Communication method, terminal, network equipment, communication device, communication system and medium

Abstract

The invention relates to a communication method, a terminal, network equipment, a communication device, a communication system and a medium. The communication method comprises: a terminal obtains a beam map, the beam map comprising a corresponding relationship between first information and a beam report, and the first information being used for determining the position of the terminal; and the terminal sends a beam report to a network device, wherein the beam report is determined based on the beam map. Through the embodiment of the invention, the frequency of beam measurement of the terminal can be reduced, so that the power consumption of the terminal is reduced.

Description

Communication methods, terminals, network equipment, communication devices, communication systems and media Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to communication methods, terminals, network equipment, communication devices, communication systems and media. Background Technology

[0002] In New Radio (NR), especially in frequency range 2, beam-based transmission and reception are required to ensure coverage.

[0003] During beam management, the network device sends a set of reference signal resources for beam measurement to the terminal. The terminal measures the reference signal resources in the set of reference signal resources sent by the network device and reports the measurement results to the network device.

[0004] Summary of the Invention

[0005] How to reduce the number of times the terminal performs beam measurements, thereby reducing the terminal's power consumption, is a problem that needs to be solved.

[0006] This disclosure provides communication methods, terminals, network devices, communication apparatuses, communication systems, and media.

[0007] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is proposed, the method comprising: a terminal acquiring a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between the first information and a beam report, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal; the terminal sending a beam report to a network device, the beam report being determined based on the beam map.

[0008] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: a network device receiving a beam report sent by a terminal, the beam report being determined based on a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and the beam report, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0009] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal is provided, comprising: a transceiver module, configured to acquire a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and beam reports, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal and to send beam reports to a network device, the beam reports being determined based on the beam map.

[0010] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a network device is provided, comprising: a transceiver module for receiving a beam report sent by a terminal, the beam report being determined based on a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and the beam report, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0011] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: one or more processors; wherein the processors are configured to execute the communication method of the first aspect.

[0012] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication apparatus is provided, comprising: one or more processors; wherein the processors are configured to execute the communication method of the second aspect.

[0013] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided, including a terminal and a network device, wherein the terminal is configured to implement the communication method of the first aspect, and the network device is configured to implement the communication method of the second aspect.

[0014] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a storage medium is provided that stores instructions, characterized in that, when the instructions are executed on a communication device, the communication device performs the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0015] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program is provided that, when executed by a communication device, causes the communication device to perform the communication method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0016] Through the embodiments of this disclosure, the terminal obtains a beam map, which includes a correspondence between first information for determining the terminal's location and beam reports. This allows the terminal to obtain beam reports corresponding to the terminal's location information based on the beam map, reducing the number of times the terminal performs beam measurements and thus reducing the terminal's power consumption. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of this disclosure, the accompanying drawings required for the description of the embodiments are introduced below. The following drawings are only some embodiments of this disclosure and do not impose specific limitations on the protection scope of this disclosure.

[0018] Figure 1 is an exemplary schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 2 is an interactive schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 3A is a schematic flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 3B is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 4A is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 4B is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 5 is an interactive schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 6A is a schematic diagram of the structure of the terminal proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0026] Figure 6B is a schematic diagram of the structure of the network device proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0027] Figure 7A is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0028] Figure 7B is a schematic diagram of the chip structure proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0029] This disclosure provides communication methods, terminals, network devices, communication apparatuses, communication systems, and media.

[0030] In a first aspect, embodiments of this disclosure propose a communication method, the method comprising: a terminal acquiring a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and a beam report, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal; the terminal sending a beam report to a network device, the beam report being determined based on the beam map.

[0031] In the above embodiments, the terminal acquires a beam map, which includes a correspondence between first information for determining the terminal's location and beam reports. This allows the terminal to obtain beam reports corresponding to its location information based on the beam map, reducing the number of times the terminal performs beam measurements and thus lowering the terminal's power consumption.

[0032] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the following: the current position of the terminal; the position of the terminal; the relative position of the terminal; the starting position of the terminal; the target position of the terminal; the relative distance between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the relative direction between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the route selected by the terminal; the time taken for the terminal to move from the starting position to the current position; the moving speed of the terminal; and the current time.

[0033] In the above embodiments, the first information includes the above content, which can improve the flexibility of the beam map and make the beam map applicable to more communication scenarios.

[0034] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes: the terminal determining actual first information, the actual first information being used to determine the terminal's current actual location; the terminal determining a first beam report corresponding to the actual first information based on the correspondence; the terminal sending a beam report to a network device, including: the terminal sending a beam report to a network device based on the first beam report.

[0035] In the above embodiments, the terminal determines the beam report to be sent to the network device based on the actual first information and the beam map, which can reduce the number of times the terminal performs beam measurements, thereby reducing the terminal's power consumption.

[0036] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, sending a beam report to a network device based on the first beam report includes: sending the first beam report to the network device.

[0037] In the above embodiments, the terminal can directly send the first beam report obtained from the beam map to the network device. That is, the terminal does not need to perform beam measurement on the reference signal resources sent by the network device, which can reduce the number of times the terminal performs beam measurement and thus reduce the power consumption of the terminal.

[0038] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first beam report includes a first reference signal resource identifier and first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; before sending the first beam report to the network device, the method further includes: the terminal measuring the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier to obtain second quality information of the first reference signal; and determining that the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information satisfies a difference condition.

[0039] In the above embodiment, the terminal performs beam measurement on the reference signal corresponding to at least one reference signal resource identifier in the first beam report. When the measured quality value and the quality value in the first beam report meet the difference condition, the terminal directly sends the first beam report obtained from the beam map to the network device. That is, the terminal does not need to perform beam measurement on the reference signal resource sent by the network device. While ensuring the accuracy of the beam report, the number of times the terminal performs beam measurement can be reduced, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal.

[0040] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first beam report includes a first reference signal resource identifier and first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; the step of sending a beam report to a network device based on the first beam report includes: the terminal measuring the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier to obtain second quality information of the first reference signal; if the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality difference corresponding to the second quality information do not meet the condition, a second beam report is sent to the network device, wherein the second beam report is obtained by the terminal based on the reference signal resource sent by the network device.

[0041] In the above embodiments, the terminal performs beam measurement on the reference signal corresponding to at least one reference signal resource identifier in the first beam report. When the measured quality value and the quality value in the first beam report do not meet the difference condition, the terminal performs beam measurement on the reference signal resource sent by the network device, which can ensure the accuracy of the beam report.

[0042] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes: the terminal sending the second beam report to a terminal-side server, the terminal-side server being used to interact with the terminal and to generate the beam map, the second beam report being used by the terminal-side server to update the beam map of the terminal-side server.

[0043] In the above embodiments, after the terminal performs beam measurement on the reference signal resources sent by the network device to obtain a second beam report, it sends the second beam report to the terminal-side server so that the terminal-side server can update the beam map and ensure the real-time performance and accuracy of the beam map.

[0044] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the terminal acquiring the beam map includes at least one of the following: the terminal generating the beam map; the terminal downloading the beam map from the Internet, the Internet being used to generate the beam map; the terminal downloading the beam map from a terminal-side server; and the terminal receiving the beam map sent by a network device.

[0045] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

[0046] Secondly, embodiments of this disclosure propose a communication method, the method comprising: a network device receiving a beam report sent by a terminal, the beam report being determined based on a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and the beam report, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0047] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the following: the current position of the terminal; the position of the terminal; the relative position of the terminal; the starting position of the terminal; the target position of the terminal; the relative distance between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the relative direction between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the route selected by the terminal; the time taken for the terminal to move from the starting position to the current position; the moving speed of the terminal; and the current time.

[0048] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the beam report is determined based on a first beam report, which is a beam report in the beam map corresponding to the actual first information of the terminal.

[0049] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the beam report is the first beam report.

[0050] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information satisfies a difference condition, and the beam report is the first beam report; the first quality information is the first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier included in the first beam report; the second quality information is obtained by the terminal measuring the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier.

[0051] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information does not satisfy the difference condition, and the beam report is a second beam report; the first quality information is the first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier included in the first beam report; the second quality information is obtained by the terminal measuring the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; the second beam report is obtained by the terminal measuring the reference signal resource sent by the network device.

[0052] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the beam map is generated by at least one of the terminal, the network device, the Internet, and the terminal-side server.

[0053] In conjunction with some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

[0054] Thirdly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a terminal, including: a transceiver module, used to acquire a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and beam reports, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0055] Fourthly, this disclosure provides a network device, including: a transceiver module for receiving beam reports sent by a terminal, the beam reports being determined based on a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and the beam reports, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0056] Fifthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication device comprising: one or more processors; wherein the processors are configured to execute the communication method of the first aspect.

[0057] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication device comprising: one or more processors; wherein the processors are configured to execute the communication method of the second aspect.

[0058] In a seventh aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a communication system including a terminal and a network device, wherein the terminal is configured to implement the communication method of the first aspect, and the network device is configured to implement the communication method of the second aspect.

[0059] Eighthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a storage medium storing instructions, characterized in that, when the instructions are executed on a communication device, the communication device performs the method of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0060] Ninthly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a program product that, when executed by a communication device, causes the communication device to perform the method as described in the optional implementations of the first or second aspect.

[0061] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of this disclosure provide a computer program that, when executed by a communication device, causes the communication device to perform any of the aforementioned communication methods.

[0062] Eleventhly, embodiments of this disclosure provide a chip or chip system. The chip or chip system includes processing circuitry configured to perform the methods described in optional implementations of the first or second aspect.

[0063] It is understood that the aforementioned terminals, network devices, communication apparatuses, communication systems, storage media, program products, computer programs, chips, or chip systems are all used to execute the methods proposed in the embodiments of this disclosure. Therefore, the beneficial effects they can achieve can be referred to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods, and will not be repeated here.

[0064] This disclosure provides embodiments of communication methods, terminals, network devices, communication apparatuses, communication systems, and storage media. In some embodiments, the terms communication method, information sending method, information receiving method, etc., can be used interchangeably.

[0065] This disclosure is not exhaustive, but merely illustrative of some embodiments, and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this disclosure. Unless otherwise specified, each step in a particular embodiment can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the steps can be arbitrarily combined. For example, a solution after removing some steps in a particular embodiment can also be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the order of the steps in a particular embodiment can be arbitrarily interchanged. Furthermore, the optional implementation methods in a particular embodiment can be arbitrarily combined; moreover, the embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, for example, some or all steps of different embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, and a particular embodiment can be arbitrarily combined with the optional implementation methods of other embodiments.

[0066] In each of the disclosed embodiments, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions of the embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. Technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their inherent logical relationships.

[0067] The terminology used in the embodiments of this disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure.

[0068] In this embodiment of the disclosure, unless otherwise stated, elements expressed in the singular form, such as "a," "an," "the," "the," "the," "the," "the," "the," "this," etc., can mean "one and only one," or "one or more," "at least one," etc. For example, when using articles such as "a," "an," "the," etc. in translation, the noun following the article can be understood as either a singular expression or a plural expression.

[0069] In the embodiments disclosed herein, "multiple" refers to two or more.

[0070] In some embodiments, the terms “at least one of”, “one or more”, “a plurality of”, “multiple”, etc., may be used interchangeably.

[0071] In some embodiments, the notation "at least one of A and B", "A and / or B", "A in one case, B in another", "in response to one case A, in response to another case B", etc., may include the following technical solutions depending on the situation: in some embodiments, A (execute A regardless of B); in some embodiments, B (execute B regardless of A); in some embodiments, execution is selected from A and B (A and B are selectively executed); in some embodiments, A and B (both A and B are executed). The same applies when there are more branches such as A, B, C, etc.

[0072] In some embodiments, the notation "A or B" may include the following technical solutions, depending on the situation: in some embodiments, A (execution of A regardless of B); in some embodiments, B (execution of B regardless of A); in some embodiments, execution is selected from A and B (A and B are selectively executed). The same applies when there are more branches such as A, B, C, etc.

[0073] The prefixes "first," "second," etc., used in the embodiments of this disclosure are merely for distinguishing different descriptive objects and do not impose restrictions on the position, order, priority, quantity, or content of the descriptive objects. The description of the descriptive objects is found in the claims or the context of the embodiments, and the use of prefixes should not constitute unnecessary restrictions. For example, if the descriptive object is a "field," the ordinal numbers preceding "field" in "first field" and "second field" do not restrict the position or order of the "fields." "First" and "second" do not restrict whether the "fields" they modify are in the same message, nor do they restrict the order of "first field" and "second field." Similarly, if the descriptive object is a "level," the ordinal numbers preceding "level" in "first level" and "second level" do not restrict the priority between "levels." Furthermore, the number of descriptive objects is not limited by ordinal numbers and can be one or more. For example, in "first device," the number of "devices" can be one or more. Furthermore, the objects modified by different prefixes can be the same or different. For example, if the object being described is "device", then "first device" and "second device" can be the same device or different devices, and their types can be the same or different. Similarly, if the object being described is "information", then "first information" and "second information" can be the same information or different information, and their content can be the same or different.

[0074] In some embodiments, “including A,” “containing A,” “for indicating A,” and “carrying A” can be interpreted as directly carrying A or indirectly indicating A.

[0075] In some embodiments, the terms “in response to…”, “in response to determining…”, “in the case of…”, “when…”, “if…”, “if…”, etc., can be used interchangeably.

[0076] In some embodiments, the terms “greater than,” “greater than or equal to,” “not less than,” “more than,” “more than or equal to,” “not less than,” “higher than,” “higher than or equal to,” “not lower than,” and “above” can be used interchangeably, as can the terms “less than,” “less than or equal to,” “not greater than,” “less than,” “less than or equal to,” “not more than,” “lower than,” “lower than or equal to,” “not higher than,” and “below”.

[0077] In some embodiments, devices, etc., can be interpreted as physical or virtual, and their names are not limited to the names recorded in the embodiments. Terms such as “device”, “equipment”, “circuit”, “network element”, “node”, “function”, “unit”, “section”, “system”, “network”, “chip”, “chip system”, “entity”, and “subject” can be used interchangeably.

[0078] In some embodiments, "network" can be interpreted as devices included in a network (e.g., access network devices, core network devices, etc.).

[0079] In some embodiments, the terms "access network device (AN device)," "radio access network device (RAN device)," "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "fixed station," "node," "access point," "transmission point (TP)," "reception point (RP)," "transmission / reception point (TRP)," "panel," "antenna panel," "antenna array," "cell," "macro cell," "small cell," "femto cell," "pico cell," "sector," "cell group," "serving cell," "carrier," "component carrier," and "bandwidth part (BWP)" can be used interchangeably.

[0080] In some embodiments, the terms "terminal", "terminal device", "user equipment (UE)", "user terminal", "mobile station (MS)", "mobile terminal (MT)", "subscriber station", "mobile unit", "subscriber unit", "wireless unit", "remote unit", "mobile device", "wireless device", "wireless communication device", "remote device", "mobile subscriber station", "access terminal", "mobile terminal", "wireless terminal", "remote terminal", "handset", "user agent", "mobile client", and "client" can be used interchangeably.

[0081] In some embodiments, access network devices, core network devices, or network devices can be replaced by terminals. For example, embodiments of this disclosure can also be applied to structures where communication between access network devices, core network devices, or network devices and terminals is replaced by communication between multiple terminals (e.g., device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), etc.). In this case, the structure can also be configured such that the terminal has all or part of the functions of the access network device. Furthermore, terms such as "uplink" and "downlink" can be replaced with terms corresponding to communication between terminals (e.g., "sidelink"). For example, uplink channel, downlink channel, etc., can be replaced with sidelink channel, and uplink link, downlink, etc., can be replaced with sidelink link.

[0082] In some embodiments, the terminal may be replaced by an access network device, a core network device, or a network device. In this case, the access network device, core network device, or network device may also be configured to have all or some of the functions of the terminal.

[0083] In some embodiments, the acquisition of data, information, etc., may comply with the laws and regulations of the country where the location is situated.

[0084] In some embodiments, data, information, etc., may be obtained with the user's consent.

[0085] Furthermore, each element, each row, or each column in the table of this disclosure can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and any combination of any element, any row, or any column can also be implemented as an independent embodiment.

[0086] In NR, especially when the communication frequency band is in frequency range 2, high-frequency channels attenuate quickly, so beam-based transmission and reception are required to ensure coverage.

[0087] During beam management, network devices configure a set of reference signal resources for beam measurement. The terminal measures the reference signal resources in this set and reports the IDs of some of the stronger reference signal resources, along with their corresponding layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) and / or layer 1 signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (L1-SINR), to the network device.

[0088] In related technologies, it is assumed that the network device's set of reference signal resources includes X reference signal resources, each corresponding to a different transmit beam of the network device. For each reference signal resource, the terminal needs to use all receive beams to measure the reference signal, obtain the beam measurement quality corresponding to each receive beam, and determine one or more of the best beam measurement qualities. Therefore, the number of beam pairs that the terminal needs to measure is M*N. Here, M represents the number of transmit beams of the network device, and N is the number of receive beams of the terminal.

[0089] However, for most users, their commuting routes on weekdays are relatively fixed, meaning the beams used along the way are also relatively fixed. Performing beam measurements daily would increase the complexity of the terminal's measurements and boost power consumption. Even for different users, beam reporting can be based on historical beam reports from other users at a specific location, eliminating the need for repeated measurements.

[0090] This disclosure provides a communication method in which a terminal acquires a beam map. The beam map includes a correspondence between first information used to determine the terminal's location and beam reports. This allows the terminal to obtain beam reports corresponding to its location information based on the beam map, reducing the number of beam measurements performed by the terminal and thus lowering its power consumption.

[0091] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0092] As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 100 includes at least one of a terminal 101, a network device 102, and a terminal-side server 103.

[0093] In some embodiments, terminal 101 may be user equipment (UE), and terminal 101 includes, for example, at least one of the following: mobile phone, wearable device, Internet of Things device, car with communication function, smart car, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, virtual reality (VR) terminal device, augmented reality (AR) terminal device, wireless terminal device in industrial control, wireless terminal device in self-driving, wireless terminal device in remote medical surgery, wireless terminal device in smart grid, wireless terminal device in transportation safety, wireless terminal device in smart city, and wireless terminal device in smart home, but is not limited thereto.

[0094] In some embodiments, network device 102 may be a functional network element in a core network device. The core network device may be a single device, including a first network element, a second network element, etc., or it may be multiple devices or a group of devices, each including all or part of the first network element, the second network element, etc. Network elements may be virtual or physical. The core network may include, for example, at least one of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), a 5G Core Network (5GCN), and a Next Generation Core (NGC).

[0095] In some embodiments, network device 102 may include at least one of access network device and core network device.

[0096] In some embodiments, the access network device is, for example, a node or device that connects a terminal to a wireless network. The access network device may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following in a 5G communication system: evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), next-generation Node B (gNB), node B (NB), home node B (HNB), home evolved node B (HeNB), radio backhaul device, radio network controller (RNC), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), base band unit (BBU), mobile switching center, base station in a 6G communication system, open RAN, cloud RAN, base station in other communication systems, and access node in a Wi-Fi system.

[0097] In some embodiments, the terminal-side server 103 is a server that interacts with the terminal 101. The terminal-side server 103 can be any device with information processing capabilities.

[0098] In some embodiments, the technical solutions of this disclosure can be applied to the Open RAN architecture. In this case, the interfaces between or within access network devices involved in the embodiments of this disclosure can be transformed into internal interfaces of Open RAN. The processes and information interactions between these internal interfaces can be implemented by software or programs.

[0099] In some embodiments, the access network device may be composed of a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The CU may also be called a control unit. The CU-DU structure can separate the protocol layer of the access network device. Some of the protocol layer functions are centrally controlled by the CU, while the remaining part or all of the protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU and centrally controlled by the CU. However, this is not the only possibility.

[0100] In some embodiments, a core network device may be a single device comprising one or more network elements, or it may be multiple devices or a group of devices, each comprising all or part of the aforementioned one or more network elements. Network elements may be virtual or physical. The core network may include, for example, at least one of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), a 5G Core Network (5GCN), or a Next Generation Core (NGC).

[0101] It is understood that the communication system described in this disclosure is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of this disclosure, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions proposed in this disclosure. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions proposed in this disclosure are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0102] The following embodiments of this disclosure can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG1, or to some of the main bodies, but are not limited thereto. The main bodies shown in FIG1C are illustrative. The communication system may include all or some of the main bodies in FIG1, or may include other main bodies outside of FIG1. ​​The number and form of each main body are arbitrary. Each main body may be physical or virtual. The connection relationship between the main bodies is illustrative. The main bodies may not be connected or may be connected. The connection may be in any way, such as direct connection or indirect connection, wired connection or wireless connection.

[0103] The embodiments disclosed herein can be applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-Beyond (LTE-B), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G new radio (NR), Future Radio Access (FRA), New-Radio Access Technology (RAT), New Radio (NR), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), and IEEE 802.20, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth (a registered trademark), Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) networks, Device-to-Device (D2D) systems, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) systems, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) systems, systems utilizing other communication methods, and next-generation systems built upon them, etc. Furthermore, multiple systems can be combined (e.g., a combination of LTE or LTE-A with 5G).

[0104] Figure 2 is an interactive schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2, the embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a communication method, which includes:

[0105] Step S2101: The terminal acquires the beam map.

[0106] In some embodiments, the beam map includes a correspondence between first information and beam reports, wherein the first information is information used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0107] It is understood that a beammap can include a correspondence between each piece of first information and a beam report. Specifically, one piece of first information can correspond to one or more beam reports, and one beam report can correspond to one or more pieces of first information.

[0108] In some embodiments, the first information may include at least one of the following: the current position of the terminal; the position of the terminal; the relative position of the terminal; the starting position of the terminal; the target position of the terminal; the relative distance between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the relative direction between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the route selected by the terminal; the time taken for the terminal to move from the starting position to the current position; the moving speed of the terminal; and the current time.

[0109] In some embodiments, the terminal's starting location may be, for example, home or office; the terminal's target location may be, for example, office or home; the route selected by the terminal may be a route from the starting location to the target location (e.g., a route by public transport, a driving route, a cycling route, etc.); the time taken for the terminal to move from the starting location to the current location may be the time interval between the time the terminal spends at the starting location and the time it spends at the current location; and the terminal's moving speed may be the average speed at which the terminal moves from the starting location to the current location. For example, the first information includes the terminal's location, and the beam map includes the correspondence between the terminal's location and beam reports. After the terminal obtains its actual location, a beam report corresponding to the terminal's actual location can be obtained based on the beam map. The terminal's location can also be called an absolute location, which is not a relative location relative to a certain other location. The terminal's location may include its latitude and longitude information.

[0110] The location of the terminal can be determined by a positioning method, and this disclosure does not limit this.

[0111] The location of the terminal can be determined based on the terminal's current location, or based on the terminal's starting location, the relative distance between the terminal's current location and the terminal's starting location, or based on the terminal's starting location, the time it takes for the terminal to move from the starting location to the current location, and the terminal's moving speed. This disclosure does not limit the determination of these factors.

[0112] For example, the first piece of information includes the terminal's relative position, and the beam map includes the correspondence between the terminal's relative position and the beam report. After the terminal obtains its actual relative position, it can obtain the beam report corresponding to the terminal's actual relative position based on the beam map.

[0113] For example, a terminal can also obtain its position based on its relative and starting positions. The beam map includes the correspondence between the terminal's position and beam reports. After the terminal obtains its actual position, it can obtain a beam report corresponding to its actual position based on the beam map.

[0114] The relative position of the terminal can be the relative position between the terminal's current actual position and its starting position. The relative position of the terminal can be determined based on the terminal's current position and its starting position, or based on the relative distance between the terminal's current position and its starting position, or based on the time it takes for the terminal to move from its starting position to its current position and the terminal's moving speed. This disclosure does not limit this determination.

[0115] For example, the first piece of information includes the route selected by the terminal, and the beam map includes the correspondence between the route selected by the terminal and the beam report. After the terminal obtains the route actually selected by the terminal, it can obtain the beam report corresponding to the route actually selected by the terminal based on the beam map.

[0116] For example, the first piece of information includes the time taken to move from the starting position to the current position and the terminal's moving speed. The beam map includes the correspondence between the time taken to move from the starting position to the current position, the terminal's moving speed, and the beam report. After the terminal obtains the actual time taken to move from the starting position to the current position and the actual moving speed, it can obtain the corresponding beam report based on the beam map.

[0117] For example, a terminal can obtain its relative position based on the time taken to move from its starting position to its current position, its moving speed, and its route. Then, it can obtain its actual position based on the relative position and the starting position. The beam map includes the correspondence between the terminal's position and the beam report. After the terminal obtains its actual position, it can obtain the beam report corresponding to its actual position based on the beam map.

[0118] For example, the first piece of information includes the current time, and the beam map includes the correspondence between the current time and the beam report. After the terminal obtains the actual current time, it can obtain the beam report corresponding to the actual current time based on the beam map.

[0119] For example, a terminal can obtain its relative position based on the current time and route, and then obtain its actual location based on the relative position and the starting position. The beam map includes the correspondence between the terminal's location and beam reports. After the terminal obtains its actual location, it can obtain a beam report corresponding to its actual location based on the beam map. For example, if the terminal is traveling by public transportation (such as a subway), the route and its location at each time are fixed.

[0120] In some embodiments, a terminal may obtain a beam map through at least one of the following methods: the terminal generates a beam map; the terminal downloads a beam map from the Internet; the terminal downloads the beam map from a terminal-side server; or the terminal receives the beam map sent by a network device.

[0121] In some embodiments, the beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

[0122] In some embodiments, the beam map may be generated based on an artificial intelligence (AI) model.

[0123] The above step S2101 may include any one of steps S2101a, S2101b, and S2101c.

[0124] Step S2101a: The network device sends a beam map to the terminal.

[0125] In some embodiments, the terminal can send the terminal's beam measurement results and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results (e.g., via beam reports) to the network device. The network device generates a beam map based on the terminal's beam measurement results and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results, and then sends the beam map to the terminal.

[0126] Step S2101b: The terminal-side server sends a beam map to the terminal.

[0127] In some embodiments, the terminal can send the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results to the terminal-side server. The terminal-side server generates a beam map based on the beam measurement results of one or more terminals and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results, and then sends the beam map to the terminal.

[0128] The terminal-side server interacts with one or more terminals to generate beam maps. When the beam map needs updating, the terminal-side server updates the beam map and sends the updated beam map to each terminal that has interacted with it. The terminal-side server may be invisible to network devices, meaning it does not interact with network devices.

[0129] Step S2101c: The terminal generates a beam map.

[0130] In some embodiments, the terminal may generate a beam map based on the terminal's beam measurement results and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

[0131] In other embodiments, the terminal may also upload the terminal's beam measurement results and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results to the Internet. The Internet generates a beam map based on the terminal's beam measurement results and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results, and the terminal can download the beam map from the Internet.

[0132] In this embodiment of the disclosure, terminals located in the same geographical location (or the same geographical area) use essentially the same beam. Therefore, if beam measurement has been performed for that geographical location before, the terminal can use the previous beam measurement results when it is in that geographical location again, thereby reducing the number of times the terminal needs to perform beam measurement.

[0133] In this embodiment of the present disclosure, a beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results. When the terminal needs to perform beam measurement, the corresponding beam report can be determined in the beam map based on the actual first information of the terminal. The beam report is then reported to the network, which can reduce the number of times the terminal performs beam measurement.

[0134] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for users of terminals with regular travel patterns, the corresponding beam report can be obtained from the beam map based on the relative position of the terminal's current actual position and starting position or the current time, and the beam report can be used as the beam report reported to the network device, which can reduce the number of times the terminal performs beam measurement.

[0135] For example, users whose work hours and routes to and from work are relatively fixed on weekdays will be located at roughly the same time each day (e.g., 8:30). They can obtain the corresponding beam report from the beam map based on the current actual time.

[0136] In some embodiments, the beam report may include at least one of the following: an identifier of at least one reference signal resource; and at least one quality information. The identifier of the reference signal resource may be, for example, at least one of a Synchronization Signal and PBCH block (SSB) Identity Document (ID) and a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) ID. The quality information may be, for example, at least one of a Layer 1 reference signal receiving power (L1-RSRP) and a Layer 1 signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (L1-SINR). The reference signal resource identifier can be used to represent the transmit beam of the network-side device.

[0137] In step S2102, the terminal determines the actual first information.

[0138] In some embodiments, the actual first information is used to determine the current actual location of the terminal.

[0139] In some embodiments, the actual first information corresponds to the first information in the beammap. For example, the first information in the beammap is the terminal's position, while the actual first information is the terminal's actual position. For example, the first information in the beammap is the relative distance between the terminal's current position and its starting position, while the actual first information is the relative distance between the terminal's current actual position and its starting position. For example, the first information is the time it takes for the terminal to move from its starting position to its current position and the terminal's moving speed, while the actual first information is the time it takes for the terminal to move from its starting position to its current actual position and the terminal's actual moving speed.

[0140] In step S2103, the terminal determines the first beam report corresponding to the actual first information based on the correspondence relationship.

[0141] In some embodiments, the terminal can determine the beam report corresponding to the actual first information from the beam map. For ease of description, the beam report corresponding to the actual first information determined from the beam map is referred to as the first beam report.

[0142] In some embodiments, the first beam report may include at least one reference signal resource identifier and its corresponding quality information. For ease of description, the reference signal resource identifier included in the first beam report is referred to as the first reference signal resource identifier, the reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier is referred to as the first reference signal, and the quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier is referred to as the first quality information.

[0143] Step S2104: The terminal sends a beam report to the network device.

[0144] In some embodiments, the terminal may send a beam report to the network device based on the first beam report.

[0145] In some embodiments, the terminal can directly send the first beam report to the network device, that is, the terminal does not need to perform beam measurement on the reference signal resources sent by the network device, which can reduce the number of times the terminal performs beam measurement, thereby reducing the power consumption of the terminal.

[0146] In some embodiments, the terminal may measure the first reference signal corresponding to at least one first reference signal resource identifier in the first beam report, and determine the accuracy of the first beam report based on the measurement result of the first reference signal, thereby determining the beam report to be sent to the network device.

[0147] In some embodiments, the terminal measures the first reference signal to obtain quality information of the first reference signal. For ease of description, the quality information of the first reference signal obtained by the terminal measurement is referred to as second quality information.

[0148] In some embodiments, by comparing the quality value corresponding to the first quality information (quality information in the first beam report) and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information (quality information obtained by the terminal in this measurement), the accuracy of the first beam report can be determined, thereby determining whether to send the first beam report to the network device or to perform beam measurement and send the second beam report based on more reference signal resources sent by the network device.

[0149] In some embodiments, when the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information meets a difference condition, the terminal sends a first beam report obtained from the beam map to the network device. When the difference between the measured quality value and the quality value in the first beam report meets the difference condition, it indicates that the first beam report obtained from the beam map is highly accurate. The terminal does not need to perform further beam measurements and can directly send the first beam report obtained from the beam map to the network device. This reduces the number of beam measurements performed by the terminal while ensuring the accuracy of the beam report, thereby reducing the terminal's power consumption.

[0150] In some embodiments, when the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information does not meet the difference condition, the terminal performs measurements based on the reference signal resources sent by the network device to obtain a second beam report, and the terminal sends the second beam report to the network device. The reference signal resources sent by the terminal based on the network device include the reference signal resources included in the first beam report. The reference signal resources sent by the network device can be reference signal resources in the reference signal resource configuration set sent by the network device, that is, reference signal resources used by the terminal for measurement.

[0151] In some embodiments, when the measured quality value and the quality value in the first beam report do not meet the difference condition, the terminal performs beam measurement on the reference signal resources sent by the network device to ensure the accuracy of the beam report.

[0152] In some embodiments, satisfying the difference condition means that the difference is less than a threshold value, and not satisfying the difference condition means that the difference is greater than or equal to the threshold value. The size of the threshold value can be set according to actual conditions, and this disclosure does not limit it.

[0153] For example, the L1-RSRP or L1-SINR of the first reference signal obtained by the terminal measurement can be compared with the L1-RSRP or L1-SINR of the first reference signal in the first beam report. If the difference is within the threshold value, the terminal sends the first beam report to the network device; otherwise, the terminal performs beam measurement based on the reference signal resources sent by the network device to obtain the second beam report, and the terminal sends the second beam report to the network device.

[0154] In step S2105, the terminal sends a second beam report to the terminal-side server.

[0155] In some embodiments, the terminal obtains a beam map from the terminal-side server. After receiving the second beam report, the terminal sends the second beam report to the terminal-side server. The second beam report is used by the terminal-side server to update the beam map of the terminal-side server.

[0156] In some embodiments, the terminal can obtain an updated beam map from the terminal-side server.

[0157] In the above embodiments, after the terminal performs beam measurement on the reference signal resources sent by the network device to obtain a second beam report, it sends the second beam report to the terminal-side server so that the terminal-side server can update the beam map and ensure the real-time performance and accuracy of the beam map.

[0158] The communication method provided in this embodiment allows a terminal to acquire a beam map. The beam map includes a correspondence between first information used to determine the terminal's location and beam reports. This enables the terminal to obtain beam reports corresponding to its location information based on the beam map, reducing the number of beam measurements performed by the terminal and thus lowering its power consumption.

[0159] The communication method involved in the embodiments of this disclosure may include at least one of steps S2101 to S2105. For example, step S2101 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, step S2102 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, step S2103 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, step S2104 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, and step S2102+S2103 may be implemented as a standalone embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

[0160] In some embodiments, steps S2102, S2103, S2104, and S2105 are optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0161] In some embodiments, steps S2101, S2104, and S2105 are optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0162] In some embodiments, other optional implementations described before or after the specification corresponding to FIG2 may be referred to.

[0163] In some embodiments, the terms “reference signal resource,” “beam,” and “beam pair” can be used interchangeably.

[0164] In some embodiments, the names of information, etc., are not limited to the names described in the embodiments. Terms such as "information", "message", "signal", "signaling", "report", "configuration", "indication", "instruction", "command", "channel", "parameter", "domain", "field", "symbol", "symbol", "codebook", "codeword", "codepoint", "bit", "data", "program", and "chip" can be used interchangeably.

[0165] In some embodiments, terms such as “moment,” “point in time,” “time,” and “time location” can be used interchangeably, as can terms such as “duration,” “segment,” “time window,” “window,” and “time.”

[0166] In some embodiments, “get,” “obtain,” “receive,” “transmit,” “bidirectional transmission,” and “send and / or receive” can be used interchangeably and can be interpreted as receiving from other entities, obtaining from protocols, obtaining from higher layers, obtaining through self-processing, or autonomous implementation, among other meanings.

[0167] In some embodiments, terms such as “send,” “transmit,” “report,” “distribute,” “transmit,” “bidirectional transmission,” “send and / or receive” can be used interchangeably.

[0168] In some embodiments, terms such as "certain," "preset," "default," "set," "indicated," "a certain," "any," and "first" can be used interchangeably. "Certain A," "preset A," "default A," "set A," "indicated A," "a certain A," "any A," and "first A" can be interpreted as A pre-defined in a protocol or the like, or as A obtained through setting, configuration, or instruction, or as specific A, a certain A, any A, or first A, but are not limited thereto.

[0169] In some embodiments, the determination or judgment can be made by a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), or by a true or false value (Boolean value (bool)) represented by true or false, or by a numerical comparison (e.g., a comparison with a predetermined value), but is not limited thereto.

[0170] In some embodiments, "not expecting to receive" can be interpreted as not receiving on time domain resources and / or frequency domain resources, or as not performing subsequent processing on the data after receiving it; "not expecting to send" can be interpreted as not sending, or as sending but not expecting the receiver to respond to the sent content.

[0171] Figure 3A is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3A, the present disclosure relates to a communication method, which includes:

[0172] Step S3101: Obtain the beam map.

[0173] The optional implementation of step S3101 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2101 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0174] In some embodiments, the terminal generates a beam map; or, the terminal receives a beam map sent by a network device; or, the terminal receives a beam map sent by a terminal-side server; or, the terminal downloads a beam map from the Internet, but is not limited thereto.

[0175] Step S3102: Determine the actual first information.

[0176] The optional implementation of step S3102 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2102 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0177] In some embodiments, the terminal determines the actual first information.

[0178] Step S3103: Based on the correspondence, determine the first beam report corresponding to the actual first information.

[0179] The optional implementation of step S3103 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2103 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0180] In some embodiments, the terminal determines the first beam report corresponding to the actual first information based on the correspondence.

[0181] Step S3104: Send beam report.

[0182] The optional implementation of step S3104 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2104 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0183] In some embodiments, the terminal sends a beam report to the network device.

[0184] The communication method involved in the embodiments of this disclosure may include at least one of steps S3101 to S3104. For example, step S3101 may be implemented as an independent embodiment, step S3102 may be implemented as an independent embodiment, step S3103 may be implemented as an independent embodiment, step S3104 may be implemented as an independent embodiment, and step S3102+S3103 may be implemented as an independent embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

[0185] In some embodiments, steps S3102, S3103, and S3104 are optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0186] In some embodiments, steps S3101 and S3104 are optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0187] Figure 3B is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3B, the present disclosure relates to a communication method, which includes:

[0188] Step S3201: Obtain the beam map.

[0189] The optional implementation of step S3201 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2101 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0190] In some embodiments, the terminal generates a beam map; or, the terminal receives a beam map sent by a network device; or, the terminal receives a beam map sent by a terminal-side server; or, the terminal downloads a beam map from the Internet, but is not limited thereto.

[0191] Figure 4A is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4A, the present disclosure relates to a communication method, which includes:

[0192] Step S4101: Send beam map.

[0193] The optional implementation of step S4101 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2101 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0194] In some embodiments, the network device sends a beam map to the terminal.

[0195] Step S4102: Obtain beam report.

[0196] The optional implementation of step S4102 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2104 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0197] In some embodiments, the network device receives a beam report sent by the terminal.

[0198] The communication method involved in the embodiments of this disclosure may include at least one of steps S4101 to S4102. For example, step S4101 may be implemented as a separate embodiment, and step S4102 may be implemented as a separate embodiment, but are not limited thereto.

[0199] In some embodiments, step S4102 is optional, and one or more of these steps may be omitted or substituted in different embodiments.

[0200] Figure 4B is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4B, the present disclosure relates to a communication method, which includes:

[0201] Step S4201: Send beam map.

[0202] The optional implementation of step S4201 can be found in the optional implementation of step S2101 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0203] In some embodiments, the network device sends a beam map to the terminal.

[0204] Figure 5 is an interactive schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 5, the embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a communication method, which includes:

[0205] Step S5101: The terminal acquires the beam map.

[0206] The optional implementation of step S5101 can be found in step S2101 of Figure 2, step S3101 of Figure 3A, step S4101 of Figure 4A, and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figures 2, 3A, and 4A, which will not be repeated here.

[0207] In step S5102, the terminal sends a beam report to the network device.

[0208] The optional implementation of step S5102 can be found in step S2104 of Figure 2, step S3104 of Figure 3A, step S4102 of Figure 4A, and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figures 2, 3A, and 4A, which will not be repeated here.

[0209] In some embodiments, the above methods may include the methods of the embodiments described above on the communication system side, terminal side, network device side, etc., which will not be repeated here.

[0210] This disclosure provides a communication method that may include a method for generating and using a beam map based on artificial intelligence (AI), which can reduce terminal beam measurements and ensure the accuracy of beam reporting and low latency.

[0211] In some embodiments, the terminal obtains a beam map, which includes a correspondence between first information and beam reports. The first information may include at least one of the following: the terminal's current location, the terminal's starting location, the terminal's target location, the relative distance and / or direction between the terminal's current location and the starting location, the route selected by the terminal (e.g., the route between the terminal's starting location and the target location), the time interval between the terminal's current location and the starting location (i.e., the time elapsed from the starting location to the current location), the terminal's moving speed, and the current time (e.g., morning commute or afternoon commute).

[0212] In some embodiments, the current position of the terminal may refer to the terminal's location or its relative position.

[0213] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the location of the terminal and the beam report.

[0214] In other embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the relative position of the terminal and beam reports. For example, the relative position of the terminal may be the relative position between the terminal's current position and its starting position.

[0215] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the terminal's starting location and the beam report. For example, the terminal's starting location may be the location of the terminal user's home, or it may be the location of the terminal user's company.

[0216] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the terminal's target location and the beam report. For example, the terminal's target location may be the location of the terminal user's company, or it may be the location of the terminal user's home.

[0217] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the relative position of the terminal's current position and its starting position and the beam report. The relative position of the terminal's current position and its starting position may include the relative distance and / or direction between the two positions. The relative position of the terminal's current position and its starting position can be determined by the time elapsed from the starting position to the current position and the terminal's moving speed, for example, by multiplying the time elapsed from the starting position to the current position by the terminal's moving speed.

[0218] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the route selected by the terminal (such as the route between the terminal's starting position and the target position) and the beam report.

[0219] In some embodiments, the beam map may include the correspondence between the time interval between the terminal's current location and the starting location (i.e., the time elapsed from the starting location to the current location) and the beam report.

[0220] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the terminal’s movement speed and beam reports.

[0221] In some embodiments, the beam map may include the time interval between the terminal's current position and its starting position, and the correspondence between the terminal's moving speed and the beam report.

[0222] In some embodiments, the beam map may include a correspondence between the current time and the beam report.

[0223] In some embodiments, a beam report may include at least one of the following: an identifier of at least one reference signal resource, and / or at least one quality information. The identifier of the reference signal resource may be, for example, at least one of SSB ID and CSI-RS ID. The quality information may be, for example, at least one of L1-RSRP and L1-SINR.

[0224] In some embodiments, the terminal can obtain the above beam map in the following manner.

[0225] In one example, the terminal can generate the beam map itself, or the terminal can download the beam map from the internet, or the terminal can download the beam map from a terminal-side server.

[0226] For example, the terminal has a unified server. The server first collects the beam measurement results (e.g., beam reports) and corresponding first information from the terminal. Then, it generates a beam map based on the beam reports and first information from at least one terminal and sends the beam map to each terminal.

[0227] In this case, the terminal sends the traditional beam measurement results and the corresponding first information to the terminal-side server, which is invisible to the network-side devices.

[0228] If multiple terminals are located in the same area but their beam measurement results in the beam reports are different, it's equivalent to the same first information corresponding to multiple different beam reports. In this case, the server can determine the beam report corresponding to the first information based on the order in which the beam measurement results were reported (e.g., selecting the beam report with the later reporting time), or the server can determine the beam report corresponding to the first information based on the number of terminals that reported the beam measurement results (e.g., selecting the beam report corresponding to the number of reported beam measurement results).

[0229] In one example, the terminal can receive a beam map sent by the base station or the core network.

[0230] For example, the terminal first sends the traditional beam measurement results and the corresponding first information to the base station or core network. The base station or core network generates a beam map based on the measurement results of at least one terminal, and then sends the beam map to the terminal.

[0231] In some embodiments, the terminal may use the above beam map in the following manner.

[0232] In some embodiments, the terminal determines the current first information (e.g., current actual location, current relative location, current time, current moving speed, etc.) and obtains the beam report based on the correspondence between the first information in the beam map and the beam report.

[0233] In one example, the terminal directly sends the beam report obtained based on the beam map to the network device.

[0234] In one example, the terminal measures the reference signal corresponding to at least one reference signal resource identifier in the beam report obtained based on the beam map, and compares the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR corresponding to the obtained reference signal with the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR corresponding to the reference signal in the beam map. If the difference between the two is within a threshold, the terminal directly sends the beam report obtained based on the beam map to the network device; otherwise, the terminal measures the L1-RSRP / L1-SINR corresponding to more reference signal resources sent by the network device, obtains the latest beam report based on the measurement results, and sends the latest beam report to the network.

[0235] If a new beam report is obtained based on measurements of more reference signal resources, the terminal can send it to the terminal-side server, allowing the server to update the beam map. The terminal can then retrieve the updated beam map from the terminal-side server, the network, or the internet.

[0236] The AI-based beam map provided in this disclosure can reduce terminal beam measurement and reduce terminal power consumption.

[0237] In the embodiments disclosed herein, some or all of the steps and their optional implementations may be arbitrarily combined with some or all of the steps in other embodiments, or may be arbitrarily combined with the optional implementations in other embodiments.

[0238] This disclosure also provides an apparatus for implementing any of the above methods. For example, an apparatus is provided that includes units or modules for implementing the steps performed by the terminal in any of the above methods. Alternatively, another apparatus is provided that includes units or modules for implementing the steps performed by a network device (e.g., an access network device, a core network functional node, a core network device, etc.) in any of the above methods.

[0239] It should be understood that the division of units or modules in the above device is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into a single physical entity, or they can be physically separated. Furthermore, the units or modules in the device can be implemented by a processor calling software: for example, the device includes a processor connected to a memory containing instructions. The processor calls the instructions stored in the memory to implement any of the above methods or to implement the functions of the units or modules in the above device. The processor can be, for example, a general-purpose processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or a microprocessor, and the memory can be internal or external to the device. Alternatively, the units or modules in the device can be implemented in the form of hardware circuits. The functionality of some or all of the units or modules can be achieved through the design of these hardware circuits, which can be understood as one or more processors. For example, in one implementation, the hardware circuit is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The functionality of some or all of the units or modules is achieved through the design of the logical relationships between the components within the circuit. In another implementation, the hardware circuit can be implemented using a programmable logic device (PLD). Taking a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) as an example, it can include a large number of logic gates. The connection relationships between the logic gates are configured through configuration files, thereby achieving the functionality of some or all of the units or modules. All units or modules of the above device can be implemented entirely through processor-called software, entirely through hardware circuits, or partially through processor-called software with the remaining parts implemented through hardware circuits.

[0240] In this embodiment, the processor is a circuit with signal processing capabilities. In one implementation, the processor can be a circuit with instruction read and execute capabilities, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPU) (which can be understood as a microprocessor), or a digital signal processor (DSP). In another implementation, the processor can implement certain functions through the logical relationships of hardware circuits. The logical relationships of the aforementioned hardware circuits are fixed or reconfigurable. For example, the processor is a hardware circuit implemented using an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD), such as an FPGA. In a reconfigurable hardware circuit, the process of the processor loading a configuration document and configuring the hardware circuit can be understood as the process of the processor loading instructions to implement the functions of some or all of the above units or modules. Furthermore, it can also be a hardware circuit designed for artificial intelligence, which can be understood as an ASIC, such as a Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU), a Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), or a Deep Learning Processing Unit (DPU).

[0241] Figure 6A is a schematic diagram of the terminal structure proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in Figure 6A, the terminal 6100 may include a transceiver module 6101. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 6101 is used to acquire a beam map, the beam map including a correspondence between first information and a beam report, the first information being used to determine the location of the terminal. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 6101 is used to send a beam report to a network device, the beam report being determined based on the beam map. Optionally, the transceiver module is used to perform at least one of the processing steps performed by the terminal in any of the above methods (e.g., step S2101, step S2104, but not limited thereto), which will not be elaborated here.

[0242] In some embodiments, the terminal may further include a processing module for performing at least one of the processing steps (e.g., steps S2102, S2103, but not limited thereto) performed by the terminal in any of the above methods, which will not be described in detail here.

[0243] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the following: the current position of the terminal; the position of the terminal; the relative position of the terminal; the starting position of the terminal; the target position of the terminal; the relative distance between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the relative direction between the current position and the starting position of the terminal; the route selected by the terminal; the time taken for the terminal to move from the starting position to the current position; the moving speed of the terminal; and the current time.

[0244] In conjunction with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the processing module is configured to: the terminal determine actual first information, the actual first information being used to determine the terminal's current actual location; the terminal, based on the correspondence, determines a first beam report corresponding to the actual first information; and the transceiver module is configured to send the beam report to the network device based on the first beam report.

[0245] In some embodiments, the transceiver module is configured to: send the first beam report to the network device.

[0246] In some embodiments, the first beam report includes a first reference signal resource identifier and first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; the processing module is configured to: the terminal measures the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier to obtain second quality information of the first reference signal; and determine that the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information satisfies the difference condition.

[0247] In some embodiments, the transceiver module is configured to: measure the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier to obtain second quality information of the first reference signal; the transceiver module is configured to: send a second beam report to the network device when the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality difference corresponding to the second quality information do not meet the conditions, wherein the second beam report is obtained by the terminal based on the reference signal resource sent by the network device.

[0248] In some embodiments, the transceiver module is used for: the terminal sending the second beam report to a terminal-side server, the terminal-side server interacting with the terminal and generating the beam map, and the second beam report being used by the terminal-side server to update the beam map of the terminal-side server.

[0249] In some embodiments, the processing module is configured to: generate the beam map by the terminal; or, the transceiver module is configured to: download the beam map from the Internet, wherein the Internet is used to generate the beam map; download the beam map from a terminal-side server; or receive the beam map sent by a network device.

[0250] In some embodiments, the beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

[0251] Figure 6B is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in Figure 6B, the network device 6200 may include a transceiver module 6201. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 6201 receives a beam report sent by a terminal. Optionally, the transceiver module is used to perform at least one of the processing steps (e.g., steps S2101, S2103, but not limited thereto) performed by the network device in any of the above methods, which will not be described in detail here.

[0252] In some embodiments, the network device may further include a processing module for performing at least one of the processing steps performed by the network device in any of the above methods, which will not be elaborated here.

[0253] In some embodiments, the processing module may be a single module or may include multiple sub-modules. Optionally, the multiple sub-modules may each perform all or part of the steps required by the processing module. Optionally, the processing module may be interchangeable with a processor.

[0254] Figure 7A is a schematic diagram of the structure of the communication device 7100 proposed in an embodiment of this disclosure. The communication device 7100 can be a network device (e.g., access network device, core network device, etc.), a terminal (e.g., user equipment, etc.), a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the network device in implementing any of the above methods, or a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal in implementing any of the above methods. The communication device 7100 can be used to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments; for details, please refer to the descriptions in the above method embodiments.

[0255] As shown in Figure 7A, the communication device 7100 includes one or more processors 7101. The processor 7101 can be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor, such as a baseband processor or a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the CPU can be used to control communication devices (e.g., base stations, baseband chips, terminal devices, terminal device chips, DUs or CUs, etc.), execute programs, and process program data. Optionally, the communication device 7100 can be used to execute any of the above methods. Optionally, one or more processors 7101 can be used to invoke instructions to cause the communication device 7100 to execute any of the above methods.

[0256] In some embodiments, the communication device 7100 further includes one or more transceivers 7102. When the communication device 7100 includes one or more transceivers 7102, the transceiver 7102 performs at least one of the communication steps (e.g., steps S2101, S2104, but not limited thereto) in the above method, such as sending and / or receiving, while the processor 7101 performs at least one of other steps (e.g., steps S2102, S2103, but not limited thereto). In optional embodiments, the transceiver may include a receiver and / or a transmitter, which may be separate or integrated. Optionally, the terms transceiver, transceiver unit, transceiver, transceiver circuit, interface circuit, interface, etc., can be used interchangeably; the terms transmitter, sending unit, transmitter, sending circuit, etc., can be used interchangeably; and the terms receiver, receiving unit, receiver, receiving circuit, etc., can be used interchangeably.

[0257] In some embodiments, the communication device 7100 further includes one or more memories 7103 for storing data. Optionally, all or part of the memories 7103 may be located outside the communication device 7100. In optional embodiments, the communication device 7100 may include one or more interface circuits 7104. Optionally, the interface circuits 7104 are connected to the memories 7103 and can be used to receive data from the memories 7103 or other devices, and to send data to the memories 7103 or other devices. For example, the interface circuits 7104 can read data stored in the memories 7103 and send the data to the processor 7101.

[0258] The communication device 7100 described in the above embodiments may be a network device or a terminal, but the scope of the communication device 7100 described in this disclosure is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication device 7100 may not be limited by FIG. 7A. The communication device may be a standalone device or a part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be: (1) a standalone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or chip system or subsystem; (2) a collection of one or more ICs, optionally, the IC collection may also include storage components for storing data and programs; (3) an ASIC, such as a modem; (4) a module that can be embedded in other devices; (5) a receiver, terminal device, smart terminal device, cellular phone, wireless device, handheld device, mobile unit, vehicle device, network device, cloud device, artificial intelligence device, etc.; (6) others, etc.

[0259] Figure 7B is a schematic diagram of the structure of the chip 7200 according to an embodiment of this disclosure. For cases where the communication device 7100 can be a chip or a chip system, the schematic diagram of the chip 7200 shown in Figure 7B can be referred to, but is not limited thereto.

[0260] Chip 7200 includes one or more processors 7201. Chip 7200 is used to perform any of the above methods.

[0261] In some embodiments, chip 7200 further includes one or more interface circuits 7202. Optionally, terms such as interface circuit, interface, and transceiver pin can be used interchangeably. In some embodiments, chip 7200 further includes one or more memories 7203 for storing data. Optionally, all or part of the memories 7203 may be located outside chip 7200. Optionally, interface circuit 7202 is connected to memory 7203, and interface circuit 7202 can be used to receive data from memory 7203 or other devices, and interface circuit 7202 can be used to send data to memory 7203 or other devices. For example, interface circuit 7202 can read data stored in memory 7203 and send the data to processor 7201.

[0262] In some embodiments, the interface circuit 7202 performs at least one of the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above method (e.g., steps S2101, S2104, but not limited thereto). For example, the interface circuit 7202 performing the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above method means that the interface circuit 7202 performs data interaction between the processor 7201, the chip 7200, the memory 7203, or the transceiver device. In some embodiments, the processor 7201 performs at least one of other steps (e.g., steps S2102, S2103, but not limited thereto).

[0263] The modules and / or devices described in the various embodiments, such as virtual devices, physical devices, and chips, can be combined or separated arbitrarily as needed. Optionally, some or all steps can also be performed collaboratively by multiple modules and / or devices, which is not limited here.

[0264] This disclosure also proposes a storage medium storing instructions that, when executed on the communication device 7100, cause the communication device 7100 to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, the storage medium is an electronic storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium is a computer-readable storage medium, but not limited thereto; it may also be a storage medium readable by other devices. Optionally, the storage medium may be a non-transitory storage medium, but not limited thereto; it may also be a temporary storage medium.

[0265] This disclosure also provides a program product that, when executed by the communication device 7100, causes the communication device 7100 to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, the program product is a computer program product.

[0266] This disclosure also proposes a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform any of the above methods.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The terminal acquires a beam map, which includes a correspondence between first information and beam reports, wherein the first information is used to determine the location of the terminal; The terminal sends a beam report to the network device, and the beam report is determined based on the beam map.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: The terminal's current location; The location of the terminal; The relative position of the terminal; The starting position of the terminal; The target location of the terminal; The relative distance between the terminal's current position and its starting position; The relative direction between the terminal's current position and its starting position; The route selected by the terminal; The time it takes for the terminal to move from its starting position to its current position; The terminal's moving speed; Current time.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The method further includes: The terminal determines actual first information, which is used to determine the terminal's current actual location. Based on the correspondence, the terminal determines the first beam report corresponding to the actual first information; The terminal sends a beam report to the network device, including: The terminal sends a beam report to the network device based on the first beam report.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The step of sending a beam report to the network device based on the first beam report includes: Send the first beam report to the network device.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first beam report includes a first reference signal resource identifier and first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; Before sending the first beam report to the network device, the method further includes: The terminal measures the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier to obtain the second quality information of the first reference signal; The difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information is determined to satisfy the difference condition.

6. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first beam report includes a first reference signal resource identifier and first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; The step of sending a beam report to the network device based on the first beam report includes: The terminal measures the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier to obtain the second quality information of the first reference signal; If the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality difference corresponding to the second quality information do not meet the conditions, a second beam report is sent to the network device. The second beam report is obtained by the terminal based on the reference signal resources sent by the network device.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: The terminal sends the second beam report to the terminal-side server, which interacts with the terminal and generates the beam map. The second beam report is used by the terminal-side server to update the beam map.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The terminal acquires the beam map, including at least one of the following: The terminal generates the beam map; The terminal downloads the beam map from the Internet, and the Internet is used to generate the beam map; The terminal downloads the beam map from the terminal-side server; The terminal receives the beam map sent by the network device.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The network device receives a beam report sent by the terminal. The beam report is determined based on a beam map. The beam map includes a correspondence between first information and the beam report. The first information is used to determine the location of the terminal.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first information includes at least one of the following: The terminal's current location; The location of the terminal; The relative position of the terminal; The starting position of the terminal; The target location of the terminal; The relative distance between the terminal's current position and its starting position; The relative direction between the terminal's current position and its starting position; The route selected by the terminal; The time it takes for the terminal to move from its starting position to its current position; The terminal's moving speed; Current time.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that, The beam report is determined based on the first beam report, which is the beam report in the beam map that corresponds to the actual first information of the terminal.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The beam report is the first beam report.

14. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, If the difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information satisfies the difference condition, then the beam report is the first beam report. The first quality information is the first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier included in the first beam report; The second quality information is obtained by the terminal measuring the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier.

15. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The difference between the quality value corresponding to the first quality information and the quality value corresponding to the second quality information does not meet the difference condition, so the beam report is the second beam report; The first quality information is the first quality information corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier included in the first beam report; The second quality information is obtained by the terminal measuring the first reference signal corresponding to the first reference signal resource identifier; The second beam report is obtained by the terminal based on the reference signal resources sent by the network device.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that, The beam map is generated by at least one of the terminal, the network device, the Internet, and the terminal-side server.

17. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 16, characterized in that, The beam map is generated based on the beam measurement results of the terminal and the first information corresponding to the beam measurement results.

18. A terminal, characterized in that, include: The transceiver module is used to acquire a beam map, which includes a correspondence between first information and beam reports. The first information is used to determine the location of the terminal and to send beam reports to network devices. The beam reports are determined based on the beam map.

19. A network device, characterized in that, include: The transceiver module is used to receive beam reports sent by the terminal. The beam reports are determined based on a beam map, which includes a correspondence between first information and beam reports. The first information is used to determine the location of the terminal.

20. A communication device, characterized in that, include: One or more processors; The processor is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

21. A communication device, characterized in that, include: One or more processors; The processor is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 10 to 17.

22. A communication system, characterized in that, The device includes a terminal and a network device, wherein the terminal is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, and the network device is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 10 to 17.

23. A storage medium storing instructions, characterized in that, When the instructions are executed on the communication device, the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 17.

24. A program product, characterized in that, include: A computer program, when executed by a communication device, causes the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method as described in any one of claims 10 to 17.

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