MAC-CE for a backhaul procedure

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a medium access control control element (MAC-CE) for a backhaul procedure. In one method, an apparatus receives, at a mobile terminal at the apparatus, from a network node, a MAC-CE associated with beam information for a backhaul procedure between one or more transmission / reception points (TRPs) associated with the network node and a forwarding section at the apparatus. The apparatus applies, based on the MAC-CE, one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states in at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul procedure in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure generally relate to the telecommunications field, and more particularly to methods, apparatuses, devices, and computer-readable storage media for a media access control (MAC) control unit (CE) (MAC-CE) for a backhaul process. Background Technology

[0002] Improving coverage is crucial because it directly impacts performance and user experience. Network coverage can be extended and enhanced by deploying additional cells (individual base stations or access points). In some scenarios, repeaters such as network-controlled repeater (NCR) nodes (called NCR-nodes) are needed to provide a more cost-effective solution. NCR-nodes are radio frequency (RF) repeaters that enable radio amplification and forwarding in next-generation (NG) radio access networks (RAN). Summary of the Invention

[0003] In a first aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: receive, at a mobile terminal at the apparatus, a MAC-CE associated with beam information for a backhaul process between one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs) associated with the network node and a forwarding portion at the apparatus; and, based on the MAC-CE, apply one or more Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) states of at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

[0004] In a second aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: transmit a MAC-CE associated with beam information to an NCR, the beam information being used for a backhaul procedure between one or more TRPs associated with the apparatus and a forwarding portion at the NCR, wherein the MAC-CE includes at least one TCI state set, the at least one TCI state set including one or more TCI states for a backhaul procedure in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation, and / or an presence indication indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

[0005] In a third aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: receiving, at a mobile terminal at the device, a MAC-CE associated with beam information for a backhaul process between one or more TRPs associated with the network node and a forwarding portion at the device; and, based on the MAC-CE, applying one or more TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of this disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: transmitting to an NCR a MAC-CE associated with beam information for a backhaul process between one or more TRPs associated with the device and a forwarding portion at the NCR, wherein the MAC-CE includes at least one TCI state set, the at least one TCI state set including one or more TCI states for a backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation, and / or an presence indication indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: means for receiving, at a mobile terminal at the apparatus, a MAC-CE associated with beam information for a backhaul process between one or more TRPs associated with the network node and a forwarding portion at the apparatus; and means for applying, based on the MAC-CE, one or more TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of this disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes: components for transmitting a Media Access Control-Control Unit (MAC-CE) to a repeater (NCR) of a network control system, the MAC-CE being associated with beam information for a backhaul procedure between one or more Transmit / Receive Points (TRPs) and a forwarding portion at the NCR associated with the apparatus, wherein the MAC-CE includes at least one Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) state set, the at least one TCI state set including one or more TCI states for the backhaul procedure in multi-TRP operation or single-TRP operation, and / or an presence indication indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing a device to at least execute the method according to a third aspect.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing a device to at least execute the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0011] It should be understood that the summary portion 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 readily apparent from the following description. Attached Figure Description

[0012] 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 2A The NCR downlink (DL) backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE is shown. Figure 2B The NCR uplink (UL) backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE is shown. Figure 3 The signaling flow for a MAC-CE for a backhaul procedure is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 4 The NCR DL multi-TRP backhaul link beam indication MAC-CE is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 5 An enhanced NCR DL multi-TRP backhaul link beam indication MAC-CE is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 6 An enhanced NCR DL multi-TRP backhaul link beam-activated MAC-CE is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 7 Unified NCR backhaul link beam activation MAC-CE is shown according to some example embodiments of this disclosure; Figure 8 A flowchart is shown illustrating a method implemented at an apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; Figure 9 A flowchart is shown for another method implemented at a 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.

[0013] In all the accompanying drawings, the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements. Detailed Implementation

[0014] 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 assist those skilled in the art in understanding and implementing this disclosure, and do not imply any limitation on the scope of this disclosure. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

[0015] 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.

[0016] References to "an embodiment," "embodiment," "example embodiment," etc., in this disclosure indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment must include that particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Additionally, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is believed that incorporating other embodiments, whether explicitly described or not, to affect such a feature, structure, or characteristic is within the knowledge of those skilled in the art.

[0017] It should be understood that although terms such as "first," "second," etc., preceding nouns may be used 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, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0018] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording (where the list of two or more elements is connected by “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.

[0019] As used herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise, the execution step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs, and may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0020] 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 intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that, when used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has,” “having,” “includes,” and / or “including” specify the presence of the listed 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.

[0021] As used in this application, the term "circuit system" may refer to one or more of the following: (a) Hardware circuit implementation only (such as implementation in analog and / or digital circuit systems only) 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(s) 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) (Multiple) hardware circuits and / or (multiple) processors, such as (multiple) microprocessors or a portion thereof, which require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but may be absent when the software is not required to operate.

[0022] This definition of circuit system applies to all uses of the term in this application (including in any claim). As another example, as used in this application, the term circuit system also covers implementations of hardware circuitry or processors (or processors) or portions thereof and their accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuit system also covers, for example and if applicable to a particular claim element, baseband integrated circuits or processor integrated circuits for mobile devices or similar integrated circuits in servers, cellular network devices or other computing or network devices.

[0023] 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), 5.5G, sixth-generation (6G) communication protocols and / or any other currently known or future-developed protocols. Embodiments of this disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, there will certainly be future types of communication technologies and systems that embody the nature of this disclosure. The scope of this disclosure should not be construed as limited to the aforementioned systems.

[0024] 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. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device can refer to a base station (BS) or access point (AP), such as a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also known as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio header (RRH), a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node (such as a femto, pico, or 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. In some example embodiments, the radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at the IAB host node. The IAB node includes a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion that behaves as a UE facing the parent node, and the DU portion of the IAB node behaves as a base station facing the next-hop IAB node.

[0025] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS), or access terminal (AT). Terminal devices may 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 capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and recycle bins, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer premises equipment (CPEs), 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 electronics 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.

[0026] 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, such as communication between a terminal device and a network device, including resources in the time domain, frequency domain, spatial domain, code domain, or any other combination of time, frequency, spatial, and / or code domain resources used to enable communication. In the following, unless explicitly stated otherwise, resources in 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.

[0027] Figure 1 An example communication environment 100 in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown. In communication environment 100, multiple communication devices (including terminal device 150 and network node 140 (also referred to as network device)) can communicate with each other. Figure 1In the example, terminal device 150 can be a UE, and network node 140 can be a base station serving that UE. As shown, terminal device 150 and network node 140 can communicate with each other via a device such as NCR 110 (hereinafter also referred to as NCR-node, relay device, or smart repeater). NCR 110 is an RF repeater that implements radio amplification and forwarding functions in NG-RAN. NCR 110 can receive and apply side control information from network node 140, which has additional functions to support NCR operation.

[0028] In some example embodiments, NCR 110 includes NCR mobile terminal (MT) unit (NCR-MT) 120 (also referred to as MT at NCR 110, MT at repeater, or MT at device) and NCR forwarding unit (NCR-FWD) 130 (also referred to as forwarding portion at NCR 110, forwarding portion at repeater, NCR RF FWD, or forwarding portion at device).

[0029] NCR-MT 120 may be an entity supporting a subset of UE functions, communicating with network node 140 to receive side control information via control link 122 (also known as C-link) based on the New Radio (NR) Uu interface. NCR-FWD 130 may perform signal amplification and forwarding functions between network node 140 and terminal device 150 via NCR-FWD backhaul link 134 and NCR-FWD access link 132, respectively. NCR-FWD 130 may support multiple beams directed toward terminal device 150. The behavior of NCR-FWD 130 can be controlled based on side control information received from network node 140. Furthermore, access links such as UE access link 136 can be established between network node 140 and terminal device 150 via NCR-FWD 130.

[0030] In some embodiments, network node 140 may support one or more TRPs. For example, in multi-TRP operation, a serving cell, such as the cell provided by network node 140, may schedule terminal device 150 from multiple TRPs, such as two TRPs, thereby providing better coverage, reliability, and / or data rate for transport channels between terminal device 150 and network node 140, such as Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and / or Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

[0031] Two distinct operating modes can exist for scheduling multi-TRP PDSCH transmissions: single downlink control information (DCI) and multiple-DCI. In both modes, control of uplink and downlink operations can be performed by the physical layer and media access control (MAC) layer within a configuration provided by the radio resource control (RRC) layer. In single-DCI mode, terminal device 150 can be scheduled by the same DCI for both TRPs, while in multiple-DCI mode, terminal device 150 is scheduled by independent DCIs from each TRP.

[0032] In some example embodiments, there are two different operating modes for multi-TRP PDCCH: PDCCH repetition and system frame number (SFN) based PDCCH transmission. In both modes, terminal device 150 can receive two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from each TRP. In PDCCH repetition mode, terminal device 150 can receive two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from two linked search spaces, each search space associated with a different set of control resources. In SFN-based PDCCH transmission mode, terminal device 150 can receive two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from a single search space / CORESET using different TCI states.

[0033] For multiple TRP PUSCH repetitions, based on an indication in a single DCI or a semi-static configuration authorization provided via RRC, terminal device 150 can perform the same PUSCH transmission to two TRPs with corresponding beam directions associated with different spatial relationships. For multiple TRP PUCCH repetitions, terminal device 150 can perform the same PUCCH transmission to two TRPs with corresponding beam directions associated with different spatial relationships.

[0034] For inter-cell multiple TRP operations, for multiple DCI PDSCH transmissions, one or more TCI states can be associated with a synchronization signal (SS) or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) having a physical cell identifier (PCI) different from the serving cell's PCI. An active TCI state can be associated with at most one PCI different from the serving cell's PCI at a time.

[0035] It should be understood that Figure 1The 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. Note that although shown as a network device, network node 140 may be another device besides a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, terminal device 150 may be another device besides a terminal device. Although shown as an NCR-node, NCR 110 may be another device besides an NCR-node.

[0036] In the following description, for illustrative purposes, some example embodiments are described in which terminal device 150 operates as a UE, network node 140 operates as a base station, and NCR 110 operates as an NCR-node. However, in some example embodiments, the operations described in connection with the terminal device may be implemented at the network node or other devices, and the operations described in connection with the NCR-node may be implemented at the network node or other devices.

[0037] In some example embodiments, the link from network node 140 to terminal device 150 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and the link from terminal device 150 to network node 140 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In the DL, network node 140 is a transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter), and terminal device 150 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the UL, terminal device 150 is a TX device (or transmitter), and network node 140 is an RX device (or receiver).

[0038] Communication in communication environment 100 can be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol(s), 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), 5.5G, 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.

[0039] As described, single TRP operation and multi-TRP operation can be supported by network nodes (such as base stations) in the communication environment. However, in Release (Rel)-18, the NCR-FWD backhaul link is based on a single TRP architecture, where the beams for the backhaul links in the downlink and uplink are controlled based on the NCR downlink backhaul beam indication MAC-CE and the NCR uplink backhaul beam indication MAC-CE indicated by the gNB to the NCR-MT, respectively.

[0040] Figure 2A The NCR DL backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE 200 is shown. Based on a list of known TCI states configured via RRC on the NCR-MT, the MAC-CE indicates the TCI state identifier (ID) to be applied to the DL backhaul beam at the NCR-FWD.

[0041] Similarly, for the UL backhaul beam at NCR-FWD, Figure 2B The image shows the NCR UL backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE 250. The MAC-CE 250 can indicate the TCI status ID (when the NCR-MT is configured with a uniform TCI status configuration) or the sounding reference signal (SRS) resource ID (when the NCR-MT does not have a uniform TCI status configuration).

[0042] For multi-TRP operations, the UE-specific PDSCH MAC-CE enhanced TCI state activation and unified TCI state activation MAC-CE are specified in Rel-16 and Rel-17, respectively. The gNB uses them to activate a set of multiple TCI states at the UE for DL ​​or UL. For example, for UL, the unified TCI state configuration is used in conjunction with the Rel-17 MAC-CE. The TCI state to be applied to the corresponding TRP at a given time is based on DCI, which supports single-DCI and multi-DCI schemes. In a single-DCI scheme, the DCI is sent from one TRP and indicates two TCI states to be applied, corresponding to two TRPs. In a multi-DCI scheme, a DCI is sent from each of the two TRPs and indicates the TCI state to be applied to that TRP.

[0043] As an enhancement to NCR, it has been proposed to consider multi-TRP scenarios during the return trip. However, no mechanism to support such a multi-TRP scheme has been discussed. Currently, NCR-FWD only supports single-TRP operations.

[0044] To address at least some of the aforementioned or other potential problems, a solution for a MAC-CE for backhaul procedures is proposed. In this solution, a device (such as an NCR) receives a MAC-CE associated with beam information from a network node at the mobile terminal located at the device. This beam information is used for the backhaul procedure between one or more TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device. Based on the MAC-CE, the device applies one or more TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul procedure, in both multi-TRP and single-TRP operations.

[0045] In this way, the backhaul link TCI status or backhaul link beam can be indicated by MAC-CE for both multi-TRP and single-TRP operations. That is, both multi-TRP and single-TRP operations can be supported by the forwarding section at the device (such as NCR-FWD). By extending multi-TRP support to NCR-FWD backhaul, backhaul link redundancy can be supported in the event of signal degradation. Furthermore, in the event of congestion at one TRP, traffic can be offloaded from one TRP to another from the NCR.

[0046] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0047] Figure 3 Signaling flow 300 for a MAC-CE for a backhaul process is illustrated according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Signaling flow 300 relates to... Figure 1 The NCR 110 (which includes NCR-MT 120 and NCR-FWD 130) and network node 140 are mentioned. For illustrative purposes, reference will be made to... Figure 1 Describe signaling flow 300.

[0048] In operation, network node 140 transmits (310) a MAC-CE to NCR 110 associated with beam information for the backhaul process between one or more TRPs associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130. As used herein, the MAC-CE associated with the beam information may be referred to as a “beam activation MAC-CE” or a “beam indication MAC-CE”. NCR 110 receives (320) the MAC-CE, for example, at NCR-MT 120.

[0049] A MAC-CE may include at least one set of TCI states, which includes one or more TCI states for the return process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation. As used herein, a MAC-CE that includes or indicates a TCI state means that the MAC-CE includes or indicates the ID of the TCI state.

[0050] In response to receiving (320) MAC-CE, NCR 110, based on MAC-CE, applies (330) one or more TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in MAC-CE to the backhaul procedure in multi-TRP or single-TRP operations. For example, NCR 110 may apply one or more beams corresponding to one or more TCI states to the backhaul procedure. The backhaul procedure may be associated with a backhaul downlink and / or a backhaul uplink.

[0051] In some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may include an indication of whether more than one TCI state is associated with a set of TCI states. In the following description, for illustrative purposes, the indication of more than one TCI state associated with a set of TCI states may be referred to as bit "C". Bit "C" may be 1 bit or any other bit width. For illustrative purposes, in some example embodiments, it is assumed that bit "C" is 1 bit. It is also assumed that bit "C" equal to 1 means bit "C" is set, and bit "C" equal to 0 means bit "C" is not set. It should be understood that the value of bit "C" can vary.

[0052] In some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may include another indication of whether the TCI state set consists of two TCI states or one TCI state. In the following description, for illustrative purposes, this other indication of the TCI state may be referred to as bit "C". i (i is an integer)”. That is to say, another indication can indicate that the TCI state set consists of two TCI states (bit “C”). i "Set" or a TCI state (when bit "C" is set) i (When not set) consists of bits "C". i "Can be 1 bit or any other bit width. For illustrative purposes, in some example embodiments, it is assumed that bit "C" is used. i " is 1 bit. Also assume bit "C" i "Equal to 1 means bit "C i "Set, and bit "C" i "Equal to 0 means bit "C" i "Not set. It should be understood that bit "C" i The value of ' can change.

[0053] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may include an presence indication indicating whether at least one set of TCI states, comprising one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE. As used herein, the presence indication may be referred to as the presence bit or bit “P” in the MAC-CE, or prefixed to the MAC-CE. Bit “P” may be 1 bit or any other suitable bit width. For illustrative purposes, in some example embodiments, it is assumed that bit “P” is 1 bit. It is also assumed that bit “P” equal to 1 means bit “P” is set, and bit “P” equal to 0 means bit “P” is not set.

[0054] In some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may include an additional indication associated with at least one TCI state set. This additional indication may indicate that two TCI states associated with each TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between one or more TRPs and NCR-FWD 130 associated with network node 140. As used herein, this additional indication may be referred to as the bit “D / U” in the MAC-CE. The bit “D / U” may be 1 bit or any other suitable bit width. For illustrative purposes, in some example embodiments, it is assumed that a bit “D / U” equal to 1 means that the bit “D / U” is set, and a bit “D / U” equal to 0 means that the bit “P” is not set.

[0055] Several example bits in the MAC-CE have been described. It should be understood that the MAC-CE may include one or more of these bits, or otherwise include other suitable bits for indicating the TCI status of the return process. The NCR110 may apply, based on the bits in the MAC-CE, one or more TCI states from at least one set of TCI states indicated in the MAC-CE for the return process in multi-TRP or single-TRP operations. (See also...) Figures 4 to 7 Other embodiments regarding the MAC-CE-based application backhaul process are described below. In the following description, it is assumed that the TCI status configuration and corresponding TCI status ID of the serving cell(s) are known at the NCR-MT120 based on the RRC(s) configuration(s).

[0056] In some example embodiments, NCR 110 can determine whether a TCI state set including two TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE. If a TCI state set including two TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE, NCR 110 can determine that a multi-TRP operation will be used during the backhaul. In such a case, NCR 110 can apply beams corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink from the two TRPs associated with network node 140 to NCR-FWD 130. Otherwise, if the TCI state set obtained from the MAC-CE includes a single TCI state, NCR 110 can determine that a single TRP operation should be used during the backhaul.

[0057] In this way, by configuring the NCR-FWD DL backhaul link based on the TCI status IDs contained in the MAC-CE, the MAC-CE can be used to directly switch between single TRP operations and multiple TRP operations in the backhaul downlink of the NCR-FWD 130.

[0058] In some example embodiments, the MAC-CE can be used for DL ​​multi-TRP backhaul link indication of the NCR 110. In this case, the MAC-CE can be referred to as the NCR downlink multi-TRP backhaul link indication MAC-CE, which can be used simultaneously to activate multi-TRP operation in the NCR-FWD downlink backhaul link and indicate the DL TCI state to be applied to the multi-TRP beam.

[0059] Figure 4 An NCR DL multi-TRP backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE 400 according to some example embodiments of this disclosure is illustrated. MAC-CE 400 may consist of octet (OCT) pairs, including octet 401 (also referred to as Oct 1) and octet 402 (also referred to as Oct 2). Each of octet 401 and octet 402 may include a TCI status ID field, such as a DL TCI status ID. The TCI status ID field may be 7 bits or any other suitable bit width. The DL TCI status ID may correspond to the beam to be applied to the first and second DL backhaul beams. As shown, OCT 401 and / or OCT 402 may also include a reserved field (R).

[0060] When NCR-MR 120 receives (320) MAC-CE, NCR-MT 120 can notify NCR-FWD 130 to apply the configuration of the DL backhaul link beam based on the TCI status ID indicated by MAC-CE.

[0061] In this embodiment, the switching between single TRP and multi TRP operations in the NCR-FWD downlink backhaul link is based on... Figure 2A The NCR DL backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE shown is... Figure 4 The NCR-DL multi-TRP backhaul link shown indicates the reception of MAC-CE. In other words, if MAC-CE 200 is received, the NCR-FWD 130 can apply a single TRP in the NCR-FWD downlink backhaul link. If MAC-CE 400 is received, the NCR-FWD 130 can apply multiple TRPs in the NCR-FWD downlink backhaul link.

[0062] In some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may include an indication, such as the bit "C," indicating whether a multi-TRP operation will be used during the return trip. The NCR 110 may obtain the indication from the MAC-CE. For example, the indication may be one or more bits in the OCT.

[0063] In some example embodiments, if the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will be used during the backhaul and a set of TCI states including two TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE, then the NCR 110 can apply the beam corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node 140 and the NCR-FWD 130.

[0064] Otherwise, if the indication specifies that multiple TRP operations will not be used during the backhaul and a TCI state set including the TCI state is obtained from the MAC-CE, then the NCR 110 can determine that a single TRP operation will be used during the backhaul. The NCR 110 can then apply the beam corresponding to the TCI state to the backhaul downlink between network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130. In this way, the indication in the MAC-CE can be used to switch between single TRP and multiple TRP operations in the backhaul downlink of NCR-FWD 130.

[0065] As used herein, a MAC-CE that includes an indication of whether to use multi-TRP operation can be referred to as an enhanced NCR DL backhaul link beam indication MAC-CE. Figure 5 An example of the enhanced NCR DL backhaul link beam indicator MAC-CE500 is shown, which can be used to switch between single TRP operation and multi-TRP operation in the NCR-FWD backhaul link, and simultaneously indicate the DL TCI status to be applied to single TRP or multi-TRP (multiple) beams.

[0066] As shown in the figure, the MAC-CE 500 consists of octet pairs, including octet 501 (also known as Oct 1 or the first octet) and octet 502 (also known as Oct 2 or the second octet). In octet 501, one bit (in... Figure 5 The bit marked "C" can be used to switch between single TRP operations and multiple TRP operations. In other words, this bit can be used as an indication of whether to use multiple TRP operations.

[0067] In some example embodiments, if bit "C" is set, the length of MAC-CE can be two octets, and MAC-CE 500 can indicate that NCR-FWD 130 can apply multiple TRP operations during the backhaul. For example, bit "C" is set if bit "C" equals 1. The remaining bits (such as the remaining 7 bits in octet 501) can provide a TCI status indication corresponding to the beam of the first TRP, and 7 bits in octet 502 can be used to provide a TCI status indication corresponding to the beam of the second TRP.

[0068] If bit "C" is not set, the length of MAC-CE can be one octet (i.e., octet 502 is not transmitted), and MAC-CE 500 indicates that NCR-FWD 130 can apply single TRP operation in the backhaul; and the remaining 7 bits in octet 501 can provide TCI status indication for the beam corresponding to the (single) TRP. For example, if bit "C" is equal to 0, bit "C" is not set.

[0069] In some example embodiments, if the value of the “C” bit changes between consecutive MAC-CE indications, the NCR-FWD 130 backhaul can switch between multi-TRP operation and single-TRP operation. If the value of the “C” bit does not change, the corresponding multi-TRP or single-TRP operation is maintained in the NCR-FWD 130 backhaul, and only the TCI states of (multiple) beams are changed.

[0070] When the NCR-MT 120 receives the MAC-CE 500, the NCR-MT 120 can notify the NCR-FWD 130 to apply the configuration of the DL backhaul link beam according to the (multiple) TCI status IDs indicated in the MAC-CE 500.

[0071] Alternatively, in some embodiments, if the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will be used in the backhaul operation and a set of TCI states, including the TCI state, is obtained from the MAC-CE, then the NCR 110 may determine the reference TCI state currently used by the NCR-MT 120. The NCR 110 may apply a first beam corresponding to the TCI state and a second beam corresponding to the reference TCI state to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with network node 140 and the NCR-FWD 130.

[0072] In other words, if NCT-MT 120 is in a single TRP operation and receives a MAC-CE including an indication such as bit "C" being set and a single TCI status ID, then NCT-MT 120 can instruct NCR-FWD 130 to apply a multi-TRP operation in the DL backhaul, where the TCI configuration of the first NCR-FWD DL backhaul beam is the same as that of NCR-MT 120, and the TCI configuration of the second NCR-FWD DL backhaul beam corresponds to the TCI status ID indicated by the MAC-CE. That is, octet 502 in the MAC-CE can be omitted. If bit "C" in octet 501 is set and octet 502 is removed, then the beam corresponding to the TCI status indicated by the TCI status ID in octet 501 and the beam corresponding to the reference TCI status currently used by NCR-MT 120 can be applied to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130.

[0073] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may include an presence indication indicating whether at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE. The NCR 110 may obtain the presence indication from the MAC-CE. If the NCR 110 determines, based on the presence indication, that at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE, the NCR 110 may apply one or more TCI states to the return process in a multi-TRP operation or a single TRP operation.

[0074] For example, an additional octet containing a presence bit (such as bit "P") can be appended before the MAC-CE500. For instance, the remaining bits of the prefixed octet can contain additional information related to the operation of the NCR-FWD 130 return loop, which will not be described here. If bit "P" is set, for example, bit "P" equals 1, the behavior at NCR-MT 120 and NCR-FWD 130 can be based on the contents of the MAC-CE 500, as described above.

[0075] If bit "P" is not set, for example, bit "P" equals 0, then the TCI state ID may not be indicated in the MAC-CE. When the NCR-MT 120 receives a MAC-CE where bit "P" is not set, the NCR-MT 120 can instruct the NCR-FWD 130 to apply the same TCI state configuration to (multiple) DL backhaul link beams as the TCI state configuration already activated at the NCR-MT 120. In other words, if the NCR-MT 120 is configured for multiple TRP operations, the NCR-FWD 130 can also use multiple TRP operations that follow the same TCI configuration as the NCR-MT 120. If the NCR-MT 120 is configured for a single TRP operation, the NCR-FWD 130 can also use a single TRP operation that follows the same TCI configuration as the NCR-MT 120.

[0076] In some embodiments, multiple TCI state sets are indicated in the MAC-CE used for the backhaul process. For example, the MAC-CE may contain one or more code points (consisting of TCI states) to be activated for the NCR-FWD backhaul configuration. Network node 140 may transmit an indication via DCI indicating the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process. NCR 110 may receive the indication from network node 140 via DCI. As used herein, the indication via DCI may be referred to as a “DCI indication.” For example, the indication may be an index or ID of the target TCI state set among multiple TCI state sets. That is, the DCI indication may be used to indicate the code points to be applied in the backhaul from the code points(s) activated by the MAC-CE indication.

[0077] In some example embodiments, each of the multiple TCI state sets corresponds to a code point. The target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process can be indicated in the DCI by the target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set. For example, the DCI or DCI indication can be an index or ID of the target TCI state set among the multiple TCI state sets. The NCR 110 can select the target TCI state set from the multiple TCI state sets based on this indication.

[0078] In some example embodiments, each code point of the MAC-CE contains one or two DL TCI state IDs. The DCI can indicate one of the code points activated by the MAC-CE. If the indicated code point has two DL TCI state IDs in the MAC-CE, the NCR-MT 120 can apply a configuration for multi-TRP operation to the NCR-FWD backhaul downlink based on the corresponding TCI state ID of the corresponding code point in the MAC-CE. If the indicated code point has one DL TCI state ID in the MAC-CE, the NCR-MT 120 can apply a configuration for single-TRP operation to the NCR-FWD backhaul downlink based on the corresponding TCI state ID of the corresponding code point in the MAC-CE.

[0079] As mentioned above, another indicator in MAC-CE (such as bit "C") i The NCR 110 can indicate whether two TCI states are associated with a target TCI state set. If the NCR 110 determines that another indication (such as bit "C") is associated with the target TCI state set... i If the NCR 110 indicates that two TCI states are associated with the target TCI state set, then the NCR 110 can determine that multiple TRP operations will be used during the backhaul. The NCR 110 can apply the beam corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130. This additional indication can be included in MAC-CE.

[0080] If NCR 110 determines that another indication associated with the target TCI state set indicates that the TCI state is associated with the target TCI state set, then NCR 110 can determine to use a single TRP operation during the backhaul. NCR 110 can apply the beam corresponding to the TCI state to the backhaul downlink between network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130.

[0081] MAC-CE can be used to activate a set of single TRP and / or multiple TRP TCI status IDs for the NCR-FWD DL backhaul link, while DCI indication can be used to indicate which activated TCI status IDs can be applied to a single TRP or multiple TRP (multiple) beams.

[0082] As used in this article, a MAC-CE that includes multiple TCI state sets can be referred to as an “enhanced NCR downlink backhaul beam activated MAC-CE”. Figure 6An example of an enhanced NCR downlink backhaul beam-activated MAC-CE 600 is shown. The MAC-CE 600 can be applied in conjunction with DCI indications. As shown, the MAC-CE 600 includes code point 610 (also called code point 1), ... and code point 620 (also called code point N, where N is an integer greater than 1). That is, the MAC-CE 600 consists of N code points. Each code point can include a pair of octet bytes.

[0083] For each code point in MAC-CE 600, there can be one bit (labeled "C"). i "i" is a positive integer, which can be used to distinguish whether one or two (or more) TCI status IDs are associated with a code point. If the bit "C" is... i If set, the code point length can be two octets and contains a set of DL TCI status IDs to be activated for multiple TRP operations in the NCR-FWD DL backhaul link. The remaining 7 bits in the first octet can provide the TCI status ID corresponding to the first TRP; and the 7 bits in the second octet can provide the TCI status ID corresponding to the second TRP. If the bit "C" is not set... i If the code point is '", then the length of the code point is only one octet (i.e., no second octet is transmitted), and the remaining 7 bits can contain the DL TCI status ID to be activated for a single TRP operation in the NCR-FWD DL backhaul link.

[0084] As an example, including those with TCI status IDs 1,1 and TCI status ID 1,2 The first TCI state set (referred to as TCI state set 1) corresponds to code point 610, ..., and includes TCI state IDs. N,1 and TCI status ID N,2 The Nth TCI state set (referred to as TCI state set N) corresponds to code point 620.

[0085] Upon receiving the MAC-CE 600, network node 140 can transmit a DCI indication to indicate the code point to be applied in the NCR-FWD DL backhaul link for multi-TRP or single-TRP operations. The DCI indication from network node 140 can indicate the target TCI state set from the N TCI state sets indicated by the MAC-CE 600. For example, if the DCI indication indicates i (where i is an integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N), then the i-th TCI state set indicated by the MAC-CE 600 can be determined as the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process. That is, the DCI indication is code point "i" among the (1..N) code points activated via the MAC-CE.

[0086] When the NCR-MT 120 receives the DCI, the NCR-MT 120 can notify the NCR-FWD 130 to apply the configuration of the DL backhaul link beam according to the TCI status ID(s) activated by code point i of the MAC-CE 600.

[0087] In some example embodiments, the MAC-CE may also include an presence indication, such as a presence bit "P" indicating whether at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE. For example, the bit "P" (not shown) may be prefixed with MAC-CE 600. It should be understood that the remaining bits, such as the 7 bits of the prefix octet, may contain other information related to the operation of the NCR-FWD return, which will not be described here.

[0088] NCR 110 can obtain a presence indication from MAC-CE. If NCR 110 determines, based on the presence indication, that at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in MAC-CE, then NCR 110 can apply one or more TCI states to the return process in a multi-TRP operation or a single TRP operation. For example, if bit "P" is set (e.g., bit "P" equals 1), the behavior at NCR-MT 120 and NCR-FWD 130 can be similar to that regarding Figure 6 The described behavior will not be repeated here.

[0089] In some example embodiments, if NCR 110 determines that a TCI state is not configured in MAC-CE based on an presence indication, NCR 110 may determine one or more reference TCI states currently used by NCR-MT 120. NCR 110 may apply these one or more reference TCI states to the return process in multi-TRP operations or single-TRP operations.

[0090] For example, if the bit "P" is not set, the TCI state ID is not provided in the MAC-CE. When the NCR-MT 120 receives the MAC-CE, it can instruct the NCR-FWD 130 to apply the same TCI state configuration to (multiple) DL backhaul link beams as the TCI state configuration already activated at the NCR-MT 120. In other words, if the NCR-MT 120 is configured for multiple TRP operations, the NCR-FWD 130 can also use multiple TRP operations following the same TCI configuration as the NCR-MT 120; and if the NCR-MT 120 is configured for a single TRP operation, the NCR-FWD 130 can also use a single TRP operation following the same TCI configuration as the NCR-MT 120.

[0091] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments where the MAC-CE includes multiple code points for multiple TCI state sets, each code point of the MAC-CE may contain a (single) joint TCI state ID or (individually) DL TCI state ID and ULTCI state ID.

[0092] For example, the DCI can indicate one or two code points activated by the MAC-CE. If the DCI indicates two code points, the NCR-MT 120 can apply the configuration for multi-TRP operation to the NCR-FWD backhaul downlink and NCR-FWD backhaul uplink based on the corresponding TCI status ID of the corresponding code point in the MAC-CE. If the DCI indicates one code point, the NCR-MT 120 can apply the configuration for single-TRP operation to the NCR-FWD backhaul downlink and NCR-FWD backhaul uplink based on the corresponding TCI status ID (or multiple TCI status IDs) of the corresponding code point in the MAC-CE.

[0093] In some example embodiments, NCR 110 may determine the configuration of the TCI state set in the MAC-CE based on an presence indication in the MAC-CE. If NCR 110 determines that two TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130, then NCR 110 may apply a first beam corresponding to the first TCI state used for the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to the second TCI state used for the backhaul uplink in a single TRP operation. Otherwise, if NCR 110 determines that the indication is not set, then NCR 110 may determine that the TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130.

[0094] In some example embodiments, NCR 110 may determine the configuration of multiple TCI state sets in the MAC-CE based on an presence indication such as the presence bit "P" in the MAC-CE. NCR 110 may receive from network node 140 via DCI an indication of one or more target TCI state sets to be applied to the backhaul process. This indication may be an index or ID of a target TCI state set from the multiple TCI state sets. NCR 110 may select one or more target TCI state sets from the multiple TCI state sets based on this indication.

[0095] In some example embodiments, if NCR 110 determines that a corresponding additional indication associated with one or more target TCI state sets indicates that two TCI states associated with each target TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between one or more TRPs associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130, then NCR 110 may apply a first beam corresponding to a first TCI state in one or more target TCI state sets to the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to a second TCI state in the target TCI state sets to the backhaul uplink in a single TRP operation.

[0096] If NCR 110 determines that no other indication is set for the target TCI state set, then NCR 110 may determine that the TCI state associated with the target TCI state will be applied to both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with network node 140 and NCR-FWD 130.

[0097] As used in this article, the MAC-CE that includes TCI states for both backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink can be referred to as the “Unified NCR Backhaul Beam Activated MAC-CE”. Figure 7 An example of unified NCR backhaul link beam activation MAC-CE700 is shown. MAC-CE 700 can be applied in conjunction with DCI indicators. MAC-CE 700 can be used to activate a set of TCI status IDs for NCR-FWDDL backhaul links and NCR-FWD UL backhaul links, while DCI indicators are used to indicate which activated TCI status IDs can be applied to a single TRP or multiple TRP (beams).

[0098] The MAC-CE 700 can include an eight-bit byte 701 (also known as Oct 1) containing the presence bit and up to eight code points containing the TCI status ID. The presence bit (labeled "P") i ", i is an integer) is used to indicate the presence of a code point, where, when P is set i At that time, code point i (containing TCI state ID) i,D and optional TCI status ID i,U This exists in MAC-CE 700. For example, in Figure 7 In the example, code point 710 (also known as code point 1), ... and code point 720 (also known as code point N, where N is an integer greater than 1) are included in MAC-CE 700.

[0099] In the first octet of each code point, there is one bit (labeled "D / U") that indicates whether the code point length is one or two octets. If the D / U bit is set, the code point length is two octets, where the first and second octets contain the DL TCI status ID and UL TCI status ID to be activated, respectively. If the D / U bit is not set, the code point length is one octet (i.e., the second octet is not transmitted), and the remaining 7 bits of the first octet correspond to the joint TCI status ID, which applies to both DL and UL.

[0100] Taking code point 710 as an example, if the D / U bit in octet 711 is set, then octet 711 and octet 712 can respectively contain the DL TCI state ID and UL TCI state ID to be activated. If the D / U set is not set, then octet 711 can correspond to the joint TCI state ID applicable to both DL and UL, and octet 712 can be excluded.

[0101] In some example embodiments, if one or more presence bits in the MAC-CE are set, after receiving the MAC-CE, network node 140 may send a DCI to indicate one or two code points to be applied in the NCR-FWD DL backhaul link and the NCR-FWD UL backhaul link. The DCI indicates code point "i", and optionally, indicates the second code point "j" among the (1..8) code points activated via the MAC-CE.

[0102] When the NCR-MT 120 receives the DCI, the NCR-MT 120 can notify the NCR-FWD 130 to apply the backhaul link beam configuration based on the TCI status IDs activated by the code points of the MAC-CE.

[0103] In some example embodiments, if NCR 110 determines that the presence indicator in the MAC-CE indicates that a TCI state is not configured in the MAC-CE, then NCR 110 may determine a reference TCI state for the control link downlink between the TRP currently used by NCR-MT 120 associated with network node 140 and the control link uplink between NCR-MT 120, and another reference TCI state for the control link uplink between the TRP currently used by NCR-MT 120 associated with network node 140 and the control link uplink between NCR-MT 120. In multi-TRP operations or single-TRP operations, NCR 110 may apply a first beam corresponding to the reference TCI state to the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to the other reference TCI state to the backhaul uplink.

[0104] As an example, if no presence bit is set (i.e., no TCI status ID is indicated by MAC-CE), then when NCR-MT 120 receives MAC-CE, NCR-MT 120 can notify NCR-FWD 130 to apply the same TCI status configuration to (multiple) DL and UL backhaul link beams as the TCI status configuration activated at NCR-MT 120.

[0105] Already about Figures 4 to 7 Several example MAC-CEs for the return process are described. It should be understood that these illustrated MAC-CE formats are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitations. The MAC-CE format, or the bits within these MAC-CE formats, can be varied in any suitable manner. These MAC-CEs can be used alone or in any combination. The scope of this disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0106] Using one or more of these MAC-CEs, backhaul link TCI status or backhaul link beam can be indicated for both multi-TRP and single-TRP operations. That is, both multi-TRP and single-TRP operations can be supported by the forwarding section at the device (such as NCR-FWD). By extending multi-TRP support to NCR-FWD backhaul, backhaul link redundancy can be supported in the event of signal degradation. Furthermore, in the event of congestion at one TRP, traffic can be offloaded from one NCR TRP to another. Utilizing NCR backhaul for multi-TRP enhances transmission reliability and robustness.

[0107] Figure 8 A flowchart of an example method 800 implemented on an apparatus such as an NCR, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, is shown. For the purposes of discussion, [the following will be discussed]. Figure 1 The angle description method of NCR 110 in 800.

[0108] At box 810, NCR 110 receives a MAC-CE associated with beam information from a network node at a mobile terminal (such as NCR-MT 120) at NCR 110, which is used for the backhaul process between one or more TRPs associated with the network node and a forwarding portion (such as NCR-FWD 130) at NCR 110.

[0109] At box 820, NCR 110 applies one or more TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the return process in a multi-TRP operation or a single TRP operation, based on the MAC-CE.

[0110] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: if it is determined that a set of TCI states including two TCI states is obtained from MAC-CE, determining that a multi-TRP operation will be used in the backhaul process; and applying a beam corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink from the two TRPs associated with the network node to the forwarding portion at NCR 110.

[0111] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: obtaining from MAC-CE an indication of whether multiple TRP operations will be used during the backhaul; and if it is determined that the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will be used during the backhaul and a set of TCI states including two TCI states is obtained from MAC-CE, applying a beam corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at NCR 110.

[0112] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: determining that a single TRP operation will be used during the backhaul if it is determined that the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will not be used during the backhaul and a set of TCI states including TCI states is obtained from MAC-CE; and applying a beam corresponding to the TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the network node and the forwarding portion at NCR 110.

[0113] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: switching from a single TRP operation to a multi-TRP operation if it is determined that the indication has been changed to indicate that a multi-TRP operation will be used during the return trip.

[0114] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: obtaining from the MAC-CE an indication of whether multiple TRP operations will be used during backhaul; and if it is determined that the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will be used during backhaul and a set of TCI states including TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE, determining a reference TCI state currently used by the mobile terminal at NCR 110; and applying a first beam corresponding to the TCI state and a second beam corresponding to the reference TCI state to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at NCR 110.

[0115] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: receiving from a network node via downlink control information (DCI) an indication of a target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process; selecting a target TCI state set from a plurality of TCI state sets based on the indication; determining that a multi-TRP operation will be used in the backhaul process if it is determined that another indication associated with the target TCI state set indicates that two TCI states are associated with the target TCI state set; and applying a beam corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at NCR 110.

[0116] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining to use a single TRP operation during the backhaul if it is determined that another indication associated with the target TCI state set indicates that the TCI state is associated with the target TCI state set; and applying a beam corresponding to the TCI state to the backhaul downlink between the network node and the forwarding portion at NCR 110.

[0117] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: obtaining from the MAC-CE an presence indication indicating whether at least one TCI state set including one or more TCI states is configured in the MAC-CE; and determining, based on the presence indication, that at least one TCI state set including one or more TCI states is configured in the MAC-CE, applying one or more TCI states to the return process in a multi-TRP operation or a single TRP operation.

[0118] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining one or more reference TCI states currently used by the mobile terminal at NCR 110 based on an existence indication to determine an unconfigured TCI state in the MAC-CE; and applying one or more reference TCI states to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single TRP operation.

[0119] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining, based on an presence indication in the MAC-CE, to configure a TCI state set in the MAC-CE; and if it is determined that two TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at NCR 110, applying, in a single TRP operation, a first beam corresponding to the first TCI state of the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to the second TCI state of the backhaul uplink.

[0120] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: if it is determined that no indication is set, determining that the TCI state associated with the TCI state set will be used for both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP and the forwarding portion at NCR 110 associated with the network node.

[0121] In some example embodiments, method 800 further includes: determining, based on an presence indication in the MAC-CE, to configure a plurality of TCI state sets in the MAC-CE; receiving, via downlink control information (DCI), an indication from the network node of one or more target TCI state sets to be applied to the backhaul process; selecting one or more target TCI state sets from the plurality of TCI state sets based on the indication; and if it is determined that another corresponding indication associated with one or more target TCI state sets indicates that two TCI states associated with each target TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between one or more TRPs and the forwarding portion at NCR110 associated with the network node, applying, in a single TRP operation, a first beam corresponding to a first TCI state in the target TCI state set used for the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to a second TCI state in the target TCI state set used for the backhaul uplink.

[0122] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: if it is determined that no other indication associated with the target TCI state set is set, determining that the TCI state associated with the target TCI state will be applied to both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP and the forwarding portion at NCR 110 associated with the network node.

[0123] In some example embodiments, each of the multiple TCI state sets corresponds to a code point, and wherein the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process is indicated in the DCI by the target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set.

[0124] In some example embodiments, method 800 may further include: if it is determined that the presence indication in the MAC-CE indicates that a TCI state is not configured in the MAC-CE, determining a reference TCI state for the control link downlink between the mobile terminal at NCR 110 and the TRP associated with the network node, and another reference TCI state for the control link uplink between the mobile terminal at NCR 110 and the TRP associated with the network node; and in the case of a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation, applying a first beam corresponding to the reference TCI state to the backhaul downlink and applying a second beam corresponding to the other reference TCI state to the backhaul uplink.

[0125] Figure 9 A flowchart of an example method 900 implemented at a device such as a network node according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purposes of discussion, [the following will be discussed]. Figure 1 Method 900 is described from the perspective of network node 140.

[0126] At box 910, network node 140 transmits a MAC-CE associated with beam information to the NCR for backhaul procedures between one or more TRPs associated with network node 140 and the forwarding portion at the NCR. The MAC-CE includes at least one TCI state set, which includes one or more TCI states for backhaul procedures in multi-TRP operations or single-TRP operations, and / or an presence indication indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

[0127] In some example embodiments, MAC-CE includes an indication of whether more than one TCI state is associated with the TCI state set.

[0128] In some example embodiments, MAC-CE includes another indication that the TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the forwarding portions at the TRP and NCR associated with network node 140.

[0129] In some example embodiments, multiple TCI state sets are indicated in the MAC-CE used for the backhaul process, and method 900 further includes: transmitting an indication to the NCR via DCI, the indication indicating that one or more target TCI state sets from the multiple TCI state sets will be applied to the backhaul process.

[0130] In some example embodiments, each of the multiple TCI state sets corresponds to a code point, and wherein the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process is indicated in the DCI by the target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set.

[0131] In some example embodiments, it is possible to execute any of the methods in method 800 (e.g., Figure 1 The first means of NCR 110 may include components for performing the corresponding operations of method 800. These components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, these components may be implemented in a circuit or software module. The first means may be implemented as Figure 1 NCR 110 may be included in it.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus includes: a component for receiving, at a mobile terminal at the apparatus, a media access control control unit (MAC-CE) associated with beam information for a backhaul process between one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs) associated with the network node and a forwarding portion at the apparatus; and a component for applying one or more transmission configuration indication TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation, based on the MAC-CE.

[0133] In some example embodiments, the first device may further include: components for determining that a multi-TRP operation will be used in the backhaul if a set of TCI states, including two TCI states, is determined from the MAC-CE; and components for applying beams corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink from the two TRPs associated with the network node to the forwarding portion at the device.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the first device may further include: a component for obtaining from the MAC-CE an indication of whether multiple TRP operations will be used during the backhaul; and a component for applying a beam corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device if it is determined that the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will be used during the backhaul and a set of TCI states including two TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the first device may further include: a component for determining that a single TRP operation will be used during the backhaul if it is determined that the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will not be used during the backhaul and a set of TCI states including TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE; and a component for applying a beam corresponding to the TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the first device may further include: switching from a single TRP operation to a multi-TRP operation if it is determined that an indication has been changed to indicate that a multi-TRP operation will be used during the return trip.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the first device may further include: components for obtaining from the MAC-CE an indication of whether multiple TRP operations will be used during backhaul; components for determining a reference TCI state currently used by the mobile terminal at the device if it is determined that the indication indicates that multiple TRP operations will be used during backhaul and a set of TCI states including TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE; and components for applying a first beam corresponding to the TCI state and a second beam corresponding to the reference TCI state to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further includes: components for receiving from a network node via downlink control information (DCI) an indication of a target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process; components for selecting the target TCI state set from a plurality of TCI state sets based on the indication; components for determining that a multi-TRP operation to be used in the backhaul process is based on the following determination: another indication associated with the target TCI state set indicates that two TCI states are associated with the target TCI state set; and components for applying beams corresponding to the two TCI states to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the apparatus.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the first device further includes: components for determining that a single TRP operation will be used during the backhaul based on: another indication associated with a target TCI state set indicating that the TCI state is associated with the target TCI state set; and components for applying a beam corresponding to the TCI state to the backhaul downlink between the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further includes: a component for obtaining an presence indication from the MAC-CE, the presence indication indicating whether at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE; and a component for applying one or more TCI states to the return process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation based on the following determination: at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE based on the presence indication.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the first device further includes: components for determining one or more reference TCI states currently used by the mobile terminal at the device based on the following determination: a TCI state is not configured in the MAC-CE based on an presence indication; and components for applying one or more reference TCI states to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further includes: components for determining, based on an presence indication in the MAC-CE, to configure a TCI state set in the MAC-CE; and components for applying, in a single TRP operation, a first beam corresponding to a first TCI state for a backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to a second TCI state for a backhaul uplink, based on the determination that the two TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the apparatus.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the first device further includes a component for determining, based on the following determination, whether the TCI state associated with the TCI state set will be used for both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device: no setting indication.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further includes: components for determining, based on an presence indication in the MAC-CE, to configure a plurality of TCI state sets in the MAC-CE; components for receiving, via downlink control information (DCI), an indication from the network node of one or more target TCI state sets to be applied to the backhaul process; components for selecting one or more target TCI state sets from the plurality of TCI state sets based on the indication; and components for applying, in a single TRP operation, a first beam corresponding to a first TCI state in one or more target TCI state sets to the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to a second TCI state in one or more target TCI state sets to the backhaul uplink, based on the determination that: a corresponding additional indication associated with one or more target TCI state sets indicates that two TCI states associated with each target TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between one or more TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the apparatus.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the first device may further include a component for determining, if it is determined that the TCI state associated with the target TCI state will be applied to both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device, if it is determined that another indication associated with the target TCI state set is not set.

[0146] In some example embodiments, each of the multiple TCI state sets corresponds to a code point, and wherein the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process is indicated in the DCI by the target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the first device further includes: if it is determined that the presence indication in the MAC-CE indicates that no TCI state is configured in the MAC-CE, a component for determining a reference TCI state of the downlink of the control link between the mobile terminal at the device and the network node for a TRP associated with the network node, and another reference TCI state of the uplink of the control link between the mobile terminal at the device and the network node for a TRP associated with the network node; and a component for applying a first beam corresponding to the reference TCI state to the backhaul downlink and applying a second beam corresponding to the other reference TCI state to the backhaul uplink in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the device includes a network-controlled repeater (NCR), a mobile terminal at the device including an NCR-Mobile Terminal (NCR-MT), and a forwarding portion at the device including an NCR-Forwarder (NCR-FWD).

[0149] In some example embodiments, it is possible to execute any of the methods in method 900 (e.g., Figure 1 The second device (network node 140) may include components for performing the corresponding operations of method 900. These components can be implemented in any suitable form. For example, these components can be implemented in a circuit or software module. The second device can be implemented as... Figure 1 Network node 140 may be included in it.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the second device includes a component of a Media Access Control-Control Unit (MAC-CE) for transmitting beam information associated with a repeater NCR of the network control for a backhaul procedure between one or more transmit / receive points TRP and a forwarding portion at the NCR, wherein the MAC-CE includes at least one Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state set, which includes one or more TCI states for the backhaul procedure in multi-TRP operation or single-TRP operation, and / or an presence indicator indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

[0151] In some example embodiments, MAC-CE includes an indication of whether more than one TCI state is associated with the TCI state set.

[0152] In some example embodiments, MAC-CE includes another indication that the TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the forwarding portions at the TRP and NCR associated with the device.

[0153] In some example embodiments, a plurality of TCI state sets are indicated in the MAC-CE for the backhaul process, and wherein the device is configured to transmit an indication to the NCR via the DCI indicating that one or more target TCI state sets from the plurality of TCI state sets will be applied to the backhaul process.

[0154] In some example embodiments, each of the multiple TCI state sets corresponds to a code point, and wherein the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process is indicated in the DCI by the target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the device includes a network node, and the forwarding portion at the NCR includes NCR-FWD.

[0156] Figure 10 This is a simplified block diagram of a device 1000 suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1000 can be provided to implement a communication device, such as... Figure 1 The NCR 110, terminal device 150, or network node 140 are shown. As shown, device 1000 includes one or more processors 1010, one or more memories 1020 coupled to processor 1010, and one or more communication modules 1040 coupled to processor 1010.

[0157] 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 required for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, communication module 1040 may include at least one antenna.

[0158] 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: 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 of a synchronous main processor.

[0159] 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, 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 are not retained during power loss.

[0160] 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 (e.g., ROM 1024). Processor 1010 can perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 1030 into RAM 1022.

[0161] The exemplary embodiments of this disclosure can be implemented by program 1030, enabling device 1000 to execute as described in the reference. Figures 3 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.

[0162] In some example embodiments, program 1030 may be tangibly contained in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in device 1000 (such as memory 1020) or other storage device accessible by 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. As used herein, the term "non-transitory" is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not tactile), rather than a limitation on the persistence of data storage (e.g., RAM and ROM).

[0163] 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. A program 1030 is stored on the computer-readable medium 1100.

[0164] Generally, 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, while others can be implemented in firmware or software that can be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although 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, as non-limiting examples, 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.

[0165] 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 that execute in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, such as those included in a program module, 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. In various embodiments, the functionality of a program module can be combined or split among program modules as needed. The machine-executable instructions for a program module can execute within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, the program module can reside in both local and remote storage media.

[0166] Program code used to perform 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 a machine, partially on a machine, as a stand-alone software package, partially on a machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0167] In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by 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.

[0168] 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, apparatuses, or devices, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media will 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.

[0169] Furthermore, although operations are described in a specific order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the specific order shown or sequentially, or that all shown operations be performed to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the discussion above, these details should not be construed as limiting the scope of this disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular 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, various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented individually or in any suitable sub-combination in multiple embodiments.

[0170] 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 for implementing the claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising: At least one processor; as well as At least one memory, the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least: The mobile terminal at the device receives from the network node a Media Access Control Unit (MAC-CE) associated with beam information for the backhaul process between one or more Transmit / Receive Points (TRPs) associated with the network node and the forwarding section at the device. Based on the MAC-CE, one or more Transmission Configuration Indicator TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE are applied to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus causes: If it is determined that the TCI state set, including two TCI states, was obtained from the MAC-CE, then it is determined that the multi-TRP operation will be used during the return process; and The beams corresponding to the two TCI states are applied to the backhaul downlink from the two TRPs associated with the network node to the forwarding portion at the device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus causes: Obtain an indication from the MAC CE indicating whether to use the multi-TRP operation during the return trip; and If it is determined that the indication indicates that the multi-TRP operation is to be used in the backhaul process and that the TCI state set including two TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE, the beam corresponding to the two TCI states is applied to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the apparatus causes: If it is determined that the indication indicates that the multi-TRP operation should not be used during the return trip and a TCI state set including TCI states is obtained from the MAC-CE, it is determined that the single-TRP operation should be used during the return trip; and The beam corresponding to the TCI state is applied to the backhaul downlink between the network node and the forwarding section at the device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus causes: If it is determined that the indication has been changed to indicate that the multi-TRP operation is to be used in the return process, switch from the single TRP operation to the multi-TRP operation.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus causes: Obtain an indication from the MAC CE whether to use the multi-TRP operation during the return trip; as well as If it is determined that the indication indicates that the multi-TRP operation should be used during the return trip and a TCI state set including the TCI state is obtained from the MAC-CE, the reference TCI state currently used by the mobile terminal at the device is determined; as well as The first beam corresponding to the TCI state and the second beam corresponding to the reference TCI state are applied to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality of TCI state sets are indicated in the MAC-CE for the backhaul process, and wherein the first apparatus is further caused to: Receive from the network node via downlink control information (DCI) an indication of the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process; The target TCI state set is selected from the plurality of TCI state sets based on the indication; If another indication is determined to be associated with the target TCI state set, indicating that two TCI states are associated with the target TCI state set, then the multiple TRP operation is determined to be used in the return process; as well as The beam corresponding to the two TCI states is applied to the backhaul downlink between the two TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding section at the device.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: If it is determined that the other indication associated with the target TCI state set is associated with the target TCI state set, then it is determined that the single TRP operation will be used during the return trip; and The beam corresponding to the TCI state is applied to the backhaul downlink between the network node and the forwarding section at the device.

9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 3 to 8, wherein the first apparatus causes: Obtain an presence indication from the MAC-CE, the presence indication indicating whether the at least one TCI state set, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE; and If, based on the presence indication, it is determined that the at least one set of TCI states, including one or more TCI states, is configured in the MAC-CE, the one or more TCI states are applied to the return process in the multi-TRP operation or the single-TRP operation.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first apparatus causes: If, based on the presence indication, it is determined that no TCI state is configured in the MAC-CE, one or more reference TCI states currently used by the mobile terminal at the device are determined; and In the multiple TRP operation or the single TRP operation, the one or more reference TCI states are applied to the return process.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: Based on the presence indication in the MAC-CE, determine the configuration of the TCI state set in the MAC-CE; and If it is determined that the indication is used to indicate that two TCI states associated with the TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device, a first beam corresponding to the first TCI state for the backhaul downlink and a second beam corresponding to the second TCI state for the backhaul uplink are applied in the single TRP operation.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first apparatus causes: If it is determined that no indication is set, the TCI state associated with the TCI state set will be used for both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: Based on the presence indication in the MAC-CE, it is determined that multiple TCI state sets are configured in the MAC-CE; Receive from the network node via downlink control information (DCI) an indication of one or more target TCI state sets to be applied to the backhaul process; Select one or more target TCI state sets from the plurality of TCI state sets based on the indication; as well as If it is determined that another indication associated with the one or more target TCI state sets indicates that two TCI states associated with each target TCI state set will be used for the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between one or more TRPs associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device, in the single TRP operation, a first beam corresponding to a first TCI state in the target TCI state set of the one or more target TCI state sets is applied to the backhaul downlink, and a second beam corresponding to a second TCI state in the target TCI state set is applied to the backhaul uplink.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus causes: If it is determined that another indication associated with the target TCI state set is not set, it is determined that the TCI state associated with the target TCI state will be applied to both the backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the network node and the forwarding portion at the device.

15. The apparatus according to any one of claims 7, 8, 13 or 14, wherein each of the plurality of TCI state sets corresponds to a code point, and wherein the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process is indicated in the DCI by a target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first apparatus causes: If it is determined that the presence indication in the MAC-CE indicates that a TCI state is not configured in the MAC-CE, determine a reference TCI state for the control link downlink between the TRP currently associated with the network node by the mobile terminal at the device and the mobile terminal at the device, and another reference TCI state for the control link uplink between the TRP currently associated with the network node by the mobile terminal at the device and the mobile terminal at the device; and In the multiple TRP operation or the single TRP operation, a first beam corresponding to the reference TCI state is applied to the backhaul downlink, and a second beam corresponding to another reference TCI state is applied to the backhaul uplink.

17. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein the apparatus includes a network-controlled repeater (NCR), the mobile terminal at the apparatus includes NCR-Mobile Terminal (NCR-MT), and the forwarding portion at the apparatus includes NCR-Forwarder (NCR-FWD).

18. An apparatus comprising: At least one processor; as well as At least one memory, the at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least: A Media Access Control Unit (MAC-CE) is transmitted to a network-controlled repeater (NCR) for beam information associated with a backhaul procedure between one or more Transmit / Receive Points (TRPs) associated with the device and a forwarding portion at the NCR. The MAC-CE includes at least one Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state set, which includes one or more TCI states for the backhaul procedure in multi-TRP or single-TRP operations, and / or an presence indicator indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the MAC-CE includes an indication indicating whether more than one TCI state is associated with a set of TCI states.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the MAC-CE includes another indication indicating that a TCI state associated with a TCI state set is to be used for a backhaul uplink and backhaul downlink between the TRP associated with the apparatus and the forwarding portion at the NCR.

21. The apparatus according to any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein a plurality of TCI state sets are indicated in the MAC-CE for the backhaul process, and wherein the apparatus is caused to: An indication is transmitted to the NCR via the DCI, the indication indicating that one or more target TCI state sets from the plurality of TCI state sets are to be applied to the backhaul process.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein each of the plurality of TCI state sets corresponds to a code point, and wherein the target TCI state set to be applied to the backhaul process is indicated in the DCI by a target code point corresponding to the target TCI state set.

23. The apparatus according to any one of claims 18-22, wherein the apparatus comprises a network node, and the forwarding portion at the NCR comprises NCR-FWD.

24. A method comprising: A Media Access Control Unit (MAC-CE) at the mobile terminal at the device receives beam information from a network node associated with a beamback process between one or more Transmit / Receive Points (TRPs) associated with the network node and a forwarding section at the device. as well as Based on the MAC-CE, one or more Transmission Configuration Indicator TCI states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE are applied to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation.

25. A method comprising: A Media Access Control Unit (MAC-CE) is transmitted at the device to a network-controlled repeater (NCR) for beam information associated with a backhaul procedure between one or more Transmit / Receive Points (TRPs) associated with the device and a forwarding portion at the NCR. The MAC-CE includes at least one Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state set, which includes one or more TCI states for the backhaul procedure in multi-TRP or single-TRP operations, and / or an presence indicator indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

26. A first device, comprising: A component for receiving, at a mobile terminal at the device, beam information associated with a network node for backhaul procedures between one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs) associated with the network node and a forwarding section at the device; and A component for applying one or more Transport Configuration Indicator (TCI) states from at least one TCI state set indicated in the MAC-CE to the backhaul process in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation, based on the MAC-CE.

27. A second device, comprising: A component of a Media Access Control Unit (MAC-CE) for transmitting beam information associated with a backhaul procedure between a repeater (NCR) of a network control system and a forwarding portion at the NCR for a repeater (NCR) of the system, wherein the MAC-CE includes at least one Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state set, the TCI state set including one or more TCI states for the backhaul procedure in a multi-TRP operation or a single-TRP operation, and / or an presence indicator indicating whether the MAC-CE is configured with at least one TCI state.

28. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause a device to perform at least the method of claim 24 or the method of claim 25.

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