Beam switching, evaluation reporting method and apparatus, communication apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a beam switching method, comprising: when communicating with a terminal through a first beam, sending indication information to the terminal to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam when switching to the second beam is needed; receiving an evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal; and determining whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam according to the evaluation result. According to the present disclosure, when communicating with a terminal through a first beam, the base station can send indication information to the terminal to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam when switching to the second beam is needed, and report the evaluation result, and then determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam according to the evaluation result, which is beneficial to avoid communication problems caused by switching to the second beam when the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and in particular, to a beam switching method, an evaluation reporting method, a beam switching apparatus, an evaluation reporting apparatus, a communication apparatus and a computer readable storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] When the base station determines that the channel C1 corresponding to the beam beam1 is idle (i.e., not occupied) through Listen Before Talk (LBT), the base station can occupy the channel C1 and communicate with the terminal through the beam beam1.

[0003] In the process of communicating with the terminal through the beam beam1, the base station may need to perform beam switching, for example, switch to the beam beam2 to communicate with the terminal. The conditions of the channels corresponding to different beams can be different. For example, in the case that the channels C1 and C2 belong to an unlicensed frequency band, the base station only determines that the channel C1 corresponding to the beam beam1 is idle, and cannot determine whether the channel C2 corresponding to the beam beam2 is idle. If the terminal is instructed to switch to the beam beam2 to communicate without consideration, problems may be caused due to the busy channel C2. SUMMARY

[0004] Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a beam switching method, an evaluation reporting method, a beam switching apparatus, an evaluation reporting apparatus, a communication apparatus and a computer readable storage medium to solve the technical problems in the related art.

[0005] According to a first aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam switching method is provided, performed by a base station, and the method comprises: in the case of communicating with a terminal through a first beam, when it is needed to switch to a second beam, sending first indication information to the terminal, the first indication information being used to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to the second beam; receiving an evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal; and determining whether to switch to the second beam according to the evaluation result, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

[0006] According to a second aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure, an evaluation reporting method is provided, performed by a terminal, and the method comprises: in the case of communicating with a base station through a first beam, receiving first indication information sent by the base station, the first indication information being used to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam; evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam; and reporting an evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam to the base station.

[0007] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam switching apparatus is provided, comprising one or more processors configured to perform: in a case of communicating with a terminal through a first beam, sending, to the terminal, first indication information for instructing the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam when switching to the second beam is needed; receiving an evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal; and determining whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam according to the evaluation result.

[0008] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an evaluation reporting apparatus is provided, comprising one or more processors configured to perform: in a case of communicating with a base station through a first beam, receiving first indication information sent by the base station, the first indication information being used to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam; evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam; and reporting an evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam to the base station.

[0009] According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to perform the above-described beam switching method.

[0010] According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to perform the above-described evaluation reporting method.

[0011] According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program, the program being executed by a processor to implement the steps in the above-described beam switching method.

[0012] According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided for storing a computer program, the program being executed by a processor to implement the steps in the above-described evaluation reporting method.

[0013] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, when a base station communicates with a terminal through a first beam, the base station can send indication information to the terminal to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam when switching to the second beam is needed, and report an evaluation result, and then the base station can determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal according to the evaluation result, which is beneficial to avoid communication problems caused by switching to the second beam when the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0014] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly introduced. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative labor.

[0015] Figure 1 is a schematic flow chart of a beam switching method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of another beam switching method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of yet another beam switching method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 4 is a schematic flow chart of yet another beam switching method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 5 is a schematic flow chart of yet another beam switching method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 6 is a timing schematic diagram of indication information and evaluation results according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of an evaluation reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 8 is a schematic flow chart of another evaluation reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 9 is a schematic flow chart of yet another evaluation reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for beam switching according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus for evaluation reporting according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely in combination with the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0027] The terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the embodiments of the present disclosure. The singular forms "a", "an" and "the" used in the embodiments of the present disclosure and the appended claims are also intended to include plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and / or" used herein means and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0028] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. can be used in the embodiments of the present disclosure to describe various information, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first beam can also be referred to as the second beam, and similarly, the second beam can also be referred to as the first beam. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein can be interpreted as "when" or "upon" or "in response to determining".

[0029] For the purpose of brevity and ease of understanding, the terms "greater than" or "less than", "higher than" or "lower than" are used herein when characterizing the size relationship. However, it can be understood by those skilled in the art that the term "greater than" also covers the meaning of "greater than or equal to", and the term "less than" also covers the meaning of "less than or equal to"; the term "higher than" covers the meaning of "higher than or equal to", and the term "lower than" also covers the meaning of "lower than or equal to".

[0030] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a beam switching method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The beam switching method shown in the embodiment can be performed by a base station, which can communicate with a terminal including but not limited to a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a sensor, an Internet of Things device, and the like. The base station includes but is not limited to a base station in a 4G, 5G, 6G, or the like communication system.

[0031] In one embodiment, the base station can communicate with the terminal through a beam, wherein the frequency band corresponding to the beam can include a licensed frequency band and / or an unlicensed frequency band. The following embodiments mainly exemplify the technical solutions of the present disclosure in the scenario where the base station communicates with the terminal through the beam of the unlicensed frequency band.

[0032] AsFigure 1 As shown, the beam switching method may include the following steps:

[0033] In step S101, when communicating with the terminal via the first beam, if it is necessary to switch to the second beam, an instruction message is sent to the terminal to instruct the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0034] In step S102, the evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal is received;

[0035] In step S103, it is determined whether to switch to the second beam based on the evaluation result, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

[0036] In one embodiment, when a base station communicates with a terminal via a first beam, it may need to switch beams, for example, to a second beam for communication. The first beam corresponds to channel C1, and the second beam corresponds to channel C2. Channels C1 and C2 may belong to unlicensed frequency bands.

[0037] Since the base station will only use a beam for communication when it determines that the channel corresponding to the beam is idle, when the base station is using the first beam to communicate with the terminal, it has already determined that the channel corresponding to the first beam is not occupied. Therefore, it can send an indication message to the terminal through the first beam, instructing the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0038] As a receiver, the terminal can evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam after receiving the indication information from the base station. The evaluation method for the channel corresponding to the second beam will be described in subsequent embodiments. After completing the measurement of the channel corresponding to the second beam, the terminal can report the evaluation result to the base station, for example, by reporting the evaluation result to the base station through the first beam.

[0039] Based on the evaluation results, the base station can determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal. For example, based on the evaluation results, the base station can determine whether the channel C2 corresponding to the second beam is occupied. If it is not occupied, that is, when it is idle, the base station can instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam for communication. If it is occupied, the base station can continue to use the first beam to communicate with the terminal.

[0040] It should be noted that the second beam can be one beam or multiple beams. The base station can instruct the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to one beam, or it can instruct the terminal to evaluate the channels corresponding to multiple beams.

[0041] For example, when instructing a terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam, the terminal can report the evaluation result for the channel corresponding to this second beam. If the base station determines that the channel is idle based on the evaluation result, it can instruct the terminal to switch to this second beam. If the base station determines that the channel is occupied based on the evaluation result, it does not need to instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam, but continues to use the first beam to communicate with the terminal.

[0042] For example, when instructing a terminal to evaluate the channels corresponding to multiple second beams, the terminal can report the evaluation results for the channels corresponding to the multiple second beams, and can also mark the beam corresponding to each evaluation result. If the base station determines that at least one channel is idle based on multiple evaluation results, it can instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam corresponding to the idle channel. For example, the base station can select a second beam corresponding to a channel from multiple idle channels and instruct it to the terminal based on the actual situation. If it is determined that all channels corresponding to the second beams are occupied based on the evaluation results, it is not necessary to instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam, but the first beam can continue to be used to communicate with the terminal.

[0043] In one embodiment, the first indication information is further used to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam, and / or the method further includes: sending second indication information to the terminal to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam.

[0044] In one embodiment, the base station can trigger the terminal to perform an evaluation operation through the first indication information. However, the specific channels of the second beam to be evaluated also need to be indicated by the base station. For example, the base station can both trigger the terminal to perform an evaluation operation and indicate to the terminal that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam through the first indication information; or the base station can trigger the terminal to perform an evaluation operation through the first indication information and indicate to the terminal that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam through the second indication information.

[0045] In one embodiment, the first indication information includes Downlink Control Information (DCI); the second indication information includes at least one of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling and Media Access Control (MAC) signaling.

[0046] When the DCI indicates to the terminal that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated needs to be the second beam, one or more bits in the DCI can be set to indicate the sensing beam that the terminal needs to evaluate. The indicated sensing beam is the second beam to be evaluated. The number of bits used for indication can be related to the number of candidate beams (which can be pre-agreed). For example, if there are 4 candidate beams and the base station selects one or more beams as sensing beams, then 2 bits can be used to indicate that the terminal evaluates the channel corresponding to the sensing beam. If there are 2 candidate beams and the base station selects one or more beams as the second beam, then 1 bit can be used to indicate that the terminal evaluates the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0047] When the second indication information is RRC signaling, the RRC signaling may also contain an aperiodic trigger status field. The QCL (Quasi Co-Location) parameter in this field can indicate the beam corresponding to the channel that the terminal needs to measure. When the second indication information is MAC signaling, the MAC CE (information element) can indicate the beam corresponding to the channel that the terminal needs to measure. The number of bits required for the indication information in these two cases is similar to the aforementioned embodiments, and therefore will not be repeated.

[0048] Alternatively, the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated can be designated as the second beam by combining the first and second indication information. For example, this can be achieved by combining RRC signaling and DCI to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam, or by combining MAC signaling and DCI to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam. For instance, the terminal can first be designated with candidate beams or candidate beam combinations via RRC or MAC signaling, and then designated with DCI as the second beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated.

[0049] In one embodiment, the channel occupancy time (COT) corresponding to the first beam can be COT1.

[0050] While the base station is continuously using the first beam to communicate with the terminal, it can continuously occupy the channel corresponding to the first beam until COT1 ends.

[0051] When a base station switches to the second beam to communicate with a terminal through the second beam, it can re-determine the channel occupancy time for channel C2 corresponding to the second beam, for example, COT2, and then occupy channel C2 corresponding to the second beam until COT2 ends; or it can continue to occupy the channel according to COT1, that is, the sum of the time occupied by channel C1 corresponding to the first beam before the beam switch and the time occupied by channel C2 corresponding to the second beam after the beam switch is COT1.

[0052] According to embodiments of this disclosure, when a base station communicates with a terminal via a first beam, it can send an indication message to the terminal when it needs to switch to a second beam. The terminal is instructed to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam and report the evaluation results. Based on the evaluation results, it can determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal. This helps to avoid communication problems caused by switching to the second beam when the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied.

[0053] In one embodiment, the method for evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes at least one of the following:

[0054] Measure the Layer 1 Received Signal Strength Indication (L1-RSSI) of the channel corresponding to the second beam;

[0055] Perform Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) or Enhanced Clear Channel Assessment (eCCA) on the channel corresponding to the second beam, where e represents enhancement.

[0056] As a receiving end communicating in an unlicensed frequency band, the terminal can assess the occupancy status of the channel corresponding to the second beam it needs to switch to by measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, or by performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam. The following embodiments mainly illustrate these two methods.

[0057] Figure 2 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another beam switching method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2 As shown, the method for evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the method further includes:

[0058] In step S201, a preset aperiodic trigger state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement is sent to the terminal, wherein the preset aperiodic trigger state is associated with at least one zero power channel state information reference signal ZP-CSI-RS (Zero Power-Channel State Information-ReferenceSignal).

[0059] The step of sending the first indication information to the terminal includes:

[0060] In step S202, downlink control information (DCI) is sent to the terminal. The DCI carries the preset aperiodic trigger state, which is used to trigger the terminal to measure the channel corresponding to the second beam on the resource corresponding to ZP-CSI-RS to obtain L1-RSSI.

[0061] In one embodiment, the base station may send a preset non-periodic trigger state to the terminal in advance. The preset non-periodic trigger state is dedicated to L1-RSSI. For example, the preset non-periodic trigger state can be sent to the terminal via RRC signaling, and the preset non-periodic trigger state is associated with at least one ZP-CSI-RS.

[0062] Therefore, when beam switching is required, a DCI can be sent to the terminal, which can carry a preset aperiodic trigger state. After receiving the DCI, the terminal can detect the CSI request field in the DCI, which carries the aperiodic trigger state. If the aperiodic trigger state in the CSI request field is the preset aperiodic trigger state, the terminal can be triggered to measure the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on the ZP-CSI-RS resource associated with the preset aperiodic trigger state.

[0063] In one embodiment, the DCI includes an uplink scheduling DCI;

[0064] The uplink scheduling DCI is also used to instruct the terminal to report the evaluation results through the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the uplink scheduling DCI.

[0065] In one embodiment, the DCI type can be either DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 0_2. Both of these types of DCI are uplink scheduling DCIs. After the terminal evaluates and obtains the L1-RSSI, it can report the L1-RSSI to the base station using the uplink resources scheduled by the DCI. Therefore, the DCI can not only perform an indication function but also a scheduling function, which is beneficial to improving communication efficiency.

[0066] Figure 3 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another beam switching method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown, determining whether to switch to the second beam based on the evaluation result to communicate with the terminal via the second beam includes:

[0067] In step S301, if the L1-RSSI is greater than the first threshold, it is determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, and the first beam is used to communicate with the terminal continuously.

[0068] In step S302, if the L1-RSSI is less than the second threshold, it is determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle, and the system switches to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

[0069] In one embodiment, after receiving the L1-RSSI reported by the terminal, the base station can determine whether the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle based on the L1-RSSI.

[0070] If the L1-RSSI is large, such as exceeding the first threshold, it can be determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied. Switching to the second beam may cause communication problems, so the first beam can continue to be used to communicate with the terminal.

[0071] When the L1-RSSI is low, for example, less than the second threshold, it can be determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle. Therefore, the system can switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal. This allows the terminal to be instructed to perform beam switching and switch to the second beam for communication. The first and second thresholds can be set as needed, with the second threshold being less than or equal to the first threshold.

[0072] Figure 4 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another beam switching method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 4 As shown, the method for evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, wherein sending indication information to the terminal includes:

[0073] In step S401, a DCI is sent to the terminal. The DCI carries a dedicated identifier to instruct the terminal to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0074] In one embodiment, the base station sends a DCI carrying a dedicated identifier to the terminal to instruct the terminal to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0075] During communication with the terminal, the base station can send multiple DCIs, each with a different function. For example, the base station might send a DCI for routine scheduling or to indicate COT (Conditional Operation) for the channel corresponding to the first beam. Therefore, to instruct the terminal to perform CCA (Conditional Control Action) or eCCA (Electronic Control Action) on the channel corresponding to the second beam via a DCI, a dedicated identifier can be added to the DCI. Upon receiving the DCI and confirming the presence of this dedicated identifier, the terminal can determine that the DCI is at least used to instruct the terminal to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0076] In one embodiment, the DCI includes uplink scheduling DCI and / or downlink scheduling DCI;

[0077] The uplink scheduling DCI is also used to instruct the terminal to report the evaluation results to the uplink via the PUSCH scheduled by the uplink scheduling DCI.

[0078] The downlink scheduling DCI is also used to instruct the terminal to report the evaluation results to the uplink through the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) corresponding to the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheduled by the downlink scheduling DCI.

[0079] In one embodiment, the DCI can be either a downlink scheduling DCI or an uplink scheduling DCI.

[0080] Taking uplink scheduling DCI as an example, after the terminal obtains the evaluation result by performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, it can report the CCA or eCCA result to the base station using the uplink resources scheduled by DCI.

[0081] Taking downlink scheduling (DCI) as an example, after the terminal performs CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam and obtains the evaluation result, it can determine the PDSCH to be scheduled by DCI, and then determine the PUCCH to be used to transmit the HARQ corresponding to the PDSCH. Thus, the results of CCA or eCCA can be reported to the base station on the determined PUCCH.

[0082] Figure 5 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another beam switching method according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 5 As shown, determining whether to switch to the second beam based on the evaluation result to communicate with the terminal via the second beam includes:

[0083] In step S501, if the result of CCA or eCCA is that the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, the first beam is used to continue communicating with the terminal.

[0084] In step S502, if the result of CCA or eCCA is that the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle, the system switches to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

[0085] In one embodiment, after receiving the CCA or eCCA result reported by the terminal, the base station can determine whether the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle based on the CCA or eCCA result.

[0086] The results of CCA or eCCA can be reported as auxiliary information, for example, occupying 1 bit. A bit of 0 indicates the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, and a bit of 1 indicates the channel is idle. Therefore, if it is determined that the channel in the second licensed frequency band is occupied, switching to the second beam may cause communication problems, thus allowing communication with the terminal to continue using the first beam. If it is determined that the channel in the second licensed frequency band is idle, switching to the second beam can be used to communicate with the terminal, thereby instructing the terminal to perform a beam switch and switch to the second beam for communication.

[0087] Figure 6 This is a timing diagram illustrating an indication message and evaluation result according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0088] like Figure 6 As shown, when the base station communicates with the terminal via the first beam (beam1), for example, beam1 corresponds to channel C1, the occupancy time for channel C1 is COT1. When beam switching is required, for example, when switching to the second beam (beam2), the corresponding... Figure 6At time t1, the first indication information can be sent to the terminal to trigger the terminal to evaluate the channel C2 corresponding to the second beam beam2.

[0089] After receiving the first indication information, the terminal can evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam and report the evaluation result to the base station, for example, in Figure 6 The report is shown at time t2.

[0090] After receiving the evaluation results, the base station can determine whether channel C2 is idle. If channel C2 is idle, it can instruct the terminal to switch beams to the second beam, beam2, for communication. If channel C2 is occupied, it is not necessary to instruct the terminal to switch beams, but to continue communicating through the first beam, beam1.

[0091] While the base station is continuously using the first beam to communicate with the terminal, it can continuously occupy the channel C1 corresponding to the first beam until COT1 ends.

[0092] When a base station switches to the second beam to communicate with a terminal through the second beam, it can re-determine the channel occupancy time for channel C2 corresponding to the second beam, for example, COT2, and then occupy channel C2 corresponding to the second beam until COT2 ends; or it can continue to occupy the channel according to COT1, that is, the sum of the time occupied by channel C1 corresponding to the first beam before the beam switch and the time occupied by channel C2 corresponding to the second beam after the beam switch is COT1.

[0093] Figure 7 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating an evaluation and reporting method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The beam switching method shown in this embodiment can be executed by a terminal that can communicate with a base station. The terminal includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices. The base station includes, but is not limited to, base stations in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G.

[0094] In one embodiment, the base station can communicate with the terminal via a beam, wherein the frequency band corresponding to the beam may include licensed frequency bands or unlicensed frequency bands. The following embodiments mainly illustrate the technical solution of this disclosure in the scenario where the base station and the terminal communicate via beams in unlicensed frequency bands.

[0095] like Figure 7 As shown, the beam switching method may include the following steps:

[0096] In step S701, when communicating with the base station via the first beam, the terminal receives first indication information sent by the base station. The first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam, wherein the second beam is the beam that the base station expects to switch to.

[0097] In step S702, the channel corresponding to the second beam is evaluated;

[0098] In step S703, the evaluation result obtained from the channel evaluation corresponding to the second beam is reported to the base station.

[0099] In one embodiment, when a base station communicates with a terminal via a first beam, it may need to switch beams, for example, to a second beam for communication. The first beam corresponds to channel C1, and the second beam corresponds to channel C2. Channels C1 and C2 may belong to unlicensed frequency bands.

[0100] Since the base station will only use a beam for communication when it determines that the channel corresponding to the beam is idle, when the base station is using the first beam to communicate with the terminal, it has already determined that the channel corresponding to the first beam is not occupied. Therefore, it can send an indication message to the terminal through the first beam, instructing the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0101] As a receiver, the terminal can evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam after receiving the indication information from the base station. The evaluation method for the channel corresponding to the second beam will be described in subsequent embodiments. After completing the measurement of the channel corresponding to the second beam, the terminal can report the evaluation result to the base station, for example, by reporting the evaluation result to the base station through the first beam.

[0102] Based on the evaluation results, the base station can determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam. For example, based on the evaluation results, the base station can determine whether the second channel C2 corresponding to the second beam is occupied. If it is not occupied, that is, when it is idle, the base station can instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam for communication. If it is occupied, the base station can continue to use the first beam to communicate with the terminal.

[0103] It should be noted that the second beam can be one beam or multiple beams. The base station can instruct the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to one beam, or it can instruct the terminal to evaluate the channels corresponding to multiple beams.

[0104] For example, when instructing a terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam, the terminal can report the evaluation result for the channel corresponding to this second beam. If the base station determines that the channel is idle based on the evaluation result, it can instruct the terminal to switch to this second beam. If the base station determines that the channel is occupied based on the evaluation result, it does not need to instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam, but continues to use the first beam to communicate with the terminal.

[0105] For example, when instructing a terminal to evaluate the channels corresponding to multiple second beams, the terminal can report the evaluation results for the channels corresponding to the multiple second beams, and can also mark the beam corresponding to each evaluation result. If the base station determines that at least one channel is idle based on multiple evaluation results, it can instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam corresponding to the idle channel. For example, the base station can select a second beam corresponding to a channel from multiple idle channels and instruct it to the terminal based on the actual situation. If it is determined that all channels corresponding to the second beams are occupied based on the evaluation results, it is not necessary to instruct the terminal to switch to the second beam, but the first beam can continue to be used to communicate with the terminal.

[0106] In one embodiment, reporting the evaluation result obtained from the channel evaluation corresponding to the second beam to the base station includes: reporting the evaluation result to the base station through the first beam.

[0107] In one embodiment, the first indication information is further used to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam, and / or the method further includes: sending second indication information to the terminal to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam.

[0108] In one embodiment, the base station can trigger the terminal to perform an evaluation operation through the first indication information. However, the specific channels of the second beam to be evaluated also need to be indicated by the base station. For example, the base station can both trigger the terminal to perform an evaluation operation and indicate to the terminal that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam through the first indication information; or the base station can trigger the terminal to perform an evaluation operation through the first indication information and indicate to the terminal that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam through the second indication information.

[0109] In one embodiment, the first indication information includes downlink control information (DCI); the second indication information includes at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) signaling and media access control (MAC) signaling.

[0110] When the DCI indicates to the terminal that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated needs to be the second beam, one or more bits in the DCI can be set to indicate the sensing beam that the terminal needs to evaluate. The indicated sensing beam is the second beam to be evaluated. The number of bits used for indication can be related to the number of candidate beams (which can be pre-agreed). For example, if there are 4 candidate beams and the base station selects one or more beams as sensing beams, then 2 bits can be used to indicate that the terminal evaluates the channel corresponding to the sensing beam. If there are 2 candidate beams and the base station selects one or more beams as the second beam, then 1 bit can be used to indicate that the terminal evaluates the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0111] When the second indication information is RRC signaling, the RRC signaling may also contain an aperiodic trigger status field, through which the QCI parameter in this field indicates the beam corresponding to the channel that the terminal needs to measure. When the second indication information is MAC signaling, the MAC CE can indicate the beam corresponding to the channel that the terminal needs to measure. The number of bits required for the indication information in these two cases is similar to that in the aforementioned embodiments, and therefore will not be repeated.

[0112] Alternatively, the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated can be designated as the second beam by combining the first and second indication information. For example, this can be achieved by combining RRC signaling and DCI to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam, or by combining MAC signaling and DCI to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam. For instance, the terminal can first be designated with candidate beams or candidate beam combinations via RRC or MAC signaling, and then designated with DCI as the second beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated.

[0113] According to embodiments of this disclosure, when a base station communicates with a terminal via a first beam, it can send an indication message to the terminal when it needs to switch to a second beam. The terminal is instructed to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam and report the evaluation results. Based on the evaluation results, it can determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal. This helps to avoid communication problems caused by switching to the second beam when the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied.

[0114] In one embodiment, the method for evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes at least one of the following:

[0115] Measure the Layer 1 Received Signal Strength Indication (L1-RSSI) of the channel corresponding to the second beam;

[0116] Perform free channel assessment (CCA) or enhanced free channel assessment (eCCA) on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0117] As a receiving end communicating in an unlicensed frequency band, the terminal can assess the channel occupancy status corresponding to the second beam it needs to switch to in one of the following ways: by measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, or by performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam. This method can be referred to as receiver-assisted CCA or eCCA based on existing channels / signals. The following embodiments mainly illustrate these two methods.

[0118] Figure 8 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating another evaluation and reporting method according to embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 8 As shown, the method for evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the method further includes:

[0119] In step S801, a preset aperiodic trigger state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement is received from the base station, wherein the preset aperiodic trigger state is associated with at least one zero-power channel state information reference signal ZP-CSI-RS.

[0120] In step S802, the DCI sent by the base station is received;

[0121] The evaluation of the channel corresponding to the second beam includes:

[0122] In step S803, if it is determined that the DCI carries the preset aperiodic triggering state, the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam is measured on the resource corresponding to the ZP-CSI-RS.

[0123] In one embodiment, the base station may send a preset non-periodic trigger state to the terminal in advance. The preset non-periodic trigger state is dedicated to L1-RSSI. For example, the preset non-periodic trigger state can be sent to the terminal via RRC signaling, and the preset non-periodic trigger state is associated with at least one ZP-CSI-RS.

[0124] Therefore, when beam switching is required, a DCI can be sent to the terminal, which can carry a preset aperiodic trigger state. After receiving the DCI, the terminal can detect the CSI request field in the DCI, which carries the aperiodic trigger state. If the aperiodic trigger state in the CSI request field is the preset aperiodic trigger state, the terminal can be triggered to measure the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on the ZP-CSI-RS resource associated with the preset aperiodic trigger state.

[0125] In one embodiment, the DCI includes uplink scheduling DCI, and reporting the evaluation result obtained from the channel evaluation corresponding to the second beam to the base station includes:

[0126] The evaluation results are reported on the PUSCH of the uplink DCI scheduling.

[0127] In one embodiment, the DCI type can be either DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 0_2. Both of these types of DCI are uplink scheduling DCIs. After the terminal evaluates and obtains the L1-RSSI, it can report the L1-RSSI to the base station using the uplink resources scheduled by the DCI. Therefore, the DCI can not only perform an indication function but also a scheduling function, which is beneficial to improving communication efficiency.

[0128] Figure 9 This is a schematic flowchart illustrating yet another evaluation and reporting method according to embodiments of this disclosure. Figure 9 As shown, the method for evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the method further includes:

[0129] In step S901, the DCI sent by the base station is received;

[0130] The evaluation of the channel corresponding to the second beam includes:

[0131] In step S902, if it is determined that the DCI carries a dedicated identifier, CCA or eCCA is performed on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0132] In one embodiment, the base station sends a DCI carrying a dedicated identifier to the terminal to instruct the terminal to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0133] During communication with the terminal, the base station can send multiple DCIs, each with a different function. For example, the base station might send a DCI for routine scheduling or to indicate COT (Conditional Operation) for the channel corresponding to the first beam. Therefore, to instruct the terminal to perform CCA (Conditional Control Action) or eCCA (Electronic Control Action) on the channel corresponding to the second beam via a DCI, a dedicated identifier can be added to the DCI. Upon receiving the DCI and confirming the presence of this dedicated identifier, the terminal can determine that the DCI is at least used to instruct the terminal to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0134] In one embodiment, the DCI includes uplink scheduling DCI and / or downlink scheduling DCI, and the step of reporting the evaluation result obtained from the channel evaluation corresponding to the second beam to the base station includes:

[0135] The evaluation results are reported by the PUSCH scheduled by the uplink DCI; and / or

[0136] The evaluation results are reported to the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) corresponding to the HARQ of the downlink scheduling DCI-scheduled PDSCH.

[0137] In one embodiment, the DCI can be either a downlink scheduling DCI or an uplink scheduling DCI.

[0138] Taking uplink scheduling DCI as an example, after the terminal obtains the evaluation result by performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, it can report the CCA or eCCA result to the base station using the uplink resources scheduled by DCI.

[0139] Taking downlink scheduling (DCI) as an example, after the terminal performs CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam and obtains the evaluation result, it can determine the PDSCH to be scheduled by DCI, and then determine the PUCCH to be used to transmit the HARQ corresponding to the PDSCH. Thus, the results of CCA or eCCA can be reported to the base station on the determined PUCCH.

[0140] Corresponding to the aforementioned embodiments of the beam switching method and evaluation reporting method, this disclosure also provides embodiments of the beam switching device and the evaluation reporting device.

[0141] The embodiments of this disclosure also propose a beam switching device, which can be applied to a base station. The base station can communicate with a terminal, including but not limited to communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and IoT devices. The base station includes but is not limited to base stations in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G.

[0142] In one embodiment, the base station can communicate with the terminal via a beam, wherein the frequency band corresponding to the beam may include licensed frequency bands or unlicensed frequency bands. The following embodiments mainly illustrate the technical solution of this disclosure in the scenario where the base station and the terminal communicate via beams in unlicensed frequency bands.

[0143] In one embodiment, the beam switching device includes one or more processors configured to perform:

[0144] When communicating with the terminal via the first beam, and when it is necessary to switch to the second beam, a first indication message is sent to the terminal to instruct the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0145] Receive the evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal;

[0146] Based on the evaluation results, determine whether to switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal via the second beam.

[0147] In one embodiment, the method of evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes at least one of the following: measuring the Layer 1 Received Signal Strength Indication (L1-RSSI) of the channel corresponding to the second beam; performing a Free Channel Assessment (CCA) or an Enhanced Free Channel Assessment (eCCA) on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0148] In one embodiment, evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the processor is further configured to perform:

[0149] Send a preset aperiodic trigger state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement to the terminal, wherein the preset aperiodic trigger state is associated with at least one zero-power channel state information reference signal ZP-CSI-RS;

[0150] Downlink control information (DCI) is sent to the terminal. The DCI carries the preset aperiodic trigger state, which is used to trigger the terminal to measure the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on the ZP-CSI-RS resource.

[0151] In one embodiment, the DCI includes an uplink scheduling DCI; wherein the uplink scheduling DCI is further used to instruct the terminal to report the evaluation results through the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) scheduled by the uplink scheduling DCI.

[0152] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to execute:

[0153] If the L1-RSSI is greater than the first threshold, it is determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, and the first beam is used to communicate with the terminal continuously.

[0154] If the L1-RSSI is less than the second threshold, the channel corresponding to the second beam is determined to be idle, and communication with the terminal is switched to the second beam.

[0155] In one embodiment, evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, wherein the processor is further configured to execute:

[0156] A DCI is sent to the terminal, the DCI carrying a dedicated identifier to instruct the terminal to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0157] In one embodiment, the DCI includes uplink scheduling DCI and / or downlink scheduling DCI;

[0158] The uplink scheduling DCI is also used to instruct the terminal to report the evaluation results to the uplink via the PUSCH scheduled by the uplink scheduling DCI.

[0159] The downlink scheduling DCI is also used to instruct the terminal to report the evaluation results to the physical uplink control channel PUCCH corresponding to the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheduled by the downlink scheduling DCI.

[0160] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to execute:

[0161] If the result of CCA or eCCA is that the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, the first beam is used to continue communicating with the terminal.

[0162] If the result of CCA or eCCA indicates that the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle, switch to the second beam to communicate with the terminal.

[0163] In one embodiment, the first indication information is further used to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam, and / or the processor is further configured to send second indication information to the terminal to indicate that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam.

[0164] The embodiments of this disclosure also propose an evaluation and reporting device, which can be applied to a terminal that can communicate with a base station. The terminal includes, but is not limited to, communication devices such as mobile phones, tablets, wearable devices, sensors, and Internet of Things devices. The base station includes, but is not limited to, base stations in communication systems such as 4G, 5G, and 6G.

[0165] In one embodiment, the base station can communicate with the terminal via a beam, wherein the frequency band corresponding to the beam may include licensed frequency bands or unlicensed frequency bands. The following embodiments mainly illustrate the technical solution of this disclosure in the scenario where the base station and the terminal communicate via beams in unlicensed frequency bands.

[0166] In one embodiment, the evaluation reporting device includes one or more processors configured to perform:

[0167] When communicating with a base station via a first beam, the terminal receives a first indication message sent by the base station. The first indication message is used to instruct the terminal to evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam, wherein the second beam is the beam that the base station expects to switch to.

[0168] Evaluate the channel corresponding to the second beam;

[0169] The evaluation results obtained from the channel evaluation corresponding to the second beam are reported to the base station.

[0170] In one embodiment, the processor is configured to perform the following: report the evaluation results to the base station via the first beam.

[0171] In one embodiment, the method of evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes at least one of the following: measuring the Layer 1 Received Signal Strength Indication (L1-RSSI) of the channel corresponding to the second beam; performing a Free Channel Assessment (CCA) or an Enhanced Free Channel Assessment (eCCA) on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

[0172] In one embodiment, evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the processor is further configured to perform:

[0173] Receive a preset aperiodic trigger state sent by the base station for L1-RSSI measurement, wherein the preset aperiodic trigger state is associated with at least one zero-power channel state information reference signal ZP-CSI-RS; Receive DCI sent by the base station;

[0174] The processor is configured to perform the following: when it is determined that the DCI carries the preset aperiodic triggering state, to measure the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on the ZP-CSI-RS corresponding resource.

[0175] In one embodiment, the DCI includes an uplink scheduling DCI, and the processor is configured to perform: reporting the evaluation results on the PUSCH scheduled by the uplink scheduling DCI.

[0176] In one embodiment, the method of evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam includes performing CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the processor is further configured to perform: receiving DCI sent by the base station;

[0177] The processor is configured to perform CCA or eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam if it is determined that the DCI carries a dedicated identifier.

[0178] In one embodiment, the DCI includes an uplink scheduled DCI and / or a downlink scheduled DCI, and the processor is configured to perform: reporting the evaluation results to the PUSCH scheduled by the uplink scheduled DCI; and / or reporting the evaluation results to the physical uplink control channel PUCCH corresponding to the HARQ of the PDSCH scheduled by the downlink scheduled DCI.

[0179] In one embodiment, the processor is further configured to perform: determining, based on the first indication information, that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam, and / or determining, based on the second indication information sent by the base station, that the beam corresponding to the channel to be evaluated is the second beam.

[0180] Regarding the apparatus in the above embodiments, the specific manner in which each module performs its operation has been described in detail in the embodiments of the relevant methods, and will not be elaborated upon here.

[0181] For the device embodiments, since they basically correspond to the method embodiments, the relevant parts can be referred to in the description of the method embodiments. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without creative effort.

[0182] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a communication device, including: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the beam switching method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0183] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a communication device, comprising: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the evaluation and reporting method described in any of the above embodiments is implemented.

[0184] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the beam switching method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0185] Embodiments of this disclosure also propose a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in the evaluation and reporting method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0186] like Figure 10 As shown, Figure 10 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating a beam-switching apparatus 1000 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 1000 can be provided as a base station. (Refer to...) Figure 10 The device 1000 includes a processing component 1022, a wireless transmitting / receiving component 1024, an antenna component 1026, and a signal processing section specific to the wireless interface. The processing component 1022 may further include one or more processors. One of the processors in the processing component 1022 may be configured to implement the beam switching method described in any of the above embodiments.

[0187] Figure 11 This is a schematic block diagram illustrating an apparatus 1100 for evaluating reported data according to embodiments of this disclosure. For example, apparatus 1100 may be a mobile phone, computer, digital broadcasting terminal, messaging device, game console, tablet device, medical device, fitness equipment, personal digital assistant, etc.

[0188] Reference Figure 11 The device 1100 may include one or more of the following components: a processing component 1102, a memory 1104, a power supply component 1106, a multimedia component 1108, an audio component 1110, an input / output (I / O) interface 1112, a sensor component 1114, and a communication component 1116.

[0189] Processing component 1102 typically controls the overall operation of device 1100, such as operations associated with display, telephone calls, data communication, camera operation, and recording. Processing component 1102 may include one or more processors 1120 to execute instructions to complete all or part of the steps of the evaluation and reporting method described above. Furthermore, processing component 1102 may include one or more modules to facilitate interaction between processing component 1102 and other components. For example, processing component 1102 may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between multimedia component 1108 and processing component 1102.

[0190] Memory 1104 is configured to store various types of data to support the operation of device 1100. Examples of such data include instructions for any application or method operating on device 1100, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, videos, etc. Memory 1104 can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic storage, flash memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk.

[0191] Power supply component 1106 provides power to various components of device 1100. Power supply component 1106 may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generating, managing, and distributing power to device 1100.

[0192] Multimedia component 1108 includes a screen that provides an output interface between the device 1100 and the user. In some embodiments, the screen may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a touch panel (TP). If the screen includes a touch panel, the screen may be implemented as a touchscreen to receive input signals from the user. The touch panel includes one or more touch sensors to sense touches, swipes, and gestures on the touch panel. The touch sensors may sense not only the boundaries of the touch or swipe action but also the duration and pressure associated with the touch or swipe operation. In some embodiments, multimedia component 1108 includes a front-facing camera and / or a rear-facing camera. When the device 1100 is in an operating mode, such as a shooting mode or a video mode, the front-facing camera and / or the rear-facing camera may receive external multimedia data. Each front-facing camera and rear-facing camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have focal length and optical zoom capabilities.

[0193] Audio component 1110 is configured to output and / or input audio signals. For example, audio component 1110 includes a microphone (MIC) configured to receive external audio signals when device 1100 is in an operating mode, such as call mode, recording mode, and voice recognition mode. The received audio signals may be further stored in memory 1104 or transmitted via communication component 1116. In some embodiments, audio component 1110 also includes a speaker for outputting audio signals.

[0194] I / O interface 1112 provides an interface between processing component 1102 and peripheral interface modules, such as keyboards, click wheels, buttons, etc. These buttons may include, but are not limited to, home buttons, volume buttons, power buttons, and lock buttons.

[0195] Sensor assembly 1114 includes one or more sensors for providing status assessments of various aspects of device 1100. For example, sensor assembly 1114 may detect the on / off state of device 1100, the relative positioning of components such as the display and keypad of device 1100, changes in the position of device 1100 or a component of device 1100, the presence or absence of user contact with device 1100, the orientation or acceleration / deceleration of device 1100, and temperature changes of device 1100. Sensor assembly 1114 may include a proximity sensor configured to detect the presence of nearby objects without any physical contact. Sensor assembly 1114 may also include a light sensor, such as a CMOS or CCD image sensor, for use in imaging applications. In some embodiments, sensor assembly 1114 may also include an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer, a pressure sensor, or a temperature sensor.

[0196] Communication component 1116 is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between device 1100 and other devices. Device 1100 can access wireless networks based on communication standards, such as WiFi, 2G or 3G, 4G LTE, 5G NR, or combinations thereof. In one exemplary embodiment, communication component 1116 receives broadcast signals or broadcast-related information from an external broadcast management system via a broadcast channel. In one exemplary embodiment, communication component 1116 also includes a near-field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communication. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, Infrared Data Association (IrDA) technology, ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

[0197] In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 1100 may be implemented by one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other electronic components to perform the above-described evaluation and reporting method.

[0198] In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions is also provided, such as a memory 1104 including instructions, which can be executed by the processor 1120 of the device 1100 to complete the aforementioned evaluation and reporting method. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, random access memory (RAM), CD-ROM, magnetic tape, floppy disk, and optical data storage device, etc.

[0199] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of this disclosure are indicated by the following claims.

[0200] It should be understood that this disclosure is not limited to the precise structures described above and shown in the accompanying drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of this disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

[0201] It should be noted that, in this document, relational terms such as "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. The terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover 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.

[0202] The methods and apparatus provided in the embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above. Specific examples have been used to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of this disclosure. The descriptions of the embodiments above are only for the purpose of helping to understand the methods and core ideas of this disclosure. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope based on the ideas of this disclosure. Therefore, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A method of beam switching, the method comprising: The method is performed by a base station, and the method comprises: In a case where a terminal communicates through a first beam, when it is needed to switch to a second beam, first indication information is sent to the terminal, wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to the second beam, the first indication information is carried in downlink control information (DCI), and the DCI comprises downlink scheduling DCI, and the downlink scheduling DCI is also used to instruct the terminal to report an evaluation result to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) corresponding to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the downlink scheduling DCI; The evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal is received; Whether to switch to the second beam is determined according to the evaluation result, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The evaluation manner of the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises at least one of the following: A layer 1 received signal strength indication (L1-RSSI) of the channel corresponding to the second beam is measured; A clear channel assessment (CCA) or an enhanced clear channel assessment (eCCA) is performed on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The evaluation manner of the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises measuring an L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the method further comprises: A preset aperiodic triggering state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement is sent to the terminal, wherein the preset aperiodic triggering state is associated with at least one zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP-CSI-RS); The indication information sent to the terminal comprises: The uplink scheduling DCI is sent to the terminal, and the preset aperiodic triggering state is carried in the uplink scheduling DCI, so as to trigger the terminal to measure the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on a resource corresponding to the ZP-CSI-RS.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The determination of whether to switch to the second beam according to the evaluation result, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam comprises: In a case where the L1-RSSI is greater than a first threshold value, it is determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, and communication with the terminal is continued using the first beam; In a case where the L1-RSSI is less than a second threshold value, it is determined that the channel corresponding to the second beam is idle, and the second beam is switched to, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein, The evaluation manner of the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises performing a CCA or an eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the indication information sent to the terminal comprises: Downlink scheduling DCI is sent to the terminal, and a dedicated identifier is carried in the downlink scheduling DCI, so as to instruct the terminal to perform a CCA or an eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The determination of whether to switch to the second beam according to the evaluation result, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam comprises: In a case where a result of the CCA or the eCCA indicates that a channel corresponding to the second beam is occupied, continuing to communicate with the terminal using the first beam; In a case where a result of the CCA or the eCCA indicates that a channel corresponding to the second beam is idle, switching to the second beam to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The first indication information is further used to indicate that a beam corresponding to a channel needs to be evaluated as the second beam, and / or the method further comprises: sending, to the terminal, second indication information used to indicate that a beam corresponding to a channel needs to be evaluated as the second beam.

8. An assessment reporting method, characterized by, The method is performed by a terminal, and the method comprises: In a case where the terminal communicates with a base station through a first beam, receiving first indication information sent by the base station, the first indication information being used to indicate that the terminal evaluates a channel corresponding to a second beam, wherein the second beam is a beam to which the base station expects to switch, the first indication information being carried in downlink control information (DCI), the DCI including a downlink scheduling DCI, the downlink scheduling DCI being further used to indicate that a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) corresponding to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the downlink scheduling DCI is used to report an evaluation result to the base station; evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam; reporting the evaluation result obtained by evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam to the base station.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The reporting of the evaluation result obtained by evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam to the base station comprises: reporting the evaluation result to the base station through the first beam.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein, The manner of evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises at least one of the following: measuring a layer 1 received signal strength indication (L1-RSSI) of the channel corresponding to the second beam; performing a clear channel assessment (CCA) or an enhanced clear channel assessment (eCCA) on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, The manner of evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises measuring an L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the method further comprises: receiving a preset aperiodic triggering state dedicated to L1-RSSI measurement sent by the base station, wherein the preset aperiodic triggering state is associated with at least one zero-power channel state information reference signal (ZP-CSI-RS); receiving the uplink scheduling DCI sent by the base station; wherein the evaluating of the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises: in a case where it is determined that the preset aperiodic triggering state is carried in the uplink scheduling DCI, measuring the L1-RSSI of the channel corresponding to the second beam on a resource corresponding to the ZP-CSI-RS.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, The manner of evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises performing a CCA or an eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam, and the method further comprises: receiving a downlink scheduling DCI sent by the base station; wherein the evaluating of the channel corresponding to the second beam comprises: in a case where it is determined that a dedicated identifier is carried in the downlink scheduling DCI, performing a CCA or an eCCA on the channel corresponding to the second beam.

13. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that, The method further comprises: determining, according to the first indication information, that the beam corresponding to the channel needs to be evaluated as the second beam, and / or determining, according to the second indication information sent by the base station, that the beam corresponding to the channel needs to be evaluated as the second beam.

14. A beam switching device, characterized by comprising one or more processors configured to perform: when communicating with a terminal through a first beam, sending first indication information to the terminal when switching to a second beam is needed, wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to the second beam, the first indication information is carried in downlink control information (DCI), and the DCI includes downlink scheduling DCI, which is also used to instruct the terminal to report an evaluation result corresponding to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the downlink scheduling DCI; receiving the evaluation result of the channel corresponding to the second beam reported by the terminal; determining whether to switch to the second beam according to the evaluation result, so as to communicate with the terminal through the second beam.

15. An assessment reporting device, comprising: comprising one or more processors configured to perform: when communicating with a base station through a first beam, receiving first indication information sent by the base station, wherein the first indication information is used to instruct a terminal to evaluate a channel corresponding to a second beam, the second beam is a beam expected to be switched to by the base station, the first indication information is carried in downlink control information (DCI), and the DCI includes downlink scheduling DCI, which is also used to instruct the terminal to report an evaluation result corresponding to a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) corresponding to a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by the downlink scheduling DCI; evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam; reporting the evaluation result obtained by evaluating the channel corresponding to the second beam to the base station.

16. A communications device, characterized by comprising: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the beam switching method of any one of claims 1-6 is implemented.

17. A communications device, characterized by comprising: a processor; a memory for storing a computer program; wherein when the computer program is executed by the processor, the evaluation and reporting method of any one of claims 7-13 is implemented.

18. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, characterized in that, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps in the beam switching method of any one of claims 1-6 are implemented.

19. A computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program, characterized in that, when the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps in the evaluation and reporting method of any one of claims 7-13 are implemented.

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