communication unit 504. For example, this capability of the terminal device may be transmitted by the terminal device to the network side (e.g., the electronic device 50 acting as a base station) via SupportULTCI, which is a Terminal Capability Information Element (IE). For example, when the terminal device capability determination unit 5002 determines that the value of SupportULTCI, which is the IE of the terminal capability, is 0, it can be determined that the terminal device does not support UL TCI status, and the uplink transmit beam indication unit 5004 can be controlled to perform uplink beam indication using conventional methods. Conversely, when the terminal device capability determination unit 5002 determines that the value of IEupportULTCI of the terminal capability is 1, it can be determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status, i.e., the uplink beam can be indicated using the UL TCI status-based scheme of this disclosure. It should be noted that when a terminal device supports an uplink beam indication scheme based on UL TCI status, the terminal device generally also supports conventional uplink beam indication methods (e.g., the Rel.15 method). In this case, the network side (e.g., the base station) generally determines which method to use for uplink beam indication; for example, the uplink beam indication method based on UL TCI status according to this disclosure can preferably be used.

[0069] The terminal device capability determination unit 5002 can also determine other capabilities of the terminal device, for example, based on capability information received from the terminal device via the communication unit 504, such as whether the terminal device supports the capability to indicate uplink beams using UL TCI status indication bits in the DCI according to the second embodiment of this disclosure. In this case, the capability information can also indicate whether the terminal device supports a DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits. It should be noted that the capability information indicating various capabilities of the terminal device can be sent from the terminal device to the base station as an information element, which can have the number of bits of the number of capabilities to be indicated, thereby using different bits of the capability information element to indicate whether the terminal device has different capabilities (e.g., whether it supports uplink beam indication based on UL TCI status and whether it supports a DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits). Alternatively, capability information indicating different capabilities can also be sent from the terminal device to the base station as separate information elements, in which case each information element can contain only one bit, and the individual information elements can be sent from the terminal device to the base station in separate information. Alternatively, a default configuration can be used. For example, when it is determined that the terminal device supports uplink beam indication based on UL TCI status, the terminal device capability determination unit 5002 can default to determining that the terminal device also supports the DCI format containing UL TCI status indication bits. In this case, the capability information can be transmitted as an information element with one bit.

[0070] Figure 5 The terminal device capability determination unit 5002 is shown as a single unit. In reality, this unit division is merely exemplary, and the processing circuitry 500 can have other implementations for this function of determining terminal device capabilities. For example, the terminal device capability determination unit 5002 can have multiple modules, each module used to determine a capability as described above. Alternatively, the processing circuitry 500 can directly implement the function of determining terminal device capabilities without setting up a dedicated unit / module for it.

[0071] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the processing circuit 500 may include an uplink beam indication unit 5004 for indicating uplink beams. In implementation, the uplink beam indication unit 5004 may include various modules / subunits to implement various operations described herein during the uplink beam indication process. For example, the uplink beam indication unit 5004 may include a TCI state pool configuration module configured for the terminal device to configure a TCI state pool to select a corresponding TCI state from the configured pool in a subsequent process to indicate the uplink beam. The uplink beam indication unit 5004 may also include a TCI state indication module configured to indicate the TCI state associated with the beam to be used by the terminal device for uplink transmission. The uplink beam indication unit 5004 may also include a module (not shown) for activating some or all of the TCI states in the configured TCI state pool.

[0072] Alternatively, the uplink beam indication unit 5004 may include more or fewer modules. For example, the TCI state pool configuration module may not be included in the uplink beam indication unit 5004 or even in the processing circuit 500, and may transmit relevant information to the uplink beam indication unit 5004 of the processing circuit 500 after the TCI state pool is determined. Alternatively, the TCI state indication module may be further divided into finer sub-modules to implement uplink beam indication according to different embodiments of this disclosure. Detailed operation of the uplink beam indication unit 5004 will be referenced below. Figure 6-10 Please provide an explanation.

[0073] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the processing circuit 500 may include an uplink beam indication mode notification unit 5006. The uplink beam indication mode notification unit 5006 may be configured to indicate whether the beam to be used in uplink transmission by the terminal device is indicated using a conventional method (e.g., the uplink beam indication mode in Rel. 15 described above) or a method based on the UL TCI status. For example, the uplink beam indication mode notification unit 5006 may notify of such uplink beam indication mode using RRC parameters. For example, the uplink beam indication mode notification unit 5006 may notify of such uplink beam indication mode using appropriate RRC parameters during RRC connection establishment. For example, existing RRC parameters may be reused for notification, or RRC parameters specifically created for uplink beam indication mode may be created for such notification. Furthermore, the uplink beam indication mode notification unit 5006 may also provide more specific notification to indicate whether the UL TCI status is indicated using the SRI of the DCI or the UL TCI status indication bit. For example, the uplink beam indication mode notification unit 5006 can indicate whether the uplink beam indication is performed according to one of the two uplink beam indication modes of reusing the SRI in the DCI as in the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the uplink beam indication mode of utilizing the UL TCI status indication bit in the DCI as in the second embodiment of the present disclosure, or the uplink beam indication mode of utilizing beam symmetry as in the third embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0074] In addition, the processing circuit 500 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for interfacing between the units.

[0075] It should be noted that the above-described units are merely logical modules divided according to their specific functions, and are not intended to limit the specific implementation method. For example, they can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. In actual implementation, the above-described units can be implemented as independent physical entities, or they can be implemented by a single entity (e.g., a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), integrated circuit, etc.). Furthermore, the units shown in the accompanying drawings with dashed lines indicate that these units may not actually exist, and the operations / functions they perform can be implemented by the processing circuit itself. Moreover, the units / modules and their operations / functions shown with dashed lines in the accompanying drawings can be selectively applied according to the actual situation; that is, the processing circuit does not necessarily need to include all the shown units / modules and their operations / functions, but can selectively implement a portion of these units / modules and their operations / functions.

[0076] Optionally, the electronic device 50 may also include a memory 502 and a communication unit 504. Furthermore, the electronic device 50 may also include other components not shown, such as a radio frequency link, a baseband processing unit, a network interface, a processor, a controller, etc. The processing circuitry 500 may be associated with the memory 502 and / or the communication unit 504. For example, the processing circuitry 500 may be directly or indirectly connected to the memory 502 (e.g., with other components possibly connected in between) for data access. Also, for example, the processing circuitry 500 may be directly or indirectly connected to the communication unit 504 to transmit and receive radio signals via the communication unit 504.

[0077] Memory 502 can store various information to be used by or generated by processing circuit 500 (e.g., terminal device capability information, configured TCI state pool information, etc.), programs and data for operation of electronic device 50, data to be transmitted by communication unit 504, etc. Memory 502 is drawn with dashed lines because it can be located either within processing circuit 500 or outside electronic device 50. Memory 502 can be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. For example, memory 502 can include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), and flash memory.

[0078] Communication unit 504 can be configured to communicate with an electronic device (e.g., a receiving electronic device) at the other end of the communication circuit under the control of processing circuit 500. In one example, communication unit 504 can be implemented as a transmitter or transceiver, including communication components such as an antenna array and / or a radio frequency link. In one implementation, communication unit 504 can notify the terminal device of the uplink beam to be used in uplink transmission based on the uplink beam determination result of processing circuit 500. In one implementation, communication unit 504 can receive reference signals, capability information, etc. from the terminal device and provide them to processing circuit 500 for further analysis and processing.

[0079] Although Figure 5 The diagram shows the processing circuitry 500 separated from the communication unit 504; however, the processing circuitry 500 can also be implemented to include the communication unit 504. Furthermore, the processing circuitry 500 can also be implemented to include one or more other components within the electronic device 50, or the processing circuitry 500 can be implemented as the electronic device 50 itself. In practical implementation, the processing circuitry 500 can be implemented as a chip (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single wafer), a hardware component, or a complete product.

[0080] The detailed operations performed by electronic device 50 will be described below.

[0081] As explained above, according to this disclosure, the UL TCI status can be used to indicate the uplink beam that the terminal device will use in uplink transmission. Below, reference is first made to... Figure 6 This section introduces the UL TCI status.

[0082] like Figure 6 As shown, the UL TCI status can include an index of a reference signal. The included reference signal can be an uplink reference signal, such as an SRS (e.g., transmitted by the terminal device during beam scanning). This can be achieved through methods such as... Figure 6 The UL TCI status information element shown can associate one or more reference signals with a corresponding quasi-co-location (QCL) type, where Quasi-co-location type D can represent quasi-co-location in the spatial direction. When associating a reference signal with a Type D quasi-co-location, the index of the reference signal contained in the UL TCI status information element can be used to indicate the uplink beam available for uplink transmission. For example, the index of the uplink reference signal in the UL TCI status can be used to indicate that the uplink beam available for uplink transmission is the beam transmitting that uplink reference signal. Further reference... Figure 6 The reference signal index can be associated with a quasi-co-address type (e.g., Type D) using "CHOICE" and "ENUMBERATED," thereby setting the uplink beam by configuring the UL TCI state. For example, when associating the SRS with a Type D quasi-co-address, the UL TCI state indicates that the beam identical to the SRS's transmit beam is the uplink beam available for subsequent uplink transmissions.

[0083] According to this disclosure, the case of beam symmetry is considered. In the presence of beam symmetry, since the downlink transmission beam of the base station can be symmetrical with the receiving beam of the terminal device, and the receiving beam of the terminal device can be symmetrical with the uplink transmission beam, the uplink transmission beam of the terminal device can be indicated by means of the downlink transmission beam of the base station. Therefore, an index of the downlink reference signal, such as an index of CSI-RS or SSB, can be introduced into the UL TCI state. When the downlink reference signal is associated with a Type D quasi-co-address, this UL TCI state indicates that the terminal device can use an uplink transmission beam symmetrical to the downlink transmission beam that transmits the downlink reference signal for subsequent uplink transmission.

[0084] According to this disclosure, multiple UL TCI states can be configured as a UL TCI state pool for a terminal device via RRC signaling. For example, each UL TCI state in the UL TCI state pool can correspond to an available uplink beam. According to this disclosure, the base station can transmit RRC signaling to the terminal device using an appropriate channel / signal carrying the RRC signaling. For example, the base station can transmit RRC signaling for configuring the UL TCI state pool to the terminal device via PUSCH.

[0085] According to this disclosure, a DCI can be used to indicate a UL TCI state, which indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in uplink transmission. Since the configured UL TCI state pool may contain a large number of UL TCI states, and the number of UL TCI states may exceed the number of UL TCI states that the corresponding bits of the DCI can indicate, in this case, some UL TCI states in the pool can be activated such that the corresponding bits of the DCI are sufficient to indicate any of the activated UL TCI states. It should be noted that if the corresponding bits of the DCI are sufficient to directly indicate the number of UL TCI states in the configured UL TCI state pool, the operation of activating some or all UL TCI states can also be performed. In this case, when activating some UL TCI states, the number of bits of the corresponding DCI to be used can be reduced accordingly, thereby reducing signaling overhead. According to this disclosure, the activated UL TCI states may be beams corresponding to beam directions with good or relatively idle communication link quality. Alternatively, UL TCI states in the pool can be activated randomly. According to this disclosure, such activation can be achieved using MAC CE.

[0086] Below, we will refer to Figure 7 The activation of the UL TCI status is explained.

[0087] Figure 7 A schematic diagram illustrating the activation of the UL TCI state using a control element (MACCE) of the Media Access Control layer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0088] According to this disclosure, it is possible to use, for example Figure 7 The MAC CE shown is used to activate several UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool. Figure 7In the DCI terminal, the "Serving Cell ID" field indicates the serving cell to which the MAC CE will apply. This field can be, for example, 5 bits long. The "BWP ID" field indicates the uplink bandwidth portion (UL Bandwidth part, UL BWP) to which the MAC CE will apply, serving as the code point for the "bandwidth part indicator" field in the DCI terminal. This field can be, for example, 2 bits long. The "R" field is a reserved bit, which can be 1 bit long and is generally set to 0. "T" i The field indicates the identifier (i.e., ID) of the ULTCI status. The identifier of the ULTCI status is, for example, by means of... Figure 6 It is determined by the "tci-stateId" in the UL TCI status information element shown.

[0089] like Figure 7 As shown, the MAC CE used to activate the UL TCI state can include N bytes and correspondingly indicate the activation / deactivation of (N-1)×8 UL TCI states. The number of bytes N in the MAC CE can be a fixed value or any integer greater than or equal to 2, depending on the actual situation. Each "T" i The field can indicate the activation / deactivation of the UL TCI state with ID "i". For example, when "T" i When the field is set to 1, the UL TCI state with ID i is activated, and when "T i "When the field is set to 0, the UL TCI state with ID i is not activated. Here, "T i The correspondence between the field values ​​and the activation / deactivation of UL TCI status is just an example. Other correspondences can also be used. For example, 0 indicates that the UL TCI status with ID i is activated, and 1 indicates that the UL TCI status with ID i is not activated.

[0090] According to this disclosure, the IDs of the UL TCI states included in the UL TCI state pool configured via RRC signaling can be discontinuous (e.g., some UL TCI states are not associated with Type D quasi-co-address, and therefore do not indicate uplink beam direction). In this case, when the terminal device receives a MAC CE, it can first verify whether a UL TCI state with ID i exists in the pool. If it does, it can then determine the appropriate UL TCI state based on "T". i The value of the "T" field determines whether to activate the ULTCI state, and if it does not exist, the "T" field is ignored. i "field".

[0091] According to this disclosure, the maximum number of UL TCIs activated by the MAC CE can depend on the number of bits in the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state (e.g., the SRI or UL TCI indicator bit, which will be described in detail below). For example, when the number of bits in the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state is 3, up to 8 UL TCI states can be activated using the MAC CE. However, the number of activated UL TCI states can be less than the number that the number of bits in the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state can represent. For example, when the number of bits in the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state is 3, fewer than 8 UL TCI states can be activated using the MAC CE. In this disclosure, the field in the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state may have a variable number of bits (e.g., the SRI, which will be described in detail below, the length of which depends on the number of SRS resources), in which case the maximum number of UL TCIs activated by the MAC CE can depend on the maximum number of bits in the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state.

[0092] Below, we will refer to Figure 8-10 The UL TCI status indication method according to this disclosure is described in detail.

[0093] Figure 8 A schematic diagram illustrating an uplink TCI status indication according to a first example of a first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. According to the first example of the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the SRI in the DCI is used to indicate the UL TCI status corresponding to the beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission.

[0094] Generally, the SRI is used to indicate SRS resources. In a first example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the SRI field in the DCI is reused to indicate the UL TCI status. Typically, the ID of the UL TCI status may have a large value; for example, the ID value of the UL TCI status may reach 128. This results in at least 7 bits being needed to represent the ID value of the UL TCI status, thus requiring a long SRI field. Therefore, a method is needed to reduce the number of bits used to indicate the UL TCI status to reduce signaling overhead.

[0095] According to a first example of a first embodiment of this disclosure, the value N of SRI can correspond to the Nth UL TCI state in a list of UL TCI states sorted from low to high or high to low according to the identifier size of the configured or activated UL TCI states. For example... Figure 8As shown, the UL TCI state pool configured by RRC contains multiple UL TCI states, and eight of them (UL TCI states with IDs 3, 7, 18, 26, 54, 56, 82, and 90) are activated via MAC CE. To use SRI to indicate UL TCI, the base station can sort the eight activated UL TCI states and use the sorted order as the SRI value to indicate the UL TCI state. For example... Figure 8 As shown, when the ID of the UL TCI state to be indicated is 7, since this ID value is the second UL TCI state in ascending order among the eight active UL TCI states, the base station can use an SRI with a value of 1 (counting from 0) (e.g., "001") to indicate the UL TCI state with ID 7. Similarly, the base station can use an SRI with a value of "111" to indicate the UL TCI state with ID 90. To interpret the SRI, the terminal device can also perform the same sorting of the active UL TCI IDs and determine which UL TCI in the sorted sequence is being indicated based on the received SRI. It should be noted that the sorting can be done in either ascending or descending order, as long as the sorting method used by the terminal device and the base station is consistent.

[0096] According to a first example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the UL TCI status can be indicated by reusing the SRI field in the DCI, thereby indicating the uplink beam to be used by the terminal device. Advantageously, in this way, a more flexible and concise uplink beam indication method can be achieved without any modification to the existing DCI format. Furthermore, since the number of bits consumed in indicating the UL TCI status is reduced by using a sorting method, the first example of the first embodiment of this disclosure does not require expanding the number of bits in the SRI, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0097] Figure 9 A schematic diagram illustrating an uplink TCI status indication according to a second example of a first embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. According to the second example of the first embodiment of the present disclosure, the SRI in the DCI is used to indicate the UL TCI status corresponding to the beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission.

[0098] In a second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the SRI field in the DCI is reused to indicate the UL TCI status. Generally, the length of the SRI is related to the number of SRS resources and is therefore sufficient to express the SRS resources. In view of this, this second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure proposes a method for indicating uplink beams using a correspondence (e.g., a mapping relationship) between SRS resources and UL TCI status.

[0099] According to a second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, SRI (Sound Reference Indicator) is used to indicate Sound Reference Signal (SRS) resources, wherein each SRS resource corresponds to a UL TCI state, and the correspondence between SRS resources and UL TCI states is predetermined. For example, a base station can establish a one-to-one correspondence between each UL TCI state in the UL TCI state pool and an SRS resource. For example, this mapping relationship between UL TCI states and SRS resources can be determined during the RRC (Reference Control Code) configuration phase. For example, during the RRC configuration phase, the base station can establish a one-to-one correspondence between each UL TCI state and an SRS resource, and send information related to the established correspondence to the terminal device (e.g., via RRC signaling). There may be a situation where the number of UL TCI states in the initially configured UL TCI state pool exceeds the maximum number of SRS resources. In this case, the base station can, for example, discard some UL TCI states based on the link quality and channel occupancy in the beam direction represented by each UL TCI state, so that a one-to-one correspondence can be established between each UL TCI state in the UL TCI state pool and an SRS.

[0100] According to this example, the base station can establish this mapping relationship based on certain rules. For example, the base station can map the UL TCI state to an SRS resource according to the reference signal involved in the UL TCI state. Furthermore, the base station can map the UL TCI state to the SRS resource associated with its contained reference signal. For example, if the UL TCI state contains an SRS, a mapping relationship can be established between the UL TCI state and the SRS. As another example, in the presence of beam symmetry, when the UL TCI state contains a downlink reference signal (such as CSI-RS or SSB), the base station can establish a mapping relationship between the SRS used by the terminal device for beam reporting of the downlink reference signal and the UL TCI state. Using this method, the base station can easily establish this mapping relationship and save some signaling overhead. For example, if the reference signal contained in the UL TCI state is related to an SRS, the base station does not need to send the mapping relationship between the UL TCI state and the SRS, and the terminal device can determine this mapping relationship itself based on the relationship between the reference signal and the SRS. It should be noted that mapping a UL TCI state to an SRS resource solely based on the reference signal involved in the UL TCI state may result in multiple UL TCI states being mapped to the same SRS resource. In this case, the base station can maintain only one one-to-one mapping relationship between the UL TCI state and the SRS resource, and re-establish one-to-one mapping relationships between other UL TCI states and other SRS resources. Furthermore, there may be situations where it is impossible to map a UL TCI state to an SRS resource based on the included reference signal. In this case, the base station can map the UL TCI state to any SRS resource for which a mapping relationship has not yet been established.

[0101] Alternatively, the base station may not use this reference signal-related rule to establish a one-to-one mapping between UL TCI states and SRS resources. For example, the base station may randomly assign each UL TCI state to an SRS resource.

[0102] like Figure 9 As shown, based on the established mapping relationship, each UL TCI state activated by the MAC CE uniquely corresponds to an SRS resource. Thus, after receiving the SRI in the DCI, the terminal device can find an SRS resource according to the SRI's indication and further locate the corresponding UL TCI state based on the mapping relationship.

[0103] In this example, preferably, the mapping is performed before the MAC CE activates the UL TCI state; in other words, a mapping relationship is established between each UL TCI state in the UL TCI state pool and the SRS, rather than only for the UL TCI state activated by the MAC CE. This allows the base station sufficient time to establish the mapping relationship and notify the terminal device of the information related to the mapping.

[0104] According to the second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the UL TCI status can be indicated by reusing the SRI field in the DCI, thereby indicating the uplink beam to be used by the terminal device. Advantageously, in this way, a more flexible and concise uplink beam indication method can be achieved without any modification to the existing DCI format. Furthermore, since the mapping relationship between SRS and UL TCI status is used to indicate the UL TCI status, the overhead of sorting operations is eliminated compared to the first example, which is particularly advantageous for saving the computational overhead of the terminal device.

[0105] In both examples of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the SRI field of the DCI is reused to indicate the UL TCI status. Therefore, in order for the terminal device to correctly interpret whether the SRI field of the received DCI indicates the UL TCI status or, as usual, indicates SRS, the base station can notify the terminal device accordingly via RRC layer signaling. For example, the base station can notify the terminal device of the meaning represented by the SRI field via RRC layer signaling before each DCI containing the SRI. Alternatively, it can be assumed that the SRI usually indicates SRS, and the base station can notify the terminal device via RRC layer signaling that the SRI is a reused SRI for the UL TCI status before sending a DCI containing the SRI indicating the UL TCI status. It is understood that the way the SRI is indicated is not limited to this; other methods may exist, as long as the terminal device knows its intended meaning before receiving the SRI.

[0106] Figure 10 A schematic diagram of an uplink TCI status indication according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Unlike the first embodiment, in the second embodiment, a UL TCI status indication bit dedicated to indicating the UL TCI status can be included in the DCI. For example, a new DCI format including the UL TCI status indication bit can be created and used for uplink beam indication. Alternatively, an existing DCI format can be improved to include the UL TCI status indication bit.

[0107] As mentioned above, the ID of the UL TCI state may have a large value; for example, the ID value of the UL TCI state may reach 128. This results in at least 7 bits of UL TCI state indication bits being required to represent the ID value of the UL TCI state. To save signaling overhead, a similar approach to the first example of the first embodiment is considered, utilizing the sorting of UL TCI states to indicate the UL TCI with fewer bits.

[0108] According to a second embodiment of this disclosure, the value N of the UL TCI status indicator bit can correspond to the Nth UL TCI status among UL TCI statuses sorted from low to high or high to low according to the identifier size of the configured or activated UL TCI statuses. For example... Figure 10 As shown, the UL TCI state pool configured by RRC contains multiple UL TCI states, and eight of them (UL TCI states with IDs 3, 7, 18, 26, 54, 56, 82, and 90) are activated via MAC CE. To use the UL TCI state indication bit to indicate the UL TCI, the base station can sort the eight activated UL TCI states and use the sorted order as the value of the UL TCI indication bit to indicate the UL TCI state. For example... Figure 8 As shown, when the ID of the UL TCI state to be indicated is 7, since this ID value is the second UL TCI state in ascending order among the eight active UL TCI states, the base station can use a UL TCI indication bit with a value of 1 (counting from 0) (e.g., "001") to indicate the UL TCI state with ID 7. Similarly, the base station can use a UL TCI indication bit with a value of "111" to indicate the UL TCI state with ID 90. To interpret the UL TCI state indication bit, the terminal device can also perform the same sorting of the active UL TCI IDs and determine which UL TCI in the sorted sequence is being indicated based on the received UL TCI state indication bit. It should be noted that the sorting can be done in either ascending or descending order, as long as the sorting method of the terminal device and the base station is consistent.

[0109] According to the second embodiment of this disclosure, the UL TCI status can be directly indicated using a dedicated UL TCI status indication bit, thereby indicating the uplink beam to be used by the terminal device. Advantageously, this method allows for more flexible uplink beam indication, and since it does not involve the reuse of existing DCI fields, it eliminates the need to notify the terminal device of the meaning of the reused fields via additional signaling, thereby further saving signaling overhead.

[0110] However, since the second embodiment of this disclosure introduces a new field in the DCI, the terminal device needs to have the ability to interpret this field (in other words, interpret the DCI format including this field). Therefore, the base station can receive capability information from the terminal device indicating whether the terminal device supports the DCI format including the UL TCI status indication bit. As described above, this capability information can be sent from the terminal device to the base station as a single information element together with the capability information indicating whether the terminal device supports the UL TCI status, or it can be sent from the terminal device to the base station as separate information elements via separate signaling.

[0111] The above has already referred to Figures 8-10 The uplink beam indication methods according to the first and second embodiments of this disclosure have been described. Both the first and second embodiments of this disclosure can be used in situations with beam symmetry. For example, as described above, the uplink beam can be indicated by including the index of the downlink reference signal in the UL TCI state. In the case of beam symmetry, the existing TCI state (i.e., the TCI state used for downlink beam indication) can also be directly used to indicate the uplink beam. Hereinafter, this method will be described as a third embodiment of this disclosure.

[0112] According to a third embodiment of this disclosure, in the case of beam symmetry, the terminal device is instructed to use an uplink beam symmetrical to the downlink beam for uplink transmission by indicating the downlink beam. Specifically, the uplink beam scanning process can be omitted, that is, the SRS sent by the terminal device for uplink beam scanning is omitted, and the uplink beam symmetrical to the downlink beam indicated by the TCI is indicated by setting the downlink TCI (DL TCI) state in the TCI field of the DCI (i.e., the existing TCI field for downlink beam indication). When the terminal device receives a DCI containing the DL TCI state, it can find the receiving beam that receives the reference signal according to the downlink reference signal index contained in the DL TCI state, and use the uplink beam symmetrical to the receiving beam (i.e., in the same direction) for subsequent uplink transmission. It should be noted that under existing standards, the term "TCI status" generally directly refers to the TCI status or downlink beam associated with the downlink. The use of "DL TCI status" in this document is solely for the purpose of distinguishing it from the UL TCI status newly introduced in this disclosure.

[0113] In this manner of the third embodiment of the present disclosure, since the UL TCI state is not involved at all, the base station does not need to configure a UL TCI state pool and does not need to use DCI to indicate the UL TCI state. In other words, according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure, instead of configuring a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device and indicating the UL TCI state associated with the beam to be used for uplink transmission, the downlink transmission configuration is indicated by DCI to indicate the DL TCI state, thereby instructing the terminal device to use a transmit beam that is in the same (i.e., symmetrical) direction as the receive beam indicated by the DL TCI state for uplink transmission.

[0114] According to a third embodiment of this disclosure, preferably, the base station can indicate both the downlink and uplink beams at once using the TCI field of the DCI. In other words, the DCI containing the DL TCI status can be transmitted separately without targeting the uplink beam, which advantageously reduces signaling overhead.

[0115] Regarding the indication of DL TCI status, similar to UL TCI status, the base station can also configure a DL TCI status pool and activate some or all DL TCI statuses using MAC CE. Using the TCI field of DCI to indicate DL TCI status can also employ a sorting method similar to the first example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, making it convenient to indicate DLTCI statuses with larger IDs.

[0116] Additionally, when a base station determines that it will indicate the uplink beam using the method of the third embodiment, the base station can notify the terminal device that the uplink beam will be indicated through the DL TCI state. For example, the base station can make such a notification using RRC parameters. Alternatively, when there is beam symmetry, the uplink beam can be indicated by default (or based on the agreement between the parties or the provisions of relevant standards / protocols) without notifying the terminal device of the uplink beam indication method.

[0117] According to the third embodiment of this disclosure, the uplink beam can be directly indicated by the DL TCI state using beam symmetry, thereby eliminating the process of uplink beam scanning using SRS and eliminating the signaling overhead of the terminal device sending SRS related to uplink beam scanning to the base station.

[0118] The first to third embodiments of this disclosure have been described above. It should be noted that, in different embodiments, the processing circuit 500 (particularly the uplink beam indication unit) of the electronic device 50 operating as a base station can perform operations corresponding to those in each embodiment. For example, in the third embodiment with beam symmetry, the uplink beam indication unit 5004 can be operated to configure the DL TCI state pool and indicate the DL TCI state, while in the first and second embodiments, the uplink beam indication unit 5004 can be operated to configure the UL TCI state pool and indicate the UL TCI state.

[0119] Furthermore, for the first to third embodiments of this disclosure, the indication of the uplink beam does not necessarily mean that some or all TCI states must be activated (e.g., for the UL TCI states of the first and second embodiments and the DL TCI states of the third embodiment). For example, if the number of bits in the corresponding field in the DCI is sufficient to represent the TCIs in the configured TCI state pool, any one TCI state in the TCI state pool can be directly indicated without activating some TCI states in the TCI state pool using MAC CE. It should be noted that this omission of the TCI state activation step is not mandatory; if the number of bits in the corresponding field in the DCI is sufficient to represent the TCIs in the configured TCI state pool, some or all TCI states in the pool can also be activated using MAC CE.

[0120] The various units of the electronic device 50 on the control device side and their operation according to various embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above. Reference will now be made to... Figure 11 This describes the conceptual operation process 110 of the electronic device 50 on the control device side according to this disclosure.

[0121] The conceptual operation process begins at step S1100. First, at step S1102, the electronic device 50, operating as a base station, receives capability information from the terminal device and determines the capabilities of the terminal device based on this capability information. For example, the capability information may indicate whether the terminal device supports UL TCI status. Additionally, the capability information may also indicate whether the terminal device supports the DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits. As described above, these two types of capability information can be sent from the terminal device to the base station as the same information element (e.g., an information element containing 2 bits), or they can be sent from the terminal device to the base station as separate information elements (e.g., each containing 1 bit of information element) via separate signaling, or a default setting can be adopted, for example, when the electronic device 50 receives capability information indicating that the terminal device supports UL TCI status, it can be assumed that the terminal device also supports the DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits. According to this disclosure, the electronic device 50 can receive capability information via RRC layer signaling during the initial access process of the terminal device, for example, the electronic device 50 can receive capability information via PUSCH carrying RRC layer signaling.

[0122] If the terminal device is determined to not support UL TCI status at S1102, the electronic device 50 can perform uplink beam indication in a conventional manner (e.g., Rel.15).

[0123] If, at step S1102, it is determined that the terminal device supports the UL TCI state, in step S1104, the electronic device 50 can use RRC parameters to indicate the uplink beam indication method, such as indicating whether to use a conventional method or a UL TCI state-based method to indicate the beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission. Alternatively or additionally, if it is determined that the uplink beam indication method based on the UL TCI state should be used, the electronic device 50 can directly indicate the specific uplink beam indication method, for example, the method of reusing the SRI field according to the first example, the method of reusing the SRI field according to the second example, or the method of using the UL TCI indication bits. It should be noted that, in practice, only one UL TCI state-based uplink beam indication method may be specified. In this case, the electronic device 50 can only notify the terminal device of the adoption of the UL TCI state-based uplink beam indication method, and the terminal device can determine, based on the agreement with the base station and / or the provisions of the implemented protocol / standard, that the uplink beam indication will be performed in the agreed / specified manner (such as the first example of the first embodiment, the second example of the first embodiment, or the second embodiment).

[0124] Next, at S1106, electronic device 50 can configure the UL TCI state pool via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling and notify the terminal device of information related to the configured UL TCI state pool.

[0125] Subsequently, optionally, at S1108, the electronic device 50 can activate some or all of the configured UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool via the MAC CE. For example, this activation may be performed when the number of UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool exceeds the number of UL TCI states that the corresponding bits of the DCI (e.g., SRI or UL TCI indication bits) can indicate, such that the corresponding bits of the DCI are sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states. Alternatively, this activation may be performed for the purpose of saving signaling overhead. Or, this activation may be performed according to procedural requirements.

[0126] Next, at S1110, the electronic device 50 can utilize the downlink control information (DCI) to indicate a first UL TCI state in the configured or activated UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in uplink transmission. The electronic device can execute one of the indication methods described above—the first example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, and the second embodiment of this disclosure—based on the uplink beam indication method notified at S1104. This process ends at S1112.

[0127] The above-described operation procedure is merely an illustrative representation of the operation of the electronic device on the control device side according to this disclosure. The illustrated operations can be performed by the electronic device on the control device side according to this disclosure in different sequences or in parallel. For example, after receiving the capability information of the terminal device, the electronic device 50 may first configure the UL TCI state pool and / or activate the UL TCI state, and then send uplink beam indication information. Alternatively, the electronic device 50 may send uplink beam indication information in parallel with configuring the UL TCI state pool and / or activating the UL TCI state.

[0128] Furthermore, the above-described operation procedure mainly involves the process of uplink beam indication using the UL TCI state. In cases where beam symmetry is present and the use of the DL TCI state to indicate the uplink beam is considered, the electronic device 50 can directly indicate the uplink beam to the terminal device according to the operation described in the third embodiment of this disclosure.

[0129] The structure and operation of the electronic device on the terminal side according to this disclosure

[0130] The following will refer to Figure 12This describes the conceptual configuration of the electronic device 120 on the terminal device side according to this disclosure.

[0131] This electronic device can be implemented as a mobile terminal (such as a smartphone, tablet PC, laptop PC, portable gaming terminal, portable / dongle-type mobile router, and digital camera device) or an in-vehicle terminal (such as a car navigation device). It can also be implemented as a terminal performing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also known as a machine-type communication (MTC) terminal). Furthermore, this electronic device can be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single chip) installed on each of the aforementioned terminals. It can also be implemented as a smart meter, a smart home appliance, or a Geolocation Capability Object (GCO) or Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device (CBSD) in a cognitive radio system.

[0132] like Figure 12 As shown, electronic device 120 may include processing circuitry 1200. This processing circuitry 1200 may be configured to control operations related to uplink beam determination. For example, the processing circuitry 1200 may determine whether the electronic device supports UL TCI status and control the notification of this capability information to the base station via communication unit 1204; and if the electronic device 120 supports UL TCI status: control the reception of information regarding the UL TCI status pool configured by the control device; and receive a DCI indicating the UL TCI status associated with the beam used in uplink transmission. UL TCI status information elements have been referenced above. Figure 6 The details have been explained in detail, so I will not repeat them here.

[0133] The processing circuit 1200 can be in the form of a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processing circuit, such as an ASIC. For example, the processing circuit 1200 can be constructed from circuitry (hardware) or a central processing unit (such as a central processing unit (CPU)). Furthermore, the processing circuit 1200 can carry a program (software) for making the circuitry (hardware) or the central processing unit function. This program can be stored in memory (such as arranged in memory 401) or in an externally connected storage medium, and can be downloaded via a network (such as the Internet).

[0134] According to some embodiments, the processing circuitry of the electronic device may include various units to implement the embodiments according to this disclosure.

[0135] For example, the processing circuit 1200 may include a capability determination unit 12002. This capability determination unit 12002 may, for example, determine whether the electronic device 120 supports UL TCI status and may control the transmission of the determined capability information to a base station (e.g., via communication unit 1204). As described above with reference to the electronic device 50 on the control device side, the capability of the electronic device 120 can be transmitted by the electronic device 120 to the network side (e.g., the base station) via SupportULTCI, which is an Information Element (IE). For example, when the capability determination unit 12002 determines that the electronic device 120 supports UL TCI status, it can set the value of the IE SupportULTCI to 1, and otherwise set it to 0. Alternatively, when the electronic device 120 supports UL TCI status, it can also set the value of the IE SupportULTCI to 0, and otherwise set it to 1.

[0136] The capability determination unit 12002 can also determine other capabilities of the electronic device 120, such as whether the electronic device 120 supports the ability to indicate uplink beams using UL TCI status indication bits in the DCI according to the second embodiment of this disclosure. In this case, the capability information can indicate whether the electronic device 120 supports a DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits. As described above, the capability information indicating various capabilities of the electronic device 120 can be sent by the electronic device 120 to the base station as an information element, or it can be sent to the base station as separate information elements. In addition, a default configuration can be adopted, for example, when it is determined that the electronic device 120 supports uplink beam indication based on UL TCI status, the capability determination unit 12002 can default to determining that the electronic device 120 also supports a DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits.

[0137] Figure 12 The capability determination unit 12002 is shown as a single unit. In reality, this unit division is merely exemplary, and the processing circuitry 1200 may have other implementations for this function of determining the capabilities of the electronic device 120. For example, the capability determination unit 12002 may have multiple modules, each module for determining a capability as described above. Alternatively, the processing circuitry 1200 may directly implement the function of determining the capabilities of the electronic device 120 without providing a dedicated unit / module for it.

[0138] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the processing circuit 1200 may include an uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12004. The uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12006 may be configured to determine, based on uplink beam indication mode information received from a base station, whether to use a conventional method (e.g., the uplink beam indication mode in Rel. 15 described above) or a method based on UL TCI status (e.g., the uplink beam indication mode of the first and second embodiments described above) to indicate the beam to be used in uplink transmission by the electronic device 120. For example, the uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12004 may determine the uplink beam indication mode based on RRC parameters received from the base station. Furthermore, the uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12004 may further determine, based on the uplink beam indication mode information received from the base station, whether to use an uplink beam indication mode based on SRI via DCI or an uplink beam indication mode based on UL TCI status indication bits. For example, the uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12004 can specifically determine whether to indicate the uplink beam according to the first example, the second example, or the second embodiment of the first embodiment of this disclosure, or according to beam symmetry. For example, the uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12004 can determine which uplink beam indication mode to use based on the RRC parameters indicating the specific indication mode received from the base station. Alternatively, the uplink beam indication mode determination unit 12004 can select a predetermined specific indication mode (e.g., according to one of the first example, the second example, or the second embodiment of the first embodiment of this disclosure as described above) based on information received from the base station indicating the use of a ULTCI state-based indication mode, according to the agreement between the electronic device 120 and the base station and / or the provisions of relevant standards / protocols.

[0139] According to embodiments of this disclosure, the processing circuit 1200 may further include an uplink beam determination unit 12006. The uplink beam determination unit 12006 determines the beam to be used in uplink transmission based on information received from the base station related to uplink beam indication. For example, the uplink beam determination unit 12006 may determine individual UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool based on received information about a UL TCI state pool configured by the base station. For example, the uplink beam determination unit 12006 may control the electronic device 120 to store each UL TCI state present in the UL TCI state pool so as to determine (e.g., based on received DCI) the UL TCI state associated with the uplink beam to be used in a subsequent process. According to embodiments of this disclosure, the UL TCI state pool may be configured via RRC signaling. The uplink beam determination unit 12006 may receive information about the UL TCI state pool based on RRC signaling exchanged with the base station.

[0140] The uplink beamforming unit 12006 can also be configured to receive a MAC CE that activates all or part of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool, such that the corresponding bits of the DCI used to indicate the UL TCI state are sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states. As described above, a MAC CE for activating UL TCI states can be received if the number of UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool configured at the base station is greater than the number of UL TCI states that the corresponding bits of the DCI (e.g., the SRI or UL TCI indication bits as described above) can indicate. Alternatively, such a MAC CE can be received in any case, regardless of whether the corresponding bits of the DCI are sufficient to indicate any one of the configured UL TCI states. When a partial UL TCI state is activated using a MAC CE, advantageously, the electronic device 120 can receive a DCI containing a shorter field for indicating the UL TCI state, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0141] The uplink beam determination unit 12006 can also be configured to determine the beam to be used in the uplink transmission based on a received DCI indicating a UL TCI status. For example, the uplink beam determination unit 12006 can determine the beam to be used in the uplink transmission based on a received DCI containing an SRI or UL TCI status indication bit.

[0142] In the first example (indicating the uplink beam by means of the SRI in the DCI) or the second embodiment (indicating the uplink beam by means of the UL TCI indicator bit in the DCI) of the first embodiment of the present disclosure described above, the uplink beam determination unit 12006 can sort the configured or activated UL TCI states in ascending or descending order of their identifiers, and determine the indicated UL TCI state as the Nth (e.g., counting from 0) UL TCI state in the sorted UL TCI states based on the received SRI or the value N of the UL TCI state indicator bit.

[0143] In the second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure described above (where the uplink beam is indicated by an SRI in the DCI, and there is a one-to-one correspondence between SRS resources and UL TCI states), the uplink beam determination unit 12006 can determine the indicated SRS resource based on the received SRI, based on a predetermined correspondence between SRS resources and UL TCI states, and further map it to the UL TCI state associated with the beam to be used in uplink transmission. In this case, the processing circuit 1200 can also control the electronic device 120 to perform RRC layer signaling interaction with the base station, thereby determining the mapping / correspondence between SRS resources and UL TCI states based on the RRC layer information received from the base station.

[0144] In the case of the third embodiment of this disclosure described above (indicating the uplink beam by means of DL TCI state), the uplink beam determination unit 12006 can be configured to instead receive information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the base station and receive the DCI indicating the UL TCI state, receive the DCI indicating the DL TCI state, and determine the transmit beam that is the same as (i.e. symmetrical) to the receive beam direction indicated by the first DL TCI state as the beam to be used in uplink transmission.

[0145] Since various uplink beam indication methods with respect to various embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above with reference to the electronic device 50 on the control device side, they will not be repeated here. It should be noted that the features and advantages of the various uplink beam indication methods described with reference to the electronic device 50 on the control device side are also applicable to the electronic device 120 on the terminal device side.

[0146] exist Figure 12 In the illustration, the uplink beam determination unit 12006 is shown without any submodules / units, but this is merely an exemplary implementation. The uplink beam determination unit 12006 may also include submodules / units that implement corresponding functions, such as a dedicated module for determining the TCI state pool, a dedicated module for determining the TCI state indicated in the DCI, a TCI state sorting module, and so on.

[0147] In addition, the processing circuit 1200 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for interfacing between the units.

[0148] It should be noted that the above-described units are merely logical modules divided according to their specific functions, and are not intended to limit the specific implementation method. For example, they can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of both. In actual implementation, the above-described units can be implemented as independent physical entities, or they can be implemented by a single entity (e.g., a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), integrated circuit, etc.). Furthermore, the units shown in the accompanying drawings with dashed lines indicate that these units may not actually exist, and the operations / functions they perform can be implemented by the processing circuit itself. Moreover, the units / modules and their operations / functions shown with dashed lines in the accompanying drawings can be selectively applied according to the actual situation; that is, the processing circuit does not necessarily need to include all the shown units / modules and their operations / functions, but can selectively implement a portion of these units / modules and their operations / functions.

[0149] Optionally, the electronic device 120 may also include a memory 1202 and a communication unit 1204. Furthermore, the electronic device 120 may also include other components not shown, such as a radio frequency link, a baseband processing unit, a network interface, a processor, a controller, etc. The processing circuitry 1200 may be associated with the memory 1202 and / or the communication unit 1204. For example, the processing circuitry 1200 may be directly or indirectly (e.g., with other components possibly connected in between) connected to the memory 1202 for data access. Also, for example, the processing circuitry 1200 may be directly or indirectly connected to the communication unit 1204 to transmit and receive radio signals via the communication unit 1204.

[0150] Memory 1202 can store various information to be used by or generated by processing circuit 1200 (e.g., capability information of electronic device 120, TCI state pool information, etc.), programs and data for operation of electronic device 120, data to be transmitted by communication unit 1204, etc. Memory 1202 is drawn with dashed lines because it can be located either within processing circuit 1200 or outside electronic device 120. Memory 1202 can be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. For example, memory 1202 can include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), and flash memory.

[0151] Communication unit 1204 can be configured to communicate with an electronic device (e.g., a receiving electronic device) at the other end of the communication under the control of processing circuitry 1200. In one example, communication unit 1204 can be implemented as a transmitter or transceiver, including communication components such as an antenna array and / or a radio frequency link. In one implementation, communication unit 1204 can perform uplink transmission using the determined uplink beam based on the uplink beam determination result of processing circuitry 1200. In one implementation, communication unit 1204 can send reference signals, capability information, etc., to a base station so that the base station can determine the uplink beam based on these signals / information.

[0152] Although Figure 12 The diagram shows the processing circuitry 1200 separated from the communication unit 1204; however, the processing circuitry 1200 can also be implemented to include the communication unit 1204. Furthermore, the processing circuitry 1200 can also be implemented to include one or more other components within the electronic device 120, or the processing circuitry 1200 can be implemented as the electronic device 120 itself. In practical implementation, the processing circuitry 1200 can be implemented as a chip (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single wafer), a hardware component, or a complete product.

[0153] The following will refer to Figure 13 This document describes a conceptual operation flow of an electronic device 120 on the terminal device side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0154] The conceptual operation process begins at step S13000. First, at step S13002, the electronic device 120, operating as a terminal device, determines its own capabilities and sends capability information to the base station. For example, the capability information may indicate whether the terminal device supports UL TCI status. Additionally, the capability information may also indicate whether the terminal device supports the DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits. As described above, these two types of capability information can be sent from the electronic device 120 to the base station as the same information element (e.g., an information element containing 2 bits), or they can be sent from the electronic device 120 to the base station as separate information elements (e.g., each containing 1 bit of information element) via separate signaling, or a default setting can be adopted, for example, when the electronic device 120 sends capability information indicating that it supports UL TCI status, it can be assumed that the electronic device also supports the DCI format including UL TCI status indication bits. According to this disclosure, the electronic device 120 can send capability information via RRC layer signaling during the initial access process, for example, the electronic device 120 can send capability information via PUSCH carrying RRC layer signaling.

[0155] If the electronic device 120 does not support UL TCI status, the electronic device 120 and the base station can perform the uplink beam indication process in a conventional manner (e.g., Rel. 15).

[0156] When electronic device 120 supports UL TCI status, at step S13004, electronic device 120 may receive RRC parameters indicating the uplink beam indication method. For example, the RRC parameters may indicate whether the beam to be used in uplink transmission is indicated using a conventional method or a UL TCI status-based method. Additionally or alternatively, electronic device 120 may receive information directly indicating a specific uplink beam indication method, such as the SRI field reuse method according to the first example, the SRI field reuse method according to the second example, or the UL TCI indication bit method. Alternatively, in practice, only one UL TCI status-based uplink beam indication method may be specified. In this case, electronic device 120 only receives notification from the base station to adopt the UL TCI status-based uplink beam indication method, and electronic device 120 may determine, based on the agreement with the base station and / or the provisions of the implemented protocol / standard, that the uplink beam indication will proceed in the agreed / specified manner (such as the first example of the first embodiment, the second example of the first embodiment, or the second embodiment).

[0157] Next, at S13006, electronic device 120 can receive information related to the ULTCI state pool via RRC signaling received from the base station.

[0158] Optionally, at S13008, the electronic device 120 may receive information activating some or all of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool, which may be carried, for example, by the MAC CE. For example, this activation may occur when the number of UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool exceeds the number of UL TCI states that the corresponding bits of the DCI (e.g., SRI or UL TCI indication bits) can indicate, such that the corresponding bits of the DCI are sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states. Alternatively, this activation may be performed for the purpose of saving signaling overhead. Or, this activation may be performed according to procedural requirements.

[0159] Next, at S13010, electronic device 120 can receive a DCI from the base station, which can indicate a first UL TCI state in a configured or activated UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that electronic device 120 will use in uplink transmission. Electronic device 120 can determine the beam to be used in uplink transmission based on the uplink beam indication method notified at S13004, according to one of the indication methods of the first example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, the second example of the first embodiment of this disclosure, and the second embodiment of this disclosure. This process ends at S13012.

[0160] The above operation procedure is merely an illustrative description of the operation of the electronic device on the terminal device side according to this disclosure. The illustrated operations can be performed by the electronic device on the terminal device side according to this disclosure in different orders or in parallel. For example, after receiving the capability information of the terminal device, the electronic device 120 may first receive the information of the UL TCI state pool and / or the information of activating the UL TCI state, and then subsequently receive the uplink beam indication mode information.

[0161] Furthermore, the above-described operation procedure mainly involves the process of uplink beam indication using the UL TCI state. In cases where beam symmetry is present and the use of the DL TCI state to indicate the uplink beam is considered, the electronic device 120 can directly determine the uplink beam according to the operation described in the third embodiment of this disclosure.

[0162] The operation of the control equipment side and the terminal equipment side has been explained above. The following will refer to... Figure 14 This document describes the signaling interaction process between a control device and a terminal device according to embodiments of the present disclosure, particularly the signaling interaction process when the uplink beam is indicated by means of the UL TCI status.

[0163] like Figure 14As shown, the terminal device first sends capability information to the base station indicating whether it supports the UL TCI state. Additionally, the terminal device may also send capability information to the base station indicating whether it supports the DCI format containing the UL TCI state bits. Next, if the base station determines that the terminal device supports the UL TCI state, it may send information (not shown) indicating the specific uplink beam indication method to the terminal device. It should be noted that the base station may send the information indicating the uplink beam indication method at any time after determining that the terminal device supports the UL TCI state and before finally sending the DCI indicating the UL TCI state. If the base station determines that it wants to use an uplink beam indication method based on the UL TCI state, it may configure a UL TCI state pool and notify the terminal device of the configured UL TCI state pool using RRC signaling. If it determines that it wants to use the SRI in the DCI and indicate the uplink beam using the mapping relationship between the SRS resources indicated by the SRI and the UL TCI state, the base station may also send the mapping relationship between the SRS resources and the UL TCI state to the terminal device using RRC signaling. In this scenario, the base station can use RRC signaling to send the configured UL TCI states, along with the mapping relationship between each UL TCI state and SRS resources, to the terminal device all at once. Optionally, the base station can also send a MAC CE to the terminal device to activate one or more UL TCI states among the configured UL TCI states. Finally, the base station can send a DCI indicating the uplink beam to the terminal device, wherein, depending on the specific uplink beam indication method, information associated with the UL TCI state to be indicated can be set in the SRI or UL TCI state indication bits of the DCI.

[0164] The solutions of this disclosure have been described through various embodiments. It is understood that, according to the embodiments of this disclosure, UL TCI states can be introduced to indicate uplink beams while maintaining compatibility with traditional uplink beam indication and with minimal changes to existing standards / protocols, thereby making the uplink beam indication process simpler and more flexible. Furthermore, in the embodiments of this disclosure, unnecessary signaling overhead is limited, thereby effectively limiting the total signaling overhead. Further, this disclosure also advantageously considers the case of beam symmetry and proposes uplink beam indication methods compatible with UL TCI states in cases of beam symmetry (e.g., including an index of the downlink reference signal in the UL TCI as described above) and uplink beam indication methods specifically for cases of beam symmetry (e.g., the method described in the third embodiment). It should be noted that the above embodiments are merely exemplary. The solutions of this disclosure can also be implemented in other ways and still possess the advantageous effects obtained by the above embodiments.

[0165] Furthermore, it should be understood that the aforementioned series of processes and devices can also be implemented via software and / or firmware. In the case of implementation via software and / or firmware, data can be transferred from storage media or networks to computers with dedicated hardware architectures, such as… Figure 15 The general-purpose personal computer 1300 shown is equipped with the programs that constitute the software, and the computer is able to perform various functions when various programs are installed. Figure 15 This is a block diagram illustrating an example structure of a personal computer as an information processing device that may be employed in embodiments of this disclosure. In one example, the personal computer may correspond to the exemplary terminal device described above according to this disclosure.

[0166] exist Figure 15 In this system, the central processing unit (CPU) 1301 performs various processes based on the program stored in the read-only memory (ROM) 1302 or the program loaded into the random access memory (RAM) 1303 from the storage section 1308. The RAM 1303 also stores, as needed, the data required when the CPU 1301 performs various processes.

[0167] CPU 1301, ROM 1302 and RAM 1303 are connected to each other via bus 1304. Input / output interface 1305 is also connected to bus 1304.

[0168] The following components are connected to the input / output interface 1305: input section 1306, including a keyboard, mouse, etc.; output section 1307, including a display, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), etc., and speakers, etc.; storage section 1308, including a hard disk, etc.; and communication section 1309, including a network interface card, such as a LAN card, modem, etc. The communication section 1309 performs communication processing via a network, such as the Internet.

[0169] As needed, drive 1310 is also connected to input / output interface 1305. Removable media 1311, such as disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, semiconductor memories, etc., are installed on drive 1310 as needed, so that computer programs read from them can be installed into storage section 1308 as needed.

[0170] When the above series of processes are implemented by software, the program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the Internet or a storage medium such as removable media 1311.

[0171] Those skilled in the art will understand that such storage media are not limited to Figure 13The illustrated removable medium 1311 stores a program and is distributed separately from the device to provide the program to the user. Examples of removable media 1311 include magnetic disks (including floppy disks (registered trademark)), optical disks (including optical disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and digital versatile disks (DVD)), magneto-optical disks (including mini-disk (MD) (registered trademark)), and semiconductor memory. Alternatively, the storage medium may be ROM 1302, a hard disk included in storage section 1308, etc., containing programs and distributed to the user along with the device containing them.

[0172] The technology disclosed herein can be applied to a variety of products.

[0173] For example, the electronic device 50 according to embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented as various control devices / base stations or included in various control devices / base stations, and such Figure 11 The method shown can also be implemented by various control devices / base stations. For example, the electronic device 120 according to embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented as various terminal devices / user devices or included in various terminal devices / user devices, and as... Figure 13 The method shown can also be implemented by various terminal devices / user devices.

[0174] For example, the control device / base station mentioned in this disclosure can be implemented as any type of base station, such as an evolved Node B (gNB), such as a macro gNB and a small gNB. A small gNB can be a gNB that covers a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico gNB, a micro gNB, and a femtocell gNB. Alternatively, the base station can be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a Base Transceiver Station (BTS). A base station may include: a subject configured to control wireless communication (also called a base station device); and one or more remote radio heads (RRHs) located in a different location from the subject. In addition, the various types of terminals described below can operate as base stations by temporarily or semi-persistently performing base station functions.

[0175] For example, the terminal devices mentioned in this disclosure, also referred to in some examples as user equipment, can be implemented as mobile terminals (such as smartphones, tablet PCs, laptop PCs, portable gaming terminals, portable / dongle-type mobile routers, and digital camera devices) or in-vehicle terminals (such as car navigation devices). User equipment can also be implemented as terminals performing machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also known as machine-type communication (MTC) terminals). Furthermore, user equipment can be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single chip) installed on each of the aforementioned terminals.

[0176] The following will refer to Figures 16 to 19 Examples are described based on this disclosure.

[0177] [Example of a base station]

[0178] It should be understood that the term "base station" as used in this disclosure has the full breadth of its usual meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station used as part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication. Examples of base stations may include, but are not limited to, the following: a base station may be one or both of a base transceiver unit (BTS) and a base station controller (BSC) in a GSM system; one or both of a radio network controller (RNC) and a Node B in a WCDMA system; an eNB in ​​LTE and LTE-Advanced systems; or a corresponding network node in a future communication system (e.g., a gNB, eLTE eNB, etc., that may appear in a 5G communication system). Some functions of the base station in this disclosure may also be implemented as an entity that controls communication in D2D, M2M, and V2V communication scenarios, or as an entity that plays a role in spectrum coordination in cognitive radio communication scenarios.

[0179] First Example

[0180] Figure 16 This is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the technologies of this disclosure can be applied. The gNB 1400 includes a plurality of antennas 1410 and a base station device 1420. The base station device 1420 and each antenna 1410 can be connected to each other via RF cables. In one implementation, the gNB 1400 (or base station device 1420) herein may correspond to the aforementioned electronic devices 300A, 1300A, and / or 1500B.

[0181] Each of the antennas 1410 includes one or more antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna) and is used by the base station equipment 1420 to transmit and receive wireless signals. Figure 16 As shown, the gNB 1400 may include multiple antennas 1410. For example, the multiple antennas 1410 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1400.

[0182] The base station equipment 1420 includes a controller 1421, a memory 1422, a network interface 1423, and a wireless communication interface 1425.

[0183] The controller 1421 can be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operates various higher-level functions of the base station equipment 1420. For example, the controller 1421 generates data packets based on data in signals processed by the wireless communication interface 1425, and transmits the generated packets via the network interface 1423. The controller 1421 can bundle data from multiple baseband processors to generate bundled packets and transmit the generated bundled packets. The controller 1421 may have logical functions that perform controls such as radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, admission control, and scheduling. This control can be performed in conjunction with nearby gNBs or core network nodes. The memory 1422 includes RAM and ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 1421 and various types of control data (such as terminal lists, transmission power data, and scheduling data).

[0184] Network interface 1423 is a communication interface for connecting base station equipment 1420 to core network 1424. Controller 1421 can communicate with core network nodes or other gNBs via network interface 1423. In this case, gNB 1400 and core network nodes or other gNBs can be connected to each other via logical interfaces (such as S1 and X2 interfaces). Network interface 1423 can also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for wireless backhaul. If network interface 1423 is a wireless communication interface, it can use a higher frequency band for wireless communication compared to the frequency band used by wireless communication interface 1425.

[0185] Wireless communication interface 1425 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless connectivity to terminals located in the cell of gNB 1400 via antenna 1410. Wireless communication interface 1425 typically includes, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 1426 and RF circuitry 1427. BB processor 1426 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing at layers such as L1, Media Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP). Instead of controller 1421, BB processor 1426 may have some or all of the above-described logical functions. BB processor 1426 may be a memory storing communication control programs, or a module including a processor and associated circuitry configured to execute programs. Update programs can change the functionality of BB processor 1426. The module may be a card or blade inserted into a slot in base station equipment 1420. Alternatively, the module may be a chip mounted on a card or blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1427 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1410. Although Figure 16 An example of an RF circuit 1427 connected to an antenna 1410 is shown, but this disclosure is not limited to the illustration, and an RF circuit 1427 can be connected to multiple antennas 1410 simultaneously.

[0186] like Figure 16 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1425 may include multiple BB processors 1426. For example, the multiple BB processors 1426 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1400. Figure 16 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1425 may include multiple RF circuits 1427. For example, the multiple RF circuits 1427 may be compatible with multiple antenna elements. Although Figure 16 An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1425 includes multiple BB processors 1426 and multiple RF circuits 1427, but the wireless communication interface 1425 may also include a single BB processor 1426 or a single RF circuit 1427.

[0187] Second example

[0188] Figure 17 This is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the technologies of this disclosure can be applied. The gNB 1530 includes multiple antennas 1540, a base station device 1550, and an RRH 1560. The RRH 1560 and each antenna 1540 can be connected to each other via RF cables. The base station device 1550 and the RRH 1560 can be connected to each other via high-speed lines such as fiber optic cables. In one implementation, the gNB 1530 (or base station device 1550) herein may correspond to the aforementioned electronic devices 300A, 1300A, and / or 1500B.

[0189] Each of the antennas 1540 includes one or more antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used by the RRH 1560 to transmit and receive wireless signals. Figure 17 As shown, the gNB 1530 may include multiple antennas 1540. For example, the multiple antennas 1540 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1530.

[0190] Base station equipment 1550 includes a controller 1551, a memory 1552, a network interface 1553, a wireless communication interface 1555, and a connection interface 1557. The controller 1551, memory 1552, and network interface 1553 are related to a reference... Figure 16 The controller 1421, memory 1422 and network interface 1423 described are the same.

[0191] Wireless communication interface 1555 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless communication to terminals located in the sector corresponding to RRH 1560 via RRH 1560 and antenna 1540. Wireless communication interface 1555 may typically include, for example, a BB processor 1556. In addition to the BB processor 1556 being connected to the RF circuitry 1564 of RRH 1560 via connection interface 1557, the BB processor 1556 is connected to the reference... Figure 16 The BB processor 1426 is described as identical. Figure 17 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1555 may include multiple BB processors 1556. For example, the multiple BB processors 1556 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1530. Although Figure 17 An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1555 includes multiple BB processors 1556, but the wireless communication interface 1555 may also include a single BB processor 1556.

[0192] Connection interface 1557 is an interface for connecting base station device 1550 (wireless communication interface 1555) to RRH 1560. Connection interface 1557 may also be a communication module for connecting base station device 1550 (wireless communication interface 1555) to the aforementioned high-speed line of RRH 1560.

[0193] The RRH 1560 includes a connectivity interface 1561 and a wireless communication interface 1563.

[0194] Connection interface 1561 is an interface for connecting RRH 1560 (wireless communication interface 1563) to base station equipment 1550. Connection interface 1561 can also be a communication module for communication in the aforementioned high-speed line.

[0195] Wireless communication interface 1563 transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1540. Wireless communication interface 1563 typically includes, for example, RF circuitry 1564. RF circuitry 1564 may include, for example, a mixer, filter, and amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1540. Although Figure 17 An example of an RF circuit 1564 connected to an antenna 1540 is shown, but this disclosure is not limited to the illustration, and an RF circuit 1564 can be connected to multiple antennas 1540 simultaneously.

[0196] like Figure 17 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1563 may include multiple RF circuits 1564. For example, the multiple RF circuits 1564 may support multiple antenna elements. Although Figure 17An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1563 includes multiple RF circuits 1564, but the wireless communication interface 1563 may also include a single RF circuit 1564.

[0197] [Example regarding user equipment]

[0198] First Example

[0199] Figure 18 This is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a smartphone 1600 to which the technologies of this disclosure can be applied. The smartphone 1600 includes a processor 1601, a memory 1602, a storage device 1603, an external connection interface 1604, a camera device 1606, a sensor 1607, a microphone 1608, an input device 1609, a display device 1610, a speaker 1611, a wireless communication interface 1612, one or more antenna switches 1615, one or more antennas 1616, a bus 1617, a battery 1618, and an auxiliary controller 1619. In one implementation, the smartphone 1600 (or processor 1601) herein may correspond to the terminal devices 300B and / or 1500A described above.

[0200] The processor 1601 may be, for example, a CPU or a system-on-a-chip (SoC), and controls the application layer and other functions of the smartphone 1600. The memory 1602 includes RAM and ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1601. The storage device 1603 may include storage media such as semiconductor memory and hard disks. The external connectivity interface 1604 is an interface for connecting external devices, such as memory cards and Universal Serial Bus (USB) devices, to the smartphone 1600.

[0201] The camera device 1606 includes an image sensor (such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)) and generates captured images. The sensor 1607 may include a set of sensors, such as a measurement sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a magnetometer sensor, and an accelerometer sensor. The microphone 1608 converts sound input to the smartphone 1600 into an audio signal. The input device 1609 includes, for example, a touch sensor, keypad, keyboard, buttons, or switches configured to detect touches on the screen of the display device 1610 and receive operations or information input from the user. The display device 1610 includes a screen (such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display) and displays the output image of the smartphone 1600. The speaker 1611 converts the audio signal output from the smartphone 1600 into sound.

[0202] The wireless communication interface 1612 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1612 typically includes, for example, a BB processor 1613 and RF circuitry 1614. The BB processor 1613 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuitry 1614 can include, for example, mixers, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1616. The wireless communication interface 1612 can be a single chip module on which the BB processor 1613 and RF circuitry 1614 are integrated. Figure 18 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1612 may include multiple BB processors 1613 and multiple RF circuits 1614. Although Figure 18 An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1612 includes multiple BB processors 1613 and multiple RF circuits 1614, but the wireless communication interface 1612 may also include a single BB processor 1613 or a single RF circuit 1614.

[0203] In addition to cellular communication schemes, wireless communication interface 1612 can support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as short-range wireless communication schemes, near-field communication schemes, and wireless local area network (LAN) schemes. In this case, wireless communication interface 1612 may include a BB processor 1613 and RF circuitry 1614 for each wireless communication scheme.

[0204] Each of the antenna switches 1615 switches the connection destination of the antenna 1616 among multiple circuits (e.g., circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 1612.

[0205] Each of the antennas 1616 includes one or more antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used by the wireless communication interface 1612 to transmit and receive wireless signals. Figure 18 As shown, the smartphone 1600 may include multiple antennas 1616. Although Figure 18 An example is shown in which the smartphone 1600 includes multiple antennas 1616, but the smartphone 1600 may also include a single antenna 1616.

[0206] Furthermore, the smartphone 1600 may include an antenna 1616 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1615 can be omitted from the configuration of the smartphone 1600.

[0207] Bus 1617 connects processor 1601, memory 1602, storage device 1603, external connection interface 1604, camera device 1606, sensor 1607, microphone 1608, input device 1609, display device 1610, speaker 1611, wireless communication interface 1612, and auxiliary controller 1619 to each other. Battery 1618 supplies power to... Figure 18 The various blocks of the smartphone 1600 shown are powered, and the feeders are partially shown as dashed lines in the figure. The auxiliary controller 1619 operates the minimum necessary functions of the smartphone 1600, for example, in sleep mode.

[0208] Second example

[0209] Figure 19 This is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 1720 to which the technology of this disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 1720 includes a processor 1721, a memory 1722, a Global Positioning System (GPS) module 1724, a sensor 1725, a data interface 1726, a content player 1727, a storage medium interface 1728, an input device 1729, a display device 1730, a speaker 1731, a wireless communication interface 1733, one or more antenna switches 1736, one or more antennas 1737, and a battery 1738. In one implementation, the car navigation device 1720 (or processor 1721) herein may correspond to the aforementioned terminal devices 300B and / or 1500A.

[0210] The processor 1721 can be, for example, a CPU or a SoC, and controls the navigation functions and other functions of the car navigation device 1720. The memory 1722 includes RAM and ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1721.

[0211] GPS module 1724 uses GPS signals received from GPS satellites to measure the location (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of car navigation device 1720. Sensor 1725 may include a set of sensors, such as a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. Data interface 1726 is connected to, for example, an in-vehicle network 1741 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data generated by the vehicle (such as vehicle speed data).

[0212] Content player 1727 reproduces content stored on storage media (such as CDs and DVDs), which is inserted into storage media interface 1728. Input device 1729 includes, for example, a touch sensor, button, or switch configured to detect touch on the screen of display device 1730, and receives operations or information input from the user. Display device 1730 includes a screen such as an LCD or OLED display and displays images or reproduced content for navigation functions. Speaker 1731 outputs sound for navigation functions or reproduced content.

[0213] The wireless communication interface 1733 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1733 typically includes, for example, a BB processor 1734 and RF circuitry 1735. The BB processor 1734 can perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and performs various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuitry 1735 can include, for example, a mixer, filters, and amplifiers, and transmits and receives wireless signals via antenna 1737. The wireless communication interface 1733 can also be a chip module on which the BB processor 1734 and RF circuitry 1735 are integrated. Figure 19 As shown, the wireless communication interface 1733 may include multiple BB processors 1734 and multiple RF circuits 1735. Although Figure 19 An example is shown in which the wireless communication interface 1733 includes multiple BB processors 1734 and multiple RF circuits 1735, but the wireless communication interface 1733 may also include a single BB processor 1734 or a single RF circuit 1735.

[0214] In addition to cellular communication schemes, the wireless communication interface 1733 can support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as short-range wireless communication schemes, near-field communication schemes, and wireless LAN schemes. In this case, for each wireless communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 1733 may include a BB processor 1734 and an RF circuit 1735.

[0215] Each of the antenna switches 1736 switches the connection destination of the antenna 1737 among multiple circuits (such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 1733.

[0216] Each of the antennas 1737 includes one or more antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used by the wireless communication interface 1733 to transmit and receive wireless signals. Figure 19 As shown, the car navigation device 1720 may include multiple antennas 1737. Although Figure 19An example is shown in which the car navigation device 1720 includes multiple antennas 1737, but the car navigation device 1720 may also include a single antenna 1737.

[0217] Furthermore, the car navigation device 1720 may include an antenna 1737 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1736 can be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 1720.

[0218] Battery 1738 via feeder to Figure 19 The various blocks of the car navigation device 1720 shown are powered, and the feeders are partially shown as dashed lines in the figure. Battery 1738 accumulates the power supplied from the vehicle.

[0219] The technology disclosed herein can also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 1740 including one or more blocks of an automotive navigation device 1720, an in-vehicle network 1741, and a vehicle module 1742. The vehicle module 1742 generates vehicle data (such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information) and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network 1741.

[0220] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings; however, the present disclosure is by no means limited to the examples described above. Various changes and modifications can be made by those skilled in the art within the scope of the appended claims, and it should be understood that such changes and modifications naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0221] It should be understood that the machine-executable instructions in a machine-readable storage medium or program product according to embodiments of this disclosure can be configured to perform operations corresponding to the above-described device and method embodiments. Embodiments of the machine-readable storage medium or program product will be clear to those skilled in the art when referring to the above-described device and method embodiments, and therefore will not be described again. Machine-readable storage media and program products used to carry or include the above-described machine-executable instructions also fall within the scope of this disclosure. Such storage media may include, but are not limited to, floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, etc.

[0222] Furthermore, it should be understood that the aforementioned series of processes and devices can also be implemented via software and / or firmware. In the case of implementation via software and / or firmware, the storage medium of the relevant device (e.g., Figure 5 The electronic device 50 shown is or Figure 12 The electronic device 120 shown stores corresponding programs constituting the corresponding software in its memory 502 or 1202, which can perform various functions when the program is executed.

[0223] For example, the multiple functions included in one unit in the above embodiments can be implemented by separate devices. Alternatively, the multiple functions implemented by multiple units in the above embodiments can be implemented by separate devices respectively. In addition, one of the above functions can be implemented by multiple units. Needless to say, such a configuration is included within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0224] In this specification, the steps described in the flowchart include not only processes executed sequentially in the stated order, but also processes executed in parallel or individually, rather than necessarily sequentially. Furthermore, even within the steps of sequential processing, needless to say, the order can be appropriately altered.

[0225] While this disclosure and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof used in embodiments of this disclosure are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element.

[0226] In addition, this disclosure may also have the following configurations:

[0227] (1) An electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0228] The processing circuit is configured as follows:

[0229] Receive from the terminal device at least capability information indicating whether the terminal device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status;

[0230] If, based on the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status:

[0231] - Configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and

[0232] - The downlink control information (DCI) indicates the first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in the uplink transmission.

[0233] (2) The electronic device as described in (1), wherein

[0234] The processing circuit is further configured to activate some or all of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool using the control element MAC CE of the media access control layer, such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states.

[0235] (3) The electronic device as described in (1) or (2), wherein

[0236] The ULTCI state pool is configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0237] (4) The electronic device as described in (1) or (2), wherein

[0238] The first ULTCI state is indicated by using the DCI probe reference signal resource indicator SRI or the ULTCI state indicator bit.

[0239] (5) The electronic device as described in (4), wherein

[0240] Using the SRI or UL TCI status indicator bit to indicate the first UL TCI status includes: the value N of the SRI or UL TCI status indicator bit corresponds to the Nth UL TCI status in the UL TCI status ordered from low to high or from high to low according to the identifier size of the configured or activated UL TCI status.

[0241] (6) The electronic device as described in (4), wherein

[0242] Indicating the first UL TCI state using SRI includes: indicating a detection reference signal (SRS) resource using SRI, wherein each SRS resource corresponds to a UL TCI state, and the correspondence between the SRS resource and the UL TCI state is predetermined.

[0243] (7) The electronic device as described in (1) or (2), wherein

[0244] The processing circuit is further configured to, upon determining that the terminal device supports UL TCI status, use RRC parameters to indicate whether to use a conventional method or a UL TCI status-based method to indicate the beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission.

[0245] (8) The electronic device as described in (4), wherein

[0246] The processing circuit is further configured to, when it is determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status, use the RRC parameter to indicate whether to use the SRI of DCI or the UL TCI status indication bit to indicate the first UL TCI status.

[0247] (9) The electronic device as described in (1), wherein

[0248] In the case that the terminal device has beam symmetry, the processing circuit is further configured to instead configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device and indicate a first UL TCI state, and use DCI to indicate a first downlink transmission configuration indicating a DL TCI state, thereby instructing the terminal device to perform uplink transmission using a transmit beam with the same transmit beam direction as indicated by the first DL TCI state.

[0249] (10) The electronic device as described in (1) or (2), wherein

[0250] The capability information also indicates whether the terminal device supports the DCI format, which includes UL TCI status indication bits.

[0251] (11) The electronic device as described in (1) or (2), wherein

[0252] Each UL TCI state corresponds to the beam direction of one or more uplink reference signals and / or one or more downlink reference signals.

[0253] (12) A method for a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0254] Receive from the terminal device at least capability information indicating whether the terminal device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status;

[0255] If, based on the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status:

[0256] - Configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and

[0257] - The downlink control information (DCI) indicates the first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in the uplink transmission.

[0258] (13) An electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0259] The processing circuit is configured as follows:

[0260] Send at least information indicating whether the electronic device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status to the control device;

[0261] If the electronic device supports UL TCI status:

[0262] - Receive information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the control device; and

[0263] - Receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the electronic device will use in uplink transmission.

[0264] (14) The electronic device as described in (13), wherein

[0265] The processing circuit is further configured to receive a control element MAC CE of the media access control layer, the MAC CE activating some or all of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state source pool, such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states.

[0266] (15) The electronic device as described in (13) or (14), wherein

[0267] The UL TCI state pool is configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0268] (16) The electronic device as described in (13) or (14), wherein

[0269] The first UL TCI status is indicated by the DCI's Detection Reference Signal Resource Indicator (SRI) or the UL TCI status indicator bit.

[0270] (17) The electronic device as described in (16), wherein

[0271] The processing circuit is further configured to sort the configured or activated UL TCI states from low to high or from high to low according to the size of their identifiers, and

[0272] The first UL TCI state corresponds to the Nth UL TCI state in the sorted UL TCI states that corresponds to the value N of the SRI or UL TCI state indicator bit.

[0273] (18) The electronic device as described in (16), wherein

[0274] In the case where the first UL TCI state is indicated by SRI, the SRI indicates the probe reference signal SRS resource, wherein each SRS resource corresponds to one UL TCI state, and the correspondence between the SRS resource and the UL TCI state is predetermined.

[0275] (19) The electronic device as described in (13) or (14), wherein

[0276] If the electronic device supports UL TCI status, the processing circuit is further configured to receive an indication of whether the RRC parameters of the beam to be used by the electronic device in uplink transmission are indicated using a conventional method or a UL TCI status-based method.

[0277] (20) The electronic device as described in (16), wherein

[0278] If the electronic device supports UL TCI status, the processing circuit is further configured to receive an indication of the RRC parameters of the beam to be used by the electronic device in uplink transmission, whether via the SRI of the DCI or the UL TCI status indication bit.

[0279] (21) The electronic device as described in (13), wherein

[0280] In the case that the electronic device has beam symmetry, the processing circuit is further configured to replace receiving information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the control device and receiving a DCI indicating a first UL TCI state, receiving a DCI indicating a first downlink transmission configuration indicating a DL TCI state, and

[0281] Uplink transmission is performed using the same transmit beam as the receive beam direction indicated by the first DL TCI state.

[0282] (22) The electronic device as described in (13) or (14), wherein

[0283] The capability information also indicates whether the electronic device supports the DCI format, which includes UL TCI status indication bits.

[0284] (23) The electronic device as described in (13) or (14), wherein

[0285] Each UL TCI state corresponds to the beam direction of one or more uplink reference signals and / or one or more downlink reference signals.

[0286] (24) A method for a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0287] Send at least information indicating whether the electronic device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status to the control device;

[0288] If the electronic device supports UL TCI status:

[0289] - Receive information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the control device; and

[0290] - Receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the electronic device will use in uplink transmission.

[0291] (25) A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the method as described in (12) or (24).

[0292] (26) An apparatus comprising:

[0293] processor,

[0294] A storage device storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the method as described in (12) or (24).

Claims

1. An electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising: The processing circuit is configured as follows: Receive from the terminal device at least capability information indicating whether the terminal device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status; If, based on the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status: - Configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and - The downlink control information (DCI) indicates a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in uplink transmission. The processing circuit is further configured to activate some or all of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool using the control element MAC CE of the media access control layer, such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states.

2. The electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein The UL TCI state pool is configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

3. The electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein The first UL TCI state is indicated by using the DCI probe reference signal resource indicator SRI or UL TCI status indicator bit.

4. The electronic device as claimed in claim 3, wherein Indicating the first UL TCI status using the SRI or UL TCI status indicator bit includes: The value N of the SRI or UL TCI status indicator bit corresponds to the Nth UL TCI status in a list of UL TCI statuses sorted from low to high or high to low according to the identifier size of the activated UL TCI status.

5. The electronic device as claimed in claim 3, wherein Using SRI to indicate the first UL TCI status includes: The SRI is used to indicate the SRS resource of the detection reference signal, where each SRS resource corresponds to a UL TCI state, and the correspondence between the SRS resource and the UL TCI state is predetermined.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein The processing circuit is further configured to, upon determining that the terminal device supports UL TCI status, use RRC parameters to indicate whether to use a conventional method or a UL TCI status-based method to indicate the beam to be used by the terminal device in uplink transmission.

7. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein The processing circuit is further configured to, when it is determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status, use the RRC parameter to indicate whether to use the SRI of DCI or the UL TCI status indication bit to indicate the first UL TCI status.

8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein In the case that the terminal device has beam symmetry, the processing circuit is further configured to instead configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device and indicate a first UL TCI state, and use DCI to indicate a first downlink transmission configuration indicating a DL TCI state, thereby instructing the terminal device to perform uplink transmission using a transmit beam with the same transmit beam direction as indicated by the first DL TCI state.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein The capability information also indicates whether the terminal device supports the DCI format, which includes UL TCI status indication bits.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein Each UL TCI state corresponds to the beam direction of one or more uplink reference signals and / or one or more downlink reference signals.

11. A method for a wireless communication system, comprising: Receive from the terminal device at least capability information indicating whether the terminal device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status; If, based on the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device supports UL TCI status: - Configure a UL TCI state pool for the terminal device; and - The downlink control information (DCI) indicates a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the terminal device will use in uplink transmission. The method further includes activating some or all of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state pool using the control element MAC CE of the media access control layer, such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states.

12. An electronic device for a wireless communication system, comprising: The processing circuit is configured as follows: Send at least information indicating whether the electronic device supports the uplink transmission configuration indication UL TCI status to the control device; If the electronic device supports UL TCI status: - Receive information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the control device; and - Receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the electronic device will use in uplink transmission. The processing circuit is further configured to receive a control element MAC CE of the media access control layer, the MAC CE activating some or all of the UL TCI states in the UL TCI state source pool, such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated UL TCI states.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein The UL TCI state pool is configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein The first UL TCI status is indicated by the DCI's Detection Reference Signal Resource Indicator (SRI) or the UL TCI status indicator bit.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein The processing circuit is further configured to sort the activated UL TCI states in ascending or descending order of their identifiers, and The first UL TCI state corresponds to the Nth UL TCI state in the sorted UL TCI states that corresponds to the value N of the SRI or UL TCI state indicator bit.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein In the case where the first UL TCI state is indicated by SRI, SRI indicates the probe reference signal SRS resource, wherein... Each SRS resource corresponds to a UL TCI state, and the correspondence between SRS resources and UL TCI states is predetermined.

17. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein If the electronic device supports UL TCI status, the processing circuit is further configured to receive an indication of whether the RRC parameters of the beam to be used by the electronic device in uplink transmission are indicated using a conventional method or a UL TCI status-based method.

18. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein If the electronic device supports UL TCI status, the processing circuit is further configured to receive an indication of the RRC parameters of the beam to be used by the electronic device in uplink transmission, whether via the SRI of the DCI or the UL TCI status indication bit.

19. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein In the case that the electronic device has beam symmetry, the processing circuit is further configured to replace receiving information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the control device and receiving a DCI indicating a first UL TCI state, receiving a DCI indicating a first downlink transmission configuration indicating a DL TCI state, and Uplink transmission is performed using the same transmit beam as the receive beam direction indicated by the first DL TCI state.

20. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein The capability information also indicates whether the electronic device supports the DCI format, which includes UL TCI status indication bits.

21. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein... Each UL TCI state corresponds to the beam direction of one or more uplink reference signals and / or one or more downlink reference signals.

22. A method for a wireless communication system, comprising: Send at least information indicating whether the electronic device supports uplink transmission configuration indicating UL TCI status to the control device; If the electronic device supports UL TCI status: - Receive information about the UL TCI state pool configured by the control device; and - Receive downlink control information (DCI) indicating a first UL TCI state, wherein the first UL TCI state indicates the beam that the electronic device will use in uplink transmission. The method further includes receiving a control element MAC CE from the media access control layer, the MAC CE activating some or all of the ULTCI states in the ULTCI state source pool such that the corresponding bit of the DCI is sufficient to indicate any one of the activated ULTCI states.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the method as claimed in claim 11 or 22.

24. An apparatus comprising: processor, A storage device storing executable instructions that, when executed, implement the method as described in claim 11 or 22.

Images