Method and apparatus for two-step beam reporting in a communication system

Abstract

A method and apparatus for two-step beam reporting in a communication system are disclosed. The method of a terminal includes the steps of: performing a first beam quality measurement operation on a current beam; performing a second beam quality measurement operation on one or more candidate beams; determining whether an event condition is satisfied based on a result of the first beam quality measurement operation and a result of the second beam quality measurement operation; transmitting a first uplink (UL) signal to a base station in a first UL resource if the event condition is satisfied; and transmitting a second UL signal including beam reporting information to the base station in a second UL resource.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to beam reporting technology, and more specifically, to technology for reporting beam information in a communication system based on multiple uplink (UL) transmissions. Background Technology

[0002] The importance of developing next-generation communication systems (e.g., New Radio (NR) systems, 6G systems, etc.) as the infrastructure for expanding a variety of future converged services is increasing. These next-generation systems can support not only traditional mobile communication frequency bands but also millimeter wave, terahertz, and mid-to-high frequency bands. Compared to traditional systems (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication systems), they can accommodate a wider range of performance metrics and deployment scenarios. In communications using high-frequency bands, technologies for reliably managing terminal beams may be needed to support beamforming-based transmissions, and technologies for optimizing the overhead associated with beam management and beam switching latency may be required. Summary of the Invention

[0003] Technical issues This disclosure aims to provide a method and apparatus for two-step beam reporting in a communication system.

[0004] Technical solution A method for a terminal to achieve the above objectives according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may include: performing a first beam quality measurement operation on a current beam; performing a second beam quality measurement operation on one or more candidate beams; determining whether an event condition is met based on the result of the first beam quality measurement operation and the result of the second beam quality measurement operation; sending a first UL signal to a base station via a first uplink (UL) resource based on the event condition being met; and sending a second UL signal including beam reporting information to the base station via a second UL resource, wherein the current beam corresponds to transmission configuration information (TCI) indicated to the terminal, and the one or more candidate beams correspond to one or more beam quality measurement resources determined based on configuration information received from the base station.

[0005] The first UL signal may be the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), which may include uplink control information (UCI), and the UCI may include information requesting the second UL resource from the base station.

[0006] The second UL resource can be a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) received from the base station. The second UL signal can be the PUSCH, and the DCI can include information indicating that beam reporting information is included in the PUSCH.

[0007] The first UL signal may be a PUCCH, which may include a UCI, and the UCI may include information to notify the base station whether the terminal should send a second UL signal in the second UL resource.

[0008] The second UL resource can be a PUSCH resource associated with the first UL resource. The second UL signal can be a PUSCH. The second UL resource can be mapped to a time resource that is at least N symbols later than the first UL resource, and N can be a natural number.

[0009] PUSCH may not include the UL shared channel (UL-SCH).

[0010] The repetition period of the first UL resource and the second UL resource can be determined based on the same period value.

[0011] The first beam quality measurement operation may include measuring the Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) of the current beam, and the second beam quality measurement operation may include measuring the L1-RSRP of one or more candidate beams.

[0012] Beam report information may include at least one of beam quality measurement results for the current beam or beam quality measurement results for one or more candidate beams.

[0013] The TCI can be a downlink (DL) TCI, and one or more beam quality measurement resources corresponding to one or more candidate beams can include at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource or a channel state information (CSI)-reference signal (RS) resource.

[0014] A terminal for achieving the above objectives according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may include: at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor may cause the terminal to perform: performing a first beam quality measurement operation on a current beam; performing a second beam quality measurement operation on one or more candidate beams; determining whether an event condition is met based on the result of the first beam quality measurement operation and the result of the second beam quality measurement operation; sending a first UL signal to a base station via a first uplink (UL) resource based on the event condition being met; and sending a second UL signal including beam reporting information to the base station via a second UL resource, wherein the current beam corresponds to transmission configuration information (TCI) indicated to the terminal, and the one or more candidate beams correspond to one or more beam quality measurement resources determined based on configuration information received from the base station.

[0015] The first UL signal may be the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), which may include uplink control information (UCI), and the UCI may include information requesting the second UL resource from the base station.

[0016] The second UL resource can be a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) received from the base station. The second UL signal can be the PUSCH, and the DCI can include information indicating that beam reporting information is included in the PUSCH.

[0017] The first UL signal may be a PUCCH, which may include a UCI, and the UCI may include information to notify the base station whether the terminal should send a second UL signal in the second UL resource.

[0018] The second UL resource can be a PUSCH resource associated with the first UL resource. The second UL signal can be a PUSCH. The second UL resource can be mapped to a time resource that is at least N symbols later than the first UL resource, and N can be a natural number.

[0019] PUSCH may not include the UL shared channel (UL-SCH).

[0020] The repetition period of the first UL resource and the second UL resource can be determined based on the same period value.

[0021] The first beam quality measurement operation may include measuring the Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) of the current beam, and the second beam quality measurement operation may include measuring the L1-RSRP of one or more candidate beams.

[0022] Beam report information may include at least one of beam quality measurement results for the current beam or beam quality measurement results for one or more candidate beams.

[0023] The TCI can be a downlink (DL) TCI, and one or more beam quality measurement resources corresponding to one or more candidate beams can include at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource or a channel state information (CSI)-reference signal (RS) resource.

[0024] Beneficial effects According to this disclosure, a terminal can perform beam quality measurement operations on one or more beams, and when the beam quality measurement result meets an event condition, the terminal can send a first UL signal to the base station via a first uplink (UL) resource. After sending the first UL signal, the terminal can send a second UL signal including beam reporting information to the base station via a second UL resource. According to the above method, the overhead required for beam management can be reduced, and beam switching delay time can be minimized. Attached Figure Description

[0025] Figure 1This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a communication system.

[0026] Figure 2 This is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the device.

[0027] Figure 3 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for indicating TCI via DCI.

[0028] Figure 4 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the two-step beam reporting method.

[0029] Figure 5 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a two-step beam reporting method that takes into account invalid resources.

[0030] Figure 6 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a two-step beam reporting method that takes into account invalid resources.

[0031] Figure 7 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a two-step beam reporting method that takes into account invalid resources.

[0032] Figure 8 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuring a first UL resource.

[0033] Figure 9 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuring a first UL resource.

[0034] Figure 10 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuring a second UL resource. Detailed Implementation

[0035] While this disclosure is capable of various modifications and alternatives, specific embodiments thereof are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings and will be described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but rather, this disclosure is intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. Throughout the description of the drawings, the same reference numerals refer to the same elements.

[0036] It will be understood that although the terms first, second, etc., may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, without departing from the scope of this disclosure, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0037] In exemplary embodiments of this disclosure, "at least one of A and B" may refer to "at least one of A or B" or "at least one of a combination of one or more of A and B". Furthermore, "one or more of A and B" may refer to "one or more of A or B" or "one or more of a combination of one or more of A and B".

[0038] It will be understood that when an element is described as "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element, or there may be intermediate elements. Conversely, when an element is described as "directly connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intermediate elements. Other terms used to describe the relationship between elements (i.e., "between" and "directly between", "adjacent" and "directly adjacent", etc.) should be interpreted in a similar manner.

[0039] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit this disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that, when used herein, the terms “comprising” and / or “including” specify the presence of the stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0040] Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein (including technical and scientific terms) shall have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms such as those defined in common dictionaries shall be interpreted as having the same meaning as their meaning in the context of the relevant field, and shall not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly defined herein.

[0041] In the following description, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. For ease of general understanding in describing the present disclosure, the same components in the drawings are designated by the same reference numerals, and repeated descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0042] The following describes a communication system applied according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication system may be a 4G communication system (e.g., a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system or an LTE-A communication system), a 5G communication system (e.g., a New Radio (NR) communication system), a sixth-generation (6G) communication system, etc. A 4G communication system may support communication in frequency bands of 6 GHz or below, and a 5G communication system may support communication in frequency bands of 6 GHz or above as well as in frequency bands of 6 GHz or below. The communication system applied according to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to what is described below, and exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. Here, "communication system" can be used in the same sense as "communication network," "LTE" can refer to "4G communication system," "LTE communication system," or "LTE-A communication system," and "NR" can refer to "5G communication system" or "NR communication system."

[0043] In an exemplary embodiment, "configuration of an operation (e.g., a transmission operation)" can mean "signaling of configuration information (e.g., information elements, parameters) for the operation" and / or "signaling of information instructing the execution of the operation." In other words, "configuring an operation (e.g., a transmission operation) in a communication node" can mean that the communication node receives "configuration information (e.g., information elements, parameters) for the operation" and / or "information instructing the execution of the operation." "Configuring information elements (e.g., parameters) in a communication node" can mean sending information elements to the communication node by signaling (e.g., the communication node receiving information elements). The signaling can be at least one of System Information (SI) signaling (e.g., transmission of System Information Block (SIB) and / or Master Information Block (MIB), RRC signaling (e.g., transmission of RRC parameters and / or higher-level parameters), MAC Control Element (CE) signaling, or PHY signaling (e.g., transmission of Downlink Control Information (DCI), Uplink Control Information (UCI), and / or Sidelink Control Information (SCI)).

[0044] In this disclosure, "time" can refer to a point in time, and "time" and "point in time" can be used with the same meaning. The reception time of a signal or channel can refer to the start time of reception or the end time of reception. The transmission time of a signal or channel can refer to the start time of transmission or the end time of transmission.

[0045] Figure 1 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a communication system.

[0046] refer to Figure 1The communication system 100 may include multiple communication nodes 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, 120-2, 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5, and 130-6. Furthermore, the communication system 100 may also include a core network (e.g., a Serving Gateway (S-GW), a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW), and a Mobility Management Entity (MME)). When the communication system 100 is a 5G communication system (e.g., a New Radio (NR) system), the core network may include Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMF), User Plane Functions (UPF), Session Management Functions (SMF), etc.

[0047] Multiple communication nodes 110 to 130 can support communication protocols defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications (e.g., LTE communication protocol, LTE-A communication protocol, NR communication protocol, etc.). Multiple communication nodes 110 to 130 can support communication protocols based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Filtered OFDM, Cyclic Prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform Extended OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM), Filter Bank Multicarrier (FBMC), Universal Filtered Multicarrier (UFMC), and Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA), etc. Each of the multiple communication nodes can represent a device or equipment. The exemplary embodiments can be performed by a device or apparatus. The device (or apparatus) may be structured as follows.

[0048] Figure 2 This is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the device.

[0049] refer to Figure 2 The device 200 may include at least one processor 210, a memory 220, and a transceiver 230 connected to a network to perform communication. Furthermore, the device 200 may also include an input interface device 240, an output interface device 250, a storage device 260, etc. The various components included in the device 200 can communicate with each other when connected via a bus 270.

[0050] Processor 210 can execute a program stored in at least one of memory 220 and storage device 260. Processor 210 can refer to a central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), or dedicated processor on which methods according to embodiments of the present disclosure are executed. Each of memory 220 and storage device 260 can be constituted by at least one of volatile storage medium and non-volatile storage medium. For example, memory 220 can include at least one of read-only memory (ROM) and random access memory (RAM).

[0051] Refer again Figure 1 The communication system 100 may include multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2, and multiple terminals 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5, and 130-6. Each of the first base station 110-1, the second base station 110-2, and the third base station 110-3 may form a macro cell, and each of the fourth base station 120-1 and the fifth base station 120-2 may form a small cell. The fourth base station 120-1, the third terminal 130-3, and the fourth terminal 130-4 may be within the cell coverage area of ​​the first base station 110-1. Furthermore, the second terminal 130-2, the fourth terminal 130-4, and the fifth terminal 130-5 may be within the cell coverage area of ​​the second base station 110-2. Furthermore, the fifth base station 120-2, the fourth terminal 130-4, the fifth terminal 130-5, and the sixth terminal 130-6 can all fall within the cell coverage area of ​​the third base station 110-3. Additionally, the first terminal 130-1 can fall within the cell coverage area of ​​the fourth base station 120-1, and the sixth terminal 130-6 can fall within the cell coverage area of ​​the fifth base station 120-2.

[0052] Here, each of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can be referred to as a NodeB (NB), evolved NodeB (eNB), gNB, advanced base station (ABS), high reliability base station (HR-BS), base transceiver station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, access point (AP), access node, radio access station (RAS), mobile multi-hop relay base station (MMR-BS), relay station (RS), advanced relay station (ARS), high reliability relay station (HR-RS), home NodeB (HNB), home eNodeB (HeNB), roadside unit (RSU), radio remote head (RRH), transmit point (TP), transmit and receive point (TRP), etc.

[0053] Each of the multiple terminals 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5 and 130-6 can be referred to as User Equipment (UE), Terminal Equipment (TE), Advanced Mobile Station (AMS), High Reliability Mobile Station (HR-MS), Terminal, Access Terminal, Mobile Terminal, Station, Subscriber Station, Mobile Station, Portable Subscriber Station, Node, Equipment, On-Board Unit (OBU), etc.

[0054] Simultaneously, each of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can operate in the same frequency band or different frequency bands. The multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can be interconnected via ideal backhaul links or non-ideal backhaul links, and exchange information with each other via ideal or non-ideal backhauls. Furthermore, each of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can be connected to the core network via ideal backhaul links or non-ideal backhaul links. Each of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can transmit signals received from the core network to the corresponding terminal 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5, or 130-6, and transmit signals received from the corresponding terminal 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5, or 130-6 to the core network.

[0055] In addition, each of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can support multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission (e.g., single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), massive MIMO, etc.), coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission, carrier aggregation (CA) transmission, transmission in unlicensed frequency bands, device-to-device (D2D) communication (or proximity service (ProSe)), Internet of Things (IoT) communication, dual connectivity (DC), etc. Here, each of the multiple terminals 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5, and 130-6 can perform operations corresponding to the operations of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 (i.e., operations supported by the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2). For example, the second base station 110-2 can transmit signals to the fourth terminal 130-4 in SU-MIMO mode, and the fourth terminal 130-4 can receive signals from the second base station 110-2 in SU-MIMO mode. Optionally, the second base station 110-2 can transmit signals to the fourth terminal 130-4 and the fifth terminal 130-5 in MU-MIMO mode, and the fourth terminal 130-4 and the fifth terminal 130-5 can receive signals from the second base station 110-2 in MU-MIMO mode.

[0056] Each of the first base station 110-1, the second base station 110-2, and the third base station 110-3 can transmit signals to the fourth terminal 130-4 in CoMP transmission mode, and the fourth terminal 130-4 can receive signals from the first base station 110-1, the second base station 110-2, and the third base station 110-3 in CoMP mode. Furthermore, each of the multiple base stations 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, 120-1, and 120-2 can exchange signals with corresponding terminals 130-1, 130-2, 130-3, 130-4, 130-5, or 130-6 within its cell coverage area in CA mode. Each of base stations 110-1, 110-2 and 110-3 can control the D2D communication between the fourth terminal 130-4 and the fifth terminal 130-5, so the fourth terminal 130-4 and the fifth terminal 130-5 can perform D2D communication under the control of the second base station 110-2 and the third base station 110-3.

[0057] The parameter set of physical signals and channels applied in a communication system (e.g., an NR communication system or a 6G communication system) can be variable. The parameter set can vary to meet various technical requirements of the communication system. In a communication system applying OFDM waveform technology based on cyclic prefix (CP), the parameter set may include subcarrier spacing and CP length (or CP type). Table 1 below may be a first exemplary embodiment of configuring the parameter set for CP-based OFDM. The subcarrier spacing may have a 2-fold multiplicative relationship, and the CP length may be scaled at the same ratio as the OFDM symbol length. Depending on the frequency band in which the communication system operates, at least some parameter sets in the parameter set of Table 1 can be supported. Additionally, parameter sets not listed in Table 1 can be further supported in the communication system. For a specific subcarrier spacing (e.g., 60 kHz), CP types not listed in Table 1 (e.g., extended CP) can also be supported.

[0058] [Table 1]

[0059] The following description describes the frame structure in a communication system. In the time domain, the elements constituting the frame structure may include subframes, time slots, microslots, symbols, etc. Subframes can be used as units for transmission, measurement, etc., and their length can have a fixed value (e.g., 1 ms) regardless of the subcarrier spacing. Time slots may include consecutive symbols (e.g., 14 OFDM symbols). The length of a time slot can vary differently from the length of a subframe. For example, the length of a time slot may be inversely proportional to the subcarrier spacing.

[0060] A time slot can be used as a unit for transmission, measurement, scheduling, resource allocation, and timing (e.g., scheduling timing, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) timing, Channel State Information (CSI) measurement and reporting timing, etc.). The length of the actual time resources used for transmission, measurement, scheduling, resource allocation, etc., may not match the length of the time slot. A microtime slot can include consecutive symbols, and the length of a microtime slot can be shorter than the length of a time slot. Microtime slots can be used as units for transmission, measurement, scheduling, resource allocation, timing, etc. Microtime slots (e.g., microtime slot length, microtime slot boundaries, etc.) can be predefined in the technical specifications. Alternatively, microtime slots (e.g., microtime slot length, microtime slot boundaries, etc.) can be configured (or indicated) to the terminal. The use of microtime slots can be configured (or indicated) to the terminal when specific conditions are met.

[0061] Base stations can use some or all of the symbols constituting a time slot to schedule data channels (e.g., Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH)). Specifically, for URLLC transmissions, unlicensed band transmissions, transmissions in the coexistence of NR and LTE communication systems, and multi-user scheduling based on analog beamforming, a portion of a time slot can be used to transmit the data channel. Additionally, base stations can use multiple time slots to schedule data channels. Furthermore, base stations can use at least one micro-time slot to schedule data channels.

[0062] In the frequency domain, elements constituting a frame structure may include resource blocks (RBs), subcarriers, etc. An RB may include consecutive subcarriers (e.g., 12 subcarriers). Regardless of the parameter set, the number of subcarriers constituting an RB can be constant. In this case, the bandwidth occupied by an RB can be proportional to the subcarrier spacing of the parameter set. RBs can be used as transmission and resource allocation units for data channels, control channels, etc. Resource allocation for data channels can be performed on a per-RB or per-RB-group (e.g., resource block group (RBG)) basis. An RBG may include one or more consecutive RBs. Resource allocation for control channels can be performed on a per-control channel element (CCE) basis. A CCE may include one or more RBs in the frequency domain.

[0063] In a communication system (e.g., an NR communication system), the aforementioned unit-time resource (hereinafter, a "time slot") may consist of a combination of one or more downlink time slots, flexible time slots (or unknown time slots), and uplink time slots. Each of the downlink time slot, flexible time slot, and uplink time slot may include one or more consecutive symbols. The flexible time slot may be located between a downlink time slot and an uplink time slot, between a first downlink time slot and a second downlink time slot, or between a first uplink time slot and a second uplink time slot. When a flexible time slot is inserted between a downlink time slot and an uplink time slot, the flexible time slot may be used as a guard time slot.

[0064] A time slot may include one or more flexible time periods. Optionally, a time slot may not include flexible time periods. The terminal may perform predefined operations within a flexible time period. Optionally, the terminal may perform operations configured by the base station semi-statically or periodically. For example, periodic operations configured by the base station may include PDCCH monitoring operations, Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel (SS / PBCH) block reception and measurement operations, Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) reception and measurement operations, Downlink Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) PDSCH reception operations, Probe Reference Signal (SRS) transmission operations, Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) transmission operations, periodically configured PUCCH transmission operations, and PUSCH transmission operations according to configured permissions, etc. Flexible symbols may be overridden by downlink symbols or uplink symbols. When a flexible symbol is overridden by a downlink or uplink symbol, the terminal may perform a new operation instead of an existing operation in the corresponding flexible symbol (e.g., the overridden flexible symbol).

[0065] In this disclosure, SSB can refer to a signal set including synchronization signals and / or a broadcast channel. Synchronization signals may include PSS, SSS, etc., and broadcast channels may include the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). SSB may also include reference signals. Reference signals (e.g., reference signals included in the SSB) include demodulation reference signals (DM-RS), CSI-RS, tracking reference signals (TRS), positioning reference signals (PRS), phase tracking reference signals (PT-RS), etc., used for decoding the PBCH. In NR communication systems, SSB can refer to a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) block. SSBs can be transmitted periodically, and one or more SSBs can be repeatedly transmitted within a cycle.

[0066] The format of a unit-time resource (hereinafter, "slot format") can be semi-statically configured by higher-layer signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling). Information indicating the semi-static slot format can be included in system information, and the semi-static slot format can be configured in a cell-specific manner. Alternatively, the semi-static slot format can be additionally configured for each terminal via terminal-specific higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). The flexible symbols for the cell-specific configured slot format can be overridden by downlink or uplink symbols via terminal-specific higher-layer signaling. Additionally, the slot format can be dynamically indicated by physical layer signaling (e.g., Slot Format Indicator (SFI) included in the Downlink Control Information (DCI)). The semi-statically configured slot format can be overridden by the dynamically indicated slot format. For example, the semi-static flexible symbols can be overridden by downlink or uplink symbols via the SFI.

[0067] The terminal can perform downlink, uplink, and sidelink operations within a bandwidth portion. A bandwidth portion can be defined as a set of consecutive redundancies (RBs) (e.g., physical resource blocks (PRBs)) with a specific set of parameters in the frequency domain. A parameter set can be used for signal transmission (e.g., transmission of control or data channels) within a bandwidth portion. In this disclosure, "signal" can refer to any physical signal and channel when used broadly. A terminal performing an initial access procedure can obtain configuration information for the initial bandwidth portion from the base station via system information. A terminal operating in RRC connection state can obtain configuration information for the bandwidth portion from the base station via terminal-specific higher-layer signaling.

[0068] The configuration information for the bandwidth portion may include a set of parameters and / or a set of RBs applied to the bandwidth portion. At least one bandwidth portion configured in the terminal can be activated. For example, within a carrier, an uplink bandwidth portion and a downlink bandwidth portion can be activated separately. In a time-division duplex (TDD) based communication system, a pair of uplink and downlink bandwidth portions can be activated. The base station can configure multiple bandwidth portions for the terminal within a carrier and can switch the active bandwidth portion of the terminal.

[0069] In an exemplary embodiment, "an active frequency band (e.g., carrier, bandwidth portion, RB set, listen-before-speak (LBT) subband, guard band, etc.)" can mean that the base station or terminal is in a state where it can transmit and receive signals using that frequency band. Furthermore, "an active frequency band" can mean that the transceiver's radio frequency (RF) filter (e.g., a bandpass filter) is in an operating state that includes that frequency band.

[0070] In an exemplary embodiment, RB may represent a common RB (CRB). Alternatively, RB may refer to a PRB or a virtual RB (VRB). In a communication system (e.g., an NR communication system), CRB may refer to an RB that constitutes a continuous set of RBs (e.g., a common RB grid) based on a reference frequency (e.g., point A). Carriers, bandwidth portions, etc., may be arranged on the common RB grid. In other words, carriers, bandwidth portions, etc., may be composed of CRBs. The RB or CRB constituting the bandwidth portion may be referred to as a PRB, and the CRB index within the bandwidth portion may be appropriately converted to a PRB index. In an exemplary embodiment, RB may refer to an interleaved RB (IRB).

[0071] PDCCH can be used to transmit DCI or DCI-formatted signals to terminals. The smallest resource unit constituting PDCCH can be a Resource Element Group (REG). A REG can consist of a PRB in the frequency domain and an OFDM symbol in the time domain. The demodulation reference signal (DMRS) used to demodulate PDCCH can be mapped to some of the REs constituting the REG, and control information (e.g., modulated DCI) can be mapped to the remaining REs. A PDCCH candidate can consist of a CCE or aggregated CCEs. A CCE can consist of multiple REGs. NR communication systems can support CCE aggregation levels 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc., and a CCE can consist of 6 REGs.

[0072] A control resource set (CORESET) can be a resource region where a terminal performs blind decoding of the PDCCH. A CORESET can consist of multiple REGs. A CORESET can consist of one or more RBs in the frequency domain and one or more symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) in the time domain. The symbols constituting a CORESET can be continuous in the time domain. The RBs constituting a CORESET can be continuous or non-contiguous in the frequency domain. A DCI (e.g., a DCI format, a PDCCH) can be transmitted within a CORESET. Multiple CORESETs can be configured for a cell and a terminal, and the time / frequency resource regions mapped to multiple CORESETs can overlap or not overlap.

[0073] CORESET can be configured in the terminal during the initial access procedure. For example, CORESET can be configured in the terminal via the initial access signal (e.g., PBCH or system information transmitted on the PBCH). The identifier (ID) of the CORESET configured by the initial access signal can be 0. The CORESET configured by the initial access signal can be referred to as CORESET0. Terminals operating in RRC idle state can perform monitoring operations in CORESET0 to receive the initial PDCCH during the initial access procedure. Terminals operating not only in RRC idle state but also in RRC connected state can perform monitoring operations in CORESET0. CORESET can be configured in the terminal via system information other than the system information transmitted via the initial access signal (e.g., PBCH) (e.g., System Information Block Type 1 (SIB1)). For example, in order to receive a random access response (or Msg2), the terminal can receive SIB1 including configuration information of CORESET. CORESET can be configured in the terminal via terminal-specific higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling).

[0074] The search space can be a set of candidate resource areas in which PDCCHs can be transmitted. The terminal can perform blind decoding on each PDCCH candidate within a predefined search space or a search space configured by the base station. The terminal can determine whether a PDCCH has been sent to itself by performing a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) on the result of the blind decoding. When it is determined that the PDCCH is for the terminal itself, the terminal can receive the PDCCH.

[0075] One or more search spaces can constitute a search space set. A search space can be defined / configured for each CCE aggregation level, and a search space set can refer to the search space for each CCE aggregation level or the sum of the search spaces for all CCE aggregation levels. For each CCE aggregation level, PDCCH candidates can consist of CCEs selected via a predefined hash function during CORESET or search space timing. In an exemplary embodiment, "search space set" can refer to "search space".

[0076] Search space sets can be logically associated with a CORESET (e.g., combined). A CORESET can be logically associated with one or more search space sets. A common search space set configured via PBCH can be used to monitor the DCI scheduling for PDSCHs carrying SIB1. The ID of a common search space set configured via PBCH can be set to 0. In other words, a common search space set configured via PBCH can be defined as a type 0 PDCCH common search space set or search space set #0. Search space set #0 can be logically associated with CORESET 0.

[0077] Search space sets can be categorized into common search space sets and terminal-specific search space sets (i.e., UE-specific search space sets) based on their purpose or terminal operation. Common DCIs or terminal-specific DCIs (e.g., UE-specific DCIs) can be transmitted within a common search space set, and terminal-specific DCIs can be transmitted within a terminal-specific search space set (e.g., UE-specific search space set). For example, a common DCI may include resource allocation information for the PDSCH (including system information, paging messages, etc.), power control commands, slot format indicators (SFI), and / or preemption indicators. A terminal-specific DCI may include resource allocation information for the PDSCH and / or resource allocation information for the PUSCH. Multiple DCI formats can be defined according to the purpose, and the terminal can distinguish between multiple DCI formats by the DCI payload, DCI fields, DCI size, and / or Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI).

[0078] In this disclosure, the common search space may be referred to as a CSS, and the set of common search spaces may be referred to as a CSS set. The terminal-specific search space may be referred to as a UE-specific search space (USS), and the set of terminal-specific search spaces may be referred to as a USS set.

[0079] The terminal may assume a quasi-co-located (QCL) relationship between the PDCCH DM-RS and a certain signal (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, PDSCH DM-RS, PDCCHDM-RS, etc.). The PDCCH DM-RS may refer to the DM-RS used for modulation and / or demodulation of the PDCCH. The PDSCH DM-RS may refer to the DM-RS used for modulation and / or demodulation of the PDSCH. Since the PDCCH has the same antenna port as the PDCCH DM-RS, the PDCCH and PDCCH DM-RS can have a QCL relationship. Through the QCL assumption, the terminal can obtain information about the large-scale propagation characteristics of the wireless channel traversed by the PDCCH and PDCCH DM-RS, and can utilize these characteristics for channel estimation and receive beamforming. QCL parameters may include at least one of delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, or spatial reception (Rx) parameters. Spatial reception parameters may correspond to at least one of receive beam, receive channel spatial correlation, or transmit and receive beam pairs. Spatial reception parameters can be referred to as "spatial QCL". PDCCH can be used in the sense of including PDCCH DM-RS. The expression that PDCCH has a QCL relationship with a specific signal can include the meaning of the QCL relationship between the PDCCH DM-RS and the specific signal. Signals or signal resources that have a QCL relationship with PDCCH can be referred to as QCL sources, QCL source signals, or QCL source resources.

[0080] PDCCHs transmitted within the same CORESET (e.g., search space sets corresponding to the same CORESET, PDCCH monitoring timing, etc.) can have the same QCL relationship. In other words, the terminal assumes that the unit with the same QCL can be a CORESET, and the QCL assumption can be independent for each CORESET. In an exemplary embodiment, the QCL and QCL source of a certain CORESET can refer to the QCL and QCL source of the PDCCH received through the corresponding CORESET, respectively. Exceptionally, different QCL assumptions can be applied to the search space set corresponding to a single CORESET. For example, the search space set used for monitoring Random Access (RA)-RNTI (e.g., a Type 1 CSS set) and search space sets other than those mentioned above can have different QCL relationships.

[0081] The QCL relationships or QCL assumptions of a CORESET (e.g., QCL source, QCL type, etc.) can be determined through predefined methods. For example, a terminal may assume that a PDCCH DM-RS received through a certain CORESET or a certain search space set has a QCL relationship with an SSB and / or CSI-RS selected during initial access or random access for a predefined QCL type. A QCL type may refer to a set of one or more QCL parameters. The QCL relationships or QCL assumptions of a CORESET (e.g., QCL source, QCL type, etc.) can be signaled by the base station to the terminal (e.g., via RRC signaling, MAC control element (CE) signaling, DCI signaling, or a combination thereof). In other words, the base station can configure the Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state for the CORESET in the terminal. Typically, the TCI state may include at least one of the ID of a signal (e.g., a QCL source or QCL source resource of the PDCCH DM-RS) or the QCL type of that signal that has a QCL relationship with the DM-RS (e.g., PDCCH DM-RS) of the physical channel to which the TCI is applied. For example, a base station can configure one or more TCI state candidates for each CORESET via RRC signaling, and can indicate (e.g., configure) one of the TCI state candidates to be used for CORESET monitoring by the terminal via MAC signaling (or DCI signaling). If only one TCI state candidate is configured via RRC signaling, the MAC signaling procedure (or DCI signaling procedure) can be omitted. The terminal can perform PDCCH monitoring and reception operations for the corresponding CORESET based on the TCI state configuration information received from the base station.

[0082] In this disclosure, for convenience, the TCI state may be referred to as TCI. Although TCI generally refers to a broad concept including beams or beam-related signaling information, in this disclosure, it can be used in a sense corresponding to a beam. The downlink TCI, or the TCI used to receive downlink signals, may correspond to the receive beam, while the uplink TCI, or the TCI used to transmit uplink signals, may correspond to the transmit beam. The transmit beam may refer to spatial relationship information, transmission spatial filters, etc.

[0083] In communication systems, beamforming operations can differ between high-frequency and low-frequency bands. Because path loss due to the channel is relatively low in low-frequency bands (e.g., below 6 GHz), beams with wide beamwidths can be used to transmit and receive signals. Even using a single beam, control channel transmission can cover the entire coverage area of ​​a cell (or sector). In high-frequency bands (e.g., above 6 GHz), where path loss is high, beamforming using massive MIMO (massive array antennas) can be used to extend the signal's reach. Beamforming can be applied not only to data channels but also to public signals and control channels. Communication nodes (e.g., base stations) can form beams with narrow beamwidths using multiple antennas and can transmit and receive signals multiple times using multiple beams directional in different directions to cover the entire spatial area of ​​a cell (or sector). The operation of repeatedly transmitting signals using multiple beams across multiple time resources is called beam scanning. A system that transmits signals using multiple beams with narrow beamwidths is called a multi-beam system.

[0084] In a multi-beam system, the terminal's beams can be managed by the base station. The terminal can measure the beam quality of received signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, etc.) and report the beam quality measurements to the base station. For example, the terminal can calculate beam quality measurements (such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) (e.g., L1-RSRP) and Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR)) for each beam (e.g., each signal or each resource) and report the optimal beam and / or the measurements corresponding to the optimal beam to the base station. The terminal can report the beam index corresponding to the measurements to the base station. The beam index can indicate information related to SSB resources, CSI-RS resources, etc. (e.g., SSB resource indicator, CSI-RS resource indicator, etc.). Information about the beam index can be included in the CSI and can be transmitted via uplink channels such as PUCCH or PUSCH. The base station can determine the terminal's transmit beams based on the beam indexes and / or beam quality measurement information (e.g., beam quality measurements) reported by the terminal. The base station can configure the TCI status of the physical signals and channels (e.g., PDCCH, PDSCH, CSI-RS, PUCCH, PUSCH, SRS, PRACH, etc.) for receiving the terminal based on the beam index and / or beam quality measurement information (e.g., beam quality measurement values) reported by the terminal.

[0085] Multi-beam transmission can be formed by multiple TRPs and / or panels. In this disclosure, TRPs and panels are collectively referred to as "TRPs". TRPs can be arranged based on different spatial locations, antenna configurations, and line-of-sight directions. Different beams (e.g., transmit beam, receive beam, transmit beam and receive beam pairs) can be formed for each channel configured between the TRP and the terminal. A base station can use multiple TRPs to perform multi-beam transmission. Transmission reliability can be improved through beam selection gain or beam diversity gain. A multi-TRP transmission scheme can be referred to as Cooperative Multipoint (CoMP). TRPs participating in multi-TRP transmission can belong to the same base station or the same serving cell. Alternatively, TRPs participating in multi-TRP transmission can belong to multiple base stations or multiple serving cells. The backhaul environment between TRPs can be considered ideal backhaul or non-ideal backhaul. Joint scheduling may be difficult to apply between TRPs connected via non-ideal backhaul.

[0086] The PDCCH receive beam (e.g., TCI) and PDSCH receive beam (e.g., TCI) of the terminal can be managed separately by the base station. The TCI of the PDCCH can be configured for a CORESET corresponding to the PDCCH. The terminal can perform PDCCH monitoring and reception operations within a search space set and PDCCH candidates corresponding to the CORESET, based on the TCI state included in the configuration information of the CORESET. In this disclosure, TCI-based signal reception operations can include operations such as determining and applying the receive beam, channel estimation, etc. The TCI of the PDSCH can be configured (e.g., indicated) separately from the TCI of the PDCCH. The TCI of the PDSCH can be included in the DCI of the PDSCH scheduling, and the DCI can be sent to the terminal. In other words, the DCI for the PDSCH can be dynamically indicated to the terminal. The base station can select a TCI from candidate TCIs for the PDSCH configured in the terminal via higher-layer signaling (e.g., active candidate TCIs for the PDSCH), and can indicate the selected TCI to the terminal via the scheduling DCI. In multiple TRP transmissions, the DCI can include multiple TCIs, and the terminal can use the indicated multiple TCIs to perform PDSCH reception. The TCI of another downlink signal (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, PRS) can be determined independently of the TCI of the PDCCH or PDSCH.

[0087] In the uplink, the PUCCH transmit beam (e.g., TCI) and PUSCH transmit beam (e.g., TCI) of the terminal can be managed separately. The PUCCH TCI (e.g., transmission spatial filter or spatial relation information) can be semi-statically configured for the terminal. The PUSCH TCI (e.g., transmission spatial filter or spatial relation information) can also be semi-statically configured. Optionally, the PUSCH TCI can be included in the scheduling DCI, and the scheduling DCI can be sent to the terminal. In other words, the PUSCH TCI can be dynamically indicated to the terminal. The PUSCH TCI can be indirectly indicated by SRS resource indication information, and the terminal can transmit the PUSCH by applying the same TCI (e.g., transmission spatial filter or spatial relation information) configured for the indicated SRS resource. The TCI of another uplink signal (e.g., SRS or PRACH) can be determined independently of the PUCCH or PUSCH TCI.

[0088] According to the above method, high degrees of freedom and flexibility can be achieved because individual beam management can be performed for each transmitted signal or channel. When the beam needs to be changed for all signals together, each signal requires a separate signaling process, which may result in large signaling overhead and increased latency for beam management.

[0089] To address the aforementioned issues, a method can be considered that instructs the terminal to specify TCIs for multiple signals (e.g., physical signals and / or physical channels) via a single signaling procedure. In the downlink, the terminal can receive the downlink TCI indication via DCI, and the indicated downlink TCI can be applied to both PDCCH and PDSCH. The indicated downlink TCI can be applied not only to PDCCH and PDSCH but also to other downlink signals (e.g., CSI-RS, TRS, PRS). In the uplink, the terminal can receive the uplink TCI indication via DCI, and the indicated uplink TCI can be applied to both PUCCH and PUSCH. The indicated uplink TCI can be applied not only to PUCCH and PUSCH but also to other uplink signals (e.g., SRS, PRACH). Downlink TCI and uplink TCI can be indicated separately via different DCIs. Alternatively, downlink TCI and uplink TCI can be jointly indicated via the same DCI. Downlink TCI can be matched with uplink TCI. In this context, TCI can be referred to as "joint TCI". The joint TCI can be indicated to the terminal via DCI. Joint TCI can be applied to both the aforementioned downlink signals (e.g., PDCCH, PDSCH, and signals outside the channel) and the aforementioned uplink signals (e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH, and signals outside the channel). Since the aforementioned TCI also applies to multiple signals (e.g., physical signals and / or physical channels), it can be referred to as "unified TCI" or "single TCI".

[0090] Signals using a unified TCI can be signals used to transmit terminal-specific (UE-specific) information. For example, a PDSCH can include unicast data (e.g., DL-SCH). A PDCCH can include a DCI that schedules data channels including unicast data (e.g., PDSCH, PUSCH, PSSCH) or a DCI that includes UE-specific control information. A PDCCH can be a PDCCH transmitted in a USS set and / or a specific CSS set (e.g., a Type 3 CSS set). CSI-RS, TRS, PRS, etc., can be configured in a UE-specific manner. In other words, CSI-RS, TRS, PRS, etc., can be signals transmitted in a UE-specific manner. As another example, a PUSCH can include unicast data (e.g., UL-SCH). SRS, PRACH, etc., can be configured in a UE-specific manner. In other words, SRS, PRACH, etc., can be signals transmitted in a UE-specific manner. UE-specific signals can be configured to the terminal through UE-specific RRC signaling procedures, MACCE, DCI, etc.

[0091] The unified TCI can be indicated by the scheduling DCI. The downlink DCI format used for PDSCH scheduling (e.g., DCI format 1_1, 1_2) can be used to indicate the TCI (e.g., the unified TCI).

[0092] Figure 3 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for indicating TCI via DCI.

[0093] refer to Figure 3 The base station can send a downlink DCI that schedules the PDSCH. The terminal can receive the downlink DCI that schedules the PDSCH. The terminal can identify the TCI indication based on the downlink DCI. Normally, the DCI can schedule the PDSCH, but if a specific field of the aforementioned DCI is set to a predefined value, the DCI may not schedule the PDSCH. In this case, the DCI can be used for another purpose. Even when the scheduling DCI is used for a purpose other than PDSCH scheduling, the terminal can still identify the TCI indication from the scheduling DCI. The terminal can report a HARQ acknowledgment (ACK) to the base station in response to receiving the PDSCH or downlink DCI. The HARQ-ACK can consist of either ACK or NACK. Optionally, the HARQ-ACK can consist of only ACK. The transmission resources for the HARQ-ACK (e.g., PUCCH resources) can be determined based on the location of the PDSCH resources. Even if no PDSCH is sent, the transmission resources for the HARQ-ACK can be determined based on the virtual PDSCH resources allocated by the DCI.

[0094] According to the above operations, the base station can trigger beam quality measurement and reporting operations of the terminal. The terminal can perform beam measurement operations based on downlink signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, etc.) configured (e.g., indicated) by the base station, and can send the measurement results to the base station via uplink resources (e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH, etc.) configured (or indicated) by the base station. In the above operations, the entity that determines and manages the terminal's beam can be the base station. The base station can determine and manage the most suitable transmit and receive beams for the terminal based on beam reports (e.g., measurement results) received from the terminal. When a beam change is required, the base station can indicate a new beam to the terminal via beam-related signaling messages (e.g., TCI, spatial relationship information, QCL, etc.). According to the above operations, it may be difficult to effectively manage the number of beam reports, beam reporting time, etc., and the latency and signaling overhead for beam reporting and / or beam switching may increase.

[0095] As a method to address the aforementioned issues, a method can be considered whereby the terminal triggers its own beam quality measurement and / or beam reporting operations. When the terminal determines that a beam change is needed, it can autonomously trigger a beam reporting operation. For example, the terminal can only send beam reporting information to the base station using pre-configured UL resources when beam reporting is required. Alternatively, the terminal can request a second UL resource for beam reporting from the base station using a pre-configured first UL resource, and can send beam reporting information to the base station using the second UL resource (e.g., a second UL resource allocated by the base station). This latter approach can be referred to as a two-step beam reporting method. Specific operations related to the two-step beam reporting method for terminals are described in this disclosure.

[0096] [Two-step beam reporting method] Figure 4 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the two-step beam reporting method.

[0097] refer to Figure 4 The terminal can measure beam quality based on the received DL signal. When a predetermined event occurs based on the beam quality measurement result, the terminal can perform a beam reporting operation by directly triggering it. This event may be referred to as a beam reporting trigger event. The occurrence of the event can be one of the necessary conditions for the terminal to trigger the beam reporting operation. The terminal's beam reporting operation may include at least two UL transmissions. The two UL transmissions can be performed in a first UL resource and a second UL resource, respectively. In this disclosure, the UL transmission in the first UL resource may be referred to as the "first UL transmission," and the UL transmission in the second UL resource may be referred to as the "second UL transmission." The first UL transmission may refer to the transmission of a first UL signal, and the second UL transmission may refer to the transmission of a second UL signal.

[0098] Beam report trigger events can be defined based on a unified TCI. The terminal can measure metrics such as Layer 1-Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP), Layer 1-Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (L1-SINR), and assumed SINR for the SSB or CSI-RS, which is the QCL source signal (or source beam) of the indicated beam or the currently applied beam. The terminal can consider a metric falling below a first reference value as a trigger event (e.g., a beam report trigger event). The current beam (e.g., the currently applied beam) can correspond to DL TCI, UL TCI, and / or joint TCI. The event (e.g., trigger event, beam report trigger event) can be referred to as the "first event." SSBs and CSI-RS can be transmitted to the terminal periodically or semi-persistently. Optionally, SSBs and CSI-RS can be transmitted intermittently for a predetermined duration. CSI-RS resources can be channel measurement resources (CMR). When the metric is L1-SINR, CSI-RS resources can include both CMR and interference measurement resources (IMR), and beam quality measurement operations can be performed based on multiple non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS resources or multiple zero power (ZP) CSI-RS resources.

[0099] Simultaneously or independently of the above operations, the terminal can measure the beam quality of the new beam, and can consider the situation where the beam quality of the new beam meets the second reference value as a beam report triggering event (e.g., the occurrence of a beam report triggering event). The new beam can refer to a beam other than the current beam, and can belong to a candidate beam set configured by the base station. Even when the current beam is included in the candidate beam set, the current beam can be excluded from the candidate beam set. Optionally, when the current beam is included in the candidate beam set, the terminal can perform a beam quality measurement operation on the new beam other than the current beam. Optionally, even when the current beam is configured as a new beam, the terminal can similarly perform a beam quality measurement operation. The candidate beam set can be a candidate beam set explicitly configured for the two-step beam report operation. Optionally, the candidate beam set can be a set configured with at least some beams included in a TCI pool (e.g., a TCI state pool) configured for the terminal. The TCI pool can be a DL TCI pool, a UL TCI pool, or a combined TCI pool, and at least some beams can be active TCIs. In an exemplary embodiment of explicitly configuring the candidate beam set, the terminal can receive configuration for a CSI-RS resource set (or CSI resource set or CSI resource setting) and can measure the beam quality of the CSI-RS resources and / or SSB resources included in the CSI-RS resource set (or CSI resource set or CSI resource setting). The second reference value can be defined or configured separately from the first reference value for L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, assumed SINR, etc. Optionally, the second reference value can be the first reference value or the beam quality value of the current beam. The above definition means that when the quality of a new beam is higher than the quality of the current beam, a beam reporting operation can be triggered. This event can be referred to as the "second event".

[0100] A terminal can determine a beam reporting trigger event by comparing the beam quality of a new beam with that of a TCI activated in the terminal. For example, the terminal can trigger a beam reporting operation when the beam quality of the new beam is better than that of at least one TCI among the activated TCIs. The operation used to derive at least one TCI can be predefined in the technical specifications or configured to the terminal by the base station. For example, at least one TCI can refer to the TCI with the highest beam quality, the TCI with the lowest beam quality, the TCI with the Nth highest beam quality, or the TCI with the Nth lowest beam quality among the activated TCIs. N can be a natural number. Based on the beam reporting according to the event, the base station can update the terminal's TCI pool with a list of better beams. This event can be referred to as a "third event". Activated TCIs can include the current beam (e.g., the current TCI). At least one TCI among the activated TCIs may not necessarily match the current TCI. At least one TCI among the activated TCIs may match or not match the current TCI. When at least one TCI matches the current TCI, the operation for the third event during the corresponding duration can be the same as or similar to the operation for the second event. Each active TCI configured for the terminal can be considered as the terminal's current beam. In this case, the definition and / or number of current beams in the third event can differ from the definition and / or number of current beams in the second event, and the operations other than the definition and / or number of current beams can be similar between the second and third events.

[0101] To improve the reliability of beam quality measurement results (e.g., beam quality measurement values), the terminal can repeatedly perform the above-described beam quality measurement and comparison operations. When the above-described event determination conditions are met M times, the terminal can determine that an event has occurred. M can be a natural number. The value of M can be sent to the terminal by the base station via a signal. The terminal can measure the beam quality M1 times for the DL resource corresponding to the current beam (hereinafter referred to as the "first DL resource") in multiple time periods (e.g., multiple opportunities), and can compare the beam quality measurement results (e.g., beam quality measurement values) with a first reference value. M1 can be a natural number. For example, the comparison operation between the beam quality measurement results and the first reference value can be performed M1 times. In other words, each of the M1 beam quality measurement values ​​can be compared with the first reference value. When it is determined M1 times that the beam quality of the current beam is lower than the first reference value, the terminal can trigger a beam reporting operation based on the first event. Simultaneously with the above method, the terminal can measure the beam quality M2 times for the DL resource (hereinafter referred to as "second DL resource") corresponding to the candidate beam in multiple time periods (e.g., multiple timings), and can compare the beam quality measurement results (e.g., beam quality measurement values) with the beam quality of the current beam (or a second reference value). When it is determined in M2 instances that the beam quality of the candidate beam is higher than that of the current beam, the terminal can trigger a beam reporting operation based on a second event.

[0102] In the exemplary embodiments described above, the period value of the first DL resource may be different from the period value of the second DL resource. In this case, when the terminal performs M1 beam measurement operations on the first DL resource, the terminal may perform M2 beam measurement operations on the second DL resource. M1 and M2 may have different values. M1 and M2 may match when predefined conditions are met. For example, M1 and M2 may have the same value, and the base station may configure (e.g., indicate) M1 and M2 with the same value to the terminal. Simultaneously or independently of the above operations, the period values ​​of the first DL resource and the second DL resource may be configured to match. In this case, M1 and M2 may match. In this case, the determination conditions for the second event may be defined based on M1. In other words, the terminal may perform M1 beam quality comparison operations between the current beam and candidate beams based on the resources of the current beam over a duration. When multiple candidate beams exist, each candidate beam may be compared with the current beam the same number of times (e.g., M1 times). In this scenario, the event determination period (e.g., period value) can be matched with the period (e.g., period value) of the first DL resource. Optionally, the determination conditions for the second event can be defined based on M2. In other words, the terminal can perform M2 beam quality comparison operations between the current beam and candidate beams based on the resources of the candidate beams during the duration. When multiple candidate beams exist, the value of M2 can vary for each candidate beam, and the number of comparisons between each candidate beam and the current beam can also differ during the duration. In this scenario, the event determination period (e.g., period value) can be matched with the period (e.g., period value) of the second DL resource. Optionally, the event determination period (e.g., period value) can be configured to match either the smaller (e.g., period value) or larger (e.g., period value) period of the first DL resource and the second DL resource. Optionally, even when multiple candidate beams exist, the event determination period (e.g., period value) can be matched with the period (e.g., period value) of the first DL resource. The terminal can repeatedly perform beam measurement operations M3 times for the DL resource corresponding to the activated TCI, and can determine a third event by comparing the beam measurement results (e.g., beam quality measurement results) with candidate beams measured M2 times within the same duration. In this case, the event determination period (e.g., period value) can be matched with the period (e.g., period value) of the DL resource corresponding to the activated TCI or the period (e.g., period value) of the second DL resource. The event determination period (e.g., period value) can be configured to match the smaller period (e.g., period value) or the larger period (e.g., period value) of the two periods (e.g., periodicity). M3 can match M2 or M1 when predefined conditions are met.For example, the period value of the second DL resource can be configured to match the period value of the activated TCI, and M2 and M3 can be matched.

[0103] The beam quality measurement operation described above can be performed within a predefined time window. The time window can be a sliding window, and its start and end times can change over time. The time window can have a fixed length. In this case, the time window can be configured to have a sufficiently long length to include at least M DL resources involved in one or more events. For example, a first DL resource may exist at least M1 times within the time window. This condition can be referred to as the first condition. Simultaneously or independently of the above exemplary embodiment, a second DL resource may exist at least M2 times within the time window. This condition can be referred to as the second condition. The DL resource corresponding to the activated TCI may exist at least M3 times within the time window. The above conditions can be satisfied simultaneously. Optionally, the time window can be configured to satisfy only some of the above conditions. In this case, the time window can be configured to include all DL resources involved in one or more events at least once. For example, the time window can be configured such that at least M1 current beam comparison operations are performed within the time window. Optionally, the time window can be configured such that at least M2 candidate beam comparison operations are performed within the time window. Optionally, the time window can be configured such that at least M1 current beam comparison operations and at least M2 candidate beam comparison operations are performed within the time window. When configuring the time window considering only the first condition and disregarding the second condition, beam measurement operations for the second DL resource can be performed regardless of the inclusion relationship between the second DL resource and the time window. For example, the terminal can measure the second DL resource within and outside the time window and compare the measured values ​​obtained by the measurement with the measured values ​​of the first DL resource M1 times within the time window. Conversely, when configuring the time window considering only the second condition and disregarding the first condition, beam measurement operations for the first DL resource can be performed regardless of the inclusion relationship between the first DL resource and the time window. For example, the terminal can measure the first DL resource within and outside the time window and compare the measured values ​​obtained by the measurement with the measured values ​​of the second DL resource M2 times within the time window. This configuration may imply that the length of the time window (e.g., the period value) needs to be at least equal to the maximum period value of the DL resource. In other words, the minimum length of the time window can be determined based on the period value of the DL resource for beam measurement. Optionally, a time window can be managed for each DL resource or event. In other words, multiple time windows corresponding to multiple DL resources or multiple events can be determined (e.g., configured), and beam measurement operations can be performed for each DL resource or each event corresponding to each time window.

[0104] The period values ​​of DL resources can be correlated with each other. For example, the period value of a first DL resource can be configured as a divisor or multiple of the period value of a second DL resource. The first and second DL resources can be measured within the same measurement window (e.g., a time window), and M1 can be a divisor or multiple of M2. As another example, the period value of a DL resource corresponding to an active TCI can be configured as a divisor or multiple of the period value of a second DL resource. The DL resource corresponding to an active TCI can be measured within the same measurement window (e.g., a time window) as the second DL resource, and M3 can be a divisor or multiple of M2. When multiple second DL resources are configured, the period values ​​of the multiple second DL resources can be the same or multiples of each other.

[0105] When the necessary conditions for triggering beam reporting are met, the terminal may first perform a first UL transmission in a first UL resource. The purpose of the first UL transmission may include at least "the terminal requesting a second UL resource from the base station for transmitting beam reporting information" or "notifying the base station that the terminal will transmit beam reporting information through the second UL resource." The first UL resource may be mapped to a resource delayed by T1 from the DL resource (e.g., SSB resource and / or CSI-RS resource) used as the basis for the beam reporting triggering event. T1 may be configured to have a value not less than a first time interval predefined in the technical specification, and the first time interval may be defined as a value that includes at least the time required for the terminal to perform beam measurement operations on the DL resource and / or the time required for the terminal to prepare for the first UL transmission. The first time interval may be defined as an absolute time value (e.g., milliseconds (ms)). Optionally, the first time interval may be defined or configured as a multiple of a unit time (e.g., the number of time slots, the number of symbols, or a combination of the number of time slots and the number of symbols) defined in the technical specification. The first time interval may have different values ​​depending on the terminal's capabilities, frequency band, and / or subcarrier spacing.

[0106] Multiple triggering events can be used together in a single terminal. The terminal can simultaneously (e.g., in parallel) monitor a first event determining beam quality degradation of the current beam and a second event determining the discovery of a new candidate beam that meets reference values. In this case, the first time interval may include the time required for the operation of the first event (or the second event), but may not include the time required for the operation of the second event (or the first event). An event operation can refer to an operation used to determine the occurrence of an event. In other words, the terminal can trigger a beam reporting operation and perform a first UL transmission operation based solely on the occurrence of one event (e.g., the first event or the second event). The terminal's second event operation (or first event operation) may be performed together with or in parallel with the first UL transmission operation, and the second event operation (or first event operation) may not be involved in the first transmission operation (e.g., the first UL transmission operation). For example, when the terminal determines that the beam quality of the current beam is degraded, the terminal may perform a first UL transmission operation regardless of the beam measurement operation (or the result of the beam measurement operation) for the new candidate beam.

[0107] The terminal can execute a second UL transmission corresponding to the first UL transmission. In this case, when an event different from the event that triggered the first UL transmission occurs before the time of the second UL transmission, the second UL transmission may include at least beam reporting information for the different event. In the exemplary embodiment described above, when the first UL transmission is triggered by a first event, the beam reporting information reported by the second UL transmission following the first UL transmission may include information about the second event (e.g., a new candidate beam and / or the beam quality value of the new candidate beam). Optionally, when the first UL transmission is triggered by a second event, the beam reporting information reported by the second UL transmission following the first UL transmission may include information about the first event (e.g., the beam quality value of the current beam). In this case, the beam reporting information may not include information about the new candidate beam. On the other hand, when no event different from the event that triggered the first UL transmission occurs before the time of the second UL transmission, the second UL transmission may include beam reporting information about the event that triggered the first UL transmission. For example, the first UL transmission may be triggered by a second event, and the beam information included in the second UL transmission may include information about the second event. In this scenario, the beam quality measured up to the time of the first UL transmission can be updated before the time of the second UL transmission, and the second UL transmission can include information about the updated beam quality. In the exemplary embodiments described above, taking into account the additional time required for the operation of different events, the second UL resource can be mapped to a resource sufficiently delayed from the DL resource or the first UL resource. The time resource (e.g., time slot, symbol) to which the second UL resource is mapped can correspond to a predetermined time interval delay from the time the terminal determines the different events (e.g., time slot, symbol) or the time the terminal performs DL measurement operations corresponding to the different events (e.g., time slot, symbol). The predetermined time interval can be matched with the first time interval. Optionally, the predetermined time interval can be defined or configured to a value different from the first time interval.

[0108] According to another exemplary embodiment, the first event can be used in conjunction with the third event. In the third event, the TCIs activated in the terminal may not include the TCIs currently applied to (or indicated to) the terminal. For example, the terminal may be configured (e.g., instructed) to compare the K TCIs with the highest beam quality from the list of activated TCIs with candidate beams. K can be a natural number. When the beam quality of the terminal's current TCI deteriorates, the K TCIs may not include the current TCI. In this case, the terminal may perform operations to compare the beam quality of the K activated TCIs with the candidate beams, as well as to measure the beam quality of the current TCI and / or compare the beam quality measurement result of the current TCI with the candidate beams. Optionally, the second event can be used in conjunction with the third event. The terminal may perform beam measurement operations on new candidate beams and may compare the beam quality of the first candidate beam with the beam quality (or a second reference value) of the current TCI. Simultaneously with the above operations, the terminal may compare the beam quality of the second candidate beam with the beam quality of the activated TCIs. The set of first candidate beams and the set of second candidate beams can be matched. In other words, the second and third events can be evaluated based on the common candidate beam set. Within the common candidate beam set, the new beam selected for the second event and the new beam selected for the third event can be different from each other.

[0109] After performing a first transmission (e.g., a first UL transmission), the terminal may perform a second transmission (e.g., a second UL transmission) to send beam reporting information to the base station. The beam reporting information can be sent via the second UL transmission. The beam reporting information may include at least one of the following: information about the current (or previous) beam (e.g., beam quality measurement information, beam or resource index), information about the beam reporting triggering event, or information about the new beam (e.g., beam or resource index, beam quality measurement information). During a beam reporting process triggered by the terminal, the beam reporting information may include information specifying the transmission direction (e.g., DL and / or UL) of the reported beam. For example, the reported beam may be represented in the form of DL TCI, UL TCI, joint TCI (or a TCI index corresponding to the beam, a resource index of the TCI source signal), etc. Based on this information, the base station can specify (e.g., identify) the transmission direction of the reported beam (e.g., a degraded beam and / or a selected candidate beam), send a reception confirmation message (e.g., a response message) or beam indication information to the terminal, and allow or instruct the terminal to apply the reported beam to the specified transmission direction.

[0110] Beam report information can be generated by the terminal's physical layer. For example, operations to determine whether a beam report triggering event has occurred, beam quality measurement operations for that determination, and / or beam search operations for that determination can be performed at the terminal's physical layer without intervention from higher layers. Beam report information can be defined as uplink control information (UCI). Beam report information can be generated by the terminal's physical layer, and beam report information (e.g., UCI including beam report information) can be transmitted via PUCCH or PUSCH. In other words, the second UL resource can be a PUCCH resource or a PUSCH resource. At least a portion of the beam report information can be determined through intervention from higher-layer operations of the terminal. In this case, beam report information can be defined as a MAC CE, or can be configured as a field of a MAC CE. Beam report information (e.g., MAC CE including beam report information) can be included in a transport block (TB), and the TB can be transmitted via PUSCH. In other words, the second UL resource can be a PUSCH resource.

[0111] Multiple events can occur simultaneously. Specifically, the terminal can perform a measurement operation on a DL resource. A DL resource can be a resource corresponding to at least one of the current beam, a candidate beam, and an activated TCI. As a result of the measurement operation, multiple events can occur simultaneously. For example, the DL resource can be the QCL source resource of the current TCI, and when the beam quality measured in the DL resource is lower than a first reference value, and the beam quality measured in the DL resource is lower than the beam quality of the candidate beam, the terminal can determine that the first and second events have occurred. In another example, the DL resource can be a candidate beam (or a DL resource corresponding to a candidate beam), and when the beam quality of the DL resource is better than the beam quality of the current TCI (or the second reference value), and the beam quality of the DL resource is better than the beam quality of the activated TCI selected as the comparison target in the third event, the terminal can determine that the second and third events have occurred.

[0112] Multiple events can occur at different times, and these different times can satisfy the aforementioned time interval condition for having the same first UL resource. Optionally, different times can also satisfy the aforementioned time interval condition for having the same second UL resource. For example, the first event can be triggered as a measurement result of the first DL resource, and the second event can be triggered as a measurement result of the second DL resource. The terminal can determine a common first UL resource that satisfies the time condition for having multiple events. The terminal can determine a common second UL resource that satisfies the time condition for having multiple events.

[0113] In the exemplary embodiments described above, beam reporting operation can be triggered by multiple events. Optionally, beam reporting operation can be considered as being triggered by one of multiple events. One of the events can be arbitrarily determined by the terminal or determined based on predefined rules. Optionally, one of the events can be determined as the event with higher priority based on the priority among the events. The terminal can perform a first UL transmission and a second UL transmission based on multiple events.

[0114] In the exemplary embodiments described above, the beam reporting information included in the second UL transmission may include beam information for multiple events. For example, the beam reporting information may include at least one of beam quality information of the current beam associated with the first event, information of a new beam associated with the second event, or beam quality information of a new beam associated with the second event. In another example, the beam reporting information may include at least one of a new beam derived from the second event, beam quality information corresponding to the new beam, a new beam derived from the third event, or beam quality information corresponding to the new beam derived from the third event. The beam reporting information may include an index indicating multiple events.

[0115] In another method, the beam reporting information included in the second UL transmission may include beam information for some events (e.g., one of the events). The beam reporting information may include an index indicating some events (e.g., one of the events). Beam information for other events may not be sent to the base station. Optionally, beam information for other events may be reported to the base station via another UL transmission (e.g., another second UL transmission). For example, multiple CSI reporting configurations may be configured for the terminal, and multiple second UL resources and / or multiple first UL resources corresponding to the multiple second UL resources may be configured via multiple CSI reporting configurations. Beam information for multiple events may be sent to the base station and divided into multiple second UL resources.

[0116] Regarding beam information, inclusion relationships can be established between events. For example, the beam information of a second event may include not only the beam quality value of the new beam but also the beam quality value of the current beam. The base station can compare the beam quality value related to the current beam reported by the terminal with a first reference value configured for the terminal and can infer whether a first event has occurred based on the comparison result. In this case, even when the first event has already occurred (e.g., even when the first event occurs together with the second event), the terminal does not need to separately report the beam information of the first event to the base station. Optionally, the beam information of the first event may be included in the beam information of the second event. In this case, the reported beam reporting information may include the beam information of the second event but may not include the beam information of the first event. The beam reporting information may include an index indicating the second event but may not include an index indicating the first event. The second event may take precedence over the first event. Similarly, the beam information derived from the second event and the beam information derived from the third event may be similar or the same. The reported beam reporting information may include only one of the beam information of the second event or the beam information of the third event. For example, a second event may take precedence over a third event. In summary, the above exemplary embodiments may not support combinations of specific events reported together through the same beam reporting procedure.

[0117] The priorities between events can be predefined in the technical specifications. For example, a second event may have a higher priority than a first event. A second event may have a higher priority than a third event. A first event may have a higher priority than a third event. Optionally, considering that the importance of events may vary depending on the situation, the priorities between events can be determined based on configuration information sent from the base station to the terminal. Priorities between events can be defined for combinations of events. Priorities may not be defined between certain events. For example, the priority between the first and third events may not be defined or configured. When the first and third events occur simultaneously, the beam information of both the first and third events can be reported to the base station.

[0118] When predetermined conditions are met in an event, the event can be switched to another event. For example, if no new beam meeting the conditions is found in the candidate beam set configured for a second event, the beam report information may not include information about the new beam, but may include information about the current beam (e.g., the beam quality of the current beam). The information about the current beam included in the beam report information may correspond to the beam information of the first event. In the above exemplary embodiment, the terminal may perform a beam report operation for the first event, rather than a beam report operation for the second event. In other words, the second event may be temporarily switched to the first event. For example, the uplink resources used to send beam reports for the first event can be configured through a first CSI report configuration, and the uplink resources used to send beam reports for the second event can be configured through a second CSI report configuration. In the above exemplary embodiment, the terminal may perform a beam report operation for the first event in the uplink resources configured through the first CSI report configuration. The payload size of the beam reporting information configured for the first event can be smaller than the payload size of the beam reporting information configured for the second event, and the uplink signaling overhead can be reduced through the aforementioned event switching operation. Similarly, when one of the active TCIs compared with the candidate beams in the third event matches the current beam, the terminal can perform a beam reporting operation for the first event instead of a beam reporting operation for the third event. In other words, the third event can temporarily switch to the first event.

[0119] Second uplink resources can be configured for the terminal semi-statically or semi-persistently based on higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC messages). The second uplink resources can be periodically redeployed, with the same resource configuration and transmission parameters applied in each cycle. The message size of the beam report information can be limited to a few bits to tens of bits. The message size of the beam report information can be constant each time. Optionally, the message size of the beam report information can have a small range of variation. In channel environments without high-speed fading, the receive performance of the second uplink transmission can be adequately ensured using only semi-static configuration without applying a link adaptation scheme, and signaling overhead can be minimized because no DCI transmission for dynamic scheduling is required. The above method can be referred to as (Method 100).

[0120] In this scenario, the first and second uplink resources can be configured independently of each other. For example, the time resources and / or the period of the second uplink resource can be configured for the terminal using independent configuration parameters, regardless of the first uplink resource. Considering beam reporting delay and efficiency, configuring the first and second uplink resources to be too far apart in time and / or having misaligned periods may be impractical and could lead to unnecessarily increased signaling overhead due to excessive configuration flexibility.

[0121] The second uplink resource (or the first uplink resource) can be determined based on configuration parameters of the first uplink resource (or the second uplink resource). Configuration parameters can be shared between the first and second uplink resources. For example, the repetition period of the first and second uplink resources can be determined using the same period value. Optionally, the period value of one uplink resource can be determined as a multiple or divisor of the period value of the other uplink resource. The first and second uplink resources can be mapped to time resources with different time offsets applied from a common reference time. In another method, the time resource (e.g., time slot, symbol) mapped to the second uplink resource (or the first uplink resource) can be represented as a time from which a predetermined time offset is applied to the time resource mapped to the first uplink resource (or the second uplink resource), and based on the above method, the time resource mapped to the second uplink resource (or the first uplink resource) can be configured for the terminal. According to the above exemplary embodiments, the signaling overhead for configuring multiple uplink resources for the terminal can be reduced.

[0122] According to (method 100), uplink resources can be periodically occupied by second uplink resources regardless of whether beam reporting operations are triggered (e.g., whether a second uplink transmission is actually performed). Therefore, resource waste may occur when beam reporting operations are triggered intermittently compared to the period of the second uplink resources. According to an exemplary embodiment for improving resource efficiency, when a second uplink transmission is not performed in the second uplink resources, the base station can opportunistically reuse the second uplink resources by dynamically allocating other signals to the second uplink resources. In other words, the second uplink resources can be opportunistically canceled or covered by other signals.

[0123] To support the above operations, an association can be established between the first UL resource and the second UL resource. For example, the first UL resource and the second UL resource belonging to the same resource period can be associated with each other. The terminal can only perform a second UL transmission in the second UL resource if it has already performed a first transmission in the first UL resource associated with the second UL resource. Optionally, the terminal can perform a second UL transmission in the second UL resource even if it has already performed a first UL transmission in a different first UL resource that is not associated with the second UL resource. In other words, the terminal can perform a second UL transmission in a second UL resource that is not associated with the first UL resource in which the first UL transmission has already been performed. Optionally, the terminal can perform a second UL transmission in the second UL resource when a predetermined condition is met, regardless of whether a first UL transmission has already been performed.

[0124] When a terminal has not yet performed a first UL transmission in a first UL resource associated with a second UL resource, the terminal may transmit another uplink signal in the second UL resource. In other words, a second UL resource is considered deactivated when a first UL transmission has not yet been performed in a first UL resource associated with a second UL resource. In other words, a second UL resource can only be activated (or exist) if a first UL transmission has already been performed in the associated first UL resource. Conversely, even if the terminal has not yet performed a first UL transmission in a first UL resource, transmission of another uplink signal in a second UL resource not associated with the first UL resource is not permitted. In other words, a second UL resource is considered active regardless of whether a first UL transmission has already been performed in the associated first UL resource. When the second UL resource includes flexible symbols, the terminal may transmit another downlink signal in the second UL resource. This other uplink / downlink signal can be a signal dynamically allocated by the base station (e.g., PDSCH, PUSCH, PUCCH, CSI-RS, SRS, etc.). Optionally, the other uplink / downlink signal can be a semi-statically configured signal (e.g., SPS PDSCH, CG PUSCH, PUCCH, CSI-RS, SRS, etc.) that overlaps with the second UL resource. In this disclosure, the first UL resource and the second UL resource can refer to valid resources, and both the first UL resource and the second UL resource can be valid resources when they are associated with each other. The first UL resource and the second UL resource may not overlap with downlink resources (e.g., downlink symbols, SSB resources, etc.).

[0125] Additionally, the base station may need a predetermined time to perform the reception operation of the first UL transmission and determine the presence or absence of the second UL transmission. To opportunistically reuse the second UL resource, the terminal may need to receive the DCI indicating the resource allocation covering the second UL resource earlier than the second UL resource itself. Considering the above timeline, a predetermined time interval may be required between the first UL resource and the second UL resource. To distinguish it from the first time interval, the time interval between the first UL resource and the second UL resource may be referred to as the second time interval. See again... Figure 4 The second UL resource can be mapped to a duration T2 later than the first UL resource. T2 can be configured to be no less than a second time interval value predefined in the technical specification, and the second time interval can be defined as a value including at least the following: the time for the base station to receive and process the first UL resource (e.g., the first UL transmission within the first UL resource), the time for the base station to generate and transmit a DCI for rescheduling the second UL resource, and the time for the terminal to generate and prepare to transmit a signal scheduled by the DCI (e.g., another uplink / downlink signal). The second time interval can be defined or configured as an absolute time value (e.g., ms). Optionally, the second time interval can be defined or configured as a multiple of a unit time (e.g., the number of time slots, the number of symbols, or a combination of the number of time slots and the number of symbols) defined in the technical specification. In cases where the first UL resource and the second UL resource are mapped to different serving cells (or different carriers), the unit time (e.g., time slots, symbols, etc.) can be determined based on a parameter set (e.g., subcarrier spacing) of one of the two serving cells (or two carriers). One of the serving cells (or one of the carriers) can refer to a serving cell with a lower cell index, a serving cell with a higher cell index, a serving cell to which the first UL resource is mapped, or a serving cell to which the second UL resource is mapped. The second time interval can have different values ​​depending on the terminal's capabilities, frequency band, and / or subcarrier spacing.

[0126] The second time interval can be defined as the minimum time distance (e.g., symbol offset) from a symbol (e.g., the first or last symbol) to which the first UL resource is mapped to, to a symbol (e.g., the first or last symbol) to which the second UL resource is mapped. Optionally, the second time interval can be defined as the minimum time distance (e.g., slot offset) from the time slot to which the first UL resource is mapped to, to the time slot to which the second UL resource is mapped. When the associated first and second UL resources do not meet the above conditions, the terminal can consider the resource (e.g., the first and second UL resources) invalid and can not perform beam reporting operations in the resource. Optionally, the terminal can determine that only one of the first and second UL resources is valid and can perform UL transmission in the valid resource. For example, when there is no valid second UL resource associated with the first UL resource, the terminal can perform first UL transmission in the first UL resource that does not have a valid second UL resource. When the base station receives the first UL transmission, the base station can dynamically schedule uplink resources (e.g., PUSCH) for the terminal to send beam reporting information. In another example, when no valid first UL resource is associated with the second UL resource, the terminal can perform a second UL transmission, including beam reporting information, in a second UL resource that does not have a valid first UL resource. Optionally, for each first UL resource, at least one valid second UL resource may exist (e.g., satisfying a second time interval condition). For example, the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource can be determined as the earliest valid second UL resource appearing after the second time interval. Furthermore, the condition of satisfying the second time interval can be defined as a necessary condition for the first UL resource and the second UL resource to be associated with each other.

[0127] Additionally, a maximum time interval can be defined between the first UL resource and the second UL resource. This maximum time interval can be referred to as the third time interval. The third time interval can be defined as the maximum time distance (e.g., symbol offset) from a symbol to which the first UL resource is mapped (e.g., the first or last symbol) to a symbol to which the second UL resource is mapped (e.g., the first or last symbol). Optionally, the third time interval can be defined as the maximum time distance (e.g., slot offset) from the time slot to which the first UL resource is mapped to the time slot to which the second UL resource is mapped. When the distance between the associated first UL resource and the second UL resource exceeds the third time interval, the terminal can determine that at least one of the resources (e.g., the first UL resource and the second UL resource) is invalid and can refrain from performing UL transmissions for beam reporting in at least one of the resources. For example, even if the terminal performs a first transmission in the first UL resource and reports to the base station that the terminal will send beam reporting information in the second UL resource, the terminal may not perform a second UL transmission if there is no valid second UL resource that satisfies the third time interval condition with the first UL resource. Optionally, the terminal can perform a first UL transmission only in a first UL resource that has at least one valid second UL resource that satisfies the third time interval condition.

[0128] Figure 5 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a two-step beam reporting method that takes into account invalid resources.

[0129] refer to Figure 5 The terminal can be configured with a first UL resource and a second UL resource for two-step beam reporting. The terminal can determine a beam reporting trigger event based on the exemplary embodiments described above, and can perform beam reporting operations based on the first UL resource and the second UL resource after the event occurs. The first UL resource may include a first timing and a second timing, and the second UL resource may include both the first timing and the second timing.

[0130] The first timing of the first UL resource can be a valid resource, and the first timing of the second UL resource can be an invalid resource. In this case, the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource may not exist during the first timing. The second timing of the first UL resource and the second timing of the second UL resource can both be valid resources. In this case, the first UL resource and the second UL resource can be associated with each other during the second timing. In this case, several exemplary embodiments can be considered for the beam reporting operation of the terminal.

[0131] According to an exemplary embodiment, since the first timing of the first UL resource does not have an associated second UL resource, the terminal may not perform a first UL transmission based on events in the first timing of the first UL resource. This operation may mean that the terminal does not perform a second UL transmission based on events in the first timing of the second UL resource. In this case, the terminal may cancel or omit the beam reporting operation based on the event. Optionally, the terminal may perform the beam reporting operation based on the event in a second timing after the first timing. The beam reporting operation based on the event may be postponed. In other words, the terminal may perform a first UL transmission based on events in the second timing of the first UL resource, and may perform a second UL transmission based on events in the second timing of the second UL resource.

[0132] According to another exemplary embodiment, the terminal can perform a first UL transmission based on an event in a first timing of the first UL resource. Since the first timing of the second UL resource is an invalid resource, the terminal may not perform a second UL transmission in the second UL resource. The terminal's second UL transmission can be postponed to the next timing and can be performed in the next timing. In other words, the terminal can perform a second UL transmission based on an event in a second timing of the second UL resource. In this case, the terminal can retransmit the first UL transmission in the second timing of the first UL resource. In other words, the first UL transmission can be repeatedly performed. In this case, the second timing of the second UL resource can be considered to be associated with both the first timing and the second timing of the first UL resource. Optionally, the terminal may not perform a first UL transmission in the second timing of the first UL resource. In this case, the second timing of the second UL resource can be considered to be associated with the first timing of the first UL resource. In this case, even if the first UL transmission is not performed in the second timing of the first UL resource, the second timing of the first UL resource can still be considered to be associated with the second timing of the second UL resource. Optionally, the second timing of the first UL resource can be considered not to be associated with the second timing of the second UL resource. Therefore, a one-to-one mapping relationship between the first UL resource and the second UL resource can be established. In the exemplary embodiments described above, a first timing of a first UL resource can be considered associated with a second timing of a second UL resource. For example, each first UL resource can be associated with the earliest valid second UL resource that appears after the first UL resource (e.g., after a predetermined time offset from the first UL resource). In this case, a certain second UL resource (e.g., a second timing of the second UL resource) can be associated with multiple first UL resources (e.g., a first timing and a second timing of the first UL resources). When a first UL transmission is performed in at least one of the multiple first UL resources associated with a second UL resource, the terminal can perform a second UL transmission in the second UL resource.

[0133] Figure 6 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a two-step beam reporting method that takes into account invalid resources.

[0134] Reference Figure 6 A first UL resource appearing after the event occurrence time may include a first timing and a second timing, and a second UL resource may include timings from the first timing to the third timing. Multiple second UL resources can be mapped between the first and second timings of the first UL resource. Among the multiple second UL resources, the first timing of a second UL resource may be an invalid resource, and the second timing of a second UL resource may be a valid resource. In this case, the first timing of the first UL resource may be associated with the second timing of the second UL resource. In other words, the first timing of the first UL resource may be associated with at least one valid second UL resource (e.g., the timing of the second UL resource). The first timing of an invalid second UL resource may be considered not associated with the first timing of the first UL resource. In other words, the first UL resource may be associated with the earliest valid second UL resource among multiple second UL resources existing within a predetermined time range. Optionally, the first timing of the second UL resource may also be considered associated with the first timing of the first UL resource. As in the exemplary embodiments described above, the association between the first UL resource and the second UL resource may include not only a one-to-one mapping, but also a one-to-many mapping or a many-to-one mapping. Associated first UL resources and second UL resources may include invalid resources.

[0135] Figure 7 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a two-step beam reporting method that takes into account invalid resources.

[0136] refer to Figure 7 Similar to Figure 5 In an exemplary embodiment, the first UL resource may include a first timing following the occurrence of the first event, and the second UL resource may include a second timing following the occurrence of the first event. The first timing of the first UL resource may be a valid resource, and the second timing of the second UL resource may be an invalid resource. Therefore, during the first timing, the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource may not exist. Conversely, the second timing of both the first and second UL resources may be valid resources. Therefore, during the second timing, the first and second UL resources may be associated with each other.

[0137] Similar to the exemplary embodiments described above, the terminal can perform a first UL transmission based on a first event (e.g., the occurrence of the first event) during a first timing of the first UL resource, and can perform a second UL transmission without based on the first event (e.g., the occurrence of the first event) during a first timing of the second UL resource. In this case, the second event may occur before the second timing of the first UL resource and the second timing of the second UL resource. The second event may be a different event from the first event. In this case, the second UL transmission may reflect both the first and second events. For example, the terminal may transmit a second UL transmission including beam information of the first event and beam information of the second event during the second timing of the second UL resource. Based on the above method, the first UL transmission during the second timing of the first UL resource may be retransmitted or may not be retransmitted. Optionally, the second UL transmission may only reflect the first event (the event that triggered the previous first UL transmission), and the terminal may transmit a second UL transmission including beam information of the first event during the second timing of the second UL resource. Optionally, the second UL transmission may only reflect the most recently occurring event as the second event, and the terminal may transmit a second UL transmission including beam information of the second event during the second timing of the second UL resource. In this case, the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission may reflect different events.

[0138] Furthermore, to minimize beam reporting latency, the second UL resource can be configured with a period shorter than the actual frequency of the beam reporting operation that triggers the terminal. Periods where second UL transmissions are not performed may frequently occur within the second UL resource period, and the effect of reducing signaling overhead in (method 100) may be diminished due to the frequent transmission of DCI for rescheduling the second UL resource. Since a sufficient time interval needs to be ensured between the first and second UL resources for reuse of the second UL resource, the effect of reducing beam reporting latency in (method) 100 may not be significant compared to methods that dynamically schedule the second UL resource.

[0139] In environments where the advantages of (Method 100) are difficult to utilize, the second UL resource can be dynamically indicated to the terminal based on the DCI. The base station can receive a scheduling request for the second UL resource via a first UL transmission received from the terminal, and can schedule the second UL resource by sending an uplink grant (e.g., an uplink scheduling DCI) to the terminal. In a communication system, the uplink grant may include DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_1, DCI format 0_2, etc., and may include DCI format 0_3 for PUSCH scheduling of multiple serving cells. The above method may be referred to as (Method 200).

[0140] According to an exemplary embodiment, the base station can semi-persistently configure or dynamically indicate to the terminal whether to apply (method 100) or (method 200) as needed. Signaling messages for configuring / indicating (method 100) or (method 200) can be defined, and these signaling messages can be at least one of RRC messages, MAC CE, or DCI payloads. Signaling messages can be sent and applied per serving cell configured for the terminal.

[0141] According to another exemplary embodiment, (method 100) and (method 200) can be used together. For example, the beam-changing period / frequency of the terminal can vary depending on the serving cell. Typically, beam reporting trigger events may occur more frequently in serving cells that support higher frequency bands (e.g., frequency range 2 (FR2)). (Method 100) can be applied to a first serving cell (e.g., a serving cell in a higher frequency band), and (method 200) can be applied to a second serving cell (e.g., a serving cell in a lower frequency band). (Method 100) and (method 200) can be used together within a single serving cell. For example, (method 100) can be applied to some periods of a first UL resource, and (method 200) can be applied to other periods of the first UL resource. In another example, different methods (e.g., (method 100) or (method 200)) can be applied to multiple TRPs belonging to the same serving cell. Different methods can be applied to bandwidth portions belonging to the same serving cell. Different methods can be applied to subbands. Different methods can be applied to duplex durations (e.g., subband-based full-duplex (SBFD) symbols and non-SBFD symbols). In another example, one of (method 100) and (method 200) can be used as a fallback function for the other. For example, when a terminal performs a second UL transmission in a second UL resource configured periodically based on (method 100), the terminal can fall back to (method 200) when predetermined conditions are met. When the terminal's supported method falls back from (method 100) to (method 200), the terminal can dynamically receive scheduling information for the second UL resource from the base station and can perform the second UL transmission in the dynamically scheduled second UL resource. Optionally, the same method can be applied to all serving cells configured for the terminal or all serving cells belonging to the same cell group. In this case, messages indicating the application of the same method can be jointly applied to multiple serving cells.

[0142] According to the two-step beam reporting method, the first UL transmission may include only a small amount of information used to determine whether to perform a second UL transmission in a second UL resource pre-configured by the base station or to make a scheduling request for the second UL resource. Preferably, the first UL transmission can be sent via a PUCCH resource. When using (method 200), the terminal can send a scheduling request (SR) via the first UL resource and can dynamically receive scheduling information for the second UL resource. In other words, the PUCCH resource through which the SR is sent (hereinafter referred to as the "SR resource" or "PUCCH SR resource") can be configured as the first UL resource.

[0143] The first UL resource can be a conventional SR resource, and the base station can send scheduling information for the PUSCH, including UL-SCH or higher-level control messages (e.g., MAC CE, RRC messages), to the terminal in response to receiving the first UL transmission. The above exemplary embodiments operate normally when the beam reporting information is MAC CE, the MAC CE is included in the TB, and the TB is transmitted via PUSCH. When the beam reporting information is UCI, the base station may find it difficult to distinguish whether the purpose of the SR sent by the terminal is to send UCI (e.g., beam reporting information) or other information mentioned above, based solely on signal detection in the conventional SR resource. Several exemplary embodiments for addressing the above problems are described below. In the following exemplary embodiments, it can be assumed that the second UL resource is a PUSCH resource.

[0144] According to a first exemplary embodiment, the terminal can generate a PUSCH including an indicator indicating whether beam reporting information is included in the PUSCH, and can transmit the PUSCH. The indicator can be transmitted to allow the base station to determine whether a UCI and / or TB is included in the uplink transmission, the type of the UCI, and the information included in the TB (e.g., UL-SCH, higher-layer control messages). The beam reporting information can be part of a UCI or a type of UCI. The indicator can be mapped to a portion of the PUSCH resource area, and the location of the resource to which the indicator is mapped can be determined based on predefined rules in the technical specification and / or configuration information transmitted by the base station using signals (e.g., resource size, code rate, or parameters corresponding to the aforementioned information). Since the indicator needs to be detected before the UCI or TB included in the PUSCH, the indicator can be mapped to the earliest symbol (e.g., the first A symbols) among the symbols constituting the PUSCH resource.

[0145] Indicators can be transmitted based on sequences. For example, multiple different sequences can be used to distinguish whether a PUSCH includes beam reporting information and / or type information of the data included in the PUSCH (e.g., the more detailed data type information mentioned above). Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequences, which have excellent correlation characteristics and advantageous properties for uplink transmission, can be used as sequences. A sequence can be mapped to only one symbol mapped to the PUSCH. For example, a sequence can be mapped to a symbol to which the PUSCH DM-RS is mapped. A sequence can be mapped to a RE (or subcarrier) to which the PUSCH DM-RS is not mapped, so as not to overlap with the PUSCH DM-RS. Optionally, an indicator (e.g., a sequence) can be mapped to a symbol following the symbol to which the PUSCH DM-RS is mapped.

[0146] Indicators can be transmitted via PUSCH DM-RS. In other words, PUSCH DM-RS can be used not only for uplink channel estimation but also to indicate whether the PUSCH includes UCI (or beam reporting information) and / or the data type contained in the PUSCH. To support the above operations, multiple sequences can be defined as PUSCH DM-RS, and these sequences can be mapped to information indicating whether the PUSCH includes UCI (or beam reporting information) and / or different data types (e.g., PUSCH data types). The terminal can select one of the multiple sequences and can notify the base station of the data type contained in the PUSCH and / or whether the PUSCH includes beam reporting information by transmitting the PUSCH DM-RS based on the selected sequence. According to the above method, the performance of uplink channel estimation based on DM-RS (e.g., PUSCH DM-RS) may be slightly reduced, but the advantage of not needing to allocate most of the PUSCH resources for transmitting indicators can be obtained.

[0147] According to another exemplary embodiment, the indicator can be transmitted as if encoded by forward error correction (FEC) codes. For example, the indicator can be considered control information and can be polar-coded. When the number of bits constituting the indicator is equal to or less than a reference value (e.g., 13 bits), zero padding can be applied to the indicator until the payload size reaches at least the reference value to ensure the performance of the polar code. Since the indicator needs to be decoded independently before other UCIs (e.g., beam reporting information) or TBs included in the PUSCH, the indicator can be encoded and decoded separately from the UCIs or TBs.

[0148] According to a second exemplary embodiment, an SR for beam reporting can be transmitted in a separate SR resource (hereinafter referred to as a beam reporting SR resource) that is different from conventional SR resources. The terminal can receive configuration information for a first SR resource (e.g., a conventional SR resource) and a second SR resource (e.g., a beam reporting SR resource) from the base station. Multiple SR resources can be used for different purposes. For example, the terminal can transmit an SR in the beam reporting SR resource to request PUSCH resources for transmitting beam reporting information, and can transmit an SR in a conventional SR resource (or another SR resource besides the beam reporting SR resource) to request PUSCH resources for transmitting other information (e.g., other UCI, TB, UL-SCH, higher-layer control messages). The first SR resource and the second SR resource can be configured with independent SR configurations, and the SR resources or the SR configurations corresponding to the SR resources can be distinguished by different SR identifiers (SR IDs). In other words, a separate SR ID that can be distinguished from other SR resources can be assigned to the beam reporting SR resource.

[0149] The beam report (SR) resource can be configured as PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1, and the positive or negative SR in the beam report SR resource can be sent and distinguished by multiple sequences. Multiple sequences can correspond to the same root sequence and can be distinguished by different cyclic shifts. The root sequence can be a ZC sequence.

[0150] The SR transmission process in the first SR resource and the SR transmission process in the second SR resource can be triggered independently. The SR transmission process in the first SR resource and the SR transmission process in the second SR resource can be managed independently. For example, the SR transmission in the first SR resource can be triggered by a higher layer of the terminal and can be managed based on SR_COUNTER. The SR transmission in the second SR resource can be triggered by the terminal's physical layer based on beam measurement results. The SR transmission in the second SR resource can be managed based on SR_COUNTER, and can be managed (e.g., counting, resetting) independently of the SR_COUNTER used for the first SR resource. Based on the above configuration, the SR transmission process used for the first SR resource can not affect the SR transmission process used for the second SR resource. When both UL-SCH and UCI (e.g., beam reporting information) need to be transmitted, the terminal can transmit SR in both the first and second SR resources. To consider the terminal's transmission power limitations, there may be constraints in the resource configuration that prevent the first and second SR resources from being mapped to the same symbol. Optionally, the terminal may send SR only in one of the first and second SR resources that overlap in time, and may postpone SR transmission in the remaining SR resources. SR transmission for the remaining SR resources can be postponed to the next cycle. Optionally, SR transmission for the remaining SR resources may be performed based on counter operations.

[0151] Multiple SR transmission processes can be interconnected. For example, when an SR for beam reporting and an SR for UL TB transmission occur together, a higher layer of the terminal can select one of the SRs and deliver the selected SR to the physical layer. The selection of one of the SRs can be determined based on the priority between the SRs and / or the priority between the SR resources. For example, the SR for beam reporting can take precedence over other SRs. In another example, the priority between the SR for beam reporting and the SR for UL SCH transmission can be determined based on the traffic type, QoS, or logical channel included in the UL-SCH.

[0152] The first and second SR resources can completely overlap in the time-frequency domain. The parameters used to configure the first and second SR resources can be matched to each other. When the two SR resources completely overlap, the base station may have difficulty determining which SR resource a detected signal (e.g., a sequence) corresponds to. To address this issue, the sequence transmitted in the second SR resource can be configured to be different from the sequence transmitted in the first SR resource. For example, when using ZC sequences, different sequences corresponding to different cyclic shift values ​​can be used in the first and second SR resources. For instance, when there are sequence groups distinguishable by 12 cyclic shifts, sequences corresponding to cyclic shifts 0 and 6 can be used in the first SR resource, and sequences corresponding to cyclic shifts 3 and 9 can be used in the second SR resource. Even when the two SR resources completely overlap, the sequences can still be distinguishable, and the SR detection performance may slightly decrease as the cyclic shift distance between sequences decreases. The terminal may not expect a configuration where the first and second SR resources partially overlap. As a way to avoid the aforementioned ambiguity problem, the terminal may not expect the first and second SR resources to be configured to overlap. The terminal can consider the overlap between the first SR resource and the second SR resource as a configuration error, and can choose not to perform SR transmission in either the first SR resource or the second SR resource.

[0153] According to a third exemplary embodiment, a terminal can perform multiple SR transmissions for different purposes through a single SR resource. The multiple purposes can include at least a first purpose and a second purpose, where the first purpose can be a UL resource requesting the transmission of UCIs (e.g., beam reporting information), and the second purpose can be a UL resource requesting the transmission of information other than UCIs (e.g., other UCIs, TBs, UL-SCHs, higher-layer control messages). Positive SRs can be classified according to multiple purposes. For example, using the same SR resource, K positive SRs corresponding to K purposes and one negative SR can be transmitted, and the SRs can have an information size of ceil(log2(K+1)) bits. K+1 SRs can be distinguished by K+1 sequences corresponding to K+1 SRs. The sequences can correspond to the same root sequence and can be distinguished by different cyclic shifts. Alternatively, K+1 SRs can be distinguished by both sequences and resources. For example, the SR resource can be configured with two sub-resources, and two candidate sequences can be transmitted in each sub-resource. In this case, four SRs corresponding to K=3 can be distinguished by a combination of the two sub-resources and the two sequences.

[0154] The above exemplary embodiments can be combined. The base station can optionally configure (e.g., indicate) one or a combination of the above exemplary embodiments to the terminal. According to the above exemplary embodiments, the base station can identify the purpose of the terminal sending the SR based on the received SR and / or an indicator included in the PUSCH, and can receive the PUSCH corresponding to that purpose from the terminal. Optionally, the base station can schedule the PUSCH corresponding to the purpose to the terminal. The base station receiving the PUSCH corresponding to the purpose from the terminal can correspond to the use of (method 100). The base station scheduling the PUSCH corresponding to the purpose to the terminal can correspond to the use of (method 200). When the base station schedules the PUSCH corresponding to the purpose to the terminal, the DCI for scheduling the PUSCH (e.g., the second resource) can include a UCI indicator field (e.g., a UCI request field). According to this disclosure, the UCI can be beam reporting information, and the UCI request field can represent the beam reporting indicator field. When the UCI request field is set to a predefined value, the UCI (e.g., beam reporting information) can be mapped to the PUSCH. The DCI for scheduling the second resource can be sent via the PDCCH.

[0155] Beam report information can be interpreted as a category of CSI, and the UCI request field can be a CSI request field. For example, an existing CSI request field can be reused for the purpose of triggering the transmission of beam report information initiated by the terminal. In another example, an existing CSI request field can still be used for the purpose of triggering a CSI report, and the UCI (e.g., beam report information initiated by the terminal) can be included in the CSI report as a type of CSI report. In this case, the transmission of beam report information initiated by the terminal can be triggered by a specific code point of the CSI request field. The specific code point can be associated with the CSI trigger state (e.g., beam report information) used for beam report initiated by the terminal, and the CSI trigger state can be pre-configured in the terminal based on RRC signaling. Optionally, the UCI request field can be a separate DCI field that can be distinguished from an existing CSI request field. For example, the DCI for scheduling a second UL transmission can include both the UCI request field and the CSI request field, and the DCI can simultaneously trigger the terminal to send both beam report information initiated by the terminal and a regular CSI report. The terminal can map both UCI (e.g., beam report information initiated by the terminal) and regular CSI reports to the PUSCH, and can transmit the PUSCH to the base station via a second UL resource. Optionally, when the DCI includes a UCI request indicator field, the DCI may not include a CSI request field. In other words, the DCI may trigger only one of the UCI request and the CSI request. As a result, only one of the UCI report (e.g., a beam report initiated by the terminal) and the regular CSI report can be mapped to a single PUSCH (e.g., as a second UL resource for the PUSCH). For example, each code point in the CSI request field may correspond to either a UCI report (e.g., a beam report initiated by the terminal) or a regular CSI report, and the CSI request field may include code points indicating either a UCI report (e.g., a beam report initiated by the terminal) or a regular CSI report.

[0156] In (method 200), the terminal may expect to receive the DCI scheduling the second UL transmission at a time not too late relative to the time of performing the first UL transmission. For example, the DCI scheduling the second UL transmission may be received within a duration / window determined based on the first UL resources. When the DCI received within the duration (e.g., the window) includes a UCI request field (or a CSI request field) and instructs the terminal to perform the second UL transmission, the terminal may consider the instruction (e.g., the instruction to perform the second UL transmission) valid and may send a PUSCH to the base station that includes at least beam reporting information. In other words, the second UL transmission, including at least beam reporting information, may be performed. When the DCI is received outside the duration (e.g., the window) and the DCI includes a UCI request field (or a CSI request field) instructing the terminal to perform the second UL transmission, the terminal may consider the instruction (e.g., the instruction to perform the second UL transmission) invalid (e.g., outdated) and may not perform the second UL transmission (e.g., the transmission of a PUSCH including at least beam reporting information). Optionally, in such a case, the terminal may still comply with the instruction. In other words, the terminal can map the recently generated beam report information to the PUSCH and send the PUSCH to the base station. In another approach, the terminal may not expect to receive the DCI indicating a second UL transmission outside of its duration. Optionally, the terminal can consider a DCI received after the duration indicating the second UL transmission to be invalid. When a DCI indicating a second UL transmission is received before that duration, the terminal can consider the second UL transmission to correspond to the first UL transmission preceding the current first UL transmission and can send a PUSCH to the base station including beam report information corresponding to the previous first UL transmission.

[0157] The DCI may include a UL-SCH indicator field. When the UL-SCH indicator field is set to a predefined specific value, the UL-SCH (or TB, higher-level control message) can be mapped to the PUSCH. The terminal can determine the resource configuration of the PUSCH as a second UL resource based on the combination of the UCI indicator field and the UL-SCH indicator field. When the DCI includes a UCI request field, the DCI may not include the UL-SCH indicator field. Optionally, when the DCI includes a UCI request field, the UL-SCH field included in the DCI may be fixed to a value indicating that the UL-SCH will not be carried on the PUSCH. In this case, beam reporting information may not be mapped to the PUSCH along with the UL-SCH in the second UL resource. In other words, the PUSCH may be a dedicated resource for transmitting UCIs including beam reporting information initiated by the terminal. The above exemplary embodiments can also be applied to (method 100). In (method 100), the second UL resource may be a configuration authorization (CG) PUSCH, and the CG-PUSCH may be configured in the terminal such that it does not include the UL-SCH. The CG-PUSCH can be a dedicated resource for transmitting UCIs that include beam reporting information. Even without a separate signaling procedure with the base station, the terminal can treat the second UL resource as a PUSCH that does not include the UL-SCH, and therefore can transmit the second UL resource without mapping the UL-SCH to it. Types of UCIs other than those including beam reporting information can be multiplexed with UCIs that include beam reporting information within the second UL resource (e.g., the CG-PUSCH). In other words, types of UCIs other than those including beam reporting information can be multiplexed with UCIs that include beam reporting information within the second UL resource (e.g., the CG-PUSCH). Other types of UCIs can include SR, Link Recovery Request (LRR), HARQ-ACK, CSI, etc.

[0158] In (method 200), for a terminal supporting carrier aggregation, the carrier (or serving cell) configuring the second UL resources can be different from the carrier (or serving cell) transmitting the DCI that schedules the second UL resources. In other words, the terminal can receive the DCI in the first carrier, and the DCI can schedule the second UL resources in the second carrier. The terminal can perform the second UL transmission (e.g., PUSCH transmission) in the second UL resources scheduled by the DCI in the second carrier. The subcarrier spacing applied to the first carrier can be the same as or different from the subcarrier spacing applied to the second carrier.

[0159] When (method 100) is used to configure the second UL resource, the terminal can still transmit SRs in the first UL resource. In this case, the purpose of the SR transmission may be to notify the base station that a signal will be transmitted through the already configured second UL resource, rather than to request the second UL resource. When a positive SR (e.g., a positive SR corresponding to a beam report) is received in the first UL resource, the base station may perform the operation of receiving the second UL transmission through the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource. When another SR is received in the first UL resource, the base station may omit the operation of receiving the second UL transmission. When the terminal transmits a positive SR in the first UL resource, the terminal may perform the second UL transmission through the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource. When the terminal transmits an SR other than a positive SR (e.g., a negative SR) in the first UL resource, the terminal may not perform the second UL transmission through the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource. In (method 100), the first UL resource does not necessarily need to be an SR resource. The first UL resource may be a PUCCH resource, and other UCIs besides SRs may be transmitted through the first UL resource. UCI can be control information indicating whether the terminal wants to perform a second UL transmission via the second UL resource, whether the terminal wants to send beam reporting information via the second UL resource, or whether the terminal wants to activate the second UL resource. The second UL resource can be a resource associated with the first UL resource. When using UCI, the first UL resource can be distinguished from the SR resource, and the first UL resource may not be associated with an SR ID. In another example, the terminal can notify the base station of the existence of a second UL transmission by sending a reference signal (e.g., SRS) via the first UL resource.

[0160] In (Method 100), when the opportunistic reuse of the second UL resource is abandoned, the second UL resource can be positioned closer to the first UL resource. The first and second UL resources can be mapped to a common resource area and can be indistinguishable from each other. In other words, a two-step beam reporting operation can be performed based on a single UL resource. For example, a two-step beam reporting operation can be performed based on a single PUSCH resource, which may include a first resource area used as the first UL resource and a second resource area used as the second UL resource. The terminal can perform a first UL transmission through the first resource area of ​​the PUSCH and a second UL transmission through the second resource area of ​​the PUSCH. When a first UL transmission is detected in the first resource area, the base station can attempt a reception operation for the second resource area. When no first UL transmission is detected in the first resource area, the base station can omit the reception operation for the second resource area. The reception operation for the first and second resource areas can be performed based on a common DM-RS (e.g., PUSCH DM-RS) and / or a common beam (e.g., the terminal transmit beam and / or the base station receive beam). In an exemplary embodiment, the PUSCH may be a CG PUSCH, and a PUSCH including at least CG-UCI may be transmitted in a first resource area, and a PUSCH including at least UCI (e.g., beam reporting information) may be transmitted in a second resource area.

[0161] In the above exemplary embodiments, the second UL transmission can be retransmitted. When the terminal sends a second UL transmission to the base station and does not receive a response signal (e.g., a response message) for the second UL transmission, the terminal can retransmit the second UL transmission. In (method 100), the response signal can be a signal containing an acknowledgment message or HARQ-ACK for the second UL transmission. The second UL transmission can be a CG-PUSCH, and the response signal can be a PDCCH or a DCI included in a PDCCH with a CRC scrambled by a configured scheduling (CS)-RNTI. In (method 200), the second UL transmission can be a dynamically scheduled PUSCH, and the response signal can be a DCI for retransmission of the scheduled PUSCH. The DCI can be sent via a PDCCH with a CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI or an MCS-C-RNTI. When the second UL transmission does not include a UL-SCH, the HARQ process ID may not be assigned to the second UL transmission, and the HARQ retransmission process may not be applied. In this case, the retransmission of the second UL transmission may refer only to the PUSCH scheduled by a different DCI than the one that scheduled the initial transmission PUSCH, or the PUSCH sent by the CG-PUSCH resource allocated in the next cycle.

[0162] The retransmission of the second UL transmission may include the same beam reporting information (e.g., the same UCI payload) as the initial transmission (e.g., the initial transmission, the first transmission). The base station can receive both the initial transmission and the retransmission of the second UL transmission, and can enhance reception performance by performing a soft combination of the initial transmission and the retransmission. Additional beam measurement operations can be performed before the retransmission time of the second UL transmission, and the beam reporting information can be updated. Optionally, a new event may occur before the retransmission time of the second UL transmission. In this case, the beam reporting information (e.g., UCI) included in the retransmission of the second UL transmission may differ from the beam reporting information (e.g., UCI) included in the initial transmission of the second UL transmission. For example, the retransmission of the second UL transmission may include updated beam reporting information for the same event (e.g., one or more new beams, beam quality values ​​of one or more new beams, one or more current beams, and / or beam quality values ​​of one or more current beams). Optionally, the retransmission of the second UL transmission may include beam reporting information for the new event, or beam reporting information for the event reflected in the initial transmission and beam reporting information for the new event. The second UL transmission may include UL-SCH (e.g., TB, UL data). In this case, the retransmission of the second UL transmission may include the same UL-SCH (e.g., TB, UL data) as the initial transmission of the second UL transmission. In other words, even if the UCI mapped to each PUSCH transmission changes, the TB mapped to each PUSCH transmission can be the same. When the second UL transmission includes UL-SCH (e.g., TB), retransmission of the second UL transmission can be performed. For example, this method may be applied only to (method 200).

[0163] PUSCHs including beam reporting information can have a higher priority than other uplink transmissions (e.g., other PUSCHs or PUCCHs). In the event of a transmission collision, PUSCHs including beam reporting information can be sent preferentially. Optionally, in the event of a transmission collision, at least beam reporting information can be sent preferentially. The priority between beam reporting information and other UCIs can be defined. When the beam quality of the terminal deteriorates, the beam recovery process may be more important than the service transmission, and based on this importance, beam reporting information can have a higher priority than SR and HARQ-ACK. Beam reporting information can have a higher priority than CSI. In addition, beam reporting information can be defined as a part or subtype of CSI. In this case, beam reporting information can have a higher priority than other types of CSI (e.g., PMI, CQI, RI, LI, SSBRI, CRI, etc.). When multiple UCI types are transmitted in conflict and it is difficult to send all conflicting UCI types together, some UCI types can be dropped based on the priority between UCIs.

[0164] If at least one of the first UL resource and the second UL resource is not configured, the terminal may not perform a beam report operation initiated by the terminal. This operation may include not performing the operation of monitoring the beam report trigger event. When a beam report trigger event occurs, but at least one of the first UL resource and the second UL resource is not configured or is deactivated, the terminal may trigger a random access procedure by sending a preamble in the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource. The random access procedure may be a contention-free random access, and the PRACH resource and the preamble may be pre-configured to the terminal. Optionally, the random access procedure may be a contention-based random access, and the preamble may be randomly selected by a higher layer of the terminal.

[0165] When a beam report trigger event has occurred, but the terminal has not yet performed the first UL transmission but has received valid scheduling information for the PUSCH, the terminal can send beam report information in the PUSCH in a carried or multiplexed manner. To support this operation, the base station can reserve a resource area in the PUSCH that can map beam report information (e.g., UCI). When beam report information to be reported by the terminal exists, the terminal can map the beam report information to the resource area reserved by the base station and can send a PUSCH including the beam report information. When no beam report information to be reported by the terminal exists, the terminal may not map the beam report information to the resource area reserved by the base station. When no beam report information to be reported by the terminal exists, the terminal can map other PUSCH data instead of beam report information to the resource area reserved by the base station. Whether to perform additional mapping operation can be notified to the base station through separate indication information included in the PUSCH. Optionally, the base station can confirm whether to perform additional mapping operation in a specific manner. The carried or multiplexed operation can be indicated based on the UCI request field included in the DCI of the scheduled PUSCH. In the context of beam reporting information, PUSCH (e.g., PUSCH resource) can be interpreted as a second UL resource. In other words, the second UL resource does not necessarily need to be requested solely through the first UL resource, and the second UL resource can always be allocated by the base station. The terminal can receive allocation information for the second UL resource used to send UCIs (e.g., beam reports initiated by the terminal) even before performing a first UL transmission, and can send UCIs (e.g., beam reports initiated by the terminal) to the base station through the second UL resource. The inclusion of a UCI in the second UL resource can be indicated by the UCI request field of the DCI that schedules the second UL resource.

[0166] During a certain duration (e.g., a time slot, a symbol set), a first UL transmission and another UL transmission may conflict. For example, the other UL transmission could be a PUCCH transmission for sending a UCI other than beam reporting information. This other UCI may have the same priority as the beam reporting UCI. Optionally, the other UCI may have a lower priority than the beam reporting UCI. The other UCI may include SR, LRR, etc. When the first UL resource overlaps with another PUCCH resource that includes a UCI with a lower priority than the beam reporting UCI in the same time slot and / or the same symbol, the terminal may prioritize the first UL transmission. The terminal may omit the PUCCH transmission in the other PUCCH resource. Conversely, when the first UL resource overlaps with another PUCCH resource that includes a UCI with a higher priority than the beam reporting UCI in the same time slot and / or the same symbol, the terminal may omit the first UL transmission and may transmit the PUCCH in the other PUCCH resource. In another example, SR, LRR, etc., may have the same priority as the beam reporting UCI. Messages included in transit (e.g., UCIs) can be multiplexed and transmitted within a single UL resource. A single UL resource can be determined based on predetermined rules. When the first UL resource is an SR resource, a single UL resource can be determined as another UL resource (e.g., another PUCCH resource) that conflicts with the first or third UL resource. The third UL resource can be a resource included in the set of candidate PUCCH resources configured for the terminal.

[0167] [Consider resource allocation for multiple beams] When considering multi-beam operation, multiple first UL resources and second UL resources can be configured. Within the unified TCI framework, when the currently applied UL TCI is valid, the terminal can perform a first UL transmission based on the UL TCI. Beam reporting triggering events may include situations where the beam quality of the current UL TCI is below a reference value (e.g., beam quality degradation of the current UL TCI), and the current UL TCI may be invalid. In this case, the first UL transmission can be performed based on a different UL TCI than the current UL TCI (e.g., another UL beam).

[0168] As a flexible method to support UL beam replacement operations, a method of configuring multiple first UL resources can be considered. The first UL resources can be configured as M resources that repeat periodically with the same period value, and the M resources can follow the same resource configuration. M can be a natural number. Different beams (e.g., UL TCI) can be applied to the M resources. When it is necessary to distinguish between the M resources and the first UL resource, each of the M resources can be referred to as an SR opportunity or sub-resource. For example, when the first UL resource is an SR resource, the multiple resources constituting the SR resource can be referred to as SR opportunities or SR sub-resources.

[0169] Figure 8 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuring a first UL resource.

[0170] refer to Figure 8 The first UL resources can be configured as M resources, and M can be 6. M can be the number of new candidate beams (e.g., UL TCI, resource index corresponding to the UL beam) configured for the beam report triggering event. The M first UL resources can be associated with M candidate beams respectively. When a new beam exists among the M candidate beams to replace the degraded current beam, the terminal can perform a first UL transmission based on the beam (e.g., the new beam) in the first UL resources associated with the beam. In this case, the base station can implicitly identify the new beam selected by the terminal based on the received first UL transmission without receiving beam report information. When the beam report information is configured to include only the index information of the new beam, the second UL transmission can be omitted in this exemplary embodiment, and the second UL resources can be not configured to the terminal. The operation according to this exemplary embodiment can be effective when the beam report triggering event includes UL beam degradation or when the joint TCI is configured to the terminal.

[0171] In the exemplary embodiments described above, the value of M can be dynamically changed via DCI or MAC CE signaling. Reconfiguring the first UL resource whenever the value of M changes can be cumbersome, and beam reporting delays can increase when beam reporting is triggered during the reconfiguration duration. As a solution to these problems, the first UL resource can be configured to include L resources. L can be a natural number. M can be managed to always be a value less than or equal to L, and the M candidate beams can be mapped to M of the L resources, while the remaining (LM) resources can be left unmapped to any beam. The terminal can consider the M resources as valid resources and can perform the first UL transmission by selecting one of the M resources. In other words, the first UL transmission can be performed on the selected resource. The remaining (LM) resources can be left unused for the first UL transmission. The remaining (LM) resources can be dynamically overridden by other transmissions. Whenever the set of candidate beams changes, the beam mapping can be updated, and the beams of the first UL resource can be managed without reconfiguration signaling for the first UL resource.

[0172] Figure 9 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuring a first UL resource.

[0173] refer to Figure 9The first UL resource may include M resources, and M may be 4. UL beams (e.g., UL TCI, resource index corresponding to the UL beam) can be configured for each first UL resource, and M may indicate the number of UL beams configured for the first UL resource. When the current UL beam (e.g., UL TCI) matches one of the M UL beams, the terminal can perform a first UL transmission based on the current UL beam in the first UL resource corresponding to the current UL beam. When the current UL beam does not match any of the M UL beams, the terminal can select one beam from the M UL beams and perform a first UL transmission based on the selected beam in the first UL resource associated with the selected beam. The selected beam may be randomly selected by the terminal. For example, the terminal may perform a beam measurement operation and select the beam with the highest beam quality from the M UL beams based on the beam measurement results. The base station can monitor all M first UL resources and can successfully detect a first UL transmission in one of the M first UL resources. Optionally, the selected beam may be determined based on beam reporting information previously reported by the terminal to the base station. In this scenario, the base station can identify a portion of M UL beams (e.g., one UL beam) and perform monitoring on the identified UL beam. Therefore, the reception complexity of the base station can be reduced.

[0174] exist Figure 9 In an exemplary embodiment, unlike the first UL resource, the second UL resource associated with the first UL resource can be configured as a single resource. The terminal can apply the same beam used for the first UL transmission to the second UL transmission, and the base station can use the same beam used for receiving the first UL transmission to receive the second UL transmission. Optionally, the terminal can apply a beam corresponding to the beam used to receive the DCI (e.g., DL TCI, combined TCI) for scheduling the second UL resource (e.g., UL TCI corresponding to the DL TCI or combined TCI) to the second UL transmission. Optionally, information indicating the beam of the second UL resource can be included in the DCI, and the beam of the second UL resource can be dynamically indicated to the terminal. The beam indicated by the DCI can be determined by the terminal to be an outdated beam (e.g., a beam with beam quality below a reference value, a degraded beam). In this case, the terminal can omit the second UL transmission operation scheduled by the DCI. Optionally, the terminal can perform the second UL transmission by replacing the indicated beam with another beam. For example, the other beam could be the same beam used for the first UL transmission, and the base station could consider both the indicated beam and the other beam as possibilities for receiving the second UL transmission. According to these exemplary embodiments, the UL beam applied to the second UL transmission can be predetermined, and having only one resource for the second UL transmission may be sufficient.

[0175] Figure 10 This is a conceptual diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a method for configuring a second UL resource.

[0176] Reference Figure 10 The second UL resource may include N resources. N can be a natural number. For example, each of N and M can be 4. UL beams (e.g., UL TCI, resource index corresponding to the UL beam) can be configured for the second UL resource, and N can indicate the number of UL beams configured for the second UL resource. The beams of the second UL resource can be configured independently of the beams of the first UL resource. N can be configured to the same value as M. Alternatively, N can be configured to a different value than M. N can be limited to a value no greater than M. The terminal can first select a beam from the N beams and can perform a second UL transmission based on the selected beam in the second UL resource associated with the selected beam. The beam selected for the second UL transmission can be the same as or different from the beam selected for the first UL transmission. In other words, a two-step beam reporting method can be performed based on multiple different UL beams. The above exemplary embodiments can flexibly support situations where the coverage of the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission are different, the beam shapes of the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission are different, and the channel or beam environment changes rapidly between the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission.

[0177] The exemplary embodiments can also be applied to situations where beam management is performed based on a unified TCI. For example, a UL TCI can be indicated to the terminal, and the UL TCI can be uniformly applied to terminal-specific UL transmissions. Even in this case, to flexibly support UL beam replacement operations, based on the above exemplary embodiments, the first UL resource and / or the second UL resource can each be configured as multiple resources, and multiple beams can be exceptionally involved in the first UL transmission and / or the second UL transmission. The candidate beams applied to the first UL resource can include at least the UL unified TCI indicated to the terminal (e.g., the currently applied UL unified TCI). The candidate beams applied to the second UL resource can include at least the UL unified TCI indicated to the terminal. On the other hand, when multiple UL unified TCIs are indicated to the terminal to support multiple TRP transmissions, the first UL transmission and the second UL transmission can be performed based on one of the multiple UL unified TCIs. In this case, the values ​​of M and N can not exceed the number of indicated UL unified TCIs.

[0178] The exemplary embodiments can be applied at least when the first UL resource and the second UL resource are transmitted on the same carrier. For terminals supporting carrier aggregation, the first UL resource and the second UL resource can be assigned to different carriers. The first beam(s) applied to the first UL resource can be different from the second beam(s) applied to the second UL resource, and the aforementioned association relationship between the first beam and the second beam can be not established. The second beam(s) can be configured independently of the first beam(s). For example, the QCL source signal(s) of the UL TCI(s) corresponding to the second beam(s) can be configured independently of the QCL source signal(s) corresponding to the UL TCI(s) of the first beam(s). Even when the first UL resource and the second UL resource are configured on different carriers, the exemplary embodiments described above can be applied if the first beam and the second beam have a QCL relationship.

[0179] When (method 200) is used to configure the second UL resource, the terminal can perform a PDCCH monitoring operation after the first UL transmission to receive scheduling information for the second UL resource. The DCI used for scheduling the second UL resource can be monitored in a CORESET and / or search space set configured separately for beam reporting operations. The search space set can be a USS set, and the search space set can be terminal-specifically configured. Optionally, the search space set can be a CSS set, and the search space set can be jointly configured for multiple terminals, and the search space set can be shared among multiple terminals. For convenience, the search space set can be referred to as the beam reporting search space set, and the CORESET corresponding to the beam reporting search space set can be referred to as the beam reporting CORESET.

[0180] Monitoring of the beam report CORESET can be performed as part of the beam reporting process, and may not be monitored before or after the beam reporting process is triggered. The duration of the terminal's monitoring of the beam report CORESET can be explicitly defined or configured. For example, the terminal can monitor the beam report CORESET after sending the SR. The start time for monitoring the beam report CORESET can be a time elapsed after a predetermined period from the first UL resource. When multiple first UL resources are configured, the first UL resource used as a reference for determining the start time of monitoring the beam report CORESET can be the resource from which the terminal sent the SR. Optionally, the first UL resource used as a reference for determining the start time of monitoring the beam report CORESET can be the last of the multiple first UL resources.

[0181] The end time of the monitoring beam report CORESET can be defined in several forms. According to an exemplary embodiment, the terminal may stop monitoring the beam report CORESET after successfully receiving a DCI for scheduling a second UL resource. In this case, the end time of the monitoring beam report CORESET may be a time after a predetermined time offset from the resource from which the DCI was received. According to another exemplary embodiment, the end time of the monitoring beam report CORESET may be a time after a predetermined time from the second UL resource performing the second UL transmission, or a time before the second UL resource. When the second UL resource is configured as multiple resources, the second UL resource used as a reference for determining the end time of the monitoring beam report CORESET may be the resource from which the terminal performs the second UL transmission. Optionally, the second UL resource used as a reference for determining the end time of the monitoring beam report CORESET may be one of the resources constituting the second UL resource (e.g., the last resource or the first resource).

[0182] Reception of the second UL transmission may fail at the base station, and in this case, the second UL transmission can be retransmitted. Retransmission of the second UL transmission can be performed in resources dynamically allocated via DCI. Optionally, when the second UL resource is a CGPUSCH, retransmission of the second UL transmission can be performed in a semi-statically configured CG PUSCH resource. This operation can be applied to communication systems using unlicensed frequency bands. According to another exemplary embodiment considering the possibility of retransmission of the second UL resource, the terminal can terminate the beam reporting CORESET monitoring operation after completing the beam reporting process. For example, when the terminal receives a response or acknowledgment message for the second UL transmission from the base station, the terminal can determine that the beam reporting process is complete. Optionally, when the terminal receives beam indication information from the base station after the second UL transmission, the terminal can determine that the beam reporting process is complete. The beam(s) indicated by the beam indication information can match the candidate beam(s) reported by the terminal. Optionally, even when the beam(s) indicated by the beam indication information do not match the candidate beam(s) reported by the terminal, the terminal can still determine that the beam reporting process is complete. Optionally, when the terminal has performed the second UL transmission retransmission allowance number, or when the terminal has not received a response message or acknowledgment message for retransmission, the terminal may determine that the beam reporting process is complete.

[0183] During the monitoring duration of the CORESET (Crystal Beam Report), the number of blind decodes performed, the number of Channel Estimation (CCE) operations performed, and / or the number of monitored DCI sizes can be counted only for the serving cell. Optionally, the number of blind decodes performed, the number of Channel Estimation (CCE) operations performed, and / or the number of monitored DCI sizes can be excluded from the count. In other words, the additional monitoring operations performed by the terminal for the CORESET may not affect other PDCCH monitoring operations of the terminal.

[0184] CORESET beam reporting can be monitored based on a DL beam corresponding to the UL beam applied to the first UL transmission (e.g., a beam with the same source signal as the UL beam or a DL beam associated with the UL beam). This operation can be applied when the first UL transmission and CORESET beam reporting are performed on the same carrier. It is possible that no DL beam corresponds to the UL beam applied to the first UL transmission. For example, when DL TCI and UL TCI are configured and managed separately, the UL beam and DL beam may not correspond to each other on a one-to-one basis. It is also possible that no DL beam corresponds to the UL beam applied to the first UL transmission if the carrier transmitting the first UL resource is different from the carrier monitoring the CORESET beam reporting. In this case, the receive beam for CORESET beam reporting can be determined based on the DL TCI indicated to the terminal (e.g., the currently applied DL TCI). When multiple DL TCIs are indicated to the terminal, the receive beam for CORESET beam reporting can be determined based on at least one of the multiple DL TCIs. When the beam quality of one or more DL TCIs deteriorates, the DL TCIs may become unusable as receiving beams for CORESET. In this case, the terminal may selectively apply one or more DL TCIs or DL ​​beams corresponding to the UL beams used in the first UL transmission to monitor beam reports for CORESET, according to predetermined rules or given conditions.

[0185] According to an exemplary embodiment, the DCI for scheduling the second UL resource can be regarded as a response message or acknowledgment message for the first UL transmission to the terminal, and the base station may not send a separate acknowledgment message (e.g., a response message) for the second UL transmission to the terminal. When the terminal does not receive the DCI for retransmission of the second UL transmission within a given time, the terminal may consider that the base station has successfully received the second UL transmission. In this case, the terminal may determine that the beam reporting process is complete. The given time can be determined by a timer operation triggered by the second UL transmission.

[0186] According to another exemplary embodiment, the base station can send a response message or acknowledgment message to the terminal in response to the receipt of a second UL transmission. The terminal can monitor a DCI with a predefined format or field configuration and can complete the beam reporting process by receiving the DCI. The DCI can be monitored centrally in a separately configured CORESET and / or search space, and can also be monitored temporarily after the second UL transmission. According to an exemplary embodiment, beam reporting information can be sent via another UL resource not requested by the first UL transmission (e.g., a PUSCH allocated for a TB or CSI transmission). Even in this case, it may be preferable to send a response message for the transmission of beam reporting information. Considering the above exemplary embodiments, the DCI can be sent centrally in a search space that is always monitored by the terminal, and the DCI can follow a DCI format that includes DL / UL scheduling information.

[0187] The operation of the method according to exemplary embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented as a computer-readable program or code in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include all kinds of recording devices for storing data readable by a computer system. Furthermore, the computer-readable recording medium can store and execute programs or code that can be distributed across computer systems connected via a network and read in a distributed manner by a computer.

[0188] Computer-readable recording media may include hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program commands, such as ROM, RAM, or flash memory. Program commands may include not only machine language code created by a compiler, but also high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter.

[0189] Although some aspects of this disclosure have been described in the context of apparatus, these aspects may indicate corresponding descriptions of the method, and blocks or apparatuses may correspond to steps or features of the method. Similarly, aspects described in the context of the method may be expressed as features of corresponding blocks or items or corresponding apparatuses. Some or all steps of the method may be performed by (or using) hardware devices such as microprocessors, programmable computers, or electronic circuits. In some embodiments, one or more of the most important steps of the method may be performed by such devices.

[0190] In some exemplary embodiments, a programmable logic device, such as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), can be used to perform some or all of the functions of the methods described herein. In some exemplary embodiments, the FPGA can operate in conjunction with a microprocessor to perform one of the methods described herein. Typically, these methods are preferably performed by a hardware device.

[0191] The description in this disclosure is merely exemplary in nature, and therefore, changes that do not depart from the spirit and scope of this disclosure are intended to fall within its scope. These changes should not be considered as departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope defined by the following claims.

Claims

1. A method for using a terminal, comprising: Perform the first beam quality measurement operation on the current beam; Perform a second beam quality measurement operation on one or more candidate beams; The results of the first beam quality measurement operation and the second beam quality measurement operation are used to determine whether the event conditions are met. Based on the fulfillment of the event conditions, a first UL signal is sent to the base station through the first uplink UL resource; as well as A second UL signal, including beam reporting information, is sent to the base station via the second UL resource. The current beam corresponds to the Transmission Configuration Information (TCI) indicated to the terminal, and the one or more candidate beams correspond to one or more beam quality measurement resources determined based on the configuration information received from the base station.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The first UL signal is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), which includes Uplink Control Information (UCI) and information requesting the second UL resource from the base station.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The second UL resource is a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource scheduled by Downlink Control Information (DCI) received from the base station. The second UL signal is a PUSCH, and the DCI includes information indicating that the beam reporting information should be included in the PUSCH.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The first UL signal is a PUCCH, which includes a UCI, and the UCI includes information to notify the base station whether the terminal is sending the second UL signal in the second UL resource.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The second UL resource is a PUSCH resource associated with the first UL resource. The second UL signal is a PUSCH. The second UL resource is mapped to a time resource that is at least N symbols later than the first UL resource, where N is a natural number.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, The PUSCH does not include the UL shared channel UL-SCH.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The repetition period of the first UL resource and the second UL resource is determined based on the same period value.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The first beam quality measurement operation includes measuring the Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) of the current beam, and the second beam quality measurement operation includes measuring the L1-RSRP of the one or more candidate beams.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The beam report information includes at least one of the beam quality measurement results for the current beam or the beam quality measurement results for one or more candidate beams.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The TCI is a downlink DL TCI, and the one or more beam quality measurement resources corresponding to the one or more candidate beams include at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource or a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) resource.

11. A terminal comprising at least one processor, wherein, The at least one processor causes the terminal to execute: Perform the first beam quality measurement operation on the current beam; Perform a second beam quality measurement operation on one or more candidate beams; The results of the first beam quality measurement operation and the second beam quality measurement operation are used to determine whether the event conditions are met. Based on the fulfillment of the event conditions, a first UL signal is sent to the base station through the first uplink UL resource; as well as A second UL signal, including beam reporting information, is sent to the base station via the second UL resource. The current beam corresponds to the Transmission Configuration Information (TCI) indicated to the terminal, and the one or more candidate beams correspond to one or more beam quality measurement resources determined based on the configuration information received from the base station.

12. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The first UL signal is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), which includes Uplink Control Information (UCI) and information requesting the second UL resource from the base station.

13. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The second UL resource is a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) resource scheduled by Downlink Control Information (DCI) received from the base station. The second UL signal is a PUSCH, and the DCI includes information indicating that the beam reporting information should be included in the PUSCH.

14. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The first UL signal is a PUCCH, which includes a UCI, and the UCI includes information to notify the base station whether the terminal is sending the second UL signal in the second UL resource.

15. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The second UL resource is a PUSCH resource associated with the first UL resource. The second UL signal is a PUSCH. The second UL resource is mapped to a time resource that is at least N symbols later than the first UL resource, where N is a natural number.

16. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The PUSCH does not include the UL shared channel UL-SCH.

17. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The repetition period of the first UL resource and the second UL resource is determined based on the same period value.

18. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The first beam quality measurement operation includes measuring the Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power (L1-RSRP) of the current beam, and the second beam quality measurement operation includes measuring the L1-RSRP of the one or more candidate beams.

19. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The beam report information includes at least one of the beam quality measurement results for the current beam or the beam quality measurement results for one or more candidate beams.

20. The terminal according to claim 11, wherein, The TCI is a downlink DL TCI, and the one or more beam quality measurement resources corresponding to the one or more candidate beams include at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource or a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (RS) resource.

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