A resource configuration method and apparatus

Abstract

A resource configuration method and device, the method comprising: in the case that a terminal accesses a first cell, configuring CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell to the terminal through an RRC message; and when the terminal moves to a first location area of the first cell, sending a MAC CE to the terminal, the MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to perform CSI-RS measurement on CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, wherein the CSI-RS resources activated by the MAC CE belong to the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. By using the method and device provided in the embodiments of the present application, when a terminal accesses a certain cell, a network device does not need to frequently perform RRC configuration for the terminal, thereby reducing the overhead of RRC signaling.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a resource allocation method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] In a wireless communication system, a base station can send channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS) to a terminal to measure the quality of the downlink channel. For example, the terminal can measure the received CSI-RS, determine the measurement result, and feed the result back to the base station. The base station can adjust the scheduling strategy for subsequent downlink data based on the measurement result fed back by the terminal. In the above process, the base station pre-configures CSI-RS resources for the terminal, and the terminal detects CSI-RS on the configured resources. How the base station configures CSI-RS resources for the terminal is a problem that this application's embodiments address. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a resource configuration method and apparatus to enable a base station to configure CSI-RS resources to a terminal.

[0004] Firstly, a resource configuration method is provided. The execution subject of this method is a terminal or a component (processor, chip, or other, etc.) set in the terminal. Taking the terminal as the execution subject as an example, the method includes: when the terminal accesses a first cell, the terminal receives a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from a network device. The RRC message is used to configure N Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources for the terminal, where N is a positive integer. For example, the RRC message includes a CSI-RS resource set configured for the terminal, the CSI-RS resource set including N CSI-RS resources; when the terminal is in a first location area in the first cell, the terminal receives a first Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) from the network device, the first MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on M1 of the N CSI-RS resources within the same period, the M1 CSI-RS resources including at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, M1 being a positive integer less than or equal to N; within the same period, the terminal measures the CSI-RS from the network device on the M1 CSI-RS resources.

[0005] With the above design, when a terminal accesses a cell (let's call this cell the first cell), the network device configures the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell to the terminal via RRC messages. When the terminal moves to a location area within the first cell (let's call this location area the first location area; optionally, the location area can be called the beam coverage area), the network device sends a MAC CE to the terminal to activate the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area. The terminal then periodically measures the CSI-RS on the activated CSI-RS resources. This design is significantly different from the current scheme where the base station configures CSI-RS resources for the terminal via RRC signaling, and the terminal directly measures the CSI-RS on the configured resources. In the current scheme, one RRC signaling message can configure a maximum of eight CSI-RS resources, and one location area is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource. When the terminal moves at high speed, or when the location area of ​​the terminal changes frequently due to satellite movement, the network device needs to frequently perform RRC reconfiguration for the terminal. In this design, when a terminal accesses a cell, the network device configures the CSI-RS resources associated with that cell to the terminal via RRC signaling. When the terminal moves to a location area within that cell, it activates the CSI-RS resources associated with that location area via MACCE signaling. The terminal then measures the CSI-RS on the activated CSI-RS resources. Using this scheme, when a terminal accesses a cell, the network device does not need to perform frequent RRC reconfiguration; it only needs to activate the CSI-RS resources associated with different location areas via MACCE. The RRC configuration process typically incurs tens of bits of air interface overhead, while the MAC CE process typically incurs tens of bits of air interface overhead. Therefore, this scheme saves on the air interface overhead of CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0006] Optionally, the aforementioned M1 CSI-RS resources may include not only the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area in the first cell, but also CSI-RS resources associated with other location areas, such as CSI-RS resources of multiple location areas adjacent to the first location area. In this way, the network device can activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on multiple location-area associated CSI-RS resources through a single MAC CE, eliminating the need for the terminal to send a MAC CE to activate the corresponding CSI-RS every time it moves to a location area, thereby further reducing the air interface overhead of CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0007] In one design, the terminal supports measuring CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources within the same period, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to N. Optionally, for the application scenario of the first aspect mentioned above, the terminal's ability to support CSI-RS measurement is less than the total number of CSI-RS resources associated with a cell. In this case, the terminal's capability cannot support simultaneous CSI-RS measurement on all CSI-RS resources associated with a cell.

[0008] In one design, when the terminal moves from the first location area in the first cell to the second location area in the first cell, the method further includes: the terminal receiving a second MAC CE from the network device, the second MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on M2 of the N CSI-RS resources in the same period, wherein the M2 CSI-RS resources include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the second location area, and M2 is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

[0009] With the above design, when the terminal moves to a first location area, the network device sends a first MAC CE to the terminal. This first MAC CE is used to activate the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, and the terminal measures CSI-RS on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area. When the terminal moves to a second location area, the network device sends a second MAC CE to the terminal. This second MAC CE is used to activate the CSI-RS resources associated with the second location area, and the terminal measures CSI-RS on the CSI-RS resources associated with the second location area. This achieves the goal of activating the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the corresponding CSI-RS resources through MAC CE according to the different location areas of the terminal.

[0010] In one design, the N CSI-RS resources refer to all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. Optionally, the first cell includes at least one location area, and each location area is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource. All CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell may refer to the CSI-RS resources associated with all location areas included in the first cell. Optionally, the location area may also be referred to as a beam, etc.

[0011] With the above design, when a terminal accesses a cell, the network device configures all CSI-RS resources associated with that cell to the terminal at once via RRC signaling. Subsequently, depending on the location area accessed by the terminal, MAC CE is used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the corresponding CSI-RS resources. When a terminal accesses a cell, the network device only needs to perform RRC configuration once, eliminating the need for frequent RRC reconfiguration. Furthermore, in this design, when a terminal accesses a cell, the network device needs to send MAC CE to activate the corresponding CSI-RS depending on the terminal's location area within that cell, which may require the network device to send MAC CE signaling multiple times. However, the overhead of MAC CE signaling is less than the overhead of RRC configuration signaling. For example, a single RRC configuration process includes: downlink DCI or downlink PDSCH+ACK or NACK+SR+downlink DCI+BSR+downlink DCI+uplink PUSCH (reconfiguration complete), involving 3 downlink interactions and 4 uplink interactions. A single MAC CE signaling process includes: downlink DCI or downlink PDSCH + uplink ACK or NACK, comprising one downlink interaction and one uplink interaction. Compared to frequent RRC reconfiguration, the above-mentioned scheme of sending MAC CE multiple times within the cell to activate CSI-RS resources associated with different location areas can reduce the overhead of CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0012] In one design, the first location region is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource, and the second location region is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource.

[0013] Secondly, a resource allocation method is provided, which corresponds to the first aspect. The beneficial effects can be found in the description of the first aspect. The execution subject of this method is a network device, or a component (processor, chip, or other, etc.) configured in the network device. Taking the network device as the execution subject as an example, the method includes: when a terminal accesses a first cell, the network device sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the terminal. The RRC message is used to configure N Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources for the terminal. For example, the RRC message includes a CSI-RS resource set configured for the terminal, the CSI-RS resource set including N CSI-RS resources, where N is a positive integer; the network device determines M1 CSI-RS resources from the N CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the terminal in the first location area in the first cell, the M1 CSI-RS resources including at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, where M1 is a positive integer less than or equal to N; the network device sends a first Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) to the terminal, the first MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the M1 CSI-RS resources in the same period.

[0014] In one design, the terminal supports measuring the CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources within the same cycle, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

[0015] In one design, when the terminal moves from the first location area in the first cell to the second location area in the first cell, the method further includes: the network device determining M2 CSI-RS resources out of the N CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the second location area, wherein the M2 CSI-RS resources include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the second location area, and M2 is a positive integer less than or equal to N; the network device sending a second MAC CE to the terminal, the second MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the M2 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0016] In one design, the method further includes: the network device determining the N CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. For example, the N CSI-RS resources are all the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell.

[0017] In one design, the first location region is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource, and the second location region is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource.

[0018] Thirdly, a resource configuration method is provided. The execution subject of this method is a terminal, or a component (processor, chip, or other, etc.) configured in the terminal. Taking the terminal as the execution subject as an example, the method includes: when the terminal accesses a first cell, the terminal receives a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from a network device. The first RRC message is used to configure N1 Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources for the terminal. For example, the first RRC message includes a first CSI-RS resource set, which includes N1 CSI-RS resources, where N1 is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and X is the maximum number of CSI-RS resources supported by the terminal in the same period, where X is a positive integer. Optionally, the N1 CSI-RS resources are all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. In the same period, the terminal measures the CSI-RS from the network device on the N1 CSI-RS resources.

[0019] Using the above method, when a terminal accesses the first cell, the network device configures all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell to the terminal via RRC messages. The terminal then measures the CSI-RS on all the CSI-RS resources configured in the RRC messages. With this scheme, the terminal does not need to frequently perform RRC reconfiguration when accessing each cell. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for MAC CE to activate CSI-RS resources, reducing the overhead of CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0020] In one design, the method further includes: the terminal sending capability information to the network device, the capability information indicating that the terminal supports measuring the CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources within the same period. Optionally, the terminal may proactively report capability information to the network device, or the network device may initiate a command to query the terminal's capabilities, and upon receiving the query command, the terminal may report its own capabilities to the network device, without limitation.

[0021] Through the above design, when the network device receives the terminal's capability information, it can determine whether the number of CSI-RS resources that the terminal supports for simultaneous measurement is greater than the number of CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell. If it is greater than the number of CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell, it indicates that the terminal's capability supports simultaneous measurement of the CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell. In this case, the CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell can be configured to the terminal via an RRC message. Accordingly, the terminal measures CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell based on the configuration in the RRC message. When the terminal moves within a single cell, it does not need to frequently perform RRC reconfiguration, saving the overhead of CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0022] In one design, the terminal further includes receiving a first Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) from the network device, the first MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the N1 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0023] With the above design, when the terminal receives an RRC message from the network device, it does not directly perform CSI-RS measurements according to the configuration in the RRC message. Instead, it performs the corresponding CSI-RS measurements only upon receiving the MAC CE activation command. Through MAC CE activation, the network device can flexibly control when the terminal performs CSI-RS measurements. For example, the network device can pre-configure N1 CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell to the terminal, but for some reason, it can allow the terminal to start performing CSI-RS measurements only when certain conditions are met. In the above design, through MAC CE, the network device can flexibly control when the terminal starts CSI-RS measurements, avoiding invalid CSI-RS measurements and saving terminal power.

[0024] In one design, when the terminal switches from the first cell to the second cell, the method further includes: the terminal receiving a second RRC message from the network device, the second RRC message being used to configure N1 CSI-RS resources for the terminal. For example, the second RRC message includes a second CSI-RS resource set, the second CSI-RS resource set including N2 CSI-RS resources, where N2 is a positive integer less than or equal to X; optionally, the N2 CSI-RS resources are all CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell. Within the same period, the terminal measures the CSI-RS from the network device on the N2 CSI-RS resources.

[0025] With the above design, whenever a terminal accesses a cell, the network device configures the CSI-RS resources associated with that cell to the terminal. Subsequently, the terminal performs CSI-RS measurements on the configured CSI-RS resources without the need for frequent RRC configuration, thus reducing air interface overhead.

[0026] In one design, the terminal further includes receiving a second MAC CE from the network device, the second MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the N2 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0027] Similar to the aforementioned effect, when a terminal accesses a cell, the network device can configure the CSI-RS resources associated with that cell to the terminal. Upon receiving the RRC configuration, the terminal does not directly perform CSI-RS measurements on the CSI-RS resources configured by the RRC. Instead, it performs CSI-RS measurements only after receiving activation from the MAC CE. This allows the network device to flexibly control the timing of the terminal's CSI-RS measurements, preventing the terminal from performing invalid CSI-RS measurements.

[0028] Fourthly, a resource configuration method is provided, corresponding to the third aspect. The beneficial effects are described in the third aspect. The execution subject of this method is a network device, or a component (processor, chip, or other, etc.) configured in the network device. Taking a network device as the execution subject as an example, the method includes: when a terminal accesses a first cell, the network device determines N1 CSI-RS resources based on the Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources associated with the first cell, where N1 is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and X is the maximum number of CSI-RS resources supported by the terminal in the same period, where X is a positive integer; optionally, the N1 CSI-RS resources are all the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. The network device sends a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) message to the terminal. The first RRC message is used to configure the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the N1 CSI-RS resources in the same period. For example, the first RRC message includes a first CSI-RS resource set, which includes the N1 CSI-RS resources.

[0029] In one design, the network device further includes receiving capability information from the terminal, the capability information being used to indicate that the terminal supports measuring the CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0030] In one design, the network device further includes sending a first Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) to the terminal, wherein the first MAC CE is used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the N1 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0031] In one design, when the terminal switches from the first cell to the second cell, the method further includes: the network device determining N2 CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell, where N2 is a positive integer less than or equal to X; optionally, the N2 CSI-RS resources are all the CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell. The network device sends a second RRC message to the terminal, the second RRC message being used to configure the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the N2 CSI-RS resources within the same period. For example, the second RRC message includes a second CSI-RS resource set, the second CSI-RS resource set including the N2 CSI-RS resources.

[0032] In one design, the network device further includes sending a second MAC CE to the terminal, the second MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the N2 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0033] Fifthly, an apparatus is provided, comprising a unit or module corresponding to performing the methods described in the first, second, third, or fourth aspects above, wherein the unit or module may be implemented by hardware circuitry, by software, or by a combination of hardware circuitry and software.

[0034] A sixth aspect provides an apparatus comprising a processor and an interface circuit, the processor being configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and to perform the methods described in the first, second, third, or fourth aspects above. The processor may include one or more processors.

[0035] A seventh aspect provides an apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory for invoking a program stored in the memory to perform the methods described in the first, second, third, or fourth aspects above. The memory may be located within or outside the apparatus. Furthermore, there may be one or more processors.

[0036] Eighthly, an apparatus is provided, including a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, wherein, when the apparatus is in operation, the processor executes the computer instructions stored in the memory to cause the apparatus to perform the methods described in the first, second, third, or fourth aspects above.

[0037] Ninth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising: a processor for performing the methods described in the first, second, third or fourth aspects above.

[0038] A tenth aspect is provided, which provides a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when operated on a communication device, cause the methods of the first, second, third, or fourth aspects described above to be executed.

[0039] Eleventhly, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a device, cause the methods of the first, second, third, or fourth aspects described above to be performed.

[0040] In a twelfth aspect, a system is provided, comprising the means corresponding to the first aspect and the means corresponding to the second aspect, or the means corresponding to the third aspect and the means corresponding to the fourth aspect. Attached Figure Description

[0041] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0042] Figure 2 A schematic diagram illustrating the CSI-RS resource configuration provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0043] Figure 3 and Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating resource configuration provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0044] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a cell beam provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0045] Figure 6 and Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the apparatus provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0046] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system 1000 used in the embodiments of this application. Figure 1 As shown, the communication system includes a wireless access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include an Internet 300. The wireless access network 100 may include at least one wireless access network device (such as...). Figure 1 110a and 110b in the above), may also include at least one terminal (such as Figure 1(Referring to 120a-120j in the original text). Terminals connect wirelessly to the wireless access network (WLAN) equipment, which in turn connects to the core network via wireless or wired connections. The core network equipment and the WLAN equipment can be independent physical devices, or they can integrate the functions of the core network equipment and the logical functions of the WLAN equipment onto the same physical device. Alternatively, a single physical device can integrate some of the functions of both the core network equipment and the WLAN equipment. Terminals and WLAN equipment can be interconnected via wired or wireless connections. Figure 1 This is just an illustration; the communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless repeaters and wireless backhaul devices. Figure 1 It is not shown in the middle.

[0047] Wireless access network equipment can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system; it can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, for example, it can be a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). The CU here performs the functions of the radio resource control (RRC) protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also perform the functions of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU performs the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also perform some or all of the physical (PHY) layer functions. For specific descriptions of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The radio access network equipment can be a macro base station (such as...) Figure 1110a in the text), can also be a micro base station or an indoor station (such as... Figure 1 110b) in the text can also be a relay node or a donor node, etc. This application does not limit the specific technology or device form used in the wireless access network equipment. For ease of description, the following description uses a base station as an example of a wireless access network equipment.

[0048] A terminal can also be called a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminals can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. This application does not limit the specific technology or device form used in the terminal embodiments.

[0049] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can be deployed in the air on aircraft, balloons, and artificial satellites. This application does not limit the application scenarios of the base stations and terminals.

[0050] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative, for example, Figure 1 The helicopter or drone 120i can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station; however, for base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that 110a and 120i communicate via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate via a base station-to-base station interface protocol; in this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, both base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. Figure 1 The 110a and 110b in the text can be referred to as communication devices with base station functions. Figure 1 The 120a-120j in the text can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0051] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be conducted using licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both simultaneously. Communication can be conducted using spectrum below 6 GHz, spectrum above 6 GHz, or both simultaneously. This application does not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0052] In this embodiment, the functions of the base station can be executed by modules (such as chips) within the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes base station functions. This control subsystem can be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. Similarly, the functions of the terminal can be executed by modules (such as chips or modems) within the terminal, or by a device that includes terminal functions.

[0053] In this embodiment, the base station sends downlink signals or downlink information to the terminal, which are carried on the downlink channel; the terminal sends uplink signals or uplink information to the base station, which are carried on the uplink channel. To communicate with the base station, the terminal establishes a wireless connection with a cell controlled by the base station. The cell with which the terminal has established a wireless connection is called the terminal's serving cell. While the terminal is communicating with this serving cell, it may also experience interference from signals from neighboring cells.

[0054] In New Radio (NR) systems, the process by which a terminal reports downlink channel quality to a base station includes: the base station sending a channel-state information reference signal (CSI-RS) according to its configuration; the terminal measuring the CSI-RS and reporting the measurement results; and the base station scheduling downlink data based on the reported measurement results. The measurement results include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), or rank indication (RI), which can be simply referred to as the three indicators (3I) measurement results. The overall framework of CSI-RS in NR is described in protocol 38.214, and the main concepts include:

[0055] 1. CSI-RS resource setting: Instructs the terminal to select which CSI-RS resources to measure and report the measurement results. This CSI-RS resource setting can be simply referred to as resource setting.

[0056] 2. CSI-RS Reporting Setting: This specifies the rules for the terminal to report measurement results. It may include the time-domain resources, frequency-domain resources used for reporting, and the measured quantities to be reported. CSI-RS reporting setting can be simply referred to as report setting.

[0057] Each report configuration is associated with a resource configuration and can be considered a measurement task. For example, if a terminal measures CSI-RS on a resource corresponding to a certain resource configuration, the terminal can report the measurement results to the resource configuration according to the associated report configuration. The type of report configuration can include periodic, non-periodic, or semi-static, etc. Optionally, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the CSI-RS resource configuration includes at least one of the following:

[0058] CSI-RS resource configuration identity (ID) is used to identify CSI-RS resource configurations;

[0059] A CSI-RS resource set list includes at least one CSI-RS resource set. For periodic CSI-RS, it includes one CSI-RS resource set, and each CSI-RS resource set includes a maximum of 8 CSI-RS resources. For non-periodic and semi-static CSI-RS, it includes multiple CSI-RS resource sets. The parameters configured in each CSI-RS resource are described in 3GPP TS 38.331. For example, the parameters configured for each CSI-RS resource include at least one of the following: resource mapping configuration, power control offset, power control offset synchronization signal (SS), scrambling ID, periodicity and offset configuration, or quasi-co-location (QCL) configuration, etc. The resource mapping configuration can also be referred to as a CSI-RS pattern, and the resource mapping configuration includes at least one of the following: time-domain resource configuration, frequency-domain resource configuration, code group configuration, density, or frequency-domain bandwidth, etc. The density refers to the number of resource elements (REs) that a CSI-RS transmission occupies on a single resource block (RB). For example, if a CSI-RS transmission occupies one RE in a single RB, then the density value is 1.

[0060] Periodic attributes include periodic, aperiodic, and semi-static. For a CSI-RS resource configuration, if the periodic attribute is periodic, the terminal will periodically measure CSI-RS on the CSI-RS resources included in the configuration. The length of this period is preset or pre-configured by the base station, and is not limited. Alternatively, if the periodic attribute is aperiodic, the terminal will measure CSI-RS once on the CSI-RS resources included in the configuration after receiving a trigger command from the base station. This trigger command can be downlink control information (DCI). Alternatively, if the periodic attribute is semi-static, the terminal will periodically measure CSI-RS on the CSI-RS resources included in the configuration after receiving a trigger command from the base station until it receives a stop command from the base station.

[0061] The bandwidth part (BWP) ID is used to identify which BWP the CSI-RS corresponding to this CSI-RS resource configuration is transmitted on.

[0062] In one design, the base station configures the aforementioned CSI-RS resource configuration and CSI-RS report configuration to the terminal via an RRC message. For example, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal, which includes the aforementioned CSI-RS resource configuration and CSI-RS report configuration. This application focuses on the process of configuring CSI-RS resources, and the following description will focus on the process of configuring CSI-RS resources via RRC messages.

[0063] For periodic CSI-RS, upon receiving the aforementioned RRC message, the terminal can periodically measure CSI-RS on the CSI-RS resources configured in the RRC message. For example, for periodic CSI-RS, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal, which includes a CSI-RS resource set containing four CSI-RS resources. The terminal can periodically measure CSI-RS on these four CSI-RS resources according to the RRC configuration. Optionally, the terminal can periodically measure CSI-RS based on periodicity and offset parameters. These periodicity and offset parameters can be notified to the terminal by the base station via the RRC message or preset, without limitation. Taking a period parameter of four time slots and an offset parameter of three time slots as an example, the terminal can measure CSI-RS on the four CSI-RS resources included in the CSI-RS resource set in the third time slot of every four time slots, according to a four-time-slot period, obtaining four measurement results. The terminal selects one measurement result from the four measurement results and reports the selected measurement result to the base station. For example, in the first cycle, which includes time slots 0 to 3, the terminal measures CSI-RS on the four CSI-RS resources included in the CSI-RS resource set at a time slot position offset by 3 time slots from the start of the cycle, i.e., on time slot 2.

[0064] In NR (Radio Frequency Identification), a cell can include multiple beams, each associated with at least one CSI-RS resource. When a terminal accesses a beam, it should measure the CSI-RS on the corresponding CSI-RS resource. When the terminal moves at high speed, it frequently switches beams. Similarly, in non-terrestrial network (NTN) satellite communication systems, even if the terminal remains stationary while the satellite is moving at high speed, it may passively experience frequent switching between multiple beams within the cell's coverage area. As mentioned earlier, for periodic CSI-RS, the CSI-RS resource configuration includes only one CSI-RS resource set, with a maximum of eight CSI-RS resources. Taking one CSI-RS resource associated with each beam as an example, according to the aforementioned design, every time the terminal switches eight beams, the base station reconfigures the CSI-RS resource for the terminal. That is, every time the terminal switches eight beams, the base station sends an RRC (Reference Code for Configuring CSI-RS Resources) to the terminal, resulting in significant air interface overhead for CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0065] Taking the NTN system as an example, the above process is explained as follows: In the NTN system, the base station accessed by the terminal is deployed on a satellite. In the uplink direction, the terminal sends uplink data to the base station deployed on the satellite. The base station then transmits the uplink data, which, after being routed through one or more satellites, is sent to a ground-based gateway station. The gateway station then transmits the uplink data to a ground-based user plane function (UPF) or other terminals. In the downlink direction, the ground-based UPF sends downlink data to the ground-based gateway station. The gateway station then transmits the downlink data, which, after being routed through one or more satellites, reaches the base station deployed on the satellite and is then sent to the terminal. For a low-Earth orbit satellite communication system with an altitude of 508 km, the coverage area of ​​a single satellite is 670,000 square kilometers. Considering that the link budget margin for ground-based access is 8.6 dB, corresponding to a beamwidth of 4.6 degrees, the coverage area for ground-based access is 1039 square kilometers, with 640+ beams. Assuming the satellite moves at 7.8 km / s, it will fly over the aforementioned coverage area of ​​1039 square kilometers in 3 minutes. A single user would experience 50-80 beams in 3 minutes. According to the current NR design, each RRC can be configured with a maximum of 8 CSI-RS resources, with each beam associated with one CSI-RS resource. If a user experiences 80 beams in 3 minutes, the base station will send 10 RRC messages to the user within that time. This only considers a single user. If a cell contains 2000 users, and the base station sends 10 RRC messages for each user within 3 minutes for configuration, the configuration overhead of CSI-RS resources will increase exponentially.

[0066] For the configuration of periodic CSI-RS, embodiments of this application provide a resource configuration method, including: when a terminal accesses a cell, configuring all CSI-RS resources associated with the beams included in that cell to the terminal at once via RRC messages. Then, when the terminal accesses different beams, activating the CSI-RS resources associated with those beams via a MAC control element (CE), and the terminal measuring CSI-RS on the activated CSI-RS resources. Compared to the aforementioned scheme, where the base station frequently sends RRC messages to the terminal to configure the CSI-RS resources associated with the currently accessed beam, this method reduces the overhead of RRC reconfiguration signaling. Figure 3 As shown, a resource allocation process is provided, which includes at least:

[0067] Step 300: The base station determines N CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell, where N is a positive integer, for example, N is a positive integer greater than 8. This step 300 is optional.

[0068] The CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell can refer to all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. For example, if the first cell includes at least one beam, and each beam is associated with one or more CSI-RS resources, then all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell can refer to all CSI-RS resources associated with all beams included in the first cell. For instance, if a cell includes 64 beams, and each beam is associated with one CSI-RS resource, then all CSI-RS resources associated with that cell are the 64 CSI-RS resources associated with the 64 beams included in that cell, where N can be 64. Alternatively, the base station selects a portion of the CSI-RS resources from all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell, as the N CSI-RS resources in this embodiment. For example, the base station selects 32 CSI-RS resources from the aforementioned 64 CSI-RS resources, where N is 32. Subsequently, these 32 CSI-RS resources are configured to the terminal via the RRC message in step 301. Afterwards, if the terminal accesses the beams corresponding to the remaining 32 CSI-RS resources, the remaining 32 CSI-RS resources will be configured to the terminal, etc., without restriction.

[0069] Step 301: When the terminal accesses the first cell, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal. The RRC message is used to configure N CSI-RS resources for the terminal.

[0070] Taking periodic CSI-RS as an example, an RRC message includes a CSI-RS resource set, which contains N CSI-RS resources. Considering the current protocol, for periodic CSI-RS, the number of CSI-RS resources included in each CSI-RS resource set is limited to no more than 8. Optionally, in this embodiment, N can be limited to a positive integer greater than 8.

[0071] Step 302: The base station determines M1 CSI-RS resources out of the N CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the terminal in the first location area of ​​the first cell, where M1 is a positive integer less than or equal to N. This step 302 is optional.

[0072] For example, the first cell contains multiple synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs). A location area in the first cell can be an area covered by an SSB, or the coverage area of ​​an SSB can be divided into multiple location areas, that is, an SSB coverage area includes multiple location areas, and each location area is a part of the SSB coverage area.

[0073] In this embodiment, each location area is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource. When a location area is associated with multiple CSI-RS resources, it can be said that the location area is associated with a set of CSI-RS resources. In one possible implementation, when the base station detects that the terminal is located in a first location area within a first cell, the base station can determine the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area. The base station sends a first MAC CE to the terminal, which activates the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area. In step 302 above, the M1 CSI-RS resources activated by the first MAC CE include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area. Optionally, the M1 CSI-RS resources may also include other CSI-RS resources, which may be CSI-RS resources associated with other location areas adjacent to the first location area, etc., without limitation. For example, the aforementioned M1 CSI-RS resources may include not only the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, but also CSI-RS resources associated with the second and third location areas. In one design, the base station can determine the specific value of M1 based on the terminal's capabilities. The number of CSI-RS resources activated by the terminal through the first MAC CE should not exceed the terminal's capabilities, which refers to the terminal's ability to simultaneously detect CSI-RS resources on the same CSI-RS resource within the same period. For example, if the terminal can simultaneously detect CSI-RS on a maximum of 4 CSI-RS resources within the same period, then the value of M1 should not exceed 4. For instance, each location area is associated with one CSI-RS resource, and location areas 1 to 4 are associated with CSI-RS resources 1 to 4 respectively. The terminal can detect CSI-RS on a maximum of 4 CSI-RS resources within the same period. When the terminal is located in location area 1, the base station can send a MAC CE to the terminal, which can activate CSI-RS resources 1 to 4. Within the same period, the terminal simultaneously detects CSI-RS on CSI-RS resources 1 to CSI-RS resources 4. The advantage of this design is that the base station does not need to send a MAC CE when the terminal moves to location area 2, location area 3, or location area 4. Only when the terminal moves to location area 5 does the base station send a MAC CE to activate the other four corresponding CSI-RS resources. In the above design, when the base station activates M1 CSI-RS resources through the first MAC CE, it considers not only the CSI-RS resources associated with the terminal's current first location area but also the impact of the terminal's capabilities. Therefore, one implementation of step 302 above can be: the base station determines M1 CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area in the first cell and the terminal's capabilities.

[0074] Optionally, the location area can also be referred to as a beam. A beam refers to a directional, special transmission or reception effect formed by the transmitter or receiver of a base station or terminal through an antenna array, much like a flashlight focusing light in one direction. Transmitting and receiving signals in the form of beams can effectively increase the signal transmission distance. Beams can be wide beams, narrow beams, or other types of beams. The technology for forming beams can be beamforming technology or other technologies. Specifically, beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology, etc. Beams generally correspond to resources. For example, during beam measurement, the base station can determine the quality of the corresponding beam through the measurement results of different resources. For instance, if the terminal reports the measured resource quality to the base station, the base station can know the quality of the corresponding beam. In data transmission, beam information is also indicated through its corresponding resources. For example, a base station indicates a TCI-state through the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) field in the DCI. The terminal determines the beam to use based on the reference signal resources contained in the TCI-state. In communication protocols, beams can be specifically represented as digital beams, analog beams, spatial domain filters, spatial filters, spatial parameters, TCI, TCI-state, etc. The beam used to transmit signals can be called a transmission beam (or Tx beam), spatial domain transmission filter, spatial transmission filter, spatial domain transmission parameter, spatial transmission parameter, etc. The beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (or Rx beam), a spatial domain reception filter, a spatial reception filter, a spatial domain reception parameter, or a spatial reception parameter. Alternatively, an antenna panel can be beamformed, forming a beam in a specific direction; the beam can also be called an antenna panel.In the protocol, antenna panels can be represented using terms like "panel" or "panel index." Alternatively, antenna panels can be implicitly represented in other ways. For example, antenna panels can also be represented by antenna ports, such as CSI-RS ports, sounding reference signal (SRS) ports, demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports, phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) ports, cell reference signal (CRS) ports, tracking reference signal (TRS) ports, or SSB ports. Alternatively, antenna panels can be represented by an antenna port group, which includes at least one antenna port and may contain antenna ports of the same or different types. Optionally, the antenna port can be represented by channel characteristics, such as the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), etc. Alternatively, the antenna port can be represented by a channel group, which includes at least one channel of the same or different types. For example, the channel group could be a control channel group. Alternatively, the antenna port can be represented by at least one of the following: QCL, TCI-state, spatial relation, or by an index configured in the QCL, TCI-state, or spatial relation.

[0075] Step 303: The base station sends a first MAC CE to the terminal. The first MAC CE is used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on M1 of the N CSI-RS resources in the same period.

[0076] Step 304: Within the same period, the terminal measures the CSI-RS from the base station on M1 CSI-RS resources.

[0077] In one possible implementation, the terminal periodically measures CSI-RS on M1 CSI-RS resources and reports the measurement results. The duration of this period can be preset or pre-notified to the terminal by the base station, without limitation. For example, in the first period, the terminal measures CSI-RS on each of the M1 CSI-RS resources. Measuring CSI-RS on each CSI-RS resource yields a corresponding measurement result, resulting in a total of M1 measurement results. From these M1 results, the terminal selects the result to report to the base station. The base station can adjust the downlink data scheduling strategy based on the measurement results reported by the terminal. For example, if the terminal reports a good measurement result, it indicates that the current downlink channel quality is good, and a simpler downlink precoding technique can be used; otherwise, a more complex downlink precoding technique can be used. Subsequently, in the second and third periods, the terminal performs CSI-RS measurements in the same manner as the first period and reports the measurement results. Until the terminal moves to another location area within the first cell, such as a second location area, which may be associated with at least one CSI-RS resource. Based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the second location area, the base station determines M² CSI-RS resources from N CSI-RS resources, where at least one of these M² resources is associated with the second location area. The base station then sends a second MAC CE to the terminal, which activates the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the M² CSI-RS resources. Within the same period, the terminal measures CSI-RS on the M² CSI-RS resources and reports the measurement results. Optionally, as the terminal moves, it may move out of the coverage area of ​​the first cell and into the coverage area of ​​the second cell. The cell the terminal accesses will switch from the first cell to the second cell. In this case, the base station can proceed as described above. Figure 3 The procedure involves sending another RRC message to the terminal, which configures the CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell for the terminal. Depending on the location area of ​​the terminal within the second cell, a MAC CE is sent to the terminal to activate CSI-RS measurement on the corresponding CSI-RS resources.

[0078] As previously mentioned, when a terminal moves to a new location area, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal. This MAC CE activates not only the CSI-RS resources associated with the new location area but also CSI-RS resources associated with other location areas. Optionally, in this design, the base station does not send a MAC CE to the terminal and activate the CSI-RS resources associated with the new location area every time the terminal moves to a new location area. The base station only sends a MAC CE when the CSI-RS resources associated with the newly moved location area have not been activated, or when the M CSI-RS resources activated by the terminal's previous MAC CE do not include the CSI-RS resources associated with the newly moved location area. Before sending each MAC CE, the base station can perform the following checks: determine the CSI-RS resources associated with the new location area the terminal has moved to, and the CSI-RS resources activated by the previous MAC CE. The base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal only when the CSI-RS resource of the former does not belong to the CSI-RS resource of the latter, or when the CSI-RS resource of the latter does not include the CSI-RS resource of the former, to activate the CSI-RS resource associated with the new location area. For example, a cell includes location areas 1 to 5, each location area is associated with one CSI-RS resource, and location areas 1 to 5 are associated with CSI-RS resources 1 to 5 respectively. When the terminal moves to location area 1, and the terminal is set to be able to measure CSI-RS on a maximum of 4 CSI-RS resources in the same period, the base station can send MAC CE1 to the terminal, which activates CSI-RS resources 1 to 4. Subsequently, the base station will only send MAC CE2 to the terminal when the terminal moves to location area 5, and MAC CE2 is used to activate CSI-RS resource 5 at least. Alternatively, in another scheme, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal every time the terminal moves to a new location area, activating the CSI-RS resource corresponding to that location area. In this scheme, MAC CE only activates the CSI-RS resources associated with the current location area. Continuing the example above, if the terminal moves to location area 1, the base station sends MAC CE1 to the terminal to activate the CSI-RS1 resources associated with location area 1; if the terminal moves to location area 2, the base station sends MAC CE2 to the terminal to activate the CSI-RS2 resources associated with location area 2, and so on. Subsequent processes are similar and will not be described in detail. Compared to the scheme described later, this scheme reduces the number of MAC CEs sent by the base station, thus lowering air interface overhead.

[0079] Optionally, the above Figure 3The application scenario for this process can be as follows: Within the same period, a terminal can support measuring CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to N. That is, the number of CSI-RS resources associated with a cell is set to N. Specifically, the terminal's capability is: within the same period, the terminal can support measuring CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources. When X is less than N, the terminal's capability determines that the terminal cannot simultaneously measure all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell (i.e., N CSI-RS resources) within the same period. In this case, the above method can be used. Figure 3 The proposed solution involves pre-configuring all CSI-RS resources associated with a cell to the terminal via RRC messages. The base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal based on its location region, activating at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the current location region. This solution allows the base station to activate the corresponding CSI-RS resources via MAC CE based on the terminal's location region, eliminating the need for frequent RRC reconfiguration and reducing configuration overhead, provided the terminal's cell access remains unchanged (i.e., the terminal does not switch to a new cell). Furthermore, a single RRC reconfiguration signaling interaction includes: downlink DCI or downlink PDSCH + uplink acknowledge (ACK) or negative acknowledge (NACK) + uplink scheduling request (SR) + downlink DCI + uplink buffer status report (BSR) + downlink DCI + uplink PUSCH (reconfiguration complete). The entire process involves 3 downlink interactions and 4 uplink interactions, with the air interface overhead of a single RRC reconfiguration signaling message typically being tens of bits. A single MAC CE indication process includes downlink DCI or downlink PDSCH + uplink ACK or NACK, comprising one downlink interaction and one uplink interaction. The air interface overhead of a single MAC CE indication is typically a dozen bits. In the scheme of this application embodiment, the corresponding CSI-RS resources are activated via MAC CE based on the terminal's mobile area, eliminating the need for frequent RRC reconfiguration. Therefore, the method of this application embodiment can reduce the signaling overhead of tens of bits for RRC to a dozen bits for MAC CE, saving air interface resources.

[0080] In the following description, the location region will be used as an example for illustration. In one design, such as... Figure 4As shown, if a cell contains 64 beams, and each beam is associated with one CSI-RS resource, then the cell can be considered to be associated with 64 CSI-RS resources. The terminal's capabilities include: supporting CSI-RS measurements on a maximum of 4 CSI-RS resources within the same period. The process of the base station configuring CSI-RS resources for the terminal is as follows:

[0081] 1. When a terminal accesses the cell, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal to configure periodic CSI-RS measurements. The RRC message includes a CSI-RS resource set, which contains 64 corresponding CSI-RS resources.

[0082] 2. The initial access beam of the terminal is beam 1. The base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal to activate CSI-RS resources 1 to 4.

[0083] The 64 beams in the cell are numbered from beam 1 to beam 64, and the CSI-RS resources associated with beams 1 to 64 are CSI-RS resource 1 to CSI-RS resource 64, respectively. In one design, when the terminal accesses beam 1, the MAC CE activates at least one CSI-RS measurement on CSI-RS resource 1. Considering that the terminal supports measuring CSI-RS on a maximum of four CSI-RS resources within the same period, the base station can activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on CSI-RS resources 1 to 4 at once through MAC CE. Thus, when the terminal moves to beam 5, the base station sends another MAC CE to the terminal, activating the other four CSI-RS resources.

[0084] 3. Within the same period, the terminal measures CSI-RS on the above four CSI-RS resources and feeds back the measurement results to the base station.

[0085] 4. When the terminal moves to beam 5, or when the terminal's beam changes to beam 5 due to satellite movement, send a MAC CE to the terminal to activate CSI-RS resources 5 to 8.

[0086] In this design, taking the simultaneous activation of four CSI-RS resources via MAC CE as an example, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal every four beams the terminal moves, activating the other four CSI-RS resources. In this design, all CSI-RS resources associated with a cell are configured to the terminal via a single RRC signaling message. Subsequently, as the terminal moves between beams, multiple CSI-RS resources within the terminal's capability range are activated via MAC CE. The terminal measures the CSI-RS resources on the activated CSI-RS resources, thereby effectively reducing the RRC reconfiguration signaling overhead.

[0087] It should be noted that the above design, where the terminal supports measuring a maximum of 4 CSI-RS resources within the same cycle, and the base station activates 4 CSI-RS resources at once via MAC CE as an example, is not considered a limitation. For example, the base station can also activate 1, 2, or 3 CSI-RS resources at once via MAC CE, but this usually cannot exceed the terminal's capability. The terminal configuring all 64 cell-associated CSI-RS resources at once via RRC signaling is also not considered a limitation. For example, during the initial configuration phase, the terminal configures some of the cell-associated CSI-RS resources. For instance, CSI-RS resources 1 to 32 associated with the first 32 beams. When the terminal moves between beams 1 to 32, the corresponding CSI-RS resources can be activated via MAC CE. When the terminal moves to beams 33 to 64, the remaining 32 CSI-RS resources are configured via RRC. When the terminal moves between beams 33 and 64, the corresponding CSI-RS resources are activated via MAC CE.

[0088] In another design, taking a cell with 64 beams, each beam associated with 2 CSI-RS resources as an example, each pair of CSI-RS resources can be considered a group of CSI-RS resources. The process of the base station configuring CSI-RS resources for the terminal includes:

[0089] 1. When a terminal accesses a cell, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal, which configures the terminal to periodically measure CSI-RS. The RRC message includes a CSI-RS resource set, which contains 64 groups of CSI-RS resources. Each group of CSI-RS resources includes 2 CSI-RS resources, and the CSI-RS resource set can be considered to include 128 CSI-RS resources.

[0090] 2. When the terminal accesses beam 1, considering that the terminal can only measure CSI-RS on a maximum of 4 CSI-RS resources in the same period, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal to activate the first 4 CSI-RS resources out of the 128 configured CSI-RS resources, namely CSI-RS resource 1 to CSI-RS resource 4.

[0091] Understandably, in this example, since each beam is associated with 2 CSI-RS resources, the 4 CSI-RS resources activated by the MAC CE are actually 2 groups of CSI-RS resources, which can be referred to as CSI-RS group 1 to CSI-RS group 2, corresponding to beam 1 and beam 2 respectively.

[0092] 3. Within the same period, the terminal simultaneously measures CSI-RS on CSI-RS resources 1 to CSI-RS resources 4 and feeds back the measurement results.

[0093] 4. When the terminal moves to beam 3, or when the terminal's beam changes to beam 3 due to satellite movement, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal. This MAC CE is used to activate CSI-RS resources 5 to 8. These CSI-RS resources 5 to 8 can be considered as two sets of CSI-RS resources, referred to as CSI-RS resource group 3 and CSI-RS resource group 4, corresponding to beam 3 and beam 4 respectively.

[0094] The subsequent process is similar to the above. Every time the terminal moves two beams, or when the terminal's beam changes by two beams due to satellite movement, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal to activate the corresponding CSI-RS resources. For scenarios where a cell includes multiple beams, each beam associated with multiple CSI-RS resources, all CSI-RS resources associated with the cell are configured to the terminal with a single RRC signaling message. Then, as the terminal moves between beams, the corresponding CSI-RS resources are activated via MAC CE, reducing RRC signaling overhead. The above description illustrates this by configuring all 128 CSI-RS resources associated with the cell to the terminal at once via RRC signaling, followed by activation via MAC CE. In one design, the base station can also configure only some of the cell's associated CSI-RS resources to the terminal via RRC signaling. For example, the 64 CSI-RS resources associated with the first 32 beams of the cell are configured to the terminal first. With the terminal moved to the last 32 beams, the remaining 64 CSI-RS resources are then allocated to the terminal via RRC signaling.

[0095] Regarding the configuration of periodic CSI-RS, this application also provides a resource configuration method. This method primarily considers scenarios where, as terminal capabilities improve, the number X of CSI-RS resources supported within the same period may exceed the total number of CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell. In this scenario, all CSI-RS resources associated with a single cell can be configured to the terminal via RRC. Within the same period, the terminal directly measures CSI-RS on all associated CSI-RS resources until it switches to another cell, at which point RRC configuration is performed again. This way, the terminal only needs to perform RRC configuration once within a single cell, thereby reducing signaling overhead. Figure 5 As shown, a resource allocation process is provided, which includes at least:

[0096] Step 500: When the terminal accesses the first cell, the base station determines N1 CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell, where N1 is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and X is the maximum number of CSI-RS resources supported by the terminal in the same period, where X is a positive integer. This step 500 is optional.

[0097] Optionally, the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell can be all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell. For an explanation of all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 3 The relevant instructions are as follows. If the first cell is associated with 64 CSI-RS resources, then these 64 CSI-RS resources can be used as N1 CSI-RS resources and configured to the terminal through the first RRC message in subsequent step 501.

[0098] Step 501: The base station sends a first RRC message to the terminal. The first RRC message is used to configure the terminal to measure CSI-RS on N1 CSI-RS resources within the same period. For example, the first RRC message includes a first CSI-RS resource set, which includes N1 CSI-RS resources.

[0099] Step 502: Within the same period, the terminal measures CSI-RS on N1 CSI-RS resources.

[0100] In one design, upon receiving the first RRC message, the terminal can directly execute step 502 to measure CSI-RS on N1 CSI-RS resources. Alternatively, the base station can first configure N1 CSI-RS resources for the terminal via the first RRC. Then, the base station sends a first MAC CE to the terminal, which is used to activate the aforementioned N1 CSI-RS resources. After the N1 CSI-RS resources are activated, the terminal measures CSI-RS on the N1 CSI-RS resources. Optionally, between steps 501 and 502, the process can further include: the base station sending a first MAC CE to the terminal, which is used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the N1 CSI-RS resources within the same period. In this embodiment, when the terminal moves between beams in the first cell, or when the beam where the terminal is located changes due to the high-speed movement of the satellite, no further operations are required. For example, there is no need for the RRC reconfiguration in the current scheme, nor is it necessary to perform the aforementioned... Figure 3 The operation shown in the process of activating the CSI-RS resource corresponding to the current beam through MACCE reduces signaling overhead.

[0101] Optionally, when the terminal switches from the first cell to the second cell, the base station can determine N2 CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell. Optionally, these N2 CSI-RS resources are all the CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell. The base station sends a second RRC message to the terminal, which configures the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the N2 CSI-RS resources within the same period. After receiving the configuration in the second RRC message, the terminal measures CSI-RS on the N2 CSI-RS resources. Optionally, between the terminal receiving the second RRC message and the terminal performing CSI-RS measurement, the process may further include: the terminal receiving a second MAC CE from the base station, which is used to activate the N2 CSI-RS resources. After receiving the activation signaling for the N2 CSI-RS resources, the terminal then performs CSI-RS measurement. The subsequent process of the terminal switching from the second cell to other cells is similar and will not be described in detail. In the scheme of this application embodiment, when the terminal switches between different beams in the same cell, no other signaling indication or configuration is required, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0102] Optionally, the above Figure 5 One application scenario of the resource configuration method shown includes: setting the terminal's capabilities to include: the terminal supports a maximum number of CSI-RS resources of X, where X is a positive integer, within a single period. If the value of X is greater than or equal to the total number of CSI-RS resources associated with a cell, then execution is performed. Figure 5 The process is illustrated. In step 501 above, the total number of CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell is N1. In this embodiment, the value of X can be limited to be greater than or equal to N1. Optionally, the terminal can also report its capabilities to the base station. For example, the terminal sends capability information to the base station, which indicates that the terminal supports measuring CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources within the same period. The base station can determine whether to execute based on the capabilities reported by the terminal. Figure 5 The process is illustrated. For example, the terminal's reported capability indicates that the maximum number of CSI-RS resources the terminal supports within a period is X. If the value of X is greater than or equal to the total number of CSI-RS resources associated with the terminal's currently accessed cell, then the following steps are executed: Figure 5 The method in the process. Otherwise, it will not be executed.

[0103] Taking a cell with 64 beams, each beam associated with one CSI-RS resource, and the cell associated with 64 CSI-RS resources, as an example, the maximum number of CSI-RS resources a terminal can support within the same period is N, and the value of N is greater than 64. Figure 6 As shown, the process of a base station configuring CSI-RS resources for a terminal includes:

[0104] 1. When a terminal accesses a cell, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal, which configures the terminal to periodically measure CSI-RS. The RRC message includes a CSI-RS resource set, which contains 64 CSI-RS resources associated with the cell.

[0105] 2. The base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal, which is used to activate the aforementioned 64 CSI-RS resources.

[0106] 3. Within one cycle, the terminal measures CSI-RS on 64 CSI-RS resources and feeds back the measurement results to the base station.

[0107] In this design, when the terminal moves between different beams within the same cell, or when the terminal's beam changes due to satellite movement, there is no need for MAC CE to activate or deactivate CSI-RS resources. This design primarily considers the scenario where the number of CSI-RS resources supported by the terminal in the same period is greater than or equal to all CSI-RS resources associated with a cell. If the terminal supports measuring CSI-RS on all CSI-RS resources associated with a cell within the same period, then all CSI-RS resources associated with that cell can be configured to the terminal at once via RRC messages. The terminal will then measure CSI-RS on all CSI-RS resources associated with that cell. When the terminal's beam changes within the same cell, there is no need to activate or deactivate CSI-RS resources via MAC CE, saving signaling overhead.

[0108] The above description uses the example of RRC activating all CSI-RS resources associated with a cell. In one design, RRC can also activate only some CSI-RS resources associated with a cell, as described above. Figure 5In the illustrated process, N1 CSI-RS resources can be a subset of CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell, and N2 CSI-RS resources can be a subset of CSI-RS resources associated with the second cell. For example, both N1 and N2 can be 32. Taking a cell with a total of 64 CSI-RS resources as an example: When the terminal accesses beam 1 in the current cell, the base station sends RRC1 to the terminal. This RRC1 configures the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the first 32 CSI-RS resources within the same period. After the terminal accesses beam 33, the base station sends RRC2 to the terminal. This RRC2 configures the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the last 32 CSI-RS resources within the same period. In this design, within a single cell, the base station sends multiple RRC messages to the terminal to configure CSI-RS resources. In this design, as long as the number of CSI-RS resources configured in one RRC message is greater than 8, the RRC configuration signaling overhead can still be reduced compared to the current scheme.

[0109] In the above description, the resource configuration method of this application embodiment is used as an example to illustrate the resource configuration of periodic CSI-RS, and is not intended to be limiting. The resource configuration method provided in this application embodiment can also be applied to the resource configuration of other types of CSI-RS. For example, the resource configuration of non-periodic CSI-RS or semi-static CSI-RS. For example, for semi-static CSI-RS, when a terminal accesses a cell, the base station sends an RRC message to the terminal, which includes multiple CSI-RS resource sets. Then, the base station sends a MAC CE to the terminal, which includes two pieces of information: one information to instruct the terminal to start periodic CSI-RS measurement, and the other information to indicate one CSI-RS resource set among the multiple CSI-RS resource sets. For example, in the above-mentioned semi-static CSI-RS, the above-mentioned method can be applied to... Figure 3 When configuring resources as shown, the CSI-RS resource set indicated by the base station may include all CSI-RS resources associated with the cell currently accessed by the terminal; when the beam where the terminal is located changes, different CSI-RS resources are activated through MAC CE, and the terminal periodically measures CSI-RS on the activated CSI-RS resources until it receives an instruction to stop periodic measurement.

[0110] It is understood that, in order to achieve the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to perform each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, based on the units and method steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed in this application, the embodiments of this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed by hardware or by computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0111] Figure 6 and Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of a possible communication device provided in the embodiments of this application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of a terminal or base station in the above method embodiments, and therefore can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of this application, the communication device can be as follows: Figure 1 One of the terminals 120a-120j shown can also be as follows: Figure 1 The base station 110a or 110b shown can also be a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal or base station.

[0112] like Figure 6 As shown, the communication device 6000 includes a processing unit 6010 and a transceiver unit 6020. The communication device 6000 is used to implement the above-mentioned... Figure 3 or Figure 5 The method embodiments shown depict the functions of a terminal or base station.

[0113] The communication device 6000 is used to implement Figure 3 In the terminal functionality of the method embodiment shown: Transceiver unit 6020 is configured to receive an RRC message from a network device when the terminal accesses a first cell, the RRC message being configured to configure N CSI-RS resources for the terminal, where N is a positive integer; and, when the terminal is in a first location area within the first cell, receive a first MAC CE from the network device, the first MAC CE being configured to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on M1 of the N CSI-RS resources within the same period, the M1 CSI-RS resources including at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, where M1 is a positive integer less than or equal to N; processing unit 6010 is configured to measure the CSI-RS from the network device on the M1 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

[0114] The communication device 6000 is used to implement Figure 3In the case of the base station's function in the illustrated method embodiment: The transceiver unit 6020, when a terminal accesses a first cell, sends an RRC message to the terminal, the RRC message configuring N CSI-RS resources for the terminal, where N is a positive integer; and sends a first MAC CE to the terminal, the first MAC CE activating the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the M1 CSI-RS resources within the same period. The processing unit 6010 is used to determine M1 CSI-RS resources from the N CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the terminal in a first location area within the first cell, wherein the M1 CSI-RS resources include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first location area, where M1 is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

[0115] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 6010 and the transceiver unit 6020, please refer to [the relevant documentation]. Figure 3 The relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown are directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0116] The communication device 6000 is used to implement Figure 5 In the case of the terminal's functionality in the method embodiment shown: the transceiver unit 6020 is used to receive a first RRC message from the network device when the terminal accesses the first cell. The first RRC message is used to configure N1 CSI-RS resources for the terminal, where N1 is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and X is the maximum number of CSI-RS resources supported by the terminal in the same period, where X is a positive integer; the processing unit 6010 is used to measure the CSI-RS from the network device on the N1 CSI-RS resources in the same period.

[0117] The communication device 6000 is used to implement Figure 5 In the illustrated method embodiment, considering the base station's functionality: Processing unit 6010, when a terminal accesses a first cell, determines N1 CSI-RS resources based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell, where N1 is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and X is the maximum number of CSI-RS resources supported by the terminal within the same period, also a positive integer; Transceiver unit 6020 sends a first RRC message to the terminal, configuring the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the N1 CSI-RS resources within the same period. For example, the first RRC message includes a first CSI-RS resource set, which includes the N1 CSI-RS resources.

[0118] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 6010 and the transceiver unit 6020, please refer to [the relevant documentation]. Figure 5The relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown are directly obtained and will not be repeated here.

[0119] like Figure 7 As shown, the communication device 7000 includes a processor 7010 and an interface circuit 7020. The processor 7010 and the interface circuit 7020 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 7020 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 7000 may also include a memory 7030 for storing instructions executed by the processor 7010, or storing input data for the processor 7010's execution instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 7010 executes the instructions.

[0120] The communication device 7000 is used to implement Figure 3 or Figure 5 In the case of the method shown, the processor 7010 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 6010, and the interface circuit 7020 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver unit 6020.

[0121] When the aforementioned communication device is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. The terminal chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the terminal, information sent to the terminal by the base station; or, the terminal chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) in the terminal, information sent to the base station by the terminal.

[0122] When the aforementioned communication device is a module applied to a base station, the base station module implements the functions of the base station in the above method embodiments. The base station module receives information from other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the base station, information sent by the terminal to the base station; or, the base station module sends information to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the base station, information sent by the base station to the terminal. Here, the base station module can be the baseband chip of the base station, or a DU (Digital Unit) or other modules. The DU can be a DU under an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0123] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application can be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0124] The method steps in this application embodiment can be implemented in hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can consist of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disks, portable hard disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor, enabling the processor to read information from and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Alternatively, the ASIC can reside in a base station or terminal. Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the base station or terminal.

[0125] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented entirely or partially as a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are performed entirely or partially. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible to a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center integrating one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; it can also be an optical medium, such as a digital video optical disc; or it can be a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or may include both types of storage media.

[0126] In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0127] In this application embodiment, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more than one" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of this application embodiment, the character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship; in the formulas of this application embodiment, the character " / " indicates that the preceding and following related objects have a "division" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B, or C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B, and C.

[0128] It is understood that the various numerical designations used in the embodiments of this application are merely for descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the process numbers does not imply the order of execution; the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A resource allocation method, characterized in that, include: When a terminal accesses the first cell, it receives a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from a network device. The RRC message is used to configure N Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources for the terminal, where N is a positive integer. When the terminal accesses the first beam in the first cell, it receives a first Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) from the network device. The first MAC CE is used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on M1 of the N CSI-RS resources in the same period. The M1 CSI-RS resources include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first beam, and M1 is a positive integer less than or equal to N. Within the same period, the CSI-RS from the network device is measured on the M1 CSI-RS resources.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, Within the same period, the terminal can support measuring CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, In the case where the terminal moves from the first beam in the first cell to the second beam in the first cell, the method further includes: The terminal receives a second MAC CE from the network device. The second MAC CE is used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on M2 of the N CSI-RS resources in the same period. The M2 CSI-RS resources include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the second beam, and M2 is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

4. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The N CSI-RS resources refer to all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell.

5. The method as described in claim 3, characterized in that, The first beam is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource, and the second beam is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource.

6. A resource allocation method, characterized in that, include: When a terminal accesses the first cell, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message is sent to the terminal. The RRC message is used to configure N Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources for the terminal, where N is a positive integer. Based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first beam of the terminal in the first cell, determine M1 CSI-RS resources out of the N CSI-RS resources, wherein the M1 CSI-RS resources include at least the CSI-RS resources associated with the first beam, and M1 is a positive integer less than or equal to N; A first Media Access Control (MAC) control element (CE) is sent to the terminal. The first MAC CE is used to activate the terminal to measure CSI-RS on the M1 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

7. The method as described in claim 6, characterized in that, Within the same period, the terminal can support measuring the CSI-RS on a maximum of X CSI-RS resources, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

8. The method as described in claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, In the case where the terminal moves from the first beam in the first cell to the second beam in the first cell, the method further includes: Based on the second beam-associated CSI-RS resource, determine M2 CSI-RS resources out of the N CSI-RS resources, wherein the M2 CSI-RS resources include at least the second beam-associated CSI-RS resource, and M2 is a positive integer less than or equal to N; A second MAC CE is sent to the terminal, the second MAC CE being used to activate the terminal to measure the CSI-RS on the M2 CSI-RS resources within the same period.

9. The method as described in claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, Also includes: The N CSI-RS resources are determined based on the CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell.

10. The method as described in claim 9, characterized in that, The N CSI-RS resources refer to all CSI-RS resources associated with the first cell.

11. The method as described in claim 8, characterized in that, The first beam is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource, and the second beam is associated with at least one CSI-RS resource.

12. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a unit for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

13. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices besides the communication device and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices besides the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5 through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

14. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes units for performing the method as described in any one of claims 6 to 11.

15. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices besides the communication device and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices besides the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 6 to 11 through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a communication device, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method as described in any one of claims 6 to 11.

17. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions that, when executed, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 5, or the method as described in any one of claims 6 to 11.

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