Method and device for determining TCI (Transmission Configuration Indicator) state

Abstract

Disclosed in an embodiment of the present disclosure are a method and apparatus for determining a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, which can be applied to the technical field of communications, the method executed by a terminal device comprising: determining a value of a first information domain in indication information sent by a network device, the indication information being used for indicating the TCI state; according to the value of the first information domain, determining a mode in which the indication information indicates a TCI state; and determining an identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the mode of indicating the TCI state by the indication information. Therefore, the terminal equipment can determine the TCI state groups containing different numbers of TCI states through the indication information of different indication modes, thereby providing conditions for realizing simultaneous access of the terminal equipment to more TRPs, and meeting the requirement of joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

Description

A method and device for determining the status of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a method and apparatus for determining a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. Background Art

[0002] Distributed multi-input multi-output (MIMO) is an evolution of traditional MIMO technology, expanding its application scope. For terminal devices, distributed MIMO technology means they are served by multiple base stations simultaneously, eliminating cell handovers. This eliminates the concept of cell boundaries, resulting in a smoother user experience. When multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) serve a single terminal device, since different TRPs are located in different spatial locations, different transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states are required to indicate their corresponding beam information.

[0003] With the increasing use of in-vehicle terminals, terminal devices are becoming increasingly powerful and can support simultaneous access to more TRPs, such as more than four TRPs. Therefore, in a multi-TRP (M-TRP) transmission system based on a single downlink control information (DCI), how to activate as many TCI states as possible is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for determining a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for determining a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, the method being performed by a terminal device, the method comprising:

[0007] Determining a value of a first information field in indication information sent by a network device, wherein the indication information is used to indicate a TCI state;

[0008] Determining, according to a value of the first information field, a manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state;

[0009] Determine the identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state.

[0010] The terminal device first determines the value of the first information field in the received indication information. Then, based on the value of the first information field, it determines the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state. Furthermore, based on the determined manner, it determines the identifier of the TCI state indicated in the indication information. Thus, the terminal device can determine TCI state groups containing different numbers of TCI states using indication information of different indication modes, thereby enabling the terminal device to simultaneously access multiple TRPs and meeting the requirements for joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0011] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for determining a transmission configuration indication TCI state, the method being performed by a network device, the method comprising: determining a manner of indicating the TCI state to a terminal device;

[0012] Determining, according to the method of indicating the TCI state, a value of a first information field in the indication information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI state;

[0013] Send the indication information to the terminal device.

[0014] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, including:

[0015] a processing module, configured to determine a value of a first information field in indication information sent by a network device, wherein the indication information is used to indicate a TCI state;

[0016] The processing module is further configured to determine, based on a value of the first information field, a manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state;

[0017] The processing module is further configured to determine an identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state.

[0018] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, including:

[0019] a processing module, configured to determine a method for indicating the TCI status to the terminal device;

[0020] The processing module is further configured to determine a value of a first information field in the indication information according to the method of indicating the TCI state, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI state;

[0021] A transceiver module is used to send the indication information to the terminal device.

[0022] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, which includes a processor. When the processor calls a computer program in a memory, the method described in the first aspect is executed.

[0023] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, which includes a processor. When the processor calls a computer program in a memory, it executes the method described in the second aspect above.

[0024] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, which includes a processor and a memory, in which a computer program is stored; the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory so that the communication device executes the method described in the first aspect above.

[0025] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, which includes a processor and a memory, in which a computer program is stored; the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory so that the communication device executes the method described in the second aspect above.

[0026] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, which includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor, and the processor is used to run the code instructions to enable the device to execute the method described in the first aspect above.

[0027] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication device, which includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive code instructions and transmit them to the processor, and the processor is used to run the code instructions to enable the device to execute the method described in the second aspect above.

[0028] In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication system, which includes the communication device described in the third aspect and the communication device described in the fourth aspect, or the system includes the communication device described in the fifth aspect and the communication device described in the sixth aspect, or the system includes the communication device described in the seventh aspect and the communication device described in the eighth aspect, or the system includes the communication device described in the ninth aspect and the communication device described in the tenth aspect.

[0029] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions for the above-mentioned terminal device, and when the instructions are executed, the terminal device executes the method described in the first aspect.

[0030] In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions for the above-mentioned terminal device, and when the instructions are executed, the terminal device executes the method described in the above-mentioned second aspect.

[0031] In a thirteenth aspect, the present disclosure further provides a computer program product comprising a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect above.

[0032] In a fourteenth aspect, the present disclosure further provides a computer program product comprising a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the second aspect above.

[0033] In a fifteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chip system comprising at least one processor and an interface for supporting a terminal device in implementing the functions described in the first aspect, such as determining or processing at least one of the data and information described in the aforementioned method. In one possible design, the chip system further comprises a memory for storing computer programs and data necessary for the terminal device. The chip system may consist of a chip alone or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0034] In a sixteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chip system comprising at least one processor and an interface for supporting a network device in implementing the functions described in the second aspect, such as determining or processing at least one of the data and information described in the aforementioned method. In one possible design, the chip system further comprises a memory for storing computer programs and data necessary for the terminal device. The chip system may consist of a single chip or may include a chip and other discrete components.

[0035] In a seventeenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect above.

[0036] In an eighteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the second aspect above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0037] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure or the background technology, the drawings required for use in the embodiments of the present disclosure or the background technology will be described below.

[0038] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0039] FIG2 is a flow chart of a method for determining a transmission configuration indication TCI state according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0040] 3a to 3c are schematic diagrams of the structure of indication information provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0041] FIG4 is a flow chart of another method for determining a transmission configuration indication TCI state provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0042] FIG5 is a flow chart of another method for determining a transmission configuration indication TCI state provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0043] FIG6 is a flow chart of another method for determining the state of a transmission configuration indication TCI provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0044] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0045] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0046] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] To facilitate understanding, the terms involved in this disclosure are first introduced.

[0048] 1. Downlink control information (DCI)

[0049] Downlink control information carried by the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and sent by the network equipment to the terminal equipment, including uplink and downlink resource allocation, Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (HARQ) information, power control, etc.

[0050] 2. Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI)

[0051] It is used to inform the terminal device to receive the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) using the same receiving spatial parameters / information as which synchronization signal block (SSB) or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) sent by the receiving network device; or to inform the terminal device to send the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) using the same sending spatial parameters / information as which reference signal (such as SRS or CSI-RS) is sent.

[0052] 3. Medium access control element (MAC CE)

[0053] MAC CE is a way to exchange control information between the UE and the network, in addition to radio resource control (RRC) messages and non-access stratum (NAS) messages, and is used to exchange MAC layer control information.

[0054] Typically, network equipment can configure up to 128 TCI states for terminal devices through RRC signaling, and then indicate (activate / deactivate) some TCI state groups through MACCE. The indicated TCI state groups can then be used through the TCI information field indication in the DCI.

[0055] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication system may include, but is not limited to, one network device and one terminal device. The number and configuration of devices shown in Figure 1 are for example purposes only and do not constitute a limitation on the embodiments of the present disclosure. In actual applications, two or more network devices and two or more terminal devices may be included. The communication system shown in Figure 1 includes one network device 11 and one terminal device 12 as an example.

[0056] It should be noted that the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems, such as long-term evolution (LTE) systems, fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, 5G new radio (NR) systems, or other future new mobile communication systems.

[0057] The network device 11 in the embodiment of the present disclosure is an entity on the network side for transmitting or receiving signals. For example, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in an NR system, a base station in other future mobile communication systems, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, etc. The embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device. The network device provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure may be composed of a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU), wherein the CU may also be referred to as a control unit. The CU-DU structure may be used to split the protocol layer of a network device, such as a base station, and the functions of some protocol layers are placed in the CU for centralized control, while the functions of the remaining part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, and the DU is centrally controlled by the CU.

[0058] The terminal device 12 in the embodiment of the present disclosure is an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals, such as a mobile phone. The terminal device can also be called a terminal device (terminal), user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal device (MT), etc. The terminal device can be a car with communication function, a smart car, a mobile phone, a wearable device, a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal device in self-driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal device in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal device in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal device in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal device in smart home (smart home), etc. The embodiment of the present disclosure does not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0059] It can be understood that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present disclosure is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of the system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0060] In this system, the terminal device 12 can implement the method shown in any embodiment of Figure 2 or Figure 4 of the present disclosure. The network device 11 can implement the method shown in Figure 5 or Figure 6 of the present disclosure.

[0061] It can be understood that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present disclosure is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of the system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0062] This disclosure mainly addresses the problem of how to activate as many TCI states as possible in an M-TRP transmission system based on a single DCI for a terminal device that can access multiple TRPs at the same time. A new method for determining the TCI state is proposed. Different TCI state indication methods are used according to the number of TCI states to be indicated. When the terminal device receives the indication information, it first determines the way in which the indication information indicates the TCI state based on the value of the first information field in the indication information. Then, based on the indication method, the indication information is parsed to obtain the identifier of the TCI state indicated in the indication information. This ensures that the indication mapping of multiple TRPs is achieved in the M-TRP transmission system with a single DCI, thereby providing conditions for the terminal device to access more TRPs at the same time.

[0063] The following is a detailed description of the method for determining the transmission configuration indication TCI status provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure in conjunction with the various flow charts.

[0064] Please refer to Figure 2, which is a flowchart of a method for determining the state of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method provided in this embodiment can be executed by a terminal device. As shown in Figure 2, the method may include but is not limited to the following steps:

[0065] Step 201: Determine the value of the first information field in the indication information sent by the network device, where the indication information is used to indicate the TCI status.

[0066] The first information field may be one bit in the indication information, or may be several bits in the indication information, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0067] Optionally, the indication information may be a MAC CE. Accordingly, the first information field may be one or more bits in the MAC CE.

[0068] Optionally, the first information field may be one or more reserved bits in the MAC. For example, the first information field may be a reserved bit located before the serving cell ID and the bandwidth part identification (BWP ID), such as the bit where the "F" character is located as shown in FIG3a). FIG3a-FIG3c are schematic diagrams of the structure of indication information provided by the present disclosure.

[0069] Step 202: Determine the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state according to the value of the first information field.

[0070] The indication information in the present disclosure may have a variety of different ways of indicating the TCI status. Furthermore, the value of the first information field may indicate the way in which the current indication information indicates the TCI status.

[0071] Optionally, the network device may determine that the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI status is a first manner when the value of the first information field is a first value; or, when the value of the first information field is a second value, determine that the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI status is a second manner, wherein the first manner is different from the second manner.

[0072] For example, if the first information field is a bit in the MACCE, the first value may be 0, the second value may be 1, or the first value may be 1, the second value may be 0, and so on, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0073] The following takes the first value being 0 and the second value being 1 as an example to explain the possible implementation forms of the indication information in the first manner and the second manner.

[0074] Optionally, when the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is the first manner, the value of the first indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the i-th TCI state group contains two TCI states, and wherein, when the value of the first indicator bit is the fifth value, it indicates that the i-th state group contains only one TCI state; when the value of the first indicator bit is the sixth value, it indicates that the i-th state group contains two TCI states; wherein, the identifier of the first TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the first indicator bit, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that the indication information can indicate, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

[0075] Among them, the fifth value can be 0, and the sixth value can be 1; or the fifth value can be 1, and the sixth value can be 0, etc., which is not limited in this disclosure.

[0076] The following describes the form of the indication information of the first indication method, taking the fifth value being 0 and the sixth value being 1 as an example. The first method for the indication information to indicate a TCI state can be as shown in FIG3a). As shown in FIG3a), in the indication information, the bit where the character "F" is located is set to 0 (not shown in the figure), and the character "C_i" is used to indicate whether the second TCI state exists in the i-th TCI state group (that is, whether the first TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is the last TCI state in the state group). If it is 0, it indicates that the second TCI state does not exist, and if it is 1, it indicates that the second TCI state exists. R is a reserved bit that can be set to 0. TCI state ID_i_j is used to identify the j-th TCI state in the i-th TCI state group. As shown in FIG3a, the first method can be used to indicate a situation where a TCI state group contains at most two TCI states. Here, i is a natural number less than or equal to the maximum number N of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and j is a positive integer less than 2.

[0077] In addition, the second way in which the indication information indicates the TCI state can be as shown in Figure 3b). As shown in Figure 3b), in the indication information, the value of the bit where the character "F" is located is 1 (not shown in the figure). The character "C_i" is used to indicate whether the second TCI state in the i-th TCI state group exists (that is, whether the first TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is the last TCI state in the state group); the character "E" can be used to indicate whether its associated TCI state is the last TCI state in the current TCI state group; TCI state ID_i_j is used to identify the identifier of the j-th TCI state in the i-th group of TCI states. As can be seen from Figure 3b), the second way can be used to indicate the situation where the TCI state group contains more TCI states, for example, it contains 3 TCI states, 4 TCI states, or 6 TCI states, etc. Wherein, i is a natural number less than or equal to the maximum number N of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and j is a positive integer.

[0078] It should be noted that in the second method, the value of j is related to the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group. For example, if each TCI state group contains 4 TCI states, then j is a positive integer less than or equal to 4; if each TCI state group contains 6 TCI states, then j is a positive integer less than or equal to 6, and so on. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0079] In addition, the maximum number N of TCI status groups indicated in the MAC CE is related to the number of bits occupied by the TCI information field in the DCI. For example, if the TCI information field in the DCI occupies 3 bits, then the MAC CE can indicate a maximum of 2 3 TCI status groups, that is, MAC CE can indicate up to 8 TCI status groups. Or, if the TCI information field in DCI occupies 4 bits, then MAC CE can indicate up to 2 4 TCI state groups, that is, MAC CE may indicate up to 16 TCI state groups, etc., which is not limited in the present disclosure. Among them, a TCI state group may include 2 or more TCI states.

[0080] It should be noted that the number of indicator bits indicated by the character "E" in each second information field group in FIG3b) is for illustrative purposes only. In actual use, the format of the indication information may be adjusted based on the number of TCI states actually included in each TCI state group. For example, if each TCI state group can contain a maximum of six TCI states, the second information associated with each TCI state group in the indication information may include five indicator bits indicated by the character "E."

[0081] Step 203: Determine the identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state.

[0082] In the present disclosure, when a terminal device determines that the indication information indicates a TCI state, the terminal device may parse the indication information based on the determined manner, such as the first manner, according to the meaning of each information field in the first manner, to determine the identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information. If the indication information is determined to indicate a TCI state in the second manner, the terminal device may parse the indication information based on the meaning of each information field in the second manner to determine the identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information, until the identifiers of all TCI states indicated in the indication information are determined.

[0083] In the present disclosure, a terminal device first determines the value of the first information field in the received indication information, then determines the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state based on the value of the first information field, and then determines the identifier of the TCI state indicated in the indication information based on the determined manner. Thus, the terminal device can determine TCI state groups containing different numbers of TCI states through indication information of different indication manners, thereby providing conditions for the terminal device to simultaneously access more TRPs and meeting the requirements for joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0084] Please refer to Figure 4, which is a flowchart of another method for determining the state of a transmission configuration indication (TCI) provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method provided in this embodiment can be executed by a terminal device. As shown in Figure 3, the method may include but is not limited to the following steps:

[0085] Step 401: Determine the value of the first information field in the indication information sent by the network device, where the indication information is used to indicate the TCI status.

[0086] Step 402: Determine the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI status according to the value of the first information field.

[0087] The specific implementation of the above steps 401 and 402 can refer to the detailed description of any embodiment of the present disclosure and will not be repeated here.

[0088] Step 403: When the indication information indicates the TCI state in the second manner, determine the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information.

[0089] 3a) and 3b), each indicator bit in the second information field is the bit where the characters "C_i", "R" and "E" in the indication information are located.

[0090] Optionally, if the indication information indicates the TCI state in the second manner, the value of the jth indicator bit in the i-th second information field in the indication information is used to indicate whether the identifier of the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group, wherein the identifier of the j-th TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the j-th indicator bit, j is a positive integer less than or equal to M, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, M is the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group, and N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that the indication information can indicate. Thus, the terminal device can parse the indication according to the value of each indicator bit in the second information field corresponding to each TCI state group.

[0091] For example, when the value of the j-th indicator bit is the third value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group. When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the fourth value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is not the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group. The third value can be 0, and the fourth value can be 1; alternatively, the third value can be 1, and the fourth value can be 0, and so on. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0092] For example, if the third value is 1 and the fourth value is 0, then if the terminal device determines that the value of the third indicator bit in the second information field associated with the second TCI state group is 1 when parsing the indication information, it can be determined that the third TCI state is not the last one in the second TCI state group, and thus the value of the fourth indicator bit can be determined. If the value of the fourth indicator bit is 0, it can be determined that the fourth TCI state is the last TCI state in the second TCI state group. Then, the second information field and the third information field associated with the third TCI state group can be parsed.

[0093] The third information field is an information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier, such as the bits of each "TCI state ID_i_j" field shown in Figures 3a) and 3b).

[0094] Step 404: Obtain the identifier of each TCI state in each TCI state group from the indication information according to the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group.

[0095] In the present disclosure, considering that each indicator bit in the second information field can be used to indicate whether the currently associated TCI state is the last one in its TCI state group, when determining the identifier of each TCI state, the terminal device can first determine the value of the indicator bit in the second information field, and then, based on the currently determined value of the indicator bit, determine whether all TCI states in the current TCI state group have been acquired. In other words, based on the value of each indicator bit in the second information field, it is determined whether it is necessary to continue parsing the next indicator bit in the second information field associated with the current TCI state group and the next associated third information field.

[0096] For example, the terminal device first determines the value of the first indicator bit in the first second information field (such as the indicator bit where the character "C_0" in Figure 3b is located). If the value indicates that the first TCI state is not the last TCI state in the first TCI state group, that is, there is a second TCI state in the first TCI state group, then the terminal device can determine the identifier of the first TCI state in the first TCI state group based on the value of the associated third information field (such as the bit corresponding to the "TCI state ID_0_1" field in Figure 3b).

[0097] The terminal device can then determine the value of the second indicator bit in the first second information field (such as the indicator bit where the character "E" adjacent to the character "C_0" in Figure 3b is located). If this value indicates that the second TCI state is not the last TCI state in the first TCI state group, the terminal device can then determine the identifier of the second TCI state in the first TCI state group based on the value of the associated third information field (such as the bit corresponding to the "TCI state ID_0_2" field in Figure 3c). Similarly, if the value of the fourth indicator bit in the first second information field indicates that the fourth TCI state is the last TCI state in the first TCI state group, the terminal device can then determine the identifier of the fourth TCI state in the first TCI state group based on the value of the associated third information field (such as the bit corresponding to the "TCI state ID_0_4" field in Figure 3b).

[0098] The terminal device can then determine the values ​​of each indicator in the second second information field, such as determining the values ​​of the first indicator bit in the second second information field (such as the indicator bit where the character "C_1" in Figure 3b is located), the second indicator bit (the character "E" below the character "C_1" in Figure 3b), etc., and then obtain the identifier of each TCI state in the second TCI state group from the third information field associated with the indication information based on the values ​​of each indicator bit in the second second information field.

[0099] In the present disclosure, the terminal device first determines the value of the first information field in the received indication information, and then, based on the value of the first information field, determines that the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is the second manner, and then determines the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information, and then obtains the identifier of each TCI state in each TCI state group from the indication information based on the value of each indicator bit. Thus, the terminal device can determine TCI state groups containing different numbers of TCI states through indication information of different indication modes, thereby providing conditions for the terminal device to access more TRPs at the same time, meeting the requirements of joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0100] Please refer to Figure 5, which is a flowchart of another method for determining the state of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method provided in this embodiment can be executed by a network device. As shown in Figure 4, the method may include but is not limited to the following steps:

[0101] Step 501: Determine a method for indicating the TCI status to the terminal device.

[0102] The network device may indicate to the terminal device a state group containing different numbers of TCI states in different ways. For example, the network device may indicate to the terminal device a state group containing a maximum of two TCI states in way one, or a state group containing a maximum of four TCI states in way two, and so on. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0103] In the present disclosure, the network device can determine the method of indicating the TCI status to the terminal device based on the type of the terminal device or the maximum number of TRPs that the terminal device can support for simultaneous access.

[0104] Step 502: Determine the value of the first information field in the indication information according to the method of indicating the TCI status, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI status.

[0105] The first information field may be one bit in the indication information, or may be several bits in the indication information, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0106] Optionally, the indication information is a media access control element MAC CE. Accordingly, the first information field may be one or more bits in the MAC CE.

[0107] Optionally, the first information field may be one or more reserved bits in the MAC. For example, the first information field may be a reserved bit located before the serving cell ID and the bandwidth part identification (BWP ID), such as the bit where the "F" character is located as shown in FIG3a). FIG3 is a schematic diagram of indication information provided by the present disclosure.

[0108] Optionally, the network device may determine that the value of the first information field is a first value when the method for indicating the TCI status is determined to be a first method; or, when the method for indicating the TCI status is determined to be a second method, determine that the value of the first information field is a second value, wherein the first method is different from the second method.

[0109] For example, if the first information field is a bit in the MAC CE, the first value may be 0, the second value may be 1, or the first value may be 1, the second value may be 0, and so on. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0110] The following takes the first value being 0 and the second value being 1 as an example to explain the possible implementation forms of the indication information in the first manner and the second manner.

[0111] Optionally, when the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is the first manner, the value of the first indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the i-th TCI state group contains two TCI states, and wherein, when the value of the first indicator bit is the fifth value, it indicates that the i-th state group contains only one TCI state; when the value of the first indicator bit is the sixth value, it indicates that the i-th state group contains two TCI states; wherein, the identifier of the first TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the first indicator bit, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that the indication information can indicate, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

[0112] Among them, the fifth value can be 0, and the sixth value can be 1; or the fifth value can be 1, and the sixth value can be 0, etc., which is not limited in this disclosure.

[0113] The following describes the form of the indication information of the first indication method, taking the fifth value being 0 and the sixth value being 1 as an example. The first method for the indication information to indicate a TCI state can be as shown in FIG3a). As shown in FIG3a), in the indication information, the bit where the character "F" is located is set to 0 (not shown in the figure), and the character "C_i" is used to indicate whether the second TCI state exists in the i-th TCI state group (that is, whether the first TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is the last TCI state in the state group). If it is 0, it indicates that the second TCI state does not exist, and if it is 1, it indicates that the second TCI state exists. R is a reserved bit that can be set to 0. TCI state ID_i_j is used to identify the j-th TCI state in the i-th TCI state group. As shown in FIG3a, the first method can be used to indicate a situation where a TCI state group contains at most two TCI states. Here, i is a natural number less than or equal to the maximum number N of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and j is a positive integer less than 2.

[0114] In addition, the second way in which the indication information indicates the TCI state can be as shown in Figure 3b). As shown in Figure 3b), in the indication information, the value of the bit where the character "F" is located is 1 (not shown in the figure). The character "C_i" is used to indicate whether the second TCI state in the i-th TCI state group exists (that is, whether the first TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is the last TCI state in the state group); the character "E" can be used to indicate whether its associated TCI state is the last TCI state in the current TCI state group; TCI state ID_i_j is used to identify the identifier of the j-th TCI state in the i-th group of TCI states. As can be seen from Figure 3b), the second way can be used to indicate the situation where the TCI state group contains more TCI states, for example, it contains 3 TCI states, 4 TCI states, or 6 TCI states, etc. Wherein, i is a natural number less than or equal to the maximum number N of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and j is a positive integer.

[0115] It should be noted that in the second method, the value of j is related to the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group. For example, if each TCI state group contains 4 TCI states, then j is a positive integer less than or equal to 4; if each TCI state group contains 6 TCI states, then j is a positive integer less than or equal to 6, and so on. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0116] In addition, the maximum number N of TCI status groups indicated in the MAC CE is related to the number of bits occupied by the TCI information field in the DCI. For example, if the TCI information field in the DCI occupies 3 bits, then the MAC CE can indicate a maximum of 2 3 TCI status groups, that is, MAC CE can indicate up to 8 TCI status groups. Or, if the TCI information field in DCI occupies 4 bits, then MAC CE can indicate up to 2 4 TCI state groups, that is, MAC CE may indicate up to 16 TCI state groups, etc., which is not limited in the present disclosure. Among them, a TCI state group may include 2 or more TCI states.

[0117] It should be noted that the number of indicator bits indicated by the character "E" in each second information field group in FIG3b) is for illustrative purposes only. In actual use, the format of the indication information may be adjusted based on the number of TCI states actually included in each TCI state group. For example, if each TCI state group can contain a maximum of six TCI states, the second information associated with each TCI state group in the indication information may include five indicator bits indicated by the character "E."

[0118] Step 503: Send instruction information to the terminal device.

[0119] It should be noted that, because the network device may indicate different forms of TCI status to the terminal device, the meaning of each information field may vary. Therefore, in the present disclosure, to ensure that the terminal device can accurately parse the indication information, the network device indicates the form of the indication information to the terminal device through the value of the first information field in the indication information. After generating the indication information, the network device sends the generated indication information to the terminal device.

[0120] In the present disclosure, a network device first determines a method for indicating the TCI status to a terminal device. Based on the method for indicating the TCI status to the terminal device, the network device then determines the value of the first information field in the indication information, and then sends the indication information to the terminal device. Thus, the network device indicates TCI status groups containing different numbers of TCI statuses to the terminal device through different indication information methods, thereby enabling the terminal device to simultaneously access multiple TRPs and meeting the requirements for joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0121] Please refer to Figure 6, which is a flowchart illustrating another method for determining the state of a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network device. As shown in Figure 6, the method may include, but is not limited to, the following steps:

[0122] Step 601: Determine a method for indicating the TCI status to the terminal device.

[0123] Step 602: Determine the value of the first information field in the indication information according to the method of indicating the TCI status, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI status.

[0124] The specific implementation of the above steps 601 and 602 can refer to the detailed description of any embodiment of the present disclosure and will not be repeated here.

[0125] Step 603: When the TCI status indication method is the second method, determine the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI status group in the indication information according to the number of TCI statuses included in each TCI status group.

[0126] 3a) and 3b), each indicator bit in the second information field is the bit where the characters "C_i", "R" and "E" in the indication information are located.

[0127] Optionally, the indication information indicates the TCI state in the second manner, and the value of the jth indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the identifier of the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group, wherein the identifier of the j-th TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the j-th indicator bit, j is a positive integer less than or equal to M, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, M is the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group, and N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information.

[0128] For example, when the value of the j-th indicator bit is the third value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; when the value of the j-th indicator bit is the fourth value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is not the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group.

[0129] Among them, the third value can be 0, and the fourth value can be 1; or, the third value can be 1, and the fourth value can be 0, and so on, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0130] The third information field is an information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier, such as the bits of each "TCI state ID_i_j" field shown in Figures 3a) and 3b).

[0131] Optionally, when the indication information indicates the TCI state in the second manner, the network device, upon determining that the number of TCI states included in the mth TCI state group is K, determines that the values ​​of the first K-1 indicator bits in the mth second information field in the indication information are the third value, and the values ​​of the Kth to L-1th second indicator bits are the fourth value, where L is the number of indicator bits included in each second information field. m is a natural number less than or equal to N.

[0132] Among them, the third value can be 0, and the fourth value can be 1; or the third value can be 1, and the fourth value can be 0, etc., which is not limited in this disclosure.

[0133] For example, the third value is 0, the fourth value is 1, and the second indication field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information includes 5 indication bits. Then, when the network device determines that the number of TCI states included in the first TCI state group is 4, it can be determined that the first and second information in the indication information, the values ​​of the first 3 indication bits are all the third value, and the value of the fourth indication bit is the fourth value. That is to say, the indication information can be as shown in Figure 3c.

[0134] In addition, the network device may determine the value of the bit corresponding to the "TCI state ID_i_j" field shown in FIG. 3 c according to the identifier of each TCI state included in each TCI state group.

[0135] Step 604: Send instruction information to the terminal device.

[0136] The specific implementation of step 604 can refer to the detailed description of any embodiment of the present disclosure and will not be repeated here.

[0137] In the present disclosure, the network device first determines the value of the first information field in the indication information based on the method of indicating the TCI state to the terminal device. Then, when it is determined that the method of indicating the TCI state to the terminal device is the second method, the network device determines the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with the indication information based on the number of TCI states contained in the TCI state group to be indicated to the terminal device, and then sends the indication information to the terminal device. As a result, the network device indicates TCI state groups containing different numbers of TCI states to the terminal device through indication information in different methods, thereby providing conditions for the terminal device to access more TRPs simultaneously and meeting the requirements of joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0138] Please refer to Figure 7, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication device 700 shown in Figure 7 may include a transceiver module 701 and a processing module 702. The transceiver module 701 may include a sending module and / or a receiving module. The sending module is used to implement a sending function, and the receiving module is used to implement a receiving function. The transceiver module 701 can implement the sending function and / or the receiving function.

[0139] It is understood that the communication device 700 may be a terminal device, or a device in a terminal device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with a terminal device. Alternatively, the communication device 700 may be a network device, or a device in a network device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with a network device.

[0140] Optionally, the communication device 700 is on the terminal device side, wherein:

[0141] A processing module 702 is configured to determine a value of a first information field in indication information sent by a network device, wherein the indication information is used to indicate a TCI state;

[0142] The processing module 702 is further configured to determine, based on the value of the first information field, a manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state;

[0143] The processing module 702 is further configured to determine an identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state.

[0144] Optionally, the processing module 702 is further configured to perform at least one of the following:

[0145] When the value of the first information field is the first value, determining that the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is the first manner;

[0146] When the value of the first information field is the second value, the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is determined to be the second manner, wherein the first manner is different from the second manner.

[0147] Optionally, the processing module 702 is further configured to:

[0148] When the indication information indicates the TCI state in the second manner, determining a value of each indication bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information;

[0149] According to the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group, the identifier of each TCI state in each TCI state group is obtained from the indication information.

[0150] Optionally, the value of the jth indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the identifier of the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group;

[0151] When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the third value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; when the value of the j-th indicator bit is the fourth value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is not the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group;

[0152] The identifier of the jth TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the j-th indication bit, j is a positive integer less than or equal to M, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, M is the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group, and N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, wherein the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

[0153] Optionally, the N is associated with the number of bits occupied by the TCI information field in the downlink control information DCI.

[0154] Optionally, when the indication information indicates the TCI state in the first manner, the value of the first indication bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the second TCI state in the i-th TCI state group exists, and wherein,

[0155] When the value of the first indicator bit is the fifth value, it indicates that the second TCI state does not exist in the i-th state group;

[0156] When the value of the first indicator bit is the sixth value, it indicates that the second TCI state exists in the i-th state group;

[0157] Among them, the identifier of the first TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the first indication bit, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

[0158] Optionally, the indication information is a media access control element MAC CE.

[0159] In the present disclosure, a terminal device first determines the value of the first information field in the received indication information, then determines the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state based on the value of the first information field, and then determines the identifier of the TCI state indicated in the indication information based on the determined manner. Thus, the terminal device can determine TCI state groups containing different numbers of TCI states through indication information of different indication manners, thereby providing conditions for the terminal device to simultaneously access more TRPs and meeting the requirements for joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0160] Alternatively, the communication device 700 is on the network device side, wherein:

[0161] Processing module 702, configured to determine a method for indicating a TCI status to a terminal device;

[0162] The processing module 702 is further configured to determine a value of a first information field in the indication information according to the method of indicating the TCI state, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI state;

[0163] The transceiver module 701 is used to send the indication information to the terminal device.

[0164] Optionally, the processing module 702 is further configured to perform at least one of the following:

[0165] When the manner of indicating the TCI state is the first manner, determining that the value of the first information field is the first value;

[0166] In a case where the manner of indicating the TCI status is the second manner, the value of the first information field is determined to be the second value, wherein the first manner is different from the second manner.

[0167] Optionally, the processing module 702 is also used to: when the method of indicating the TCI state is the second method, determine the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information according to the number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group.

[0168] Optionally, the value of the jth indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the identifier of the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group;

[0169] When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the third value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; when the value of the j-th indicator bit is the fourth value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is not the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group;

[0170] Among them, the identifier of the jth TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the j-th indication bit, j is a positive integer less than or equal to M, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, M is the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

[0171] Optionally, the N is associated with the number of bits occupied by the TCI information field in the downlink control information DCI.

[0172] Optionally, the processing module 701 is also used to determine, when the number of TCI states included in the mth TCI state group is K, that the values ​​of the first K-1 indicator bits in the mth second information field in the indication information are the third value, and the values ​​of the Kth to L-1th second indicator bits are the fourth value, where L is the number of indicator bits included in each second information field, and m is a natural number less than or equal to N.

[0173] Optionally, when the indication information indicates the TCI state in the first manner, the value of the first indication bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the second TCI state in the i-th TCI state group exists, and wherein,

[0174] When the value of the first indicator bit is the fifth value, it indicates that the second TCI state does not exist in the i-th state group;

[0175] When the value of the first indicator bit is the sixth value, it indicates that the second TCI state exists in the i-th state group;

[0176] Among them, the identifier of the first TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the first indication bit, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

[0177] Optionally, the indication information is a media access control element MAC CE.

[0178] In the present disclosure, a network device first determines a method for indicating the TCI status to a terminal device. Based on the method for indicating the TCI status to the terminal device, the network device then determines the value of the first information field in the indication information, and then sends the indication information to the terminal device. Thus, the network device indicates TCI status groups containing different numbers of TCI statuses to the terminal device through different indication information methods, thereby enabling the terminal device to simultaneously access multiple TRPs and meeting the requirements for joint transmission in a multi-TRP system.

[0179] Please refer to Figure 8, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. Communication device 800 can be a terminal device, or a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal device in implementing the above-mentioned method. Alternatively, communication device 800 can be a network device, or a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the network device in implementing the above-mentioned method. This device can be used to implement the method described in the above-mentioned method embodiment. For details, please refer to the description of the above-mentioned method embodiment.

[0180] The communication device 800 may include one or more processors 801. The processor 801 may be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor. For example, it may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit may be used to control the communication device (e.g., a base station, a baseband chip, a terminal device, a terminal device chip, a DU or CU, etc.), execute computer programs, and process computer program data.

[0181] Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include one or more memories 802, on which a computer program 804 may be stored. The processor 801 executes the computer program 804 to cause the communication device 800 to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. Optionally, the memory 802 may also store data. The communication device 800 and the memory 802 may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0182] Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a transceiver 805 and an antenna 806. The transceiver 805 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, or a transceiver circuit, etc., and is configured to implement transceiver functions. The transceiver 805 may include a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver may be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., and is configured to implement a receiving function; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., and is configured to implement a transmitting function.

[0183] Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include one or more interface circuits 807. The interface circuit 807 is configured to receive code instructions and transmit the code instructions to the processor 801. The processor 801 executes the code instructions to enable the communication device 800 to perform the method described in the above method embodiment.

[0184] The transceiver 805 in the communication device 800 may be used to execute the transceiver steps in the above figures, and the processor 801 may be used to execute the processing steps in the above figures.

[0185] In one implementation, processor 801 may include a transceiver for implementing receiving and transmitting functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit for implementing the receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing code / data, or may be used for transmitting or delivering signals.

[0186] In one implementation, processor 801 may store a computer program 803. Computer program 803, when executed on processor 801, enables communication device 800 to perform the method described in the above method embodiment. Computer program 803 may be embedded in processor 801, in which case processor 801 may be implemented by hardware.

[0187] In one implementation, the communication device 800 may include a circuit that can implement the functions of sending, receiving, or communicating in the aforementioned method embodiments. The processor and transceiver described in the present disclosure can be implemented on an integrated circuit (IC), an analog IC, a radio frequency integrated circuit RFIC, a mixed signal IC, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a printed circuit board (PCB), an electronic device, etc. The processor and transceiver can also be manufactured using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (nMetal-oxide-semiconductor, NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (bipolar junction transistor, BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0188] The communication device described in the above embodiments may be a network device or an intelligent relay, but the scope of the communication device described in this disclosure is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication device may not be limited to FIG8 . The communication device may be an independent device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be:

[0189] (1) An independent integrated circuit (IC), or chip, or chip system or subsystem;

[0190] (2) a collection of one or more ICs, optionally including a storage component for storing data and computer programs;

[0191] (3) ASIC, such as modem;

[0192] (4) Modules that can be embedded in other devices;

[0193] (5) Receivers, terminal devices, intelligent terminal devices, cellular phones, wireless devices, handheld devices, mobile units, vehicle-mounted devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, etc.;

[0194] (6)Others, etc.

[0195] If the communication device can be a chip or a chip system, please refer to the schematic diagram of the chip structure shown in Figure 9. The chip shown in Figure 9 includes a processor 901 and an interface 902. The number of processors 901 can be one or more, and the number of interfaces 902 can be multiple.

[0196] Regarding the case where the chip is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0197] Optionally, the chip further includes a memory 903, which is used to store necessary computer programs and data.

[0198] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps listed in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Whether such functionality is implemented by hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design requirements of the entire system. Those skilled in the art may use various methods to implement the described functionality for each specific application, but such implementation should not be construed as exceeding the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0199] The present disclosure also provides a readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0200] The present disclosure also provides a computer program product, which implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0201] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs. When the computer program is loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present disclosure are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0202] Those skilled in the art will understand that the various numerical numbers such as first and second involved in the present disclosure are only for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and also indicate the order of precedence.

[0203] The at least one in the present disclosure can also be described as one or more, and the multiple can be two, three, four or more, which is not limited in the present disclosure. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, for a technical feature, the technical features in the technical feature are distinguished by "first", "second", "third", "A", "B", "C" and "D", and there is no order of precedence or size between the technical features described by "first", "second", "third", "A", "B", "C" and "D".

[0204] The correspondences shown in the tables in the present disclosure may be coverage ranges or predefined. The values ​​of the information in the tables are merely examples and may cover other values, which are not limited by the present disclosure. When covering the correspondences between the coverage information and the parameters, it is not necessarily required that all the correspondences shown in the tables must be covered. For example, in the tables in the present disclosure, the correspondences shown in certain rows may not cover the range. For another example, appropriate deformation adjustments may be made based on the above tables, such as splitting, merging, etc. The names of the parameters shown in the titles of the above tables may also adopt other names that can be understood by the communication device, and the values ​​or representations of the parameters may also adopt other values ​​or representations that can be understood by the communication device. When implementing the above tables, other data structures may also be used, such as arrays, queues, containers, stacks, linear lists, pointers, linked lists, trees, graphs, structures, classes, heaps, hash tables or hash tables, etc.

[0205] The predefined in the present disclosure may be understood as defined, predefined, stored, pre-stored, pre-negotiated, pre-covered, solidified, or pre-fired.

[0206] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this disclosure.

[0207] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0208] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this disclosure should be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for determining a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, characterized in that: Executed by a terminal device, the method includes: Determining a value of a first information field in indication information sent by a network device, wherein the indication information is used to indicate a TCI state; Determining, according to a value of the first information field, a manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state; Determine the identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The determining, based on the value of the first information field, of the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state includes at least one of the following: When the value of the first information field is the first value, determining that the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is the first manner; When the value of the first information field is the second value, the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state is determined to be the second manner, and the second manner is different from the first manner.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The determining, according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state, an identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information includes: When the indication information indicates the TCI state in the second manner, determining a value of each indication bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information; According to the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group, the identifier of each TCI state in each TCI state group is obtained from the indication information.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein The value of the jth indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the identifier of the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group, and wherein, When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the third value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the fourth value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is not the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; Among them, the identifier of the jth TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the j-th indication bit, j is a positive integer less than or equal to M, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, M is the maximum number of TCI states contained in each of the TCI state groups, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The N is associated with the number of bits occupied by the TCI information field in the downlink control information DCI.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein When the indication information indicates the TCI state in the first manner, the value of the first indication bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the second TCI state in the i-th TCI state group exists, and wherein, When the value of the first indicator bit is the fifth value, it indicates that the second TCI state does not exist in the i-th state group; When the value of the first indicator bit is the sixth value, it indicates that the second TCI state exists in the i-th state group; Among them, the identifier of the first TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the first indication bit, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: The indication information is a media access control element MAC CE.

8. A method for determining a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, characterized in that: Executed by a network device, the method includes: Determine the method for indicating TCI status to terminal equipment; Determining, according to the method of indicating the TCI state, a value of a first information field in the indication information, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI state; Send the indication information to the terminal device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The determining, according to the method of indicating the TCI state, a value of the first information field in the indication information includes at least one of the following: When the manner of indicating the TCI state is the first manner, determining that the value of the first information field is the first value; In a case where the manner of indicating the TCI status is the second manner, the value of the first information field is determined to be a second value, and the second manner is different from the first manner.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein The method further comprises: When the method of indicating the TCI state is the second method, the value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information is determined according to the number of TCI states included in each TCI state group.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein The value of the jth indicator bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the identifier of the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group, and wherein, When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the third value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; When the value of the j-th indicator bit is the fourth value, it indicates that the j-th TCI state is not the last TCI state in the i-th TCI state group; The identifier of the jth TCI state in the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the j-th indication bit, where j is a positive integer less than or equal to M, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, M is the maximum number of TCI states contained in each TCI state group, and N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information. The third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein The N is associated with the number of bits occupied by the TCI information field in the downlink control information DCI.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein The determining, based on the number of TCI states included in each TCI state group, a value of each indicator bit in the second information field associated with each TCI state group in the indication information includes: When the number of TCI states included in the mth TCI state group is K, determine that the values ​​of the first K-1 indicator bits in the mth second information field in the indication information are the third value, and the values ​​of the Kth to L-1th second indicator bits are the fourth value, where L is the number of indicator bits included in each second information field, and m is a natural number less than or equal to N.

14. The method according to claim 8, wherein When the indication information indicates the TCI state in the first manner, the value of the first indication bit in the i-th second information field is used to indicate whether the second TCI state in the i-th TCI state group exists, and wherein, When the value of the first indicator bit is the fifth value, it indicates that the second TCI state does not exist in the i-th state group; When the value of the first indicator bit is the sixth value, it indicates that the second TCI state exists in the i-th state group; Among them, the identifier of the first TCI state of the i-th TCI state group is indicated by the third information field associated with the first indication bit, i is a natural number less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of TCI state groups that can be indicated by the indication information, and the third information field is the information field in the indication information used to indicate the TCI state identifier.

15. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 14, wherein: The indication information is a media access control element MAC CE.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: include: a processing module, configured to determine a value of a first information field in indication information sent by a network device, wherein the indication information is used to indicate a TCI state; The processing module is further configured to determine, based on a value of the first information field, a manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state; The processing module is further configured to determine an identifier of the TCI state indicated by the indication information according to the manner in which the indication information indicates the TCI state.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: include: a processing module, configured to determine a method for indicating the TCI status to the terminal device; The processing module is further configured to determine a value of a first information field in the indication information according to the method of indicating the TCI state, wherein the indication information is used to indicate the TCI state; A transceiver module is used to send the indication information to the terminal device.

18. A communication system, characterized in that: The communication system includes a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, and the network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15.

19. A communication device, characterized in that: The device includes a processor and a memory, wherein a computer program is stored in the memory, and the processor executes the computer program stored in the memory to enable the device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, or the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15.

20. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed, enables the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 to be implemented, or enables the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15 to be implemented.

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