A method for uplink and downlink beam indication for carrier aggregation and a communication device

Abstract

The application discloses a method for indicating uplink and downlink beams, which is executed on a base station side and comprises the following steps: configuring a TCI state pool and a mapping table for a user equipment, wherein the TCI state pool at least comprises a mapping relationship between a beam index and a component carrier; and sending a first indication to the user equipment, wherein the first indication is used for instructing the user equipment to call the TCI state pool and the mapping table, and configure a corresponding beam for the component carrier.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly to an uplink and downlink beam indication method, communication device, and readable storage medium for carrier aggregation. Background Technology

[0002] In Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication systems, the primary goal of beam management enhancement is to reduce latency and overhead. Beam management typically includes three aspects: beam measurement, beam reporting, and beam indication. First, the 5G (NR) base station (gNB) scans multiple candidate beams and then transmits these candidate beams to the user equipment (UE). The UE measures these beams based on certain performance metrics. After beam measurement, the UE reports the beams that meet the relevant performance criteria to the base station. Finally, the base station selects the optimal beam to indicate the transmission of the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Beam indication techniques include... Figure 1 As shown, a beam link between the base station and the UE is used to enhance beam indication.

[0003] In Rel-15, the dynamic beam indication of the PDSCH is designed to reduce latency and overhead. The dynamic beam indication is based on the Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state associated with the downlink reference signal, including the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) and / or the Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS). After the UE receives the indication beam, it switches the currently received beam to the indication beam.

[0004] In Rel-15 / 16, uplink and downlink beam indication were implemented separately through Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration of TCI and higher-layer parameter SpatialrelationInfo. Separate uplink and downlink beam indication required the base station to configure two separate signaling protocols, leading to latency and signaling overhead. Therefore, Rel-17 designed a transmission mechanism for integrated uplink and downlink beam indication. Due to limitations of the radio frequency analog beam control element, the restriction on simultaneous reception and transmission of uplink and downlink beams on multiple component carriers (CCs) needs to be strengthened, and it is difficult for the UE to use different beams to receive and transmit signals on different physical channels. Therefore, a unified common beam indication for uplink and downlink needs to be designed. For communication systems supporting carrier aggregation, the UE needs to decode the higher-layer configured TCI from different component carriers, meaning each component carrier undergoes independent beam management, which introduces significant computational complexity for the UE. This is because when each component carrier is configured with a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), the UE needs to decode the downlink receive beam from the PDCCH of each component carrier separately. In Rel-16, if multiple configured component carriers apply the same TCI, a single MAC (medium access control) CE (control element) signaling can be used to simultaneously activate the TCIs configured for these multiple component carriers. For uplink transmission, it is also supported to use a single MAC CE to simultaneously update and indicate the spatial relationships of a set of Physical Uplink Control Channels (PUCCHs). To reduce the computational complexity at the UE end, a Primary Component Carrier (PCC) is established when the UE enters the initial connection. Of the multiple component carriers configured in the RRC, only the Primary Component Carrier is connected to the RRC, and uplink and downlink control channels can only be transmitted on the uplink PCC and downlink PCC. After the UE decodes the TCI through the PCC, it performs cross-carrier scheduling on the other component carriers, i.e., the Secondary Component Carriers (SCCs), to ensure that the configured multiple component carriers use the same common beam.

[0005] A UE can apply a common beam across multiple component carriers; however, this per-channel / resource / per-component carrier beam indication will lead to a large number of Quasi-Co-Located Type D (QCL-Type D) collisions. Furthermore, the UE cannot maintain a large amount of link tracking indefinitely, and due to the large bandwidth and excessive frequency spacing between different component carriers, not all component carriers can use the same beam. Summary of the Invention

[0006] To address the aforementioned problems, this application also provides an uplink / downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, comprising:

[0007] Configure a TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, wherein the mapping table includes at least the mapping relationship between beam index and component carrier;

[0008] A first instruction is sent to the user equipment, the first instruction being used to instruct the user equipment to invoke the TCI state pool and the mapping table to configure the corresponding beam for the component carrier.

[0009] Optionally, the mapping table includes the beam index, the component carrier group index, and the mapping relationship between the component carriers.

[0010] Optionally, the mapping table may also include a mapping relationship between the beam index and the beam group, wherein the beam index is an uplink beam or a downlink beam, and the beam group is an uplink beam group or a downlink beam group.

[0011] Optionally, the mapping table may also include a TCI state pool index and a mapping relationship between beam groups.

[0012] Optionally, the mapping table may also include the mapping relationship between downlink candidate beam indices and uplink TCI packets and / or the mapping relationship between uplink candidate beam indices and downlink TCI packets.

[0013] Optionally, before the step of configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, the method further includes:

[0014] The system receives first information reported by the user equipment, which indicates that all component carriers cannot share the same beam for transmission.

[0015] Optionally, the mapping table is carried by system information SI.

[0016] Optionally, the number of component carriers is configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0017] Optionally, before the step of configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, the method further includes:

[0018] Receive measurement information uploaded by the user equipment, the measurement information including channel state information (CSI) and / or sounding reference signal (SRS);

[0019] The TCI state pool and the mapping table are generated based on the measurement information.

[0020] Optionally, if the number of TCI state pools is 1, the first indication only includes a TCI state pool activation instruction.

[0021] Optionally, if there are multiple TCI state pools, the first indication includes a TCI state pool activation instruction and downlink control information (DCI).

[0022] This application also provides an uplink / downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, the method being executed on the user equipment side, including:

[0023] Receive the TCI state pool, first indication, and mapping table configured by the base station;

[0024] The TCI state pool and the mapping table are invoked according to the first instruction, and the corresponding beams are configured for the component carriers according to the invocation result. The mapping table includes at least the mapping relationship between the beam index and the component carrier.

[0025] Optionally, if at least one of the component carriers is not configured by the first indication, then an indication beam configured for a component carrier with a frequency interval close to that component carrier is configured.

[0026] This application also provides an uplink / downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, the method being executed on the base station side, including:

[0027] Receive second information reported by the user equipment, the second information being used to characterize that all component carriers can use the same beam;

[0028] Based on the SRS signal or CSI information uploaded by the user equipment, the optimal beam is selected and a beam indication is sent to the user equipment.

[0029] This application also provides an uplink / downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, the method being executed on the user equipment side, including:

[0030] The receiver receives the beam indication sent by the base station and configures the beam corresponding to the beam indication for transmission for all component carriers.

[0031] This application also provides a communication device, including: a processor and a communication circuit, wherein the processor is connected to the communication circuit; the processor is used to execute instructions to implement the method as described above.

[0032] This application also provides a communication device, including: a processor and a communication circuit, wherein the processor is connected to the communication circuit; the processor is used to execute instructions to implement the method as described above.

[0033] This application also provides a readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, implement the method described above.

[0034] The beneficial effect of this application is that it solves the problem of transmission loss of some component carriers that are not compatible with the common beam caused by configuring only one common beam for all component carriers in the prior art. It allocates another common beam for such incompatible component carriers, and simplifies base station beam indication, reduces instruction overhead and reduces user equipment decoding complexity by configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table. Attached Figure Description

[0035] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort. Wherein:

[0036] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the beam link between the base station and the UE in the existing technology;

[0037] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of one embodiment of the wireless communication system or network of this application;

[0038] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the execution process of the uplink and downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation in this application at the base station side;

[0039] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating the process prior to step S100 in Embodiment 1 of this application;

[0040] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the process executed on the user equipment side in Embodiment 1 of the uplink and downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation in this application;

[0041] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the execution of another embodiment of the uplink / downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation at the base station side.

[0042] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of cross-carrier scheduling in Scheme 1;

[0043] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device according to Embodiment 1 of this application;

[0044] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device in Embodiment 2 of this application;

[0045] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an embodiment of a readable storage medium of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0046] The technical solutions of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments can be combined with each other if they do not conflict. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, and not all of them. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0047] The term "user equipment" in this application may include or represent any portable computing device used for communication. Examples of user equipment that may be used in some embodiments of the described devices, methods, and systems may be wired or wireless devices, such as mobile devices, mobile phones, terminals, smartphones, portable computing devices such as laptops, handheld devices, tablets, tablet computers, netbooks, personal digital assistants, music players, and other computing devices capable of wired or wireless communication.

[0048] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system or network 100, including a core network 102 (or telecommunications infrastructure) and multiple network nodes 104a-104m (e.g., base station gNBs) serving multiple wireless communication units 108a-108e (e.g., UEs). The multiple network nodes 104a-104m are connected to the core network 102 via links. These links can be wired or wireless (e.g., radio communication links, fiber optics, etc.). The core network 102 may include multiple core network nodes, network entities, application servers, or any other network or computing device that can communicate with one or more wireless access networks including the multiple network nodes 104a-104m.

[0049] In this example, network nodes 104a-104m are illustrated as base stations, such as, but not limited to, gNBs in a 5G network. Each of the multiple network nodes 104a-104m (e.g., base stations) has a footprint, which, for simplicity and for example, but not limited to, is... Figure 2The diagram schematically represents corresponding circular cells 106a-106m for serving one or more user equipments UE 108a-108e. UE 108a-108e is capable of receiving services from wireless communication system 100, such as voice, video, audio, or other communication services.

[0050] The wireless communication system or network 100 may include or represent any one or more communication networks for communication between UE 108a-108e and other devices, content sources, or servers connected to the wireless communication system or network 100. The core network 102 may also include or represent one or more communication networks, one or more network nodes, entities, elements, application servers, servers, base stations, or other network devices linked, coupled, or connected to form the wireless communication system or network 100. Links or couplings between network nodes may be wired or wireless (e.g., radio communication links, fiber optics, etc.). The wireless communication system or network 100 and the core network 102 may include any suitable combination of a core network and a wireless access network containing network nodes or entities, base stations, access points, etc., enabling communication between UE 108a-108e, network nodes 104a-104m of the wireless communication system 100 and core network 102, content sources, and / or other devices connected to the system or network 100.

[0051] Examples of wireless communication networks 100 that may be used in some embodiments of the described devices, methods, and systems may be at least one communication network or a combination thereof, including but not limited to, one or more wired and / or wireless telecommunication networks, one or more core networks, one or more wireless access networks, one or more computer networks, one or more data communication networks, the Internet, telephone networks, wireless networks such as WiMAX, WLAN, and / or Wi-Fi networks based on the IEEE 802.11 standard (by way of example only), or Internet Protocol (IP) networks, packet-switched networks or enhanced packet-switched networks, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks, or communication networks based on wireless, cellular, or satellite technologies, such as mobile networks, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GPRS networks, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), CDMA2000, or LTE / Advanced LTE communication networks, or any second-generation, third-generation, fourth-generation, or fifth-generation and beyond-generation communication networks, etc.

[0052] exist Figure 2In the example, the wireless communication system 100 may be, by way of example only but not limited to, a 5G communication network using cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) technology for downlink and uplink channels. The downlink may include one or more communication channels for transmitting data from one or more gNBs 104a-104m to one or more UEs 108a-108e. Typically, the downlink channel is a communication channel used for transmitting data, for example, from gNB 104a to UE 108a.

[0053] Both uplink and downlink in 5G networks are divided into radio frames (e.g., each frame can be 10 ms long), and each frame can be further divided into multiple subframes. For example, each frame may include 10 subframes of equal length, where each subframe consists of multiple time slots (e.g., 2 time slots) for transmitting data. In addition to time slots, subframes may include several additional special fields or OFDM symbols, which may include, by way of example only, downlink synchronization symbols, broadcast symbols, and / or uplink reference symbols.

[0054] Example 1

[0055] This application provides an uplink and downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the method is executed on the base station side and includes:

[0056] Step S100 configures the TCI (Transmission Configuration Indication) state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, wherein the mapping table includes at least the mapping relationship between beam index and component carrier;

[0057] For ease of description, the term "UE" is used to refer to User Equipment. Specifically, when a UE enters a cell, the base station sends System Information (SI) to the UE, which carries a mapping table. The TCI state pool is obtained by the UE through DCI decoding in the downlink PDCCH. The mapping table contains a series of mapping relationships between transmission configuration elements, including at least the mapping relationship between beam index and component carriers, as detailed in Tables 1-8 of Schemes 1, 3, and 4 below.

[0058] Scheme 1 is a joint beam indication design for uplink and downlink component carriers; Scheme 2 is a design for different beam indications for uplink and downlink component carriers; and Scheme 3 is a design for different component carriers configured with different beam indications. The setup conditions and specific configurations of each embodiment are described in detail below. These embodiments can be combined with each other or exist independently, and this application does not impose any limitations on them.

[0059] A beam index is the index value of a specific beam, which can also be understood as the ID or sequence number of a beam. The definition and generation of component carriers are existing technologies, therefore this application will not describe them in detail here.

[0060] Step S200 sends a first instruction to the user equipment, the first instruction being used to instruct the user equipment to call the TCI state pool and the mapping table to configure the corresponding beam for the component carrier.

[0061] The first indication includes the CE (Control Element) signaling of the MAC (Medium Access Control) layer that activates the TCI state pool and / or the DCI (Downlink Control Information) containing beam indication. Whether the first indication includes only MAC CE or includes both MAC CE and DCI depends on the number of TCI state pools, as will be explained below.

[0062] The base station sends a first indication to the UE. Upon receiving the first indication, the UE calls the TCI state pool and mapping table previously configured by the base station to obtain the relevant configuration pointed to by the first indication, namely the beam configuration corresponding to the component carrier. The UE then transmits data for the beams corresponding to each component carrier configuration according to the first indication. The correspondence between component carriers and beams is recorded in the mapping table.

[0063] In this context, the first indication of a beam preferably uses a beam index to refer to a specific beam. Therefore, in the correspondence between component carriers and beams recorded in the mapping table, the beam index is used to characterize the beam. See Tables 1 and 2 in Scheme 1 for details.

[0064] By implementing the solution in this embodiment, the problem of transmission loss of some component carriers that are not compatible with the common beam caused by configuring only one common beam for all component carriers in the prior art is solved. Another common beam is allocated for such incompatible component carriers, and by configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table, the base station beam indication is simplified, the instruction overhead is reduced and the decoding complexity of the UE is reduced.

[0065] Optionally, the mapping table includes the beam index, the component carrier group index, and the mapping relationship between the component carriers.

[0066] For details, please refer to Table 1 in Scheme 1. Additionally, the mapping table may also include the mapping relationships between beam indexes, packet indexes, downlink component carrier packets, and uplink component carrier packets.

[0067] Optionally, the mapping table may also include a mapping relationship between the beam index and the beam group, wherein the beam index is an uplink beam or a downlink beam, and the beam group is an uplink beam group or a downlink beam group.

[0068] For details, please refer to Tables 3 and 4 in Scheme 2.

[0069] Optionally, the mapping table may also include a TCI state pool index and a mapping relationship between beam groups.

[0070] For details, please refer to Table 5 in Scheme 3.

[0071] Optionally, the mapping table may also include the mapping relationship between downlink candidate beam indices and uplink TCI packets and / or the mapping relationship between uplink candidate beam indices and downlink TCI packets.

[0072] For details, please refer to Tables 6 and 7 in Scheme 3. Additionally, the mapping table may also include the mapping relationship between the uplink and downlink joint candidate beams and the TCI grouping index; see Table 8 in Scheme 3 for details.

[0073] Optionally, before configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment in step S100, the method further includes:

[0074] Step S101 receives the first information reported by the user equipment, the first information being used to characterize that all the component carriers cannot share the same beam for transmission.

[0075] Specifically, if the UE reports to the base station that all component carriers can use the same beam for transmission, then the base station does not need to configure a TCI state pool. It can directly send a beam indication to the UE via DCI, because all component carriers can use the same beam for transmission. The base station only configures a TCI state pool when the UE reports to the base station that all component carriers cannot use the same beam.

[0076] Optionally, the mapping table is carried by system information SI.

[0077] Optionally, the number of component carriers is configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0078] Optional, such as Figure 4 As shown, before step S100, which involves configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, the method further includes:

[0079] Step S110 receives measurement information uploaded by the user equipment, the measurement information including channel state information (CSI) and / or sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0080] Step S120 generates the TCI state pool and the mapping table based on the measurement information.

[0081] Specifically, the base station needs to configure the TCI state pool and mapping table based on the CSI and SRS uploaded by the UE. Additionally, it will group the component carriers by referencing the frequencies between them, adding the component carrier group and other transmission configurations as a mapping element to the mapping table. See the descriptions of Schemes 1, 2, and 3 for details.

[0082] The base station receives the CSI and SRS uploaded by the UE and can calculate the optimal beam corresponding to each component carrier based on the relevant preset performance criteria. Specific details are described in Schemes 1, 3, and 4 below.

[0083] Optionally, if the number of TCI state pools is 1, the first indication only includes a TCI state pool activation instruction.

[0084] Specifically, if the number of TCI state pools is 1, that is, when different component carrier groups are configured with the same TCI state pool, the MAC CE signaling is used as the activation instruction for the TCI state pool to activate the UE's state pool. After activation, the UE will automatically call the TCI state pool and mapping table to find the corresponding beam according to the SRS or CSI, and apply the configuration mapped in the state pool where the corresponding beam is located.

[0085] Optionally, if there are multiple TCI state pools, the first indication includes a TCI state pool activation instruction and downlink control information (DCI).

[0086] Specifically, if there are multiple TCI state pools, that is, when different component carrier groups are configured with different TCI state pools, after activating one or more TCI state pools through MAC CE signaling, it is also necessary to use DCI indication to enable the UE to call the activated TCI state pool to obtain beam configuration.

[0087] Considering the limited information carried by DCI, if there are multiple TCI state pools, the temporary transmission of TCI state pools by DCI will cause a large load. Therefore, this application sets up the TCI state pool to be transmitted to the UE in advance by DCI. Then, when beam indication is required, the TCI state pool already received in the UE is activated by MAC CE signaling, which reduces signaling overhead and thus reduces downlink load.

[0088] This application also provides an uplink and downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, such as... Figure 5 As shown, the method is executed on the user equipment side and includes:

[0089] Step S300: Receive the TCI state pool, mapping table, and first indication sent by the base station;

[0090] Step S400 invokes the TCI state pool and the mapping table according to the first instruction, and configures the corresponding beam for the component carrier according to the invocation result. The mapping table includes at least the mapping relationship between the beam index and the component carrier.

[0091] Optionally, if at least one of the component carriers is not configured by the first indication, then an indication beam configured for a component carrier with a frequency interval close to that component carrier is configured.

[0092] Specifically, if some component carriers are not configured in the TCI state pool, then an indicator beam configured for the component carrier with a frequency interval close to that component carrier is configured. This is described in detail in Scheme 1. By implementing this method, the situation where some component carriers are not configured in the TCI state pool can be resolved.

[0093] This application also provides an uplink and downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, such as... Figure 6 As shown, the method is executed on the base station side and includes:

[0094] Step S500 receives the second information reported by the user equipment, the second information being used to characterize that all component carriers can use the same beam;

[0095] Step S600: Select the optimal beam and send beam indication to the user equipment based on the SRS signal or CSI information uploaded by the user equipment.

[0096] This application also provides an uplink / downlink beam indication method for carrier aggregation, the method being executed on the user equipment side, including:

[0097] The receiver receives the beam indication sent by the base station and configures the beam corresponding to the beam indication for transmission for all component carriers.

[0098] This application proposes three design schemes to solve the problems described in the background art. The specific implementation methods of each scheme are described in detail below.

[0099] Option 1

[0100] This solution is one of them: uplink and downlink component carrier joint beam design.

[0101] This scheme has two applicable scenarios. One applicable scenario is that all configured component carriers can be used for both uplink and downlink transmission.

[0102] Specifically, in this scheme, uplink and downlink component carriers share a common beam. Given the applicable scenario of this scheme, the component carriers can be used for both uplink and downlink transmission. Therefore, the component carriers are not distinguished between uplink and downlink, and thus, the component carriers are not grouped into uplink and downlink groups in the design of the corresponding TCI state pool.

[0103] TCI, or Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI), is the TCI state pool described in this solution. It can include beam indices, component carrier group indices, and mapping relationships between component carriers. For example, the TCI state pool in this solution can be represented as shown in Table 1 below:

[0104] Beam1 Croup1 CC0,CC1,CC2 Beam2 Croup2 CC3, CC4

[0105] Table 1

[0106] The beam index, or index value of a specific beam, can be a number, a digital ID, or a sequence number, as shown in Table Beam1 above. The beam is characterized by a reference signal; that is, transmitting according to this reference signal will form the corresponding beam. In this practical scheme, the reference signal can be a downlink channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or an uplink channel sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0107] The grouping of component carriers is configured by the base station. For example, in Table 1, CC0, CC1, and CC2 are grouped into group 1, while CC3 and CC4 are grouped into group 2. It should be noted that the grouping of component carriers depends on whether the base station receives the first information. The first information is that the user equipment (UE) reports to the base station that multiple component carriers cannot use the same beam simultaneously. Therefore, the base station needs to group the component carriers and configure the TCI state pool to establish a mapping table (as shown in Table 1) containing the mapping relationship between component carrier groups and beam indices. Other common beams are then assigned to other component carriers that cannot use the common beam, thereby solving the drawbacks such as quasi-co-location collisions caused by multiple component carriers using only one common beam in the prior art. A separate common beam is allocated to unsuitable component carriers.

[0108] The TCI state pool is configured by the base station.

[0109] Before TCI state pool configuration, the base station scans the downlink beams and sends the selected candidate beams to the UE. Upon receiving the candidate beams from the base station, the UE begins Channel State Information (CSI) measurement and then reports the measurement results to the base station. Alternatively, the UE actively uploads uplink Sounding Reference Information (SRS). Based on the received CSI or SRS, the base station establishes a mapping between beam indices and component carriers, thereby obtaining the optimal beam corresponding to each component carrier and establishing a mapping relationship between the component carrier and that beam. This mapping is then sent to the user equipment via system information, as shown in Table 1 and the tables in Schemes 2 and 3 (Table 1 also adds the element of component carrier group). Further, in Table 1, the optimal transmission beam corresponding to component carriers CC0, CC1, and CC2 in component carrier group 1 is Beam1, and the optimal transmission beam corresponding to component carriers CC3 and CC4 in component carrier group 2 is Beam2. The mapping relationships in this table are configured by the base station based on CSI or SRS.

[0110] Continuing from the example in Table 1, the base station configures L (L>1) component subcarriers and K beams via RRC. For example, when L=5, all component carriers are labeled CC0 to CC5 according to their frequencies from low to high. Considering the frequency spacing between each component carrier, they may not necessarily use the same common beam. Here, it is assumed that CC0, CC1, and CC2 can use Beam1 for uplink and downlink transmission, combined into Group 1, and CC3 and CC4 can use Beam2 for uplink and downlink transmission, combined into Group 2, as shown in Table 1. After receiving the relevant instructions from the base station, the UE uses Beam1 for the transmission of component carriers CC0, CC1, and CC2, and uses Beam2 for the transmission of component carriers CC3 and CC4.

[0111] The second applicable scenario for this scheme is when the configured component carriers can only be used for downlink or uplink transmission. Typically, downlink traffic is more prevalent than uplink traffic, therefore the number of downlink component carriers must be greater than the number of uplink component carriers. For example, multiple downlink component subcarriers configured by the base station can be combined into three component carrier groups: DL group1, DL group2, and DL group3. Multiple uplink component carriers configured can be combined into two component carrier groups: UL group1 and UL group2. The mapping relationship between downlink and uplink component carriers is shown in Table 2.

[0112] Beam1 Group 1 DL group1 UL group1 Beam2 Group2 DL group2 UL group2 Beam3 Group3 DL eroup3 UL group2

[0113] Table 2

[0114] Specifically, as shown in Tables 1 and 2, when the base station receives CSI information or SRS signals reported by the UE, it uses RRC to configure the TCI state pool. When different component carrier groups are configured with the same TCI state pool (i.e., there is only one TCI state pool), the base station uses MAC CE signaling to activate the TCI state pool and obtain an indication beam. The UE receives the MAC CE signaling and activates the single TCI state pool. At this time, the UE selects the corresponding beam for the corresponding component carrier in the first and second scenarios according to the mapping relationship in Table 1 or Table 2. When different component carrier groups are configured with different TCI state pools (i.e., after MAC CE activates one or more TCI state pools), it is also necessary to use DCI signaling to indicate an activated TCI state pool, and then achieve shared reception beams for multiple component carriers through cross-carrier scheduling. For example, in Table 1, when the UE decodes Beam1 and Beam2 from the DCI of CC0 and CC3, it also schedules other component carriers in Group 1 and Group 2 through CC0 and CC3 respectively. Similarly, in Table 2, when the UE decodes the indicated Beam1 from a component carrier in DL group1 (or UL group1), it also schedules other component carriers in DL group1 (or UL group1) and all component carriers in UL group1 (or DL ​​group1) through that component carrier.

[0115] Optionally, in certain special cases, such as when the sub-carrier space (SCS) configured by the RRC for each component carrier group may be different, the time required for the terminal UE to decode the DCI of each component carrier group may also be different. That is, the preset scheduling time values ​​for different component carrier groups may be different, and the DCI of a certain component carrier group may not have a TCI state. In this case, the component carrier is scheduled by the indicator beam configured by the other component carriers (scheduled component carriers). Which component carrier is scheduled depends on factors such as the frequency spacing between the scheduled component carrier and the current component carrier, as well as the SCS configured for the scheduled component carrier.

[0116] If the component carrier scheduling time is less than the preset scheduling value, or if the component carrier does not exist in the TCI state pool, then the scheduled component carrier is the one with the smallest frequency interval to that component carrier group; if there are multiple component carriers with the smallest frequency interval to that component carrier group, such as Figure 7As shown, since component carriers with higher SCS require two scheduling operations to schedule component carriers with lower SCS, the beam of the component carrier group with the smaller SCS and the smallest frequency interval with the component carrier group is used; if there are multiple component carrier groups with the same SCS and the same frequency interval with the component carrier group, the beam of the component carrier with the lowest group carrier index is used.

[0117] The beneficial effects of this embodiment are as follows: it solves the problem of transmission loss of some component carriers that are not compatible with the common beam caused by configuring only one common beam for all component carriers in the prior art. It allocates another common beam for such incompatible component carriers, and reduces the decoding complexity of user equipment by designing cross-carrier scheduling and configuring the TCI state pool. In addition, it reduces the instruction overhead for the base station side.

[0118] Option 2: Design of different beam indications for uplink and downlink component carriers

[0119] In this scheme, multiple downlink component carriers and uplink component carriers use different common beams. Similar to Scheme 1, for example, the base station configures L (L>1) component carriers and K (K>=1) beams for component carrier transmission via RRC. All downlink component carriers are labeled CC0 to CC4 according to their frequencies from low to high, and for ease of description, they are written as DL CC0 to DL CC4. All uplink component carriers are labeled CC0 to CC2 according to their frequencies from low to high, and are written as UL CC0 to UL CC2. The downlink component carrier group DL CC0 to DL CC4 uses the same common beam, and the uplink component carrier group UL CC0 to UL CC2 uses the same common beam.

[0120] In a carrier aggregation system, when a UE receives a candidate beam from a base station, it performs CSI measurements and reports them to the base station. In this scheme, the TCI state pool is also configured with an uplink beam index, corresponding to the uplink reference signal. Therefore, the UE also performs uplink beam scanning and sends SRS to the base station. When the base station receives the UE's SRS, it performs measurements based on the SRS and then sends a Probe Reference Resource Indicator (PRR) as an uplink beam indication to the UE. After receiving the CSI information and SRS signal reported by the UE, the base station configures the TCI state pool. If the downlink and uplink component carrier groups in the configured TCI state pool are configured with the same TCI state pool, the TCI state pool is activated using MAC CE signaling to obtain an indication beam. If the downlink and uplink component carrier groups in the configured TCI state pool are configured with different TCI state pools, after activating one or more TCI states using MAC CE, DCI signaling is also needed to indicate the activated TCI state. Then, cross-carrier scheduling is used to achieve shared receive beams for multiple component carriers. For example, continuing the above example, when the UE decodes the downlink and uplink beams indicated by the TCI status from the PDCCH (DCI) of downlink CC0 and uplink CC0 respectively, it schedules other component carriers in the downlink and uplink component carrier groups through downlink CC0 and uplink CC0 respectively. When there is no TCI in the DCI indication of the downlink or uplink component carrier group, or when the scheduling time of the downlink or uplink component carrier group is less than a preset scheduling time value, the UE uses the downlink or uplink beam indicated in the most recent scheduling time slot. For example, when there is no TCI in the DCI of the downlink component carrier group in the nth scheduling time slot or the scheduling time is less than the preset value, the downlink common beam configured in the n-1 scheduling time slots is used.

[0121] Furthermore, the scheduling method of this scheme is the same as that of Scheme 1, so it will not be described in detail here.

[0122] Since not all component carriers can use the same beam, when only downlink component carriers perform carrier aggregation, the UE receives downlink beam scanning from the base station, performs CSI measurement, selects the optimal beam, and reports it to the base station. The base station configures the mapping relationship between the downlink common beam and the individual beams of the uplink component carriers based on the reported CSI, as shown in Table 3. When the base station receives the reported CSI and selects DL Beam1 as the beam indication for multiple downlink component carriers, it uses the mapping relationship between the downlink common beam DL beam1 and UL beam group1 in the TCI state pool to transmit UL CC0 to UL CC2 using multiple beams in UL beam group1. Optionally, CC0-CC2 are configured according to the default order, as shown in Table 3. If the indicated beam is DL beam1, then UL CC0 to UL CC2 are configured according to the corresponding uplink beam grouping element order in the TCI state pool, i.e., Beam1 is configured with UL CC0, Beam2 with UL CC1, and Beam3 with UL CC2. This default order matching is used in other embodiments of this application and other tables.

[0123] DL beam1 UL beam group1={Beam1, Beam2, Beam3} DL beam2 UL beam group2={Beam2, Beam1, Beam3} …… ……

[0124] Table 3

[0125] In this scheme, the mapping table may also include the mapping relationship between downlink beams and uplink beam groups.

[0126] Similarly, when only uplink component carriers perform carrier aggregation, the base station configures the mapping relationship between the uplink common beam and the beams of each downlink component carrier based on the received SRS. As shown in Table 4, when the UE performs uplink beam scanning, the base station receives the uplink SRS from the UE, performs measurements, obtains an optimal uplink common beam, and sends a probe reference resource indication to the UE for uplink beam indication. For example, when the optimal uplink common beam obtained through uplink SRS measurement is ULbeam1 and an indication is sent, DL CC0 to DL CC4 respectively use the beams in DL beam group1 for reception.

[0127]

[0128] Table 4

[0129] In this scheme, the mapping table may also include the mapping relationship between uplink and downlink beam groups.

[0130] When the DCI in the downlink or uplink component carrier group does not have a TCI, or when the scheduling time of the downlink or uplink component carrier group is less than a preset value, the UE uses the most recently indicated downlink or uplink beam before the current scheduling slot. For example, when the DCI in the downlink component carrier group does not have a TCI or the scheduling time is less than a preset value in the nth scheduling slot, the downlink common beam in the n-1 scheduling slots is used.

[0131] Option 3: Different component carriers are configured with different beam indication designs.

[0132] In this scheme, all uplink and downlink component carriers use different beams for beam indication, and the base station configures one or more TCI state pools via RRC. Each TCI state pool can include both the downlink reference signal (CSI) and the uplink reference signal (SRS). When all component carriers are configured with the same TCI state pool, the beams configured in the TCI state pool are used to indicate the component carriers respectively. For example, if the uplink and downlink component carriers in the carrier aggregation system are labeled CC0 to CC5 sequentially.

[0133] When a terminal user receives a downlink beam scan from the base station, it performs Channel Information State (CSI) measurement and reports it to the base station. Since uplink reference signals are also configured in the TCI resource pool, the terminal user also performs an uplink beam scan. When the base station receives the terminal user's uplink reference signal (SRS), it measures it and then sends an SRI to indicate the uplink transmission beam. After receiving the CSI information and SRS signal reported by the UE, the base station configures multiple TCI state pools using RRC. The reference signals configured in different TCI state pools can overlap or be completely different. After activating one or more TCI resources using MAC CE, it is also necessary to indicate an activated TCI resource using DCI signaling. As shown in Table 5, when the TCI state pool index indicated by DCI is TCI1, the beams in Beam group1 are used for data transmission of component carriers CC0 to CC5.

[0134]

[0135] Table 5

[0136] When DCI lacks TCI resources or the scheduling time for the downlink or uplink component carrier group is less than a preset value, the UE uses the most recently indicated downlink or uplink beam before the current scheduling slot. For example, if DCI lacks TCI or the scheduling time is less than the preset value in the nth scheduling slot, the downlink common beam from the n-1 scheduling slots is used. When the number of reference signals configured in the TCI state pool is less than the number of component carriers, that is, when the number of beams configured in the TCI state pool is less than the number of component carriers, the UE uses the beam of the component carrier with the lowest frequency interval and the lowest component carrier index (CC index) that is associated with that component carrier.

[0137] When different component carriers are configured with different TCI state pools, assuming there are 3 downlink component carriers and 2 uplink component carriers in CC0-CC5, consider two design mechanisms. The first is independent beam management for different component carriers. The UE performs beam scanning on each component carrier and selects the optimal beam to report to the base station. The UE also sends uplink reference signals (SRS) to the base station via each component carrier. The base station measures and sends SRIs to indicate the uplink transmission beam. Based on the reported CSI information or SRS signal in each carrier, the base station configures the beams corresponding to different component carriers in different TCI state pools. The second mechanism is joint beam management between different component carriers. When the UE receives a downlink beam scan from the base station, it performs Channel Information State Information (CSI) measurement and selects the optimal beam to report to the base station. The base station configures the mapping relationship between the optimal downlink common beam and the TCI state pools configured for the uplink component carriers via RRC, as shown in Table 6. Similarly, the UE performs uplink beam scanning, the base station receives the uplink reference signal SRS from the UE for measurement, and sends an SRI indicating the optimal uplink beam. The base station configures a mapping table of the optimal uplink beam and downlink component carriers via RRC, as shown in Table 7.

[0138]

[0139] Table 6

[0140]

[0141] Table 7

[0142] A mapping table with mapping relationships as shown in Table 8 can also be configured by combining uplink and downlink beam scanning.

[0143]

[0144] Table 8

[0145] When the base station receives the CSI and uplink reference signal SRS reported by the UE, it can configure the corresponding TCI state pool for the component carriers according to the mapping relationship in Table 8. When there is no TCI resource in the DCI or the scheduling time of the downlink or uplink component carrier group is less than a preset value, the UE uses the most recent indicated TCI before the current scheduling time slot. For example, if TCI group1 is configured in the nth scheduling time slot and TCI group2 is configured in the (n-1)th time slot, when there is no TCI in the DCI of a component carrier in the nth time slot or the scheduling time is less than a preset value, TCI group2 is used.

[0146] like Figure 8 As shown, this application also provides a communication device, including: a processor 110 and a memory 120.

[0147] Processor 110 controls the operation of the communication device. Processor 110 can also be referred to as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). Processor 110 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal sequence processing capabilities. Processor 110 can also be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal sequence processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0148] The memory 120 stores the instructions and data required for the processor 110 to operate.

[0149] The processor 110 is used to execute instructions to implement the steps performed by the various embodiments and schemes 1, 2 and 3 base stations of this application.

[0150] like Figure 9 As shown, the second embodiment of the communication device of this application includes a processor 210 and a memory 220.

[0151] Processor 210 controls the operation of the communication device. Processor 210 can also be called a CPU (Central Processing Unit). Processor 210 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal sequence processing capabilities. Processor 210 can also be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal sequence processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0152] The memory 220 stores the instructions and data required for the processor 210 to operate.

[0153] The processor 210 is used to execute instructions to implement the methods executed on the user equipment side in the various embodiments and schemes 1, 2 and 3 of this application.

[0154] like Figure 10 As shown, one embodiment of the readable storage medium of this application includes a memory 310, which stores instructions that, when executed, implement the methods provided by any embodiment and possible combinations thereof of this application.

[0155] The memory 310 may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, hard disk, optical disk, etc.

[0156] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed methods and apparatus can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus implementations described above are merely illustrative. For instance, the division of modules or units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0157] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment, depending on actual needs.

[0158] Furthermore, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can be physically comprised separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or as a software functional unit.

[0159] If the integrated unit is implemented as a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or processor to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0160] The above description is merely an embodiment of this application and does not limit the patent scope of this application. Any equivalent structural or procedural transformations made using the content of this application's specification and drawings, or direct or indirect applications in other related technical fields, are similarly included within the patent protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A method for uplink and downlink beam indication for carrier aggregation, characterized in that, The method is executed on the base station side and includes: Receive first information reported by the user equipment, the first information being used to indicate that multiple component carriers cannot share the same beam for transmission; Configure a TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, wherein the mapping table includes at least the mapping relationship between beam index and component carrier; A first instruction is sent to the user equipment, the first instruction being used to instruct the user equipment to call the TCI state pool and the mapping table to configure the corresponding beam for the component carrier, wherein the first instruction is used to adjust whether to use MAC CE signaling and downlink control information (DCI) based on the number of TCI state pools.

2. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mapping table includes the beam index, the component carrier group index, and the mapping relationship between the component carriers.

3. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mapping table also includes the mapping relationship between the beam index and the beam group, wherein the beam index is an uplink beam or a downlink beam, and the beam group is an uplink beam group or a downlink beam group.

4. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mapping table also includes the TCI state pool index and the mapping relationship between beam groups.

5. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mapping table also includes the mapping relationship between the downlink candidate beam index and the uplink TCI group and / or the mapping relationship between the uplink candidate beam index and the downlink TCI group.

6. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mapping table is carried by the system information SI.

7. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The number of component carriers is configured by Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

8. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Before the step of configuring the TCI state pool and mapping table for the user equipment, the following steps are also included: Receive measurement information uploaded by the user equipment, the measurement information including channel state information (CSI) and / or sounding reference signal (SRS); The TCI state pool and the mapping table are generated based on the measurement information.

9. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, If the number of TCI state pools is 1, the first indication only contains the TCI state pool activation instruction.

10. The uplink and downlink beam indication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, If there are multiple TCI state pools, the first indication includes a TCI state pool activation instruction and downlink control information (DCI).

11. A method for indicating uplink and downlink beams, characterized in that, The method is executed on the user equipment side and includes: The first information is reported to the base station, which indicates that multiple component carriers cannot share the same beam for transmission. Receive the TCI state pool, first indication, and mapping table configured by the base station; The first instruction invokes the TCI state pool and the mapping table, and configures the corresponding beam for the component carrier according to the invocation result. The mapping table includes at least the mapping relationship between the beam index and the component carrier. The first instruction is used to adjust whether to use MAC CE signaling and downlink control information (DCI) based on the number of TCI state pools.

12. The uplink / downlink beam indication method according to claim 11, characterized in that, If at least one of the component carriers is not configured by the first indication, then an indication beam is configured for a component carrier with a frequency interval close to that component carrier.

13. A communication device, characterized in that, include: A processor and a communication circuit, wherein the processor is connected to the communication circuit; The processor is configured to execute instructions to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-10.

14. A communication device, characterized in that, include: A processor and a communication circuit, wherein the processor is connected to the communication circuit; The processor is configured to execute instructions to implement the method as described in any one of claims 11-12.

15. A readable storage medium storing instructions, characterized in that, When the instruction is executed, it implements the method as described in any one of claims 1-12.

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