Method and apparatus for beam activation process in mobile communications

Abstract

Various solutions for beam activation procedures related to user equipment and network nodes are described. The apparatus may transmit the measurement report to the network according to the report configuration. The measurement report indicates that at least one reference signal (RS) resource has been synchronized by the device. A device may receive an activation command from a network. The activation command may indicate a target transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state that is not in an active TCI state list. The apparatus may determine whether RS resources related to the target TCI state have been reported as synchronized. If RS resources related to the target TCI state have been reported as synchronized in a measurement report, the device should be able to receive a downlink (DL) channel having the target TCI state from the network after the network receives an acknowledgement of an activation command from the device.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 564,525, filed on March 13, 2024, and No. 63 / 566,416, filed on March 18, 2024. The contents of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present invention generally relates to mobile communications, and more particularly to a beam activation process associated with user equipment (UE) and network devices in mobile communications. Background Art

[0004] Unless otherwise indicated, the approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

[0005] In a conventional beam management procedure, a network node may send a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state activation command to activate at least one target TCI state, where the target state may not be in the active TCI state list. If a UE receives an activation command to activate a target TCI state that is a known TCI state in time slot n, the UE may activate the target TCI state in the next time slot. The first time slot after that receives the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) / physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) with the target TCI state, where It is the time to receive and process the first synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission after the UE decodes the TCI state activation command. If the target TCI state is not in the active TCI state list, TO k =1, otherwise TO k= 0. That is, if the target TCI state is not in the active TCI state list, the UE needs to perform additional SSB reception related to the target TCI state after receiving the TCI state activation command to ensure that the UE is synchronized with the target TCI state by obtaining and storing the quasi-co-located (QCL) attributes of the SSBs related to the target TCI state. In other words, if the UE has obtained and stored the QCL attributes of the SSBs related to the target TCI state, the UE is considered to be synchronized with the target TCI state.

[0006] In practice, when the UE is already synchronized to the target TCI state, the time reserved for additional SSB reception after activating the target TCI state is not required. However, the network (NW) can always assume that the UE needs to reserve time for additional SSB reception because the NW does not know which TCI states the UE has synchronized to.

[0007] Therefore, how to reduce the activation delay during the beam activation process has become an important issue in newly developed wireless communication networks. Therefore, it is necessary to provide appropriate solutions to shorten the activation delay and improve the beam activation process. Summary of the Invention

[0008] The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce the concepts, highlights, benefits, and advantages of the novel and non-obvious technologies described herein. Selected embodiments are further described in the detailed description below. Therefore, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0009] An object of the present invention is to provide solutions, concepts, designs, systems, methods, and devices for the beam activation process related to UE and network devices in mobile communications. It is believed that by implementing one or more of the proposed solutions described in the present invention, the above-mentioned problems can be avoided or otherwise alleviated.

[0010] In one aspect, a method may include a device receiving a report configuration from a network. The method may also include the device transmitting a measurement report to the network according to the report configuration. The measurement report may indicate that at least one reference signal (RS) resource has been synchronized by the device. The method may also include the device receiving an activation command from the network. The activation command may indicate a target transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state that is not in an active TCI state list. The method may also include the device determining whether RS ​​resources associated with the target TCI state have been reported as synchronized in the measurement report. The method may also include if the RS resources associated with the target TCI state have been reported as synchronized in the measurement report, after the network receives an acknowledgment of the activation command from the device, the device being able to receive a downlink (DL) channel with the target TCI state from the network.

[0011] In another aspect, a method may include a network transmitting a reporting configuration to a UE. The method may also include the network receiving measurement reports from the UE over a period of time. The measurement reports may indicate that at least one RS resource has been synchronized by the UE. The method may also include the network transmitting an activation command to the UE. The activation command may indicate a target TCI state that is not in a list of active TCI states. The method may also include, if the RS resource associated with the target TCI state is reported as synchronized in the measurement report, upon the network receiving an acknowledgment of the activation command from the UE, transmitting, to the UE, a DL channel having the target TCI state.

[0012] It is worth noting that although the description provided herein may be applicable to certain wireless access technologies, networks and network topologies such as 5G systems (5 thThe concepts, schemes and any variants / derivatives thereof may be implemented, applied and realized in and by other types of wireless and wired communication technologies, networks and network topologies, such as but not limited to Ethernet, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), E-UTRAN, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) / Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN), Long-Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), 6th Generation (6G) and 8G Mobile Networks. th Generation 6G) and any future developed network technology. Therefore, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the examples described herein. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present invention and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the present invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the present invention. It should be noted that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, as some components may be shown out of scale in actual implementations in order to clearly illustrate the concepts of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example scenario of a communication environment in which various solutions and approaches of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0015] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example scenario of a beam activation process in which various solutions and approaches of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0016] Figure 3 is a block diagram of an example communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 4 is a flow chart of an example process according to one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 5 is a flow chart of an example process according to another embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present invention discloses detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject matter. However, it should be understood that the disclosed embodiments and implementations are merely illustrations of the claimed subject matter that can be embodied in various forms. However, the present invention can be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the exemplary embodiments and implementations set forth herein. On the contrary, these exemplary embodiments and implementations are provided to make the description of the present invention thorough and complete, and to fully convey the scope of the present invention to those skilled in the art. In the following description, details of well-known features and technologies may be omitted to avoid unnecessary confusion in the presented embodiments and implementations.

[0020] Overview

[0021] Implementations according to the present disclosure involve various technologies, methods, schemes, and / or solutions for user equipment and network devices in mobile communications, including beam activation processes. According to the present disclosure, various possible solutions may be implemented individually or in combination. That is, while these possible solutions may be described separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one or more combinations.

[0022] Figure 1An example scenario 100 of a communication environment is shown in which various solutions and approaches according to the present disclosure may be implemented. Scenario 100 includes a UE 110 wirelessly communicating with a network 120 (e.g., a wireless network comprising a non-terrestrial network (NTN) and a terrestrial network (TN)) via a terrestrial network node 125 (e.g., an evolved Node-B (eNB), a next generation Node-B (gNB), or a transmission / reception point (TRP)) and / or a non-terrestrial network node 128 (e.g., a satellite). For example, the terrestrial network node 125 and / or the non-terrestrial network node 128 may form an NTN serving cell for wireless communication with the UE 110. In some implementations, UE 110 may be an IoT device, such as an NB-IoT UE or an enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) UE (e.g., a bandwidth reduced low complexity (BL) UE or a coverage enhancement (CE) UE). In such a communication environment, UE 110, network 120, ground network node 125, and non-ground network node 128 may implement various schemes for improving the beam activation process according to the present invention, as described below. It is worth noting that although various proposed schemes may be described separately or individually, in actual implementations, some or all of the proposed schemes may be used in combination or implemented in other ways. Of course, each proposed scheme may be used separately or individually or implemented in other ways.

[0023] According to one implementation of the present invention, a device (e.g., UE 110) may receive a reporting configuration from a network (e.g., network 120). The reporting configuration may indicate at least one RS resource to be measured. The device may then transmit a measurement report to the network according to the reporting configuration. The measurement report may indicate that at least one RS resource has been synchronized by the device. In addition, the device may receive an activation command from the network. The activation command may indicate (or activate) a TCI state (or indicate (or activate) a target beam) that is not in the active TCI state list. The device may then determine whether the RS resources associated with the target TCI state have been reported as synchronized. If the RS resources associated with the target TCI state have been reported as synchronized in the measurement report, after the network receives an acknowledgment from the device to the activation command, the device will be able to receive a PDCCH or PDSCH with the target TCI state from the network. If only one target TCI state is activated by the activation command, the UE should receive a PDSCH or PDCCH with the target TCI state. If multiple target TCI states are activated via an activation command, additional network signaling (i.e., DCI) indicates the target TCI state for the PDCCH or PDSCH that the UE will receive. The target TCI state can be associated with a cell or network node in the network that is the same as or different from the original serving cell or original serving network node. That is, the device can receive a PDCCH or PDSCH with a target TCI state from a cell (or network node) in the network that is the same as or different from the serving cell (or serving network node).

[0024] According to one implementation of the present disclosure, the device's acknowledgment may be received by the network after a delay (eg, a certain delay) after the device transmits the acknowledgment.

[0025] According to some implementations of the present disclosure, the target TCI state may be known. The target TCI state is known when the following conditions are met. The condition may include receiving an activation command within 1280 milliseconds (ms) after the last transmission of RS resources for beam reporting or measurement. The condition may also include that the device has sent at least one layer 1-reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) report for the target TCI state before the activation command. The condition may also include that the target TCI state remains detectable during the activation of the TCI state. The condition may also include that the SSB associated with the target TCI state remains detectable during the activation of the TCI state (e.g., signal to noise ratio (SNR) ≥ -3dB).

[0026] According to one implementation of the present invention, the measurement report may include at least one of a periodic channel state information (CSI) report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

[0027] According to one implementation of the present invention, in the measurement report, a one-bit indicator may indicate whether the RS resource is synchronized by the device.

[0028] According to one embodiment of the present invention, if higher layer parameters are configured in the report configuration, all RS resources in the measurement report may be determined to be synchronized. For example, the higher layer parameters may be configured through radio resource control (RRC) configuration.

[0029] According to one embodiment of the present invention, RS resources that meet the event condition for triggering a measurement report may be determined to be synchronized.

[0030] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the device may receive the activation command within a time period from the last transmission of the RS resource to the time the activation command is received (e.g., Figure 2 The measurement report is transmitted to the network within the period A) shown in FIG.

[0031] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the activation command may be carried by a medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE). That is, the network may transmit the activation command by using a MAC CE.

[0032] In the first solution proposed according to the present invention, the measurement report may include a layer 1-reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement report.

[0033] Specifically, in the first scenario, the device may receive a MAC-CE activation command from the network in time slot n. The MAC-CE activation command may indicate a target TCI state (known TCI state) that is not in the active TCI state list. If the device transmits an L1-RSRP measurement report to the network (e.g., Figure 2 If the RS resource for the L1-RSRP measurement report of the target TCI state has been reported as "synchronized" in the latest L1-RSRP measurement report within the period A) shown in FIG, the device can The first time slot after that receives the PDCCH or PDSCH with the target TCI state. HARQIt is the timing of transmission activation command confirmation (e.g., THARQ), or the timing between downlink data transmission and confirmation. Can be related to digital parameter configuration. For example, It can be a symbol delay determined according to the numerical parameter configuration. The time for the network node to process the UE acknowledgment may be included. That is, if an RS resource is reported as "synchronized" in the latest L1-RSRP measurement report, the device may not need to receive the SSB related to the target TCI state after receiving the MAC-CE activation command from the network (i.e., TO k =0). Therefore, the activation delay (ie, T d ) can be reduced.

[0034] According to an embodiment of the present invention, in a first solution, the L1-RSRP measurement report may include at least one of a periodic CSI report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

[0035] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in a first proposed solution, a bit indicator may be used to indicate the RS resources synchronized by the device in the L1-RSRP measurement report.

[0036] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in a first proposed solution, if higher layer parameters are configured in the reporting configuration of the L1-RSRP measurement report, all RS resources in the L1-RSRP measurement report may be determined to be synchronized.

[0037] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in the first proposed solution, RS resources that meet the event condition for triggering (or driving) L1-RSRP measurement reporting can be determined as synchronized. In other words, the L1-RSRP measurement report can be an event-triggered (or event-driven) CSI report.

[0038] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in a first proposed solution, the period during which the device transmits the L1-RSRP measurement report to the network (e.g., Figure 2 The period A) shown in FIG may include (or be defined as) the duration from the last transmission of RS resources for the L1-RSRP measurement report for the target TCI state to the reception of the MAC-CE activation command in time slot n.

[0039] According to the second proposed scheme proposed by the present invention, a device (e.g., a UE) can determine whether RS ​​resources in a target TCI state or QCL RS resources in a target TCI state (i.e., RS resources related to the target TCI state may include a QCL source RS of the target TCI state, or include an RS quasi-co-located with the QCL resources of the target TCI state) have been reported as synchronized.

[0040] Specifically, in the second proposed solution, the device may receive a MAC-CE activation command from the network in time slot n. The MAC-CE activation command may indicate a target TCI state (known TCI state) that is not in the active TCI state list. If the RS resources in the target TCI state or the QCL RS resources in the target TCI state are not in the active TCI state list during the period when the device transmits a measurement report to the network (e.g., Figure 2 The period A) shown in FIG is reported by the device as “synchronized”, and the device can receive the PDCCH or PDSCH with the target TCI state in the first time slot after time slot n. HARQ It is the timing of transmission activation command confirmation (e.g., THARQ) or the timing between DL data transmission and confirmation. That is, if an RS resource is reported by the device as "synchronized", the device may not need to receive an SSB related to the target TCI state after receiving a MAC CE activation command from the network (i.e., TO k =0). Therefore, the activation delay (ie, T d ) can be reduced.

[0041] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, in the second proposed solution, the measurement report may include at least one of a periodic CSI report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

[0042] According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, in a second proposed solution, a bit indicator may be used to indicate in an L1-RSRP measurement report the RS resources to which the device has synchronized.

[0043] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in the second proposed solution, if a higher layer parameter is configured in the report configuration of the measurement report, all RS resources in the measurement report may be determined to be synchronized.

[0044] According to an embodiment of the present invention, in the second proposed solution, RS resources that meet the event condition for triggering (or driving) the measurement report can be determined as synchronized. That is, the measurement report can be an event-triggered (or event-driven) CSI report.

[0045] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in the second proposed solution, the period during which the device transmits the measurement report to the network (e.g., Figure 2 The period A) shown in FIG may include (or be defined as) the duration from the last transmission of RS resources for the target TCI state or QCL RS resources for the target TCI state to the reception of a MAC-CE activation command in time slot n.

[0046] Figure 2 An example scenario 200 for implementing various solutions and schemes of the present invention is shown. The scenario 200 includes a UE and a wireless communication network (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G / NR network, an IoT network, or a 6G network), which may include multiple network nodes (or cells). Figure 2 , the UE may receive a reporting configuration from the wireless communication network. The UE may then transmit a measurement report to the wireless communication network within period A according to the reporting configuration. The measurement report may indicate that at least one RS resource has been synchronized by the UE. In addition, the UE may receive an activation command from the wireless communication network in time slot n. The activation command may indicate (or activate) a target TCI state that is not in the active TCI state list (or indicate (or activate) a target beam). The UE may then determine whether the target TCI state is associated with at least one RS resource that has been reported as synchronized. If the RS resource associated with the target TCI state has been reported as synchronized, the UE may receive a PDCCH or PDSCH with the target TCI state from the wireless communication network (i.e., TCI switching (or beam switching) is completed) without receiving an SSB associated with the target TCI state from the wireless communication network. Reference Figure 2 , activation delay T d Can only include Therefore, activation delay can be reduced.

[0047] In some implementations, the activation delay T of the beam / TCI state indicated in the activation command is d It can be defined as follows. If the beam / TCI state is known, then T HARQ Is the timing between DL data transmission and acknowledgment. If the beam / TCI state is in the active TCI state list for PDSCH, then TO k =0, otherwise TO k = 1. In one example, if the beam / TCI state is in the active TCI state list for PDSCH, or the RS source for the L1-RSRP measurement report for the target TCI state in period A has been reported as "synchronized" in the latest L1-RSRP report, then TO k =0, otherwise TO k= 1. In one example, if the beam / TCI state is in the active TCI state list for PDSCH, or the UE reports that the RS source in the target TCI state or the RS source quasi-co-located with the target TCI state is "synchronized" within period A, then TO k =0, otherwise TO k =1. T frist-SSB The time from the UE decoding the activation command to the first SSB transmission. The SSB should be quasi-co-located type A or quasi-co-located type C with the target TCI state. SSB-proc =2 milliseconds.

[0048] Example Embodiments

[0049] Figure 3 An example communication system 300 is shown, which includes at least an example communication device 310 and an example network device 320 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication device 310 and the network device 320 can perform various functions to implement the schemes, techniques, processes, and methods described in the present disclosure regarding the beam activation process, including the above descriptions of various proposed designs, concepts, schemes, and methods, as well as descriptions of user equipment and network devices in mobile communications, including the above scenarios / schemes and processes 400 and 500 described below.

[0050] Communication device 310 may be part of an electronic device, such as a user equipment (UE), such as a portable or mobile device, a wearable device, a wireless communication device, or a computing device. For example, communication device 310 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, an electronic control unit (ECU) in a vehicle, a digital camera, or a computing device, such as a tablet, a laptop, or a notebook computer. Communication device 310 may also be part of a machine-type device, such as an IoT, NB-IoT, eMTC, or IIoT user equipment, such as a fixed or stationary device, a home device, a roadside unit (RSU), a wired communication device, or a computing device. For example, communication device 310 may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart refrigerator, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker, or a home control center. Alternatively, communication device 310 may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips, such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors. The communication device 310 may include Figure 3 At least some of the components shown, such as processor 312. For the sake of brevity, the communication device 310 may also include one or more other components that are not related to the solution proposed in the present invention (for example, an internal power supply, a display device and / or a user interface device). Therefore, these components of the communication device 310 are not shown in FIG. Figure 3 Not shown in the figure, nor described below.

[0051] The network device 320 may be part of an electronic device, which may be a network node, such as a satellite, a base station (BS), a small base station, a router, or a gateway of an IoT network. For example, the network device 320 may be implemented in an eNB / gNB / TRP in a satellite or a 4G / 5G / B5G / 6G, NR, IoT, NB-IoT, or IIoT network. Alternatively, the network device 320 may be implemented in the form of one or more IC chips, such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more RISC or CISC processors. The network device 320 may include Figure 3At least some of the components shown, such as processor 322. Network device 320 may also include one or more other components not related to the proposed solution of the present invention (e.g., internal power supply, display device and / or user interface device), therefore, for the sake of simplicity and brevity, these components of network device 320 are not shown in FIG. Figure 3 Not shown in the figure, nor described below.

[0052] In one aspect, processor 312 and processor 322 can be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, although the singular term "a processor" is used herein to refer to processor 312 and processor 322, according to some implementations of the present invention, processor 312 and processor 322 can each include multiple processors, or in other implementations include a single processor. In another aspect, processor 312 and processor 322 can be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware), whose electronic components include, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors, and / or one or more variable capacitors, which are configured and arranged in accordance with the present invention to achieve specific purposes. In other words, in at least some implementations, processor 312 and processor 322 are special-purpose machines specifically designed, arranged, and configured to perform specific tasks, including the enhanced beam activation process according to various implementations of the present invention, in devices (e.g., represented by communication device 310) and network nodes (e.g., represented by network device 320).

[0053] In some implementations, the communication device 310 may further include a transceiver 316 connected to the processor 312, capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, the transceiver 316 may wirelessly communicate with different types of UEs and / or wireless networks of different radio access technologies (RATs). In some implementations, the transceiver 316 may be equipped with multiple antenna ports (not shown), for example, four antenna ports. That is, the transceiver 316 may be equipped with multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless communication. In some implementations, the network device 320 may further include a transceiver 326 connected to the processor 322. The transceiver 326 may include a transceiver capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, the transceiver 326 may wirelessly communicate with different types of UEs of different RATs. In some implementations, the transceiver 326 may be equipped with multiple antenna ports (not shown), for example, four antenna ports. That is, the transceiver 326 may be equipped with multiple transmit antennas and multiple receive antennas for MIMO wireless communication.

[0054] In some implementations, communication device 310 may further include memory 314 coupled to processor 312, where processor 312 may access and store data. In some implementations, network device 320 may further include memory 324 coupled to processor 322, where processor 322 may access and store data. Memory 314 and memory 324 may each include a type of random-access memory (RAM), such as dynamic RAM (DRAM), static RAM (SRAM), thyristor RAM (T-RAM), and / or zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM). Alternatively, or in addition, memory 314 and memory 324 may each include a type of read-only memory (ROM), such as mask ROM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), and / or electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM). Alternatively, or in addition, memory 314 and memory 324 may each include a type of non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM), such as flash memory, solid-state memory, ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), and / or phase change memory.

[0055] Each of the communication device 310 and the network device 320 can be a communication entity and can communicate with each other using various schemes proposed according to the present invention. For illustrative purposes and not limitation, the capabilities of the communication device 310 as a UE and the network device 320 as a network node (e.g., TRP) are described below through processes 400 and 500.

[0056] Sample Process

[0057] Figure 4An example process 400 is shown according to an embodiment of the present invention. Process 400 may be an example implementation, either partial or complete, of the above-described scenario / scheme regarding the beam activation process of the present invention. Process 400 may represent one aspect of a feature implementation of communication device 310. Process 400 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions, as shown by one or more blocks 410, 420, 430, 440, and 450. Although shown as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 400 may be divided into more blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated depending on the desired implementation. Furthermore, the blocks of process 400 may be implemented as follows: Figure 4 The process 400 may be performed in the order shown, or may be performed in a different order. The process 400 may be implemented by the communication device 310. For purposes of illustration only and not limitation, the process 400 is described below in the context of the communication device 310. The process 400 may begin at block 410.

[0058] At block 410, process 400 may include processor 312 of communication device 310 receiving a reporting configuration from a network via transceiver 316. Process 400 may continue from block 410 to block 420.

[0059] At block 420 , process 400 may include processor 312 transmitting a measurement report to the network via transceiver 316 according to the reporting configuration, wherein the measurement report may indicate that at least one RS resource has been synchronized by the device.

[0060] At block 430 , process 400 may include processor 312 receiving an activation command from the network via transceiver 316 , wherein the activation command indicates a target TCI state that is not in the active TCI state list. Process 400 may continue from block 430 to block 440 .

[0061] At block 440 , process 400 may include processor 312 determining whether RS ​​resources associated with the target TCI state are reported as synchronized in the measurement report. Process 400 may continue from block 440 to block 450 .

[0062] At block 450 , the process 400 may include enabling the processor 312 , via the transceiver 316 , to receive a DL channel having the target TCI state from the network after the network receives an acknowledgement of the activation command from the communication device 310 if the RS resources associated with the target TCI state are reported as synchronized in the measurement report.

[0063] In some implementations, the acknowledgment may be received by the network after a delay after the communication device 310 transmits the acknowledgment.

[0064] In some implementations, the measurement report may include an L1-RSRP measurement report.

[0065] In certain implementations, the measurement report may include at least one of a periodic CSI report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

[0066] In some implementations, the RS resource associated with the target TCI state may include a QCL source RS of the target TCI state or an RS quasi-co-located with the QCL source RS of the target TCI state.

[0067] In certain implementations, in the measurement report, a bit indicator may indicate that the RS resources are synchronized by the device.

[0068] In some implementations, if higher layer parameters are configured in the report configuration, all RS resources in the measurement report may be determined to be synchronized.

[0069] In certain implementations, RS resources that meet an event condition triggering a measurement report may be determined to be synchronized.

[0070] In some implementations, the measurement report is transmitted within a time period from the last transmission of the RS resources to the receipt of the activation command.

[0071] In some implementations, the activation command may be carried in a MAC CE.

[0072] Figure 5 An example process 500 is shown according to another embodiment of the present invention. Process 500 may be an example implementation, either partial or complete, of the above-described scenario / scheme regarding the beam activation process of the present invention. Process 500 may represent one aspect of a feature implementation of network device 320. Process 500 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions, as shown by one or more blocks 510, 520, 530, and 540. Although shown as discrete blocks, the various blocks of process 500 may be divided into more blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated depending on the desired implementation. Furthermore, the blocks of process 500 may be implemented as follows: Figure 5 Process 500 may be performed in the order shown, or may be performed in a different order. Process 500 may be implemented by network device 320. For purposes of illustration only and not limitation, process 500 is described below in the context of network device 320. Process 500 may begin at block 510.

[0073] At block 510, process 500 may include processor 322 of network device 320 transmitting a reporting configuration to a UE via transceiver 326. Process 500 may continue from block 510 to block 520.

[0074] At block 520 , process 500 may include processor 322 receiving a measurement report from the UE via transceiver 326 , wherein the measurement report indicates that at least one RS resource has been synchronized by the UE.

[0075] At block 530 , process 500 may include processor 322 of network device 320 transmitting an activation command to the UE via transceiver 326 , wherein the activation command indicates a target TCI state that is not in the active TCI state list. Process 500 may continue from block 530 to block 540 .

[0076] At block 540 , process 500 may include, if RS resources associated with the target TCI state are reported as synchronized in the measurement report, after network device 320 receives an acknowledgement of the activation command from the UE, processor 322 of network device 320 transmitting, via transceiver 326 , a DL channel having the target TCI state to the UE.

[0077] In certain implementations, the acknowledgment may be received by the network after a delay after the acknowledgment was transmitted by the UE.

[0078] In certain implementations, the measurement report may include an L1-RSRP measurement report.

[0079] In certain embodiments, the measurement report may include at least one of a periodic CSI report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

[0080] In some embodiments, the RS resource associated with the target TCI state may include a QCL source RS of the target TCI state or an RS quasi-co-located with the QCL source RS of the target TCI state.

[0081] In certain embodiments, in the measurement report, a bit indicator may indicate whether the RS resource has been synchronized by the UE.

[0082] In some embodiments, process 500 may include processor 322 configuring higher layer parameters to indicate that all RS resources in the measurement report are determined to be synchronized.

[0083] In some embodiments, RS resources that meet an event condition for triggering a measurement report may be determined to be synchronized.

[0084] In some embodiments, the measurement report is received within a duration of a last received transmission of an activation command from the RS resource.

[0085] In some embodiments, the activation command may be carried in a MAC CE.

[0086] Supplementary Notes

[0087] The subject matter described in the present invention sometimes illustrates different components contained within or connected to different other components. It should be understood that this depicted architecture is merely an example, and in fact many other architectures that implement the same function can be implemented. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components that implement the same function is effectively "associated" so as to achieve the desired function. Therefore, regardless of the architecture or intermediate components, any two components that are combined to achieve a specific function in the present invention can be regarded as "associated" with each other so as to achieve the desired function. Similarly, any two components so associated can also be regarded as "workingly connected" or "workingly coupled" to each other to achieve the desired function, and any two components that can be so associated can also be regarded as "workingly couplable" to each other to achieve the desired function. Specific examples of couplable at work include, but are not limited to: physically compatible and / or physically interactive components and / or wirelessly interactive and / or wirelessly interactive components and / or logically interactive and / or logically interactive components.

[0088] Further, regarding the extensive use of any plural and / or singular terms in the present invention, those skilled in the art can convert from plural to singular and / or from singular to plural as appropriate for the context and / or application. For the sake of clarity, the present invention may explicitly set forth various singular / plural interchanges.

[0089] Moreover, those skilled in the art will understand that, in general, the terms used herein and especially in the appended claims (e.g., the bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended to be "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "comprising" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," etc.). Those skilled in the art will also understand that if a specific number of claim recitations is intentionally introduced, such intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation, no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the appended claims may contain the use of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be interpreted as implying that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite article "a" or "an" will include any particular claim of such introduced claim recitation to embodiments that include only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and an indefinite article such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"); the same applies to the use of definite articles to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of introduced claim recitations is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the unmodified recitation of "two recitations" means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations, in the absence of other modifiers). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention similar to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, generally, such interpretation will be understood by those skilled in the art to mean, for example, that “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” will include, but is not limited to, systems having A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc. In those instances where a convention similar to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, generally, such interpretation will be understood by those skilled in the art to mean, for example, that “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” will include, but is not limited to, systems having A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc. Those skilled in the art will also understand that any transitional words and / or phrases that actually present two or more alternatives, whether in the specification, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibility of including one, any, or both of these items. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B."

[0090] From the foregoing, it will be understood that the present invention has described various embodiments of the present invention for illustrative purposes, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, and the true scope and spirit are represented by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for a beam activation process in mobile communications, the method being performed by an apparatus, comprising: receiving report configuration from the network; transmitting a measurement report to a network according to the reporting configuration, wherein the measurement report indicates that at least one reference signal (RS) resource has been synchronized; receiving an activation command from the network, wherein the activation command indicates a target transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state that is not in an active TCI state list; determining whether the RS resource associated with the target TCI state is reported as synchronized in the measurement report; If the RS resources associated with the target TCI state are reported as synchronized in the measurement report, a downlink (DL) channel having the target TCI state can be received from the network after the network receives an acknowledgement of the activation command from the device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The acknowledgment is received by the network after a delay after the device transmits the acknowledgment.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The measurement report includes a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement report.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The measurement report includes at least one of a periodic channel state information (CSI) report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein The RS resource associated with the target TCI state includes a quasi-collocated (QCL) source RS of the target TCI state or an RS quasi-collocated with the QCL source RS of the target TCI state.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein: In the measurement report, a bit indicator indicates whether the RS resource reported in the measurement report has been synchronized by the device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein: If higher layer parameters are configured in the report configuration, all RS resources in the measurement report are determined to be synchronized.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein: RS resources that meet the event condition for triggering the measurement report are determined to be synchronized.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein: The measurement report is transmitted within a time period from the last transmission of the RS resource to the receipt of the activation command.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein: The activation command is carried in a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (MAC CE).

11. A method for a beam activation process in mobile communications, comprising: Transmitting a reporting configuration by the network to a user equipment (UE); receiving, by the network, a measurement report from the UE, wherein the measurement report indicates that at least one reference signal (RS) resource has been synchronized by the UE; transmitting, by the network, an activation command to the UE, wherein the activation command indicates a target transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state that is not in an active TCI state list; If the RS resources associated with the target TCI state are reported as synchronized in the measurement report, after the network receives an acknowledgment of the activation command from the UE, the network transmits a downlink (DL) channel with the target TCI state to the UE.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein: The acknowledgement is received by the network after a delay after the acknowledgement is transmitted by the UE.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein: The measurement report includes a layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) measurement report.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein: The measurement report includes at least one of a periodic channel state information (CSI) report, a semi-persistent CSI report, an aperiodic CSI report, and an event-driven CSI report.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein: The RS resource associated with the target TCI state includes a quasi-collocated (QCL) source RS of the target TCI state or an RS quasi-collocated with the QCL source RS of the target TCI state.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein: In the measurement report, a bit indicator indicates whether the RS resource reported in the measurement report has been synchronized by the UE.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising: A higher layer parameter is configured by the network to indicate that all RS resources in the measurement report are determined to be synchronized.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein: The RS resource that meets the event condition for triggering the measurement report is determined to be synchronized.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein: The measurement report is received within a duration of a last received transmission of the activation command from the RS resource.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein: The activation command is carried in a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (MAC CE).

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