Beam management for inactive mode device

Abstract

To provide transmission power control for novel beam management.SOLUTION: A first device transmits a first configuration to a second device. The first configuration indicates information relating to at least one candidate beam which is allocated to the second device. Alternatively or additionally, the first configuration further indicates a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities and while the second device is in an inactive mode, the plurality of transmission opportunities is allocated for transmission from the second device to the first device by the first device. The first device detects the transmission from the second device in accordance with the first configuration in the plurality of transmission opportunities. Through such a solution, a beam management solution for an inactive mode device and an efficient resource configuration are proposed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to methods, devices, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for beam management of devices in inactive mode. [Background technology]

[0002] To achieve resource utilization, many techniques have been proposed and applied to wireless communication systems. For example, a beam-based transmission scheme can be used for directional wireless communication. More specifically, beam information (beam configuration information, measurement results, feedback, etc.) is exchanged between a network device and a terminal device to enable directional wireless communication.

[0003] Furthermore, in current wireless communication systems, the power consumption of terminal devices is also an issue to be considered. To reduce the power consumption of terminal devices, it has been proposed that terminal devices may be set to some power saving mode (such as inactive mode). For terminal devices in inactive mode, it has been proposed to suspend some unnecessary procedures (such as beam management procedures).

[0004] However, in some scenarios, a terminal device in an inactive mode still needs to perform transmission (e.g., small data transmission (SDT)) with a network device, which necessitates a beam management procedure for the terminal device in an inactive mode. Therefore, it is desirable to propose and discuss a beam management solution and efficient resource configuration for devices in an inactive mode. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In general, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for beam management for devices in an inactive mode. Non-claimed embodiments, if any, should be construed as examples useful for understanding various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0006] In a first aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor and at least one memory containing computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, using the at least one processor, to cause the first device to transmit a first configuration to a second device. The first configuration indicates at least one of information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the correspondence being assigned by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. The fist device is further configured to detect transmissions from the second device according to the first configuration at the plurality of transmission opportunities.

[0007] In a second aspect, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured, using the at least one processor, to cause the second device to receive a first configuration from the first device. The first configuration indicates at least one of information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the correspondence being assigned by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. The second device is further configured to determine a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities according to the first configuration in accordance with determining that the second device is in the inactive mode and that there is a transmission to be transmitted from the second device to the first device. The second device is also configured to perform a transmission from the second device to the first device during the target transmission opportunity.

[0008] In a third aspect, a method is provided, the method including, at a first device, transmitting a first configuration to a second device, the first configuration indicating at least one of information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities assigned by the first device for transmissions from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. The method further includes detecting transmissions from the second device in accordance with the first configuration at the plurality of transmission opportunities.

[0009] In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, at a second device, a first configuration from a first device, the first configuration indicating at least one of information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the correspondence being assigned by the first device for transmissions from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. The method further includes, in accordance with determining that the second device is in the inactive mode and that there is a transmission to be transmitted from the second device to the first device, determining a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities according to the first configuration. The method also includes performing a transmission from the second device to the first device at the target transmission opportunity.

[0010] In a fifth aspect, a first device is provided, the first device comprising: means for transmitting a first configuration to a second device, the first configuration indicating at least one of information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities assigned by the first device for transmissions from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. The first device further comprises means for detecting transmissions from the second device in accordance with the first configuration at the plurality of transmission opportunities.

[0011] In a sixth aspect, a second device is provided. The second device comprises means for receiving a first configuration from the first device, the first configuration indicating at least one of information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the correspondence being assigned by the first device for transmissions from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. The second device further comprises means for determining a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities according to the first configuration in response to a determination that the second device is in the inactive mode and that there is a transmission to be transmitted from the second device to the first device. The second device also comprises means for executing a transmission from the second device to the first device at the target transmission opportunity.

[0012] In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least a method according to the third aspect.

[0013] In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0014] It should be understood that this Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will be readily apparent from the following description.

[0015] Some exemplary embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example communications environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. [Figure 2]1 illustrates a signaling flow for beam management, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example beam configuration, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a further example beam configuration, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of another example beam configuration, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 illustrates a flowchart of a method performed on a first device, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 10 shows a flowchart of a method performed on a second device according to some other example embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] FIG. 1 shows a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements.

[0018] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to several exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are provided for illustrative purposes only, to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, but are not intended to imply any limitations on the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein can be implemented in a variety of ways other than those described below.

[0019] In the following description and claims, 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 belongs, unless defined otherwise.

[0020] In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "embodiment," "exemplary embodiment," etc. indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but do not require that every embodiment include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is believed to be within the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic with respect to other embodiments, whether or not explicitly stated.

[0021] Although terms such as "first" and "second" may be used herein to describe various elements, it should be understood that these elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are used only to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element, without departing from the scope of the example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0022] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It will be further understood that when the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "having," "includes," and / or "including" are used herein, these terms specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0023] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementation (e.g., implementation using only analog and / or digital circuitry); (b) For example (where applicable), a combination of the following hardware circuitry and software: (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry(s) and software / firmware; (ii) any portion of the hardware processor(s) using software (including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s)) that cooperate to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions; (c) Hardware circuit(s) that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, and processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portions of microprocessor(s), although software may be absent if not necessary for operation.

[0024] This definition of "circuit" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including any claims. As a further example, the term circuit, as used in this application, encompasses a simple hardware circuit or processor(s), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, as well as its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware implementations. The term circuit also encompasses, for example, a baseband or processor integrated circuit in a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device, if applicable to certain claim elements.

[0025] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network conforming to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), or Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT). Furthermore, communications between terminal devices and network devices within a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, 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) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols now known or later developed. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. Given the rapid development of communications, there will, of course, be future communication technologies and systems that may embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be considered as being limited to only the aforementioned systems.

[0026] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses and receives services from the network. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a base station (BS) or access point (AP), e.g., a Node B (NodeB or NB), evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), NR NB (also referred to as gNB), remote radio unit (RRU), radio header (RH), remote radio head (RRH), relay, integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, low-power nodes such as femto and pico, satellite network devices, low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellites, non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network devices such as airborne network devices, etc.

[0027] The term "terminal device" refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example and not limitation, a terminal device may be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), mobile 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 playback appliances, 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 wearables, 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. In the following description, the terms “terminal device,” “communications device,” “terminal,” “user equipment,” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0028] As used herein, the terms "resource," "transmission resource," "resource block," "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink (UL) resource," or "downlink (DL) resource" may refer to any resource for performing communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as, for example, a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, a spatial domain resource, a code domain resource, a combination of one or more domains, or other resource that enables communication. Hereinafter, a time domain resource (such as a subframe) is used as an example of a transmission resource to describe some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0029] As mentioned above, to reduce the power consumption of a terminal device, the device (especially the terminal device) may be set to some power-saving mode. For example, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive mode has been proposed and defined by a work item of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Furthermore, as mentioned above, in some scenarios, a terminal device in inactive mode still needs to perform transmission with a network device. During Release 17 (Rel-17), another work item was done in 3GPP for small data transmission (SDT) of a terminal device in RRC inactive mode of New Radio (NR). As a result, two possible solutions are proposed for enabling SDT of a terminal device in inactive mode, as described below.

[0030] One possible solution is implemented by using a random access channel (RACH) procedure, including a two-step RACH and a four-step RACH (also called a RACH-based scheme). More specifically, the SDT may be transmitted from a terminal device in an inactive mode to a network device via message A of the two-step RACH and message 3 of the four-step RACH. Furthermore, Rel-17 has more flexibility in the size of the payload than Rel-16.

[0031] Another possible solution is performed by pre-configuring resources (also called a configured grant (CG)-based scheme). More specifically, when timing advance (TA) is enabled, the SDT may be transmitted on pre-configured physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources by reusing configured grant type 1. In this way, the network device first pre-configures resources for the terminal device, and then, when the terminal device enters an RRC inactive mode and needs to perform transmission with the network device, the terminal may transmit data via the pre-configured resources.

[0032] Additionally, several agreements have been reached: The configuration of configured grant resources for the SDT transmitted by the terminal device in inactive mode may be transmitted by the network device via an RRC release message. The configured grant resource configuration may include a type 1 configured grant configuration. A new TA timer for TA maintenance specified for configured grant-based solutions needs to be introduced. The newly introduced TA timer may be configured together with the configured grant configuration in the RRC release message. The configuration of the configured grant resources is only valid in the current serving cell. A terminal device in inactive mode can perform SDT transmission on configured grant resources if the following criteria are met: (1) the size of the data to be transmitted is smaller than the data volume threshold, (2) the configured grant resources are configured and valid, and (3) TA is valid.

[0033] There are also some pending issues that need to be discussed and specified, such as whether other messages than the RRC release message can be used to configure the configured grant resources, whether multiple configured grants are supported, and how to handle the newly introduced TA timer.

[0034] As described above, a beam-based transmission scheme has been proposed and used for directional wireless communication in a wireless communication system. Up until now, conventional beam management has been performed for a terminal device in a connected mode, in which case the terminal device can timely obtain information of a serving beam through a beam management procedure.

[0035] However, for terminal devices in inactive mode, the beam management procedure is suspended. However, in some cases, some terminal devices move at high speed. In this case, the previous service beam may no longer be valid. As a result, when a terminal device is in inactive mode, the terminal device and network device do not know which beam can be used to perform transmission. Therefore, it is desirable to propose and discuss a beam management solution and an efficient resource configuration for devices in inactive mode.

[0036] According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, a solution is proposed for beam management and efficient resource configuration for devices in inactive mode.

[0037] In this solution, a first device (e.g., a network device) may transmit a first configuration to a second device (e.g., a terminal device). In particular, the first configuration may indicate information about at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device. Alternatively or additionally, the first configuration indication may also indicate a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and multiple transmission opportunities, the multiple transmission opportunities being assigned by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. In the first configuration, when the second device enters an inactive mode and needs to transmit data to the first device, the second device may derive candidate beam(s) and transmit the data on them. In this way, a beam management solution for devices in an inactive mode is proposed, in which the terminal device derives information about candidate beam(s), increasing the likelihood of successful transmission. During this time, the second device can perform transmission with the first device without entering a connected mode.

[0038] While the functionality described herein may be performed in fixed and / or wireless network nodes in various exemplary embodiments, in other exemplary embodiments, the functionality may be implemented in a user equipment device (such as a cell phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, desktop computer, mobile IoT device, or fixed IoT device). This user equipment device may, for example, include corresponding functionality described in connection with the fixed and / or wireless network node(s), as appropriate. The user equipment device may be user equipment and / or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed in the user equipment. Examples of such functionality include a bootstrap server function and / or a home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment device by providing the user equipment device with software configured to cause the user equipment device to execute in terms of these functions / nodes.

[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a first device 110 can communicate with a second device 120 via a physical communication channel or link. Furthermore, the first device 110 may communicate with the second device 120 via different beams to enable directional communication. In the example of FIG. 1, beams 130-1 through 130-5 are shown. For purposes of explanation, beams 130-1 through 130-5 are collectively or individually referred to as beams 130. Furthermore, the coverage area provided by the first device 110 is referred to herein as a cell 102.

[0040] In the environment 100, if the first device 110 is a network device and the second device 120 is a terminal device, the link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 is called the DL, and the link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is called the UL. In the DL, the first device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and the second device 120 is an RX device (or receiver). In the UP, the second device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter) and the first device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver). As a specific example, the first device 110 is a network device and the second device 120 is a terminal device served by the first device 110.

[0041] 1, the second device 120 may move over time. As shown in FIG. 1, the second device 120 is located at different positions at time T and time t. Furthermore, the second device 120 may be in different modes, such as a connected mode and an inactive mode. As a specific example, at time T, the second device 120 is in a connected mode, which means that the second device 120 can normally send and receive signaling and data. At time T1, the second device 120 is in an inactive mode, which means that the second device 120 operates in a power-saving mode and some unnecessary procedures (such as beam management procedures) are suspended.

[0042] Communications within network 100 may conform to any suitable standard, including, but not limited to, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Evolution, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Furthermore, the communications may be performed in accordance with any generation of communications protocols now known or later developed. Examples of communications protocols include, but are not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, and fifth generation (5G) communications protocols.

[0043] It should be understood that the number of first devices, second devices, beams, and cells, and their connections are for illustrative purposes only, and do not imply any limitations. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable first devices, second devices, beams, and cells adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it should be understood that one or more additional first devices and second devices may be located in each cell 102. It should also be understood that in some examples, environment 100 may include only homogeneous network deployments or only heterogeneous network deployments.

[0044] It should be understood that there is generally a correspondence between Synchronization Signal (SS) / Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) Blocks (SSBs) and beams. Therefore, the beam management procedure can also be implemented by SSB management according to the above correspondence. As used herein, the terms "beam" and "SSB" are synonymous. In the following, exemplary embodiments will be described using the term "beam." It should be understood that all descriptions regarding "beam" apply equally to "SSB."

[0045] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0046] Reference is now made to Figure 2, which illustrates a signaling flow 200 for beam management in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of explanation, the signaling flow 200 will be described with reference to Figure 1. The signaling flow 200 may involve a first device 110 and a second device 120. In the signaling flow 200, the first device 110 is a serving device (e.g., a network device) for the second device 120 (e.g., a terminal device), and the second device 120 is a device served by the first device 110.

[0047] 2, the first device 110 and the second device support transmission via a configured grant-based scheme (e.g., SDT from the second device 120 to the first device 110). More specifically, the first device 110 may pre-configure resources (e.g., PUSCH) for the second device 120 and then transmit a message to the second device 120 indicating allocation of the pre-configured resources. When the second device 120 is in an inactive mode and needs to transmit data (e.g., SDT) to the first device 110, the second device 120 may transmit the data via the pre-configured resources.

[0048] The first device 110 may indicate the pre-configured resources in any suitable manner, including explicitly or implicitly. As a specific example, the first device 110 may send RRC signaling or other dedicated signaling messages to the second device 120, which may include at least one configured grant (e.g., configured grant type 1).

[0049] As an example, the preconfigured resource may be a periodic resource in the time domain that may be indicated by the periodicity (hereinafter referred to as "periodicity") of the configured grant type 1, and may be the offset (hereinafter referred to as "timeDomainOffset") of the resource relative to a reference resource (such as a system frame with index 0 in the time domain).

[0050] When / in response to a configured grant type 1 being configured by higher layers for a serving cell (e.g., cell 102 shown in FIG. 1 ), a medium access control layer (MAC) entity may store the UL grant provided by higher layers as a configured UL grant and initialize or reinitialize the configured UL grant to repeat periodically starting at the symbol according to the timeDomainOffset.

[0051] In some example embodiments, after an uplink grant is configured for configured grant type 1, the MAC entity shall sequentially consider the Nth (N>=0) uplink grant (also called a "transmission opportunity") to occur in the following symbols:

number

[0052] It should be understood that the above equation (1) for determining the symbol / transmission opportunity is provided for illustrative purposes. In other example embodiments, the symbol / transmission opportunity may be determined in any other manner based on one or more of the parameters of the resource configuration and related factors provided in the example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0053] According to the solution of the present disclosure, in addition to the pre-configured resources of the second device 120, candidate beam(s) corresponding to the pre-configured resources are also assigned to the second device 120 as described below.

[0054] During operation, the first device 110 may transmit 210 a first configuration to the second device. The first configuration may be presented in any suitable manner, including explicitly or implicitly, such as an indication, an information element, an embedded message, an embedded configuration, etc. The first configuration may indicate information regarding candidate beam(s) assigned to the second device 120. The candidate beam(s) may be used by the second device 120 while the second device is in an inactive mode.

[0055] Generally speaking, the second device 120 moves over time, but the range of movement of the second device 120 within a duration is limited. As a result, the last serving beam and its neighboring beams are relatively likely to be valid for the second device 120. With this in mind, in some exemplary embodiments, the candidate beam(s) include the last serving beam used by the second device 120. Alternatively or additionally, the candidate beam(s) include at least one neighboring beam of the last serving beam.

[0056] In this way, the candidate beam(s) to be used by the second device 120 in the inactive mode may be pre-assigned, so that when the second device 120 is in the inactive mode, both the first device 110 and the second device 120 can know the candidate beam(s) without the need for normal beam management procedures.

[0057] Furthermore, the number of candidate beam(s) needs to be set appropriately. More specifically, if only one beam (such as the last serving beam) is assigned to the second device 120, the possibility of determining an available beam is relatively low. However, a relatively large number of candidate beam(s) means a relatively low resource utilization rate, which is undesirable. In consideration of this, the number of candidate beam(s) may be determined according to a trade-off between the possibility of determining an available beam and resource utilization rate. For example, if the beam resources in the system are relatively sufficient, a relatively large number of candidate beam(s) may be assigned to the second device 120.

[0058] Furthermore, if the second device 120 moves at a relatively high speed, there is a relatively high probability that the second device 120 will move out of the range covered by the last serving beam. Taking this into consideration, alternatively or additionally, the number of candidate beam(s) may be determined according to the speed of the second device 120. For example, if the second device 120 moves at a high speed, a relatively large number of candidate beam(s) may be assigned to the second device 120.

[0059] In this way, the likelihood of determining available beams is increased without allocating significant beam resources.

[0060] In some example embodiments, the first configuration may indicate information regarding the candidate beam(s) to be assigned to the second device 120 in any suitable manner, including explicitly or implicitly. For example, the first device 110 may indicate the number of candidate beam(s) to the second device 120. Because the last serving beam is known to both the first device 110 and the second device 120, the first device 110 and the second device 120 may determine the candidate beam(s) based on the last serving beam and the number of candidate beam(s). As a specific example, if the index of the last serving beam is #5 and the number of candidate beam(s) is 3, the first device 110 and the second device 120 may determine the candidate beam(s) to be beams #4, #5, and #6.

[0061] Alternatively or additionally, the first configuration may indicate the index of each of the candidate beam(s). In this manner, the second device 120 may be assigned at least one candidate beam that can be used by the second device 120 when the second device 120 is in an inactive mode.

[0062] Alternatively or additionally, the first configuration indicates a correspondence between at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities. The plurality of transmission opportunities are allocated by the first device 110 for transmission from the second device 120 to the first device 110 while the second device 120 is in the inactive mode as described above. From the correspondence, a relationship, mapping, correlation, or association between the at least one candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities can be derived. Hereinafter, the term "correspondence" is used only for ease of explanation. It should be understood that the term "correspondence" can be replaced with any of the terms "relationship," "mapping," "correlation," "association," etc. In this manner, the correspondence may be dynamically configured by the first device 110.

[0063] In some exemplary embodiments, the correspondence between at least one candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities indicates that different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities. Further, in some exemplary embodiments, the different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities through time division multiplexing.

[0064] Reference is now made to FIG. 3 , which illustrates a block diagram of an example beam configuration 300 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3 , the first row represents a system frame index, the second row represents a subframe index, the third row represents a transmission opportunity index, and the fourth row represents a candidate beam index. In the example of FIG. 3 , ten transmission opportunities (i.e., transmission opportunities #0 through #9) and three candidate beams (i.e., candidate beams #0, #1, and #2) are assigned to the second device 120. Furthermore, candidate beam #0 corresponds to a first subset of transmission opportunities including transmission opportunities #0, #3, #6, and #9, candidate beam #1 corresponds to a second subset of transmission opportunities including transmission opportunities #1, #4, and #9, and candidate beam #2 corresponds to a third subset of transmission opportunities including transmission opportunities #2, #5, and #8.

[0065] It should be understood that the number of system frames, subframes, transmission opportunities, and candidate beams and their correspondence shown in Figure 3 are for illustrative purposes only and are not meant to be limiting. Furthermore, although the associated resources are shown and described by way of example of system frames and subframes, it should be understood that the resources may be of any suitable type, such as PRBs, RBs, symbols, etc.

[0066] Furthermore, although the resources are shown as periodic resources, in some other example embodiments the resources may be aperiodic resources, such as resources determined by a random selection procedure or resources determined by a predefined resource pattern.

[0067] In this manner, the correspondence between at least one candidate beam and multiple transmission opportunities can be configured more flexibly. In particular, by using time division multiplexing, the overhead for indicating the correspondence can be minimized. For example, once the second device 120 determines the candidate beams, the second device 120 may map the candidate beams to the transmission opportunities according to a predefined rule. For example, the first device 110 sequentially and repeatedly maps the candidate beams to the transmission opportunities.

[0068] As a specific example, both candidate beams and transmission opportunities are renumbered sequentially from the original value 0, and the correspondence between candidate beams and transmission opportunities may be expressed as follows: Candidate beam index = (N modulo the number of candidate beams) (2) Here, the parameter N represents the index of the transmission opportunity.

[0069] Furthermore, in some example embodiments, a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

[0070] In some exemplary embodiments, the periodicity of the candidate beams can be configured based on the likelihood that the candidate beams will be available to the second device 120 while the second device 120 is in an inactive mode. As an example, a beam previously used by the second device 120 (especially the last serving beam) is configured with a relatively short period. Furthermore, in some exemplary embodiments, the first configuration can further indicate the respective periodicity of the candidate beams. In this way, the candidate beam(s) can be more appropriately configured.

[0071] Reference is now made to Figure 4, which illustrates a block diagram of an example beam configuration 400 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in the example of Figure 3, in the example of Figure 4, the first row represents a system frame index, the second row represents a subframe index, the third row represents a transmission opportunity index, and the fourth row represents a candidate beam index. In the example of Figure 4, ten transmission opportunities (i.e., transmission opportunities #0 through #9) and three candidate beams (i.e., candidate beams #0, #1, and #2) are assigned to the second device 120.

[0072] In the example of Figure 4, candidate beam #0 corresponds to the beam with the least service and is configured with a shorter period than the other candidate beams. As shown in Figure 4, candidate beam #0 corresponds to a first subset of transmission opportunities including transmission opportunities #0, #2, #4, #6, and #8, candidate beam #1 corresponds to a second subset of transmission opportunities including transmission opportunities #1, #5, and #9, and candidate beam #2 corresponds to a third subset of transmission opportunities including transmission opportunities #3 and #7.

[0073] It should be understood that the number of system frames, subframes, transmission opportunities, and candidate beams and their correspondence shown in Figure 4 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Furthermore, the periodicity of the candidate beams is for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation.

[0074] Alternatively or additionally, in some exemplary embodiments, the correspondence between at least one candidate beam and multiple transmission opportunities indicates that at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam.

[0075] Furthermore, the number of candidate beams for each transmission opportunity is the same.

[0076] In this way, the number of candidate beams can be increased, and the probability of determining an available beam increases accordingly.

[0077] Reference is now made to Figure 5, which illustrates a block diagram of an example beam configuration 500, in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Similar to the example of Figure 3, in the example of Figure 5, the first row represents the system frame index, the second row represents the subframe index, the third row represents the transmission opportunity index, and the fourth row represents the candidate beam index. In the example of Figure 5, ten transmission opportunities (i.e., transmission opportunities #0 through #9) and four candidate beams (i.e., candidate beams #0 through #4) are assigned to the second device 120.

[0078] In the example of Figure 5, each transmission opportunity is composed of two or more (e.g., two) candidate beams. As shown in Figure 5, transmission opportunities #0, #2, #4, #6, and #8 are composed of candidate beams #0 and #1, respectively, and transmission opportunities #1, #3, #5, #7, and #9 are composed of candidate beams #2 and #3, respectively.

[0079] It should be understood that the number of system frames, subframes, transmission opportunities, and candidate beams and their correspondence shown in Figure 5 are for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation. Furthermore, the periodicity of the candidate beams is for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation.

[0080] It should be understood that the above example correspondence between at least one candidate beam and multiple transmission opportunities is not meant to be limiting and is for illustrative purposes only. The correspondence may be implemented in any suitable relationship. In some other example embodiments, different transmission opportunities may be configured with different numbers of candidate beams. Furthermore, some of the candidate beams may be configured periodically and others may be configured aperiodically. It should also be understood that the correspondence may be represented by any suitable parameter, such as an offset, an index, a periodicity, etc.

[0081] After describing the correspondence between at least one candidate beam and multiple transmission opportunities, reference is again made to FIG.

[0082] In some example embodiments, the first configuration is transmitted via an RRC message, such as an RRC message release message. In this manner, the first device 110 may instruct the second device 120 to enter an inactive mode and simultaneously indicate a resource configuration (including reconfigured resources and candidate beams) for transmission from the second device 120 to the first device 110 while the second device 120 is in the inactive mode.

[0083] Alternatively, in some other example embodiments, the first configuration is transmitted via system broadcast information signaling, such as system broadcast information signaling. In this manner, the first device 110 may dynamically update the first configuration.

[0084] In some other example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit information for beam management via multiple configured grants. More specifically, in addition to transmitting the first configuration, the first device 110 also transmits (220) a second configuration to the second device 120. The second configuration indicates information regarding at least one additional candidate beam assigned to the second device 120. Alternatively or additionally, the second configuration further indicates a further correspondence between the at least one additional candidate beam and multiple transmission opportunities. Furthermore, different configured grants may be transmitted via a single message or via different messages of different types at different times. In this way, the beam management procedure may be performed more flexibly by the first device 110.

[0085] After transmitting the first configuration and additional indications of the further configuration (eg, the second configuration), the first device 110 detects transmissions from the second device 120 at multiple transmit opportunities.

[0086] After receiving an additional indication of the first configuration and a further configuration (such as a second configuration) from the first device 110, the second device 120 may derive candidate beam(s) assigned to the second device 120 and may determine correspondence between the candidate beam(s) and multiple transmission opportunities.

[0087] When the second device 120 is in an inactive mode and the second device 120 determines (230) that there is data that needs to be transmitted to the first device 110, the second device 120 determines (240) a target transmission opportunity from the multiple transmission opportunities configured and indicated by the first device 110. The target transmission determination is made based on the first configuration.

[0088] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 120 determines the target transmission opportunity based on the received signal strength of at least one candidate beam. Alternatively or additionally, the second device 120 determines the target transmission opportunity based on a time difference between a current time point and a transmission time point corresponding to the transmission opportunity. For example, the second device 120 determines whether the received signal strength of the candidate beam can support an acceptable transmission from the second device 120 to the first device 110. This can be performed by comparing the received signal strength of the candidate beam(s) with a preset threshold. If there is only one beam that can support an acceptable transmission, the second device 120 may determine the next transmission opportunity corresponding to the determined beam that supports an acceptable transmission as the target transmission opportunity. If the second device 120 determines that there are two or more beams that can support an acceptable transmission, the second device 120 may determine the transmission opportunity corresponding to the beam with the best received signal strength as the target transmission opportunity. Alternatively, the second device 120 may determine as the target transmission opportunity a next transmission opportunity corresponding to any of the beams that support an acceptable UL transmission. In some examples, for a subsequent UL transmission or any transmission following the first UL transmission, the second device 120 may use a transmission opportunity corresponding to the selected beam of the first UL transmission. Alternatively, in one example, the second device 120 may use a transmission opportunity corresponding to any beam whose received signal strength exceeds a preset threshold.

[0089] It should be understood that the above criteria for determining eligible transmission opportunities are for illustrative purposes only, without any limitation implied. In some other example embodiments, any other suitable criteria may be applied to determine eligible transmission opportunities.

[0090] In this way, the second device 120 may determine an appropriate beam for performing transmission to the first device 110 even when the second device 120 is in an inactive mode.

[0091] In some example embodiments, the second device 120 performs (250) a transmission from the second device 120 to the first device 110 at the determined target transmission opportunity. As described above, after transmitting the first configuration and the additional second configuration, the first device 110 detects transmissions from the second device 120 at multiple transmission opportunities. Thus, transmissions from the second device 120 may be accurately detected and received by the first device 110.

[0092] In this way, reconfiguring the candidate beam(s) of the second device 120 increases the likelihood of a successful UL transmission.

[0093] Additionally, as noted above, in some cases, a transmission opportunity may consist of more than one candidate beam. If the second device 120 determines that the target transmission opportunity corresponds to more than one candidate beam, the second device 120 may transmit (260) an indication of the target beam to the first device 110, and the first device 110 may detect the indication of the target beam in response. In this manner, the first device 110 may be informed of a preferred beam for the second device 120.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may perform a subsequent transmission based on the intended beam indicated by the second device 120 (270). For example, when the first device 110 has data transmission to the second device 120, the first device 110 may perform the data transmission using the target beam. As another example, the first device 110 may reconfigure additional candidate beam(s) for the second device 120 based on the target beam, and information regarding the reconfigured additional candidate beam(s) may be updated to the second device 120.

[0095] In this way, information regarding the optimal candidate beam(s) may be exchanged between the first device 110 and the second device 120 in a timely manner.

[0096] Through this disclosure, a beam management solution is proposed for devices in inactive mode, where the terminal device may derive information about available beams, increasing the likelihood of successful transmission, while the second device 120 can perform transmission with the first device 110 without entering connected mode.

[0097] 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at the first device 110, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of explanation, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110 with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0098] At block 610, the first device 110 transmits a first configuration to the second device 120. The first configuration indicates information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device 120. Alternatively or additionally, the first configuration further indicates a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being assigned by the first device 110 for transmissions from the second device 120 to the first device 110 while the second device 120 is in an inactive mode.

[0099] At block 620, the first device 110 detects transmissions from the second device 120 according to the first configuration at multiple transmission opportunities.

[0100] In some exemplary embodiments, the correspondence between at least one candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities indicates one of: different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities; or at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam.

[0101] In some example embodiments, the transmission opportunity is a periodic resource, and the first configuration further indicates the periodicity for each of the at least one candidate beam.

[0102] In some example embodiments, a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

[0103] In some exemplary embodiments, a first device 110 for detecting an indication of a target beam determined by a second device 120 from one or more candidate beams in a transmission opportunity corresponding to one or more candidate beams of a plurality of transmission opportunities.

[0104] In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one candidate beam includes the last serving beam used by the second device 120 or at least one of the last serving beam's adjacent beams.

[0105] In some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 transmits a second configuration to the second device 120 indicating a further correspondence between at least one further candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities.

[0106] In some example embodiments, the first configuration is transmitted via one of a radio resource control release message or system broadcast information signaling.

[0107] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 is a network device and the second device 120 is a terminal device.

[0108] 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at second device 120, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For purposes of explanation, method 700 will be described from the perspective of second device 120 with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0109] At block 710, the second device 120 receives a first configuration from the first device 110. The first configuration indicates information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device 120. Alternatively or additionally, the first configuration further indicates a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being assigned by the first device 110 for transmissions from the second device 120 to the first device 110 while the second device 120 is in an inactive mode.

[0110] In block 720, the second device 120 determines a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities according to the first configuration in accordance with a determination that the second device 120 is in an inactive mode and there is a transmission to be sent from the second device 120 to the first device 110.

[0111] In block 730, the second device 120 performs a transmission from the second device 120 to the first device 110 at the target transmission opportunity.

[0112] In some exemplary embodiments, the correspondence between at least one candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities indicates one of: different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities; or at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the transmission opportunity is a periodic resource, and the first configuration further indicates the periodicity for each of the at least one candidate beam.

[0114] In some example embodiments, a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

[0115] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 120 determines the target transmission opportunity based on at least one of the received signal strength of at least one candidate beam or the time difference between the current time point and the transmission time point corresponding to the transmission opportunity.

[0116] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 120 determines as the target transmission opportunity a transmission opportunity corresponding to a candidate beam having the best received signal strength of at least one candidate beam, or one of the next transmission opportunities corresponding to a candidate beam that supports acceptable transmission from the second device 120 to the first device 110 of at least one candidate beam.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the second device 120 determines a target beam from the more than one candidate beam in accordance with a determination that the target transmission opportunity corresponds to multiple candidate beams. Further, the second device 120 transmits an indication of the target beam to the first device 110.

[0118] In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one candidate beam includes the last serving beam used by the second device 120 or at least one of the last serving beam's adjacent beams.

[0119] In some exemplary embodiments, the second device 120 receives a second configuration from the first device 110 indicating a further correspondence between at least one further candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the first configuration is transmitted via one of a radio resource control release message or system broadcast information signaling.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 is a network device and the second device 120 is a terminal device.

[0122] 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 suitable for practicing an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as the first device 110 and the second device 120 shown in FIG. 1. As shown, device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to processors 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to processors 810.

[0123] The communications module 840 is for two-way communication. The communications module 840 has one or more communications interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communications interfaces may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communications module 840 may include at least one antenna.

[0124] Processor 810 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. Device 800 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips time-slaved to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0125] The memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 824, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact disks (CDs), digital video disks (DVDs), optical disks, laser disks, and other magnetic and / or optical storage devices. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memory that does not persist while power is off.

[0126] The computer program 830 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 810. The program 830 may be stored in a memory, for example, the ROM 824. The processor 810 may load the program 830 into the RAM 822 to perform any suitable operation or process.

[0127] An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program 830 such that the device 800 can perform any of the processes of the present disclosure described with reference to Figures 2, 6, and 7. An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0128] In some exemplary embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly contained in a computer-readable medium that may be included in the device 800 (such as the memory 820) or in other storage accessible by the device 800. The device 800 may load the program 830 from the computer-readable medium into RAM 822 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile storage device, such as a ROM, an EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, a CD, a DVD, etc. Figure 9 shows an example of a computer-readable medium 900, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD, or other optical storage disc. The computer-readable medium has the program 830 stored thereon.

[0129] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Certain aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other graphical representation, it should be understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented, by way of non-limiting example, in hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing device, or some combination thereof.

[0130] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, which, when executed on a target physical or virtual processor device, perform any of the methods described above with reference to Figures 3-7. Typically, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, or data structures that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split among program modules as desired in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions of the program modules may be executed in a local device or in a distributed device. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0131] Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that, when executed by the processor or controller, the program code performs the functions / acts specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. The program code may run entirely on the machine, partly on the machine as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0132] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program code or associated 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.

[0133] The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of the computer-readable storage medium may include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the above.

[0134] Furthermore, although operations are shown in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order or sequentially shown, or that all of the operations shown be performed, to achieve desirable results. Multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous in certain situations. Similarly, although details of several specific implementations are included in the above description, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0135] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure, as defined by the appended claims, is not necessarily limited to the particular features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. at least one processor; at least one memory containing computer program code; A first device comprising: The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to cause the first device, using the at least one processor, to: transmitting a first configuration to a second device, the first configuration comprising: information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device; or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being allocated by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode; Indicate at least one of transmitting the first configuration; detecting transmissions from the second device according to the first configuration at the plurality of transmission opportunities; The first device causes the

2. The correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities is: different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities; or at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam; The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first device indicates one of:

3. the transmission opportunity is a periodic resource; the first configuration further indicating a periodicity of each of the at least one candidate beam. The first device of claim 1 .

4. The first device of claim 1 , wherein a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

5. The at least one memory and the computer program code are used by the at least one processor to detecting, at a transmit opportunity corresponding to one or more candidate beams of the plurality of transmit opportunities, an indication of a target beam determined by the second device from the one or more candidate beams. The first device of claim 1 .

6. The at least one candidate beam the last serving beam used by the second device, or At least one adjacent beam of the last serving beam The first device of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:

7. The at least one memory and the computer program code are used by the at least one processor to transmitting a second configuration to the second device indicating a further correspondence between at least one further candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities. The first device of claim 1 ,

8. The first configuration is a radio resource control release message, or System Broadcast Information Signaling The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first device transmits the signal via one of the following:

9. The first device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the first device is a network device and the second device is a terminal device.

10. at least one processor; at least one memory containing computer program code; a second device comprising: The at least one memory and the computer program code are used by the at least one processor to receiving a first configuration from a first device, the first configuration comprising: information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device; or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being allocated by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode; Indicate at least one of receiving the first configuration; determining a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities in accordance with the first configuration in accordance with a determination that the second device is in an inactive mode and that there is a transmission to be sent from the second device to the first device; performing the transmission from the second device to the first device at the targeted transmission opportunity; the second device.

11. The correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities is: different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities; or at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam; The second device of claim 10 , wherein the second device indicates one of:

12. the transmission opportunity is a periodic resource; the first configuration further indicating a periodicity of each of the at least one candidate beam. The second device of claim 10.

13. The second device of claim 12 , wherein a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

14. The at least one memory and the computer program code are used by the at least one processor to: the second device further the received signal strength of the at least one candidate beam; or the time difference between the current time and the transmission time corresponding to said transmission opportunity; Based on at least one of determining the target transmission opportunity, thereby causing the determining of the target transmission opportunity. The second device of claim 10.

15. The at least one memory and the computer program code are used by the at least one processor to: The second device further comprises: a transmission opportunity corresponding to the candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam having the best received signal strength; or a next transmission opportunity corresponding to a candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam that supports an acceptable transmission from the second device to the first device; as the target transmission opportunity, The second device of claim 10.

16. the at least one memory and the computer program code are transmitted to the second device using the at least one processor; determining a target beam from the one or more candidate beams in accordance with a determination that the target transmission opportunity corresponds to more than one candidate beam; transmitting an indication of the target beam to the first device; and The second device of claim 10 configured to cause:

17. The at least one candidate beam the last serving beam used by the second device, or At least one adjacent beam of the last serving beam The second device of claim 10, comprising at least one of:

18. the at least one memory and the computer program code are transmitted to the second device using the at least one processor, and receiving a second configuration from the first device indicating a further correspondence between at least one further candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities; The second device of claim 10 configured to cause:

19. The first configuration is a radio resource control release message, or System Broadcast Information Signaling 11. The second device of claim 10, wherein the second device is configured to transmit the signal via one of the following methods:

20. The second device according to any one of claims 10 to 19, wherein the first device is a network device and the second device is a terminal device.

21. transmitting, at the first device, a first configuration to a second device, the first configuration comprising: information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device; or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being allocated by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode; transmitting the first configuration indicating at least one of: detecting transmissions from the second device according to the first configuration during the plurality of transmission opportunities; A method comprising:

22. The correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities is: different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities; or at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam; 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the signal indicates one of:

23. the transmission opportunity is a periodic resource; the first configuration further indicating a periodicity of each of the at least one candidate beam.

22. The method of claim 21.

24. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

25. detecting, at a transmit opportunity corresponding to one or more candidate beams of the plurality of transmit opportunities, an indication of a target beam determined by the second device from the one or more candidate beams.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

26. The at least one candidate beam the last serving beam used by the second device, or At least one adjacent beam of the last serving beam 22. The method of claim 21, comprising at least one of:

27. transmitting a second configuration to the second device indicating a further correspondence between at least one further candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

28. The first configuration is a radio resource control release message, or System Broadcast Information Signaling 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the signal is transmitted via one of the following:

29. The method according to any of claims 21 to 28, wherein the first device is a network device and the second device is a terminal device.

30. receiving, at the second device, a first configuration from the first device, the first configuration comprising: information regarding at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device; or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being allocated by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode; receiving the first configuration, the first configuration indicating at least one of: determining a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities in accordance with the first configuration in accordance with a determination that the second device is in an inactive mode and that there is a transmission to be sent from the second device to the first device; performing the transmission from the second device to the first device at the targeted transmission opportunity; A method comprising:

31. The correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities is: different candidate beams correspond to different subsets of the plurality of transmission opportunities; or at least one of the transmission opportunities corresponds to more than one candidate beam; 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the signal indicates one of:

32. the transmission opportunity is a periodic resource; the first configuration further indicating a periodicity of each of the at least one candidate beam.

31. The method of claim 30.

33. 31. The method of claim 30, wherein a first candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a first periodicity and a second candidate beam of the plurality of candidate beams is configured with a different second periodicity.

34. determining the target transmission opportunity; said target transmission opportunity the received signal strength of the at least one candidate beam; or the time difference between the current time and the transmission time corresponding to said transmission opportunity; Deciding based on at least one of the following:

31. The method of claim 30, comprising:

35. determining the target transmission opportunity; The target transmission opportunity is: a transmission opportunity corresponding to the candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam having the best received signal strength; or a next transmission opportunity corresponding to a candidate beam of the at least one candidate beam that supports an acceptable transmission from the second device to the first device; To determine one of 31. The method of claim 30, comprising:

36. determining a target beam from the one or more candidate beams in accordance with a determination that the target transmission opportunity corresponds to more than one candidate beam; transmitting an indication of the target beam to the first device; and 31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

37. The at least one candidate beam the last serving beam used by the second device, or At least one adjacent beam of the last serving beam 31. The method of claim 30, comprising at least one of:

38. receiving a second configuration from the first device indicating a further correspondence between at least one further candidate beam and the plurality of transmission opportunities; 31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

39. The first configuration is a radio resource control release message, or System Broadcast Information Signaling 31. The method of claim 30, wherein the signal is transmitted via one of the following:

40. The method according to any of claims 30 to 39, wherein the first device is a network device and the second device is a terminal device.

41. 1. A first device, comprising: means for transmitting a first configuration to a second device, the first configuration comprising: information about at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device; or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being assigned by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. means for transmitting the first configuration, the first configuration indicating at least one of: means for detecting transmissions from the second device according to the first configuration during the plurality of transmission opportunities; The first device comprising:

42. a second device, means for receiving a first configuration from a first device, the first configuration comprising: information about at least one candidate beam assigned to the second device; or a correspondence between the at least one candidate beam and a plurality of transmission opportunities, the plurality of transmission opportunities being assigned by the first device for transmission from the second device to the first device while the second device is in an inactive mode. means for receiving the first configuration, the first configuration indicating at least one of: means for determining a target transmission opportunity from the transmission opportunities in accordance with the first configuration in accordance with a determination that the second device is in an inactive mode and that there is a transmission to be sent from the second device to the first device; means for effecting the transmission from the second device to the first device at the targeted transmission opportunity; The second device comprising:

43. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of claims 21 to 29.

44. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any of claims 30 to 40.

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