A communication method, apparatus, chip and storage medium

Abstract

The application discloses a communication method, device, chip and storage medium, which are applied to a beam measurement report scene. The method comprises the following steps: in response to detecting that a beam event occurs, triggering a beam measurement report process; generating a beam measurement report, wherein the beam measurement report comprises first reference information, and the first reference information is used for indicating a downlink service beam when the beam event occurs; and sending the beam measurement report to a network device. According to the method, the first reference information is carried in the beam measurement report, the downlink service beam in the beam measurement report can be indicated, the reference ambiguity of the network side about the current beam can be eliminated, and the network device can perform accurate and reliable beam management.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, device, chip, and storage medium. Background Technology

[0002] In 5G new radio (NR) mobile communication systems, beam management is a key technology for improving link quality and coverage, especially in high-frequency bands such as millimeter waves. Base stations (gNBs) and user equipment (UEs) need to communicate using narrow beams and dynamically adjust beam direction based on channel conditions to maintain optimal signal quality. Therefore, UEs must periodically or under triggered conditions report beam-related measurement information to the network so that the gNB can continuously monitor the UE's beam quality and perform beam management.

[0003] To realize the business vision of 5G NR supporting higher data rates, massive connectivity, ultra-low latency, and high reliability, the accuracy and reliability of beam management are of paramount importance. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a communication method, apparatus, chip, and storage medium. Based on the method described in this application, by carrying first reference information in the beam measurement report, the downlink service beam in the beam measurement report can be displayed, which can eliminate reference ambiguity on the network side regarding the current beam and facilitate accurate and reliable beam management by network devices.

[0005] In a first aspect, this application provides a communication method, the method comprising: triggering a beam measurement reporting process in response to detecting a beam event; generating a beam measurement report, wherein the beam measurement report includes first reference information, the first reference information being used to indicate the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs; and sending the beam measurement report to a network device.

[0006] Based on the method described in the first aspect, by carrying first reference information in the beam measurement report, the downlink serving beam in the beam measurement report can be displayed, which can eliminate reference ambiguity on the network side regarding the current beam and facilitate accurate and reliable beam management by network devices.

[0007] Secondly, this application provides a communication method, the method comprising: receiving a beam measurement report from a terminal device, wherein the beam measurement report is sent in response to the occurrence of a beam event, the beam measurement report including first reference information, the first reference information being used to indicate the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs; and determining, based on the first reference information, whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam.

[0008] Based on the method described in the second aspect, by displaying the downlink serving beam in the beam measurement report by carrying first reference information in the beam measurement report, the network side can eliminate reference ambiguity about the current beam and perform accurate and reliable beam management.

[0009] Thirdly, this application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device, a device within a terminal device, or a device compatible with a terminal device; wherein, the communication device may also be a chip system, and the communication device can execute the method executed by the terminal device in the first aspect. The function of the communication device can be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions. The unit may be software and / or hardware. The operation performed by the communication device and its beneficial effects can be found in the first aspect and its beneficial effects described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0010] Fourthly, this application provides a communication device, which may be a network device, a device within a network device, or a device compatible with a network device. The communication device may also be a chip system, capable of executing the methods performed by the network device in the second aspect. The functions of the communication device can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the aforementioned functions. These units may be software and / or hardware. The operations performed by the communication device and its beneficial effects are described in the second aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0011] Fifthly, a communication device is provided, including a processor. The processor is coupled to a memory and can be used to execute instructions or data in the memory to implement the methods performed by a terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

[0012] In one implementation, the communication interface can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface.

[0013] In one implementation, the communication device can be a chip configured in a terminal device or network device. When the communication device is a chip configured in a terminal device or network device, the communication interface can be an input / output interface.

[0014] In a sixth aspect, this application provides a communication device including a processor and a memory for storing computer execution instructions; the processor is configured to execute the computer execution instructions stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method executed by a terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect.

[0015] Optionally, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories.

[0016] In a seventh aspect, this application provides a communication device including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver. The transceiver is used to receive or transmit signals; the memory is used to store a computer program; and the processor is used to invoke the computer program from the memory to execute the method performed by a terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect.

[0017] Eighthly, this application provides a communication device including a processor and an interface circuit for receiving computer execution instructions and transmitting them to the processor; the processor executes the computer execution instructions to perform the method performed by the terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect.

[0018] A ninth aspect provides a processor, including: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is used to receive signals through the input circuit and transmit signals through the output circuit, causing the processor to execute the method performed by a terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect.

[0019] In specific implementation, the processor can be one or more chips, the input circuit can be input pins, the output circuit can be output pins, and the processing circuit can be transistors, gate circuits, flip-flops, and various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit can be received and input by, for example, but not limited to, a receiver, and the signal output by the output circuit can be, for example, but not limited to, output to and transmitted by a transmitter. Furthermore, the input circuit and the output circuit can be the same circuit, which is used as both the input circuit and the output circuit at different times. This application does not limit the specific implementation of the processor and various circuits.

[0020] In a tenth aspect, this application provides a computer program product comprising: a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions) that, when run, causes a computer to perform a method performed by a terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect.

[0021] In one aspect, this application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the computer to perform the method performed by a terminal device or network device as described in the first or second aspect.

[0022] In a twelfth aspect, this application provides a communication device that includes functions or units for performing the methods of either the first or second aspect.

[0023] In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of this application provide a chip system including one or more processors for calling and executing instructions stored in memory, causing the methods in any of the above aspects or any possible implementations of the above aspects to be executed. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0024] The chip system may include input circuits or interfaces for transmitting information or data, and output circuits or interfaces for receiving information or data.

[0025] In a fourteenth aspect, this application provides a communication system comprising a terminal device or a network device; wherein the terminal device is used to perform the method of the first aspect described above, and the network device is used to perform the method of the second aspect described above. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 This application provides a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system.

[0027] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a network environment provided for an embodiment of this application;

[0028] Figure 3 A flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0029] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0030] Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0031] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 8This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a chip provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0034] The terms "first" and "second," etc., used in the specification, claims, and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects, not to describe a specific order. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products, or apparatuses.

[0035] In this document, the term "embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of this application. The appearance of this phrase in various places throughout the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it a separate or alternative embodiment mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It will be explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0036] In this application, "at least one (item)" means one or more, "more than one" means two or more, "at least two (items)" means two or three or more, and "and / or" is used to describe the correspondence between related objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist simultaneously, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the related objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one (item) of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one (item) of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0037] The terms "comprising" and "having," and any variations thereof, used in the following description of embodiments of this application are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include other steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products, or devices. It should be noted that in embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any method or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in embodiments of this application should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other methods or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0038] To better understand the embodiments of this application, the system architecture involved in the embodiments of this application will be described first below:

[0039] The technical solutions of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) systems, New Radio (NR), the 3rd Generation Partner Project (3GPP) service-based architecture (SBA) and other fifth-generation (5G) or sixth-generation (6G) communication systems, and other communication systems that have evolved after 5G.

[0040] In a communication system, one network element can send signals to or receive signals from another network element. These signals can include information, configuration information, or data. For example, a communication system can include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device can be the network element sending the configuration information, and the terminal device can be the network element receiving the configuration information.

[0041] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, we will first use... Figure 1 The communication system illustrated herein is used as an example to describe in detail the communication system applicable to the embodiments of this application. It should be noted that the solutions in the embodiments of this application can also be applied to other mobile communication systems, and the corresponding names can be replaced by the names of the corresponding functions in other mobile communication systems.

[0042] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication system 100 may include a network device 110 and at least one terminal device 120. Figure 1 Take a communication system that includes a network device (i.e., network device 110) and a terminal device (i.e., terminal device 120) as an example.

[0043] Terminal device 120 is wirelessly connected to network device 110. Terminal device 120 can be fixed or mobile. Terminal device 120 can send uplink signals to network device 110, and network device 110 can receive the uplink signals. Network device 110 can send downlink signals to terminal device 120. For example, network device 110 is a base station of an NR system, and terminal device 120 is a corresponding terminal device of the NR system.

[0044] This application describes various embodiments in conjunction with network devices and terminal devices, which can operate on licensed or unlicensed frequency bands, wherein:

[0045] Terminal devices may include devices that provide voice and / or data connectivity to users. For example, a terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable, or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on water (such as ships); or it can be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons, and satellites).

[0046] Terminal devices can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, virtual reality (VR) terminals, augmented reality (AR) terminals, wireless terminals in industrial control, vehicle-mounted terminals, wireless terminals in self-driving vehicles, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, wearable terminals, etc. The embodiments in this application do not limit the application scenarios.

[0047] Terminal equipment may also be referred to as terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), access terminal, vehicle-mounted terminal, industrial control terminal, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, mobile terminal, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, UE terminal, wireless communication equipment, UE agent, or UE device, etc. Terminal equipment can be fixed or mobile.

[0048] By way of example and not limitation, in this embodiment, the terminal device can also be a wearable device. Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for devices that utilize wearable technology to intelligently design and develop everyday wearables, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices that are worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories.

[0049] Wearable devices are not merely hardware devices; they achieve powerful functionality through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly defined, wearable smart devices include those with comprehensive functions, large sizes, and the ability to perform complete or partial functions without relying on a smartphone, such as smartwatches or smart glasses. They also include devices focused on specific applications that require interaction with other devices like smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0050] It is understood that, in the embodiments of this application, all or part of the functions of the terminal device can also be implemented through software functions running on hardware, or through virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The terminal device in this application can be a 5G terminal or a 6G terminal; this application does not limit this. In the embodiments of this application, the apparatus for implementing the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device itself, or an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal device in implementing that function, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components capable of implementing the functions of the terminal device, which can be installed in the terminal device.

[0051] Network devices can provide wireless access services to terminal devices; that is, network devices are access devices that enable terminal devices to access the communication system wirelessly. Network devices can be evolved Node Bs (eNBs or eNodeBs) in LTE; or base stations, broadband network gateways (BNGs), aggregation switches, or non-3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) access devices in 5G networks, etc. This application does not specifically limit these to any particular type.

[0052] Network devices can include devices in the core network (CN). For example, devices in the CN can include access and mobility management functions (AMF), user plane functions (UPF), session management functions (SMF), etc.

[0053] Network devices can also be access points (APs) in WLANs, relay stations, communication devices in future PLMN networks, and communication devices in NTN networks.

[0054] Network devices can also be called network equipment, access nodes (AN), radio access nodes (RAN), etc. For example, the base station in the embodiments of this application may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, next-generation base stations (gNodeB, gNB), radio network controllers (RNC), node B (NB), base station controllers (BSC), base transceiver stations (BTS), home base stations (e.g., homeevolved nodeB, or home node B, HNB), base band units (BBU), transmitting and receiving points (TRP), transmitting points (TP), mobile switching centers, and devices that perform base station functions in device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, and Internet of Things (IoT) communication, etc. The embodiments of this application do not specifically limit these.

[0055] Network equipment may include a single node to perform the functions of the aforementioned base station, or it may include two or more independent nodes to perform the functions of the aforementioned base station. For example, network equipment includes centralized units (CUs) and distributed units (DUs), such as gNB-CU and gNB-DU.

[0056] Furthermore, in some other embodiments of this application, the network device may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some of the functions of the network device, and the DU implements other functions. For example, the CU is responsible for handling non-real-time protocols and services, implementing the functions of the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer, and the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for handling physical layer protocols and real-time services, implementing the functions of the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer.

[0057] In addition, the AAU can perform some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing, and related functions of active antennas. Since the information of the RRC layer will eventually become the information of the PHY layer, or be transformed from the information of the PHY layer, in this network deployment, higher-layer signaling (such as RRC signaling) can be considered to be generated by the CU, sent by the DU, or sent jointly by the DU and the AAU.

[0058] It is understood that network devices can include at least one of CU, DU, and AAU. Furthermore, CU can be classified as RAN device, or it can be classified as core network device; there are no specific limitations on this.

[0059] Network equipment can be mobile; for example, it can be a mobile device. Optionally, network equipment can be a satellite or a balloon station. For example, satellites can be low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), geostationary earth orbit (GEO), or highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellites. Optionally, network equipment can also be base stations located on land, water, or other similar locations.

[0060] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the network device provides services to a cell, and the terminal device communicates with the network device through the transmission resources (e.g., frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) used by the cell. The cell can be a cell corresponding to a network device (e.g., a base station), and can belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell. Small cells here can include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage area and low transmission power, making them suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0061] Furthermore, in LTE, NR, or future communication systems, multiple cells can operate simultaneously on the same frequency on a carrier. In certain special scenarios, the concepts of carrier and cell can be considered equivalent. For example, in carrier aggregation (CA) scenarios, when configuring a secondary carrier for a UE, the carrier index of the secondary carrier and the cell identifier (Cell ID) of the secondary cell operating on that secondary carrier are carried simultaneously. In this case, the concepts of carrier and cell can be considered equivalent; for instance, a UE accessing a carrier is equivalent to accessing a cell.

[0062] It is understood that in the embodiments of this application, the device used to implement the network device function can be the network device itself, or it can be a device that supports the network device in implementing the function, such as a chip system or a combination of devices or components that can implement the network device function. This device can be installed in the network device. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology or specific device form used in the network device.

[0063] Unless otherwise specified, the higher-layer signaling in the embodiments of this application can refer to signaling issued by a higher-layer protocol layer, which is at least one protocol layer among all protocol layers above the physical layer. Specifically, the higher-layer protocol layer can be at least one of the following protocol layers: Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer, etc. Higher-layer signaling can be signaling dedicated to a single terminal device, signaling shared by multiple terminal devices or a group of terminal devices, or signaling shared by all terminal devices within a cell.

[0064] Unless otherwise specified, in the embodiments of this application, physical layer signaling can be physical downlink control information, such as downlink control information (DCI), or other physical control information. It can be signaling dedicated to a terminal device, such as physical layer signaling scrambled with a terminal device-specific identifier, physical layer signaling sent in a search space dedicated to the terminal device, or physical layer signaling sent in a control channel resource set dedicated to the terminal device.

[0065] Alternatively, it could be physical layer signaling shared by multiple terminal devices or a group of terminal devices, such as physical layer signaling with group identifier scrambling, physical layer signaling sent in a search space shared by a group of terminal devices, or physical layer signaling sent in a set of control channel resources shared by a group of terminal devices.

[0066] Alternatively, it could be signaling shared by all terminal devices within a cell. Or, the physical layer control signaling could be signaling shared by all terminal devices, such as physical layer signaling with identifier scrambling shared by all terminal devices, physical layer signaling transmitted in a search space shared by all terminal devices, or physical layer signaling transmitted in a set of control channel resources shared by all terminal devices.

[0067] It should be understood that the term "and / or" used in this article is merely a description of the relationship between related objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

[0068] It should be noted that, Figure 1 This is merely a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture. The system may also include other devices, such as wireless repeaters and wireless backhaul devices. Figure 1 Not shown in the figure. The embodiments of this application do not limit the number of various devices included in the communication system.

[0069] This application's embodiments can be applied to both downlink and uplink signal transmission. For downlink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a network device, and the corresponding receiving device is a terminal device. For uplink signal transmission, the transmitting device is a terminal device, and the corresponding receiving device is a network device. The direction of signal transmission is not limited in this application's embodiments.

[0070] It is understood that in the embodiments of this application, the physical downlink share channel (PDSCH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical uplink share channel (PUSCH), and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) are only examples of downlink data channel, downlink control channel, uplink data channel, and uplink control channel, respectively. In different systems and different scenarios, the data channel and control channel may have different names, and the embodiments of this application do not limit this.

[0071] This application's embodiments involve measurement and measurement reporting, that is, in situations such as... Figure 1 In the illustrated communication system, the terminal device can perform measurements on relevant beams within its network environment and report the results.

[0072] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of a network environment provided in an embodiment of this application. Network environment 200 may include terminal devices (e.g., UE 220) and network devices (e.g., base stations 214 and 218). Base stations 214 / 218 may provide one or more radio access cells, such as 3GPP new radio "NR" cells, through which UE 220 can communicate with base stations 214 / 218.

[0073] UE 220 and base stations 214 / 218 can communicate via an air interface compatible with 3GPP technical specifications, such as those defining the fifth-generation (5G) NR system standard. In some implementations, base station 214 / 218 may be referred to as gNB 214 / 218.

[0074] In the downlink direction, base stations 214 / 218 can transmit beams to carry reference signals, which can be measured by UE 220 to determine the desired downlink beam pairs for transmitting / receiving Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission and Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission.

[0075] The reference signal carried by the beam can be a synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB) or a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS). In some implementations, the UE 220 may, for example, assume uplink / downlink beam correspondence based on channel reciprocity and use the desired downlink beam pair as the desired uplink beam pair for PUSCH and PUCCH transmissions.

[0076] When in Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle mode, UE 220 may perform initial acquisition during the random access procedure using, for example, SSB and Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) preambles to establish uplink and downlink beam pairs. These initial beam pairs may correspond to relatively wide beams.

[0077] After UE 220, it can enter RRC connection mode and initiate a beam refinement process to select a more directional beam with higher gain. The beam refinement process can be based on, for example, CSI-RS.

[0078] Measurements and measurement reporting of reference signals can be used by UE 220 and base stations 214 / 218 to perform mobility operations as radio conditions change over time. Mobility can include inter-cell mobility and intra-cell mobility. Intra-cell mobility can include beam switching within a cell.

[0079] like Figure 2 As shown, base stations 214 and 218 can each be divided into three sectors. One sector can correspond to one cell. If the active beam is updated to another beam within the same sector, the mobility event can be considered an intra-cell mobility event. If the active beam is updated to another beam in a different sector or provided entirely by different base stations, the mobility event can be considered an inter-cell mobility event.

[0080] L1 measurements have lower latency and can be used in processes that benefit from lower latency, such as beam management processes that cause UE 220 to switch quickly between beams. L1 measurements are beam-level measurements that can be filtered to help reduce the impact of noise and improve measurement accuracy. L3 measurements reflect longer-term characteristics of channel conditions and can be used for radio resource management decisions, such as cell handover processes. L3 measurements can be beam-level or cell-level measurements.

[0081] To facilitate understanding of the content of this solution, some terms used in the embodiments of this application will be explained below, so that those skilled in the art can understand them. This part is only for the purpose of understanding and should not be regarded as a specific limitation of this application.

[0082] I. Beam

[0083] A beam is a communication resource. A beam can be wide, narrow, or other types. The technology used to form a beam can be beamforming or other techniques. Beamforming technology can specifically be digital beamforming, analog beamforming, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming. Different beams can be considered different resources; the same information or different information can be transmitted through different beams.

[0084] Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as a single beam. A beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and detection signals, etc. For example, a transmit beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after a signal is transmitted through an antenna, and a receive beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of the wireless signal received from the antenna. It is understood that one or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

[0085] Beams can be divided into transmit beams and receive beams of network devices, and transmit beams and receive beams of terminals. The transmit beam of a network device, such as a base station, describes the beamforming information transmitted by the network device, while the receive beam of the base station describes the beamforming information received by the network device. Similarly, the transmit beam of a terminal describes the beamforming information transmitted by the terminal, and the receive beam describes the beamforming information received by the terminal. Therefore, broadly speaking, beams can be used to describe beamforming information.

[0086] In addition, beams can correspond to one or more of the following: time resources, spatial resources, and frequency domain resources.

[0087] Optionally, the beam can also correspond to a reference signal resource (e.g., a beamforming reference signal resource) or beamforming information.

[0088] Alternatively, the beam can also correspond to information associated with the reference signal resources of the network device.

[0089] The reference signal can be CSI-RS, SSB, DMRS, phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), TRS, etc. The information associated with the reference signal resource can be a reference signal resource identifier, or quasi-collocation (QCL) information (especially type D QCL), transmission configuration indicator / indication (TCI) information / status, etc. The reference signal resource identifier corresponds to a transmit / receive beam pair previously established based on measurements of that reference signal resource. Through this reference signal resource index, the terminal can infer beam information. In other words, there can be a correspondence between the beam and the reference signal, the reference signal resource, and the TCI information / status.

[0090] II. Quasi-collocation (QCL)

[0091] QCL Information: Quasi-co-site / quasi-co-located QCL assumption information can also be called QCL information. QCL information is used to help describe the beamforming information and reception process on the receiving side of the terminal.

[0092] Furthermore, QCL information is used to indicate the QCL relationship between two reference signals: a source reference signal and a target reference signal. The target reference signal can generally be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc., while the referenced or source reference signal can generally be a CSI-RS, a tracking reference signal (TRS), a synchronous signal / PBCH block (SSB), etc. It should be understood that the spatial characteristic parameters of two reference signals or channels satisfying the QCL relationship are the same or similar, thus the spatial characteristic parameters of the target reference signal can be inferred based on the source reference signal resource index. These spatial characteristic parameters include one or more of the following:

[0093] Angle of arrival (AoA), dominant angle of arrival, average angle of arrival, power angular spectrum (PAS) of the angle of arrival, angle of departure (AoD), dominant angle of departure, average angle of departure, power angular spectrum of the angle of departure, terminal transmit beamforming, terminal receive beamforming, spatial channel correlation, base station transmit beamforming, base station receive beamforming, average channel gain, average channel delay, delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, spatial Rx parameters, etc.

[0094] These spatial characteristic parameters describe the spatial channel characteristics between the antenna ports of the source reference signal and the target reference signal, helping the terminal to complete the receive-side beamforming or reception processing based on this QCL information. It should be understood that the terminal can receive the target reference signal based on the reception information of the source reference signal indicated by the QCL information.

[0095] To reduce the overhead of QCL information indication from the network device side to the terminal side, one optional implementation is that the network device side can indicate that the demodulation reference signal of the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) satisfies a QCL relationship with one or more of the multiple reference signal resources previously reported by the terminal. For example, the reference signal can be a CSI-RS. Here, each reported CSI-RS resource index corresponds to a transmit / receive beam pair previously established based on the measurement of that CSI-RS resource. It should be understood that the receive beam information of the two reference signals or channels that satisfy the QCL relationship is the same, so that the UE can infer the receive beam information of the PDCCH or PDSCH based on the reference signal resource index.

[0096] The existing standard defines four types of QCL (Type A to Type D). The base station can configure one or more types of QCL for the UE at the same time, such as QCL type A+D or C+D:

[0097] QCL Type A: Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average channel delay, and delay spread.

[0098] QCL Type B: Doppler frequency shift and Doppler extension;

[0099] QCL type C: Average channel delay and Doppler shift;

[0100] QCL type D: Spatial Rx parameter.

[0101] Understandably, the QCL information in this application includes one or more of QCL types A, B, C, and D.

[0102] III. Transmission Configuration Indicator / Indication (TCI)

[0103] TCI Information / Status: Used to indicate the QCL information of PDCCH / CORESET or PDSCH. Further, TCI information can indicate that the reference signal included in the TCI satisfies a QCL relationship with, for example, the DMRS of the PDCCH / PDSCH. It is mainly used to indicate that when receiving the PDCCH / PDSCH, its spatial characteristic parameters and other information are the same, similar, or nearly identical to the spatial characteristic parameters and other information of the reference signal included in the TCI.

[0104] The existing methods for indicating spatial characteristic parameter information of PDSCH or PUSCH are as follows:

[0105] The indication of spatial characteristic parameters / spatial related parameters of PDSCH is mainly achieved through TCI information, such as through the joint indication of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC-CE) signaling and Downlink Control Information (DCI), or through the joint indication of RRC signaling and DCI.

[0106] Specifically, an indication method may include:

[0107] First, the network device configures the M candidate Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) states of the PDSCH via RRC signaling. That is, the RRC message includes M candidate TCI state configuration information, and each candidate TCI state includes one QCL (Quality Class Query) information. Each TCI state configuration information includes a TCI ID. Furthermore, it may also include QCL type A and / or type B.

[0108] Then, the network device activates 2 from M TCI states via MAC-CE. N M TCI states (a subset of M TCI states).

[0109] Table 1 shows a schematic diagram of a MAC-CE format for indicating the activation or deactivation state of a TCI state field using MAC-CE.

[0110] Table 1

[0111]

[0112] The Bandwidth part (BWP) ID, which occupies 2 bits, is used to indicate the downlink bandwidth applied by the MAC-CE.

[0113] Serving cell ID (5 bits): Used to indicate the ID of the serving cell to which the TCI indicated by the MAC-CE belongs.

[0114] “R” represents the reserved bit, which is usually set to “0”.

[0115] The Ti field indicates the activation / deactivation of the TCI state with TCI state identifier i. Further, if the Ti field is "1", it means that the TCI state with TCI state identifier i is activated and mapped to the TCI field in the DCI. If the Ti field is "0", it means that the TCI state with TCI state identifier i is deactivated and is not mapped to the TCI field in the DCI.

[0116] In this MAC CE, all TCI states set to 1 are mapped to code points sequentially. That is, the first TCI state field set to 1 is mapped to code point value 0, the second TCI state field set to 1 is mapped to code point value 1, and so on. In the NR version 18 (Release 18, Rel-18) protocol, the maximum number of active TCI states is 8.

[0117] The TCI field in DCI has N bits used to indicate 2. N One of the TCI states is used for PDSCH reception. In the NR Rel-18 protocol, N=3. The DCI shown in Table 2 can be used to indicate one of the TCI states.

[0118] Table 2

[0119]

[0120] For example, a network device uses RRC signaling to indicate 64 TCI states for PDSCH reception. MAC-CE signaling activates 8 of the 64 TCI states, with IDs a1 to a8. If one of the TCI states has a value of 000, the terminal device determines the corresponding TCI state ID as a1, and the terminal device receives the PDSCH according to the TCI state indicated by TCIstateId a1.

[0121] The presence of the TCI field of PDSCH in DCI can be indicated by higher-layer signaling, such as the TCI-PresentInDCI field in RRC signaling. This field can be configured for each CORESET. When a CORESET has this field configured and enabled, then the TCI field exists in the DCI detected by that CORESET. When a CORESET has not configured this field, then the TCI field does not exist in the DCI detected by that CORESET. In this case, optionally, the TCI status of PDSCH is the TCI status configured in PDCCH.

[0122] When the scheduling offset is less than the threshold k, the UE uses the default TCI state to receive the PDSCH; when the scheduling offset is greater than the threshold k, the UE uses the TCI state indicated in the DCI to receive the PDSCH. It is stipulated that during the initial RRC and MAC-CE phases, the UE assumes that the DMRS of the PDCCH and PDSCH are QCLs with the synchronous signal broadcast channel block (PBCH block, SSB) determined during initial access.

[0123] The indication of spatial characteristic parameters / spatial relation parameters of PUSCH is implemented in a similar beam indication process to that of PDSCH. It can be indicated by a combination of RRC signaling, MAC-CE and DCI, or by RRC signaling and DCI. The DCI includes a sounding reference signal resource indicator (SRI) field, which is used to indicate the spatial relation information of PUSCH.

[0124] IV. L1 and L3 beam measurements

[0125] Measurements of beams by terminal equipment can include measuring the serving cell where the terminal equipment is located, as well as measuring neighboring cells, such as measuring neighboring cells of the same communication system or neighboring cells of different systems. Based on the layer involved in the measurement, measurements can be divided into physical layer measurements (i.e., L1 measurements) and RRC layer measurements (i.e., L3 measurements).

[0126] The L1 measurement results may include one or more of the following: L1 beam-level quality, L1 cell-level quality, and L1 beamgroup-level quality (a beamgroup may include multiple beams); the L3 measurement results may include one or more of the following: L3 beam-level quality, L3 beamgroup-level quality, and L3 cell-level quality.

[0127] The implementation of L1 measurement results by the terminal device can be as follows: the network device sends reference signals (such as SSB, CSI-RS) in multiple beam directions of the cell; accordingly, the terminal device performs measurements based on the reference signals on the time-frequency resources indicated by the network device. For example, the terminal device can obtain the signal strength of the beam corresponding to the reference signal at multiple instants within a certain period of time by sampling, and then weight or combine the obtained signal strengths to obtain the measurement result of the beam. The measurement result of the beam can also be called beam quality.

[0128] The terminal device can acquire L3 measurement results as follows: the terminal device can obtain the L3 filtered measurement results of the beam by performing L3 filtering on the L1 filtered measurement results of the beam, that is, the L3 beam-level quality; the L3 cell-level quality can be obtained by weighting or combining the L3 filtered measurement results of multiple beams in the cell; the L3 beam group quality can be obtained by weighting or combining the L3 filtered measurement results of multiple beams included in the beam group.

[0129] V. L1 and L3 Measurement Configuration

[0130] For connected UEs, the basic measurement configuration of the NR system (e.g., configured via the measurement configuration information element (measConfig IE)) can include the following parts:

[0131] 1. Measurement Object: The measurement object identifies the frequency information of the measurement performed by the UE. The NR system supports the measurement of two types of reference signals: Synchronization Signal / PBCHBlock (SSB) and Channel Status Indicator Reference Signal (CSI-RS). For SSB measurements, the frequency information is the SSB frequency associated with the measurement object.

[0132] Since 5G systems support transmission with multiple subcarrier spacings, the measurement object needs to indicate the relevant SSB subcarrier spacing. For the measurement configuration of the SSB reference signal, the measurement object also needs to indicate the SSB measurement time window information, i.e., the SSB Measurement Timing Configuration (SMTC) information. The network can further instruct the UE on which SSBs to measure within the SMTC. For the measurement configuration of the CSI-RS reference signal, the measurement object includes the CSI-RS resource configuration.

[0133] To enable the UE to derive cell measurement results from beam measurement results, the measurement object is also configured with beam measurement result filtering thresholds based on SSB and CSI-RS, as well as the maximum number of beams allowed for linear averaging calculation. For Layer 3 (L3) filtering of beam measurement results and cell measurement results, the measurement object also indicates specific filtering coefficients according to different measurement reference signals.

[0134] 2. Reporting Configuration: The reporting configuration mainly includes configuration information such as reporting criteria, reference signal type, and report format.

[0135] Similar to the LTE system, NR supports periodic triggered reporting, event triggered reporting, Common Gateway Interface (CGI) reporting for the purpose of Automatic Neighbor Relationship (ANR), and System Frame Number and Frame Timing Difference (SFTD) reporting for measuring time differences.

[0136] For periodic and event-triggered reporting, the reporting configuration specifies the reference signal type (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS), the measurement to be reported (e.g., any combination of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), and Signal Interference Noise Ratio (SINR), whether to report beam measurement results, and the maximum number of beams that can be reported.

[0137] For event-triggered reporting, the reporting configuration specifies a measurement trigger value for each event, choosing one from RSRP, RSRQ, and SINR.

[0138] In some cases, event-triggered reporting can also be understood as UE-initiated beam reporting (UEIBR).

[0139] 3. The association between measurement objects and reporting configurations allows for any combination of measurement objects and reporting configurations; that is, one measurement object can correspond to one or more reporting configurations, and one reporting configuration can correspond to one or more measurement objects. The measurement identifier is carried in the measurement report for reference by the network side.

[0140] VI. Reporting of L1 and L3 Measurements

[0141] L1 measurement reporting can be configured or triggered by network devices, specifically including periodic, aperiodic / event-based, or semi-persistent reporting. Taking periodic reporting as an example, a network device can configure periodic PUCCH or PUSCH resources for an end device, allowing the end device to send L1 measurement results on those resources. For event-based reporting, the measurement configuration message may indicate corresponding measurement events; when the reporting conditions for these events are met, the end device can send L1 measurement results to the network device.

[0142] Among them, the measurement events of L1 measurement can be of various types, including but not limited to LTM2 / LTM3 / LTM4 / LTM5 events.

[0143] The aforementioned measurement events can be:

[0144] Event LTM2: The serving cell's beam is below the absolute threshold;

[0145] Event LTM3: The candidate cell's beam is higher than the serving cell's beam offset.

[0146] Event LTM4: The candidate cell's beam is above the absolute threshold 1;

[0147] Event LTM5: The serving cell's beam is below absolute threshold 1, while the candidate cell's beam is above absolute threshold 2.

[0148] Alternatively, the triggering condition can include any other suitable event.

[0149] L3 measurement reporting can include periodic triggering and measurement event triggering. If it is periodic triggering, the terminal device sends L3 measurement results to the network device according to the corresponding period. If it is measurement event triggering, for example, the measurement configuration message will indicate the corresponding measurement event, and when the reporting conditions of these measurement events are met, the terminal device can send L3 measurement results to the network device.

[0150] Among them, L3 measurement events can be of various types, including but not limited to A1 / A2 / A3 / A4 / A5 / A6 events within the same system and B1 / B2 events from different radio access technologies (RAT).

[0151] Among them, the six measurement events of the same system can be:

[0152] Event A1: The serving cell is above the threshold;

[0153] Event A2: The serving cell is below the threshold;

[0154] Event A3: Neighboring cell is one offset higher than serving cell;

[0155] Event A4: Neighboring cell exceeds threshold;

[0156] Event A5: The serving cell is below threshold 1, while the neighboring cell is above threshold 2;

[0157] Event A6: The neighboring cell is offset higher than a certain auxiliary service cell by one offset.

[0158] Furthermore, the two measurement events for different RATs can be:

[0159] Event B1: The neighboring cell of the different RAT is above the threshold;

[0160] Event B2: The serving cell is below threshold 1, while the neighboring cells of different RATs are above threshold 2.

[0161] Alternatively, the triggering condition can include any other suitable event.

[0162] It should be noted that since both L1 and L3 measurements can be performed on a beam, measurement events can sometimes be referred to as beam events.

[0163] Under the existing protocol framework, during the beam measurement reporting process, the downlink beam for terminal device access services and the downlink beam for network devices to provide services to terminal devices are each configured as, or interpreted by, the terminal device and the network device as the "current beam".

[0164] The terminal device uses its "current beam (i.e., the downlink beam of the current access service)" as the measurement reference beam or reference beam. It determines whether a pre-configured beam event has occurred by comparing it with other beams (e.g., other beams in the same cell, or beams in different cells / systems) or a pre-configured threshold. If a pre-configured beam event is detected, a beam measurement report is triggered, and the measurement results are reported to the network device.

[0165] After receiving the beam measurement report, the network device uses its "current beam (i.e., the downlink beam currently providing services to the terminal device)" as the decision-making baseline beam or reference baseline beam to make beam management decisions based on the beam measurement report.

[0166] However, due to the time delay between the terminal device detecting a beam event and triggering the beam reporting process, and the sending of a beam measurement report to the network device, the service beam between the terminal device and the network device may be dynamically updated. This will result in the "current beam" (i.e., the downlink beam that the terminal device accesses when the beam event occurs) used as the reference beam in the beam measurement report of the terminal device being inconsistent with the "current beam" (i.e., the downlink beam that the network device provides services to the terminal device when making beam management decisions) used as the reference beam when the network device receives the beam measurement report and makes beam management decisions. This makes it difficult for the network device to make accurate and reliable beam management decisions.

[0167] Figure 3 This is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 3 As shown, the entity executing this communication method can be the terminal device and network device mentioned above. Alternatively, Figure 3 The device executing the method shown can be a chip in a terminal device or a chip in a network device; this application does not limit this. This is for ease of description. Figure 3 The method will be explained using terminal devices and network devices as examples.

[0168] Furthermore, in order to distinguish the concepts of "current beam" for terminal devices and network devices respectively and avoid confusion in wording, this application will refer to the downlink beam that the terminal device accesses when it detects a beam event as the downlink service beam, and the beam that the network device provides services to the terminal device when it makes beam management decisions after receiving a beam measurement report as the current service beam. This is merely a distinction in wording and not a limitation of this application.

[0169] S301. The terminal device, in response to the detection of a beam event, triggers the beam measurement reporting process.

[0170] In some embodiments, the beam event can be an L1-measured beam event. For example, EventLTM2~5 described above, or any other suitable L1-measured beam event.

[0171] In some embodiments, the beam events can be L3-measured beam events. For example, Events A1 to A6 and Events B1 to B2 described above, or any other suitable L3-measured beam events.

[0172] S302. Generate a beam measurement report, wherein the beam measurement report includes first reference information, the first reference information being used to indicate the downlink serving beam when a beam event occurs.

[0173] S303. The terminal device sends a beam measurement report to the network device; correspondingly, the network device receives the beam measurement report from the terminal device.

[0174] S304. Based on the first reference information, the network device determines whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beaming event is consistent with the current serving beam.

[0175] It is understood that, based on the method described in this application, by carrying first reference information in the beam measurement report, the downlink serving beam in the beam measurement report can be displayed, thereby eliminating reference ambiguity about the current beam and facilitating accurate and reliable beam management by the network device.

[0176] In some embodiments, the first reference information may include beam identification information, which can be used to identify the downlink serving beam when a beam event occurs.

[0177] Terminal devices can add beam identification information of the downlink serving beam to the beam measurement report, so that network devices can determine whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the beam identification information.

[0178] In this scenario, the network device determines whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the first reference information. This can include: determining that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the beam identification information corresponding to the current serving beam; or determining that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is inconsistent with the current serving beam based on the beam identification information being unrelated to the current serving beam.

[0179] For example, network devices can configure a corresponding beam ID for each downlink beam. When a terminal device detects a beam event and triggers the UEIBR process, it can add the beam ID corresponding to its downlink serving beam to the beam measurement report during the beam measurement report generation process.

[0180] In this way, when the network device receives the beam measurement report, it can determine the downlink serving beam of the terminal device by parsing the beam ID, and can determine whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam by comparing the beam ID of the downlink serving beam with the beam ID of the current serving beam.

[0181] If the beam ID of the downlink serving beam is the same as the beam ID of the current serving beam, it can be determined that the downlink serving beam is consistent with the current serving beam; if the beam ID of the downlink serving beam is different from the beam ID of the current serving beam, it can be determined that the downlink serving beam is inconsistent with the current serving beam.

[0182] In some embodiments, since there is a correspondence between the beam and the reference signal or reference signal resource it carries, the terminal device may also indicate the downlink serving beam to the network device by using the relevant information of the reference signal as beam identification information, so that the network device can determine whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the relevant information of the reference signal.

[0183] In some embodiments, the reference signal may include SSB or CSI-RS.

[0184] In some embodiments, beam identification information may include beam type information and beam index information.

[0185] Beam type information can be used to indicate the reference signal type of the reference signal corresponding to the downlink serving beam. For example, it indicates whether the reference signal corresponding to the downlink serving beam is SSB or CSI-RS.

[0186] Beam index information can be used to indicate the number associated with a reference signal. For example, when the reference signal is an SSB, the beam index information can be the SSB index; when the reference signal is a CSI-RS, the beam index information can be the CSI-RS resource ID.

[0187] In some embodiments, the downlink serving beam is configured via a transmission configuration indication TCI state, and the beam identification information is determined based on the quasi-co-addressable QCL relationship between the reference signal and the TCI state.

[0188] For example, the downlink serving beam can be configured through the TCI state. When a beam event occurs, the terminal device can obtain the current TCI state, determine the SSB or CSI-RS resource that has a QCL relationship with the current TCI, and use the beam type information indicating that the reference signal type is SSB or CSI-RS, as well as the beam index information indicating the SSB index of the determined SSB or the CSI-RS resource ID of the CSI-RS resource, as the beam identification information of the downlink serving beam.

[0189] In some embodiments, the first reference information may include reference time information, which may be used to indicate the first moment when a beam event occurs.

[0190] Terminal devices can add reference time information to the beam measurement report to indicate the occurrence of beam events, so that network devices can determine whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the reference time information.

[0191] In this scenario, the network device determines whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the first reference information. This can include: determining that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the fact that the TCI state has not been updated after the first moment indicated by the reference time information; or determining that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is inconsistent with the current serving beam based on the fact that the TCI state has been updated after the first moment indicated by the reference time information.

[0192] For example, when a terminal device detects a beam event and triggers the UEIBR procedure, it can record reference time information associated with the first moment of the beam event and add this reference time information to the beam measurement report during the beam measurement report generation process for network devices to reference, so that the network devices can at least determine the first moment of the beam event based on the reference information.

[0193] In this way, when the network device receives the beam measurement report, it can determine whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam based on the reference time information.

[0194] For example, network devices can use this reference time information to determine the first moment of the beam event, thereby determining the downlink serving beam of the terminal device at the first moment, and further determining whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam.

[0195] For example, network devices can use this reference time information to determine the first moment of a beam event, and then determine whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam by determining whether the TCI state has been updated after the first moment.

[0196] Based on the determination that the TCI state has not been updated since the first moment, the network device can determine that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beaming event is consistent with the current serving beam; based on the determination that the TCI state has been updated since the first moment, the network device can determine that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beaming event is inconsistent with the current serving beam.

[0197] In some embodiments, the reference time information may include absolute time information associated with the first moment of the beam event, which indicates the absolute time of the first moment of the beam event.

[0198] Optionally, the absolute time information can be satellite-timed information.

[0199] Alternatively, the absolute time information can be time information timed via the internet.

[0200] Optionally, the absolute time information can be the timing information of the communication system. For example, the absolute time information may include the system frame number and time slot number of the communication system, and use the system frame number and time slot number to indicate the absolute time of the first moment when the beam event occurs.

[0201] In some embodiments, the reference time information may include relative time information associated with a first moment when the beam event occurs, which indicates the time difference between the first moment when the beam event occurs and a second moment when the beam measurement report is sent.

[0202] Optionally, the relative time information can be the time difference between the absolute time of the first moment and the absolute time of the second moment based on satellite timing.

[0203] Optionally, the relative time information can be the time difference between the absolute time of the first moment and the absolute time of the second moment based on the Internet timing.

[0204] Optionally, the time information can be the time difference between the absolute time of a first moment and the absolute time of a second moment based on system timing. For example, the relative time information could be the time slot difference between the first moment when a beam event occurs and the second moment when a beam measurement report is sent.

[0205] In some embodiments, the first reference information may include beam identification information and reference time information, or may include other suitable information.

[0206] Terminal devices can simultaneously carry beam identification information (e.g., beam type information + beam index information) and reference time information (e.g., absolute time information or relative time information) in beam measurement reports. These two pieces of information serve as backups, so that even if beam identification mapping fails or there is a time deviation, there is still valid information to help network devices determine whether the downlink serving beam is consistent with the current serving beam, thereby significantly improving the system's fault tolerance performance.

[0207] Optionally, priority rules associated with beam identification information and reference time information can be defined. For example, network devices can prioritize using beam identification information for judgment, and use reference time information when beam identification information is invalid, or vice versa.

[0208] In some embodiments, the first reference information is latched when a beam event occurs.

[0209] The terminal device can immediately store and lock the first reference information (e.g., beam identification information or reference time information) at the same time as detecting the occurrence of a beam event and triggering the UEIBR procedure. This ensures that the network device can accurately and reliably determine the downlink serving beam of the terminal device when the beam event occurs based on the first reference information, thereby facilitating accurate and reliable beam management decisions.

[0210] For example, the terminal device can write the reference signal index or corresponding time information of the TCI state that is effective at the time of the beam event into a temporary register dedicated to this beam measurement report through the interrupt service routine at the physical layer or MAC layer, thereby completing the latching operation.

[0211] In some embodiments, the first reference information is carried by a reference information field in the beam measurement report.

[0212] Terminal devices can add extended reference information fields to beam measurement reports or UEIBR messages to carry the first reference information described above.

[0213] An exemplary, but not limiting, beam measurement report can be shown in Table 3 below:

[0214] Table 3

[0215]

[0216] As shown in Table 3, the beam measurement report can report measurement results for N SSBs or CSI-RS measurements. If the measurement is for an SSB, the beam measurement report may include SSB Resource Indicators (SSBRIs) for the N SSBs; if the measurement is for a CSI-RS, the beam measurement report may include CSI-RS Resource Indicators (CRIs) for the N CSI-RSs. To conserve resources, the beam measurement report may include measurement results for one reference signal (e.g., L1-RSRP #1 for L1 measurement of the reference signal shown in Table 3), and differential measurement results for the other N-1 reference signals (e.g., Differential L1-RSRP #2 to #N shown in Table 3).

[0217] In Table 3, the newly added extended reference information field (Ref. Inf.) in the beam measurement report can be used to carry the first reference information.

[0218] Optionally, when the first reference information includes beam identification information, the reference information field may include a field using a "beam type + beam index" combined encoding method to represent the relevant beam information. The beam type may indicate the beam category or status currently referenced by the terminal device, and the beam index may identify a specific reference signal or reference signal resource. This extended field can explicitly mark the downlink serving beam that the terminal device is using when the beam event occurs, thereby providing network devices with a reference regarding that downlink serving beam.

[0219] In one example, the encoding details might be as follows:

[0220] Beam Type (1 bit): Used to indicate the type or state of the reference signal corresponding to the downlink serving beam. For example, it can be agreed that 0 indicates that the reference signal corresponding to the current downlink serving beam is SSB, and 1 indicates that the reference signal corresponding to the current downlink serving beam is CSI-RS.

[0221] Beam Index (8 bits): Used to carry the index number of the downlink serving beam in the corresponding reference signal set. The meaning of this index value depends on the beam type bit mentioned above: when the beam type field is 0 (SSB), the beam index field represents the index of the SSB; when the beam type is 1 (CSI-RS), the beam index field represents the CSI-RS resource ID.

[0222] The beam index is 8 bits long and can represent a numerical range of 0 to 255. This is sufficient to cover SSB indices (typically 0 to 63 or 0 to 127) and CSI-RS resource IDs (0 to 191) in a typical network configuration. Optionally, the valid range of the index can be further limited. For example, when the beam type is 0, the beam index should not exceed the total number of SSBs configured in the serving cell; when the beam type is 1, the beam index should be within the range of the configured CSI-RS resource set.

[0223] Examples, rather than limitations, of the reference information fields are shown in Table 4 below:

[0224] Table 4

[0225]

[0226] Optionally, when the first reference information includes reference information, the reference information field may include a reference time, for example, a reference timestamp (RTS) field, used to record the time point to which the downlink serving beam belongs when the terminal device detects a beam event, so as to indicate to the network device that the terminal device acquired the beam measurement information associated with the downlink serving beam at the time indicated by the RTS. The network device can determine whether the downlink serving beam is consistent with the current serving beam based on the time indicated by the RTS.

[0227] When the RTS field is designed in absolute time mode to carry absolute time information, the terminal device can directly read the current System Frame Number (SFN) and subframe / slot number at the time of the beam event and fill this absolute time value into the RTS. The RTS field may include the System Frame Number (SFN) and slot number (e.g., Slot Index) or subframe number to accurately identify the global time of the measurement moment. Exemplary, and not limiting, reference information fields may be shown in Table 5 below:

[0228] Table 5

[0229]

[0230] When the RTS is designed in relative time mode to carry relative time information, the terminal device can record the difference in the number of time slots between the time of the beam event and the time of sending the beam measurement report. Exemplary, but not limiting, reference information fields may also be shown in Table 6 below:

[0231] Table 6

[0232]

[0233] See Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 4 The illustration shows an example of a terminal device sending a beam report including the first reference information to a network device when the first reference information includes beam identification information, and the network device determining whether the downlink serving beam is consistent with the current serving beam based on the first reference information.

[0234] S401. The terminal device detects a beam event and triggers the UEIBR procedure; immediately latches the downlink service beam identifier (ID = Beam Type (0 / 1) + Beam Index) that was in use when the beam event occurred.

[0235] Specifically, when a beam event occurs, the terminal device can read the reference signal corresponding to the active TCI state at that time. If the current TCI has a QCL relationship with the SSB, the index of the SSB is latched; if the current TCI has a QCL relationship with the CSI-RS resource, the corresponding CSI-RS resource ID is latched.

[0236] S402. The terminal device sends a UE-Initiated Report Indicator (UEIRI) to the network device on the PUCCH to indicate that a UEIBR will be sent on the PUSCH.

[0237] S403. The terminal device sends a UEIBR to the network device on the PUSCH, which includes beam identification information.

[0238] S404. The network device decodes the UEIBR, maps the SSB (Type=0) or CSI-RS (Type=1) according to the Beam Type; locates the specific reference signal according to the Beam Index; and compares it with its most recent downlink beam switching / TCI update record.

[0239] After receiving the UEIBR message, the network device first decodes and extracts the various reported information items. When a newly added reference information field is extracted, the network device can determine whether the reference information points to an SSB or a CSI-RS resource based on the beam type bit, and then find the specific beam in the corresponding reference signal set by combining the beam index value.

[0240] S405. The network device determines whether a TCI update has occurred between the occurrence of the beam event and the time when the terminal device sends the UEIBR.

[0241] Using the beam identification information provided in the reference information field, network devices can compare the beam identified by the terminal device in the beam measurement report with their own scheduling records, thereby determining whether the TCI status of the terminal device has been updated when it sends the beam measurement report.

[0242] S406. Determine the measurement reference for the beam measurement report as the currently serving beam.

[0243] If the downlink serving beam indicated by the decoded beam identification information is consistent with the current serving beam as perceived by the network device, it means that no downlink beam switching or TCI status update occurred between the occurrence of the beam event and the reporting of the beam measurement report, and the measurement reference beam reported by the terminal device is the current serving beam.

[0244] At this point, the network can directly use the differential measurements from the beam measurement report (e.g., the advantage of a candidate beam over the current beam) to make beam management decisions.

[0245] S407. Determine that the measurement reference in the beam measurement report is not the currently serving beam.

[0246] If the beam ID indicated by the decoded beam identification information matches the downlink beam that the network was previously active in, rather than the latest current serving beam when the beam measurement report was received, it means that the network performed a beam update or TCI status update between the beam event (or UEIRI) and the sending of the beam measurement report.

[0247] In other words, the downlink service beam reported by the terminal device is actually the old beam before the update. Based on this, the network device can infer that the measurement values ​​in the beam measurement report reflect a comparison between the old beam and the candidate beam, and since the switch to the new beam has been made subsequently, the original report content may have become partially invalid.

[0248] See Figure 5 , Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application. Figure 5 The illustration shows a terminal device sending a beam report including the first reference information to a network device when the first reference information includes reference time information, and an example of the network device determining whether the downlink serving beam is consistent with the current serving beam based on the first reference information.

[0249] S501. The terminal device detects a beam event and triggers the UEIBR procedure; immediately records the first moment of the beam event.

[0250] Specifically, when a beam event occurs, the terminal device can record absolute time information (such as the current system frame number (SFN) and time slot number) in the reference information field; or calculate and record relative time information (such as the time slot difference N between the first moment of the beam event and the second moment of sending the beam measurement report) in the reference information field.

[0251] S502. The terminal device sends UEIRI to the network device on the PUCCH to indicate that UEIBR will be sent on the PUSCH.

[0252] S503. The terminal device sends a UEIBR to the network device on the PUSCH, which includes reference time information.

[0253] S504. The network device decodes the UEIBR and compares the information recorded in the reference information field with its own recorded TCI status update time.

[0254] S505. The network device determines whether a TCI update has occurred between the occurrence of the beam event and the time when the terminal device sends the UEIBR.

[0255] Using the reference time information provided by the reference information field, network devices can determine the first moment of a beam event, and then determine whether the TCI status of the terminal device has been updated when it sends the beam measurement report.

[0256] For example, when the reference time information is absolute time information, the network device can directly determine the first moment of the beam event and compare it with the absolute time of the most recent downlink beam switching command to determine whether the downlink serving beam on which the beam measurement report is based is a new beam or an old beam.

[0257] For example, when the reference time information is relative time information, the network device knows (e.g., through synchronization and related instructions) the second moment when the terminal device sends the beam measurement report. By subtracting the time difference (e.g., the number of time slots N) in the relative time information, the first moment when the beam event occurred can be calculated. Then, by comparing it with the absolute time of the most recent downlink beam switching command, it can be determined whether the downlink serving beam on which the beam measurement report is based is a new beam or an old beam.

[0258] S506. Determine the measurement reference for the beam measurement report as the currently serving beam.

[0259] If no downlink beam switching or TCI status update occurs between the occurrence of the beam event and the reporting of the beam measurement report, it indicates that the measurement reference beam reported by the terminal device is the current serving beam, and it can be determined that the downlink serving beam referenced in the beam measurement report is consistent with the current serving beam.

[0260] At this point, the network can directly use the differential measurements from the beam measurement report (e.g., the advantage of a candidate beam over the current beam) to make beam management decisions.

[0261] S507. Determine that the measurement reference in the beam measurement report is not the currently serving beam.

[0262] If a beam update or TCI status update is performed between the occurrence of a beam event (or UEIRI) and the transmission of a beam measurement report, it indicates that the measurement reference of the beam measurement report is not the current serving beam. This confirms that the downlink serving beam referenced by the beam measurement report is inconsistent with the current serving beam.

[0263] In other words, the downlink service beam reported by the terminal device is actually the old beam before the update. Based on this, the network device can infer that the measurement values ​​in the beam measurement report reflect a comparison between the old beam and the candidate beam, and since the switch to the new beam has been made subsequently, the original report content may have become partially invalid.

[0264] It is understandable that, based on the solution proposed in this application, firstly, in terms of the reporting process, this solution does not interrupt the normal reporting process of the terminal device, allowing the terminal device to continue sending beam measurement reports with additional fields when it detects downlink beam switching or TCI status updates, which can ensure the complete transmission of information and avoid the loss of valuable measurement data due to the suspension of reporting.

[0265] Secondly, this solution does not restrict the timing of beam switching or TCI status updates for network devices. Network devices can update TCI status at any time, and the network side can still accurately parse the report content through extended fields, thus decoupling beam event-driven measurement reporting from network scheduling.

[0266] Furthermore, this solution involves minimal changes to the protocol, only adding extended fields to the reported messages, without involving counters or complex logical judgments. It boasts strong standard compatibility, low implementation complexity, and minimal deployment risk.

[0267] Finally, in terms of reliability and accuracy, this solution implements explicit identification of the "current beam" through extended fields, enabling network devices to intuitively identify the identity of the beam or reference time point reported by the terminal device, avoiding misjudgments caused by relying on implicit logic or inference in the past.

[0268] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application. Figure 6 The communication device 600 shown can be a terminal device, a device within a terminal device, or a device compatible with a terminal device; or Figure 6 The communication device shown can be a network device, a device within a network device, or a device that can be used in conjunction with a network device.

[0269] Figure 6 The communication device 600 shown may include a communication unit 601 and a processing unit 602.

[0270] The communication unit 601 can implement corresponding communication functions, which can be internal communication functions of the communication device 600 or communication functions between the communication device 600 and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 601 can also be referred to as a communication interface or transceiver unit.

[0271] The processing unit 602 is used to process data, which may be data received by the communication unit 601, and the processed data may also be sent by the communication unit 601. The processing unit 602 is also used to perform the data processing function of the terminal device or network device in the foregoing method embodiments to achieve the corresponding processing function.

[0272] Optionally, the communication device 600 further includes a storage module, which can be used to store instructions and / or data; the processing unit 602 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage module so that the communication device 600 can implement the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0273] In one possible design, the communication device 600 may correspond to the terminal device in the above method embodiments, or a component (such as a circuit, chip, or chip system) configured in the terminal device. The communication device 600 can be used to perform the steps or processes performed by the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0274] For example, the processing unit 602 is used to trigger a beam measurement reporting process in response to the detection of a beam event.

[0275] Processing unit 602 is also configured to generate a beam measurement report, wherein the beam measurement report includes first reference information, the first reference information being used to indicate the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs.

[0276] The communication unit 601 is used to send beam measurement reports to network devices.

[0277] Based on this implementation, by carrying first reference information in the beam measurement report, the downlink serving beam in the beam measurement report can be displayed, which can eliminate reference ambiguity on the network side regarding the current beam and facilitate accurate and reliable beam management by network devices.

[0278] In one implementation, the first reference information includes at least one of the following:

[0279] Beam identification information is used to identify the downlink serving beam when a beam event occurs;

[0280] Reference time information is used to indicate the first moment when a beam event occurs.

[0281] In one implementation, the beam identification information includes:

[0282] Beam type information, used to indicate the reference signal type of the reference signal carried by the downlink serving beam;

[0283] Beam index information, used to indicate the number associated with the reference signal.

[0284] In one implementation, the downlink serving beam is configured via the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, and the beam identification information is determined based on the quasi-co-addressable (QCL) relationship between the reference signal and the TCI state.

[0285] In one implementation, the reference signal includes: a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0286] In one implementation, the reference time information includes:

[0287] Absolute time information, used to indicate the absolute time of the first moment when a beam event occurs;

[0288] Alternatively, relative time information can be used to indicate the time difference between the first moment a beam event occurs and the second moment a beam measurement report is sent.

[0289] In one implementation, the absolute time information includes the system frame number and the time slot number.

[0290] In one implementation, the relative time information includes the time slot difference between detecting a beam event and sending a beam measurement report.

[0291] In one implementation, the first reference information is latched when a beam event is detected.

[0292] In one implementation, the first reference information is carried by the reference information field in the beam measurement report.

[0293] The above are merely examples; for detailed steps or procedures, please refer to the descriptions in the foregoing embodiments.

[0294] In one possible design, the communication device 600 may correspond to the network device in the above method embodiments, or to a component (such as a circuit, chip, or chip system) configured in the network device. The communication device 600 can be used to perform the steps or processes performed by the network device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0295] For example, the communication unit 601 is configured to receive a beam measurement report from a terminal device, wherein the beam measurement report is sent in response to a beam event, and the beam measurement report includes first reference information for indicating the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs.

[0296] The processing unit 602 is used to determine, based on the first reference information, whether the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam.

[0297] Based on this implementation, by carrying first reference information in the beam measurement report to indicate the downlink serving beam in the beam measurement report, the network side can eliminate reference ambiguity about the current beam and perform accurate and reliable beam management.

[0298] In one implementation, the first reference information includes at least one of the following:

[0299] Beam identification information is used to identify the downlink serving beam when a beam event occurs;

[0300] Reference time information is used to indicate the first moment when a beam event occurs.

[0301] In one implementation, determining whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam, based on the first reference information, includes:

[0302] Based on the correspondence between the beam identification information and the current serving beam, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam;

[0303] Based on the fact that the beam identification information is unrelated to the current serving beam, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event is inconsistent with the current serving beam.

[0304] In one implementation, determining whether the downlink serving beam of the beam event is consistent with the current serving beam, based on the first reference information, includes:

[0305] Based on the fact that the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) status has not been updated since the first moment indicated by the reference time information, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beaming event is consistent with the current serving beam.

[0306] Based on the fact that the TCI state was updated after the first moment indicated by the reference time information, it was determined that the downlink serving beam at the time of the beam event was inconsistent with the current serving beam.

[0307] In one implementation, the beam identification information includes:

[0308] Beam type information, used to indicate the reference signal type of the reference signal carried by the downlink serving beam;

[0309] Beam index information, used to indicate the number associated with the reference signal.

[0310] In one implementation, the downlink serving beam is configured via the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, and the beam identification information is determined based on the quasi-co-addressable (QCL) relationship between the reference signal and the TCI state.

[0311] In one implementation, the reference signal includes: a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0312] In one implementation, the reference time information includes:

[0313] Absolute time information, used to indicate the absolute time of the first moment when a beam event occurs;

[0314] Alternatively, relative time information can be used to indicate the time difference between the first moment a beam event occurs and the second moment a beam measurement report is sent.

[0315] In one implementation, the absolute time information includes the system frame number and the time slot number.

[0316] In one implementation, the relative time information includes the time slot difference between the occurrence of a beam event and the transmission of a beam measurement report.

[0317] In one implementation, the first reference information is latched when a beam event occurs.

[0318] In one implementation, the first reference information is carried by the reference information field in the beam measurement report.

[0319] The above are merely examples; for detailed steps or procedures, please refer to the descriptions in the foregoing embodiments.

[0320] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication device 700 can be a terminal device or a network device in the above method embodiments, or it can be a chip, chip system, or processor that supports the terminal device or network device in implementing the above methods. This communication device can be used to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments, and for details, please refer to the description in the above method embodiments.

[0321] like Figure 7 As shown, the communication device 700 may include one or more processors 701. The processor 701, also called a processing unit or processing module, can implement certain control functions. The processor 701 can be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor, such as a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the central processing unit can be used to control the communication device (e.g., base station, baseband chip, terminal, terminal chip, DU or CU, etc.), execute software programs, and process data from the software programs.

[0322] In an alternative design, the processor 701 may also store instructions and / or data, which can be executed by the processor 701 to cause the communication device 700 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments.

[0323] Optionally, the communication device 700 may include one or more memories 702, which may store instructions 704. These instructions can be executed on the processor 701, causing the communication device 700 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memories 702 may also store data. The processor 701 and the memories 702 may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0324] Optionally, the communication device 700 may further include a transceiver 705 and an antenna 706. The transceiver 705, also known as a transceiver unit, transceiver, or transceiver circuit, is used to implement transceiver functions. The transceiver 705 may include a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver, also known as a receiver circuit, is used to implement a receiving function; the transmitter, also known as a transmitter or transmitting circuit, is used to implement a transmitting function. The transceiver circuits, interfaces, interface circuits, or transceivers used to implement receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The aforementioned transceiver circuits, interfaces, interface circuits, or transceivers can be used for reading and writing code / data, or for transmitting or transmitting signals. Figure 6 The processing unit 602 shown can be a processor 701. The communication unit 601 can be a transceiver 705.

[0325] In another possible design, the processor 701 may include a transceiver for implementing receive and transmit functions. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit for implementing receive and transmit functions may be separate or integrated. The aforementioned transceiver circuit, interface, or interface circuit can be used for reading and writing code / data, or it can be used for transmitting or relaying signals.

[0326] In another possible design, the processor 701 may optionally store instructions 703, which, when executed on the processor 701, cause the communication device 700 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Instructions 703 may be embedded in the processor 701; in this case, the processor 701 may be implemented in hardware.

[0327] It should be understood that, in one possible design, the steps in the method embodiments provided in this application can be implemented by integrated logic circuits in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software form. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software modules can reside in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. This storage medium is located in memory, and the processor reads information from the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are not provided here.

[0328] In one implementation, the communication device 700 may correspond to the terminal device in the above method embodiments and may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The processor 701 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 702, and when the processor 701 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 701 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above method embodiments corresponding to the terminal device.

[0329] In another implementation, the communication device 700 may correspond to the network device in the above method embodiments and may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The processor 701 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 702, and when the processor 701 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 701 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above method embodiments corresponding to the network device.

[0330] The communication device described in the above embodiments may be a terminal device or a network device, but the scope of the communication device described in the embodiments of this application is not limited to this, and the structure of the communication device may vary. Figure 7 The communication device can be a standalone device or part of a larger device. For example, the communication device can be:

[0331] (1) Independent integrated circuit IC, or chip, or chip system or subsystem;

[0332] (2) A collection of one or more ICs, optionally including a storage component for storing data and instructions;

[0333] (3) ASIC, such as modem (MSM);

[0334] (4) Modules that can be embedded in other devices;

[0335] (5) Receivers, terminals, smart terminals, cellular phones, wireless devices, handheld devices, mobile units, vehicle-mounted devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, etc.;

[0336] (6) Others, etc.

[0337] For cases where the communication device can be a chip or a chip system, please refer to [link / reference]. Figure 8 The diagram shows the structure of the chip. Figure 8 The chip 800 shown includes a processor 801 and an interface 802. Optionally, it may also include a memory 803. The number of processors 801 can be one or more, and the number of interfaces 802 can be multiple.

[0338] For cases where the chip is used to implement the terminal device or network device in the embodiments of this application:

[0339] Interface 802 is used to receive or output signals;

[0340] Processor 801 is used to perform data processing operations on terminal devices or network devices.

[0341] It is understood that some optional features in the embodiments of this application can be implemented independently in certain scenarios without relying on other features, such as the current solution on which they are based, to solve the corresponding technical problems and achieve the corresponding effects. Alternatively, they can be combined with other features as needed in certain scenarios. Accordingly, the communication device given in the embodiments of this application can also implement these features or functions, which will not be elaborated here.

[0342] It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, each step of the above method embodiments can be completed by the integrated logic circuitry in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software form. The processor described above can be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system-on-chip (SoC), a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components.

[0343] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache.

[0344] By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous linked dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory used in the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0345] This application also provides a chip system including one or more processors for calling and executing instructions stored in memory, thereby performing the methods described in the embodiments of this application. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0346] This application also provides a computer program product including instructions, the computer program product including: computer program code, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the various steps or processes performed by the network device or terminal device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0347] This application also provides a computer-readable medium storing program code that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the various steps or processes performed by the network device or terminal device in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0348] The computer-readable storage medium may be the aforementioned volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or it may include both volatile memory and non-volatile memory.

[0349] This application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device; wherein the terminal device is used to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above embodiments, and the network device is used to execute the method executed by the network device in the above embodiments.

[0350] In the embodiments of this application, the terms and English abbreviations are exemplary examples given for ease of description and should not be construed as limiting the application in any way. This application does not preclude the possibility of defining other terms that can achieve the same or similar functions in existing or future agreements.

[0351] The above embodiments can be implemented entirely or partially by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. A computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the flow or function according to the embodiments of this application is generated.

[0352] A computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. Computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. A computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access, or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. Available media can be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks (SSDs)).

[0353] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0354] It should be noted that, for the sake of simplicity, the foregoing method embodiments are all described as a series of actions. However, those skilled in the art should understand that this application is not limited to the described order of actions, because according to this application, some operations can be performed in other orders or simultaneously. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application. Secondly, those skilled in the art should also understand that the embodiments described in the specification are all preferred embodiments, and the actions and modules involved are not necessarily essential to this application.

[0355] The descriptions of the various embodiments provided in this application can be referenced mutually. Each embodiment has its own emphasis, and parts not described in detail in a certain embodiment can be referred to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments. For the sake of convenience and brevity, for example, the functions and operations of the various devices and equipment provided in the embodiments of this application can be referred to the relevant descriptions of the method embodiments of this application. The method embodiments and the device embodiments can also be referenced, combined or cited from each other.

[0356] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and are not intended to limit them. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some or all of the technical features therein. Such modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: Applied to a terminal device, the method includes: In response to the detection of a beam event, first reference information is latched, wherein the first reference information is used to indicate the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs, wherein the first reference information includes beam identification information and / or reference time information, the beam identification information is used to identify the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs, and the reference time information is used to indicate the first moment at which the beam event occurs; Send a beam report indication to the network device, wherein the beam report indication is used to indicate the transmission of a beam measurement report; A beam measurement report is sent to the network device, wherein the beam measurement report includes the first reference information, for the network device to determine whether the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurred is consistent with the current serving beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The beam identification information includes: Beam type information, used to indicate the reference signal type of the reference signal carried by the downlink serving beam; Beam index information, used to indicate the number associated with the reference signal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The downlink serving beam is configured via the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, and the beam identification information is determined based on the quasi-co-addressable (QCL) relationship between the reference signal and the TCI state.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The reference signal includes: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) or Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS).

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The reference time information includes: Absolute time information, used to indicate the absolute time of the first moment when the beam event occurred; or Relative time information is used to indicate the time difference between the first moment when the beam event occurs and the second moment when the beam measurement report is sent.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The absolute time information includes: System frame number and timeslot number.

7. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The relative time information includes: The time slot difference between detecting the occurrence of the beam event and sending the beam measurement report.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, The first reference information is carried by the reference information field in the beam measurement report.

9. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to network devices, the method includes: Receive a beam report indication from a terminal device, wherein the beam report indication is sent in response to a beam event and is used to indicate the transmission of a beam measurement report; Receive a beam measurement report from the terminal device, wherein the beam measurement report includes first reference information, which is latched when the beam event occurs, and is used to indicate the downlink serving beam when the beam event occurs. The first reference information includes beam identification information and / or reference time information, wherein the beam identification information is used to identify the downlink serving beam when the beam event occurs, and the reference time information is used to indicate the first moment when the beam event occurs. Based on the first reference information, it is determined whether the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs is consistent with the current serving beam.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The step of determining whether the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs is consistent with the current serving beam based on the first reference information includes: Based on the correspondence between the beam identification information and the current serving beam, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs is consistent with the current serving beam; Based on the fact that the beam identification information is unrelated to the current serving beam, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs is inconsistent with the current serving beam.

11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The step of determining whether the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurs is consistent with the current serving beam based on the first reference information includes: Based on the fact that the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state has not been updated after the first moment indicated by the reference time information, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time the beaming event occurred is consistent with the current serving beam. Based on the fact that the TCI state has been updated after the first moment indicated by the reference time information, it is determined that the downlink serving beam at the time the beam event occurred is inconsistent with the current serving beam.

12. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The beam identification information includes: Beam type information, used to indicate the reference signal type of the reference signal corresponding to the downlink serving beam; Beam index information, used to indicate the number associated with the reference signal.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The downlink serving beam is configured via the Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state, and the beam identification information is determined based on the quasi-co-addressable (QCL) relationship between the reference signal and the TCI state.

14. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The reference signal includes: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) or Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS).

15. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The reference time information includes: Absolute time information, used to indicate the absolute time of the first moment when the beam event occurred; or Relative time information is used to indicate the time difference between the first moment when the beam event occurs and the second moment when the beam measurement report is sent.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The absolute time information includes: System frame number and timeslot number.

17. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The relative time information includes: The time slot difference between the occurrence of the beam event and the transmission of the beam measurement report.

18. The method according to any one of claims 9-17, characterized in that, The first reference information is carried by the reference information field in the beam measurement report.

19. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a unit for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1-8, or includes a unit for performing the method as described in any one of claims 9-18.

20. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a processor and a memory, the processor and the memory being coupled, the processor being used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1-8, or the processor being used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 9-18.

21. A chip, characterized in that, The device includes a processor and an interface, the processor and the interface being coupled; the interface is used to receive or output signals, and the processor is used to execute code instructions to cause the method of any one of claims 1-8 to be executed, or to cause the method of any one of claims 9-18 to be executed.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, which, when invoked by the computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8, or the method of any one of claims 9-18.

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