Communication method, device and system

Abstract

The invention relates to a communication method, device and system. And the terminal receives a reference signal from the first network device, the reference signal corresponding to the first beam, and the reference signal being determined according to ephemeris information of the first network device and position information of the terminal. And the terminal sends first indication information to the first network device, the first indication information being used for indicating the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information being determined according to the measurement result of the reference signal and the first threshold. In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal reports the first indication information determined by the measurement result of the reference signal and the first threshold value instead of directly reporting the measurement result of the reference signal, so that the signaling overhead required for reporting the measurement result by the terminal can be reduced.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] To ensure good downlink communication quality between a terminal and a network device, the terminal usually measures the reference signals separately sent by the network device through multiple beams first, and then reports the measurement results for the multiple reference signals (for example, reference signal receiving power (RSRP), etc.) to the network device. So that after receiving the multiple measurement results, the network device can select a suitable beam from the multiple beams to provide communication services (for example, downlink data transmission or scheduling) for the terminal.

[0003] However, since the measurement results reported by the terminal to the network device include specific signal measurement values (for example, RSRP measurement values or RSRP quantization values), and the number of bits occupied by the signal measurement values is relatively large, usually a large signaling overhead is required to report the measurement results. For example, the terminal needs to occupy a relatively large number of bits and / or resources to report the measurement results to the network device. Summary of the Invention

[0004] Embodiments of this application provide a communication method, apparatus, and system for reducing the signaling overhead required for a terminal to report measurement results.

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be executed by a terminal, or by other devices including terminal functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules. The chip system or functional module can implement the functions of the terminal. The chip system or functional module is, for example, disposed in the terminal. In the following description, it is taken as an example that this method is executed by the terminal. The method includes: receiving a reference signal from a first network device, where the reference signal corresponds to a first beam, and the reference signal can be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal; sending first indication information to the first network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information can be determined according to the measurement result of the reference signal and a first threshold.

[0006] In the embodiments of the present application, after the terminal receives the reference signal sent by the first network device on the first beam, it can generate first indication information for indicating the beam quality of the first beam according to the measurement result of the reference signal (e.g., the RSRP measurement value) and the first threshold set for the reference signal, and then report the generated first indication information to the first network device, so that the first network device can determine whether the first network device meets the downlink communication requirements between the terminal and the first network device according to the first indication information, that is, the first network device can determine whether the first beam meets the requirement of being the downlink communication beam between the terminal and the first network device according to the first indication information; in this way, since the terminal does not need to report the measurement result including the specific signal measurement value anymore, but only reports the indication information on whether the first beam meets the downlink communication requirements between the terminal and the first network device, and the number of bits occupied by the signal measurement value (e.g., 7 bits) is relatively large, while the signaling overhead required for the first indication information is relatively small (e.g., 1 bit); therefore, the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report the measurement result is reduced.

[0007] In addition, since the first network device can determine what reference signal to use on the first beam, the transmission power corresponding to the reference signal, the information / content carried by the reference signal, the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal, the time-frequency resources occupied by transmitting the reference signal, etc. according to the ephemeris information (or location information) of the first network device and the location information of the terminal, that is, the first network device can configure the reference signal transmitted on the first beam, so as to ensure to a certain extent that the terminal can have a better beam measurement effect, that is, it can better realize the measurement of the reference signal. In this way, after the terminal obtains a relatively accurate measurement result of the reference signal, it can more accurately determine whether the first beam can be used as the beam that meets the downlink communication requirements between the terminal and the first network device in combination with the first threshold.

[0008] In an optional implementation manner, when the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information may be a first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than the first threshold, the first indication information may be a second value. Since the first indication information can be the first value or the second value, then a 1-bit binary bit sequence can be used to represent the foregoing first value and second value, that is, the terminal only needs 1-bit signaling overhead to realize the reporting of the first indication information. Therefore, compared with the terminal directly reporting the RSRP measurement value, the signaling overhead of the terminal is saved to a large extent.

[0009] In another alternative embodiment, the first threshold may include multiple thresholds, the first indication information may be indication information of a threshold interval corresponding to a measurement result of the reference signal, and the threshold interval may be determined according to the multiple thresholds. In this embodiment, the terminal may compare the measurement result of the reference signal transmitted in the first beam with the magnitudes of the multiple thresholds, that is, the terminal may determine the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal transmitted in the first beam according to the multiple thresholds. In this way, the terminal can report the first indication information only by the signaling overhead occupied by the binary bit sequence corresponding to the indication information of the threshold interval. Therefore, compared with the terminal directly reporting the RSRP measurement value, the signaling overhead of the terminal can also be saved. For example, if the first threshold includes 2 thresholds, then there are a total of 3 threshold intervals, that is, the above 3 threshold intervals can be represented by a 2-bit binary bit sequence; thus, the terminal only needs 2-bit signaling overhead to report the first indication information.

[0010] In an alternative embodiment, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal. In this embodiment, the terminal can measure the beam between the first network device and the terminal; and since the signaling overhead for the terminal to report the first indication information is small, the time required for the terminal to report the first indication information to the first network device will also be short, that is, the first network device can quickly select a suitable beam from multiple beams of the first network device to provide communication services for the terminal based on the first indication information reported by the terminal.

[0011] In an alternative embodiment, the first beam may be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and / or the location information of the terminal. In this way, the terminal does not need to perform beam measurement on all beams of the first network device, but only needs to perform beam measurement on the beams that may provide communication services for the terminal, which can avoid the terminal performing beam measurement on the beams that will not provide communication services for the terminal at all, thereby reducing the ineffective signaling overhead and system resource waste of the terminal and the first network device; in addition, since the number of beams measured by the terminal is not all the beams of the first network device, the efficiency of the first network device configuring the downlink communication beam for the terminal in the future will also be reduced.

[0012] In another alternative embodiment, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal, and the first beam may be determined according to a second beam between the second network device and the terminal. In this embodiment, the first network device can implement beam measurement of other network devices (e.g., the second network device), that is, adjust its own beam through the second beam between the second network device and the terminal, and then send a reference signal to the terminal through the adjusted beam to implement measurement of the beam of the second network device. To a certain extent, this simplifies the beam reporting mechanism of the terminal and reduces the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report measurement results.

[0013] In an alternative embodiment, the second beam may be determined according to the ephemeris information of the second network device and / or the location information of the terminal. In this way, the terminal does not need to perform beam measurement on all beams of the second network device, but only needs to perform beam measurement on the beams that may provide communication services for the terminal. This can avoid the terminal from performing beam measurement on the beams that will not provide communication services for the terminal, thereby reducing the ineffective signaling overhead between the terminal and the second network device and wasting of system resources. In addition, since the number of beams measured by the terminal is not all the beams of the second network device, it will also reduce the efficiency of the second network device to configure downlink communication beams for the terminal in the future.

[0014] In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is associated with the second network device. In this embodiment, in a scenario of multiple network devices (e.g., multi-star scenario), this enables the first network device to know which network device the first indication information reported by the terminal corresponds to, so that the corresponding network device can perform beam allocation for the terminal subsequently.

[0015] In an alternative embodiment, the method may further include: receiving configuration information from the first network device, where the configuration information may include indication information of the first threshold. In this way, by implementing the configuration of the first threshold by the first network device, the signaling overhead of related operations such as configuring the first threshold by the terminal can be reduced. And if the first network device sends the configuration information carrying the indication information of the first threshold to the terminal only when the terminal needs to determine the first indication information according to the measurement result of the reference signal and the first threshold, this also enables the terminal to release the storage space reserved for storing the first threshold.

[0016] In an alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: an identifier of the reference signal; time-frequency resources occupied by the reference signal; a downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal; time-frequency resources occupied by the first indication information; or, an uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information. Since the indication information of the foregoing at least one item is used to indicate measurement resources required for configuring the reference signal or reporting resources required for the terminal to report the first indication information, after the terminal obtains the indication information of the foregoing at least one item, it can perform measurement on the reference signal and / or report the measurement result, thereby reducing signaling overhead of the terminal for related configurations.

[0017] In yet another alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: a control resource set resource pool index (CORESET Pool Index) of the second network device; a physical cell identifier (PCI) of the second network device; an identifier of the second network device; ephemeris information of the second network device; an orbital plane identifier of the second network device; or, an identifier of a network device located in the orbital plane. In this way, after the terminal obtains the indication information of the foregoing at least one item, it can know which network device among multiple network devices the beam measurement is currently performed on.

[0018] In a second aspect, another communication method is provided. This method may be executed by a first network device, or by other devices including the functions of the first network device, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, and the chip system or functional module can implement the functions of the first network device. The chip system or functional module is, for example, disposed in the first network device. In the following description, it is taken as an example that this method is executed by the first network device. The method includes: sending a reference signal to a terminal, where the reference signal corresponds to a first beam, and the reference signal may be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal; receiving first indication information from the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information may be determined according to the measurement result of the reference signal and a first threshold.

[0019] In an alternative embodiment, when the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information may be a first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than the first threshold, the first indication information may be a second value.

[0020] In another alternative embodiment, the first threshold may include multiple thresholds, the first indication information may be indication information of a threshold interval corresponding to a measurement result of the reference signal, and the threshold interval may be determined according to the multiple thresholds.

[0021] In an alternative embodiment, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal.

[0022] In an alternative embodiment, the first beam may be determined according to ephemeris information of the first network device and / or location information of the terminal.

[0023] In another alternative embodiment, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal, and the first beam may be determined according to a second beam between a second network device and the terminal.

[0024] In an alternative embodiment, the second beam may be determined according to ephemeris information of the second network device and / or location information of the terminal.

[0025] In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is associated with the second network device.

[0026] In an alternative embodiment, the method may further include: sending configuration information to the terminal, where the configuration information may include indication information of the first threshold.

[0027] In an alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: an identifier of the reference signal; time-frequency resources occupied by the reference signal; a downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal; time-frequency resources occupied by the first indication information; or, an uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information.

[0028] In yet another alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: a CORESET Pool Index of the second network device; a PCI of the second network device; an identifier of the second network device; ephemeris information of the second network device; an orbital plane identifier of the second network device; or, an identifier of a network device located in the orbital plane.

[0029] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the terminal described in the first aspect above. The communication device may also be other entities including the functions of the above terminal. For example, the communication device is other devices with terminal functions, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, and the chip system or functional module can implement the functions of the terminal, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, disposed in the terminal. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a radio frequency device and a baseband device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module) and a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing 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). 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.

[0030] In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is configured to receive a reference signal from a first network device, the reference signal corresponds to a first beam, and the reference signal may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is configured to send first indication information to the first network device, and the first indication information is used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the measurement result of the reference signal and a first threshold.

[0031] In an optional implementation manner, when the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information may be a first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than the first threshold, the first indication information may be a second value.

[0032] In another optional implementation manner, the first threshold may include multiple thresholds, and the first indication information may be indication information of a threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal, and the threshold interval may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the multiple thresholds.

[0033] In an optional implementation manner, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal.

[0034] In an alternative embodiment, the first beam may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and / or the location information of the terminal.

[0035] In another alternative embodiment, the first beam may be the beam between the first network device and the terminal, and the first beam may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the second beam between the second network device and the terminal.

[0036] In an alternative embodiment, the second beam may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the ephemeris information of the second network device and / or the location information of the terminal.

[0037] In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is associated with the second network device.

[0038] In an alternative embodiment, the method may further include: the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is configured to receive configuration information from the first network device, and the configuration information may include indication information of the first threshold.

[0039] In an alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: the identifier of the reference signal; the time-frequency resource occupied by the reference signal; the downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal; the time-frequency resource occupied by the first indication information; or, the uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information.

[0040] In yet another alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: the CORESET Pool Index of the second network device; the PCI of the second network device; the identifier of the second network device; the ephemeris information of the second network device; the orbital plane identifier of the second network device; or, the identifier of the network device located in the orbital plane.

[0041] Fourthly, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the first network device described in the second aspect above. The communication device may also include other entities with the functions of the first network device described above. For example, the communication device is another device with the functions of the first network device, or a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, and the chip system or functional modules can implement the functions of the first network device, and the chip system or functional modules are, for example, disposed in the first network device. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional 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.

[0042] In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is configured to send a reference signal to a terminal, the reference signal corresponding to a first beam, and the reference signal may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the position information of the terminal; the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is configured to receive first indication information from the terminal, the first indication information being used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the measurement result of the reference signal and a first threshold.

[0043] In an optional implementation manner, when the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information may be a first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than the first threshold, the first indication information may be a second value.

[0044] In another optional implementation manner, the first threshold may include multiple thresholds, and the first indication information may be indication information of a threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal, and the threshold interval may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the multiple thresholds.

[0045] In an optional implementation manner, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal.

[0046] In an optional implementation manner, the first beam may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and / or the position information of the terminal.

[0047] In another alternative embodiment, the first beam may be a beam between the first network device and the terminal, and the first beam may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to a second beam between the second network device and the terminal.

[0048] In an alternative embodiment, the second beam may be determined by the processing unit (or, processing module) according to the ephemeris information of the second network device and / or the location information of the terminal.

[0049] In an alternative embodiment, the first indication information is associated with the second network device.

[0050] In an alternative embodiment, the method may further include: the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is configured to send configuration information to the terminal, and the configuration information may include indication information of the first threshold.

[0051] In an alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: the identifier of the reference signal; the time-frequency resource occupied by the reference signal; the downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal; the time-frequency resource occupied by the first indication information; or, the uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information.

[0052] In yet another alternative embodiment, the configuration information may further include indication information of at least one of the following: the CORESET Pool Index of the second network device; the PCI of the second network device; the identifier of the second network device; the ephemeris information of the second network device; the orbital plane identifier of the second network device; or, the identifier of the network device located in the orbital plane.

[0053] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a terminal, or a chip or chip system used in a terminal. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor. Optionally, a memory is further included. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction through the communication interface, the communication device executes the method performed by the terminal in the first aspect above.

[0054] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be a first network device, or a chip or chip system used in the first network device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor. Optionally, a memory is further included. The memory is used to store a computer program. The processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instructions through the communication interface, the communication device is caused to execute the method performed by the first network device in the second aspect above.

[0055] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. The computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are run, the methods performed by the terminal and / or the first network device in each of the first aspect to the second aspect above are implemented.

[0056] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product including instructions is provided. When the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the methods described in each of the first aspect to the second aspect above are implemented.

[0057] In a ninth aspect, a chip system is provided, including a processor and an interface. The processor is used to call and run instructions from the interface, so that the chip system implements the methods described in each of the first aspect to the second aspect above.

[0058] For the technical effects that can be achieved by each of the above second aspect to the ninth aspect and each possible implementation in each of these aspects, reference can be made to the effects described in the corresponding possible design in the first aspect above, and the repeated parts will not be elaborated. Description of the Drawings

[0059] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a typical application scenario of the space-ground integrated network provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0060] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a beam coverage area provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of a multi-satellite scenario provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of a first threshold provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Figure 6 It is another schematic diagram of a first threshold provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0065] Figure 7 Schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] Figure 8 Schematic diagram of another device provided by an embodiment of the present application. Specific implementation manners

[0067] The present application provides a communication method, device and system for reducing the signaling overhead required for a terminal to report measurement results. Among them, the method, device and system are based on the same technical concept, and since the principles of solving problems by the method, device and system are similar, the implementations of the method, device and system can be referred to each other, and the repeated parts will not be elaborated.

[0068] The following explains some terms in the embodiments of the present application to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0069] 1) Non-terrestrial network (NTN), which is proposed relative to the traditional terrestrial network, refers to a network established using non-terrestrial communication technologies, and may include, but is not limited to, a network that uses spectrum resources on communication platforms such as satellite platforms, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms, or high altitude platform stations (HAPS) for communication services.

[0070] [[ID=ID=19]]Exemplarily, the NTN system may include, but is not limited to, a satellite (communication) system, a UAV communication system, and a HAPS system. Among them, according to the different heights of the satellites from the earth's surface (i.e., satellite orbital heights), the satellite communication system can be divided into a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite system or a geostationary earth orbit (GEO or GSO) satellite system, a highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellite system, a medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite system, and a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite system, etc. Correspondingly, according to the different types of satellite communication systems, the satellites in the satellite communication system can also be divided into GEO satellites, HEO satellites, MEO satellites, LEO satellites, etc.

[0071] Optionally, the GEO satellite system may also be referred to as a geostationary orbit satellite system. The HEO satellite system, MEO satellite system, and LEO satellite system may also be collectively referred to as a non-geostationary earth orbit (NGEO or NGSO) satellite system, or a non-geostationary orbit satellite system.

[0072] Compared with the terrestrial network, since NTN has characteristics such as a wider coverage area, higher path loss, longer delay, faster speed, and lower cost, with the increasing research popularity of NTN, the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) has also carried out standardized research on NTN, aiming to supplement or enhance the communication performance of mobile communication systems through the construction of NTN. For example, 3GPP has started research on satellite-terrestrial integration and related solutions since release 14 (R14).

[0073] 2) The terminal in the embodiments of the present application is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities (i.e., it can send signals to a network device and also receive signals from a network device). It can 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 is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as but not limited to the following scenarios: sensing scenarios, cellular communications, device-to-device (D2D) communications, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, 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.

[0074] When the terminal 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 (hybrid electric vehicle, HEV), a range extended electric vehicle (range extended EV, REEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (plug-in HEV, PHEV), a new energy vehicle, or a roadside unit (road site unit, RSU). The terminal can also be a device in D2D communication, such as smart meters, smart water meters, and other smart instruments. In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal can also be a terminal 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, so as to achieve an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection.

[0075] Among the various terminals introduced above, if they are located on a vehicle (for example, placed inside or installed inside the vehicle), they can all be considered on-vehicle terminals. An on-vehicle terminal is also referred to as an on-board unit (OBU) for example. The terminal of the present application can also be an on-vehicle module, on-vehicle module group, on-vehicle component, on-vehicle chip, or on-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 on-vehicle module, on-vehicle module group, on-vehicle component, on-vehicle chip, or on-vehicle unit.

[0076] The terminal can sometimes be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a terminal device, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user device, etc.

[0077] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device for implementing the terminal function can be the terminal or a communication device capable of supporting the terminal to implement this function, such as a chip system. This communication device can be installed in the terminal. In the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application, the communication device for implementing the terminal function is taken as an example of the terminal to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0078] 3) The network device in the embodiments of the present application can be a device that communicates with a terminal over the air interface. For example, it includes non-terrestrial network devices such as satellites, or it can also be an access device through which a terminal wirelessly accesses a mobile communication system. For example, it includes access network (AN) devices located on the ground. Exemplarily, the access network devices in the embodiments of the present application include, but are not limited to, base stations (base transceiver stations (BTS), Node B, evolved Node B (eNodeB) / eNB, or next generation Node B (gNodeB) / gNB), transmission reception points (TRP), base stations evolved by 3GPP in the future, access nodes in a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, 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 networks of the same access technology or networks of different access technologies. A 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 base station control device. The access network device can also be other devices in the access network such as a server, and the present application does not limit this. For example, the network device in V2X technology can be a road side unit (RSU). The following takes a base station as an example to illustrate the access network device. A base station can communicate with a terminal or communicate with a terminal through a relay station. A terminal 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 device names for implementing core network functions in systems of different access technologies can be different, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.Taking the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication technology system as an example, the core network devices include: access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), policy control function (PCF), user plane function (UPF), etc. Embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies and specific device forms adopted by network devices.

[0079] In the CU-DU architecture, the access network devices may include one or more of the logical network elements such as a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (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 CU-CP may be divided into CU-CP1 and CU-CP2. CU-CP1 includes various radio resource management functions, and CU-CP2 includes radio resource control (RRC) functions and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)-C functions (i.e., the basic functions of control plane signaling at the PDCP layer). In this network architecture, the signaling generated by the CU can be sent to the terminal through the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal can be sent to the CU through the DU. The DU may directly transmit the signaling to the terminal or the CU through protocol layer encapsulation without parsing the signaling.

[0080] 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).

[0081] In addition, the above CU-DU architecture can split the protocol layer of the network device. The functions of some protocol layers are centrally controlled by the CU, and the functions of the remaining part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, with the CU centrally controlling the DU. For example, the functions of the protocol layers above the PDCP layer can be set in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the radio link control (RLC) layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer, etc.) can be set in the DU. It should be noted that this division of protocol layers is only an example, and the division can also be made at other protocol layers, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0082] It should also be noted that 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 an Open RAN (ORAN) system, the CU can also be called CU (O-CU), the DU can also be called O-DU, the CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be called O-RU. For ease of description, the embodiments of the present application describe using CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any unit in the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented through a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0083] Optionally, in each embodiment of the present application, the actions performed by the cell (such as sending information to the UE or receiving information from the UE, or processing information, etc.) can be specifically performed by the network device providing the cell. Optionally, in each embodiment of the present application, if the network device is a distributed architecture, for example, the network device includes a CU and a DU, or includes a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, then when the network device sends information to the UE, specifically, the DU included in the network device can send information to the UE; when the network device receives information from the UE, specifically, the DU included in the network device can receive information from the UE. In addition, if the network device is a distributed architecture, for example, the network device includes a CU and a DU, or includes a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU, then when the network device sends information to another network device, specifically, the CU or CU-CP included in the network device can send information to the CU or CU-CP of another network device; when the network device receives information from another network device, specifically, the CU or CU-CP included in the network device can receive information from the CU or CU-CP of another network device.

[0084] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device for implementing the functions of a network device may be a network device or 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 device for implementing the functions of a network device is taken as an example of a network device to describe the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0085] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, for the number of nouns, it means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects and indicates that there can be three relationships. 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 represents that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "At least one (item)" or its similar expression refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item (item) or plural items (items). For example, at least one (item) of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0086] The ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects and are not used to limit the size, content, order, time sequence, priority, or importance degree, etc. of the multiple objects. For example, the first information and the second information may be the same information or different information, and such names do not indicate differences in the sender / receiver, format, content, size, application scenario, priority, or importance degree, etc. of these two pieces of information. For another example, the first network device and the second network device may be the same network device or different network devices, and such names do not indicate differences in the priority or importance degree, etc. of these two network devices.

[0087] In addition, for the numbering of steps in each of the embodiments introduced in the present application, in some cases, it is only used to distinguish different steps and does not limit the sequence of steps.

[0088] In the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if", and "if" all refer to the device making corresponding processing under a certain objective situation, which does not limit time, and it is not required that the device (such as a network device or a terminal) must have a judgment action when implementing, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0089] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, "for indicating" may include for directly indicating (or displaying an indication) and for indirectly indicating (or implicitly indicating). When describing that a certain piece of information is used to indicate A, it may include that the information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and it does not necessarily mean that A is carried in the information. Taking the first piece of information being used to indicate the first content as an example, the first piece of information may include the first content, or a part of the first content, or an identifier, index, etc. of the first content, and may also include an algorithm for determining the first content, calculation parameters, etc. In particular, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the manner of "indicating".

[0090] 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 accompanying drawings.

[0091] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various NTN scenarios. Since the satellite communication system is a typical application scenario in the NTN scenario, therefore, the communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application will be described by taking the satellite communication system in NTN as an example.

[0092] In a satellite communication system, a terminal located on the ground accesses the network through the air interface. The base station can be deployed on the satellite or on the ground (in this case, the satellite has a relay function). Optionally, part of the functions of the base station can be deployed on the satellite, and another part of the functions can be deployed on the ground. The satellite can communicate with the ground station through a wireless link, and then communicate with the base station or the core network in the ground network.

[0093] The functions of each network element in the satellite communication system will be described below.

[0094] Terminal: It can access the satellite communication system through the air interface and initiate services such as calls and Internet access. For specific descriptions and examples, reference can be made to the terminology explanations in point 2) above.

[0095] Base station: It provides wireless access services for terminals, schedules wireless resources for the accessed terminals, and provides reliable wireless transmission protocols and data encryption protocols, etc. For specific descriptions and examples, reference can be made to the terminology explanations about network devices in point 3) above.

[0096] Core network: It is used to implement services such as user access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, and charging. The core network consists of multiple functional units and can be divided into functional units or functional entities on the control plane and the data plane.

[0097] Exemplarily, the functional units or functional entities of the control plane may include: SMF network element, AMF network element, unified data management (UDM) entity, and PCF entity. Among them, the AMF network element may be responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management; the SMF network element may be responsible for session management. Of course, the control plane may also include other functional units or functional entities, and the specific types and quantities of the functional units or functional entities of the control plane are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0098] For another example, the functional units or functional entities of the data plane may include UPF network elements. The UPF network elements are mainly responsible for managing the transmission of user plane data, traffic statistics, etc. Of course, the data plane may also include other functional units or functional entities, and the specific types and quantities of the functional units or functional entities of the data plane are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0099] Ground station: Used to connect the satellite to the ground network and is responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between the satellite and the base station or core network in the ground network. For example, one or more satellites can be connected to one or more ground base stations through one or more gateways, which is not limited here. The ground station can also be called a gateway (GW), satellite ground station, earth station, signaling gateway, border gateway, etc.

[0100] According to the communication mode of the satellite, the satellite communication system can be divided into a transparent transmission mode and a regenerative mode. The following is an explanation in combination with Figure 1 several typical application scenario examples of satellite-ground integrated networks.

[0101] In the transparent transmission mode, the satellite acts as an analog radio frequency repeater, realizing radio frequency conversion and amplification, and can transparently transmit or replicate signals between the ground base station and the terminal, that is, the satellite only has the function of signal forwarding. Exemplarily, the signal sent by the terminal can be transparently transmitted through the satellite and forwarded by the gateway to enter the ground base station. Refer to Figure 1 as shown in (a) below. The terminal is connected to the satellite and between the satellite and the ground station through the air interface (such as the Uu interface). The satellite is equivalent to a repeater and is used to forward signals between the satellite and the ground station. There is a communication connection between the ground station and the base station in the ground network. The base station and the core network (CN) can communicate through the next generation (NG) interface (such as the N2 interface, etc.), and the core network and the data network (DN) communicate through the N6 interface.

[0102] In the regeneration mode, the satellite can act as a base station for wireless communication to realize the regeneration of signals received from the ground, and can analyze (or understand) and process these signals, that is, the satellite has the ability to process signals. Exemplarily, the satellite can be a base station carried on an artificial earth satellite or a high-altitude aircraft. At this time, the gateway can forward the signaling between the satellite (i.e., the base station) and the core network. Refer to Figure 1 As shown in (b)-(d) of

[0103] As Figure 1 shown in (b) of

[0104] As Figure 1 shown in (c) of Figure 1 a DU in the base station is carried on the satellite, and the ground station can be connected to the CU in the base station deployed in the ground network. A communication connection can be established between the terminal and the satellite through the air interface, and a communication connection can be established between the satellite and the CU through the F1 interface through the ground station. The interfaces between the CU, the core network, and the data network can refer to

[0105] As Figure 1 shown in (d) of Figure 1 compared with the application scenario shown in (b) of Figure 1 the communication between satellites (base stations) is added, that is, the terminal can access the network through one satellite (base station) or multiple satellites (base stations). As

[0106] The following Figure 1 describes the interfaces between network elements in each of the application scenarios shown.

[0107] Air interface: Represents the wireless link between the terminal and the base station. For example, the air interface can be the Uu interface.

[0108] Xn interface: Represents the interface between base stations, mainly used for signaling interaction such as handover.

[0109] NG interface: It represents the interface between the base station and the core network, mainly interacting with signaling such as the non-access stratum (NAS) of the core network, as well as the service data of users. Exemplarily, the NG interface may include N2 interface, N3 interface, etc.

[0110] It should be noted that although Figure 1 some application scenarios in it only show a limited number of satellites, ground stations and terminals, in the embodiments of the present application, no limitation is made on the number of the above-mentioned communication devices or network elements (such as satellites, ground stations, terminals, etc.). That is, in the actual scenario, an architecture of multiple satellites and / or multiple ground stations collaborating can be adopted according to communication requirements. Among them, each satellite can provide communication services to one or more terminals, and each ground station can correspond to one or more satellites; similarly, each satellite can also correspond to one or more ground stations, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0111] It should be noted that Figure 1 the satellite communication system shown does not constitute a limitation on the communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application can also be applicable to the communication systems in various NTN scenarios. In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the mobile communication system standard of the ground network in the satellite communication system. Exemplarily, the mobile communication system of the ground network can be the 4th generation (4G) system, such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or the 5G system, such as the 5G New Radio (NR) system, or the 6th generation (6G) system or new communication systems emerging in the future development of communication, etc.

[0112] The core of beam management is to manage the scanning, reporting and maintenance of beams (such as static beams), etc., select appropriate beams for each uplink channel or downlink channel, so as to improve cell coverage and save system overhead. For example, for the NR system, beam management may include, but is not limited to: beam scanning, beam measurement / judgment, beam reporting, beam indication and beam failure recovery.

[0113] Among them, beam scanning means that the beam for transmitting the reference signal performs spatial scanning at a predefined time interval (or scanning period); beam measurement / judgment means that the terminal (e.g., UE) measures the reference signal, and the network device (e.g., base station) selects a beam that can provide better communication services for the terminal according to the measurement results of the reference signal reported by the terminal (i.e., beam measurement results); beam reporting means that the terminal reports the measurement results for the reference signal; and beam indication means that the network device indicates the beam selected by the network device for the terminal to the terminal, that is, to inform the terminal which (downlink) beam the terminal will receive the downlink data sent by the network device through in the future, or which (uplink) beam the terminal can send the uplink data to the network device through in the future; beam failure recovery may include beam failure detection, discovery of a new beam, beam recovery process, etc.

[0114] Therefore, in order to ensure good downlink communication quality between the terminal and the network device, the terminal usually first measures the reference signals respectively sent by the network device through multiple beams (i.e., beam measurement), and then reports the measurement results for the multiple reference signals respectively to the network device (i.e., beam reporting). Among them, each measurement result may include measurement values such as RSRP, so that after receiving the multiple measurement results, the network device can select a suitable beam from the multiple beams to provide communication services for the terminal (e.g., downlink data transmission or scheduling), that is, beam judgment.

[0115] In the current standard, the terminal can support reporting the measurement results of up to 4 beams at most at one time, that is, the measurement results reported by the terminal may include 4 channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicators (CSI-RS resource indicator, CRI), and each CRI occupies n bits, and the specific number of bits occupied is agreed by layer 3 (layer, L3); in addition, it also includes 1 basic RSRP, the quantization range of RSRP is [-140, -44] decibel milliwatt (dBm), the step size is 1 dB, and it occupies 7 bits; 3 differential RSRPs, which can represent the difference from the highest reported RSRP, the step size is 2 dB, and each differential RSRP occupies 4 bits, and the maximum differential reporting range of 32 dB can be supported. Optionally, the aforementioned basic RSRP is usually the maximum value among at least one RSRP measured by the terminal and reported in one beam information reporting process, that is, the highest RSRP. Among them, the step size can represent the change amount of the corresponding RSRP (e.g., basic RSRP or differential RSRP) value. For example, if an RSRP is 2.12 dB and the step size is 2 dB, the RSRP values adjacent to this RSRP may be 0.12 dB or 4.12 dB.

[0116] Exemplarily, taking the case where the CRI occupies 6 bits as an example, as shown in Table 1 below, it is an example of the corresponding relationship between different reporting beam numbers and different beam reporting overheads in the existing mechanism; where the reporting beam number is also the measurement result of the reference signals of how many beams the terminal reports at one time.

[0117] Table 1: Example of the corresponding relationship between different reporting beam numbers and different beam reporting overheads

[0118] Number of reported beams (unit: number) 1 2 3 4 Beam reporting overhead (unit: bit) 7 23 33 43

[0119] As shown in Table 1 above, when the reporting beam number is 1, the measurement result reported by the terminal only includes 1 basic RSRP, that is, the RSRP measurement value or RSRP quantization value corresponding to this beam. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report the measurement results of 1 beam is: the number of bits occupied by 1 basic RSRP, that is, 7 bits; furthermore, when the reporting beam number is 2, the measurement result reported by the terminal not only includes one basic RSRP, but also includes a differential RSRP and 2 CRIs. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report the measurement results of 2 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 1 basic RSRP + the number of bits occupied by 1 differential RSRP + the number of bits occupied by 2 CRIs = 7 + 4 + 2×6 = 23 bits. At this time, the basic RSRP can be the largest one of the RSRP measurement values or RSRP quantization values corresponding to the 2 beams.

[0120] Similarly, when the reporting beam number is 3, the measurement result reported by the terminal not only includes 1 basic RSRP, but also includes 2 differential RSRPs and 3 CRIs, that is, compared with the beam reporting overhead when the reporting beam number is 2, the signaling overhead required to report 1 differential RSRP and 1 CRI is increased; therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report the measurement results of 3 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 1 basic RSRP + the number of bits occupied by 2 differential RSRPs + the number of bits occupied by 3 CRIs = 7 + 2×4 + 3×6 = 33 bits. At this time, the basic RSRP can be the largest one of the RSRP measurement values or RSRP quantization values corresponding to the 3 beams.

[0121] When the number of reported beams is 4, the measurement results reported by the terminal not only include 1 basic RSRP, but also 3 differential RSRPs and 4 CRIs. That is, compared with the beam reporting overhead when the number of reported beams is 3, the signaling overhead required for reporting 1 differential RSRP and 1 CRI is increased. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report the measurement results of 4 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 1 basic RSRP + the number of bits occupied by 2 differential RSRPs + the number of bits occupied by 4 CRIs = 7 + 3×4 + 4×6 = 43 bits. At this time, the basic RSRP can be the largest one among the RSRP measurement values or RSRP quantization values corresponding to the 4 beams respectively.

[0122] It can be seen from this that since the measurement results reported by the terminal to the network device include specific signal measurement values (for example, basic RSRP or differential RSRP), and the number of bits occupied by the signal measurement values (for example, 1 basic RSRP occupies 7 bits or 1 differential RSRP occupies 4 bits) is relatively large, usually a relatively large signaling overhead is required to report the measurement results. For example, the terminal needs to occupy more bits and / or resources to report the measurement results to the network device.

[0123] In view of this, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal can receive the reference signal sent by the first network device on the first beam, and after obtaining the measurement result for the reference signal (e.g., the RSRP measurement value), it can generate the first indication information for indicating the beam quality of the first beam in combination with the first threshold set for the reference signal, and then report the generated first indication information to the first network device, so that the first network device can determine whether the first beam meets the downlink communication requirements between the terminal and the first network device according to the first indication information, that is, the first network device can determine whether the first beam can be used as the downlink communication beam between the terminal and the first network device; in this way, since the terminal no longer reports the measurement result including the specific signal measurement value (e.g., the RSRP measurement value), but only reports the indication information on whether the first beam meets the downlink communication requirements between the terminal and the first network device, therefore, a large signaling overhead is no longer required to implement the reporting of the measurement result; thus, the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report the measurement result is reduced. Optionally, the first threshold can be determined according to the influencing factor of the measurement result of the reference signal, where the influencing factor can be the distance between the terminal and the first network device, and can also be the possible attenuation situation (e.g., building blockage, weather, etc.); it should also be noted that although in the embodiments of the present application, the selection method of the reference signal sent by the first network device on the first beam is not limited, but in order to achieve a better beam measurement effect, the foregoing reference signal can be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal, in other words, the relevant attribute information of the foregoing reference signal (such as the transmission power of the reference signal, the information / content carried by the reference signal, the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal, the time-frequency resources occupied by sending the reference signal, etc.) can be determined by the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal.

[0124] To better introduce the embodiments of the present application, a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be introduced below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Refer to Figure 2 As shown, it is a flowchart of a communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application. In the following introduction process, it is taken as an example to illustrate the application scenario shown in Figure 1 As shown. The process of this method is introduced as follows.

[0125] S201. The first network device sends a reference signal to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the reference signal from the first network device.

[0126] Among them, the foregoing reference signal corresponds to the first beam, that is, the first network device can send the reference signal to the terminal through the first beam; optionally, the first beam can be the beam between the first network device and the terminal, so that the terminal can measure the beam between the first network device and the terminal by measuring the reference signal sent by the first network device.

[0127] In an alternative implementation, since the first network device usually has multiple beams, and each beam can provide communication services for terminals within the corresponding beam coverage area (e.g., a cell), if a terminal measures each beam of the first network device, it will result in a large amount of ineffective signaling overhead and waste of system resources. For example, if a terminal measures a beam that will not provide communication services for the terminal at all (e.g., the terminal will not be within the beam coverage area on the ground of such a beam), it will cause a large amount of ineffective signaling overhead and waste of system resources for both the terminal and the first network device. In addition, it will also reduce the efficiency of the first network device to configure downlink communication beams for the terminal subsequently. Therefore, the foregoing first beam can be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and / or the location information of the terminal; in this way, the terminal does not need to measure all the beams of the first network device, but only needs to measure the beams that may provide communication services for the terminal, thereby reducing the signaling overhead caused by the terminal measuring the beams of the first network device.

[0128] Exemplarily, since the beam coverage areas corresponding to multiple beams of the first network device at a certain moment can be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device, and the location of the terminal at this moment can be determined according to the location information of the terminal, then, at least one beam adjacent to the location of the terminal at this moment can be determined from the multiple beams of the first network device, where any one of the at least one beam can be regarded as a beam that may provide communication services for the terminal; therefore, the first beam can be any one of the at least one beam.

[0129] Referring to Figure 3 shown, which is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a beam coverage area provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 3 The first network device in [the figure] has 11 beams (e.g., beam 1, beam 2,..., beam 11), and according to the beam coverage areas of the 11 beams respectively, at least one beam adjacent to the location of the terminal among the 11 beams is determined to be beam 2, beam 5, and beam 6; then, the first beam can be any one of the foregoing at least one beam (i.e., beam 2, beam 5, and beam 6), for example, the first beam can be beam 2.

[0130] In addition, since the reference signal of the first beam can be determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal. For example, the first network device can determine what kind of reference signal to adopt in the first beam, the transmission power corresponding to the reference signal, the information / content carried by the reference signal, the beam direction corresponding to the reference signal, the time-frequency resources occupied by transmitting the reference signal, etc., according to the ephemeris information (or location information) of the first network device and the location information of the terminal. That is, the first network device can ensure that the terminal can have a better beam measurement effect to a certain extent by configuring the reference signal transmitted in the first beam, that is, it can better implement the measurement of the reference signal. In this way, after the terminal obtains a relatively accurate measurement result of the reference signal, it can subsequently combine the first threshold to more accurately determine whether the first beam can be used as the beam that meets the downlink communication requirements between the terminal and the first network device.

[0131] Optionally, in order to simplify the beam reporting mechanism of the terminal and reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report the measurement results, for the scenario of multiple network devices (such as, multi-star scenario, refer to Figure 4 as shown), the first network device can also implement the beam measurement of other network devices (such as, the second network device). For example, the first network device can adjust its own beam according to the second beam between the second network device and the terminal, and thus realize the measurement of the beam of the second network device by sending a reference signal to the terminal in the adjusted beam. Therefore, the first beam can be the beam between the first network device and the terminal determined according to the second beam between the second network device and the terminal.

[0132] It should be noted that the relevant information of the second beam between the second network device and the terminal (such as, beam width, antenna gain, polarization direction, etc., where the beam width can be divided into horizontal beam width and vertical beam width) can be sent by the second network device to the first network device, or can be sent by a ground device such as a ground station on the ground to the first network device. In the embodiments of the present application, the specific manner in which the first network device obtains the relevant information of the second beam between the second network device and the terminal is not limited.

[0133] Similarly, since the second network device usually has multiple beams, and each beam can also provide communication services for terminals within the coverage area of the corresponding beam, if the terminal measures the beams of the second network device one by one, this will not only result in a large amount of invalid signaling overhead and system resource waste for beam measurement, but also cause a large signaling overhead and system resources when the first network device configures its own beam as the second beam between the second network device and the terminal. Therefore, the above first beam can also be determined according to the ephemeris information of the second network device and / or the location information of the terminal. In this way, the terminal does not need to measure all the beams of the first network device, but only needs to measure the beams that may provide communication services for the terminal. The first network device also does not need to perform relevant configurations for each beam between the second network device and the terminal, thus reducing the signaling overhead caused by the terminal measuring the beams of the second network device.

[0134] S202. The terminal sends a first indication message to the first network device. Correspondingly, the first network device receives the first indication message from the terminal.

[0135] Optionally, the first indication message is used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, that is, the first indication message can be used to indicate whether the first beam can provide communication services for the terminal well. Therefore, the first indication message can also be called the beam quality indication message of the first beam, or the beam quality indication message, or it can also have other names.

[0136] To reduce the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report measurement results, the terminal does not need to directly report the measurement results of the reference signal (e.g., the RSRP measurement value), but only needs to report the first indication message that can characterize whether the first beam meets the requirements of the downlink communication beam between the first network device or the second network device and the terminal. Therefore, the first indication message can be determined by the first network device according to the measurement results of the reference signal and the first threshold. In this way, since the first indication message occupies fewer bits compared to the measurement results of the reference signal, the terminal only needs a relatively small signaling overhead to report the first indication message. For example, assuming that the first indication message occupies 1 bit, and as shown in Table 1, when the terminal reports the measurement results corresponding to 1 beam, it requires 7 bits of signaling overhead. Therefore, compared with the terminal reporting the measurement results of the reference signal, the terminal reporting the indication message of the beam can greatly reduce the signaling overhead.

[0137] In an alternative implementation, the first threshold can be only one threshold. The terminal can compare the measurement result of the reference signal transmitted on the first beam with the first threshold. When the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to (or, greater than) the first threshold, the first indication information can be the first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than (or, less than or equal to) the first threshold, the first indication information can be the second value. Correspondingly, after receiving the first indication information corresponding to the first beam (transmitted reference signal), the first network device can determine the value corresponding to the first indication information. Specifically: when the value corresponding to the first indication information is the first value, it can be determined that the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to (or, greater than) the first threshold; when the value corresponding to the first indication information is the second value, it can be determined that the measurement result of the reference signal is less than (or, less than or equal to) the first threshold.

[0138] Exemplarily, referring to Figure 5 shown, the measurement result of the reference signal can be the RSRP measurement value, then the first threshold can be the RSRP threshold value (or RSRP reference value); and, the above-mentioned first value and the above-mentioned second value can be represented by a 1-bit binary bit sequence, and the value of the first value is 1, and the value of the second value is 0. As Figure 5 shown, when the RSRP measurement value is greater than or equal to the RSRP threshold value, the value corresponding to the first indication information is 1, that is, the value of the first value is 1; when the RSRP measurement value is less than the RSRP threshold value, the value corresponding to the first indication information is 0, that is, the value of the second value is 0. Among them, the first indication information can be expressed as good Beam Indicator, the RSRP measurement value can be expressed as RSRP_measured value, and the RSRP threshold value can be expressed as RSRP_threshold. Then, from the above, it can be known that: if good Beam Indicator = 1, it means that RSRP_measured value ≥ RSRP_threshold; if good Beam Indicator = 0, it can mean that RSRP_measured value < RSRP_threshold.

[0139] Based on the above example, it is not difficult to see that the terminal only needs 1-bit signaling overhead to report the first indication information corresponding to the RSRP measurement value, thus being able to save the signaling overhead required to report the RSRP measurement value to a large extent. In other words, under the same signaling overhead, the terminal can report the first indication information corresponding to the RSRP measurement values of more reference signals.

[0140] If the terminal supports reporting the first indication information of up to 4 beams at a time, and still taking the CRI occupying 6 bits as an example, then, in the embodiments of the present application, adopting the reporting method of the first indication information of 1 bit, an example of the correspondence between different reporting beam numbers and different beam reporting overheads can be as shown in Table 2.

[0141] Table 2: Example of the correspondence between different reporting beam numbers and different beam reporting overheads

[0142] Number of reported beams (unit: number) 1 2 3 4 Beam reporting overhead (unit: bit) 1 14 21 28

[0143] As can be seen from Table 2 above, when the number of reporting beams is 1, the terminal only reports 1 first indication information. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 1 beam is the number of bits occupied by 1 first indication information, that is, 1 bit. Furthermore, when the number of reporting beams is 2, the terminal only needs to report the first indication information corresponding to 2 beams and 2 CRIs respectively. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 2 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 2 first indication information + the number of bits occupied by 2 CRIs = 2×1 + 2×6 = 14 bits.

[0144] Similarly, when the number of reporting beams is 3, the terminal only needs to report the first indication information corresponding to 3 beams and 3 CRIs respectively, that is, compared with the beam reporting overhead when the number of reporting beams is 2, the signaling overhead required to report 1 first indication information and 1 CRI is increased; therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 3 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 3 first indication information + the number of bits occupied by 3 CRIs = 3×1 + 3×6 = 21 bits. When the number of reporting beams is 4, the terminal only needs to report the first indication information corresponding to 4 beams and 4 CRIs respectively, that is, compared with the beam reporting overhead when the number of reporting beams is 3, the signaling overhead required to report 1 first indication information and 1 CRI is increased; therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 4 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 4 first indication information + the number of bits occupied by 4 CRIs = 4×1 + 4×6 = 28 bits.

[0145] In another alternative implementation, the first threshold may also include multiple thresholds. For example, when sorted from small to large, the foregoing multiple thresholds may be expressed as: threshold 1,..., threshold N, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The terminal may compare the measurement result of the reference signal transmitted in the first beam with the magnitudes of the multiple thresholds, that is, the terminal may determine the threshold interval corresponding to (or to which belongs) the measurement result of the reference signal transmitted in the first beam according to the multiple thresholds, where the threshold interval is determined according to the multiple thresholds. For example, if the measurement result of the reference signal transmitted in the first beam is greater than threshold 1 and less than threshold 2, the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result may be determined as: [threshold 1, threshold 2], (threshold 1, threshold 2], [threshold 1, threshold 2), or (threshold 1, threshold 2). Therefore, the first indication information may be the indication information of the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal. Correspondingly, after receiving the first indication information corresponding to the first beam (transmitted reference signal), the first network device may determine the magnitude relationship between the measurement result of the reference signal and the multiple thresholds, that is, may determine the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal.

[0146] Exemplarily, still taking the measurement result of the reference signal as the RSRP measurement value as an example, refer to Figure 6 shown in the figure, the first threshold may include two thresholds, that is, in the above, N takes the value of 2. For example, the first threshold includes RSRP threshold value 1 (or RSRP reference value 1) and RSRP threshold value 2 (or RSRP reference value 2); in this way, there will be three cases for the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal. For example, the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal may be one of the three intervals: (-∞, RSRP threshold value 1], (RSRP threshold value 1, RSRP threshold value 2), and [RSRP threshold value 2, +∞). Therefore, a 2-bit binary bit sequence may be used to represent the above 3 threshold intervals, that is, the first indication information may be 2 bits of indication information for indicating the threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal. As Figure 6 shown in the figure, the binary bit sequence corresponding to (-∞, RSRP threshold value 1] may be 00, the binary bit sequence corresponding to (RSRP threshold value 1, RSRP threshold value 2) may be 01, and the binary bit sequence corresponding to [RSRP threshold value 2, +∞) may be 10.

[0147] Furthermore, if the above RSRP measurement value is represented as s, RSRP threshold value 1 is represented as RSRP1, RSRP threshold value 2 is represented as RSRP2, and if the first indication information may also not carry the indication information of the threshold interval corresponding to the RSRP measurement value, then the mapping relationship between the threshold interval corresponding to the RSRP measurement value and the bit sequence may be as shown in Table 3.

[0148] Table 3: Example of the mapping relationship between the threshold interval corresponding to the RSRP measurement value and the bit sequence

[0149] RSRP measurement value s s >= RSRP2 RSRP1 < s < RSRP2 s <= RSRP1 spare Binary bit sequence 00 01 10 11

[0150] Among them, spare indicates that the first indication information does not carry the indication information of the threshold interval corresponding to the RSRP measurement value, that is, the binary bit sequence 11 indicates that the first indication information does not carry the discrimination result between the RSRP measurement value and the RSRP threshold value 1 and the RSRP threshold value 2.

[0151] Based on the above example, it is not difficult to see that the first indication information corresponding to the RSRP measurement value reported by the terminal only requires a signaling overhead of 2 bits. Compared with the existing reporting mechanism, it can also save the signaling overhead required to report the RSRP measurement value to a large extent. In other words, under the same signaling overhead, the terminal can report the first indication information corresponding to the RSRP measurement values of a larger number of reference signals.

[0152] Similar to Table 2 above, if the terminal supports reporting the first indication information of up to 4 beams at a time, and still takes the CRI occupying 6 bits as an example, then, in the embodiment of the present application, adopting the reporting method of the first indication information of 2 bits, an example of the corresponding relationship between different reporting beam numbers and different beam reporting overheads can be shown in Table 4.

[0153] Table 4: Example of the corresponding relationship between different reporting beam numbers and different beam reporting overheads

[0154] Number of reported beams (unit: number) 1 2 3 4 Beam reporting overhead (unit: bit) 2 16 24 32

[0155] As can be seen from Table 4 above, when the number of reporting beams is 1, the terminal only reports 1 first indication information. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 1 beam is the number of bits occupied by 1 first indication information, that is, 2 bits; furthermore, when the number of reporting beams is 2, the terminal only needs to report the first indication information corresponding to 2 beams and 2 CRIs respectively. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 2 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 2 first indication information + the number of bits occupied by 2 CRIs = 2×2 + 2×6 = 16 bits.

[0156] Similarly, when the number of reported beams is 3, the terminal only needs to report the first indication information corresponding to 3 beams and 3 CRIs respectively. That is, compared with the beam reporting overhead when the number of reported beams is 2, the signaling overhead required for reporting 1 more first indication information and 1 more CRI is increased. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 3 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 3 first indication information + the number of bits occupied by 3 CRIs = 3×2 + 3×6 = 24 bits. When the number of reported beams is 4, the terminal only needs to report the first indication information corresponding to 4 beams and 4 CRIs respectively. That is, compared with the beam reporting overhead when the number of reported beams is 3, the signaling overhead required for reporting 1 more first indication information and 1 more CRI is increased. Therefore, the beam reporting overhead for the terminal to report 4 beams is: the number of bits occupied by 4 first indication information + the number of bits occupied by 4 CRIs = 4×2 + 4×6 = 32 bits.

[0157] In addition, since the terminal needs 7-bit signaling overhead to directly report the measurement result corresponding to 1 beam, then as long as the number of the first thresholds does not exceed 2^7 - 1 (or 2^7 - 2 when there is spare), the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report the first indication information will not be greater than the signaling overhead required for the terminal to directly report the measurement result using the existing mechanism.

[0158] In an optional implementation manner, the above first threshold may be determined and sent by the first network device. Optionally, the embodiment of the present application may further include: S203. The first network device sends configuration information to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the configuration information from the first network device, and the configuration information includes the indication information of the first threshold. S203 may occur, for example, before S201 (as shown in Figure 2 ), of course, S203 may also occur after S201 and before S202, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. By adopting this method, the configuration of the first threshold is implemented by the first network device, which can reduce the signaling overhead of related operations such as the terminal configuring the first threshold. And if the first network device only sends the configuration information carrying the indication information of the first threshold to the terminal when the terminal needs to determine the first indication information according to the measurement result of the first threshold and the reference signal, this also enables the terminal to release the storage space reserved for storing the first threshold.

[0159] It can be understood that the above indication information of the first threshold may explicitly indicate the first threshold. For example, the configuration information includes or directly carries the first threshold; or, it may also implicitly indicate the first threshold in other ways. For example, the configuration information includes other information having an association relationship with the first threshold, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0160] In another alternative implementation, the above first threshold may also be predefined or preconfigured, that is, the first threshold is designed specifically according to the corresponding reference signal and / or beam, and can be preconfigured or stored in the first network device and the terminal in advance, so that the terminal can subsequently quickly determine the beam quality of the first beam; in other words, the first threshold may not be determined by the first network device and / or the terminal. By using the method of predefining or preconfiguring the first threshold, the signaling overhead of the terminal and the first network device can be further reduced.

[0161] Furthermore, to ensure the smooth progress of the terminal's measurement of the reference signal transmitted in the first beam, the first network device may also configure the measurement resources required for the reference signal, that is, the resources occupied by the first network device when sending the reference signal to the terminal, and the reporting resources required for the terminal to report the first indication information, that is, the resources occupied by the terminal when sending the first indication information to the first network device. Therefore, the configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal in step S203 may further include indication information of at least one of the following: the identifier of the reference signal, the time-frequency resources occupied by the reference signal, the downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal (e.g., physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)), the time-frequency resources occupied by the first indication information, and the uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information (e.g., physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)). In this way, after obtaining the indication information of at least one of the above, the terminal can measure the reference signal and / or report the measurement result, thereby reducing the signaling overhead of the terminal for related configurations. Of course, the configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal may also include other information, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0162] For example, if the configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal also includes indication information of the time-frequency resources occupied by the reference signal, then after receiving the configuration information, the terminal can determine, according to the indication information of the time-frequency resources occupied by the reference signal, at which time-frequency resources the first network device will send the reference signal, so as to accurately receive the reference signal sent by the first network device in the first beam at these time-frequency resources. Another example, if the configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal also includes indication information of the time-frequency resources occupied by the first indication information, then after receiving the configuration information, the terminal can determine, according to the indication information of the time-frequency resources occupied by the first indication information, at which time-frequency resources the terminal can send the first indication information to the first network device, so as to ensure that the terminal can timely report the beam quality of the first beam to the first network device.

[0163] Optionally, if the first beam is the beam between the first network device and the terminal determined according to the second beam between the second network device and the terminal, that is, for the scenario of multiple network devices, the configuration information sent by the first network device to the terminal in step S203 may further include the indication information of at least one of the following: the CORESET PoolIndex of the second network device, the PCI of the second network device, the identifier of the second network device, the ephemeris information of the second network device, the orbital plane identifier of the second network device, the identifier of the network device located in the orbital plane; wherein, the identifier of the network device located in the orbital plane is the identifier of other network devices except the second network device; thus, after obtaining the indication information of at least one of the above, the terminal can know which network device among the multiple network devices the current beam measurement is for.

[0164] Exemplarily, assuming that the scenario of multiple network devices is a multi-satellite scenario and the terminal uses the reporting method of 1-bit first indication information, then, the reference signal, satellite, and the value of 1-bit first indication information can be as shown in Table 5:

[0165] Table 5: Example of the mapping relationship between the reference signal, satellite, and the first indication information

[0166] Reference signal Satellite First indication information 12 A1 1 13 B1 0 ... ... ...

[0167] In addition, to ensure that the first network device can know which network device the first indication information reported by the terminal corresponds to, the first indication information sent by the terminal to the first network device may also be related to the second network device, that is, the first indication information reported by the terminal is associated with the second network device. Exemplarily, the first indication information reported by the terminal may be associated with the relevant information of the second network device (such as, CORESET Pool Index, PCI, ephemeris information, and orbital plane identifier, etc.); thus, after receiving the first indication information reported by the terminal, the first network device can determine that the first indication information reported by the terminal at this time corresponds to the second network device according to the association relationship with the relevant information of the second network device, that is, the first indication information reported by the terminal at this time is the first indication information corresponding to the second network device.

[0168] In summary, based on the communication method described in the above steps S201 to S203, in the embodiments of the present application, since the number of bits occupied by the first indication information indicating the beam quality of the first beam reported by the terminal to the first network device is small (e.g., 1 bit), while the number of bits required to directly report the measurement result of the reference signal in the existing mechanism is large (e.g., 7 bits), in this way, by reconstructing the existing beam reporting mechanism, the signaling overhead required for the terminal to report the measurement result of the reference signal (or beam measurement result) is reduced. Exemplarily, assuming that the terminal adopts the reporting method of 1-bit first indication information, and still taking each CRI occupying 6 bits as an example, the comparison of the beam reporting overhead of the beam information reporting method (i.e., the proposed mechanism) adopted in the embodiments of the present application with that of the existing mechanism is shown in Table 6 as follows.

[0169] Table 6: Example of comparison of beam reporting overhead between the proposed mechanism and the existing mechanism

[0170] Number of reported beams Existing mechanism Proposed mechanism Overhead reduction ratio 1 7 bits 1 bit 85.7％ 2 23 bits 14 bits 39.1％ 3 33 bits 21 bits 36.4％ 4 43 bits 28 bits 34.9％

[0171] As can be seen from Table 6 above, adopting the reporting method of 1 bit can reduce the beam reporting overhead of the terminal to a certain extent. For example, when the terminal reports 1 beam, the reduction ratio of the beam reporting overhead can reach the highest, and the reduction ratio of the overhead is 1 - (1 / 7)×100% ≈ 85.7%.

[0172] For another example, assuming that the reporting method of 2-bit first indication information is adopted, and still taking each CRI occupying 6 bits as an example, the comparison of the beam reporting overhead of the beam information reporting method (i.e., the proposed mechanism) adopted in the embodiments of the present application with that of the existing mechanism is shown in Table 7 as follows.

[0173] Table 7: Example of comparison of beam reporting overhead between the proposed mechanism and the existing mechanism

[0174] Number of reported beams Existing mechanism Proposed mechanism Overhead reduction ratio 1 7 bits 2 bits 71.4％ 2 23 bits 16 bits 30.4％ 3 33 bits 24 bits 27.3％ 4 43 bits 32 bits 20.9％

[0175] As can be seen from Table 7 above, adopting the reporting method of 2 bits can also reduce the beam reporting overhead of the terminal to a certain extent. For example, when the terminal reports 1 beam, the reduction ratio of the beam reporting overhead can reach the highest, and the reduction ratio of the overhead is 1 - (2 / 7)×100% ≈ 71.4%.

[0176] Refer to Figure 7 shown, which is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 700 may be Figure 2 the system architecture of the terminal described in the embodiment shown, and is used to implement the method corresponding to the terminal in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication device 700 may be Figure 2The system architecture of the first network device described in the illustrated embodiment is used to implement the method corresponding to the first network device in the above method embodiment.

[0177] The communication device 700 includes at least one processor 701. The processor 701 can be used for internal processing of the device to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 701 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 701 can store data. Optionally, different processors can be independent devices, can be located in different physical locations, and can be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors can be integrated into one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

[0178] Optionally, the communication device 700 can include one or more memories 703 for storing instructions. Data can also be stored in the memory 703. The processor 700 and the memory 701 can be provided separately or integrated together. The communication device 700 further includes a communication line 702 and at least one communication interface 704. Since the memory 703, the communication line 702, and the communication interface 704 are all optional, they are Figure 7 represented by dashed lines in all.

[0179] Optionally, the communication device 700 can 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 700 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.

[0180] The processor 701 can 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 present application solution.

[0181] The communication line 702 can include a path for transmitting information between the above components.

[0182] The communication interface 704 can be a device such as a transceiver for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wired access networks, etc.

[0183] The memory 703 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or it can 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 not limited to this. The memory 703 can exist independently and be connected to the processor 701 through the communication line 702. Alternatively, the memory 703 can also be integrated with the processor 701.

[0184] Among them, the memory 703 is used to store the computer execution instructions for implementing the solution of this application, and is controlled by the processor 701 for execution. The processor 701 is used to execute the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 703, so as to implement Figure 2 the steps performed by the terminal or the first network device described in the illustrated embodiment.

[0185] Optionally, the computer execution instructions in the embodiments of this application can also be referred to as application code, and this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0186] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 701 can include one or more CPUs, such as Figure 7 CPU0 and CPU1 in

[0187] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 700 can include multiple processors, such as Figure 7The processors 701 and 705 therein. Each of these processors can be a single-CPU processor or a multi-CPU processor. The processors here can refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (such as computer program instructions).

[0188] When Figure 7 The device shown is a chip, such as a chip of a terminal or a chip of a first network device. Then the chip includes a processor 701 (and may also include a processor 705), a communication line 702, and a communication interface 704. Optionally, it may include a memory 703. Specifically, the communication interface 704 can be an input interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc. The memory 703 can be a register, a cache, etc. The processors 701 and 705 can be a general-purpose CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of a program for any of the above-described communication methods.

[0189] The embodiments of the present application can divide the device into functional modules according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional module. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, only a logical function division, and there can be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module corresponding to each function, refer to Figure 8 As shown, it is a schematic diagram of a device. The device 800 can be the terminal or the first network device involved in each of the above method embodiments, or a chip in the terminal or a chip in the first network device. The device 800 includes a processing unit 802 and a transceiver unit 801.

[0190] It should be understood that the device 800 can be used to implement the steps performed by the terminal or the first network device in the communication method of the embodiments of the present application. The related features can refer to the embodiments Figure 2 shown above and will not be elaborated here.

[0191] Optionally, Figure 8 the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver unit 801 and the processing unit 802 therein can be implemented by the processor 701 in Figure 7 calling computer execution instructions stored in the memory 703. Or, Figure 8 the functions / implementation processes of the processing unit 802 in Figure 7 can be implemented by the processor 701 in Figure 8The function / implementation process of the transceiver unit 801 in can be implemented by Figure 7 the communication interface 704 in .

[0192] When the device 800 is a chip or a circuit, the function / implementation process of the transceiver unit 801 can also be implemented by pins or circuits, etc. Optionally, the transceiver unit 801 may include a sending unit and / or a receiving unit. The sending unit is used to implement the sending function, and the receiving unit is used to implement the receiving function; or, the transceiver unit 801 may be an integral module that can implement the sending function and / or the receiving function. Optionally, the transceiver unit 801 can be implemented by a transceiver.

[0193] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are run, the methods executed by the terminal or the first network device in the foregoing method embodiments are implemented. In this way, the functions described in the above embodiments can be implemented in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that makes a contribution, or a part of this 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 communication methods described in various embodiments of this application. The storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

[0194] This 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 executed by the terminal or the first network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0195] This embodiment of this application also provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is used to execute the methods executed by the terminal or the first network device involved in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0196] This application also provides a communication system. The communication system can be used to implement the methods executed by the terminal or the first network device in any possible implementation manner of the foregoing method embodiments and method embodiments. Exemplarily, the communication system has an architecture as shown in Figure 1 .

[0197] The present application also provides a chip or a chip system. The chip is coupled to a transceiver and is used to implement the method performed by the terminal or the first network device in any possible implementation manner of the above method embodiments. Herein, "coupled" means that two components are directly or indirectly combined with each other. Such a combination can be fixed or movable, and this combination allows fluids, electricity, electrical signals, or other types of signals to communicate between the two components. The chip system may include the chip. Specifically, the chip or the chip system can be used to execute the method performed by the terminal or the first network device involved in any of the above method embodiments.

[0198] 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 can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer instructions can 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 wirelessly (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or a data center that includes one or more integrated available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0199] In the embodiments of the present application, the various illustrative logical units and circuits can be implemented or operate the described functions through 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 can be a microprocessor. Optionally, the general-purpose processor can 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.

[0200] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embedded in hardware, software units executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software units can 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 can 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 can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be disposed in an ASIC, and the ASIC can be disposed in a terminal. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium can also be disposed in different components of the terminal.

[0201] These computer program instructions can 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. Thus, the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in Figure 1 a process or multiple processes and / or blocks Figure 1 the steps of the functions specified in one block or multiple blocks.

[0202] The content in the various embodiments of the present application can be referred to each other. Without special instructions and logical conflicts, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be cross-referenced. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0203] It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal and / or the first network device may execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are only examples. In the embodiments of the present application, other operations or variations of various operations may also be executed. In addition, the various steps may be executed in different orders presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be executed.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a terminal, including: Receiving a reference signal from a first network device, where the reference signal corresponds to a first beam, and the reference signal is determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal; Sending first indication information to the first network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information is determined according to the measurement result of the reference signal and a first threshold.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein When the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information is a first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than the first threshold, the first indication information is a second value.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first threshold includes multiple thresholds, and the first indication information is indication information of a threshold interval corresponding to the measurement result of the reference signal, and the threshold interval is determined according to the multiple thresholds.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first beam is a beam between the first network device and the terminal.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The first beam is determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and / or the location information of the terminal.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first beam is a beam between the first network device and the terminal, and the first beam is determined according to a second beam between a second network device and the terminal.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The second beam is determined according to the ephemeris information of the second network device and / or the location information of the terminal.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that The first indication information is associated with the second network device.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, Further including: Receiving configuration information from the first network device, where the configuration information includes indication information of the first threshold.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The configuration information further includes indication information of at least one of the following: The identifier of the reference signal; The time-frequency resource occupied by the reference signal; The downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal; The time-frequency resource occupied by the first indication information; Or, the uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The configuration information further includes indication information of at least one of the following: The control resource set resource pool index (CORESET Pool Index) of the second network device; The physical cell identifier (PCI) of the second network device; The identifier of the second network device; The ephemeris information of the second network device; The orbital plane identifier of the second network device; Or, the identifier of the network device located in the orbital plane.

12. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to a first network device, including: Sending a reference signal to a terminal, where the reference signal corresponds to a first beam, and the reference signal is determined according to the ephemeris information of the first network device and the location information of the terminal; Receiving first indication information from the terminal, where the first indication information is used to indicate the beam quality of the first beam, and the first indication information is determined according to the measurement result of the reference signal and a first threshold.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein When the measurement result of the reference signal is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the first indication information is a first value; or, when the measurement result of the reference signal is less than the first threshold, the first indication information is a second value.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein The first threshold includes a plurality of thresholds, and the first indication information is indication information of a threshold range corresponding to a measurement result of the reference signal, and the threshold range is determined according to the plurality of thresholds.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that, The first beam is a beam between the first network device and the terminal.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The first beam is determined according to ephemeris information of the first network device and / or location information of the terminal.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that, The first beam is a beam between the first network device and the terminal, and the first beam is determined according to a second beam between a second network device and the terminal.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The second beam is determined according to ephemeris information of the second network device and / or location information of the terminal.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that, The first indication information is associated with the second network device.

20. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 19, characterized in that, Further included: Sending configuration information to the terminal, where the configuration information includes indication information of the first threshold.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The configuration information further includes indication information of at least one of the following: An identifier of the reference signal; Time-frequency resources occupied by the reference signal; A downlink transmission channel corresponding to the reference signal; Time-frequency resources occupied by the first indication information; Or, an uplink transmission channel corresponding to the first indication information.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that, The configuration information further includes indication information of at least one of the following: A control resource set resource pool index CORESET Pool Index of the second network device; A physical cell identifier PCI of the second network device; An identifier of the second network device; Ephemeris information of the second network device; An orbital plane identifier of the second network device; Or, an identifier of a network device located in the orbital plane.

23. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; The transceiver unit is configured to send and receive information; The processing unit is configured to execute, through the transceiver unit, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

24. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; The transceiver unit is configured to send and receive information; The processing unit is configured to execute, through the transceiver unit, the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

25. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes a processor and a memory, the memory stores a computer program, and the processor is configured 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 11, or so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

26. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores 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 11, or the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22.

27. A chip system, characterized in that, Including a processor and an interface, the processor is configured to receive an instruction from the interface and run, and when the processor runs the instruction, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 is implemented, or the method according to any one of claims 12 to 22 is implemented.

28. A communication system, characterized in that, Including a terminal and a first network device; The terminal is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 11, and the first network device is used to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 22.

Images