Reporting of angle information for beam prediction

Abstract

Example embodiments relate to beam prediction. In a first method, a terminal device performs at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received via at least one receive beam. In a second method, a terminal device transmits at least one reference signal at a set of time instances via at least one transmit beam. In each method, the terminal device determines, for at least one time instance of the set of time instances, angular information of the terminal device. The angular information includes at least one of orientation information of the terminal device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the terminal device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the terminal device for the at least one time instance. The terminal device then transmits the angular information.

Description

Cross-references to related applications

[0001] This application claims priority and interest in EP application No. 25171583.5, filed on April 22, 2025, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0002] Various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure generally relate to the telecommunications field, and more specifically to methods, apparatuses, devices, and computer-readable storage media for reporting angle information for beam prediction. Background Technology

[0003] A communication network can be used as a facility to enable communication between two or more communication devices or to provide communication devices with access to a data network. A mobile or wireless communication network is an example of a communication network. Services can be provided to communication devices by an application server.

[0004] Communication networks can operate according to standards provided by organizations such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) or the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Examples of standards provided by 3GPP are the so-called 3GPP standards used for generations of cellular technology, such as the 3GPP standards for 4G, 5G, 6G, and so on. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In a first aspect of this disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from a second device via at least one receiving beam at a set of time instances; determine angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmit the angle information to the second device.

[0006] In a second aspect of this disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least: transmit a configuration to a first device indicating a set of time instances for the first device to perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from the second device via at least one receiving beam of the first device; and receive angle information from the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0007] In a third aspect of this disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: transmit at least one reference signal to a second device via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances; determine angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmit the angle information to the second device.

[0008] In a fourth aspect of this disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least: transmit a configuration to a first device indicating a set of time instances for the first device to transmit at least one reference signal to the second device via at least one transmission beam; and receive angle information from the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0009] In a fifth aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: performing at least one channel measurement at a first device based on at least one reference signal received from a second device via at least one receiving beam at a set of time instances; determining angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmitting the angle information to the second device.

[0010] In a sixth aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: at a second device, transmitting configuration to a first device, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device to perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from the second device via at least one receiving beam of the first device; and receiving angle information from the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0011] In a seventh aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: transmitting at least one reference signal from a first device to a second device via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances; determining angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmitting the angle information to the second device.

[0012] In an eighth aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: transmitting, at a second device, a configuration to a first device, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device to transmit at least one reference signal to the second device via at least one transmission beam; and receiving, from the first device, angle information for at least one of the time instances in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0013] In a ninth aspect of this disclosure, a first apparatus is provided. The first apparatus includes: means for performing at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from a second apparatus via at least one receiving beam; means for determining angle information of the first apparatus for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance; and means for transmitting the angle information to the second apparatus.

[0014] In a tenth aspect of this disclosure, a second apparatus is provided. The second apparatus includes: a component for transmitting a configuration to a first apparatus, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first apparatus to perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from the second apparatus via at least one receiving beam of the first apparatus; and a component for receiving angle information from the first apparatus for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance.

[0015] In the eleventh aspect of this disclosure, a first apparatus is provided. The first apparatus includes: means for transmitting at least one reference signal to a second apparatus via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances; means for determining angle information of the first apparatus for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance; and means for transmitting the angle information to the second apparatus.

[0016] In a twelfth aspect of this disclosure, a second apparatus is provided. The second apparatus includes: a component for transmitting a configuration to a first apparatus, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first apparatus to transmit at least one reference signal to the second apparatus via at least one transmission beam; and a component for receiving angle information from the first apparatus for at least one of the time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first apparatus for the at least one time instance.

[0017] In a thirteenth aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing a device to perform a method according to at least any one of aspects five through eight.

[0018] It should be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of this disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Other features of this disclosure will become apparent from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0019] Some exemplary embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 An example communication environment in which example embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented is shown; Figure 2 A diagram illustrating an example of the inference process used for beam management is shown; Figure 3A A diagram showing a first example of a sequence of beam measurements performed by the UE at different time instances is provided. Figure 3B A diagram illustrating a second example of a sequence of beam measurements performed by the UE at different time instances is shown. Figure 3C A diagram illustrating a third example of a sequence of beam measurements performed by the UE at different time instances is shown. Figure 4 An example signaling stream for beam prediction according to some embodiments of this disclosure is shown; Figure 5 Another example signaling flow for beam prediction according to some embodiments of this disclosure is shown; Figure 6 A flowchart is shown illustrating a method implemented at a first device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 7 A flowchart is shown illustrating a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 8 A flowchart is shown illustrating a method implemented at a first device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 9 A flowchart is shown illustrating a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 10 A simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown; and Figure 11 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0020] In all the accompanying drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements. Detailed Implementation

[0021] The principles of this disclosure will now be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and to help those skilled in the art to understand and implement this disclosure, without implying any limitation on the scope of this disclosure. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0022] In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains.

[0023] References to "an embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., in this disclosure indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment includes that particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. In addition, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is to be noted that those skilled in the art will recognize, whether explicitly described or not, that such features, structures, or characteristics apply in conjunction with other embodiments.

[0024] It should be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,” etc., may be used before nouns herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another, and they do not restrict the order of the nouns. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0025] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, wherein a list of two or more elements combined with “and” or “or” means at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0026] As used herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the “responding to A” execution step does not indicate that the step is executed immediately after “A” occurs, and may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0027] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the terms “comprising,” “including,” “having,” “possessing,” “containing,” and / or “covering,” as used herein, specify the presence of the stated features, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0028] As used in this application, the term "circuit" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) Hardware circuit implementation only (e.g., implemented with purely analog and / or digital circuits) and (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (if applicable): (i) A combination of (multiple) analog and / or digital hardware circuits and software / firmware, and (ii) Any part of a hardware processor having software (including (multiple) digital signal processors, software, and (multiple) memories, which work together to enable a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions) and (c) The operation requires software (e.g., firmware) for the operation of (multiple) hardware circuits and / or (multiple) processors, such as (multiple) microprocessors or parts thereof, but the software may be absent when the operation does not require the software.

[0029] This definition of "circuit" applies to all uses of the term in this application. As a further example, as used in this application, the term "circuit" also covers only hardware circuitry or processors (or processors), or portions of hardware circuitry or servers and their accompanying software and / or firmware implementations. For example, where applicable to certain claim elements, the term "circuit" also covers baseband integrated circuits or processor integrated circuits for mobile devices or similar integrated circuits in servers, cellular network devices, or other computing or networking devices.

[0030] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Furthermore, communication between terminal devices and network devices in a communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocol, including but not limited to, first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth-generation (5G), 5G Enhanced, 5.5G, sixth-generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other currently known or under development protocols. Embodiments of this disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, future types of communication technologies and systems that can implement this disclosure will inevitably emerge. The scope of this disclosure should not be considered limited to the systems described above.

[0031] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communications network through which terminal devices access the network and receive services. Network devices can refer to base stations (BS) or access points (APs), such as Node B (or NB), evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), NR NB (also known as gNB), Remote Radio Unit (RRU), Radio Headend (RH), Remote Radio Headend (RRH), relay, Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, low-power node (such as femtoseconds, picoseconds), non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network equipment (such as satellite network equipment, low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites), spacecraft network equipment, etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied. In some example embodiments, the Radio Access Network (RAN) separation architecture includes centralized units (CUs) and distributed units (DUs). Such an architecture can be applied to IAB donor nodes. IAB nodes include: a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion that behaves like a user equipment (UE) toward its parent node, and a DU portion that behaves like a base station toward its next-hop IAB node.

[0032] The term "terminal device" refers to any end device with wireless communication capabilities. As an example and not a limitation, a terminal device can refer to a communication device, UE, subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices can include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, Voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image acquisition terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEE), laptop mounted devices (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client devices (CPE), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head-mounted displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in the context of industrial and / or automated processing chains), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The terminal device may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) portion of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device," "communication device," "terminal," "user equipment," and "UE" are used interchangeably.

[0033] As used herein, the terms “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” can refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as resources in the time domain, resources in the frequency domain, resources in the spatial domain, resources in the code domain, or any other combination of time-domain, frequency-domain, spatial-domain, and / or code-domain resources that enable communication. In the following, unless explicitly stated otherwise, resources in both the frequency and time domains will be used as examples of transmission resources used to describe some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. Note that the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0034] As used herein, the term "Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) Model" refers to a data-driven algorithm that applies AI / ML techniques to generate a set of outputs based on a set of inputs. As used herein, "AI / ML Model Delivery" is a general term referring to the delivery of an AI / ML model from one entity to another in any manner. It can be understood that an entity can mean a network node / function (e.g., gNB, Location Management Function (LMF), etc.), a UE, a proprietary server, etc. As used herein, the term "AI / ML Model Inference" refers to the process of generating a set of outputs based on a set of inputs using a trained AI / ML model. As used herein, the term "AI / ML Model Testing" refers to the training sub-process used to evaluate the performance of the final AI / ML model using a dataset different from that used for model training and validation. Unlike AI / ML model validation, testing does not involve subsequent model tuning. As used herein, "AI / ML Model Training" refers to the process of training an AI / ML model in a data-driven manner (by learning input / output relationships) and obtaining a trained AI / ML model for inference. As used herein, the term "AI / ML model delivery" refers to the delivery of an AI / ML model over the air interface in a manner opaque to 3GPP signaling. This model can have known structural parameters at the receiving end, or it can be a new model with parameters. Delivery may include a complete model or a partial model. As used herein, the term "AI / ML model validation" refers to the training sub-process used to evaluate the quality of the AI / ML model using a dataset different from that used for model training, in order to help select model parameters for generalization beyond the dataset used for model training.

[0035] As used herein, the term "data collection" refers to the process by which network nodes, management entities, or UEs collect data for AI / ML model training, data analysis, and inference purposes. As used herein, the term "federated learning / federated training" refers to a machine learning technique that trains an AI / ML model across multiple decentralized edge nodes (e.g., UE, gNB), where each node performs local model training using local data samples. This technique requires multiple interactions between models but does not exchange local data samples. As used herein, the term "model download" refers to the transfer of a model from the network to the UE. As used herein, the term "model identification" refers to the process / method for identifying an AI / ML model to achieve mutual understanding between the network (NW) and the UE. It should be understood that this model identification process / method may or may not be applied. Information about the AI / ML model may be shared during model identification. As used herein, the term "model monitoring" refers to the process of monitoring the inference performance of the AI / ML model. As used herein, the term "model update" refers to the process of updating model parameters and / or model structure. As used herein, the term "model upload" refers to the transfer of a model from the UE to the network. As used herein, the term "network-side (AI / ML) model" refers to an AI / ML model whose inference is performed entirely on the network side. As used herein, the term "offline training" refers to an AI / ML training process in which a model is trained on a collected dataset, and the trained model is subsequently used or delivered for inference. It should be understood that this definition is for guidance only. There may be cases that do not fully meet this definition but are still generally understood as offline training. As used herein, the term "online training" refers to an AI / ML training process in which the model used for inference is trained (usually continuously) in (near) real-time as new training samples arrive. It should be understood that the concepts of (near) real-time and non-real-time depend on the specific context and are relative to the inference timescale. This definition is for guidance only. There may be cases that do not fully meet this definition but are still generally understood as online training. Tuning / retraining can be performed via either online or offline training. As used herein, the term "reinforcement learning (RL)" refers to a process of training an AI / ML model where the model is trained from inputs (also called states) and feedback signals (also called rewards) generated by the model's outputs (also called actions) in the environment in which the model interacts. As used herein, the term "semi-supervised learning" refers to a process of training a model using a mixture of labeled and unlabeled data. As used herein, the term "supervised learning" refers to a process of training a model from inputs and their corresponding labels. As used herein, the term "two-sided (AI / ML) model" refers to (multiple) paired AI / ML models on which joint inference is performed, where joint inference includes AI / ML inference jointly performed between the UE and the network, i.e., the first part of the inference is performed by the UE first, and then the remaining part by the gNB, or vice versa. As used herein, the term "UE-side (AI / ML) model" refers to an AI / ML model on which its inference is performed entirely on the UE side. As used herein, the term "unsupervised learning" refers to a process of training a model on unlabeled data.

[0036] As used herein, the term "transmitter point (TP)" refers to a set of geographically co-located transmit antennas (e.g., an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) for a cell, a portion of a cell, or a DL (downlink) PRS (location reference signal) TP only. A transmit point may include base station (ng-eNB or gNB) antennas, remote RF heads, remote antennas of a base station, antennas for a DL-PRS TP only, etc. A cell may include one or more transmit points. For homogeneous deployments, each transmit point may correspond to one cell. As used herein, the term "receiver point (RP)" refers to a set of geographically co-located receive antennas (e.g., an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) for a cell, a portion of a cell, or a UL (uplink) SRS (sound reference signal) RP only. A receive point may include base station (ng-eNB or gNB) antennas, remote RF heads, remote antennas of a base station, antennas for a UL-SRS RP only, etc. A cell may include one or more receive points. For homogeneous deployments, each receive point may correspond to one cell. As used herein, the term “transmit / receive point (TRP)” refers to a group of geographically co-located antennas (e.g., an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) that support TP and / or RP functions. As used herein, the term "orientation" can be understood as follows: In geometry, the orientation, pose, azimuth, direction, or angular position of an object (such as a line, plane, or rigid body) is part of how the object is positioned in the space it occupies. More specifically, it refers to the imaginary rotation required to move the object from a reference placement to its current placement. As used in this article, the term "angular rate" can be understood as follows. In physics, angular rate (symbol ω, omega), also known as the angular frequency vector, is a pseudo-vector representation of how an object's angular position or orientation changes over time; that is, how quickly the object rotates (spins or revolves) around an axis of rotation and how quickly that axis changes direction. The magnitude of this pseudo-vector represents the angular rate (or angular frequency), i.e., the angular speed of the object's rotation (spins or revolves). The direction of this pseudo-vector is perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of rotation or angular displacement. There are two types of angular rates: • Orbital angular rate refers to how fast a point object revolves around a fixed origin, that is, the rate of change of its angular position relative to the origin over time.

[0037] • Spin angular rate refers to how fast a rigid body rotates relative to its center of rotation, and it is independent of the choice of the origin, unlike orbital angular rate.

[0038] Angular rate has the dimension of angle per unit time. The SI unit of angular rate is radians per second (rad / s), although degrees per second (° / s) are also common.

[0039] As used herein, the term "angular acceleration" can be understood as follows. In physics, angular acceleration (symbol α, alpha) is the rate of change of angular velocity over time. Corresponding to the two types of angular velocities, namely spin angular velocity and orbital angular velocity, the corresponding types of angular acceleration are: spin angular acceleration, which involves a rigid body rotating about an axis intersecting the object's center of mass; and orbital angular acceleration, which involves a point particle and an external axis. Angular acceleration has the physical dimension of angle per square of time, expressed in radians per square second (rad / s). 2 Angular acceleration is measured in SI units. In two dimensions, angular acceleration is a pseudoscalar, its sign being positive when the angular rate increases counterclockwise or decreases clockwise, and negative when the angular rate increases clockwise or decreases counterclockwise. In three dimensions, angular acceleration is a pseudovector.

[0040] As used herein, the term "rotational frequency" can be understood as follows: Rotational frequency, also known as rotational speed or rotational speed (symbol ν, lowercase Greek letter nu, and n), is the frequency at which an object rotates about an axis. Its SI unit is reciprocal seconds (s). -1 Other common units of measurement include Hertz (Hz), cycles per second (cps), and revolutions per minute (rpm). Rotational frequency can be obtained by dividing the angular frequency ω by a full rotation (2π radians): ν = ω / (2π rad). It can also be expressed as the instantaneous rate of change of the number of rotations N with respect to time t: n = dN / dt (according to the International System of Units). Similar to a regular period, the reciprocal of the rotational frequency is the rotational period, T = ν. -1 =n -1 It has the dimension of time (SI unit second).

[0041] As used in this article, the term "rotational rate" refers to a vector quantity whose magnitude is equal to the scalar rotational speed. In the special cases of spin (about an internal axis of an object) and revolution (about an external axis), the rotational speed can be referred to as the spin speed and the revolution speed, respectively.

[0042] As used in this article, the term "rotational acceleration" refers to the rate of change of rotational speed; it has the dimensions of the reciprocal of the square of time and the reciprocal of the square of seconds (s²). -2 The SI unit is used for angular acceleration; therefore, it is a normalized version of angular acceleration.

[0043] Figure 1 An example communication environment 100 in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the communication environment 100 includes a first device 110 and a second device 120. The first device 110 and the second device 120 can communicate with each other. The first device 110 can be a terminal device, such as a UE. The second device can be a network device or network node, such as a gNB, TRP, etc., which provides a cell 101 for radio coverage. Figure 1 In the example shown, the first device 110 is located within cell 101 served by the second device 120.

[0044] In some example embodiments, the direction from the terminal device to the network device is referred to as the uplink (UL). Additionally, the direction from the network device to the terminal device is referred to as the downlink (DL).

[0045] It should be understood that, Figure 1 The number of devices and their connections shown are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implement the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. Although not shown, it should be understood that one or more additional devices and connections may be deployed in communication environment 100.

[0046] In the following description, for illustrative purposes, some example embodiments are described in which the first device 110 operates as a terminal device (e.g., UE) and the second device 120 operates as a network device (e.g., gNB, TRP, etc.). However, in some example embodiments, the operations described in connection with the terminal device can be implemented at the network device or other devices, and the operations described in connection with the network device can be implemented at the terminal device or other devices.

[0047] Communication in communication environment 100 can be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols such as first-generation (1G), second-generation (2G), third-generation (3G), fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and sixth-generation (6G), wireless local network communication protocols such as IEEE 802.11, and / or any other currently known or future-developed protocols. Furthermore, communication can utilize any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform Extended OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and / or any other currently known or future-developed technologies.

[0048] In version 18, BM-Case 1 and BM-Case 2 were selected as representative sub-use cases. Specifically, BM-Case 1 refers to spatial domain downlink beam prediction for beam set A based on measurements of beam set B. In BM-Case 1, AI / ML model training and inference can be performed on the NW side and / or the UE side. Set A and set B can be different; that is, set B may not be a subset of set A. Alternatively, set B can be a subset of set A. Set A can be used for DL ​​beam prediction. AI / ML model input may only include Layer 1 (L1) Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurements based on set B. Alternatively, AI / ML model input may include L1-RSRP measurements and auxiliary information based on set B. Alternatively, AI / ML model input may include Channel Impulse Response (CIR) based on set B. Alternatively, AI / ML model input may include L1-RSRP measurements based on set B and the corresponding DL transmit (Tx) and / or receive (Rx) beam identifiers (IDs).

[0049] BM-Case 2 refers to temporal downlink beam prediction for beam set A based on historical measurement results of beam set B. In BM-Case 2, AI / ML model training and inference can be performed on the NW side and / or the UE side. Set A and set B can be different, i.e., set B may not be a subset of set A. Alternatively, set B can be a subset of set A, but set A and set B can be different. Alternatively, set A and set B can be the same. AI / ML model input can include measurement results from K (K≥1) most recent measurement instances. In some examples, AI / ML model input can include only L1-RSRP measurements based on set B. Alternatively, AI / ML model input can include L1-RSRP measurements based on set B and auxiliary information. Alternatively, AI / ML model input can include L1-RSRP measurements based on set B and the corresponding DL Tx and / or Rx beam IDs. F predictions for F (at least F=1) future time instances can be obtained based on the output of the AI / ML model, where each prediction corresponds to a time instance.

[0050] It should be understood that set B can be a group of beams whose measurements are used as input to an AI / ML model. Furthermore, beams in sets A and B can be in the same frequency range. For both sub-use cases, DLTx beam prediction, DL Rx beam prediction, and / or beam pair prediction (beam pairs include DL Tx beams and corresponding DL Rx beams) will be studied for the predicted beams.

[0051] The AI / ML model output may include Tx and / or Rx beam IDs and / or the predicted L1-RSRP of N (N≥1) predicted DL Tx and / or Rx beams. For example, the N predicted beams may be Top-N predicted beams. Alternatively, the AI / ML model output may include multiple Tx beam IDs and / or multiple Rx beam IDs of the N predicted DL Tx and / or Rx beams, as well as other information. For example, the N predicted beams may be Top-N predicted beams. Alternatively, the AI / ML model output may include multiple Tx beam angles and / or multiple Rx beam angles and / or the predicted L1-RSRP of N predicted DL Tx and / or Rx beams. For example, the N predicted beams may be Top-N predicted beams. It should be understood that there may be multiple other alternatives for the AI / ML model output. Beam IDs are used here for discussion purposes only. The output is "nominal" and is used for discussion purposes only. The value of N can be defined in various ways. The above outputs can be inferred from the AI / ML model to show variations on the UE side and / or gNB side. The Top-N beam ID can be obtained by post-processing the ML model output.

[0052] For BM-Case 1 and BM-Case 2 with UE-side AI / ML models, the necessity of (multiple) functions and / or (multiple) models and potential BM-specific / additional conditions can be considered from at least the following aspects: information about model inference, set A / set B configuration, performance monitoring, data collection and / or auxiliary information.

[0053] For beam management use cases, training data for model training can be generated by the UE and / or gNB. For NW-side model inference, input data can be generated by the UE and terminated at the gNB. For UE-side model inference, input data can be internally available at the UE. For NW-side performance monitoring, (if needed) the calculated performance metrics or (if needed) the data used for performance metric calculation can be generated by the UE and terminated at the gNB.

[0054] Figure 2Figure 200 illustrates an example of the inference process for beam management for BM-Case 1 and BM-Case 2. Measurements based on beam set B can be used as model inputs. Additionally, beam ID information can also be provided as input to the AI / ML model. Based on the model outputs (e.g., the probability that each beam in set A is a Top-1 beam, the predicted L1-RSRP), the Top-1 / N beams(s) in set A can be predicted and / or potentially along with the predicted L1-RSRP (depending on the label). In the evaluation, for BM-Case 1, measurements from set B are used as model inputs to predict the Top-1 / N beams from set A; and for BM-Case 2, measurements from(s) historical time instances are used as model inputs for temporal DL beam prediction of beams from set A. The evaluation considered both BM-Case 1 and BM-Case 2, where sets A and B are different (set B is not a subset of set A) and where set B is a subset of set A. For BM-Case 2, the case where sets A and B are the same was also considered. Furthermore, the performance of DL Tx beam prediction and DL Tx-Rx beampair prediction was evaluated. For both BM-Case 1 and BM-Case 2, the UE can report the prediction results to the NW based on the output of the UE-side model, or the NW can predict (multiple) Top-1 / N beams based on measurements of set B reported by the NW-side model.

[0055] For AI / ML-enabled features or feature groups (FGs), additional conditions refer to any aspect assumed during model training that is not part of the UE capabilities of that AI / ML-enabled feature / FG. This does not mean that additional conditions must be specified. Additional conditions can be divided into two categories: NW-side additional conditions and UE-side additional conditions.

[0056] For inference of the UE-side model, in order to ensure consistency between training and inference regarding additional conditions (if identified) on the NW side, the following options can be considered as potential methods (where feasible and necessary, it should be understood that the possibility of different methods achieving the same functionality is not denied): - Model identifiers to achieve alignment between the NW side and the UE side on additional conditions on the NW side; - The model is trained in the NW and delivered to the UE, where the model is trained under these additional conditions; - Provide the UE with information and / or instructions regarding additional conditions on the NW side; - Enhancing consistency through monitoring (the UE and / or NW monitor the performance of candidate models / functions on the UE side to select models / functions); - Other methods are not excluded.

[0057] For specification support, DL Tx beam prediction in beam management involves both UE-side and network-side models within the RAN1 / RAN2 range. This includes spatial domain DL Tx beam prediction for beam set A based on measurement results of beam set B (“BM-Case 1”), and temporal domain DL Tx beam prediction for beam set A based on historical measurement results of beam set B (“BM-Case 2”).

[0058] UE beams (or spatial filters) are not defined relative to a global, UE-independent coordinate system; they are defined relative to the UE's local coordinate system. Therefore, if the UE's orientation in space changes, the pointing direction of a particular UE beam relative to the global coordinate system will also change. For example, if a smartphone placed on a table is flipped over, the direction of all its beams will rotate 180 degrees.

[0059] Unlike DL Tx beam prediction or UL Rx beam prediction (which only involves predicting the gNB beam), DL Rx beam prediction and DL Tx-Rx beam pair prediction, as well as UL Tx beam prediction and UL Tx-Rx beam pair prediction, involve predicting the UE beam. In the DL case, the Rx beam is the UE beam; in the UL case, the Tx beam is the UE beam. Because the UE beam orientation varies with the UE orientation, the UE measurement on a specific DL Rx beam or DL ​​Tx-Rx beam pair, and the gNB measurement on a specific UL Tx beam or UL Tx-Rx beam pair, may vary significantly depending on the UE orientation. For simplicity, the following figures are illustrated using a two-dimensional (2D) assumption. Here, the gNB beam is represented by the set {s1, s2, …, s 12} represents the UE beam, and the UE beam consists of the set {r1, r2, …, r 36 The beam index is indicated by}. Beam indices increase counter-clockwise.

[0060] Figure 3A Figure 300A is shown as a first example of a sequence of DL Tx-Rx beampup measurements (e.g., L1-RSRP) performed by UE 310 (e.g., a drone) at different time instances (t1, t2, t3, t4), where the UE orientation is north (N) (indicated by a small triangle). UE 310 can communicate with gNB 320. As UE 310 moves with a constant UE orientation (no UE rotation), the strongest DL Tx-Rx beampup changes, resulting in a sequence of strongest beampup combinations {(s5, r8), (s6, r9), (s7, r8)} at measurement time instances {t1, t2, t3, t4}, respectively. 10 ), (s8, r 11 )}.

[0061] Figure 3B Figure 300B is shown as a second example, which is related to... Figure 3A The first example shown is similar, but the UE orientation is south (S) (i.e., UE 310 is rotated 180 degrees relative to the first example, and the UE orientation is constant). As a result, the sequence of the strongest beam pairs is now {(s5, r 26 ), (s6, r 27 ), (s7, r 28 ), (s8, r 29 Although the strongest DL Tx beams are the same, the strongest DL Rx beams are located exactly opposite to those in the first example.

[0062] In the case of UE-side prediction, locally available information from UE orientation sensors (e.g., accelerometers) can be used as input to the UE-side model, whether during model training or inference. However, if prediction is performed at other locations (e.g., on the NW side), the lack of UE orientation information during training and / or inference may lead to inaccurate predictions.

[0063] Another potential factor of variation in the observed DL Tx-Rx beampup measurement sequence, depending on the different UE orientations, is UE rotation (i.e., non-zero rotation rate), such as... Figure 3C As shown, Figure 3C Figure 300C is shown, which is a third example of a DL Tx-Rx beampup measurement sequence observed under clockwise UE rotation. In this example, UE 310 rotates (i.e., its orientation changes) as it performs DL Tx-Rx beampup measurements at different time instances. Although it starts with a north (N) UE orientation (similar to...) Figure 3A Due to UE rotation, subsequent measurements were performed under varying UE orientation. The sequences of the strongest beam pairs obtained at measurement time instances {t1, t2, t3, t4} are {(s5, r8), (s6, r8)}. 11 ), (s7, r 14 ),(s8, r 17 )}.and Figure 3A Compared to the example, in Figure 3A The strongest DL Rx beam index at the continuous-time instance is the adjacent {r8, r9, r... 10 , r 11}, while in the case of UE rotation, the strongest DL Rx beam index at the continuous-time instance is not adjacent {r8, r 11 , r 14 , r 17}

[0064] exist Figure 3C In the third example, the UE rotation rate is constant. However, in general, the UE rotation rate itself can vary over time, resulting in UE rotational acceleration. For example, if a smartphone is placed horizontally on a table and manually rotated, it will experience negative rotational acceleration due to friction with the table, causing its rotation rate to gradually decrease until it stops. Another example is a smartwatch worn by a runner or cyclist, which may be exposed to frequent rotational acceleration.

[0065] UE orientation, rotation rate, and rotation acceleration are examples of additional conditions on the UE side. When UE beams are involved (such as DLRx beam prediction, DL Tx-Rx beam pair prediction, UL Tx beam prediction, or UL Tx-Rx beam pair prediction), these additional conditions may affect the NW side model performance.

[0066] In the context of NW-side models for DL ​​Rx beam prediction or DL ​​Tx-Rx beampair prediction, this disclosure proposes enhancing measurement reports (for data collection and for inference) by including UE orientation and / or rotation information in DL Rx beam measurement reports or DL ​​Tx-Rx beampair measurement reports. In the most general three-dimensional (3D) case, the measurement report may include information on UE orientation (e.g., yaw, pitch, and roll), UE rotation rate vector, and / or UE rotation acceleration vector. If the report includes multiple DL Rx beam measurements and / or multiple DL Tx-Rx beampair measurements performed at multiple time instances, multiple UE orientations, UE rotation rate vectors, and / or UE rotation acceleration vectors can be indicated in the report, where each UE orientation, UE rotation rate vector, and / or UE rotation acceleration vector corresponds to a different measurement time instance.

[0067] Furthermore, in the context of the NW-side model for UL Tx beam prediction or UL Tx-Rx beampair prediction, a report UE auxiliary information (for data collection and for inference) is proposed, which provides UE orientation and / or rotation information associated with the SRS transmission configured for the NW-side measurements of (multiple) UL Tx beams and / or (multiple) UL Tx-Rx beampairs.

[0068] The proposed report provides additional input variables (also known as explanatory variables, predictor variables, or features), namely UE orientation, rotation rate, and / or rotational acceleration, for fitting the prediction model (i.e., NW-side model training) and for performing beam prediction and / or beam pair prediction (i.e., NW-side model inference). Compared to baselines that do not include these input variables, this may result in improved prediction performance (e.g., higher prediction accuracy and / or a longer prediction time range for a given accuracy requirement).

[0069] According to some example embodiments of this disclosure, a solution is provided for reporting angle information of a terminal device (UE) for NW-side beam prediction (or beam pair prediction). In the solution, the terminal device performs at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from a network device via at least one received beam. The terminal device determines angle information of a first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances. This angle information includes orientation information of the terminal device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the terminal device for the at least one time instance, and / or rotation acceleration information of the terminal device for the at least one time instance. The terminal device then transmits the angle information to the network device. Thus, UE orientation and / or rotation information can be provided as additional conditions on the UE side for NW-side beam prediction.

[0070] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Figure 4 An example signaling flow 400 for beam prediction according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrated. Multiple schemes embodied in this signaling flow can be implemented for NW-side DL Rx beam prediction and / or NW-side DL Tx-RX beam pair prediction. Figure 1 In the communication environment 100 shown. In some example embodiments, the operation of the first device 110 and the second device 120 may be interchangeable.

[0071] In operation, the second device 120 may transmit (4010) a configuration to the first device 110, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device 110 to perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from the second device 120 via at least one received beam of the first device 110. The first device 110 may receive (4020) this configuration. Hereinafter, the term “beam” is synonymous with “spatial filter” or “spatial domain filter.” Beam prediction and / or beam pair prediction may be performed in the spatial domain (BM-case 1) or the temporal domain (BM-case 2) (i.e., at one or more future time instances). For BM-case 1, at least one time instance may comprise a single time instance. For BM-case 2, at least one time instance may comprise one or more time instances.

[0072] although Figure 4 The illustration shows a first device 110 receiving (4020) an instruction (or indication) of the configuration of a set of time instances from a second device 120. Alternatively, or additionally, the first device 110 may receive the instruction (or indication) of the configuration of the set of time instances from a device other than the second device 120. In some examples, the first device 110 may receive the instruction (or indication) of the configuration of the set of time instances from a network device providing services to neighboring cells. Furthermore, the configuration of the instruction (or indication) of the set of time instances may be predefined on the first device 110 side. Those skilled in the art will understand that the set of time instances can be configured for the first device 110 using a variety of alternative techniques, all of which fall within the scope of this disclosure.

[0073] The first device 110 performs (4030) at least one channel measurement at that set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from the second device 120 via at least one receive beam. This measurement may include L1-RSRP (i.e., SS (Synchronization Signal)-RSRP or CSI-RSRP) and / or L1 signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) (i.e., SS-SINR or CSI-SINR) measurements. Alternatively or additionally, at least one reference signal may be received from a device other than the second device 120. In one example, at least one reference signal may be received from a network device providing services to neighboring cells. In another example, a portion of at least one reference signal may be received from a network device providing services to neighboring cells, and the remainder of at least one reference signal may be received from the second device 120. That is, the DL reference signal (SSB or CSI-RS) used to perform the measurement may originate from one or more transmission points (TP or TRP) (e.g., associated with serving cell 101 and / or (multiple) neighboring cells).

[0074] The first device 110 determines (4040) angle information of the first device 110 for at least one time instance in the set of time instances. The angle information includes: orientation information of the first device 110 for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device 110 for the at least one time instance, and / or rotational acceleration information of the first device 110 for the at least one time instance. The rotation rate information and rotational acceleration information may be referred to as rotation information, separately or in combination. Those skilled in the art will understand that, in practice, the at least one time instance used for determining the angle information may be precisely selected from the set of time instances, or the at least one time instance may be selected such that it is very close to some of the time instances in the set of time instances.

[0075] Orientation information can include one or more angles relative to a predefined coordinate system (e.g., so-called Euler angles). For example, in the case of a smartphone or drone that can be arbitrarily oriented in three-dimensional space, orientation information can include three angles (ψ, θ, φ) (e.g., yaw, pitch, and roll), similar to how aircraft attitude is specified. In other cases, when the UE orientation is more restricted (e.g., vehicles on a road, ships at sea, etc.), orientation information can include a single angle (e.g., azimuth).

[0076] Rotation rate information may include a single scalar value ν (in seconds) of rotation frequency (or rotation speed). -1 (Hz, cps, or rpm) (e.g., ν = 60 rpm) (e.g., when rotation is restricted to a known plane of rotation (such as a horizontal plane), or in general cases (e.g., smartphones, drones, etc., which can rotate arbitrarily) including a three-dimensional rotation rate vector. (Perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of rotation or angular displacement). Rotational rate information can also be conveyed as a scalar value ω (in rad / s) of angular frequency (or angular velocity) (where ω = 2πν), or as a three-dimensional angular velocity vector. It can be conveyed in the form of (perpendicular to the instantaneous plane of rotation or angular displacement). It can also be expressed in terms of the rotation period. T The form of communication, in which (Unit: seconds).

[0077] Rotational acceleration information can include a single scalar value c of rotational acceleration (in seconds). -2 (For example, when rotation is restricted to a known plane of rotation (e.g., a horizontal plane), or in general cases (e.g., smartphones, drones, etc., which can rotate arbitrarily) including a three-dimensional rotational acceleration vector. Rotational acceleration information can also be expressed as a scalar value of angular acceleration. α (Unit: rad / s)2 The information is conveyed in the form of (where α = 2πc), or as a three-dimensional angular acceleration vector. It is conveyed in the form of [the following].

[0078] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine a quantization step size based on the width of at least one received beam and apply quantization to angle information based on that quantization step size. For example, orientation and / or rotation measurements may be performed by UE sensors (e.g., accelerometers). Measurements can be quantized (for reporting) in a finer (i.e., with a smaller quantization step size) or coarser (i.e., with a larger quantization step size) manner depending on the properties of the UE beam, such as beamwidth. For example, a smaller quantization step size can be used when the UE beam is narrower, and a larger quantization step size can be used when the UE beam is wider. Since L1-RSRP measurements on a narrower UE Rx beam (or UL SRS-RSRP measurements on an SRS transmitted on a narrower UE Tx beam) are more sensitive to small changes in UE orientation, more accurate orientation and / or rotation measurements can be reported for narrower beams by setting different quantization step sizes based on beamwidth.

[0079] First device 110 transmits (4050) angle information (e.g., a quantized version) to second device 120. Second device 120 receives (4060) angle information from first device 110. In some example embodiments, first device 110 may transmit a first measurement report to second device 120, the first measurement report including the at least one measurement and the angle information. In some example embodiments, first device 110 may transmit angle information and a second measurement report including the at least one measurement to second device 120. That is, angle information may be included in the measurement report transmitted to second device 120, and / or angle information may be transmitted to second device 120 together with the measurement report. Those skilled in the art will understand that angle information can be transmitted using a variety of alternative techniques, all of which fall within the scope of this disclosure.

[0080] The angle information of the first device 110 can be considered as UE-side additional conditions for NW-side model training (i.e., the UE-side aspects assumed for NW-side model training). Thus, reporting these UE-side additional conditions can be used to ensure consistency between training and inference, that is, to ensure that the UE-side conditions at the time of data collection (for training the NW-side model) are consistent with the UE-side conditions at the time of inference (on the NW side). In this sense, a specific UE-side condition (e.g., UE orientation within a specific value range, or UE rotation frequency within a specific value range) can be indicated by one or more associated IDs that identify that specific UE-side condition. For example, an 8-bit associated ID can be used to indicate 256 possible azimuth angles (or angle ranges), or a 1-bit associated ID can be used to indicate the presence or absence of UE rotation.

[0081] The second device 120 can perform (4070) beam prediction training and / or beam prediction inference for at least one received beam based on angle information and using machine learning enabled features for beam prediction.

[0082] In some embodiments, the second device 120 may configure the first device 110 to report UE angle information (UE orientation, rotation rate, rotation acceleration) based on one or more conditions (e.g., using CSI-ReportConfig). For example, the UE orientation may remain constant over an extended time period. Therefore, the second device 120 may be configured to configure the first device 110 to report UE orientation information only when the UE orientation has changed significantly since the last reported UE orientation (e.g., the difference is greater than a configured threshold). Furthermore, reporting rotation rate information is meaningless if the first device 110 is not rotating or its rotation rate is very small. Similarly, reporting rotation acceleration information is meaningless if the first device 110 is rotating at a constant (or approximately constant) rate. Therefore, the second device 120 may be configured to configure the first device 110 to report rotation rate and / or rotation acceleration information only when the rotation rate and / or rotation acceleration are significant (e.g., greater than a configured threshold). For prediction in the spatial domain (BM-Case 1), the second device 120 may be configured to configure the first device 110 to report only UE orientation information, since UE rotation information may be irrelevant to prediction. In the case of multiple time instances (e.g., within the same measurement report), whether to report UE orientation information for each time instance may depend on UE rotation. Thus, this disclosure provides various methods for reducing the transmission overhead for angle information, which will be described in detail below with specific embodiments and examples.

[0083] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine whether a first difference between a first orientation of the first device 110 for a first time instance and a second orientation of the first device 110, the second orientation being included in the angle information, is greater than a first threshold. If the first difference is greater than the first threshold, the first device 110 may include the first orientation in the angle information. If the first difference is less than the first threshold, the first orientation is not included in the angle information. The first threshold, or any other threshold mentioned herein, may be predefined, determined by the first device 110, or configured by the second device 120. The first threshold, or any other threshold used herein, may be a threshold vector or a threshold value. An orientation difference greater than the first threshold vector means that each vector component of the orientation difference is greater than the corresponding vector component of the first threshold, or that the magnitude of the orientation difference is greater than the magnitude of the first threshold vector. An orientation difference greater than the first threshold value means that the magnitude of the orientation difference vector or the value of the scalar orientation difference is greater than the first threshold value.

[0084] In some examples, the first orientation may be the most recently determined UE orientation of the first device 110, and the second orientation may be the most recently reported UE orientation of the first device 110. The first device 110 may only report UE orientation information if the UE orientation has changed significantly since the last reported UE orientation (e.g., the difference is greater than a configured threshold). In some cases, the UE orientation of the first device 110 may remain unchanged since the first device 110 last transmitted its(multiple) orientations to the second device 120. Therefore, the first device 110 may not transmit the most recently determined first orientation to the second device 120.

[0085] In some examples, the first orientation and the second orientation can both be the most recently determined UE orientations corresponding to different time instances within the at least one time instance, and they have very close values ​​(e.g., the difference between the two orientations is less than a configured threshold). In this case, it is not necessary to report both to the second device 120. Instead, the first device 110 can include only the second orientation in the angle information. It should be understood that the first device can have more than two most recently determined orientations, and these orientations have similar values. In this case, the first device 110 can report one orientation to the second device 120 without including the others in the angle information. In this way, the overhead of transmitting angle information can be reduced.

[0086] In some example embodiments, each of the first orientation and the second orientation can be a vector comprising vector components. The first difference is a vector difference determined based on the vector components, or a scalar difference determined based on the angular distance between the first and second orientations. For example, in general (3D), the first difference can be determined as follows: (1) by determining each orientation vector component separately to obtain a vector difference (e.g., pitch difference, roll difference, and yaw difference), or (2) by determining it as the angular distance (also known as angular separation) between the first and second orientation vectors to obtain a scalar difference.

[0087] In some example embodiments, at least one time instance may include multiple time instances. If at least one rotation rate of the first device 110 for at least one time instance is less than a second threshold (e.g., the at least one rotation rate is negligible), the first device 110 may include an orientation of the first device 110 in the angle information without including the at least one rotation rate. In some examples, the at least one rotation rate for the at least one time instance may be a rotation rate for one time instance. In some examples, the at least one rotation rate for the at least one time instance may be two or more rotation rates for two or more consecutive or discontinuous time instances. In some examples, an orientation included in the angle information may correspond to the first time instance, the last time instance, or any time instance between the first and last time instances. In some examples, an orientation included in the angle information may correspond to any time instance among two or more consecutive or discontinuous time instances. For example, in the case of no rotation or a very small rotation rate (e.g., ... Figure 3A and Figure 3B As shown (i.e., the rotation speed is below a threshold), the UE orientation at different time instances can be the same or very similar, so the first device 110 can report a single UE orientation (e.g., corresponding to a first time instance or other time instances). In this way, the overhead of transmitting angle information can be reduced.

[0088] In some example embodiments, at least one time instance may include multiple time instances. If at least one rotational acceleration of the first device 110 for at least one time instance is less than a third threshold (e.g., the at least one rotational acceleration is negligible), the first device 110 may include an orientation of the first device 110 in the angle information without including the at least one rotational acceleration. That is, if the rotational acceleration is too small to be negligible, it does not need to be included in the angle information. In some example embodiments, if at least one rotational rate of the first device 110 for at least one time instance is greater than a fourth threshold (e.g., the at least one rotational rate is not negligible), the first device 110 may also include the at least one rotational rate in the angle information. In some examples, at least one rotational acceleration for at least one time instance may be a rotational acceleration for one time instance. In some examples, at least one rotational acceleration for at least one time instance may be two or more rotational accelerations for two or more consecutive or non-consecutive time instances. In some examples, an orientation included in the angle information may correspond to the first time instance, the last time instance, or any time instance between the first and last time instances. In some examples, an orientation included in the angle information may correspond to any one of two or more consecutive or discontinuous time instances. In some examples, at least one rotation rate and orientation included in the angle information may correspond to the same time instance or different time instances. For example, in the case where the rotation rate is not negligible but is constant (or approximately constant) (e.g.) Figure 3C As shown (i.e., rotation speed above a threshold and rotation acceleration below a threshold), the UE can be configured to report the initial UE orientation and initial UE rotation rate (corresponding to the first time instance). The UE orientation at (multiple) subsequent time instances can be derived from this information (within a certain error range). In this way, the overhead of transmitting angle information can be reduced.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine whether a second difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations for two consecutive time instances among a plurality of time instances is less than a fifth threshold. If the second difference is less than the fifth threshold (e.g., the two rotational accelerations are similar), the first device 110 may include an orientation, a rotational rate, and a rotational acceleration of the first device 110 in the angle information. In some examples, an orientation, a rotational rate, and a rotational acceleration included in the angle information may correspond to any one of the two consecutive time instances, the first time instance, the last time instance, or any one of the plurality of time instances. In some example embodiments, if at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is greater than a sixth threshold (e.g., the at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is not negligible), the first device 110 may include the at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information; or if the two corresponding rotational accelerations are less than the sixth threshold (e.g., they are both negligible), the first device 110 may not include the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information. For example, when rotational acceleration is not negligible but is constant (or approximately constant) (i.e., rotational acceleration is above a threshold), the UE can be configured to report the initial UE orientation, initial UE rotation rate, and initial UE rotational acceleration (corresponding to the first time instance): the UE orientations at (multiple) subsequent time instances can be derived from this information (within a certain error range). In this way, the overhead of transmitting angle information can be reduced.

[0090] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may determine whether a third difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations for two of a plurality of time instances is greater than a seventh threshold. If the third difference is greater than the seventh threshold (e.g., they are dissimilar or not constant), the first device 110 may include the two corresponding orientations for the two time instances in the angle information. For example, in the case of chaotic rotation, it may be necessary to report the UE orientation for each (or most) time instances. This can be used as an alternative or supplementary mechanism, thereby enabling angle information to be efficiently transmitted to the second device 120 under different conditions.

[0091] In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit additional configurations to the first device 110, indicating thresholds for orientation, rotation rate, and / or rotational acceleration. The threshold for orientation may correspond to a first threshold, the threshold for rotation rate may correspond to a second and / or a fourth threshold, and the threshold for rotational acceleration may correspond to a third, fifth, sixth, and / or seventh threshold.

[0092] Figure 5 Another example signaling flow 500 for beam prediction according to some embodiments of this disclosure is shown. Multiple schemes embodied in this signaling flow can be implemented for NW-side UL Tx beam prediction and / or NW-side UL Tx-Rx beampup prediction. Figure 1 In the communication environment 100 shown. In some example embodiments, the operation of the first device 110 and the second device 120 may be interchangeable.

[0093] In operation, the second device 120 may transmit (5010) a configuration to the first device 110, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device 110 to transmit at least one reference signal to the second device via at least one transmission beam. The first device 110 may receive (5020) the configuration. The first device 110 determines (5030) angle information of the first device 110 for at least one time instance in the set of time instances. The angle information includes orientation information of the first device 110 for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device 110 for the at least one time instance, and / or rotational acceleration information of the first device 110 for the at least one time instance. The first device 110 transmits (5040) the angle information to the second device 120. The second device 120 receives (5050) the angle information. The second device 120 may then perform (5060) beam prediction training for at least one received beam and / or beam prediction inference for at least one received beam based on the angle information and using machine learning enabling features for beam prediction. Operations 5030-5060 may be similar to or the same as operations 4040-4070, and will not be repeated here. For example, the mechanism described for saving the overhead of transmitting angle information as described for signaling flow 400 may also be applied to signaling flow 500. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may perform at least one channel measurement at this set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from the first device 110 via at least one transmission beam.

[0094] Figure 6 A flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For ease of discussion, [the following will be discussed...] Figure 1 The angle of the first device 110 in the method 600 is described.

[0095] At step 610, the first device 110 performs at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from the second device via at least one receiving beam.

[0096] At step 620, the first device 110 determines angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in a set of time instances. The angle information includes at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0097] At step 630, the first device 110 transmits the angle information to the second device.

[0098] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: determining whether a first difference between a first orientation of the first device for a first time instance and a second orientation of the first device is greater than a first threshold, the second orientation being included in angle information; and if the first difference is determined to be greater than the first threshold, including the first orientation in the angle information.

[0099] In some example embodiments, if it is determined that the first difference is less than a first threshold, the first orientation is not included in the angle information.

[0100] In some example embodiments, each of the first orientation and the second orientation is a vector including vector components, and the first difference is a vector difference determined based on the vector components, or a scalar difference determined based on the angular distance between the first orientation and the second orientation.

[0101] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: if it is determined that at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a second threshold, then including an orientation of the first device in the angle information, but not including the at least one rotation rate in the angle information.

[0102] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: if it is determined that at least one rotational acceleration of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a third threshold, then including an orientation of the first device in the angle information, but not including the at least one rotational acceleration in the angle information.

[0103] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: if it is determined that at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is greater than a fourth threshold, then the at least one rotation rate is also included in the angle information.

[0104] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: determining whether a second difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of the first device for two consecutive time instances among a plurality of time instances is less than a fifth threshold; and if the second difference is determined to be less than the fifth threshold, including an orientation, a rotational rate and a rotational acceleration of the first device in the angle information.

[0105] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: if it is determined that at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is greater than a sixth threshold, then including the at least one rotational acceleration in the angle information; and if it is determined that the two corresponding rotational accelerations are less than the sixth threshold, then not including the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information.

[0106] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: determining whether a third difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of two time instances of the first device for a plurality of time instances is greater than a seventh threshold; and if the third difference is determined to be greater than the seventh threshold, including the two corresponding orientations for the two time instances in the angle information.

[0107] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes receiving a configuration from a second device that indicates the set of time instances.

[0108] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: determining a quantization step size based on the width of at least one received beam; applying quantization to angle information based on the quantization step size; and transmitting the quantized angle information to a second device.

[0109] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes: transmitting a first measurement report to a second device, the first measurement report including the at least one measurement and angle information, or transmitting angle information and a second measurement report including the at least one measurement to the second device.

[0110] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes receiving an additional configuration from a second device, the configuration indicating at least one of the following: a threshold for orientation, a threshold for rotation rate, or a threshold for rotational acceleration.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the first device includes a terminal device, and the second device includes a network device.

[0112] Figure 7 A flowchart illustrating an example method 700 implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For ease of discussion, [the following will be discussed]. Figure 1 The method 700 is described by the angle of the second device 120.

[0113] At step 710, the second device 120 transmits a configuration to the first device, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device to perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from the second device via at least one receiving beam of the first device.

[0114] At step 720, the second device 120 receives angle information from the first device for at least one time instance in a set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0115] In some example embodiments, method 700 further includes transmitting a configuration to a first device, the configuration indicating at least one of the following: a threshold for orientation, a threshold for rotation rate, or a threshold for rotational acceleration.

[0116] In some example embodiments, method 700 further includes: receiving a first measurement report from a first device, the first measurement report including the result of the at least one measurement and angle information, or receiving angle information and a second measurement report including the result of the at least one measurement from the first device.

[0117] In some example embodiments, method 700 further includes: performing at least one of the following based on angle information and using machine learning enabling features for beam prediction: beam prediction training for at least one received beam, or beam prediction inference for at least one received beam.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the first device includes a terminal device, and the second device includes a network device.

[0119] Figure 8 A flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For ease of discussion, [the following will be discussed]. Figure 1 The angle of the first device 110 in the method 800 is described.

[0120] At step 810, the first device 110 transmits at least one reference signal to the second device via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances.

[0121] At step 820, the first device 110 determines angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in a set of time instances. The angle information includes at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0122] At step 830, the first device 110 transmits the angle information to the second device.

[0123] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining whether a first difference between a first orientation of the first device for a first time instance and a second orientation of the first device is greater than a first threshold, the second orientation being included in angle information; and if the first difference is determined to be greater than the first threshold, including the first orientation in the angle information.

[0124] In some example embodiments, if it is determined that the first difference is less than a first threshold, the first orientation is not included in the angle information.

[0125] In some example embodiments, each of the first orientation and the second orientation is a vector including vector components, and the first difference is a vector difference determined based on the vector components, or a scalar difference determined based on the angular distance between the first orientation and the second orientation.

[0126] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: if it is determined that at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a second threshold, then including an orientation of the first device in the angle information, but not including the at least one rotation rate in the angle information.

[0127] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: if it is determined that at least one rotational acceleration of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a third threshold, then including an orientation of the first device in the angle information, but not including the at least one rotational acceleration in the angle information.

[0128] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: if it is determined that the at least one rotation rate is greater than a fourth threshold, then the at least one rotation rate is also included in the angle information.

[0129] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining whether a second difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of two consecutive time instances of the first device for a plurality of time instances is less than a fifth threshold; and if the second difference is determined to be less than the fifth threshold, including one of the two corresponding orientations, a rotational rate and a rotational acceleration in the angle information.

[0130] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: if it is determined that at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is greater than a sixth threshold, then including the at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information; and if it is determined that the two corresponding rotational accelerations are less than the sixth threshold, then not including the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information.

[0131] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining whether a third difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of two time instances of the first device for a plurality of time instances is greater than a seventh threshold; and if the third difference is determined to be greater than the seventh threshold, including the two corresponding orientations for the two time instances in the angle information.

[0132] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes receiving a configuration from a second device that indicates the set of time instances.

[0133] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining a quantization step size based on the width of at least one received beam; applying quantization to angle information based on the quantization step size; and transmitting the quantized angle information to a second device.

[0134] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes receiving an additional configuration from a second device, the configuration indicating at least one of the following: a threshold for orientation, a threshold for rotation rate, or a threshold for rotational acceleration.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the first device includes a terminal device, and the second device includes a network device.

[0136] Figure 9 A flowchart of an example method 900 implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For ease of discussion, [the following will be discussed]. Figure 1 The angle of the second device 120 in the method 900 is described.

[0137] At step 910, the second device 120 transmits a configuration to the first device, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device to transmit at least one reference signal to the second device via at least one transmission beam.

[0138] At step 920, the second device 120 receives angle information from the first device for at least one time instance in a set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0139] In some example embodiments, method 900 further includes transmitting a configuration to a first device, the configuration indicating at least one of the following: a threshold for orientation, a threshold for rotation rate, or a threshold for rotational acceleration.

[0140] In some example embodiments, method 900 further includes performing at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from the first device via at least one transmission beam.

[0141] In some example embodiments, method 900 further includes: performing at least one of the following based on angle information and using machine learning enabling features for beam prediction: beam prediction training for at least one received beam, or beam prediction inference for at least one received beam.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the first device includes a terminal device, and the second device includes a network device.

[0143] In some example embodiments, a first means capable of performing any of the methods 600 (e.g., Figure 1 The first device 110 may include a component for performing a corresponding operation of method 600. This component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit or software module. The first device may be implemented as... Figure 1 The first device 110 or included in Figure 1 In the first device 110.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the first device includes: means for performing at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from a second device via at least one receiving beam; means for determining angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and means for transmitting the angle information to the second device.

[0145] In some example embodiments, a second means capable of performing any of the methods 700 (e.g., Figure 1 The second device 120 may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of method 700. This component can be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component can be implemented in a circuit or software module. The second device can be implemented as... Figure 1 The second device 120 or included in Figure 1 The second device 120 in the middle.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the second device includes: a component for transmitting a configuration to the first device, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device to perform at least one channel measurement based on at least one reference signal received from the second device via at least one receiving beam of the first device; and a component for receiving angle information from the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotation acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0147] In some example embodiments, a first means capable of performing any of the methods 800 (e.g., Figure 1 The first device 110 may include a component for performing a corresponding operation of method 800. This component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit or software module. The first device may be implemented as... Figure 1 The first device 110 or included in Figure 1 In the first device 110.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the first device includes: components for transmitting at least one reference signal to a second device via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances; components for determining angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and components for transmitting the angle information to the second device.

[0149] In some example embodiments, a second means capable of performing any of the methods 900 (e.g., Figure 1 The second device 110 may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of method 900. This component can be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component can be implemented in a circuit or software module. The second device can be implemented as... Figure 1 The second device 120 or included in Figure 1 The second device 120 in the middle.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the second device includes: a component for transmitting a configuration to the first device, the configuration indicating a set of time instances for the first device to transmit at least one reference signal to the second device via at least one transmission beam; and a component for receiving angle information from the first device for at least one of the time instances, the angle information including at least one of the following: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance.

[0151] Figure 10 This is a simplified block diagram of a device 1000 suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 1000 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as... Figure 1 The first device 110 or the second device 120 shown. As shown, the device 1000 includes one or more processors 1010, one or more memories 1020 coupled to the processors 1010, and one or more communication modules 1040 coupled to the processors 1010.

[0152] Communication module 1040 is used for bidirectional communication. Communication module 1040 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface can represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, communication module 1040 may include at least one antenna.

[0153] As a non-limiting example, processor 1010 can be any type suitable for a local technology network and can include one or more of the following as non-limiting examples: general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), and processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. Device 1000 can have multiple processors, such as application-specific integrated circuit chips that are time-dependent on a clock synchronized with the main processor.

[0154] Memory 1020 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 1024, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, miniature optical disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), optical disc, laser disc, and other magnetic and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 1022 and other volatile memories that will not be maintained during power outages.

[0155] Computer program 1030 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by an associated processor 1010. The instructions of program 1030 may include instructions for performing operations / actions of some example embodiments of this disclosure. Program 1030 may be stored in memory, such as ROM 1024. Processor 1010 can perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 1030 into RAM 1022.

[0156] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented by means of program 1030, so that device 1000 can perform as described in the reference. Figures 4 to 9 Any process discussed in this disclosure. Exemplary embodiments of this disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0157] In some example embodiments, program 1030 may be tangibly included in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in device 1000 (such as in memory 1020) or other storage device accessible to device 1000. Device 1000 may load program 1030 from the computer-readable medium into RAM 1022 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer-readable medium may include any type of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. The term "non-transitory" as used herein refers to a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not tactile) rather than a limitation on data storage persistence (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0158] Figure 11 An example of a computer-readable medium 1100 is shown, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD, or other optical storage disc. The computer-readable medium 1100 stores a program 1030 thereon.

[0159] In general, the various embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuitry, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects can be implemented in hardware, and others can be implemented in firmware or software executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of this disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other graphical representation, it should be understood that the blocks, apparatuses, systems, techniques, or methods described herein can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuitry or logic, general-purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof, as examples of non-limiting examples.

[0160] Some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium (such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium). The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in a program module, which are executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor to perform any of the methods described above. Typically, a program module includes routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc., that perform a particular task or implement a particular abstract data type. The machine-executable instructions for the program module can execute on a local device or a distributed device. In a distributed device, the program module can reside on both local and remote storage media.

[0161] Program code for implementing the methods of this disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that, when executed by the processor or controller, the program code causes the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0162] In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried on any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus, or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer-readable media, etc.

[0163] Computer-readable media can be computer-readable signal media or computer-readable storage media. Computer-readable media can include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media include electrical connections having one or more wires, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fibers, portable optical disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0164] Furthermore, although the operations are described in a specific order, this should not be construed as requiring that they be performed in the specific order shown or sequentially, or that all the operations shown be performed in order to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processes can be advantageous. Similarly, while several specific implementation details are included in the foregoing discussion, they should not be considered as limiting the scope of this disclosure, but rather as a description of features that may be specific to certain embodiments. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, certain features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented individually or in any suitable sub-combination in multiple embodiments.

[0165] Although this disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it should be understood that the disclosure as defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Rather, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims.

[0166] Furthermore, the various implementations of this disclosure can be described with reference to the following terms, and their features can be combined in any reasonable manner.

[0167] Clause 1. A first device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: perform at least one channel measurement at a set of time instances based on at least one reference signal received from a second device via at least one received beam; determine angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmit the angle information to the second device.

[0168] Clause 2. The first device according to Clause 1, wherein the first device is further caused to: determine whether a first difference between a first orientation of the first device for a first time instance and a second orientation of the first device is greater than a first threshold, the second orientation being included in the angle information; and if it is determined that the first difference is greater than the first threshold, to include the first orientation in the angle information.

[0169] Clause 3. The first device according to Clause 2, wherein if it is determined that the first difference is less than the first threshold, then the first orientation is not included in the angle information.

[0170] Clause 4. The first apparatus according to Clause 2, wherein each of the first orientation and the second orientation is a vector comprising vector components, and the first difference is a vector difference determined based on the vector components, or the first difference is a scalar difference determined based on the angular distance between the first orientation and the second orientation.

[0171] Clause 5. The first device according to Clause 1, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first device is further caused to include an orientation of the first device in the angle information, but not the at least one rotation rate, if it is determined that at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a second threshold, in the angle information.

[0172] Clause 6. A first device according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first device is further caused to include an orientation of the first device in the angle information without including the at least one rotational acceleration in the angle information if it is determined that at least one rotational acceleration of the first device with respect to at least one time instance is less than a third threshold.

[0173] Clause 7. The first device according to Clause 6, wherein the first device is further caused to include the at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance in the angle information if it is determined that the at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is greater than a fourth threshold.

[0174] Clause 8. A first device according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first device is further caused to: determine whether a second difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of the first device for two consecutive time instances among the plurality of time instances is less than a fifth threshold; and if the second difference is determined to be less than the fifth threshold, to include an orientation, a rotational rate and a rotational acceleration of the first device in the angle information.

[0175] Clause 9. The first device according to Clause 8, wherein the first device is further caused to: include the at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information if it is determined that at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is greater than a sixth threshold; and not include the two corresponding rotational accelerations in the angle information if it is determined that the two corresponding rotational accelerations are less than the sixth threshold.

[0176] Clause 10. A first device according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first device is further caused to: determine whether a third difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of the first device for two of the plurality of time instances is greater than a seventh threshold; and if the third difference is determined to be greater than the seventh threshold, to include two corresponding orientations for the two time instances in the angle information.

[0177] Clause 11. The first device according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the first device is further caused to: determine a quantization step size based on the width of the at least one received beam; apply quantization to the angle information based on the quantization step size; and transmit the quantized angle information to the second device.

[0178] Clause 12. The first device according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the first device is further caused to: transmit a first measurement report to the second device, the first measurement report including the at least one measurement and the angle information, or transmit the angle information and a second measurement report including the at least one measurement to the second device.

[0179] Clause 13. A first device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: transmit at least one reference signal to a second device via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances; determine angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmit the angle information to the second device.

[0180] Clause 14. A method for communication, comprising: performing at least one channel measurement at a first device, at a set of time instances, based on at least one reference signal received from a second device via at least one receiving beam; determining angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmitting the angle information to the second device.

[0181] Clause 15. A method for communication, comprising: transmitting at least one reference signal from a first device to a second device via at least one transmission beam at a set of time instances; determining angle information of the first device for at least one time instance in the set of time instances, the angle information including at least one of: orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; and transmitting the angle information to the second device.

Claims

1. A first device for communication, comprising: At least one processor; as well as At least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: At a set of time instances, at least one channel measurement is performed based on at least one reference signal received from a second device via at least one receive beam; For at least one time instance in the set of time instances, determine the angle information of the first device, wherein the angle information includes at least one of the following: The orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, The rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or The rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; as well as The angle information is transmitted to the second device.

2. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to: Determine whether a first difference between a first orientation of the first device for a first time instance and a second orientation of the first device is greater than a first threshold, wherein the second orientation is included in the angle information; and If it is determined that the first difference is greater than the first threshold, then the first orientation is included in the angle information.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein if it is determined that the first difference is less than the first threshold, then the first orientation is not included in the angle information.

4. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein each of the first orientation and the second orientation is a vector comprising vector components, and The first difference is a vector difference determined based on the vector components, or The first difference is a scalar difference determined based on the angular distance between the first orientation and the second orientation.

5. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first apparatus is further caused to: If it is determined that at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a second threshold, then an orientation of the first device is included in the angle information, but the at least one rotation rate is not included in the angle information.

6. The first apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first apparatus is further caused to: If it is determined that at least one rotational acceleration of the first device for at least one time instance is less than a third threshold, then an orientation of the first device is included in the angle information, but the at least one rotational acceleration is not included in the angle information.

7. The first device according to claim 6, wherein the first device is further caused to: If it is determined that at least one rotation rate of the first device for at least one time instance is greater than a fourth threshold, then the at least one rotation rate is also included in the angle information.

8. The first apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one time instance comprises a plurality of time instances, and the first apparatus is further caused to: Determine whether the second difference between two corresponding rotational accelerations of the first device for two consecutive time instances among the plurality of time instances is less than a fifth threshold; and If it is determined that the second difference is less than the fifth threshold, then an orientation, a rotation rate, and a rotational acceleration of the first device are included in the angle information.

9. The first device according to claim 8, wherein the first device is further caused to: If it is determined that at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is greater than a sixth threshold, then the at least one of the two corresponding rotational accelerations is included in the angle information; and If it is determined that the two corresponding rotational accelerations are less than the sixth threshold, then the two corresponding rotational accelerations are not included in the angle information.

10. A first means for communication, comprising: At least one processor; as well as At least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: At a set of time instances, at least one reference signal is transmitted to a second device via at least one transmission beam; For at least one time instance in the set of time instances, determine the angle information of the first device, wherein the angle information includes at least one of the following: The orientation information of the first device for the at least one time instance, The rotation rate information of the first device for the at least one time instance, or The rotational acceleration information of the first device for the at least one time instance; as well as The angle information is transmitted to the second device.

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