Method, terminal device and network device

Abstract

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a solution for communication with multiple Timing Early Groups (TAGs), in which a terminal device receives configuration information from a network device indicating multiple Timing Early Groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device, and during a communication procedure with the network device, the terminal device determines at least one operating state of at least one timer among multiple timers associated with the multiple TAGs, and performs an action for the communication procedure based on the at least one operating state of the at least one timer.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] FIELD Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications technology, and more particularly to methods, apparatus, and media for communications with multiple Timing Advance Groups (TAGs). [Background technology]

[0002] Timing Advance (TA) is used to adjust uplink (UL) transmission timing. Traditionally, one TA is associated with one Timing Advance Group (TAG), and one serving cell is associated with one TAG. Currently, it is proposed to designate two TAs for communication, for example, to support UL multi-downlink control information (DCI) and multi-transmission and reception point (MTRP) operations. Furthermore, two TAGs for two TAs may be configured for one serving cell. Therefore, specific operations with multiple TAGs may be required. Summary of the Invention

[0003] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present disclosure generally provide a method, apparatus, and computer storage medium for communication with multiple TAGs.

[0004] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method including: receiving, in a terminal device, configuration information indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device from a network device; determining, during a communication procedure with the network device, at least one operation state of at least one timer among a plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs; and performing an action for the communication procedure based on the at least one operation state of the at least one timer.

[0005] In a second aspect, a communications method is provided, including: receiving, in a terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device; receiving a plurality of timing advance (TA) commands from the network device for the plurality of TAGs; determining starting times for the plurality of TAGs indicating when the plurality of TAG commands apply; and applying the plurality of TA commands from the determined starting times in accordance with determining that an active BWP of the first cell is configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode.

[0006] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, the method including: receiving, at a terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a cell for the terminal device; selecting a target TAG from the plurality of TAGs based on TAG selection criteria for the communication procedure; and performing the communication procedure with the network device based on at least the target TAG.

[0007] In a fourth aspect, there is provided a terminal device comprising a processing unit and a memory, coupled to the processing unit, having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, causing the device to perform a method according to any of the first, second and third aspects.

[0008] In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to implement a method according to any of the first, second and third aspects.

[0009] Other features of the present disclosure will become readily apparent from the following description. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from a more detailed description of some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings.

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary communication environment in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented.

[0012] [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of TA in communication with multiple TRPs according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0014] [Figure 4] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of TAG settings according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0015] [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0016] [Figure 6A] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an association relationship between a bandwidth part (BWP) and a TAG according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] [Figure 6B] FIG. 10 is an exemplary timeline diagram illustrating TA command reception, BWP switching, and TA command application according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] [Figure 7] FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary association relationship between a BWP and a TAG according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0019] [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an exemplary configuration of TAG and CC lists according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] [Figure 9] FIG. 1 illustrates an example configuration of TAGs and cell groups by a MAC entity according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0021] [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating another example of TAG settings according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] [Figure 11A] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a MAC CE used to indicate a TA command according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 11B] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a MAC CE used to indicate a TA command according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] [Figure 12A] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of SCS selection for determining an indicated TA value according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12B] FIG. 10 illustrates an example of SCS selection for determining an indicated TA value according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0024] [Figure 13] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary communication method according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0025] [Figure 14] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary communication method according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0026] [Figure 15A] 1 illustrates an exemplary BFR procedure according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0027] [Figure 15B] 1 illustrates an example table illustrating associations between TAGs, resource pools, and RSs for BFR according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0028] [Figure 16] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0029] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numbers represent the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0030] The principles of the present disclosure will be described with reference to several embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are set forth for illustrative purposes only to aid those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and do not imply any limitations on the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure described herein can be embodied in various forms other than those described below.

[0031] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0032] In this disclosure, the term "terminal device" refers to any device with wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of terminal devices include user equipment (UE), personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, in-vehicle devices for V2X communications where X represents pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure / network, devices for Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB), spacecraft or air vehicles in a Non-terrestrial network (NTN) including Satellites and High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) including Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASs), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and other technologies. This includes, but is not limited to, extended reality (XR) devices, which include different types of reality such as real-world reality (VR), virtual reality (VR), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as drones, i.e., aircraft without a human pilot, devices on high-speed trains (HST), image capture devices such as digital cameras, sensors, and gaming devices, music storage and playback devices, and internet appliances that enable wireless or wired internet access and browsing.The "terminal device" may also have "multicast / broadcast" capabilities and support public safety and mission-critical, V2X applications, transparent IPV4 / IPV6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, wireless services, over-the-air software delivery, group communication, and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), referred to as multi-SIM. The term "terminal device" may be used interchangeably with UE, mobile station, subscriber station, mobile terminal, user terminal, or wireless device.

[0033] The term "network device" refers to a device capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage area over which terminal devices can communicate. Examples of network devices include, but are not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a low-power node such as an IAB node, a femto node, a pico node, and a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).

[0034] A terminal device or network device may have artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning capabilities, which typically include models trained from a large amount of collected data for a specific function and can be used to predict some information.

[0035] A terminal device or network device may operate in multiple frequency ranges, such as FR1 (410 MHz to 7125 MHz), FR2 (24.25 GHz to 71 GHz), frequency bands greater than 100 GHz, and terahertz (THz). It can also operate in licensed, unlicensed, and shared spectrum. A terminal device may have multiple connections with network devices in Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenarios. A terminal device or network device can operate in full duplex, flexible duplex, and cross division duplex modes.

[0036] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in test equipment, such as a signal generator, a signal analyzer, a spectrum analyzer, a network analyzer, a test terminal equipment, a test network equipment, or a channel emulator. In some embodiments, the terminal equipment may be connected to a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs). In some embodiments, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In some embodiments, the first RAT device is an eNB and the second RAT device is a gNB. Information related to the different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device and the second network device. In some embodiments, the first information may be transmitted from the first network device to the terminal device, and the second information may be transmitted from the second network device to the terminal device directly or via the first network device. In some embodiments, information regarding the configuration of the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device, and information regarding the reconfiguration of the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device directly from the second network device or via the first network device.

[0037] In this disclosure, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms "a," "the," and "the" are intended to include the plural. The term "comprises" and variations thereof are interpreted as open-ended terms meaning "including, but not limited to." The term "based on" is interpreted as "based at least in part on." The terms "one embodiment" and "embodiment" are interpreted as "at least one embodiment." The term "another embodiment" is interpreted as "at least one other embodiment." Terms such as "first," "second," etc. may refer to different objects or the same object. The following content may include other definitions, both explicit and implicit.

[0038] In some instances, values, procedures, or devices are referred to as "optimal," "lowest," "highest," "minimum," "maximum," etc. It is understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate choices among multiple functional alternatives used, and that such choices are not necessarily better, smaller, higher, or more preferred than other choices.

[0039] As used herein, the terms "resource," "transmission resource," "uplink resource," or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource for performing communication, such as a time domain resource, a frequency domain resource, a space domain resource, a code domain resource, or any other resource that enables communication. Hereinafter, unless otherwise specified, both frequency domain and time domain resources are used as examples of transmission resources for describing some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0040] The terms "SRI," "SRS Resource Set Index," "UL TCI," "UL spatial domain filter," "UL beam," and "joint TCI" may be used interchangeably.

[0041] With respect to the CG PUSCH, the term "PUSCH transmission" as used herein can refer to either the nominal transmission or the actual transmission.

[0042] The terms "transmission capability information," "UE capability information," "capability related information," "capability value set," "panel information," and "panel related information" can be used interchangeably.

[0043] The terms "precoder," "precoding," "precoding matrix," "beam," "spatial relationship information," "spatial relationship information," "precoding information," "precoding information and number of layers," "precoding matrix indicator (PMI)," "precoding matrix indicator," "transmit precoding matrix indication," "precoding matrix indication," "TCI state," "transmit configuration indicator," "quasi co-location (QCL)," "quasi co-location," "QCL parameters," "QCL assumptions," "QCL relationships," and "spatial relationships" can be used interchangeably.

[0044] The terms "single TRP", "single TCI state", "single TCI", "S-TCI", "single CORESET", "single control resource set pool", "S-TRP" and "S-TCI state" can be used interchangeably.

[0045] The terms "multiple TRPs", "multiple TCI states", "multiple CORESETs" and "multiple control resource set pools", "multiple TRPs", "multiple TCI states", "multiple TCIs", "multiple CORESETs" and "multiple control resource set pools", "MTRPs" and "M-TCIs", and "M-TPRs" can be used interchangeably.

[0046] The terms "resource," "resources within a resource set," and "resource set" can be used interchangeably.

[0047] The terms "group," "subset," and "set" can be used interchangeably.

[0048] Furthermore, a "panel" as described in this disclosure refers to one or more antenna elements arranged in a specific area of ​​a terminal device. A panel as described in this disclosure may refer to a downlink panel, an uplink panel, a panel type, a panel state, a capability value set, a reference signal (RS) resource, an RS resource set, an antenna port, an antenna port group, a beam, or a beam group. In this regard, the terms "panel," "panel type," "set of antenna ports," "antenna element," and "antenna array" (and their equivalent expressions) may be used interchangeably.

[0049] Furthermore, panel information described in the present disclosure may refer to a UE panel index / identifier (ID), a downlink panel ID, an uplink panel ID, a panel type indication, a panel state indication, a capability value set index, an RS resource ID, an RS resource set ID, an antenna port ID, an antenna port group ID, a beam ID, and a beam group ID.

[0050] The term "BWP ID / index" can be used interchangeably with "BWP / CC ID / index", "CC identity / index", "cell identity / index", "cell group identity / index", "physical cell identity / index", and "serving cell identity / index".

[0051] The term "beam failure" can be used interchangeably with "link failure," and "beam failure recovery request" can be used interchangeably with "link recovery request."

[0052] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for communication with multiple timing early groups (TAGs).The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0053] 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication environment 100 in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Communication environment 100 involves multiple communication devices, including terminal device 110 and multiple network devices 120-1 and 120-2. For ease of explanation, network device 120-1 and network device 120-2 will be referred to collectively or individually as network device 120.

[0054] It should be understood that the number of devices and their connections in Figure 1 are shown for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices adapted to implement embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, more terminal devices and / or network devices may be present in communication environment 100. Although not shown, communication environment 100 may participate in a core network having core network devices for supporting communications.

[0055] Communications in communication environment 100 may conform to any suitable standard, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), New Radio (NR), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), Machine Type Communication (MTC), etc. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in accordance with any currently known or future-developed generation of communication protocols. Examples of communication 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, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or sixth generation (6G) networks.

[0056] In communication environment 100, terminal device 110 may communicate with one or more network devices 120. In some embodiments, network device 120 may include a transmission reception point (TRP). A network device 120 that serves terminal device 110 may be referred to as the serving network device of terminal device 110. In some exemplary embodiments, a link from network device 120 to terminal device 110 is referred to as the downlink (DL), and a link from terminal device 110 to network device 120 is referred to as the uplink (UL).

[0057] During communication, the TA is used to adjust the UL transmission timing to enable synchronization. Specifically, the UL frame number i for transmission from the terminal device is T before the start of the corresponding DL frame at the terminal device. TA =(N TA +NTA,offset +N TA,adj common +N TA,adj UE )T c where N TA is the timing early command or absolute timing early command T A and N TA,offset is the timing early offset in the timing early command, and N TA,adj common is derived from higher layer parameters or is a default value, and N TA,adj UE is calculated based on satellite ephemeris related higher layer parameters, if set, or is a default value. c =1 / (Δf max N f ) and Δf max = 480·10^3Hz, and N f =4096.

[0058] In this disclosure, T c is the basic timing unit, and T c =1 / (Δf max N f ), Δf max =480 10 3 Hz and N f = 4096. Other time units may be milliseconds (ms), frames, subframes, slots, and symbols, which can be converted into each other. Each frame has a frame length T f =(Δf max N f / 100)·T c T = 10 ms c The number of consecutive OFDM symbols per subframe is N symb subframe,μ =N symb slot N slot subframe,μ Furthermore, the slots are arranged in ascending order within a subframe as s μ ∈{0,...,N slotsubframe,μ -1} and are numbered in ascending order within a frame s,f μ ∈{0,...,N slot frame,μ -1}. Additionally, other parameters related to the above timing unit conversion are listed in the table below. Table 1 shows examples of supported transmit numerologies. [Table 1]

[0059] Table 2 shows an example of the number of OFDM symbols per slot, the number of slots per frame, and the number of slots per subframe for a normal cyclic prefix. [Table 2]

[0060] Table 3 shows examples of the number of OFDM symbols per slot, the number of slots per frame, and the number of slots per subframe for the extended cyclic prefix. [Table 3]

[0061] Upon receiving a timing early command for a TAG, the terminal device sets a value N that the UE expects to be the same for all serving cells in the TAG. TA,offset and the received timing early command, in which the UL timing for transmission is the same for all serving cells in the TAG. TA,offsetcan be provided by the n-TimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell. If the UE is not provided with the n-TimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell, the UE shall use a default value N TA,offset Determine.

[0062] Timing Early Command T for TAG A and the timing early command T A , or the timing early command T in the absolute timing early command media access control (MAC CE) A is T A = 0, 1, 2, ..., 3846 with index values ​​N TA value, where 2 μ The amount of time alignment for TAG with 15kHz SCS is N TA =T A 16 64 / 2 μ N TA is defined relative to the subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the first uplink transmission from the terminal device after receiving a random access response or an absolute timing early command MAC CE. Otherwise, the timing early command T for TAG A is T A = 0, 1, 2, ..., 63, the index values ​​for the current N TA Value N TA_old From the new N TA Value N TA_new where 2 μ For 15kHz SCS, TA_new =N TA_old +(T A -31)·16·64 / 2 μ is.

[0063] Generally, a TA can be configured and updated for a TAG. A TAG may include a set of cells configured by RRC radio resource control that use the same timing reference cell and the same timing advance value for a UL configured cell. In some cases, a timing advance group that includes the SpCell of a MAC entity is referred to as a Primary Timing Advance Group (PTAG), and other TAGs are referred to as Secondary Timing Advance Groups (STAGs).

[0064] Conventionally, one TA is associated with one timing advance group (TAG), and one TAG is associated with one serving cell. Currently, it is proposed to designate two TAs for communication, for example, to support UL multiple downlink control information (DCI) and multiple transmit / receive point (MTRP) operations. In MTRP operations, a terminal device may communicate with multiple MTRPs; for example, in FIG. 1, terminal device 110 may communicate with both network devices 120-1 and 120-2. Possible scenarios for MTRP operations, assuming two TRPs are involved, include one TRP on the DL and another TRP on the UL, both TRPs on the DL and one TRP on the UL, one TRP on the DL and both TRPs on the UL, or both TRPs on the DL and UL.

[0065] The UL timing with different MTRPs may be different. As shown in Figure 2, the start timing T TA,1 is determined relative to DL frame i 210 from TRP1 and is the start timing T of UL frame number j 222 for transmission to TPR2. TA,2 is determined relative to the DL frame number j 212 from TRP2. Taking into account the distance from the terminal device to the two TRPs and other channel conditions, TTA,1 and T TA,2 The TAs may be different. If a TA is measured or signaled between TRP1 and the terminal device, it may not be suitable for communication between TRP2 and the terminal device. The same problem may occur with different UE panels and TRPs. Therefore, two or more TAs may be required, and therefore two or more TAGs are configured for each TA.

[0066] When multiple TAGs are configured, there is a possibility of conflict with the conventional TAG definition, where a set of cells is configured by RRC and uses the same timing reference cell and the same timing advance value for the UL configured cells. Therefore, the specific operation of using multiple TAGs needs to be carefully designed and specified to maintain consistency during communication and ensure communication performance.

[0067] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for communication with multiple TAGs. In some embodiments, specific operations are provided for terminal devices to enable them to correctly apply TA commands for multiple TAGs. In some embodiments, specific configurations, instructions, and / or device capabilities are provided to support multiple TAGs for a particular cell. In some embodiments, multiple timers associated with multiple TAGs are triggered to enable completion of certain communication procedures, and therefore, execution of those communication procedures depends on the configured timers. In some embodiments, TA value alignment within a cell is proposed to enable execution of certain communication procedures.

[0068] The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0069] 3, which illustrates a flowchart of a communication method 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 300 may be implemented in a terminal device. For illustrative purposes, method 300 is described with reference to FIG. 1, and method 300 may be implemented in a terminal device 110.

[0070] In block 310, terminal device 110 receives configuration information from a network device indicating multiple timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of terminal device 110, where the first cell may be a serving cell of terminal device 110. In some examples, the configuration information to the terminal device may indicate identities (IDs) of multiple TAGs.

[0071] A TAG may involve one or more cells. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is assumed that the serving cell of the terminal device 110 (referred to herein as the "first cell") belongs to multiple TAGs. Cells within the same TAG may share the same TA value for UL transmission timing.

[0072] 4 illustrates an example configuration 400 of two TAGs. As shown, a first TAG (TAG1) is associated with serving cell x, cell 1, and cell 2, and a second TAG (TAG2) is associated with serving cell x, cell 1, and cell 2. It is assumed that terminal device 110 is within the coverage of serving cell x and can receive configuration information indicating TAG1 and TAG2. It is noted that the example of FIG. 4 is for illustrative purposes only; the mapping between cells and TAGs may be different, and more, fewer, or different cells and TAGs may be configured.

[0073] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs may include a first TAG and a second TAG. In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs may include more than two TAGs.

[0074] If multiple TAGs are set, the behavior or operation of the terminal device 110 during communication may be determined according to the multiple TAGs. In block 320, the terminal device 110 performs communication based on the multiple TAGs.

[0075] 5 shows a flowchart of a communication method 500 implemented in a terminal device according to some embodiments. The method 500 is implemented by the terminal device to determine how to apply TA commands for UL timing. For illustrative purposes, the method 500 is described with reference to FIG. 1, and the method 500 may be implemented in the terminal device 110.

[0076] At block 510, the terminal device 110 receives configuration information from the network device indicating multiple TAGs associated with a first cell of the terminal device 110. If multiple TAGs are configured, at block 520, the terminal device 110 receives multiple TA commands for the multiple TAGs from the network device.

[0077] In some embodiments, the two TAs of the two TAGs for the serving cell are T ADV,1 =(T TRP1-RX,PRACH1 -T TRP1-TX ), T ADV,2 =(T TRP2-RX、PRACH2 -T TRP2-TX ) can be calculated as follows. Assuming that TRP1 and PRACH1 are associated with TAG1, and TRP2 and PRACH2 are associated with TAG2, T TRP1-RX is the TRP1 reception timing of uplink subframe #i including PRACH1 transmitted from the terminal device for TAG1, and is defined by the first detected path in time, and T TRP1-TX is the TRP transmission timing of the downlink subframe #j that is closest in time to the subframe #i received from the terminal device. TRP2-RX is the TRP2 reception timing of uplink subframe #i including PRACH2 transmitted from the terminal device for TAG2, and is defined by the first detected path in time, and T TRP2-TX is the TRP transmission timing of the downlink subframe #j that is closest in time to the subframe #i received from the terminal device.

[0078] In some embodiments, the two TAs of the two TAGs are respectively TADV,1=(T TRP1-RX,PRACH2 -T TRP1-TX +offset1), T ADV,2 =(T TRP1-RX、PRACH1 -T TRP2-TX -offset1) over the TRP. TRP1-RX is the TRP1 reception timing of uplink subframe #i including PRACH2 transmitted from the terminal device for TAG2, and is defined by the first detected path in time, and T TRP1-TX is the TRP transmission timing of the downlink subframe #j that is closest in time to the subframe #i received from the terminal device. TRP2-RX is the TRP2 reception timing of uplink subframe #i including PRACH1 transmitted from the terminal device for TAG1, and is defined by the first detected path in time, and T TRP2-TX is the TRP transmission timing of downlink subframe #j that is closest in time to subframe #i received from the terminal device. offset1 is the propagation difference between TRP1 and TRP2, and offset1 can be a positive or negative value. In some embodiments, offset1 is signaled by the network device. In some embodiments, offset1 can be reported by the terminal device.

[0079] In some embodiments, if PRACH1 or PRACH2 is transmitted with a non-zero TA, then T ADV,1 or T ADV,2 An additional offset2 is required to calculate offset 2. In some embodiments, offset 2 is signaled by the network device. In some embodiments, offset 2 may be reported by the terminal device.

[0080] In some embodiments, T TRP1-TX and T TRP2-TX may be the same. Alternatively, or in addition, T TRP1-TX and T TRP2-TX may be different, T ADV,1=(T TRP1-RX -T TRP2-TX +offset3), T ADV,2 =(T TRP2-RX -TT RP1-TX -offset3), where offset3 is T TRP1-TX and T TRP2-TX offset3 is the transmission timing difference between offset1 and offset2, and offset3 can be a positive or negative value. In some embodiments, offset3 is signaled by the network device. In some embodiments, offset3 can be reported by the terminal device.

[0081] T TRP-RX Reference points for (e.g., T TRP1-RX、PRACH1 , T TRP1-RX、PRACH2 , T TRP2-RX、PRACH1 , T TRP1-RX、PRACH2 )teeth, -Rx antenna connector of the corresponding TRP, - The Rx antenna of the corresponding TRP (i.e., the center position of the Rx antenna's radiation area) -Rx Transceiver Array Boundary Connector of the corresponding TRP, It can be one of: T TRP-RX Reference points for (e.g., T TRP1-TX , T TRP2-TX )teeth, - Corresponding TRP Tx antenna connector, - The Tx antenna of the corresponding TRP (i.e., the center position of the radiation area of ​​the Tx antenna) - Corresponding TRP Tx Transceiver Array Boundary Connector, It can be one of:

[0082] JPEG2025532294000005.jpg101168

[0083] In some cases, the TA command T A In the case of a random access response, the TA command T A , or TA command T in absolute timing early command A is a value of T A= N indicated by index values ​​0, 1, 2, ..., 3846 TA In some examples, terminal device 110 may be configured to receive a timing early offset value N for TAG. TA,offset In some examples, a timing early command T for TAG may be provided. A is T A = 0, 1, 2, ..., 63, the index values ​​for the current N TA Value N TA_old From the new N TA Value N TA_new may indicate adjustment to

[0084] The above shows some examples of the TA command. The TA command for the TAG may be provided in other ways and may indicate other information or values ​​for the terminal device to determine the UL transmission timing for the TAG.

[0085] In some embodiments, the TA command may be received along with configuration information for the corresponding TAG. For example, terminal device 110 may receive a Media Control Access (MAC) Control Element (CE) that indicates both the TAG and the corresponding TA command. In some embodiments, the TA command may be indicated separately from the TAG configuration.

[0086] Upon receiving the TA commands, terminal device 110 may determine when and how to apply the TA commands, e.g., to adjust UL transmission timing. In block 530, terminal device 110 determines a starting point for the TAGs. The starting point indicates when to apply the TA commands.

[0087] In an embodiment of the present invention, it is proposed that if multiple TAGs are associated with the same serving cell for the terminal device 110, the terminal device 110 applies corresponding TA commands for the TAGs from the same time point.

[0088] In some embodiments, a starting point may be determined to indicate that a corresponding adjustment of the uplink transmission timing is applied from the beginning of a particular uplink slot. The starting point or this uplink slot may be determined at least in part based on information bandwidth portion (BWP) related information in the TAG. In some examples, to determine the starting point, a reference SCS for the BWP is determined in the TAG. The reference SCS may be a minimum SCS.

[0089] JPEG2025532294000006.jpg153168

[0090] Determining the start time or uplink slot n+k+1+2 μ ·K offset The predetermined parameter k may vary depending on the TAG. If multiple TAGs are configured, the terminal device 110 may determine multiple potential start times for different TAGs. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine multiple values ​​for the predetermined parameter k for calculating the start time based on corresponding BWP-related information in the multiple TAGs, and may select one of the determined values ​​for the predetermined parameter k to determine the start time.

[0091] JPEG2025532294000007.jpg88168

[0092] In some embodiments, among multiple values ​​for a given parameter k, terminal device 110 may select a relatively large or maximum value. For example, the uplink slot for the start point is n+max(k1, k2)+1+2 for two TAGs. μ ·K offset That is, the latter of k1 and k2 can be selected to determine the starting point.

[0093] JPEG2025532294000008.jpg107168

[0094] It should be understood that specific examples of calculation of the starting point are given above, and that the calculation of the starting point can be performed in other ways and the parameters used can be adjusted accordingly.

[0095] Once the start time is determined, in block 540, the terminal device 110 applies multiple TA commands from the determined start time in accordance with a determination that the MTRP mode is set in the active BWP of the first cell for the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, multiple TA values ​​are useful in the MTRP mode when the terminal device 110 communicates with multiple TRPs.

[0096] In a cell, an MTRP mode may be configured for each BWP. Specifically, if multiple BWPs (e.g., UL BWPs) are configured in a cell, the MTRP mode may be configured for one or more of the BWPs. In some examples, the MTRP mode may be UL multi-DCI for MTRP mode (sometimes referred to herein as "target MTRP mode"). In some examples, the target MTRP mode may be multi-DCI-based MTRP for PUSCH, multi-DCI-based MTRP for PUCCH, or multi-DCI-based MTRP STxMP (simultaneous uplink transmission across multiple panels) for PUCCH and / or PUSCH. In some embodiments below, the target MTRP mode is used as an example, but other MTRP modes may also be configured.

[0097] The terminal device 110 may determine to apply multiple TA commands if it determines that an active BWP (e.g., an active UL BWP) has MTRP mode configured. Here, an active BWP indicates that the terminal device 110 is operating with a network device using this BWP. Because MTRP mode is configured for this BWP, the terminal device 110 may need to operate in multiple TAs for different TRPs.

[0098] In these embodiments, for at least the active UL BWPs configured with MTRP mode, the terminal device 110 applies the TA command from the determined start time, thereby adjusting the application timing of the TA value in the TA command to MTRP operation.

[0099] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 can switch between BWPs in a cell. The BWP switch can occur before or after the time to apply the TA command. Terminal device 110 can take different actions depending on the time of the BWP switch.

[0100] JPEG2025532294000009.jpg63168

[0101] In the case of a BWP switch, e.g., from a first BWP to a second BWP, the reference SCS may change. In some embodiments, if terminal device 110 changes the active UL BWP between the time of receiving the timing early command and the time of applying the corresponding adjustment to the uplink transmission timing, terminal device 110 may determine the TA value based on the SCS of the new active UL BWP, e.g., the second BWP. In some embodiments, if the TA command cannot be applied for the new active UL BWP, terminal device 110 may determine the TA value based on the SCS of the previous active UL BWP at the time the TA command was received.

[0102] In some examples, in addition to the MTRP mode, different BWPs in a cell may be configured to be associated with different TAGs. An example of an association relationship 610 is shown in Figure 6A. In this example, the terminal device's serving cell x is associated with both TAG1 and TAG2. UL BWP1 of serving cell x is not configured for target MTRP mode and is associated with TAG1. Meanwhile, UL BWP2 is configured for target MTRP mode and is associated with both TAG1 and TAG2. UL BWP1 has SCS1, and UL BWP2 has SCS2.

[0103] 6B shows an example timeline 620 of TA command reception (time T1), BWP switching (time T2), and TA command application (time T3). In this example, the BWP switching from BWP2 to BWP1 is completed between the time the TA command is received (T1) and the start of the TA command application (T3).

[0104] Since the terminal device 110 switches from BWP2 to BWP1 and the active BWP (BWP1 in this example) is associated with TAG1, the TA value for TAG1 may be determined based on the TA command received for this TAG and the reference SCS (SCS1) of BWP1. For example, TA The value is N TA_new =N TA_old +(T A -31)·16·64 / 2 μ where μ may be SCS1 of BWP1.

[0105] For TAG2, because the active BWP (BWP1 in this example) is not associated with TAG2 according to the association relationship of FIG. 6A, BWP1 does not apply the adjustment indicated by the received TA command for TAG2. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may still use the SCS of the previous active BWP (BWP2) to calculate the TA value for TAG2. Thus, the TA value for TAG2 may be determined based on the received TA command for the second TAG and the reference SCS of the first BWP, and N TA_new =N TA_old +(T A -31)·16·64 / 2 μ2 Here, μ2 may be SCS2 of BWP2.

[0106] The above embodiment is described with reference to two TAGs. If more than two TAGs are configured, the reference SCSs, and therefore the TA values, for those TAGs can be determined in a similar manner.

[0107] In some embodiments, if terminal device 110 changes the active UL BWP after applying a TA command (i.e., if an adjustment to uplink transmission timing is applied), terminal device 110 may assume at least one same absolute timing early command value before and after the change in the active UL BWP. That is, terminal device 110 may maintain at least one of multiple TA values ​​for at least one of multiple TAGs.

[0108] In one example, assume that a BWP switch occurs from BWP1 to BWP2. Given the association relationships in FIG. 6A , before such a BWP switch, the active BWP (BWP1) is not associated with TAG2, so the TA commands for TAG1 and TAG2 can be applied normally. After the BWP switch, the active BWP becomes BWP2 and is associated with both TAG1 and TAG2. At this point, a new TA value associated with TAG2 applies, which is naturally not the same as the TA value associated with TAG1. In other words, if the terminal device 110 changes the active UL BWP after applying an adjustment for uplink transmission timing, the terminal device 110 may assume the same absolute timing advance command value before and after the change of the active UL BWP within the TAG.

[0109] Above, several embodiments for applying TA commands for multiple TAGs are described. Below, several embodiments for specific settings, instructions, and / or capabilities for supporting multiple TAGs are further described.

[0110] In some embodiments, several methods and constraints are provided for configuring multiple TAGs belonging to a serving cell of a terminal device.

[0111] In some embodiments, multiple TAGs may be required in MTRP mode. In some cases, the MTRP mode may be configured per BWP, and the unified TCI state operation may be configured per BWP. In some embodiments, whether or not to follow the unified TCI state for UL transmission may also be configured per BWP, and even per channel or reference signal. Thus, not all BWPs in a cell require multiple TAGs, and further selection of the TAG / TA values ​​applied thereto may be required. Thus, in some embodiments, for a particular cell associated with multiple TAGs, one or more TAGs may be configured or applied to one or more BWPs (e.g., UL BWPs) in which the MTRP mode is configured.

[0112] In some embodiments, multiple TAGs associated with a cell (first cell) for terminal device 110 may be configured for each BWP. For example, terminal device 110 may receive configuration information indicating which BWPs are associated with which TAGs. One or more BWPs configured with MTRP mode may be associated with two or more TAGs among the multiple TAGs, and one or more other BWPs not configured with MTRP mode may each be associated with one of the multiple TAGs.

[0113] 7 shows an example of a BWP-TAG association relationship 700. In this example, assume that serving cell x for terminal device 110 is associated with two TAGs (TAG1 and TAG2). Of all UL BWPs of serving cell x, UL BWP2 is associated with both TAG1 and TAG2 because it is configured in target MTRP mode. The other UL BWPs are associated with one of the multiple TAGs (e.g., TAG1).

[0114] In some embodiments, one of the multiple TAGs may be configured to be associated with a BWP that supports the MTRP mode. For example, TAG2 in the example of FIG. 7 is configured to apply to a BWP that supports the MTRP mode.

[0115] In some embodiments, one TAG ID may be configured per cell, and one or more additional TAG IDs may be configured for BWPs operating in MTRP mode.

[0116] In some embodiments, no more than one TAG may be configured for the initial UL BWP. In general, the initial UL BWP may not be used for MTRP operations.

[0117] In some embodiments, multiple TAGs may be configured for each cell, as in the example of FIG. 4 . The configuration information may further indicate that at least one of the multiple TAGs is restricted to be applied for one or more BWPs configured without MTRP mode. In one example, a first TAG applies to all UL BWPs in the serving cell, while one or more second TAGs are not applied for UL BWPs configured without MTRP mode. In some embodiments, when two or more TAGs are configured for the terminal device 110, the first TAG is the one with the lowest or highest TAG ID, and the second TAG is the one with the remaining higher or lower TAG ID. When two TAGs are configured, the second TAG is the one with the higher or lower TAG ID.

[0118] In some embodiments, one or more second TAGs may be configured in a predefined information element (IE), such as an IE designated as additionalTAG-ID. In some embodiments, the restriction of not applying a second TAG means that the terminal device 110 may ignore the second TAG, its associated TA value, or TA command. In some embodiments, the restriction of not applying a second TAG means that the terminal device 110 may not stop or start a timer (denoted timeAlignmentTimer) associated with the second TAG, or may consider it to have expired.

[0119] In some embodiments, a different TAG may be configured for each BWP. That is, there may be a one-to-one correspondence between the TAGs of the serving cell and the BWPs. For example, the terminal device's configuration information may indicate that UL BWP1 is associated with TAG1, and UL BWP2 is associated with BWP2. With such configuration, in some embodiments, a BWP switch within a cell may be used as a TAG switch, and thus a TA value switch. The applied TA value may be the TA value for the TAG associated with the BWP after the switch. In this case, some additional delay may be introduced to complete the BWP switch to accommodate the TAG change. Meanwhile, it is convenient and easy to manage both the BWPs and the TAGs.

[0120] In some embodiments, several cell groups or cell lists may be configured for the terminal device 110, including but not limited to, for component carrier (CC) or BWP lists, common beam operation, simultaneous update of TCI state, spatial relationship, and unified TCI state, and there may be some overlap between the CC or BWP lists and the cells in the TAG. These lists may be configured, for example, via the RRC IEs simultaneousTCI-UpdateList, simultaneousSpatial-UpdatedList, simultaneousU-TCI-UpdateList, etc.

[0121] To address overlap issues, in some embodiments, if a cell is associated with multiple TAGs, this cell and cells associated with only one TAG may not be included in the same CC list for simultaneous TCI update, simultaneous spatial relationship update, simultaneous unified TCI update, or simultaneous UL TCI update. For example, if a first cell for terminal device 110 is configured with multiple TAGs, terminal device 110 may receive configuration information for CC lists for simultaneous TCI / spatial relationship / unified TCI / UL TCI update, indicating a list of cells configured to be associated with multiple TAGs, including the first cell. FIG. 8 illustrates an example configuration for TAGs and CC lists. In this example, according to TAG configuration 400 shown in FIG. 4, serving cell x and cell 1 of terminal device 110 are configured to be associated with both TAG1 and TAG2. Therefore, serving cell x and cell 1 may be included in the same CC list 800 for simultaneous TCI update. Cells 2 and 3, when configured for simultaneous TCI update, may be configured in two separate CC lists. In other words, cells for simultaneous TCI / spatial relationship / unified TCI / UL TCI update are cells with the same TAG configured, for example, cells with the same TAG number and TAG ID.

[0122] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 can be configured to have cell groups via an RRC IE CellGroupConfig, for example, used to configure a master cell group (MCG) or a secondary cell group (SCG). A cell group may include one MAC entity, a set of logical channels with associated radio link control (RLC) entities, a primary cell (SpCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells). There may be an overlap issue between the list of cell groups for the MAC entity and the cells in the TAG. To address such issues, in some embodiments, the cell groups for the MAC entity may be configured according to the configuration of the TAG.

[0123] Specifically, if the serving cell of the terminal device 110 is associated with multiple TAGs, the cells associated with those TAGs may be controlled by the same MAC entity. Otherwise, if the cells are not controlled by the same MAC entity, TAG switching may require MAC entity switching, which may result in significant delay and complexity. In other words, a cell group for a MAC entity may not be configured for each TAG. If the serving cell is associated with multiple TAGs, all cells associated with the multiple TAGs may be configured in the same cell group via the RRC IE CellGroupConfig or MAC-CellGroupConfig.

[0124] 9 shows a schematic diagram of an example configuration of TAGs and cell groups by MAC entities according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, cell group 900 may be inappropriate because cell 2 and cell 3 cannot be in different MAC entities according to TAG configuration 400. Cell group 910 may be desirable in which all cells associated with either TAG1 or TAG2 are controlled by the same MAC entity (MAC entity 1).

[0125] In some embodiments, the configuration of TAGs for cells may impose some restrictions on the cells in which the MTRP mode is configured (one or more BWPs for each cell in which this mode is configured). For example, if a cell does not have the MTRP mode configured, the cell may be configured to be associated with one TAG. One or more additional TAGs may also be configured to be associated with other cells in which the MTRP mode is configured. Figure 10 illustrates TAG configuration 1000 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0126] In some embodiments, some restrictions may be placed on inter-cell operation when configuring TAGs for cells. In the case of inter-cell MTRP or inter-cell mobility, a cell with a PCI different from that of the serving cell may be configured or activated. If multiple TAGs are configured for cells with different PCIs, the complexity of maintaining TAs for all cells increases. In some embodiments, if a first cell for terminal device 110 is configured to have inter-cell MTRP mode with a second cell, the total number of TAGs associated with the first cell and the second cell may be limited, for example, to a predetermined number or less.

[0127] In some examples, a cell having a different physical cell identity (PCI) than the serving cell for the terminal device cannot be associated with multiple TAGs. In some examples, the total number of TAGs that can be configured, activated, or maintained for inter-cell MTRP may be two or less. In some examples, multiple TAGs may be configured separately between cells with different PCIs. For example, if there are two different TAGs, one is for the serving cell and the other is for a cell with a different PCI. In another example, two TAGs may be configured for the serving cell, and one of them may be configured for a cell with a different PCI. In this way, neighboring cells for the terminal device may not be associated with the same PCIs, and by limiting the total number of TAGs used among cells for inter-cell MTRP mode, the complexity of maintaining TAGs may be limited.

[0128] In some embodiments, terminal device 110 receives the value of the TA offset for the serving cell, N, via n-TimingAdvanceOffset for the serving cell. TA,offsetIf a cell is configured to be associated with multiple TAGs, terminal device 110 may receive information indicating multiple TA offset values ​​for the cell, such as multiple n-TimingAdvanceOffset values. Terminal device 110 can associate these TA offset values ​​with corresponding TAGs.

[0129] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may apply a one-to-one association between TA offset values ​​and TAGs, with one TAG associated with one TA offset value. Alternatively or additionally, a TAG associated with a larger or maximum TA offset value may be applied to inter-cell operation. Alternatively or additionally, a TAG associated with a larger or maximum TA offset value may be applied to cells configured to have eNB NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) or NR unlicensed. Alternatively or additionally, a TAG associated with a larger or maximum TA offset value may be applied to cells configured to have a different full-duplex mode.

[0130] When multiple TAGs are configured, information indicating which TAG to use or adjust may be required. In some embodiments, a TAG ID may be indicated for or associated with an uplink transmission, such as a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission, or a sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission. In some embodiments, a MAC CE including multiple TA commands for multiple TAGs may be transmitted to the terminal device 110. In the MAC CE, multiple TA commands may be associated with multiple identities (TAG IDs) of multiple TAGs. The TA command may indicate TA adjustment information for the corresponding TAG.

[0131] In some embodiments, multiple TAG IDs and multiple fields in a MAC CE can indicate an index value TA used to control the amount of timing adjustment. In some examples, TAG IDs for TA commands in one MAC CE may be set for the same serving cell. Figure 11A shows an example of a MAC CE 1100 used to indicate TA commands, where each TA command is associated with a corresponding TAG ID.

[0132] In some embodiments, when two TAGs are configured, only one TAG ID is required if a dedicated TAG is used to provide the second TA value. Figure 11B shows an example of such a MAC CE 1110, where a reserved field is dedicated to providing a TA command for TAG2 and TAG ID1 for TAG1 is included in the MAC CE.

[0133] In some embodiments, the adjustment information for the second TA may be indicated via one or more of an absolute value, a relative value, or a differential value with respect to the TA adjustment of the first TA, information regarding whether to apply the same indicated TA adjustment of the first TA, and information regarding whether the terminal device should derive the TA adjustment of the second TA based on the indicated TA adjustment of the first TA and / or the DL reference timing difference of the two TAs.

[0134] In some embodiments, the configuration information for the multiple TAGs may further indicate an association relationship between the multiple TAGs and communication resources. A TAG ID may be indicated for or associated with a resource. In some examples, the resource includes any one or more of an UL resource, a beamed UL transmission, or an UL transmission opportunity (such as a PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, or SRS resource, transmission, or transmission opportunity). In some examples, the resource may include one or more of a DL resource, signal, or beam, such as a physical downlink control channel, a control resource set (CORESET), a CORESET pool, a CORESET group, a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH block), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource, a path loss reference signal (PL-RS), etc.

[0135] Alternatively or additionally, the configuration information may further indicate an association relationship between the plurality of TAGs and the TRP. A TAG ID may be indicated for or associated with the TRP. Alternatively or additionally, the configuration information may further indicate an association relationship between the plurality of TAGs and a TCI state and / or a spatial relationship. The TCI state includes a normal TCI state, a unified TCI state, or an UL TCI state.

[0136] Once the association relationship is established, the signaling to change the resources, beams, channels, etc. mentioned above can be used to signal switching TAs between multiple TAs and / or to start or stop the TA timers of each of the TAGs.

[0137] In some embodiments, when multiple TAGs are configured, new UE capabilities may be required. In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may timely transmit capability information indicating its capabilities regarding TAGs, allowing network devices to recognize its capabilities regarding TAG configuration.

[0138] In some embodiments, the capability information may indicate whether the terminal device supports multiple TAGs for a cell and / or whether the terminal device supports multiple TA commands, TA offsets, TA timers, and / or DL ​​reference timing for a cell, a primary cell (PCell), a secondary cell (SCell), a special cell (SPCell), or a primary secondary cell (PSCell).

[0139] Alternatively, or in addition, the capability information may indicate the number of TAGs supported by the terminal device, and / or the number of TA commands, the number of TA offsets, the number of TA timers, and the number of DL reference timings for one cell, PCell, SCell, SPCell, or PSCell supported by the terminal device.

[0140] Alternatively or additionally, the capability information may indicate TAG combinations supported by the terminal device or the number of TAG combinations supported by the terminal device for one cell, PCell, SCell, SPCell, or PSCell, where the TAG combinations may indicate, for example, TAG1+TAG2 or TAG1+TAG3 for the serving cell.

[0141] Alternatively or additionally, the capability information may indicate the number of cells that can be configured to have multiple TAGs, more specifically, TA commands, TA offsets, TA timers, and DL reference timing.

[0142] Alternatively, or in addition, the capability information may indicate whether the terminal device supports different TAGs (and / or TA commands, TA offsets, TA timers, DL reference timing) in neighboring cells, e.g., the serving cell and cells with different PCIs.

[0143] Alternatively, or in addition, the capability information may indicate the total number of TAGs (and / or TA commands, TA offsets, TA timers, DL reference timing) supported for the serving cell or neighboring cells (e.g., both the serving cell and cells with different PCIs).

[0144] Alternatively or additionally, the capability information may indicate whether the terminal device simultaneously supports different TAGs (and / or TA commands, TA offsets, TA timers, DL reference timings).

[0145] In some embodiments, the capability information may indicate the number of timing early groups that the terminal device supports. In some embodiments, the capability information may indicate whether the terminal device supports enhanced uplink capabilities for intra-frequency dual active protocol stack (DAPS) handover.

[0146] In some embodiments, a reference SCS may be required to determine the indicated TA value. If multiple TAGs are configured, the reference SCS may be consistent across TAGs.

[0147] In some embodiments, the reference SCS used to determine the indicated TA value of a TAG may be based on a BWP that is configured with MTRP mode, and the reference SCS may be determined across all cells in multiple TAGs.

[0148] For example, the TA command value can be determined relative to the largest SCS of multiple active UL BWPs with MTRP mode configured. In example 1210 of Figure 12A, for a particular serving cell x with four UL BWPs, UL BWP2 is configured with target MTRP mode, so SCS2 of UL BWP2 is used to determine the reference SCS.

[0149] In some embodiments, a reference SCS may be determined across cells associated with multiple SCSs, and the largest SCS may be selected to determine the TA values ​​for multiple TAGs, and thus the UL transmission timing. As shown in FIG. 12B, the association between TAG1, TAG2, and cells is the same as in the example of FIG. 4. Assume that SCS3 > SCS1 > SCSx. For each of cell 1 and cell 2, the SCS to be used may be determined in a similar manner to that for serving cell x. For TAG1, the larger of SCS1 of cell 1, SCSx of serving cell x, and SCS2 of cell 2, i.e., SCS1, is selected. For TAG2, the larger of SCS3 of cell 3, SCSx of serving cell x, and SCS2 of cell 2, i.e., SCS3, is selected. The larger of SCS1 of TAG1 and SCS3 of TAG2 is selected as the reference SCS.

[0150] Thus, in some embodiments, when multiple TAGs are associated with one serving cell, the reference SCS may be the same. That is, multiple TA command values ​​may be determined relative to the largest SCS of multiple active UL BWPs configured in cells of the multiple TAGs. In some embodiments, the same reference SCS may be used when at least one MAC CE is used to indicate multiple TA adjustments (via TA commands). In some examples, the TA command values ​​may be relative to the same reference SCS for multiple TAGs configured for one serving cell. In some embodiments, for at least one or more TAGs, e.g., a second TA value for a second TAG, the reference SCS may be determined as the largest SCS of multiple active UL BWPs configured in cells of the multiple TAGs.

[0151] Alternatively, a reference SCS can be determined from the SCS of the BWPs of cells in one TAG, and one or more other TAGs can use this reference SCS. For example, if two TAGs are configured, the second TA value for the second TAG can be determined by applying the same reference SCS of the first TA. The reference SCS for a particular TAG can be selected as the larger SCS of the rest of the active UL BWPs in that TAG.

[0152] In some embodiments, when multiple TAGs are associated with one serving cell, the reference SCS may be determined per TRP or per TAG. That is, multiple reference SCSs may be determined for multiple TAGs, respectively. The reference SCS may be determined as in the example of FIG. 12A. Then, multiple UL transmission timings (e.g., TA values) may be determined for multiple TAGs, respectively, based on the multiple reference SCSs. Note that the TA value associated with TAG1 is used for transmission to the first TRP, and the TA value associated with TAG2 is used for transmission to the second TRP. Therefore, the reference SCS may be considered to be determined per TRP.

[0153] Several example embodiments relating to configurations, instructions, and / or device capabilities for supporting multiple TAGs are provided above.

[0154] In some embodiments, multiple timers associated with multiple TAGs are triggered, and therefore the execution of certain communication procedures depends on whether the timers are set to allow the completion of those communication procedures.

[0155] 13 illustrates a flowchart of an example communication method 1300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1300 is implemented by a terminal device to determine how to apply a TA command for UL timing. For illustrative purposes, the method 1300 is described with reference to FIG. 1, and the method 1300 may be implemented in the terminal device 110.

[0156] At block 1310, the terminal device 110 receives configuration information from a network device indicating multiple TAGs associated with a first cell of the terminal device 110.

[0157] The embodiments relating to the TA timer described above with reference to FIG. 13 may be combined with other embodiments described for TAG settings, indications, and / or device capabilities, and / or other embodiments described below for TA value matching.

[0158] In the conventional scheme, one TAG is associated with one serving cell and one timer (also called "time alignment timer") is configured for one TAG. Depending on whether the timer is running or not, different actions are expected for some communication procedures. If multiple TAGs are allowed for one serving cell, some updates to the conditions for the actions may be required.

[0159] In block 1320, the terminal device 110 determines at least one operating state of at least one timer among a plurality of timers associated with a plurality of TAGs during a communication procedure with the network device. In block 1330, the terminal device 110 performs an action for the communication procedure based on the at least one operating state of the at least one timer.

[0160] When multiple TAGs are configured, various conditions regarding their operating states may exist. For example, when two TAGs are configured, four possible conditions exist, including: both timers are running; the first timer is running but the second timer is not running; the second timer is running but the first timer is not running; or both timers are not running. Taking these various possible conditions into account, the timers considered in different communication procedures can be selected so that the terminal device 110 operates correctly in each procedure without performance degradation.

[0161] In some embodiments, if at least one timer is running, terminal device 110 may determine that a first condition is met and perform a first action for the communication procedure. If at least one timer is not running, terminal device 110 may determine that a second condition is met and perform a second action for the communication procedure.

[0162] In some embodiments, the first condition may include a timer associated with at least one of the TAGs for the serving cell being running. In some embodiments, the first condition may include timers associated with all TAGs for the serving cell being running. In some embodiments, the first condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which UL resources are associated for the serving cell being running. In some embodiments, the first condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which UL resources are associated for the serving cell being running. In some embodiments, the first condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which a TCI state is associated for the serving cell being running. In some embodiments, the first condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which a CORESET is associated for the serving cell being running.

[0163] In some embodiments, the second condition may include a timer associated with at least one of the plurality of TAGs for the serving cell not running. In some embodiments, the second condition may include timers associated with all TAGs for the serving cell not running. In some embodiments, the second condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which UL resources are associated for the serving cell not running. In some embodiments, the second condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which a TCI state is associated for the serving cell not running. In some embodiments, the second condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG with which a CORESET is associated for the serving cell not running.

[0164] These conditions can eliminate ambiguity regarding the behavior of the terminal device when multiple TAGs are configured for a serving cell. For example, if the first condition is not defined, the terminal device may perform a subsequent action if it is not ready for uplink transmission, which may result in an error. Also, if the second condition is not defined, the terminal device may not perform a subsequent action that it can perform, which may result in an extra delay.

[0165] In some embodiments, different conditions may apply to different actions depending on the communication procedure. In some embodiments, in a data transfer procedure, an active timer associated with the TAG of the serving cell is defined as a condition for processing DL and UL shared channel (SCH) data transfer. In the conventional method, when one TAG is configured for a cell, the terminal device finds a cell for HARQ feedback, determines the TAG associated with this cell, and checks whether the timer associated with this TAG is active. When a serving cell is associated with more than one TAG, improvement is needed.

[0166] In some embodiments, in a data transfer procedure, if the first condition above is met, terminal device 110 may indicate an acknowledgment (ACK) for DL ​​reception. In some examples, in the case of DL-SCH semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) deactivation, the first condition includes UL resources, TCI state, spatial relationship, unified TCI state, and / or a timer associated with the same TAG as CORESET for the transmitted HARQ feedback is running. In the example of DL-SCH SPS deactivation, terminal device 110 may indicate an acknowledgment to indicate SPS deactivation to the physical layer.

[0167] In these examples, if the first condition is not defined as above, the terminal device may indicate a positive ACK if it is not ready for uplink transmission (e.g., unable to send HARQ feedback), and an error may occur. For example, if the TAG1 timer for HARQ feedback is not running, but the TAG2 timer is running, the terminal device 110 should not proceed to subsequent steps.

[0168] In some examples, in the case of reception of a UL-SCH UL grant, if the MAC entity has a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI), a temporary C-RNTI, or a Configured Scheduling-RNTI (CS-RNTI) for each PDCCH opportunity and a first condition is met, the terminal device 110 may proceed with the received UL grant to use the UL grant in a data transfer procedure. In some examples, the first condition may specifically include a timer associated with at least one of a plurality of TAGs for the serving cell being running, or timers associated with all TAGs for the serving cell being running.

[0169] Forwarding the received UL grant may include any of the following: considering NDI as already toggled for the corresponding HARQ process regardless of the value of NDI; starting or restarting the configuredGrantTimer for the corresponding HARQ process if configured; stopping the cg-RetransmissionTimer for the corresponding HARQ process if running; stopping the cg-SDT-RetransmissionTimer if running; communicating the uplink grant and the associated HARQ information to the HARQ entity; triggering activation of PDCP replication for all configured RLC entities of the DRB; triggering a configured uplink grant confirmation; storing the uplink grant and the associated HARQ information for this serving cell as a configured uplink grant; or initializing or reinitializing the configured uplink grant for this serving cell starting from the associated PUSCH period and recurring according to the rules for transmission and reception without dynamic scheduling.

[0170] In some embodiments, when one TAG is configured for a cell in a conventional manner in an HARQ procedure, the terminal device can find a cell for HARQ feedback, determine a TAG associated with the cell, and check whether a timer associated with the TAG is running. When a serving cell is associated with multiple TAGs, improvement is necessary. In some embodiments, the second condition above prevents the physical layer from generating an acknowledgement within a transport block (TB). In some examples, for DL-SCH or UL-SCH, when a transmission is made for an HARQ procedure, if HARQ information associated with one or two TBs (in the case of downlink spatial multiplexing) is received from the HARQ entity and the second condition is met, the MAC entity may not instruct the physical layer to generate an acknowledgement for the data in the TB. In some examples, for Slink-SCH (SL-SCH), if a sidelink PUCCH configuration (sl-PUCCH-Config) is configured by RRC and the second condition is met, the MAC entity may not instruct the physical layer to generate an acknowledgement for the data in the TB for a PUCCH transmission opportunity. In some examples, the second condition may include a timer associated with the same TAG associated with the UL resource, TCI state, spatial relationship, unified TCI state, and / or CORESET on which the HARQ feedback is transmitted is not running for the serving cell.

[0171] In some embodiments, if a first condition is met during a secondary cell group (SCG) activation or deactivation procedure, the terminal device 110 may perform a first action of SCG activation according to the timing for direct SCG activation. If a second condition is met, the terminal device 110 may perform a second action of suspending SCG activation. In some embodiments, the second action may include indicating that a random access procedure is required for SCG activation. In some examples, if a higher layer indicates that an SCG is activated and the first condition is met, the terminal device 110 may activate the SCG according to the timing for direct SCG activation. In some examples, the first condition may include timers associated with all PTAGs of the serving cell being running. Alternatively, the first condition may include timers associated with at least one of the multiple PTAGs of the serving cell being running. In some examples, if a higher layer indicates that an SCG is activated and a first condition is met, the terminal device 110 may indicate to the higher layer that a random access procedure is required for SCG activation. In some examples, the second condition may include a timer associated with at least one of the plurality of PTAGs of the serving cell not running. Alternatively, the second condition may include a timer associated with all PTAGs of the serving cell not running. In the case of SCG activation or deactivation, if the first condition is not carefully defined, the terminal device may erroneously activate the SCG. Also, if the second condition is not carefully defined, the terminal device may trigger a redundant random access procedure.

[0172] In some embodiments, in a random access (RA) procedure, if one TAG is configured for a cell in the conventional method, the terminal device can determine the PTAG and check whether the corresponding TA timer is running. If multiple TAGs are configured for a cell, there may be two or more PTAGs (and / or two or more corresponding timers), and improvements are also necessary. In some embodiments, in an RA procedure, for example, a two-step RA procedure, if the first condition above is met, the terminal device 110 can consider the RA procedure to have completed successfully. If the second condition above is met, the terminal device 110 can determine whether a timing early command has been received.

[0173] In the two-step RA procedure, a first message (MSGA) is transmitted from the terminal device to the network device. The terminal device can then receive a second message (MSGB) from the network device as a random access response. In some examples, once the MSGA preamble is transmitted, regardless of the possibility of a measurement gap occurring, the MAC entity can consider the reception of this random access response to be successful if it receives notification of the reception of a PDCCH transmission for the SpCell from a lower layer, if the C-RNTI MAC CE is included in the MSGA, if the first condition is met, and if the PDCCH transmission is addressed to the C-RNTI and includes a UL grant for a new transmission. In this case, the MAC entity can stop the reception window for MSGB (msgB-ResponseWindow) and consider the random access procedure to be successfully completed. In some examples, the first condition may specifically include that a timer associated with at least one of the multiple PTAGs is running, or that timers associated with all PTAGs are running. In some examples, if the second condition is met, and a downlink assignment has already been received on the PDCCH for the C-RNTI, the received TB has been successfully decoded, and the MAC protocol data unit (PDU) includes an absolute timing early command MAC CE, the terminal device 110 may process the received timing early command. In this case, the terminal device may further consider the reception of this random access response as successful, stop the msgB-ResponseWindow, consider the random access procedure to have been completed successfully, and terminate the disassembly and demultiplexing of the MAC PDU. In the case of an RA procedure, if the first condition is not properly defined, the terminal device may erroneously consider the MSGB to have been successfully received. If the second condition is not properly defined, the terminal device may trigger a redundant random access procedure.

[0174] In some embodiments, TA value matching within a cell is proposed to enable certain communication procedures to be performed.

[0175] 14 shows a flowchart of an example of a communication method 1400 implemented in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 1400 is implemented by a terminal device to determine how to apply a TA command for UL timing. For illustrative purposes, the method 1400 is described with reference to FIG. 1, and the method 1400 may be implemented in the terminal device 110.

[0176] At block 1410, the terminal device 110 receives configuration information from a network device indicating multiple TAGs associated with a first cell of the terminal device 110.

[0177] The embodiments relating to TA value matching described with reference to FIG. 14 may be combined with other embodiments described above for TAG settings, indications, device capabilities, and / or TA timers.

[0178] In block 1420, the terminal device 110 selects a target TAG from the plurality of TAGs based on TAG selection criteria for the communication procedure.

[0179] In a conventional method, one TAG is associated with one serving cell. Therefore, the TA value of the same TAG of the serving cell is used to determine parameters for several communication procedures. When multiple TAGs are allowed for one serving cell, the TA values ​​may need to be matched based on specific TAG selection criteria for the communication procedures. In some embodiments, for a serving cell associated with multiple TAGs, the TA to be applied for several communication procedures is selected from multiple TAs of multiple TAGs according to the TAG selection criteria.

[0180] In some embodiments, the TAG selection criteria may be based on multiple identities of multiple TAGs. Alternatively, or additionally, the TAG selection criteria may be based on multiple TA values ​​of multiple TAGs. Alternatively, or additionally, the TAG selection criteria may be based on multiple TA offsets (e.g., N TA,offset), TA timer, DL reference timing. Alternatively, or additionally, the TAG selection criteria may be based on a first association relationship between the BWP and multiple TAGs. In some embodiments, if a BWP is configured to have SL behavior, the TAG associated with this BWP may be selected as the target TAG. In some embodiments, the TAG selection criteria may be based on which TAG was last updated by a TA command or absolute TA command. In some embodiments, the TAG selection criteria may be based on which TAG was last applied for the latest UL transmission.

[0181] Alternatively or additionally, the TAG selection criteria may be based on a second association relationship between at least one TRP and multiple TAGs. In some examples, the target TRP includes a predefined TRP, an indicated reference TRP, a main TRP, a TRP corresponding to a CORESET pool, a TRP corresponding to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, or a TRP corresponding to a resource. A TAG associated with such a target TRP may be selected as the target TAG. Alternatively or additionally, a TAG associated with a target MTRP mode is not selected as the target TAG. Alternatively or additionally, the TAG selection criteria may be based on a third association relationship between at least one CORESET and multiple TAGs. Alternatively or additionally, the TAG selection criteria may be based on a fourth relationship between a set of reference signals available for BFR and multiple TAGs.

[0182] In the following embodiments, some additional or alternative TAG selection criteria may also be provided, depending on the particular communication procedure.

[0183] In block 1430, the terminal device 110 performs a communication procedure with the network device based at least on the target TAG.

[0184] In some embodiments, in a supplemental UL (SUL) operation procedure, the TA applied for the SUL and normal UL (NUL) may be the same. If the terminal device 110 is configured with two UL carriers (SUL and NUL) for the serving cell, the TA offset value N may be at least the same. TA,offset may be applied to both carriers. At least one of the same TA offsets may be the TA offset associated with the target TAG with the smallest or largest TAG ID or the target TAG with the smallest or largest TA offset value. In some examples, when two or more TA offset values ​​are configured in one TAG, further selection can be made by selecting the smallest or largest TA offset value.

[0185] Alternatively, in some embodiments, during SUL operation, the cell or BWP in which the SUL is configured may not be configured with multiple TAGs to enable TA alignment. In some embodiments, during SUL operation, the TA applied to the SUL may be configured to be determined according to the association relationship between the TAG and the TRP. For example, the TA applied to the SUL may be aligned with the TA associated with the target TRP. This target TRP may be a predefined or indicated reference TRP or the main TRP. In some examples, this TRP may be represented by a CORESETPoolIndex, a TCI state index, and / or a resource index. In some embodiments, the unified TCI framework may not apply to the SUL because the SUL does not use a beam for transmission. The beam application timing may also not apply to the SUL.

[0186] Proper selection of the TA to apply for the SUL may increase the chances of successfully transmitting the SUL.

[0187] In some embodiments, when a target TAG is selected in a sounding procedure between component carriers, the terminal device 110 may determine a set of carriers on which the sounding procedure can be switched based on the target TAG. The set of carriers may be at least within the same TAG, i.e., the target TAG. In some examples, for a carrier of a serving cell c1 that is not configured for PUSCH or PUCCH transmission and has a slot format consisting of DL symbols and UL symbols, the terminal device 110 indicates c2 as the corresponding carrier of the serving cell on which UL transmission is temporarily suspended, as signaled by the higher layer parameters srs-SwitchFromServCellIndex and srs-SwitchFromCarrier. This set S(c2)={c2,s1(c2)...s N-1 (c2)} as the set of carriers of the serving cell, where each carrier satisfies one of the following conditions: i (c2) is in the same band as c2 and in at least one of the same TAGs, s i (c2) is the carrier of the inter-band CA with c2, and s i (c2) is indicated through the signaling capability ImpactedBands-SRS-CS-v17 that is affected by the SRS switch from c2 to c1, where 1≦i≦N-1. The same TAG may be the TAG with the lowest or highest TAG ID, the TAG with the smallest or largest TA value, etc. Alternatively, s i (c2) is in the same band associated with the same two TAGs as c2. Alternatively, multiple TAGs may not be configured for a cell or BWP where SRS switching between CCs (e.g., srs-SwitchFromServCellIndex and srs-SwitchFromCarrier) is configured. Through these embodiments, more carriers from which sounding can be switched may be configured. i (c2) can be added to the carrier set.

[0188] In some embodiments, in a sidelink communication procedure, resources may be allocated for SL communication. For SL resource allocation in the time domain, once a target TAG is determined, the terminal device 110 determines a TA value associated with the target TAG and determines the sidelink resources to be allocated to the terminal device 110 based on the determined TA value. The main position in time of the allocated resources may be determined as follows: T DL -T TA / 2+K SL ×T slot time domain position by, where T DL is the start time of the downlink slot carrying the corresponding DCI, and T TA is the timing advance value corresponding to the TAG of the serving cell where the DCI is received, and K SL is the slot offset between the slot of the DCI and the first sidelink transmission scheduled by the DCI, and T slot is the SL slot duration. In some examples, for sidelink resource allocation mode 1, for sidelink dynamic grants and sidelink configuration grant type 2, the slot of the first sidelink transmission scheduled by a DCI is T DL -T TA / 2+K SL ×T slot It is the first SL slot of the corresponding resource pool that does not start earlier.

[0189] In some embodiments, the target TAG for which the TA value is used may be selected as the TAG with the lowest or highest TAG ID, the TAG with the lowest or highest TA value, or the TAG associated with the same CORESET.

[0190] Alternatively, in some embodiments, multiple TAGs may not be configured for a cell or BWP configured for sidelink operation to avoid confusion in sidelink resource allocation.

[0191] In some embodiments, for a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, especially for MTRP BFR, after a beam failure, a new reference signal (RS) (denoted as q_new) for BFR is typically selected. The new reference signal may not apply multiple TAGs. Therefore, it is necessary to define rules for selecting the TAG to be applied after a beam failure so that the terminal device can correctly transmit a BFR request (BFRQ) or other UL signals or channels.

[0192] For better understanding, Figure 15A shows an example of a BFR procedure between the terminal device 110 and the network device 120. During the BFR procedure, the network device 120 transmits (1505) an RRC configuration for BFR and transmits (1510) a set of DL RSs (referred to as BFD-RS and CBD-RS) for beam failure detection (BFD) and / or candidate beam detection (CBD).

[0193] If the terminal device 110 declares a beam failure (1515), it selects a new reference signal (q_new) from the set of BFD-RS and CBD-RS (1520). Then, the terminal device 110 transmits a BFRD with the selected TAG (1525). The network device 120 transmits a BFRQ response to the terminal device 110 (1530). Then, the terminal device 110 performs an UL transmission to the network device 120 with the selected TAG (1535). Additionally, the network device 120 may perform a reconfiguration, activation, and / or indication of the TAG and / or other information to the terminal device 110 (1540).

[0194] In some embodiments, it is proposed to associate multiple TAGs with each reference signal in a BFD-RS set and / or a CBD-RS set. Figure 15B shows an example table 1550 illustrating the association between TAGs, resource pools, and RSs for BFR. In this example, there are considered four reference signal sets represented as q_(0,0), q_(0,1), q_(1,0), and q_(1,1). q_(0,0) and q_(0,1) are two BFD-RS sets corresponding to two TRPs, respectively, and q_(1,0) and q_(1,1) are two CBD-RS sets corresponding to two TRPs, respectively. As shown in Figure 15B, q_(0,0) is associated with q_(1,0), and q_(0,1) is associated with q_(1,1). The RSs at q_(0,0) and q_(1,0) are associated with the same TAG, namely TAG1, and the RSs at q_(0,1) and q_(1,1) are associated with the same TAG, namely TAG2. Alternatively, in another example, the RSs at q_(0,0) and q_(1,1) may be associated with the same TAG, and the RSs at q_(0,1) and q_(1,0) may be associated with the same TAG.

[0195] By association, after a BFD operation fails (e.g., a beam failure is declared) and a new reference signal q_new is determined, a TAG associated with the selected reference signal (q_new) is selected along with a target TAG, and the TA of the target TAG associated with the selected reference signal may be applied for BFD operation, for example, BFD operation for transmitting a BFRQ with the selected TAG (or its TA). In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may stop the TA timer of the TAG associated with the failed TRP or BFD-RS set. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may trigger a random access procedure to obtain a new TA for the selected target TAG. In some embodiments, if multiple TRPs associated with multiple TAGs fail, the terminal device 110 may stop the TA timers of the multiple TAGs. The applied TA is then 0. Furthermore, the terminal device 110 may trigger a random access procedure to obtain a new TA for each of the multiple TAGs.

[0196] In some examples, a default TAG is selected, the selection being as described above, and in some examples, the TA for transmitting the BFRQ may be set to 0.

[0197] 16 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 1600 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The apparatus 1600 can be considered another exemplary implementation of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 shown in FIG. 1. Thus, the apparatus 1600 can be implemented in, or at least as part of, the terminal device 110 or the network device 120.

[0198] As shown, the apparatus 1600 comprises a processor 1610, a memory 1620 coupled to the processor 1610, a suitable transmitter (TX) / receiver (RX) 1640 coupled to the processor 1610, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 1640. The memory 1610 stores at least a portion of a program 1630. The TX / RX 1640 is for bidirectional communication. The TX / RX 1640 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, although in practice, access nodes referred to in this disclosure may have multiple antennas. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements, such as, for example, an X2 / Xn interface for bidirectional communication between eNBs / gNBs, an S1 / NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) / SGW / UPF and an eNB / gNB, an Un interface for communication between an eNB / gNB and a relay node (RN), or a Uu interface for communication between an eNB / gNB and a terminal device.

[0199] The program 1630 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 1610, cause the device 1600 to operate in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, as described herein with reference to FIGS. 1-6. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 1610 of the device 1600, by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 1610 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the combination of the processor 1610 and the memory 1620 may form a processing means 1650 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0200] Memory 1620 may be of any type suitable for a local technology network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as, by way of non-limiting example, non-transitory computer-readable storage media, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. While only one memory 1620 is shown in device 1600, device 1600 may have multiple physically distinct memory modules. Processor 1610 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 1600 may have multiple processors, such as application-specific integrated circuit chips that are time-slaved to a clock that synchronizes the main processor.

[0201] In some embodiments, a communications device (e.g., a terminal device) comprises circuitry configured to: receive, at the terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device; determine, during a communications procedure with the network device, at least one operating state of at least one timer among a plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs; and perform an action for the communications procedure based on the at least one operating state of the at least one timer.

[0202] In some embodiments, the at least one timer includes one of a plurality of timers associated with a plurality of TAGs, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with uplink (UL) resources, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with a spatial relationship, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with a control resource set (CORESET), one or more primary timing advance groups (PTAGs) included in the plurality of TAGs, and at least one PTAG from the one or more PTAGs.

[0203] In some embodiments, at least one of the UL resource, the TCI state, the spatial relationship, and the CORESET is configured for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback transmitted in the communication procedure.

[0204] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to perform an action for the communication procedure by determining a first condition is met and performing a first action for the communication procedure in accordance with a determination that at least one timer is running, and determining a second condition is met and performing a second action for the communication procedure in accordance with a determination that at least one timer is not running.

[0205] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a data transfer procedure, and the first action includes sending an acknowledgment to a downlink (DL) reception.

[0206] In some embodiments, the DL reception includes an indication of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) deactivation.

[0207] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a data transfer procedure, and the first action includes using a UL permit in the data transfer procedure.

[0208] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a HARQ procedure, and the second action includes preventing the physical layer from generating an acknowledgement within a transport block (TB).

[0209] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a secondary cell group (SCG) activation or deactivation procedure, where a first action includes activating the SCG according to timing for direct SCG activation and a second action includes suspending activation of the SCG.

[0210] In some embodiments, the second action includes indicating that a random access procedure is required for activation of the SCG.

[0211] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a random access (RA) procedure, the first action includes successful completion of the RA procedure, and the second action includes determining whether a timing early command is received.

[0212] In some embodiments, the RA procedure is of a two-step RA type, and the first action and the second action are performed for receiving an RA response in the RA procedure.

[0213] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have first bandwidth parts (BWPs) configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have the MTRP mode, and the configuration information further indicates that the first BWP is associated with two or more TAGs of the plurality of TAGs and the second BWP is associated with one TAG of the plurality of TAGs.

[0214] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have a first BWP configured to have a multi-transmit / receive point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have the MTRP mode, and the configuration information further indicates that at least one of the plurality of TAGs is restricted to be applied for the second BWP.

[0215] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have a first BWP configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have MTRP mode, and the configuration information further indicates that the first BWP is associated with a first TAG of the plurality of TAGs and the second BWP is associated with a second TAG of the plurality of TAGs.

[0216] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to receive from the network device another configuration information indicating a component carrier (CC) list for simultaneous TCI updating, the CC list including at least one cell configured to be associated with a plurality of TAGs, the at least one cell including the first cell.

[0217] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to configure cell groups for a media access control (MAC) entity, a first cell group including at least one cell configured to be associated with at least one TAG of the plurality of TAGs, the at least one cell including the first cell.

[0218] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have an MTRP mode.

[0219] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have an inter-cell MTRP mode with the second cell, and the total number of TAGs associated with the first cell and the second cell is less than or equal to a predefined number.

[0220] In some embodiments, the second cell is configured to be associated with multiple TAGs.

[0221] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to receive information from the network device indicating a plurality of timing advance (TA) offset values ​​for the first cell, and to associate the plurality of TA offset values ​​with a plurality of TAGs.

[0222] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to apply one TAG of the plurality of TAGs based on the plurality of TA offset values.

[0223] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to apply one TAG of the plurality of TAGs by applying a TAG associated with a maximum TA offset value for at least one of inter-cell operation, a cell configured to have dual connectivity, a cell configured to have unlicensed spectrum, and a cell configured to have a different full duplex mode.

[0224] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to receive a MAC Control Element (CE) from the network device that includes multiple TA commands for multiple TAGs, the multiple TA commands being associated in the MAC CE with multiple identities for the multiple TAGs.

[0225] In some embodiments, the configuration information further indicates an association relationship between the plurality of TAGs and at least one of a resource, a TRP, a TCI state, and a spatial relationship. In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to: receive a switch command from the network device indicating at least one of: switching from a first resource to a second resource, switching from the first TRP to the second TRP, switching from a first TCI state to a second TCI state, and switching from a first spatial relationship to a second spatial relationship; and, in response to the switch command, perform at least one of: switching from a first TA value of a first TAG associated with at least one of the first resource, the first TRP, the first TCI state, and the first spatial relationship to a second TA value of the first TAG associated with at least one of the second resource, the second TRP, the second TCI state, and the second spatial relationship; stopping a first timer associated with the first TAG; and starting a second timer associated with the second TAG.

[0226] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to transmit capability information to the network device indicating at least one of whether the terminal device supports multiple TAGs for a cell, the number of TAGs supported by the terminal device, combinations of TAGs supported by the terminal device, the number of cells that can be configured to have multiple TAGs, whether the terminal device supports different TAGs in adjacent cells, the total number of TAGs supported for the cell or adjacent cells, and whether the terminal device supports different TAGs simultaneously.

[0227] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to: determine at least one BWP from the plurality of BWPs of the first cell that is configured to have an MTRP mode; determine a first reference subcarrier spacing (SCS) from at least one SCS of the determined at least one BWP of the first cell; and determine UL transmission timing for at least one TAG among the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the first reference SCS.

[0228] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to: determine a second reference SCS from at least one SCS of at least one cell associated with at least a first TAG of the plurality of TAGs; and determine a plurality of UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the second reference SCS.

[0229] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine the second reference SCS by determining the second reference SCS from a plurality of SCSs of a plurality of BWPs configured for cells associated with a plurality of TAGs.

[0230] In some embodiments, the circuitry is configured to determine the plurality of UL transmission timings by receiving a MAC control element (CE) from the network device including a plurality of TA commands for a plurality of TAGs, and in response to the MAC CE, determining a plurality of UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the second reference SCS and the plurality of TA commands.

[0231] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine a plurality of reference SCSs for the plurality of TAGs, respectively, and determine a plurality of UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs, respectively, based on the plurality of reference SCSs.

[0232] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs comprises two TAGs.

[0233] In some embodiments, a communications device (e.g., a terminal device) comprises circuitry configured to: receive, at the terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device; receive from the network device a plurality of timing advance (TA) commands for the plurality of TAGs; determine starting times for the plurality of TAGs indicating when the plurality of TAG commands apply; and apply the plurality of TA commands from the determined starting times in accordance with determining that an active BWP of the first cell is configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode.

[0234] In some embodiments, the circuitry is configured to determine the start time by determining a plurality of values ​​for a predetermined parameter for calculating the start time based on corresponding bandwidth portion (BWP)-related information in a plurality of TAGs, selecting one value from the plurality of values ​​for the predetermined parameter, and determining the start time based on the selected value for the predetermined parameter.

[0235] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to apply a plurality of TA commands from the determined starting point in accordance with determining that the active BWP of the first cell is configured to have an MTRP mode.

[0236] In some embodiments, the circuit is further configured to: determine a first TA value for the first TA based on a first TA command for the first TA and a reference SCS of the second BWP in accordance with a determination that the terminal device switches from a first BWP to a second BWP before the start time and that the second BWP is associated with the first TA; and determine a second TA value for the second TAG based on a second TA command for the second TA and a reference SCS of the first BWP in accordance with a determination that the second BWP is not associated with the second TAG and that the first BWP is associated with the second TAG.

[0237] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine a plurality of TA values ​​for a plurality of TAGs, respectively, by applying a plurality of TA commands, and maintain at least one TA value among the plurality of TA values ​​for at least one TA among the plurality of TAs according to a determination that the terminal device switches from a first BWP to a second BWP after a start point.

[0238] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs comprises two TAGs.

[0239] In some embodiments, a communications device (e.g., a terminal device) includes circuitry configured to: receive, at the terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing early groups (TAGs) associated with a cell for the terminal device; select a target TAG from the plurality of TAGs based on TAG selection criteria for the communications procedure; and perform a communications procedure with the network device based at least on the target TAG.

[0240] In some embodiments, the TAG selection criteria are based on at least one of: a plurality of identities of a plurality of TAGs; a plurality of timing advance (TA) values ​​of a plurality of TAGs; a first association relationship between a bandwidth portion (BWP) and a plurality of TAGs; a second association relationship between at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) and a plurality of TAGs; a third association relationship between at least one control resource set (CORESET) and a plurality of TAGs; and a fourth relationship between a set of reference signals available for beam failure recovery (BFR) and a plurality of TAGs.

[0241] In some embodiments, in the first association relationship, the BWPs associated with the target TAG include BWPs that are configured to have sidelink operation.

[0242] In some embodiments, in the second association relationship, the TRP associated with the target TAG includes one of a predefined TRP, an indicated reference TRP, a main TRP, a TRP corresponding to a CORESET pool, a TRP corresponding to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, and a TRP corresponding to a resource.

[0243] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a supplementary uplink (SUL) operation procedure, and the circuitry is further configured to perform the communication procedure by applying the TA value of the target TAG during the SUL operation procedure.

[0244] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a sounding procedure, and the circuitry is further configured to perform the communication procedure by determining, based on the target TAG, a set of carriers on which the sounding procedure can be switched to another carrier, the set of carriers being at least within the same target TAG.

[0245] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a sidelink communication procedure, and the circuitry is further configured to perform the communication procedure by determining a TA value associated with the target TAG and determining sidelink resources allocated to the terminal device based on the determined TA value.

[0246] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, the target TAG includes a TAG associated with a reference signal selected from a set of reference signals for the BFR, and the circuitry is further configured to determine a TA value for the target TAG and apply the TA value for beam failure detection (BFD) operations based on the selected reference signal.

[0247] In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to, upon determining that the BFD operation has failed, stop a timer associated with the target TAG and trigger a random access procedure to request another TA value for the target TAG.

[0248] In some embodiments, the BFR procedure is performed for a plurality of TRPs, the plurality of TRPs being associated with a plurality of TAGs, and the circuitry is further configured to, pursuant to determining that BFD operation by the plurality of TRPs has failed, stop a plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs and trigger a plurality of random access procedures to request respective TA values ​​for the plurality of TAGs.

[0249] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs comprises two TAGs.

[0250] The term "circuitry" as used in this disclosure may refer to a hardware circuit and / or a combination of a hardware circuit and software. For example, a circuit may be a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware. As another example, a circuit may be any portion of a hardware processor with software, where the hardware processor includes digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s) that work together to cause a device, such as a terminal device or network device, to perform various functions. As yet another example, a circuit may be a hardware circuit and / or processor, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor, that requires software / firmware to operate, but the software may not be present when not necessary for operation. As used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also includes simply a hardware circuit or processor(s) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor(s) and its (or their) associated software and / or firmware implementation.

[0251] In summary, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide the following solutions:

[0252] In one solution, a communication method includes, in a terminal device, receiving configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device, determining, during a communication procedure with the network device, at least one operation state of at least one timer among a plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs, and performing an action for the communication procedure based on the at least one operation state of the at least one timer.

[0253] In some embodiments, the at least one timer includes one of a plurality of timers associated with a plurality of TAGs, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with uplink (UL) resources, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with a spatial relationship, at least one TAG from a plurality of TAGs associated with a control resource set (CORESET), one or more primary timing advance groups (PTAGs) included in the plurality of TAGs, and at least one PTAG from the one or more PTAGs.

[0254] In some embodiments, at least one of the UL resource, the TCI state, the spatial relationship, and the CORESET is configured for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback transmitted in the communication procedure.

[0255] In some embodiments, performing an action for the communication procedure includes determining that a first condition is met and performing a first action for the communication procedure in accordance with a determination that at least one timer is running, and determining that a second condition is met and performing a second action for the communication procedure in accordance with a determination that at least one timer is not running.

[0256] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a data transfer procedure, and the first action includes sending an acknowledgment to a downlink (DL) reception.

[0257] In some embodiments, the DL reception includes an indication of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) deactivation.

[0258] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a data transfer procedure, and the first action includes using a UL permit in the data transfer procedure.

[0259] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a HARQ procedure, and the second action includes preventing the physical layer from generating an acknowledgement within a transport block (TB).

[0260] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a secondary cell group (SCG) activation or deactivation procedure, where a first action includes activating the SCG according to timing for direct SCG activation and a second action includes suspending activation of the SCG.

[0261] In some embodiments, the second action includes indicating that a random access procedure is required for activation of the SCG.

[0262] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a random access (RA) procedure, the first action includes successful completion of the RA procedure, and the second action includes determining whether a timing early command is received.

[0263] In some embodiments, the RA procedure is of a two-step RA type, and the first action and the second action are performed for receiving an RA response in the RA procedure.

[0264] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have first bandwidth parts (BWPs) configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have the MTRP mode, and the configuration information further indicates that the first BWP is associated with two or more TAGs of the plurality of TAGs and the second BWP is associated with one TAG of the plurality of TAGs.

[0265] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have a first BWP configured to have a multi-transmit / receive point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have the MTRP mode, and the configuration information further indicates that at least one of the plurality of TAGs is restricted to be applied for the second BWP.

[0266] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have a first BWP configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have MTRP mode, and the configuration information further indicates that the first BWP is associated with a first TAG of the plurality of TAGs and the second BWP is associated with a second TAG of the plurality of TAGs.

[0267] In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, from the network device, another configuration information indicating a component carrier (CC) list for simultaneous TCI updating, the CC list including at least one cell configured to be associated with multiple TAGs, the at least one cell including the first cell.

[0268] In some embodiments, the method further includes configuring cell groups for a media access control (MAC) entity, a first cell group including at least one cell configured to be associated with at least one TAG of the plurality of TAGs, the at least one cell including the first cell.

[0269] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have an MTRP mode.

[0270] In some embodiments, the first cell is configured to have an inter-cell MTRP mode with the second cell, and the total number of TAGs associated with the first cell and the second cell is less than or equal to a predefined number.

[0271] In some embodiments, the second cell is configured to be associated with multiple TAGs.

[0272] In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance (TA) offset values ​​for the first cell, and associating the plurality of TA offset values ​​with a plurality of TAGs.

[0273] In some embodiments, the method further includes applying a TAG of the plurality of TAGs based on the plurality of TA offset values.

[0274] In some embodiments, applying one TAG of the plurality of TAGs includes applying a TAG associated with a maximum TA offset value for at least one of inter-cell operation, a cell configured to have dual connectivity, a cell configured to have unlicensed spectrum, and a cell configured to have a different full duplex mode.

[0275] In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a MAC Control Element (CE) from the network device that includes multiple TA commands for multiple TAGs, the multiple TA commands being associated with multiple identities of the multiple TAGs in the MAC CE.

[0276] In some embodiments, the configuration information further indicates an association relationship between the plurality of TAGs and at least one of a resource, a TRP, a TCI state, and a spatial relationship. In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving a switch command from the network device indicating at least one of switching from a first resource to a second resource, switching from the first TRP to the second TRP, switching from a first TCI state to a second TCI state, and switching from a first spatial relationship to a second spatial relationship, and performing at least one of switching from a first TA value of the first TAG associated with at least one of the first resource, the first TRP, the first TCI state, and the first spatial relationship to a second TA value of the first TAG associated with at least one of the second resource, the second TRP, the second TCI state, and the second spatial relationship, stopping a first timer associated with the first TAG, and starting a second timer associated with the second TAG in response to the switch command.

[0277] In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting capability information to the network device indicating at least one of whether the terminal device supports multiple TAGs for the cell, the number of TAGs supported by the terminal device, combinations of TAGs supported by the terminal device, the number of cells that can be configured to have multiple TAGs, whether the terminal device supports different TAGs in adjacent cells, the total number of TAGs supported for the cell or adjacent cells, and whether the terminal device supports different TAGs simultaneously.

[0278] In some embodiments, the method further includes determining at least one BWP from a plurality of BWPs of the first cell that is configured to have an MTRP mode; determining a first reference subcarrier spacing (SCS) from at least one SCS of the determined at least one BWP of the first cell; and determining an UL transmission timing for at least one TAG from the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the first reference SCS.

[0279] In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a second reference SCS from at least one SCS of at least one cell associated with at least a first TAG of the plurality of TAGs, and determining a plurality of UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the second reference SCS.

[0280] In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a second reference SCS by determining a second reference SCS from a plurality of SCSs of a plurality of BWPs configured for a cell associated with a plurality of TAGs.

[0281] In some embodiments, determining the plurality of UL transmission timings includes receiving a MAC control element (CE) from the network device including a plurality of TA commands for the plurality of TAGs, and determining the plurality of UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the second reference SCS and the plurality of TA commands in response to the MAC CE.

[0282] In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a plurality of reference SCSs for the plurality of TAGs, respectively, and determining a plurality of UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs, respectively, based on the plurality of reference SCSs.

[0283] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs comprises two TAGs.

[0284] In another solution, a communication method includes, in a terminal device, receiving configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device; receiving a plurality of timing advance (TA) commands from the network device for the plurality of TAGs; determining start times for the plurality of TAGs indicating when the plurality of TAG commands are to be applied; and applying the plurality of TA commands from the determined start times in accordance with determining that an active BWP of the first cell is configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode.

[0285] In some embodiments, determining the start time includes determining a plurality of values ​​for a predetermined parameter for calculating the start time based on corresponding bandwidth portion (BWP)-related information in a plurality of TAGs, selecting one value from the plurality of values ​​for the predetermined parameter, and determining the start time based on the selected value for the predetermined parameter.

[0286] In some embodiments, the method further includes applying a plurality of TA commands from the determined starting point in accordance with determining that the active BWP of the first cell is configured to have an MTRP mode.

[0287] In some embodiments, the method further includes: determining a first TA value for the first TA based on a first TA command for the first TA and a reference SCS of the second BWP in accordance with a determination that the terminal device switches from a first BWP to a second BWP before the start time and that the second BWP is associated with the first TA; and determining a second TA value for the second TAG based on a second TA command for the second TA and a reference SCS of the first BWP in accordance with a determination that the second BWP is not associated with the second TAG and that the first BWP is associated with the second TAG.

[0288] In some embodiments, the method further includes determining a plurality of TA values ​​for a plurality of TAGs, respectively, by applying a plurality of TA commands, and maintaining at least one TA value among the plurality of TA values ​​for at least one TA among the plurality of TAs according to a determination that the terminal device switches from a first BWP to a second BWP after the start point.

[0289] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs comprises two TAGs.

[0290] In another solution, a communication method includes, in a terminal device, receiving configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing early groups (TAGs) associated with a cell for the terminal device, selecting a target TAG from the plurality of TAGs based on TAG selection criteria for the communication procedure, and performing a communication procedure with the network device based at least on the target TAG.

[0291] In some embodiments, the TAG selection criteria are based on at least one of: a plurality of identities of a plurality of TAGs; a plurality of timing advance (TA) values ​​of a plurality of TAGs; a first association relationship between a bandwidth portion (BWP) and a plurality of TAGs; a second association relationship between at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) and a plurality of TAGs; a third association relationship between at least one control resource set (CORESET) and a plurality of TAGs; and a fourth relationship between a set of reference signals available for beam failure recovery (BFR) and a plurality of TAGs.

[0292] In some embodiments, in the first association relationship, the BWPs associated with the target TAG include BWPs that are configured to have sidelink operation.

[0293] In some embodiments, in the second association relationship, the TRP associated with the target TAG includes one of a predefined TRP, an indicated reference TRP, a main TRP, a TRP corresponding to a CORESET pool, a TRP corresponding to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, and a TRP corresponding to a resource.

[0294] In some embodiments, the communications procedure includes a supplementary uplink (SUL) operation procedure, and performing the communications procedure further includes applying the TA value of the target TAG during the SUL operation procedure.

[0295] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a sounding procedure, and performing the communication procedure includes determining, based on the target TAG, a set of carriers on which the sounding procedure can be switched to another carrier, the set of carriers being at least within the same target TAG.

[0296] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a sidelink communication procedure, and performing the communication procedure includes determining a TA value associated with the target TAG and determining sidelink resources allocated to the terminal device based on the determined TA value.

[0297] In some embodiments, the communication procedure includes a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, wherein the target TAG includes a TAG associated with a reference signal selected from a set of reference signals for the BFR, determining a TA value for the target TAG, and applying the TA value for beam failure detection (BFD) operations based on the selected reference signal.

[0298] In some embodiments, the method further includes, pursuant to determining that the BFD operation has failed, stopping a timer associated with the target TAG and triggering a random access procedure to request another TA value for the target TAG.

[0299] In some embodiments, the BFR procedure is performed for a plurality of TRPs, the plurality of TRPs being associated with a plurality of TAGs, and the method further includes, pursuant to determining that BFD operation by the plurality of TRPs has failed, stopping a plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs and triggering a plurality of random access procedures to request respective TA values ​​for the plurality of TAGs.

[0300] In some embodiments, the plurality of TAGs comprises two TAGs.

[0301] In another solution, a terminal device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory in which instructions are stored, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform any of the methods implemented by the terminal device.

[0302] Another solution is a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform any of the above methods implemented by a terminal device.

[0303] Another solution is a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform any of the above methods implemented by a terminal device.

[0304] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some 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 embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described using block diagrams, flowcharts, or some other pictorial representations, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described in this disclosure may be implemented in, by way of non-limiting example, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller, or other computing device, or some combination thereof.

[0305] 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 (e.g., computer-executable instructions included in program modules) that execute on a device by a target real or virtual processor to perform the processes or methods described above with reference to FIGS. 1-6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. 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 for the program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0306] Program code for implementing 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, so 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 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.

[0307] The program code may be embodied in a machine-readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium includes, 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 machine-readable storage media include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer disk, 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 foregoing.

[0308] Furthermore, although operations are described in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order shown, or sequentially, or that all of the operations shown be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, while several specific implementation details are included in the above description, these should not be construed as limiting 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 can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0309] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological operations, it is to be understood that the present disclosure, which is limited to the appended claims, is not necessarily limited to the specific features or operations described above. Rather, the specific features and operations described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. receiving, at a terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device; determining an operating state of at least one timer among a plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs during a communication procedure with the network device; and performing an action for the communication procedure based on the at least one operating state of the at least one timer. Communication method.

2. The at least one timer the plurality of timers associated with the plurality of TAGs; At least one TAG of the plurality of TAGs associated with an uplink (UL) resource; at least one TAG of the plurality of TAGs associated with a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state; At least one TAG of the plurality of TAGs associated with a spatial relationship; At least one TAG of the plurality of TAGs associated with a control resource set (CORESET); one or more primary timing advance groups (PTAGs) included in the plurality of TAGs; and at least one PTAG of said one or more PTAGs; including one of the following: The method of claim 1.

3. At least one of the UL resource, the TCI state, the spatial relationship, and the CORESET is configured for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback transmitted in the communication procedure. The method of claim 2.

4. Executing the action for the communication procedure includes: upon determining that the at least one timer is running, determining that a first condition is met; performing a first action for the communication procedure; upon determining that the at least one timer is not running, determining that the second condition is met; performing a second action for the communication procedure. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. the communication procedure includes a HARQ procedure; the second action includes preventing a physical layer from generating an acknowledgment in a transport block (TB); The method of claim 4.

6. the first cell is configured to have first bandwidth parts (BWPs) configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode and a second BWP configured not to have the MTRP mode; the configuration information further indicates that the first BWP is associated with two or more TAGs among the plurality of TAGs, and the second BWP is associated with one TAG among the plurality of TAGs. The method of claim 1.

7. The configuration information further indicates an association relationship between the plurality of TAGs and at least one of a resource, a TRP, a TCI state, and a spatial relationship; The method receiving a switch command from the network device indicating at least one of: switching from a first resource to a second resource; switching from a first TRP to a second TRP; switching from a first TCI state to a second TCI state; and switching from a first spatial relationship to a second spatial relationship; In response to the switching command, switching from a first TA value of a first TAG associated with at least one of the first resource, the first TRP, the first TCI state, and the first spatial relationship to a second TA value of the first TAG associated with at least one of the second resource, the second TRP, the second TCI state, and the second spatial relationship; Stopping a first timer associated with the first TAG; and starting a second timer associated with the second TAG; and performing at least one of: The method of claim 1.

8. Whether the terminal device supports multiple TAGs for a cell; The number of TAGs supported by the terminal device; A combination of tags supported by the terminal device; the number of cells that can be configured to have the plurality of TAGs; Whether the terminal device supports different TAGs in neighboring cells the total number of TAGs supported for the cell or neighboring cells; and Whether the terminal device supports different TAGs simultaneously; transmitting capability information to the network device indicating at least one of: The method of claim 1.

9. determining at least one BWP from a plurality of BWPs of the first cell that is configured to have an MTRP mode; determining a first reference subcarrier spacing (SCS) from at least one SCS of the determined at least one BWP of the first cell; and determining an UL transmission timing for at least one TAG among the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the first reference SCS; further comprising: The method of claim 1.

10. determining a second reference SCS from at least one SCS of at least one cell associated with at least a first TAG of the plurality of TAGs; determining UL transmission timings for the plurality of TAGs based at least in part on the second reference SCS; further comprising: The method of claim 1.

11. Determining the plurality of UL transmission timings includes: receiving a MAC control element (CE) from the network device, the CE including a plurality of TA commands for the plurality of TAGs; determining the UL transmission timings for the TAGs based at least in part on the second reference SCS and the TA commands in response to the MAC CE; Including, The method of claim 10.

12. receiving, at a terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with a first cell of the terminal device; receiving a plurality of timing early (TA) commands for the plurality of TAGs from the network device; determining a starting point for the plurality of TAGs indicating when the plurality of TAG commands apply; applying the plurality of TA commands from the determined start time in accordance with determining that the active BWP of the first cell is configured to have a multi transmission and reception point (MTRP) mode; A communication method, including:

13. determining the start time point determining a plurality of values ​​for predetermined parameters for calculating the start time based on corresponding bandwidth portion (BWP) related information in the plurality of TAGs; selecting one value from the plurality of values ​​for the predetermined parameter; determining the start time based on the selected value for the predetermined parameter; 13. The method of claim 12, comprising:

14. In response to determining that the terminal device switches from a first BWP to a second BWP before the start time, determining a first TA value for the first TA based on a first TA command for the first TA and a reference SCS of the second BWP according to determining that the second BWP is associated with a first TA; determining a second TA value for the second TAG based on a second TA command for the second TA and a reference SCS of the first BWP according to determining that the second BWP is not associated with the second TAG and that the first BWP is associated with the second TAG; 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

15. determining a plurality of TA values ​​for the plurality of TAGs by applying the plurality of TA commands; maintaining at least one TA value of the plurality of TA values ​​for at least one TA of the plurality of TAs according to determining that the terminal device switches from a first BWP to a second BWP after the starting time; 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

16. receiving, at a terminal device, configuration information from a network device indicating a plurality of Timing Early Groups (TAGs) associated with a cell for the terminal device; selecting a target TAG from the plurality of TAGs based on TAG selection criteria for a communication procedure; performing a communication procedure with the network device based at least on a target TAG; A communication method, including:

17. The TAG selection criteria are: a plurality of identities of said plurality of TAGs; a plurality of timing early (TA) values ​​for the plurality of TAGs; a first association relationship between a bandwidth portion (BWP) and the plurality of TAGs; a second association relationship between at least one transmission / reception point (TRP) and the plurality of TAGs; a third association relationship between at least one control resource set (CORESET) and the plurality of TAGs; and a fourth relationship between a set of reference signals available for beam failure recovery (BFR) and the plurality of TAGs; based on at least one of 17. The method of claim 16.

18. In the second association relationship, the TRP associated with the target TAG is: Predefined TRPs, The indicated reference TRP, Main TRP, TRP corresponding to the CORESET pool, a TRP corresponding to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state; and TRP corresponding to the resource 18. The method of claim 17, comprising one of:

19. the communication procedure includes a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, and the target TAG includes a TAG associated with a reference signal selected from a set of reference signals for BFR; determining a TA value of the target TAG; applying a TA value for beam fault detection (BFD) operation based on the selected reference signal.

17. The method of claim 16.

20. at least one processor; at least one memory in which instructions are stored, A terminal device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 11, the method of any one of claims 12 to 15, and / or the method of any one of claims 16 to 19.

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