Communication method and device

Abstract

The invention discloses a communication method and device. The method may be executed by a terminal device, the method specifically comprising: determining N channel quality indications, the N channel quality indications comprising channel quality indications corresponding to M beams, both M and N being integers greater than 1; and sending the N channel quality indications to a network device. In the embodiments of the present application, a terminal device can send channel quality indications of a plurality of beams to a network device at a time without separately sending channel quality indications of different beams, thereby reducing the transmission overhead of the channel quality indications.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus. Background Art

[0002] In multiple input and multiple output (MIMO), the same user equipment (UE) can be served by simulated beams, determine channel quality information by receiving reference signals from the simulated beams, and can send the channel quality information to the base station. According to the channel quality information fed back by the UE, the base station can select an appropriate downlink transmission mode for the UE.

[0003] Currently, the transmission overhead for the UE to send channel quality information to the base station is relatively large. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of this application provide a communication method and apparatus for reducing the transmission overhead of feedback channel state information.

[0005] In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a terminal device, and the method includes: determining N channel quality indicators, where the N channel quality indicators include channel quality indicators corresponding to M beams, and both M and N are integers greater than 1; sending the N channel quality indicators to a network device. Alternatively, the method includes: sending N channel quality indicators to a network device, where the N channel quality indicators include channel quality indicators corresponding to M beams, and both M and N are integers greater than 1.

[0006] In embodiments of this application, M is an integer greater than 1, that is, the terminal device can send channel quality indicators of multiple beams to the network device at one time, instead of sending channel quality indicators of different beams separately, thereby reducing the transmission overhead of the channel quality indicators. Moreover, embodiments of this application also reduce the interaction process between the terminal device and the network device, which is beneficial to reducing the power consumption of the terminal device and the network device.

[0007] In an optional implementation, the N channel quality indicators include first wideband channel quality indicators corresponding to K beams among the M beams, and the first wideband channel quality indicator of one beam is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on the full bandwidth corresponding to the channel state information report, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

[0008] In the embodiments of the present application, the N channel quality indications include first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams among the M beams, where K is a positive integer less than or equal to M. That is to say, the terminal device can report the first wideband channel quality indications of some or all of the M beams, so that the network device can know the wideband channel quality of some or all of the beams.

[0009] In an alternative embodiment, the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams include: L second wideband channel quality indications, where one of the L second wideband channel quality indications corresponds to one or more of the K beams, and L is an integer less than or equal to K; and / or, Q first change information, where one of the Q first change information indicates the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to one or more of the K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam, and Q is an integer less than or equal to K.

[0010] In the embodiments of the present application, the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams include L second wideband channel quality indications, and / or, Q first change information. That is to say, for the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams, the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication can be reported, rather than directly reporting the second wideband channel quality indication, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

[0011] In an alternative embodiment, one first change information indicates the difference between a second wideband channel quality indication and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam; or, one first change information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between a second wideband channel quality indication and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam.

[0012] In the embodiments of the present application, one first change information indicates a difference interval, and the number of difference intervals is less than the number of second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams. Compared with directly feeding back the second wideband channel quality indication, the number of bits required to feed back the difference interval is less, which can save overhead.

[0013] In an alternative embodiment, the method further includes: obtaining first information, where the first information is used to indicate a first number of bits, and the first number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams; or, obtaining first information, where the first information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to all or some of the K beams respectively.

[0014] In an embodiment of the present application, the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams may be the same first number of bits, or the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to all or some of the K beams respectively occupy at least one number of bits. The UE may obtain first information and determine the first number of bits or at least one number of bits according to the first information.

[0015] In an alternative embodiment, obtaining the first information includes: receiving the first information from the network device; or, obtaining the pre-configured or pre-defined first information.

[0016] In an alternative embodiment, sending the N channel quality indications to the network device includes: sending the indexes of the K beams and the N channel quality indications to the network device, where the index of one beam corresponds to one channel quality indication.

[0017] In an alternative embodiment, the N channel quality indications include first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to R beams among the M beams, where one first sub-band channel quality indication of one beam is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on one sub-band in the channel state information reporting bandwidth, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

[0018] In an embodiment of the present application, the N channel quality indications include first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to R beams among the M beams, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to M. That is to say, the terminal device may report the first sub-band channel quality indications of some or all of the M beams, so that the network device can know the sub-band channel quality of some or all of the beams.

[0019] In an alternative embodiment, the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams include: S second sub-band channel quality indications, where one second sub-band channel quality indication in the S second sub-band channel quality indications corresponds to one sub-band of one beam among the R beams; and / or P second change information, where one second change information indicates the change amount of the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication, where the reference channel quality indication is: the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam, or the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam, or the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the first beam, or the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the reference beam.

[0020] In an embodiment of the present application, the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to R beams includes S second sub-band channel quality indications, and / or P second variation information. That is to say, for the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to R beams, the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication can be reported, rather than directly reporting the second sub-band channel quality indication, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

[0021] In an alternative embodiment, one second variation information indicates the difference between one second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication; or, one second variation information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between one second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication.

[0022] In an embodiment of the present application, similar to the foregoing, one second variation information indicating a difference interval can save overhead.

[0023] In an alternative embodiment, the reference beam satisfies one or more of the following: the reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam index among the M beams; the reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam reception power among the M beams; the reference beam is the first beam for which the terminal device feeds back the channel quality indication to the network device among the M beams; or, the reference beam is the beam configured or indicated by the network device.

[0024] In an alternative embodiment, the reference sub-band satisfies one or more of the following: the reference sub-band is the sub-band configured or indicated by the network device; or, the reference sub-band is the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to the second beam, and the second beam is the first beam or the reference beam.

[0025] In an alternative embodiment, the method further includes: obtaining second information, where the second information is used to indicate a second number of bits, and the second number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to each of the R beams; or, obtaining second information, where the second information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by all or part of the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to all or part of the R beams, respectively.

[0026] In an embodiment of the present application, similar to the foregoing, the number of bits occupied by each first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams may be the same or different, and the first information can indicate the first number of bits or at least one number of bits.

[0027] In an alternative embodiment, obtaining the second information includes: receiving the second information from the network device; or, obtaining the pre-configured or pre-defined second information.

[0028] In an alternative embodiment, sending the N channel quality indications to the network device includes: sending the indices of the R beams and the N channel quality indications to the network device, where the index of one beam corresponds to one or more channel quality indications.

[0029] In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device. The method specifically includes: receiving N channel quality indications, where the N channel quality indications include the channel quality indications corresponding to M beams, and both M and N are integers greater than 1. Determining the channel quality of the M beams according to the N channel quality indications.

[0030] In an alternative embodiment, the N channel quality indications include the first broadband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams among the M beams, where the first broadband channel quality indication of one beam is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on the full bandwidth corresponding to the channel state information report, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

[0031] In an alternative embodiment, the first broadband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams include: L second broadband channel quality indications, where one of the L second broadband channel quality indications corresponds to one or more beams among the K beams, and L is an integer less than or equal to K; and / or, Q first variation information, where one of the Q first variation information indicates the variation amount of the second broadband channel quality indication corresponding to one or more beams among the K beams relative to the second broadband channel quality indication of a reference beam, and Q is an integer less than or equal to K.

[0032] In an alternative embodiment, one first variation information indicates the difference between a second broadband channel quality indication and the second broadband channel quality indication of the reference beam; or, one first variation information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between a second broadband channel quality indication and the second broadband channel quality indication of the reference beam.

[0033] In an alternative embodiment, the method further includes: sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate a first number of bits, and the first number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams. Or, sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to all or some of the K beams respectively.

[0034] In an alternative embodiment, receiving N channel quality indications includes: sending the indexes of the K beams and the N channel quality indications to the network device, where the index of one beam corresponds to one channel quality indication.

[0035] In an alternative embodiment, the N channel quality indications include first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to R beams among the M beams, and one first sub-band channel quality indication of one beam is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on one sub-band in the channel state information reporting bandwidth, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

[0036] In an alternative embodiment, the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams include: S second sub-band channel quality indications, where one second sub-band channel quality indication in the S second sub-band channel quality indications corresponds to one sub-band of one beam among the R beams; and / or, P second change information, where one second change information indicates the change amount of one second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication, where the reference channel quality indication is: the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam, or, the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam, or, the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the first beam, or, the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the reference beam.

[0037] In an alternative embodiment, one second change information indicates the difference between one second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication; or, one second change information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between one second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication.

[0038] In an alternative embodiment, the reference beam satisfies one or more of the following: the reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam index among the M beams; the reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam reception power among the M beams; the reference beam is the first beam among the M beams for which the terminal device feeds back the channel quality indication to the network device; or, the reference beam is the beam configured or indicated by the network device.

[0039] In an alternative embodiment, the reference sub-band satisfies one or more of the following: the reference sub-band is the sub-band configured or indicated by the network device; or, the reference sub-band is the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to the second beam, where the second beam is the first beam or the reference beam.

[0040] In an alternative embodiment, the method further includes: sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate a second number of bits, and the second number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to each of the R beams; or, sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by all or part of the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to all or part of the R beams, respectively.

[0041] In an alternative embodiment, receiving N channel quality indications includes: receiving the indexes of the R beams and the N channel quality indications, where the index of one beam corresponds to one or more channel quality indications.

[0042] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the terminal device in the first aspect or the second aspect above. The terminal device is, for example, a terminal equipment, or the terminal device may be included in the terminal equipment. For example, the terminal device is a chip system (or, chip) or other functional module provided in the terminal equipment. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can implement the sending function and the receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be referred to as a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module), and when the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be referred to as a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit may be the same functional module, and this functional module is called the transceiver unit, and this functional module can implement the sending function and the receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit may be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

[0043] In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the transmitting unit) is configured to send N channel quality indications to a network device, where the N channel quality indications include the channel quality indications corresponding to M beams.

[0044] In an alternative embodiment, the communication device further includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module). The processing unit is coupled to the storage unit and executes the programs or instructions in the storage unit to enable the communication device to perform the functions of the terminal device described in the first aspect or the second aspect above.

[0045] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the network device described in the first aspect or the second aspect above. The network device is, for example, a network equipment, or the network device may be included in the network equipment. For example, the network device is a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules provided in the network equipment. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). For the implementation of the transceiver unit, reference may be made to the description in the third aspect.

[0046] In an alternative embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is configured to receive N channel quality indications, where the N channel quality indications include the channel quality indications corresponding to M beams.

[0047] In an alternative embodiment, the communication device further includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module). The processing unit is coupled to the storage unit and executes the programs or instructions in the storage unit to enable the communication device to perform the functions of the network device described in the first aspect or the second aspect above.

[0048] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a terminal device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor. Optionally, it further includes a memory. The memory is used to store computer programs. The processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer programs or instructions, the communication device is enabled to execute the methods performed by the terminal device in the above aspects.

[0049] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a network device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor. Optionally, it further includes a memory. The memory is used to store computer programs. The processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer programs or instructions, the communication device is enabled to execute the methods performed by the network device in the above aspects.

[0050] In a seventh aspect, a communication system is provided, including a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device is configured to execute the methods performed by the terminal device described in the above aspects, and the network device is configured to execute the methods performed by the network device described in the above aspects. For example, the terminal device may be implemented by the communication device described in the third aspect or the fifth aspect; the network device may be implemented by the communication device described in the fourth aspect or the sixth aspect.

[0051] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which is used to store a computer program or instructions.

[0052] When it runs, the methods performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above aspects are implemented.

[0053] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided. When it runs on a computer, the methods described in the above aspects are implemented.

[0054] In a tenth aspect, a chip system is provided, including a processor and an interface. The processor is configured to call and run instructions from the interface so that the chip system implements the methods in the above aspects. Description of the Drawings

[0055] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of another device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed Embodiments

[0059] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0060] In the embodiments of the present application, for the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, it means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "a plurality of" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one of the following" or its similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b, and c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0061] In the embodiments of the present application, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, time sequence, priority, or importance of multiple objects. For example, the first terminal device and the second terminal device can be the same terminal device or different terminal devices, and such names do not indicate differences in the structure, priority, or importance of these two terminal devices. In addition, for the numbering of steps in each embodiment described in the present application, it is only used to distinguish different steps and does not limit the sequence of steps. For example, S201 can occur before S202, or may occur after S202, or may also occur simultaneously with S202.

[0062] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver functions, which may be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (such as a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device (such as a communication module, a modem, or a chip system, etc.) built into the above devices. The terminal device is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as including but not limited to the following scenarios: sensing scenarios, cellular communications, device-to-device (D2D) communications, vehicle-to-everything (V2X), machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart city, drones, robots, indoor commercial scenarios (such as mobile phone screen mirroring, file sharing, and video transmission from a mobile phone to a VR headset), etc. When the terminal device is applied to V2X, it can also be referred to as a V2X device. For example, a smart car (smart car or intelligent car), a digital car, an unmanned car (unmanned car or driverless car or pilotless car or automobile), a self-driving car (self-driving car or autonomous car), a pure electric vehicle (pure EV or Battery EV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a range extended EV (REEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), a new energy vehicle, a road site unit (RSU). The terminal device can also be a device in D2D communications, such as an electricity meter, a water meter, etc.

[0063] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an IoT system. IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection.

[0064] Among the various terminal devices introduced above, if they are located on a vehicle (such as placed inside or installed inside the vehicle), they can all be considered in-vehicle terminal devices. In-vehicle terminal devices are also referred to as on-board units (OBUs) for example. The terminal device of the present application may also be an in-vehicle module, in-vehicle component, in-vehicle chip, or in-vehicle unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units. The vehicle can implement the method of the present application through the built-in in-vehicle module, in-vehicle component, in-vehicle chip, or in-vehicle unit.

[0065] The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a terminal, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user device, etc.

[0066] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device may be the terminal device or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement such functions, such as a chip system. This device may be installed in the terminal device. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device for implementing the functions of the terminal device as the terminal device as an example. Additionally, for the convenience of description, the terminal device is described as a UE in the embodiments of the present application.

[0067] The network device in the embodiments of this application includes, for example, an access network device and / or a core network device. The access network device is a device with wireless transceiver functions and is used to communicate with the terminal device. The access network device includes, but is not limited to, a base station (base transceiver station (BTS), Node B, evolved Node B (eNodeB) / eNB, or next generation Node B (gNodeB) / gNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a base station evolved by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) in the future, an access node in a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, etc. The base station can be: a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a small station, a relay station, etc. Multiple base stations can support a network of the same access technology or networks of different access technologies. The base station can include one or more co-located or non-co-located transmission and reception points. The access network device can also be a radio controller, a centralized unit (CU), and / or a distributed unit (DU) in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. The access network device can also be a server, etc. For example, the network device in V2X technology can be a road side unit (RSU). The following takes the base station as an example to illustrate the access network device. The base station can communicate with the terminal device or communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. The terminal device can communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies. The core network device is used to implement functions such as mobility management, data processing, session management, policy, and charging. The names of the devices that implement core network functions in systems of different access technologies can be different, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this. Taking the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication technology system as an example, the core network device includes: an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), or a user plane function (UPF), etc.

[0068] In the CU-DU architecture, the access network device may include one or more of logical network elements such as a central unit (CU), a distributed unit

[0069] (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and the DU may be separately provided, or may also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as being included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0070] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, the CU may also be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), the DU may also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP may also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP may also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU may also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, in the embodiments of the present application, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU are used as examples for description. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0071] Optionally, in each embodiment of the present application, if the access network device is of a distributed architecture, for example, the access network device includes a CU and a DU, or includes a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, then when the access network device sends information to the UE, specifically, it may be the DU included in the access network device that sends information to the UE; when the access network device receives information from the UE, specifically, it may be the DU included in the access network device that receives information from the UE.

[0072] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device may be the network device, or may also be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement such functions, such as a chip system, and this device may be installed in the network device. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the case where the device for implementing the functions of the network device is the network device is used as an example to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0073] The following explains some terms or concepts in the embodiments of the present application to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0074] A beam, for example, can be replaced by a spatial domain filter, a spatial filter, a spatial domain parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial domain setting, a spatial setting, quasi - colocation (QCL) information, a QCL hypothesis, or a QCL indication, etc. The beam can be indicated by a transmission configuration indication state (TCI - state) parameter or by a spatial relation parameter. Therefore, in the embodiments of the present application, "beam" can also be replaced by TCI - state or spatial relation, etc. Among them, the TCI - state can include a downlink (DL) TCI - state and / or an uplink (UL) TCI - state. Or, the beam can also be replaced by other terms that can represent a beam, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Among the various terms used to replace "beam", they can also be equivalent to each other.

[0075] The beam used to transmit a signal can be called a transmission beam (Tx beam). The transmission beam can refer to the distribution of the signal intensity formed in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna. Among them, the transmission beam can also be called a spatial domain transmission filter, a spatial transmission filter, a spatial domain transmission parameter, a spatial transmission parameter, a spatial domain transmission setting, or a spatial transmission setting. Among them, the downlink transmission beam can be indicated by the TCI - state.

[0076] The beam for receiving signals can be referred to as a reception beam (Rx beam). The reception beam can refer to the signal strength distribution of the wireless signals received from the antenna in different directions in space. Among them, the reception beam can also be referred to as a spatial domain reception filter, a spatial reception filter, a spatial domain reception parameter, a spatial reception parameter, a spatial domain reception setting, or a spatial reception setting. The uplink transmission beam can be indicated by the spatial relationship, the uplink TCI-state, or the sounding reference signal (SRS) resource. Therefore, the uplink beam can also be replaced by the SRS resource.

[0077] In addition, the beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other types of beams. The technology for forming the beam can be beamforming technology or other technologies. Beamforming technologies include digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology, etc.

[0078] The beam generally corresponds to a resource, which includes, for example, the time domain resource and / or the frequency domain resource occupied by the signal transmitted through the beam. For example, when performing beam measurement, the network device measures different beams through different resources (such as reference signal resources), and the UE feeds back the measured channel quality information to the network device, so that the network device can determine the channel quality of the corresponding beam. The beam information used in data transmission can also be indicated by the resource corresponding to the beam. For example, the network device indicates the beam information for transmitting the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) through the TCI field in the downlink control information (DCI).

[0079] Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be regarded as one beam. One beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting one or more of a data channel, a control channel, or a reference signal. The one or more antenna ports forming one beam can also be regarded as an antenna port set.

[0080] In the embodiments of the present application, if not otherwise specified, a beam may refer to a transmission beam of a network device. In beam measurement, each transmission beam of the network device may correspond to a resource, so the beam corresponding to the resource can also be uniquely indicated by the index of the resource.

[0081] The foregoing resource may include an uplink resource and / or a downlink resource. The uplink resource can be used to transmit uplink signals, and the downlink resource can be used to transmit downlink signals. The uplink signals include, for example, SRS and / or demodulation reference signal (DMRS). The downlink signals include, for example, one or more of the following: channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), cell specific reference signal (CS-RS), user equipment specific reference signal (US-RS), DMRS, or synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block). Among them, SS / PBCH block can be abbreviated as synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0082] In MIMO, the same UE can be served by analog beams, determine the channel quality information by receiving reference signals from the analog beams, and can send the channel quality information to the base station. Based on the channel quality information fed back by the UE, the base station can select an appropriate downlink transmission mode for the UE. The channel quality information sent by the UE includes, for example, channel state information (CSI), and the base station can select an appropriate downlink transmission mode for the UE according to the CSI. For example, the base station can select an appropriate modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for the UE to reduce the block error rate (BLER) of downlink data transmission. The CSI may include one or more of a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a CSI reference signal resource indicator (CRI), an SSB resource indicator (SS / PBCH block resource indicator, SSBRI), a layer indicator (LI), a rank indicator (RI), or a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP).

[0083] Generally, the CSI is measured by the UE according to the downlink channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) from the network device. The UE reports one or more CSI parameters such as CQI, PMI, LI, CRI, RI, LI, L1-RSRP, or SSBRI according to the report quantity configured by the network device.

[0084] Currently, the value range of CQI is 0 to 15, and 4 bits can be used to represent these 16 values. Each of these values corresponds to a modulation mode, code rate, and efficiency. There are four CQI tables provided in the protocol. The network device indicates which CQI table the UE should use to determine the CQI through the high-layer parameter cqi-Table in the CSI report configuration (CSI-ReportConfig). The cqi-Table can indicate table1, table2, table3, or table4. Among them, when the cqi-Table indicates 'table1', 'table2', or 'table4', the UE can determine the CQI according to the criterion that the block error rate is less than or equal to 0.1. This method is more suitable for enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services; or when the cqi-Table indicates 'table3', the UE can determine the CQI according to the criterion that the block error rate is less than or equal to 0.00001. This method is more suitable for ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) services.

[0085] For example, referring to Table 1, it is table1 as described above.

[0086] Table 1

[0087]

[0088]

[0089] In Table 1, the first column is the CQI index, and the UE can send this index to the network device. The second column is the modulation mode. The modulation mode determines the modulation order, and the modulation mode indicates the number of bits transmitted per modulation symbol. For example, the modulation order corresponding to QPSK is 2, the modulation order corresponding to 16QAM is 4, the modulation order corresponding to 64QAM is 6, the modulation order corresponding to 256QAM is 8, and the modulation order corresponding to 1024QAM is 10. The better the channel quality, the higher-order modulation mode can be adopted to improve the coding efficiency; if the channel quality is poor, a lower-order modulation mode can be adopted. The third column is the code rate, which is the ratio of the number of information bits to the total number of bits. The fourth column is the efficiency, which is the ratio of the number of information bits to the total number of modulation symbols.

[0090] The CQI sent by the UE to the network device can be wideband CQI or sub-band CQI. For example, the network device indicates to the UE to report wideband CQI or sub-band CQI through the high-layer parameter CQI format indicator (cqi-FormatIndicator) in CSI-ReportConfig. If the network device indicates to report wideband CQI, the UE reports a wideband CQI for the entire CSI bandwidth. Or, if the network device indicates to report sub-band CQI, the UE reports a sub-band CQI for some sub-bands of the entire CSI bandwidth respectively. Which sub-bands' CQIs to report specifically can be determined by the high-layer parameter CQI reporting band (csi-ReportingBand) in CSI-ReportConfig. For example, the number of sub-bands included in the entire CSI bandwidth is 3, and csi-ReportingBand occupies 3 bits, and these 3 bits can correspond one by one to the 3 sub-bands. For example, if these 3 bits are "101", it means to report the sub-band CQI of the first sub-band and the sub-band CQI of the third sub-band.

[0091] Generally, wideband CQI is sent using 4 bits, while sub-band CQI is sent using 2 bits. Among them, when sending sub-band CQI, specifically, it can be the difference between the sub-band CQI and the wideband CQI. For example, the sub-band CQI can satisfy the following relationship:

[0092] Sub-band Offset level(s)=sub-band CQI index(s)-wideband CQI index (Formula 1)

[0093] In Formula 1, the network device can determine the sub-band offset level (Sub-band Offset level(s)) based on the UE's reported information. In addition, the UE also reports the wideband CQI index, so the network device can determine the sub-band CQI index according to Formula 1. For example, referring to Table 2, it is the value of Sub-band Offset level(s).

[0094] Table 2

[0095]

[0096] The offset level in Table 2 is the Sub-band Offset level(s) in Formula 1. For example, the UE can send a certain value in the first column of Table 2 to the network device, and the network device can determine the corresponding Sub-band Offset level(s) according to Table 2, and thus can determine the sub-band CQI index according to Formula 1.

[0097] R17 introduces the reporting of subband CQI with 4 bits, that is, reporting the index in the CQI table. If the high-layer parameter cqi-BitsPerSubband-r17 is configured, the network device can report subband CQI with 4 bits.

[0098] As can be seen from the foregoing, the UE can send one or more CSI parameters such as CQI, PMI, LI, CRI, RI, LI, L1-RSRP, or SSBRI to the network device according to the reportQuantity configured by the network device. Currently, the transmission overhead of the terminal device for sending CSI parameters is relatively large.

[0099] In view of this, the UE in the embodiments of the present application can send the channel quality indication of multiple beams to the network device at one time, instead of sending the channel quality indications of different beams separately, thereby reducing the transmission overhead of the channel quality indication. Moreover, the embodiments of the present application also reduce the interaction process between the UE and the network device, which is beneficial to reducing the power consumption of the UE and the network device.

[0100] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the fourth-generation mobile communication technology (the 4th generation, 4G) system, such as the long-term evolution (LTE) system, or can be applied to the 5G system, such as the new radio (NR) system. Or the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to the sidelink (SL) system in 4G or the SL system in 5G, or can also be applied to the next-generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, such as the sixth-generation mobile communication technology (the 6th generation, 6G) system, or the SL system in 6G, etc., without specific limitation. For example, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the D2D scenario, such as the NR-D2D scenario, etc., or can be applied to the V2X scenario, such as the NR-V2X scenario, etc. For example, it can be used in fields such as intelligent driving, assisted driving, or intelligent connected vehicles, or can also be applied to scenarios such as factory manufacturing.

[0101] Reference can be made to Figure 1 , which is a communication network architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application. Figure 1It includes UE1, UE2, UE3 and a network device. Among them, the network device can provide services for UE1, UE2, and UE3 through multiple beams, including beam 0 and beam 1. For example, at time 1, UE1 and UE2 have services to be transmitted. The network device can schedule beam 0 to transmit data for UE1 and UE2. At time 2, UE2 and UE3 have services to be transmitted. The network device can schedule beam 1 to provide services for UE2 and UE3. It can be seen that both beam 0 and beam 1 can serve UE2. When the network device schedules beam 0 and beam 1 to provide services for UE2, it needs to obtain the channel quality information of UE2 under beam 0 and beam 1 in order to perform real-time scheduling.

[0102] The method provided by the embodiments of this application can be applied to Figure 1 the communication network architecture shown. For example, the network device involved later can be Figure 1 the network device in; the UE involved later can be Figure 1 any one of the UEs in.

[0103] The embodiments of this application provide a communication method. Please refer to Figure 2 for the flowchart of this method.

[0104] S201. The network device sends first configuration information to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the first configuration information from the network device.

[0105] The first configuration information can be used to configure reference signal resources for the UE. For example, the first configuration information can be configured as one or more of the following: the time domain resources for sending reference signals, the frequency domain resources for sending reference signals, the period of the reference signals, the information that the reference signals are non-periodic signals, the information that the reference signals are semi-persistent signals, or the resource mapping method of the reference signals. The reference signals include, for example, one or more of CSI-RS, CS-RS, US-RS, DMRS, or SSB. Optionally, the reference signal resources are used for the measurement of multi-beam channel quality.

[0106] The first configuration information is included in high-layer signaling, for example. The high-layer signaling is, for example, radio resource control (RRC) signaling or medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), etc., and is not limited thereto.

[0107] Alternatively, the reference signal resources can also be pre-defined by a protocol or pre-configured in the UE instead of being configured by the network device. Then, step S201 does not have to be executed. Therefore, S201 is an optional step.

[0108] S202. The UE sends capability information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information.

[0109] For example, the capability information may indicate whether the UE supports reporting channel quality information of multiple beams. Optionally, if the capability information indicates that the UE supports reporting channel quality information of multiple beams, the capability information may further indicate the maximum number of resources and / or the maximum number of beams that the UE supports when reporting channel quality information of multiple beams, where the resources and the beams may correspond one by one.

[0110] Alternatively, the capability information may also indicate the maximum number of resources and / or the maximum number of beams that the UE supports when reporting channel quality information of multiple beams. By this number, it can implicitly indicate whether the UE supports reporting channel quality information of multiple beams, so the capability information does not have to explicitly indicate whether the UE supports reporting channel quality information of multiple beams. For example, if the maximum number of beams that the UE supports when reporting channel quality information of multiple beams is 1, it indicates that the UE does not support reporting channel quality information of multiple beams; for another example, if the maximum number of beams that the UE supports when reporting channel quality information of multiple beams is 4, it indicates that the UE supports reporting channel quality information of multiple beams.

[0111] Alternatively, the network device can also determine the capability information in other ways. For example, the network device can obtain the capability information through the registration information of the UE, etc. Alternatively, the network device does not have to know the capability information of the UE, but defaults that the UE can support reporting channel quality information of multiple beams. Therefore, S202 is an optional step.

[0112] In the embodiments of this application, since the terms of resources, reference signals, beams, transmit beams, receive beams, CSI-RS, and SSB can be replaced with each other, the channel quality information of multiple beams can also be referred to as the channel quality information of multiple resources, or the channel quality information of multiple reference signals.

[0113] S203. The network device sends second configuration information to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the second configuration information.

[0114] The second configuration information can be used to configure whether to report channel quality information of multiple beams. Optionally, if the second configuration information configures reporting channel quality information of multiple beams, the second configuration information can also configure the number of resources and / or the number of beams for which channel quality information of multiple beams needs to be reported. Among them, the number of resources and / or the number of beams for which channel quality information of multiple beams needs to be reported can be predefined by the protocol, or a default value, or determined according to the capability information of the UE.

[0115] Alternatively, the second configuration information may configure the number of resources and / or the number of beams for which multi-beam channel quality information needs to be reported. Whether to report the multi-beam channel quality information can be implicitly indicated by this number, so the second configuration information does not need to explicitly indicate whether to report the multi-beam channel quality information. For example, if the number of beams for which multi-beam channel quality information needs to be reported is 1, it indicates that the multi-beam channel quality information is not reported; for another example, if the number of beams for which multi-beam channel quality information needs to be reported is 2, it indicates that the multi-beam channel quality information is reported.

[0116] Alternatively, the network device may not need to configure it either. The UE may default to reporting the multi-beam channel quality information, or the UE may actively report the multi-beam channel quality information when its capabilities permit. Therefore, S203 is an optional step.

[0117] S204. The network device sends a reference signal. Correspondingly, the UE receives the reference signal.

[0118] Optionally, the network device sends the reference signal through the reference signal resources configured in S201. For example, the network device may send the reference signal through multiple beams. As another implementation, the network device may send multiple reference signals through multiple beams, and the multiple reference signals sent correspond to the multiple beams one by one. For the introduction of this reference signal, reference can be made to S201.

[0119] S205. The UE sends N channel quality indicators to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the N channel quality indicators.

[0120] The UE may receive the reference signal through the receiving beams corresponding to the multiple transmitting beams of the network device. The UE may measure some or all of the received reference signals. For example, the reference signals measured by the UE are sent through the multiple beams of the network device, and the UE may obtain the measurement results corresponding to the multiple beams. The UE reports the channel quality indicators corresponding to M beams among the multiple beams. Optionally, the M beams may be the number of resources and / or the number of beams for which multi-beam channel quality information needs to be reported configured by the second configuration information. For example, the channel quality information of the M beams corresponds to N channel quality indicators, and the UE may send the N channel quality indicators to the network device. Among them, the M beams are part or all of the multiple beams, and M is an integer greater than 1. In addition, N is an integer greater than 1.

[0121] In the embodiments of the present application, the channel quality indicator is, for example, CSI, or one or more parameters included in CSI. For the parameters included in CSI, reference can be made to the previous introduction. For example, the channel quality indicator is CQI, or CQI and PMI, etc., and this is not limited. In the following introduction, it is mainly taken as an example that the channel quality indicator is CQI.

[0122] The N channel quality indications can have different implementation manners. For example, the N channel quality indications can include a first wideband channel quality indication and / or a first subband channel quality indication. The first wideband channel quality indication of a beam can indicate the channel quality of the beam on the full bandwidth corresponding to the CSI, and the first subband channel quality indication of a beam can indicate the channel quality of the beam on a certain subband in the full bandwidth corresponding to the CSI. Optionally, the UE can determine the implementation manner of the N channel quality indications according to the configuration of the network device. For example, the network device can configure the UE to report the first wideband channel quality indication and / or the first subband channel quality indication; or, the UE can determine the implementation manner of the N channel quality indications by itself. The following gives examples to introduce various implementation manners of the N channel quality indications.

[0123] 1. Implementation manner A: The N channel quality indications include the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams among M beams, where K is an integer less than or equal to M. That is, in implementation manner A, the UE can report the first wideband channel quality indication for K beams.

[0124] In implementation manner A, the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams can have multiple implementation manners.

[0125] (1) As an optional implementation manner of the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams, the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams include L second wideband channel quality indications, or include the values of L second wideband channel quality indications, where L is an integer less than or equal to K. Among them, one of the L second wideband channel quality indications can correspond to one or more of the K beams.

[0126] A second wideband channel quality indication reported by the UE may be an index of the wideband channel quality indication. Optionally, L may be equal to K, and the L second wideband channel quality indications correspond one-to-one with the K beams. This is equivalent to the UE reporting the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams, making the reported information more complete and accurate. Among them, the UE may send the indexes of the K beams and the K second wideband channel quality indications to the network device. For example, the indexes of the K beams correspond one-to-one with the K second wideband channel quality indications, enabling the network device to clearly understand the relationship between the beams and the channel quality indications. It should be understood that in the embodiments of this application, the beam index may be replaced by a resource index, a reference signal index, a CRI (CSI-RS resource indicator), an SSB index, etc. That is to say, the indexes of the K beams correspond one-to-one with the K second wideband channel quality indications, and may also be that the K resource indexes or the K reference signal indexes or the K CRIs or the K SSB indexes correspond one-to-one with the K second wideband channel quality indications.

[0127] Optionally, the UE sends K second wideband channel quality indications to the network device. One sending method is that the UE sends the indexes of the K second wideband channel quality indications to the network device. Taking the channel quality indication as CQI as an example, optionally, the network device may configure a CQI table for the UE. For any one of the K beams, the UE can determine the index of the wideband CQI of the beam according to the CQI table. Or, the network device may configure multiple CQI tables for the UE. For example, CQI tables are respectively configured for each or multiple of the K beams. Then, for one of the K beams, the UE can determine the index of the wideband CQI of the beam according to the CQI table corresponding to the beam.

[0128] Optionally, the UE may send the indexes of the K second wideband channel quality indications and the indexes of the K beams to the network device.

[0129] For example, referring to Table 3, it shows the indexes of the L second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the first wideband channel quality indications of the K beams and the indexes of the K beams, where L = K. Table 3 takes L = K = 4 as an example and takes the channel quality indication as CQI as an example. wbCQI1 to wbCQI4 respectively represent the indexes of the second wideband CQIs corresponding to beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4.

[0130] Table 3

[0131] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 wbCQI1 wbCQI2 wbCQI3 wbCQI4

[0132] In the above solution, L is equal to K. In addition, L can also be less than K. Then, a second wideband channel quality indication can correspond to multiple beams, that is, multiple beams report one second wideband channel quality indication. For example, the UE can report one second wideband channel quality indication for some or all of the K beams (for example, including multiple beams). Then, for these multiple beams, only this second wideband channel quality indication needs to be reported, which helps to save signaling overhead.

[0133] The UE reports one second wideband channel quality indication for multiple beams. For example, one reporting method includes that the UE can determine multiple second wideband channel quality indications respectively corresponding to these multiple beams, and determine one second wideband channel quality indication among these multiple second wideband channel quality indications for reporting. The reported one second wideband channel quality indication corresponds to multiple beams. For example, the UE determines multiple second wideband channel quality indications respectively corresponding to these multiple beams, and selects the minimum value among the multiple second wideband channel quality indications for reporting, so that each beam can meet the demodulation performance when the network device performs scheduling according to the reported information. For example, the second wideband channel quality indication wbCQI1 of beam 1 = 10, the second wideband channel quality indication wbCQI2 of beam 2 = 12, and the second wideband channel quality indication wbCQI1 of beam 3 = 13. Then, when reporting one second wideband channel quality for beam 1, beam 2, and beam 3, the minimum value wbCQI1 = 10 can be selected for reporting.

[0134] Alternatively, the UE reports one second wideband channel quality indication for multiple beams. For example, another determination method includes that the UE can determine one second wideband channel quality indication by combining the channel measurement information of multiple beams. For example, the terminal receives reference signals sent by multiple beams, performs joint estimation on the received multiple reference signals, and determines one second wideband channel quality indication for reporting.

[0135] Among them, the UE can send the indexes of K beams and L second wideband channel quality indications to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beams and the channel quality indications.

[0136] Optionally, when the UE sends L second wideband channel quality indications to the network device, one sending method is that the UE sends the indexes of the L second wideband channel quality indications to the network device.

[0137] For example, referring to Table 4, it shows the indexes of the L second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the first wideband channel quality indications of K beams and the indexes of K beams. Table 4 takes K = 4, L = 1 as an example, and takes the channel quality indication as CQI. In Table 4, wbCQI1 represents the index of the CQI uniformly corresponding to these 4 beams.

[0138] Table 4

[0139]

[0140] For another example, referring to Table 5, it shows the indexes of the L second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the first wideband channel quality indication for K beams and the indexes of the K beams. Table 4 takes K = 4 and L = 2 as an example, and takes the channel quality indication as CQI. In Table 4, wbCQI1 represents the index of the second wideband CQI corresponding to beam 1 and beam 2, and wbCQI2 represents the index of the second wideband CQI corresponding to beam 3 and beam 4.

[0141] Table 5

[0142]

[0143] Among them, when the UE reports the L second wideband channel quality indications, the number of bits occupied by different second wideband channel quality indications among the L second wideband channel quality indications can be the same or different. For example, the UE can obtain the first piece of information, and the first piece of information can indicate the number of bits occupied by the L second wideband channel quality indications. Among them, the first piece of information can be predefined by the protocol, or preconfigured in the network device and the UE, or configured by the network device, or determined by the UE. Among them, if the first piece of information is determined by the UE, the UE can report the first piece of information to the network device in advance, or the UE can also send the first piece of information to the network device when reporting the L second wideband channel quality indications. For example, the UE can place the L second wideband channel quality indications and the first piece of information in a single signaling and send it to the network device. Optionally, the first piece of information can be placed before the L second wideband channel quality indications so that the network device can determine the number of bits occupied by the L second wideband channel quality indications in a timely manner.

[0144] For example, the number of bits occupied by different second wideband channel quality indications among the L second wideband channel quality indications is the same, for example, all are the first number of bits, and the first number of bits is represented by Y, and Y is a positive integer. In this case, the first piece of information only needs to indicate the first number of bits, and the first number of bits can be used as the number of bits occupied by any one of the second wideband channel quality indications in the second wideband channel quality indications. Y can be related to the value of the second wideband channel quality indication. For example, if there are X possible values for the second wideband channel quality indication, then Y can be equal to Among them represents the ceiling of X.

[0145] If the number of bits occupied by different second wideband channel quality indications among the L second wideband channel quality indications is different, the first information may indicate at least one number of bits, where the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each of the L second wideband channel quality indications respectively. Among them, the L second wideband channel quality indications may correspond one-to-one with the at least one number of bits, or one of the at least one number of bits may correspond to multiple second wideband channel quality indications (that is, the number of bits occupied by different second wideband channel quality indications among these multiple second wideband channel quality indications is the same).

[0146] In another implementation manner, if the first information is configured by a network device, the network device may configure the same first number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication of each of M or K beams. Or, the network device may configure at least one number of bits, where the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to M or K beams respectively. Among them, the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to M or K beams may correspond one-to-one with the at least one number of bits. Accordingly, the network device sends the configured first information to the UE.

[0147] (2) As another optional implementation manner of the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to K beams, the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to K beams includes Q first change information. Among them, one of the Q first change information may indicate the change amount or difference component of the second wideband channel quality indication of one or more beams among the K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of a reference beam. Q may be an integer less than or equal to K. This method can report the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication without directly reporting the second wideband channel quality indication, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

[0148] In this way, the UE can determine the reference beam, and then determine the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication of one or more beams among the K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam. Optionally, the reference beam may be configured by the network device, or predefined by a protocol, or preconfigured in the UE and the network device, or may also be determined by the UE itself.

[0149] Optionally, the reference beam may be determined by any one or more of the following methods:

[0150] The reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest beam index corresponding to M beams (or, K beams). For example, if M beams include beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4, then it can be determined that beam 1 with the smallest beam index is the reference beam, or it can be determined that beam 4 with the largest beam index is the reference beam;

[0151] The reference beam is the beam with the maximum or minimum beam reception power corresponding to M beams (or among K beams). The UE can measure the beam reception power corresponding to M beams, so as to determine the beam with the maximum or minimum beam reception power among them as the reference beam. The beam reception power can be the reference signal receiving power (RSRP), or the reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), or the signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.;

[0152] The reference beam is the beam ranked first in the channel quality indication reported by the UE to the network device among M beams (or K beams). For example, when the UE reports the channel quality indication and performs corresponding sorting, the beam ranked first by the UE in reporting the channel quality indication can be used as the reference beam. For the network device, the beam ranked first in the received channel quality indication information is regarded as the reference beam;

[0153] The reference beam is the beam corresponding to the maximum or minimum second wideband channel quality indication index among M beams (or K beams);

[0154] The reference beam is the beam configured or indicated by the network device.

[0155] The above method for determining the reference beam can be specified by the protocol, or can be determined by the network device sending configuration signaling (such as RRC, MAC CE, DCI signaling, etc.).

[0156] Optionally, among K beams, different beams can correspond to the same reference beam, or the reference beams corresponding to different beams can also be different. For example, K beams include beam 1, beam 2, and beam 3, and the reference beams corresponding to these three beams are all beam 1; or, K beams include beam 1, beam 2, and beam 3, where the reference beam corresponding to beam 2 is beam 1, while the reference beams corresponding to beam 1 and beam 3 are beam 2.

[0157] Among them, the reference beam corresponding to K beams can belong to K beams, or can also not belong to K beams. Taking one of the reference beams as an example, if the reference beam belongs to K beams, the wideband channel quality indication reported by the reference beam includes the corresponding second wideband channel quality indication. For example, a reference beam belongs to K beams, and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam is not determined depending on other reference beams (that is, the reference beam corresponding to the reference beam is itself), then the reference beam may not correspond to the first change information.

[0158] Optionally, the reference beam belongs to K beams, and the wideband channel quality indication reported by the reference beam may further include corresponding first change information. For example, if a reference beam belongs to K beams and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam depends on other reference beams for determination (i.e., the reference beam corresponding to the reference beam is not itself), then the wideband channel quality indication reported by the reference beam may further include corresponding first change information.

[0159] Optionally, a first change information indicates the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication of one or more beams in K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam. For example, one indication method is that the first change information indicates the difference between the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the one or more beams and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam, or indicates the absolute value of the difference. For example, if the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam is wbCQIn and the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to beam 1 in K beams is wbCQIm, then the first change information corresponding to beam 1 may indicate wbCQIm - wbCQIn. Reflecting the change amount through the difference is more direct and convenient for the network device to determine the actual wideband channel quality.

[0160] Alternatively, a first change information indicates the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication of one or more beams in K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam. For example, another indication method is that the first change information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the one or more beams and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam, or includes the absolute value of the difference. For example, multiple difference intervals can be divided, each difference interval can include one or more values, and these multiple difference intervals can be continuous or discontinuous, and the values included in any one difference interval can be continuous or discontinuous. These multiple difference intervals are predefined by the protocol, or preconfigured in the UE and the network device, or configured by the network device. For example, referring to Table 6, it is an example of the difference interval.

[0161] Table 6

[0162] Index Difference Interval 0 <-6 1 -6 to 0 (excluding 0) 2 0～6 3 >6

[0163] Taking Table 6 which divides 4 difference intervals as an example, the 4 difference intervals are (-∞, -6), [-6, 0), [0, 6), [6, -∞) respectively. For example, if the difference between the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to beam 1 in K beams and the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam is 3, then the UE determines that the difference belongs to the difference interval [0, 6) corresponding to index 2, and then the first change information corresponding to beam 1 reported may indicate index 2.

[0164] Generally, the number of difference intervals is less than the number of second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams. Compared with directly feeding back the second wideband channel quality indications, the number of bits required to feed back the difference intervals is less, which can save overhead.

[0165] Optionally, for each beam among the K beams that is not used as a reference beam, a first change information can be corresponding. It can also be considered that the beams among the K beams that are not used as reference beams and the Q first change information can be in one-to-one correspondence. For example, referring to Table 7, it is an example of the first change information corresponding to K beams.

[0166] Table 7

[0167] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 wbCQI1 wbCQI2 - wbCQI1 wbCQI3 - wbCQI1 wbCQI4 - wbCQI1

[0168] Taking K = 4 as an example in Table 7, and taking the reference beam as beam 1 among them. Further, in the table, wbCQI1 to wbCQI4 are the second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to beams 1 to 4 in sequence. It can be seen that for beam 1 as the reference beam, the second wideband channel quality indication of this beam 1 is determined independently of other second wideband channel quality indications. Therefore, the UE reports the second wideband channel quality indication wbCQI1 corresponding to beam 1; while for beams 2, 3, and 4 that are not used as reference beams, the UE reports the first change information corresponding to these beams respectively. For example, the wbCQIm - wbCQIn indicated by the first change information corresponding to beam 2 is wbCQI2 - wbCQI1. For the convenience of description, in the subsequent introduction process, this representation of wbCQIm - wbCQIn can represent both the difference and the difference interval. wbCQIm and wbCQIn are both the second wideband channel quality indications of a beam.

[0169] In Table 7, the reference beam corresponding to the K beams is beam 1. According to the foregoing, the reference beams corresponding to different beams among the K beams can also be different. For example, referring to Table 8, it is an example of the first change information corresponding to K beams.

[0170] Table 8

[0171] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 wbCQI1 wbCQI2 - wbCQI1 wbCQI3 - wbCQI2 wbCQI4 - wbCQI3

[0172] Table 8 takes K = 4 as an example. In Table 8, the reference beam corresponding to beam 2 is beam 1, the reference beam corresponding to beam 3 is beam 2, and the reference beam corresponding to beam 4 is beam 3. Further, wbCQI1 to wbCQI4 in the table are the second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to beams 1 to 4 respectively. It can be seen that for beam 1, the second wideband channel quality indication of this beam 1 is determined independently of other second wideband channel quality indications, and the UE reports the second wideband channel quality indication wbCQI1 corresponding to beam 1; for beam 2, the reference beam corresponding to this beam 2 is beam 1, so the UE can report the first change information corresponding to beam 2, and this first change information indicates wbCQI2 - wbCQI1. For beam 3, the reference beam corresponding to this beam 3 is beam 2, so the UE can report the first change information corresponding to beam 3, and this first change information indicates wbCQI3 - wbCQI2; for beam 4, the reference beam corresponding to this beam 4 is beam 3, then the UE reports the first change information corresponding to beam 4, and this first change information indicates wbCQI4 - wbCQI3.

[0173] In the foregoing solution, each beam that is not a reference beam among the K beams can correspond to a first change information. Alternatively, for the beams that are not reference beams among the K beams, one or more of them can correspond to a first change information, that is, in this case, one first change information can correspond to multiple beams. For example, if the difference (or the absolute value of the difference) between the second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to two beams is less than the first threshold, the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to these two beams can be indicated by one first change information. In this way, the reporting overhead can be further reduced. The first threshold can be predefined by the protocol, or preconfigured in the UE and the network device, or configured by the network device. The first threshold is greater than or equal to 0, for example.

[0174] For example, referring to Table 9, it is an example of the first change information corresponding to the K beams.

[0175] Table 9

[0176]

[0177] Table 9 takes K = 4 as an example, and takes the reference beam as beam 1 among them. It can be seen that for beam 1 as the reference beam, the UE reports the second wideband channel quality indication wbCQI1 corresponding to beam 1; while for beams 2, 3, and 4 that are not reference beams, the UE reports the first change information corresponding to these beams respectively. Among them, for example, the second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to beams 2 and 3 are both wbCQI2, then beams 2 and 3 can correspond to the same first change information (this first change information indicates wbCQI2 - wbCQI1), and the UE only reports one first change information wbCQI2 - wbCQI1 for beams 2 and 3. For beam 4, the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to beam 4 is wbCQI4, and the first change information indication corresponding to beam 4 reported by the UE is wbCQI4 - wbCQI1.

[0178] In the foregoing Tables 7 to 9, the second wideband channel quality indication is taken as the wideband CQI as an example.

[0179] Optionally, the UE reports Q first change information to the network device. One sending method is that the UE sends Q first change information and the indexes of K beams to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the correspondence between the beams and the first change information.

[0180] When the UE reports Q first change information, the number of bits occupied by different first change information in the Q first change information can be the same, or can also be different. For example, the UE can obtain the first information, and the first information can indicate the number of bits occupied by the Q first change information. Among them, the first information can be predefined by the protocol, or preconfigured in the network device and the UE, or configured by the network device, or determined by the UE. Among them, if the first information is configured by the UE, the UE can send the first information to the network device in advance, or the UE can also send the first information to the network device when reporting the Q first change information. For example, the UE can send the Q first change information and the first information in a single signaling to the network device. Optionally, the first information can be placed before the Q first change information, so that the network device can determine the number of bits occupied by the Q first change information in a timely manner.

[0181] For example, the number of bits occupied by different first change information in the Q first change information is the same. For example, they are all the first number of bits, and the first number of bits is represented by Y, and Y is a positive integer. In this case, the first information only needs to indicate the first number of bits, and the first number of bits can be used as the number of bits occupied by any one of the first change information in the first change information. Y can be related to the number of first change information. For example, if the first change information directly indicates the change amount instead of indicating the difference interval, then, for example, there are X possible values for the first change information, then Y can be equal to Among them Indicates rounding up X. For another example, if the first change information indicates a difference interval, X as described above can be the number of difference intervals.

[0182] Optionally, Y can be a fixed value, or Y can have multiple optional values. For example, Y can be related to the value of K. For instance, when the value of K is larger, Y can also be larger. For example, when K = 2, Y can be 2, that is, each of the Q first change information can occupy 2 bits; and when K = 4, Y can be 4, that is, each of the Q first change information can occupy 4 bits.

[0183] In addition, Table 6 in the foregoing is an example of a difference interval. Optionally, the protocol can pre - define or the network device can configure a difference interval division method (such as Table 6), and then the UE always adopts this difference interval division method. Or, optionally, the protocol can pre - define or the network device can configure multiple difference interval division methods (Table 6 is one of them), and then the UE can select one of the difference interval division methods. Optionally, one selection method of the UE is that the UE determines the difference interval division method according to Y. For example, the protocol pre - defines or the network device configures the total number of bits occupied by Q first change information, for example, it is Z, and the number of bits occupied by different first change information among the Q first change information is all Y, then Y = Z / K, and the UE can select a difference interval division method according to Y.

[0184] If the number of bits occupied by different first change information among the Q first change information is different, the first information can indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each of the Q first change information respectively. Among them, the Q first change information can be in one - to - one correspondence with the at least one number of bits, or there may be one number of bits in the at least one number of bits corresponding to multiple first change information (that is, the number of bits occupied by different first change information among these multiple first change information is the same).

[0185] Regardless of whether the number of bits occupied by different first change information among the Q first change information is the same or different, as introduced above, for a reference beam that does not depend on other beams to determine the second wide - band channel quality indication, the UE can report the second wide - band channel quality indication corresponding to this reference beam. Among them, the number of bits occupied by the second wide - band channel quality indication can be the same as the number of bits occupied by one of the Q first change information, or can also be different from the number of bits occupied by all of the Q first change information. Optionally, the number of bits occupied by the second wide - band channel quality indication can be pre - defined by the protocol, or pre - configured in the UE and the network device, or configured by the network device, or determined by the UE.

[0186] 2. Implementation Mode B. The N channel quality indications include first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to R beams out of the M beams, where R is an integer less than or equal to M. That is, in Implementation Mode B, the UE can report first sub-band channel quality indications for the R beams.

[0187] In Implementation Mode B, there are also multiple implementation modes for the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams.

[0188] (1) As an optional implementation mode for the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams, the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams include S second sub-band channel quality indications, or the values of the S second sub-band channel quality indications.

[0189] A second sub-band channel quality indication reported by the UE can be an index of the sub-band channel quality indication. For example, the S second sub-band channel quality indications can be partial or all of the second sub-band channel quality indications of the R beams. Optionally, the beams and / or sub-bands corresponding to the S second sub-band channel quality indications can be configured by the network device. The network device can configure which beams and / or which sub-bands' corresponding second sub-band channel quality indications to report. For example, if the network device configures reporting partial beams out of the R beams, then the S second sub-band channel quality indications correspond to the sub-bands of the partial beams. If the network device configures reporting partial sub-bands out of the R beams, then the S second sub-band channel quality indications correspond to the partial sub-bands of the R beams. For example, for the case of reporting partial sub-bands out of the R beams, the network device can also configure the partial sub-bands out of the R beams reported to be the second sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the same sub-band. Or, the network device can also independently configure for each of the R beams which sub-bands' second sub-band channel quality indications to report, or alternatively, the network device can independently configure for partial beams out of the R beams which sub-bands' second sub-band channel quality indications to report.

[0190] Among them, the UE can send the indexes of R beams, one or more sub-band indexes, and S second sub-band channel quality indications to the network device. For example, the UE can correspond the indexes of R beams, one or more sub-band indexes, and S second sub-band channel quality indications one by one and send them to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beams, sub-bands, and second sub-band channel quality indications. Alternatively, the UE can send one or more of the R beam indexes, one or more sub-band indexes, and S second sub-band channel quality indications to the network device. For example, the network device can configure which second sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to which beams need to be reported, and then the UE reports the S second sub-band channel quality indications in the order configured by the network device, without reporting the beam indexes and sub-band indexes corresponding to the second sub-band channel quality indications. Alternatively, the network device configures which sub-bands' second sub-band channel quality indications need to be reported, and then the terminal device needs to send the indexes of R beams and S second sub-band channel quality indications to the network device. For example, when R = 3 and the network device configures to report the second sub-band channel quality indications of sub-bands 1, 2, and 4, then the terminal needs to report S = W * R = 9 second sub-band channel quality indications, where W represents the number of sub-bands.

[0191] Optionally, when the UE sends S second sub-band channel quality indications to the network device, in one sending method, the UE sends one or more of the indexes of the S second sub-band channel quality indications, the beam indexes corresponding to the S second sub-band channel quality indications, and one or more sub-band indexes. Taking the channel quality indication as CQI as an example, optionally, the network device can configure a sub-band CQI table for the UE, and the UE can determine the indexes of the S second sub-band CQIs according to the sub-band CQI table. The sub-band CQI table can be as shown in Table 2, and the UE can determine the S second sub-band CQIs according to Table 2.

[0192] For example, referring to Table 10, it shows the S second sub-band channel quality indications and the corresponding R beam indexes and one or more sub-band indexes. Table 10 takes R = 4, the number of sub-bands W = 3, and the channel quality indication as CQI as an example. In Table 10, taking S = 12 as an example, subCQI1_1 to subCQI4_3 represent the indexes of 12 CQIs.

[0193] Table 10

[0194] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 Sub - band 1 subCQI1_1 subCQI2_1 subCQI3_1 subCQI4_1 Sub - band 2 subCQI1_2 subCQI2_2 subCQI3_2 subCQI4_2 Sub - band 3 subCQI1_3 subCQI2_3 subCQI3_3 subCQI4_3

[0195] Optionally, in the above solution, the S second sub-band channel quality indications can be all the second sub-band channel quality indications of the R beams. In addition, the S second sub-band channel quality indications can be partial second sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams.

[0196] Further, the UE may determine a second sub - band channel quality indication for some or all of the R beams (e.g., including multiple beams) in a certain sub - band, or may determine a second sub - band channel quality indication for some or all of the sub - bands of a beam (e.g., including multiple sub - bands). Then, only one second sub - band channel quality indication needs to be reported for these multiple beams or multiple sub - bands, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

[0197] The UE determines a second sub - band channel quality indication for multiple beams among the R beams in a certain sub - band. For example, one determination method includes that the UE can respectively determine the second sub - band channel quality indications corresponding to one sub - band of these multiple beams, and determine a certain second sub - band channel quality indication among these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications as the second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to these multiple beams in this sub - band. Optionally, the second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to these multiple beams, for example, is the minimum value among these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications, so that each sub - band can support this second sub - band channel quality indication. Optionally, the UE can also determine the arithmetic mean or weighted mean of these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications as a second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to these multiple beams in this sub - band; or the UE can also use other algorithms to determine a second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to these multiple beams in this sub - band according to these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications.

[0198] Or, the UE determines a second sub - band channel quality indication for multiple sub - bands of a beam. Similar to the foregoing, one determination method includes that the UE can determine the second sub - band channel quality indications respectively corresponding to the multiple sub - bands of this beam, and determine the second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to the multiple sub - bands of this beam according to these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications. Optionally, the UE can determine the arithmetic mean or weighted mean of these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications, and this arithmetic mean or weighted mean can be used as the second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to the multiple sub - bands of this beam; or the UE can also use other algorithms to determine the second sub - band channel quality indication uniformly corresponding to the multiple sub - bands of this beam according to these multiple second sub - band channel quality indications.

[0199] Among them, the UE may send the indexes of the R beams, the indexes of one or more sub - bands, and S channel quality indications to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beam and the channel quality indication.

[0200] Optionally, when the UE sends S second sub - band channel quality indications to the network device, one sending method is that the UE sends the indexes of the S second sub - band channel quality indications, and one or more of the beam indexes and sub - band indexes corresponding to the S second sub - band channel quality indications.

[0201] For example, referring to Table 11, it is an arrangement of the channel quality indicators of S second subbands, the corresponding indexes of R beams, and one or more subband indexes. Table 11 takes R = 4, the number of subbands W = 3 as an example, and the channel quality indicator is CQI. In Table 11, subCQI1_1 represents the index of the second subband CQI corresponding to subbands 1 and 2 of beam 1, subCQI2_1 represents the index of the second subband CQI corresponding to beams 2 to 4 for subband 1, and subCQI1_3, subCQI2_2 to subCQI4_3 represent the indexes of 7 second subband CQIs.

[0202] Table 11

[0203]

[0204]

[0205] (2) As another alternative implementation manner of the channel quality indicators of the first subbands corresponding to R beams, the channel quality indicators of the first subbands corresponding to R beams include P second variation information. Among them, one piece of the P second variation information indicates the variation amount of the channel quality indicator of a second subband corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indicator. The UE reports the variation amount of the channel quality indicator of the subbands of the beam in this way, rather than directly reporting the channel quality indicator of the second subband, which is beneficial to saving signaling overhead.

[0206] In this way, the UE can determine the reference channel quality indicator, and then determine the variation amount of the channel quality indicator of a second subband corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indicator, and obtain P second variation information. Among them, the first beam can be any beam among the R beams. Optionally, the beams and / or subbands corresponding to the P second variation information can be configured by the network device. The network device can configure which beams and / or which subbands' corresponding second variation information to report. For example, if the network device configures to report some of the R beams, then the P second variation information corresponds to the subbands of some of the beams. If the network device configures to report some of the subbands among the R beams, then the P second variation information corresponds to some of the subbands of the R beams. Among them, for the case of reporting some of the subbands among the R beams, the network device can configure the reported some of the subbands among the R beams to be the same subbands. Or, the network device can also independently configure which subbands to report for each of the R beams, or the network device can also independently configure which subbands to report for some of the R beams.

[0207] The UE may send the indexes of R beams, one or more sub-band indexes, and P pieces of second variation information to the network device. For example, the UE may correspond the indexes of R beams, one or more sub-band indexes with P pieces of second variation information one by one and send them to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beams, sub-bands, and P pieces of second variation information. Alternatively, the UE may send one or more of the R beam indexes, one or more sub-band indexes, and S second sub-band channel quality indications to the network device. For example, the network device may configure which second variation information of which sub-bands corresponding to which beams needs to be reported, and then the UE reports P pieces of second variation information in the order configured by the network device, without needing to report the beam indexes and sub-band indexes corresponding to the P pieces of second variation information. Or, the network device may configure which sub-bands' second variation information needs to be reported, and then the UE reports the beam indexes corresponding to the P pieces of second variation information in the sub-band order configured by the network device.

[0208] The UE may determine the reference channel quality indication in one or more of the following ways:

[0209] Way 1: One piece of second variation information among the P pieces of second variation information indicates the variation amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication, and the reference channel quality indication is the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam.

[0210] Way 2: One piece of second variation information among the P pieces of second variation information indicates the variation amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication, and the reference channel quality indication is the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to a reference beam. The specific selection method of the reference beam may be determined in a similar way to that in the aforementioned way A(2), which will not be elaborated here.

[0211] Way 3: One piece of second variation information among the P pieces of second variation information indicates the variation amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication, and the reference channel quality indication is the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the first beam.

[0212] Way 4: One piece of second variation information among the P pieces of second variation information indicates the variation amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication, and the reference channel quality indication is the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of a reference beam.

[0213] The above second variation information indication may be indicated in one or more of the following ways:

[0214] Mode a: The second change information indicates the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication and the reference channel quality indication, or indicates the absolute value of the difference. Reflecting the second change information through the difference facilitates the network device to determine the actual sub-band channel quality.

[0215] Mode b: The second change information indicates a difference interval, which includes the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication and the reference channel quality indication, or includes the absolute value of the difference. For example, multiple difference intervals can be divided, each difference interval can include one or more values, and these multiple difference intervals can be continuous or discontinuous, and the values included in any one of the difference intervals can be continuous or discontinuous. These multiple difference intervals are predefined by the protocol, or pre-configured in the UE and the network device, or configured by the network device. An example of the difference interval is shown in Table 6 above, which will not be elaborated here. Generally, the number of difference intervals is less than the number of second sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to K beams. Compared with directly feedbacking the second sub-band channel quality indication, the number of bits required to feedback the difference interval is less, which can save overhead.

[0216] The above Modes 1, 2, 3, 4 and / or Modes a, b can be determined by protocol provisions, or by the network device sending configuration signaling (such as RRC, MAC CE, DCI signaling, etc.).

[0217] Specifically, the UE determines that the reference channel quality indication is the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam through Method 1, and determines a second change information according to the change amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication of the first beam relative to the first wideband channel quality indication. That is to say, a second change information indicates the change amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam. When the second change information is indicated by Method a, the second change information indicates the difference between the sub-band channel quality indication (the second sub-band channel quality indication) corresponding to the first beam and the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the beam, or indicates the absolute value of the difference. For example, if the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam is wbCQI1 and the sub-band channel quality indication (the second sub-band channel quality indication) of sub-band 1 of the first beam is subCQI1_1, the second change information corresponding to sub-band 1 of the first beam may indicate subCQI1_1 - wbCQI1. Reflecting the change amount through the difference facilitates the network device to determine the actual sub-band channel quality. When the second change information is indicated by Method b, the second change information indicates a difference range, and the difference range includes the difference between a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication, or includes the absolute value of the difference. It should be understood that in the subsequent introduction process, the representation method of subCQIm_n - wbCQIk can represent both the difference and the difference range. subCQIm_n is the second channel quality indication of a sub-band of a beam, and wbCQIk are all the second wideband channel quality indications of a beam.

[0218] For example, referring to Table 12, taking R = 4 as an example, the number of sub-bands is W = 3, wbCQI1, wbCQI2, wbCQI3, and wbCQI4 are the second wideband channel quality indications corresponding to beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4 respectively, and subCQI1_1 - wbCQI1 to subCQI4_3 - wbCQI4 are P second change information, and the P second change information can be indicated by the aforementioned Method a or Method b. Among them, a second change information corresponds to a sub-band of a beam.

[0219] Table 12

[0220] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 Wideband wbCQI1 wbCQI2 wbCQI3 wbCQI4 Sub - band 1 subCQI1_1 - wbCQI1 subCQI2_1 - wbCQI2 subCQI3_1 - wbCQI3 subCQI4_1 - wbCQI4 Sub - band 2 subCQI1_2 - wbCQI1 subCQI2_2 - wbCQI2 subCQI3_2 - wbCQI3 subCQI4_2 - wbCQI4 Sub - band 3 subCQI1_3 - wbCQI1 subCQI2_3 - wbCQI2 subCQI3_3 - wbCQI3 subCQI4_3 - wbCQI4

[0221] Optionally, the UE may send P second change information to the network device. One sending method is that the UE sends the indexes of R beams, one or more sub-band indexes, and one or more of the P second change information to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beam and the second change information.

[0222] Optionally, the UE can determine that the reference channel quality is the first wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam through Method 2, and then determine the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the reference channel quality indication. Optionally, the reference beam can be configured by the network device, predefined by protocol, preconfigured in the UE and the network device, or can also be determined by the UE itself. The specific selection method of the reference beam can be determined in a similar manner to Method A(2) described above, which will not be elaborated here.

[0223] Optionally, a second change information indicates the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam. When the second change information is indicated by Method a, the second change information indicates the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam, or indicates the absolute value of the difference. When the second change information is indicated by Method b, the second change information indicates a difference range that includes the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication, or includes the absolute value of the difference.

[0224] Referring to Table 13, taking R = 4 as an example, the number of sub-bands is W = 3, beam 1 is the reference beam, and wbCQI1 is the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to beam 1. It can be seen that for beam 1 as the reference beam, the UE reports the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to beam 1 and also reports the second change information corresponding to each sub-band of beam 1. For example, the second change information corresponding to sub-band 1 indicates subCQI1_1 - wbCQI1, and the second change information corresponding to sub-band 2 indicates subCQI1_2 - wbCQI1. The UE reports the second change information corresponding to beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4.

[0225] Table 13

[0226]

[0227]

[0228] Optionally, the UE can send P pieces of second change information to the network device. One sending method is that the UE can send the indexes of the R beams, one or more sub-band indexes, and one or more of the P pieces of second change information to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beam and the second change information.

[0229] Optionally, the UE can determine, through Method 3, the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the reference channel quality indication for the first beam, and then determine the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam relative to the reference channel quality indication. Herein, the first beam is any one of the R beams. Optionally, the reference sub-band can be configured by the network device, or predefined by a protocol, or pre-configured in the UE and the network device, or can also be determined by the UE itself.

[0230] The reference sub-band is the sub-band configured or indicated by the network device. For example, the network device can configure or indicate a sub-band as the reference sub-band. For example, if the sub-bands include Sub-band 1, Sub-band 2, and Sub-band 3, the network device can configure or indicate Sub-band 1 as the reference sub-band for all beams. Or, the network device can configure or indicate multiple sub-bands as the reference sub-bands. For example, when the sub-bands include Sub-band 1, Sub-band 2, and Sub-band 3, it can be configured or indicated that the reference sub-band for Beam 1 is Sub-band 1, the reference sub-band for Beam 2 is Sub-band 2, and the reference sub-band for Beam 3 is Sub-band 3.

[0231] Or, the reference sub-band is determined by the UE. The reference sub-band is the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to the second beam, and the second beam is the reference beam or the first beam. That is to say, when the beam is the reference beam, the UE can determine the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to the reference beam as the reference sub-band. When the beam is the first beam different from the reference beam, the UE can determine the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to the first beam as the reference sub-band.

[0232] Optionally, a second change information indicates the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band. When the second change information is indicated through Method a, the second change information indicates the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band, or indicates the absolute value of the difference. When the second change information is indicated through Method b, the second change information indicates a difference range that includes the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication, or includes the absolute value of the difference.

[0233] Optionally, for each sub-band among the multiple sub-bands corresponding to the R beams that is not used as the reference sub-band, there can be a corresponding second change information. It can also be considered that the sub-bands among the multiple sub-bands that are not used as the reference sub-band can be in one-to-one correspondence with the P second change information. For example, referring to Table 14, it is an example of the second change information corresponding to the R beams.

[0234] Table 14

[0235]

[0236] Table 14 takes R = 4 as an example, and takes the reference subband as subband 1 among them. It can be seen that for subband 1 as the reference subband, the second subband channel quality indications corresponding to subband 1 of beams 1 to 4 are determined independently of other second subband channel quality indications. Therefore, the UE reports the second subband channel quality indications corresponding to subband 1 of beams 1 to 4, and does not report the second change information corresponding to subband 1; while for subbands 2 and 3 that are not reference subbands, the UE reports the second change information corresponding to these subbands of beams 1 to 4 respectively.

[0237] In Table 14, the reference subbands corresponding to beams 1 to 4 are all subband 1. According to the foregoing, the reference subbands corresponding to each beam among beams 1 to 4 can also be different. For example, referring to Table 15, it is another example of the second change information corresponding to R beams.

[0238] Table 15

[0239]

[0240]

[0241] Table 15 takes R = 4 as an example. In Table 15, the reference subband corresponding to beam 1 is subband 1, the reference subband corresponding to beam 2 is subband 2, the reference subband corresponding to beam 3 is subband 3, and the reference subband corresponding to beam 4 is subband 1. It can be seen that the second subband channel quality indication corresponding to beam 1 is determined independently of other subband channel indications. The UE reports the second subband channel quality indication corresponding to subband 1 of beam 1, and does not report the second change information; for subband 2 of beam 1, the UE may report the second change information corresponding to subband 2, and this second change information indicates subCQI1_2 - subCQI1_1; for subband 3 of beam 1, the UE may report the second change information corresponding to subband 3, and this second change information indicates subCQI1_3 - subCQI1_1. By analogy, the second subband channel quality indications and the second change information corresponding to beams 2, 3, and 4 can be determined.

[0242] Optionally, the UE may send one or more of the indexes of R beams, one or more subband indexes, and P second change information to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beam and the second change information.

[0243] Optionally, the UE can determine, through Method 4, that the reference channel quality indication is the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the reference beam, and then determine the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to one of the first beams relative to the reference channel quality indication. Here, the first beam is any one of the R beams. Optionally, the reference beam and the reference sub-band can be configured by the network device, predefined by a protocol, preconfigured in the UE and the network device, or determined by the UE itself. The determination methods of the reference beam and the reference sub-band are similar to those described above and will not be elaborated here.

[0244] Optionally, a second change information indicates the change amount of the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam among the R beams relative to the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the reference beam. When the second change information is indicated by Method a, the second change information indicates the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference sub-band of the reference beam, or indicates the absolute value of the difference. When the second change information is indicated by Method b, the second change information indicates a difference range that includes the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication, or includes the absolute value of the difference.

[0245] Optionally, for each sub-band among the R beams that is not the reference sub-band, there can be a corresponding second change information. It can also be considered that the sub-bands among the multiple sub-bands that are not the reference sub-band can be in one-to-one correspondence with the P second change information. For example, referring to Table 16, it is an example of the second change information corresponding to the R beams.

[0246] Table 16

[0247]

[0248] Taking R = 4 as an example in Table 16, and taking the reference beam as Beam 1 and the reference sub-band as Sub-band 1 among them. It can be seen that for Sub-band 1, which is the reference beam, the corresponding second sub-band channel quality indication is not determined depending on other second sub-band channel quality indications. Therefore, the UE reports the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to Sub-band 1 of Beam 1, rather than reporting the second change information corresponding to Sub-band 1 of Beam 1. For Beams 2, 3, 4 and Sub-bands 2, 3 that are not the reference beam and the reference sub-band, the UE reports the second change information corresponding to these sub-bands of these beams respectively.

[0249] Optionally, the UE can send one or more of the indexes of the R beams, the indexes of one or more sub-bands, and the P second change information to the network device, so that the network device can clarify the relationship between the beam and the second change information.

[0250] When the UE reports P second change information, the number of bits occupied by different second change information among the P second change information can be the same or different. For example, the UE can obtain the second information, and the second information can indicate the number of bits occupied by the P second change information. Among them, the second information can be predefined by the protocol, or preconfigured in the network device and the UE, or configured by the network device, or determined by the UE. Among them, if the second information is determined by the UE, the UE can send the second information to the network device in advance, or the UE can also send the second information to the network device when reporting the P second change information. For example, the UE can send Q second change information and the second information in a signaling to the network device. Optionally, the second information can be placed before the P second change information, so that the network device can determine the number of bits occupied by the P second change information in time.

[0251] In another implementation, if the second information is configured by the network device, the network device can configure the number of bits occupied by the first sub-band channel quality indication of each of the M or R beams to be the same, for example, all are the second number of bits. Or, the network device can configure at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits are the number of bits occupied by the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the M or K beams respectively. Among them, the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the M or R beams can be in one-to-one correspondence with the at least one number of bits. Accordingly, the network device sends the configured second information to the UE.

[0252] Different second change information among the P second change information can occupy the same second number of bits, and the second number of bits is represented by Y, and Y is a positive integer. In this case, the second information only needs to indicate the second number of bits, and the second number of bits can be used as the number of bits occupied by any one of the second change information in the second change information. Y can be related to the number of second change information. For example, if the second change information directly indicates the change amount instead of the difference interval, then, for example, if there are X possible values of the second change information, then Y can be equal to Among them represents rounding up X. Another example is that the second change information indicates the difference interval, then the above X can be the number of difference intervals.

[0253] Optionally, Y can be a fixed value, or Y can have multiple optional values. For example, Y can be related to the value of K. For example, when the value of K is larger, Y can also be larger. For example, when K = 2, Y can be 2, that is, each of the P second change information can occupy 2 bits; when K = 4, Y can be 4, that is, each of the P second change information can occupy 4 bits.

[0254] In addition, Table 6 in the foregoing text is an example of a difference interval. Optionally, the protocol can pre-define or the network device can configure a difference interval division method (such as Table 6), and then the UE always uses this difference interval division method. Or, optionally, the protocol can pre-define or the network device can configure multiple difference interval division methods (Table 6 is one of them), and then the UE can select one of the difference interval division methods. Optionally, one selection method of the UE is that the UE determines the difference interval division method according to Y. For example, the protocol pre-defines or the network device configures that the total number of bits occupied by P second change information is Z. For example, Z, and the number of bits occupied by different second change information among the P second change information is all Y, then Y = Z / K, and the UE can select a difference interval division method according to Y.

[0255] If the number of bits occupied by different second change information among the P second change information is different, the second information can indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each of the P second change information. Among them, the P second change information can be in one-to-one correspondence with the at least one number of bits, or one of the at least one number of bits may correspond to multiple second change information (that is, the number of bits occupied by different second change information among these multiple second change information is the same).

[0256] Regardless of whether the number of bits occupied by different second change information among the P second change information is the same or different, as introduced above, for the reference beam that does not depend on other beams to determine the second sub-band channel quality indication, the UE can report the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam. Among them, the number of bits occupied by the second sub-band channel quality indication can be the same as the number of bits occupied by one of the P second change information, or can also be different from the number of bits occupied by all of the P second change information. Optionally, the number of bits occupied by the second sub-band channel quality indication can be pre-defined by the protocol, or pre-configured in the UE and the network device, or configured by the network device, or determined by the UE.

[0257] 3. Implementation method C. The N channel quality indications include the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams among the M beams and the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to R beams among the M beams. K is a positive integer less than or equal to M, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to M. That is, in implementation method C, the UE can report both the first wideband channel quality indication and the first sub-band channel quality indication for the M beams.

[0258] The network device may indicate to the UE, via one or more signaling, which K out of the M beams to report the first wideband channel quality indication for, and which R out of the M beams to feedback the first sub-band channel quality indication for. After receiving the indication from the network device, the UE may respectively determine the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the K beams in the manner of Method A as described above, and determine the sub-band channel quality indication of the R beams in the manner of Method B as described above, and send the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the K beams and the first sub-band channel quality indication of the R beams to the network device at once, which will not be elaborated here.

[0259] The network device may indicate to the UE to report both the first wideband channel quality indication and the first sub-band channel quality indication for all the M beams, that is, M = K = R. Among them, the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the K beams may be determined in the manner of Method A in the above implementation, and the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the R beams may be determined in the manner of Method B in the above implementation, which will not be elaborated here.

[0260] For example, referring to Table 17, taking M = K = R = 4 as an example, the number of sub-bands is W = 3, wbCQI1, wbCQI2, wbCQI3, and wbCQI4 are the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to Beam 1, Beam 2, Beam 3, and Beam 4 respectively, and subCQI1_1 to subCQI4_3 are the sub-band channel quality indications. Among them, one sub-band of one beam corresponds to one first sub-band channel quality indication.

[0261] Table 17

[0262] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 Wideband wbCQI1 wbCQI2 wbCQI3 wbCQI4 Sub - band 1 subCQI1_1 subCQI2_1 subCQI3_1 subCQI4_1 Sub - band 2 subCQI1_2 subCQI2_2 subCQI3_2 subCQI4_2 Sub - band 3 subCQI1_3 subCQI2_3 subCQI3_3 subCQI4_3

[0263] The network device may also indicate to the UE to report the first wideband channel quality indication for some of the M beams and the first sub-band channel quality indication for some other beams, that is, K < M, R < M. Among them, the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the K beams may be determined in the manner of Method A in the above implementation, and the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the R beams may be determined in the manner of Method B in the above implementation, which will not be elaborated here.

[0264] For example, referring to Table 18, taking R = 4 as an example, the number of subbands is W = 3. wbCQI1, wbCQI2, and wbCQI3 are the first wideband channel quality indicators corresponding to beam 1, beam 2, and beam 3 respectively, and subCQI2_1 to subCQI4_3 are the first subband channel quality indicators corresponding to beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4. Among them, one subband of one beam corresponds to one first subband channel quality indicator. It can be seen that the network device can instruct the UE to report the first wideband channel quality indicator for beams 1 to 3, and the first wideband channel quality indicator for beams 2 to 4. Then, for beams 2 and 3, the UE reports both the first wideband channel quality indicator and the first subband channel quality indicator.

[0265] Table 18

[0266] Beam 1 Beam 2 Beam 3 Beam 4 Wideband wbCQI1 wbCQI2 wbCQI3 Sub - band 1 subCQI2_1 subCQI3_1 subCQI4_1 Sub - band 2 subCQI2_2 subCQI3_2 subCQI4_2 Sub - band 3 subCQI2_3 subCQI3_3 subCQI4_3

[0267] Optionally, for the above implementation manners A to C, when the UE sends N channel quality indicators to the network device, the UE may send them in a corresponding order. For example, when the N channel quality indicators include the first wideband channel quality indicators corresponding to K beams among M beams, the UE may arrange the indexes of the K beams and the first wideband channel quality indicators in a corresponding order and send them to the network device in the arranged order. Another example is that when the N channel quality indicators include the first subband channel quality indicators corresponding to R beams among M beams, the UE may arrange the indexes of the K beams and the first subband channel quality indicators in a corresponding order and send them to the network device in the arranged order.

[0268] In the embodiments of the present application, the UE may select one sorting method from multiple sorting methods to send N channel quality indicators.

[0269] Sorting method 1: Arrange in the order of beam index - index of the first wideband channel quality indicator. As shown in Table 19 below, when the first wideband channel quality indicator is the second wideband channel quality indicator, after each beam index, arrange the index of the second wideband channel quality indicator corresponding to that beam index, and then arrange the index of the next beam and its corresponding second wideband channel quality indicator, and so on. When the first wideband channel quality indicator is the first change information, the second wideband channel quality indicator corresponding to the beam index may be replaced by the first change information. Or, when the first wideband channel quality indicator is a mixture of the second wideband channel quality indicator and the first change information, the first wideband channel quality indicator corresponding to the corresponding beam index may be replaced by the first change information or the second wideband channel quality indicator. Optionally, the beams reporting the second wideband channel quality indicator and the corresponding second wideband channel quality indicators are sorted in front of the beams reporting the first change information and the corresponding first change information.

[0270] Refer to Table 20 below, which is the result of sorting Table 3 in the above Implementation A according to Sorting Method 1. Alternatively, as shown in Table 21 below, it is the result of sorting Table 7 according to Sorting Method 1 when the first wideband channel quality indication is a mixture of the second wideband channel quality indication and the first change information.

[0271] Sorting Method 1 can also be applied to the reporting of the first sub-band channel quality indication. When the UE reports the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to R beams, the first wideband channel quality indication in Sorting Method 1 can be replaced with the first sub-band channel quality indication. That is, it is arranged in the order of beam - the index of one or more first sub-band channel quality indications. Optionally, the index of one or more first sub-band channel quality indications can be sorted in descending or ascending order of the sub-band index. For example, Table 22 below is the result of sorting the S second sub-band channel quality indications and the corresponding R beam indices in Table 10 according to Sorting Method 1.

[0272] Sorting Method 2: Arrange in the order of the index of the first wideband channel quality indication - beam index. As shown in Table 23 below, when the first wideband channel quality indication is the second wideband channel quality indication, the index of the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to that beam index is arranged after each beam index, and then the index of the next beam and its corresponding second wideband channel quality indication are arranged, and so on. When the first wideband channel quality indication is the first change information, the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the beam index can be replaced with the first change information.

[0273] Sorting Method 2 can also be applied to the reporting of the first sub-band channel quality indication. When the UE reports the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to R beams, the first wideband channel quality indication is replaced with the first sub-band channel quality indication.

[0274] Sorting Method 3: First arrange the K beam indices, and then arrange the indices of the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beam indices respectively. As shown in Table 24 below.

[0275] Sorting Method 3 can also be applied to the reporting of the first sub-band channel quality indication. When the UE reports the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to R beams, the first wideband channel quality indication is replaced with the first sub-band channel quality indication.

[0276] Sorting Method 4: First arrange the indices of the K wideband channel quality indications, and then arrange the beam indices corresponding to the K wideband channel quality indications respectively. As shown in Table 25 below.

[0277] Sorting method four can also be applied to the reporting of the first sub-band channel quality indication. When the UE reports the first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to R beams, the first wideband channel quality indication is replaced by the first sub-band channel quality indication.

[0278] Optionally, the order of the beams in the above sorting methods one to four can be arranged in ascending or descending order of the beam index, the order of the first wideband channel quality indication index can be arranged in ascending or descending order of the first wideband channel quality indication index, or the order of the first sub-band channel quality indication index can be arranged in ascending or descending order of the first sub-band channel quality indication index.

[0279] Table 19

[0280] Beam 1 The first wideband CQI of Beam 1 Beam 2 The first wideband CQI of Beam 2 Beam 3 The first wideband CQI of Beam 3 …… Beam K The first wideband CQI of Beam K

[0281] Table 20

[0282] Beam 1 wbCQI1 Beam 2 wbCQI2 Beam 3 wbCQI3 Beam 4 wbCQI4

[0283] Table 21

[0284]

[0285]

[0286] Table 22

[0287] Beam 1 subCQI1_1 subCQI1_2 subCQI1_3 …… Beam 4 subCQI4_1 subCQI4_2 subCQI4_3

[0288] Table 23

[0289] The first wideband CQI of Beam 1 Beam 1 Beam 2 First Wideband CQI Beam 2 Beam 3 First Wideband CQI Beam 3 …… Beam K First Wideband CQI Beam K

[0290] Table 24

[0291] Beam 1 Beam 2 …… Beam K Beam 1 First Wideband CQI Beam 2 First Wideband CQI …… Beam K First Wideband CQI

[0292] Table 25

[0293] Beam 1 First Wideband CQI Beam 2 First Wideband CQI …… Beam K First Wideband CQI Beam 1 Beam 2 …… Beam K

[0294] When the N channel quality indications include both wideband channel quality indications and sub-band channel quality indications, the UE can determine the sorting according to the following sorting methods.

[0295] Sorting method five: Report beam index - wideband channel quality indication - subband channel quality indication for each beam. As shown in Table 26 below, after each beam index, arrange the index of the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to that beam, then arrange the index of the first subband channel quality indication of that beam, then arrange the index of the next beam and the index of the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the next beam, and so on. When the first wideband channel quality indication is the first change information, the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the beam index can be replaced with the first change information. When the first subband channel quality indication is the second change information, the second subband channel quality indication can be replaced with the second change information. Table 26 takes the first subband channel quality indication of reporting 3 subbands as an example.

[0296] Optionally, the channel quality indication information of K beams can be arranged in the following manner:

[0297] In ascending or descending order of beam index;

[0298] Arrange in ascending or descending order of the index of the first wideband channel quality indication;

[0299] In ascending or descending order of beam quality (e.g., RSRP, SINR, RSRQ).

[0300] Table 26

[0301] Beam 1 Beam 1 First Wideband CQI Beam 1 Sub - band 1 First Sub - band CQI Beam 1 Sub - band 2 First Sub - band CQI Beam 1 Sub - band 3 First Sub - band CQI …… Beam K Beam K First Wideband CQI Beam K Sub - band 1 First Sub - band CQI Beam K Sub - band 2 First Sub - band CQI Beam K Sub - band 3 First Sub - band CQI

[0302] Sorting method six: Report in the way of multiple beam indexes - multiple wideband channel quality indications - multiple subband channel quality indications. As shown in Table 27 below, first arrange the K beam indexes, then arrange the indexes of the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams, then arrange the indexes of the first subband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams, and so on. When the first wideband channel quality indication is the first change information, the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the beam index can be replaced with the first change information. When the first subband channel quality indication is the second change information, the second subband channel quality indication can be replaced with the second change information. The indexes of the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams correspond one by one to the positions of the K beam indexes; the indexes of the first subband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams correspond one by one to the positions of the K beam indexes. Table 27 takes the first subband channel quality indication of reporting 3 subbands as an example.

[0303] Optionally, the beam indexes can be arranged in the following order:

[0304] In ascending or descending order of beam index;

[0305] Arrange in ascending or descending order according to the first broadband channel quality indication index;

[0306] In ascending or descending order according to beam quality (e.g., RSRP, SINR, RSRQ).

[0307] Table 27

[0308]

[0309]

[0310] Figure 3 The structural schematic diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application is given. The communication device 300 may be Figure 2 the UE or the circuit system of the UE described in the embodiment shown in, and is used to implement the method corresponding to the UE in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication device 300 may be Figure 2 the network device or the circuit system of the network device described in the embodiment shown in, and is used to implement the method corresponding to the network device in the above method embodiment. Among them, for example, a circuit system is a chip system.

[0311] The communication device 300 includes at least one processor 301. The processor 301 may be used for internal processing of the device to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 301 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 301 may store data. Optionally, different processors may be independent devices, may be located at different physical locations, and may be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors may be integrated in one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

[0312] Optionally, the communication device 300 includes one or more memories 303 for storing instructions. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory 303. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0313] Optionally, the communication device 300 includes a communication line 302 and at least one communication interface 304. Among them, since the memory 303, the communication line 302, and the communication interface 304 are all optional, they are all represented by dotted lines in Figure 3 the figure.

[0314] Optionally, the communication device 300 may further include a transceiver and / or an antenna. Among them, the transceiver can be used to send information to other devices or receive information from other devices. The transceiver can be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input / output interface, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function of the communication device 300 through the antenna. Optionally, the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. Exemplarily, the transmitter can be used to generate a radio frequency signal from a baseband signal, and the receiver can be used to convert the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal.

[0315] The processor 301 may include a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the solution of the present application.

[0316] The communication line 302 may include a path for transmitting information between the above components.

[0317] The communication interface 304 uses any device of the transceiver type for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wired access network, etc.

[0318] The memory 303 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or may also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 303 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 301 through the communication line 302. Alternatively, the memory 303 may also be integrated with the processor 301.

[0319] Among them, the memory 303 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of this application, and is controlled by the processor 301 to execute. The processor 301 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303, so as to implement Figure 2 the steps performed by the UE or network device described in the embodiments shown in

[0320] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as application code, and this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0321] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 301 may include one or more CPUs, such as Figure 3 CPU0 and CPU1 in

[0322] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 300 may include multiple processors, such as Figure 3 processor 301 and processor 305 in

[0323] When Figure 3 the device shown is a chip, such as a chip of a UE or a chip of a network device, then the chip includes a processor 301 (processor 305 may also be included), a communication line 302, and a communication interface 304. Optionally, the chip may include a memory 303. Specifically, the communication interface 304 may be an input interface, a pin, a circuit, etc. The memory 303 may be a register, a cache, etc. The processor 301 and the processor 305 may be a general-purpose CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or an integrated circuit for controlling the execution of the communication method in any of the above embodiments.

[0324] The embodiments of this application may divide the device into functional modules according to the above method examples. For example, each function may correspond to a division of each functional module, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of this application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module corresponding to each function, Figure 4A schematic diagram of a device is shown. The device 400 may be a UE or a network device involved in the foregoing method embodiments, or a chip in the UE or a chip in the network device. The device 400 includes a sending unit 401, a processing unit 402, and a receiving unit 403.

[0325] It should be understood that the device 400 can be used to implement the steps performed by the UE or the network device in the communication method of the embodiments of the present application. The relevant features can be referred to the Figure 2 embodiments shown above and will not be elaborated here.

[0326] Optionally, Figure 4 the functions / implementation processes of the sending unit 401, the receiving unit 403, and the processing unit 402 in Figure 3 can be implemented by the processor 301 in Figure 4 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303. Or, Figure 3 the function / implementation process of the processing unit 402 in Figure 4 can be implemented by the processor 301 in Figure 3 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303, and

[0327] the functions / implementation processes of the sending unit 401 and the receiving unit 403 in

[0328] can be implemented by the communication interface 304 in

[0329] Optionally, when the device 400 is a chip or a circuit, the functions / implementation processes of the sending unit 401 and the receiving unit 403 can also be implemented by pins or circuits, etc. The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are run, the methods performed by the UE or the network device in the foregoing method embodiments are implemented. In this way, the functions described in the foregoing embodiments can be implemented in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that makes a contribution, or a part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, ROMs, RAMs, magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0329] The present application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes: computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the methods performed by the UE or the network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0330] An embodiment of the present application further provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to execute the method performed by the UE or the network device involved in any of the above method embodiments.

[0331] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions may 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 instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may 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 integrated available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.

[0332] The various illustrative logical units and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or operated by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above designs. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor. Optionally, the general-purpose processor may also be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor can also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

[0333] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in the embodiments of this application may be directly embedded in hardware, software units executed by a processor, or a combination of both. The software units may be stored in a RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, register, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium in the art. Exemplarily, the storage medium may be connected to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium may also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be disposed in an ASIC, and the ASIC may be disposed in a terminal device. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium may also be disposed in different components of the terminal device.

[0334] These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, so that a series of operation steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to generate a computer-implemented process, and thus the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in Figure 1 one process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 or steps for implementing the functions specified in multiple blocks or a plurality of blocks.

[0335] The content in the various embodiments of this application may be referred to each other. If there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and may be cross-referenced. The technical features in different embodiments may be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0336] It can be understood that in the embodiments of this application, the UE and / or the network device may execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of this application. These steps or operations are only examples. In the embodiments of this application, other operations or various deformations of the operations may also be executed. In addition, the various steps may be executed in different orders presented in the embodiments of this application, and it is possible that not all the operations in the embodiments of this application need to be executed.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Determine N channel quality indications, where the N channel quality indications include the channel quality indications corresponding to M beams, and both M and N are integers greater than 1; Send the N channel quality indications to a network device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The N channel quality indications include first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams among the M beams, and the first wideband channel quality indication of one of the beams is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on the full bandwidth corresponding to the channel state information report, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to the K beams include: L second wideband channel quality indications, where one of the L second wideband channel quality indications corresponds to one or more of the K beams, and L is an integer less than or equal to K; and / or, Q first change information, where one of the Q first change information indicates the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to one or more of the K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of a reference beam, and Q is an integer less than or equal to K.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein One of the first change information indicates the difference between a second wideband channel quality indication and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam; or, One of the first change information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between a second wideband channel quality indication and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that The method further includes: Obtain first information, where the first information is used to indicate a first number of bits, and the first number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams; or, Obtain first information, where the first information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to all or part of the K beams respectively.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein Obtaining the first information includes: Receiving the first information from the network device; or, Obtaining the pre-configured or pre-defined first information.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that Sending the N channel quality indications to the network device includes: Sending the indexes of the K beams and the N channel quality indications to the network device, where the index of one beam corresponds to one channel quality indication.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The N channel quality indications include first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to R beams among the M beams, and the first sub-band channel quality indication of one of the beams is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on one sub-band in the channel state information report bandwidth, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams include: S second sub-band channel quality indications, where one of the S second sub-band channel quality indications corresponds to one sub-band of one of the R beams; and / or, P second change information, where one of the second change information indicates the change amount of a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a first beam among the R beams relative to a reference channel quality indication, where the reference channel quality indication is: The first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam, or, The first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to a reference beam, or, The second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a reference sub-band of the first beam, or, The second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to a reference sub-band of a reference beam.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The one second change information indicates the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication; or, The one second change information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between the second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication.

11. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 10, characterized in that, The reference beam satisfies one or more of the following: The reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam index among the M beams; The reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam reception power among the M beams; The reference beam is the beam for which the terminal device first reports the channel quality indication to the network device among the M beams; or, The reference beam is the beam configured or indicated by the network device.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 11, characterized in that, The reference sub-band satisfies one or more of the following: The reference sub-band is the sub-band configured or indicated by the network device; or, The reference sub-band is the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to a second beam, and the second beam is the first beam or the reference beam.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Obtaining second information, where the second information is used to indicate a second number of bits, and the second number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to each of the R beams; or, Obtaining second information, where the second information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by all or part of the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to all or part of the R beams respectively.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein Obtaining the second information includes: Receiving the second information from the network device; or, Obtaining the pre-configured or pre-defined second information.

15. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that, Sending the N channel quality indications to the network device includes: Sending the indexes of the R beams and the N channel quality indications to the network device, where the index of one beam corresponds to one or more channel quality indications.

16. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receiving N channel quality indications, where the N channel quality indications include the channel quality indications corresponding to M beams, and both M and N are integers greater than 1; Determining the channel quality of the M beams according to the N channel quality indications.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein The N channel quality indications include the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to K beams among the M beams, and the first wideband channel quality indication of one of the beams is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on the full bandwidth corresponding to the channel state information report, and K is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the K beams includes: L second wideband channel quality indications, where one of the L second wideband channel quality indications corresponds to one or more of the K beams, and L is an integer less than or equal to K; and / or, Q first change information, where one of the Q first change information indicates the change amount of the second wideband channel quality indication corresponding to one or more of the K beams relative to the second wideband channel quality indication of a reference beam, and Q is an integer less than or equal to K.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein One of the first change information indicates the difference between a second wideband channel quality indication and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam; or, One of the first change information indicates a difference interval, and the difference interval includes the difference between a second wideband channel quality indication and the second wideband channel quality indication of the reference beam.

20. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 19, characterized in that The method further includes: Sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate a first number of bits, and the first number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to each of the K beams; or, Sending first information to the terminal device, where the first information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by the first wideband channel quality indications corresponding to all or part of the K beams respectively.

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that Receiving N channel quality indications, including: Receiving the indexes of the K beams and the N channel quality indications, where the index of one beam corresponds to one channel quality indication.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 21, characterized in that, The N channel quality indications include first subband channel quality indications corresponding to R beams among the M beams, and one first subband channel quality indication of one of the beams is used to indicate the channel quality of the one beam on one subband in the channel state information reporting bandwidth, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to M.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, The first subband channel quality indications corresponding to the R beams include: S second subband channel quality indications, where one of the S second subband channel quality indications corresponds to one subband of one of the R beams; and / or, P second change information, where one of the second change information indicates the change amount of the second subband channel quality indication corresponding to a first beam among the R beams relative to a reference channel quality indication, where the reference channel quality indication is: The first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam, or, The first wideband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference beam, or, The second subband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference subband of the first beam, or, The second subband channel quality indication corresponding to the reference subband of the reference beam.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein One of the second change information indicates the difference between the second subband channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication; or, The one second change information indicates a difference range, and the difference range includes a difference between a second sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to the first beam and the reference channel quality indication.

25. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 24, characterized in that The reference beam satisfies one or more of the following: The reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam index among the M beams; The reference beam is the beam with the largest or smallest corresponding beam reception power among the M beams; The reference beam is the beam of the first channel quality indication reported by the terminal device received by the network device among the M beams; or, The reference beam is the beam configured or indicated by the network device.

26. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 25, characterized in that The reference sub-band satisfies one or more of the following: The reference sub-band is the sub-band configured or indicated by the network device; or, The reference sub-band is the sub-band with the smallest or largest index among the sub-bands corresponding to the second beam, and the second beam is the first beam or the reference beam.

27. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 26, characterized in that The method further includes: Sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate a second number of bits, and the second number of bits is the number of bits occupied by each first sub-band channel quality indication corresponding to each of the R beams; or, Sending second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to indicate at least one number of bits, and the at least one number of bits is the number of bits occupied by all or part of the first sub-band channel quality indications corresponding to all or part of the R beams respectively.

28. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 27, characterized in that Receiving N channel quality indications, including: Receiving the indexes of the R beams and the N channel quality indications, where the index of one beam corresponds to one or more channel quality indications.

29. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit, and the processing unit is coupled to the transceiver unit to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or execute the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28.

30. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor and a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to execute the computer program stored on the memory, so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28.

31. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28.

32. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28.

33. A chip system, characterized in that, The chip system includes: A processor and an interface, the processor being configured to call and execute instructions from the interface, and when the processor executes the instructions, implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, or implementing the method according to any one of claims 16 to 28.

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