BEAM INSTRUCTION METHOD AND APPARATUS, AND TERMINAL

Abstract

This application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a beam direction method and apparatus, and a terminal. The method includes obtaining a joint TCI state pool, where the joint TCI state pool is used for a separate TCI state pool or a joint TCI state pool, and performing separate or joint TCI state direction based on the joint TCI state pool. Thus, in this application, the joint TCI state pool is designed to implement the separate and joint TCI state pools and the separate and joint TCI state direction, so that the signaling overhead and the delay of beam direction are reduced.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a resource indication method and a terminal. [Background technology]

[0002] To meet the requirements of the three scenarios, 5G NR (New Radio) uses newly added high frequency bands (usually considered to be 6G and beyond), such as 28GHz, 39GHz, or 60GHz frequency bands, compared with 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) which uses low frequency bands. By introducing high frequency, higher bandwidth and higher transmission speed are achieved. Due to the high frequency, the signal may be significantly attenuated during the propagation in space. Therefore, 5G NR uses BF (BeamForming) technology to obtain good directional gain, which results in increased directional power in the transmission direction, improved SINR (Signal to Interference plus Noise Radio) at the receiving end, and improved system performance. In the research process of 5G NR, the cost and performance trade-off is considered, and finally HBF (Hybrid beamforming) technology, including digital beamforming and analog beamforming, is used. In the implementation process of beamforming technology, the antenna panel is the core component, through which the beam is transmitted or received. In the deployment and implementation of 5G NR, directional beams are used. In order to meet wide-area coverage, both base stations and terminals are deployed using multiple antenna panels. Especially for terminals, in order to meet coverage and in the case of limited space and cost saving, the antenna panel deployment has a more significant impact on performance.

[0003] Because both base stations and terminals use hybrid beamforming technology, the resulting transmit and receive beam management issues have become a central issue in the 5G NR standardization discussion process. After multiple discussions, the beam management content has been standardized, and the beam management framework, including beam training, beam measurement and reporting, and beam instructions for signals or channels, has been further standardized.

[0004] However, currently there is still a lack of a better optimal solution on how to reduce the signaling overhead and delay in beam pointing. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of this application provide a beam direction method and apparatus for implementing separate and joint TCI state pools and separate and joint TCI state activation or indication, and a terminal using a loose TCI state pool design, so that the signaling overhead and the delay of beam direction are reduced. The loose TCI state pool is applicable to both separate activation or indication and joint activation or indication. One TCI state pool may be used for uplink or downlink, or may be used for uplink and downlink.

[0006] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam directing method, comprising: Obtaining an integrated transmission configuration indication TCI state pool, the integrated TCI state pool being used for the separate TCI state pool or the joint TCI state pool; and providing separate or joint TCI status indication based on the integrated TCI status pool.

[0007] In other words, separate or joint TCI status indication may be performed based on a joint TCI status pool. A joint TCI status pool refers to a loose TCI status pool, which is applicable to both separate and joint indication. One TCI status pool may be used for uplink or downlink, or may be used for uplink and downlink.

[0008] A TCI may represent multiple types of QCI relationships. A TCI state pool may be represented as at least a beam pool.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the integrated TCI state pool includes a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool. When a joint TCI state pool is used for the joint TCI state pool, The first part resource pool is a joint TCI state pool, and the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; The second part resource pool is a joint TCI state pool, and the second part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; At least one of: the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are joint TCI state pools, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; When a combined TCI state pool is used in conjunction with separate TCI state pools, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the second part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, are used for uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0010] In other words, in this implementation, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool in the integrated TCI state pool may be used to implement a joint TCI state pool or separate TCI state pools. In this way, not only a joint TCI state pool can be implemented, but also separate TCI state pools can be implemented. Additionally, the redundancy and complexity of system configuration and maintenance can be reduced, the complexity of terminal tracking and maintenance can be reduced, and better forward compatibility can be achieved.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are A first part resource pool includes a downlink TCI state and a second part resource pool includes an uplink TCI state; The first part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the second part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal; The first part resource pool includes downlink TCI states, and the second part resource pool includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with the downlink TCI states, where overlapping means that the numbers or indexes of the TCI states are the same, or the source reference signals of the TCI states are the same.

[0012] In other words, in this implementation, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool may be implemented in multiple manners to implement a joint TCI state pool or separate TCI state pools to meet different instruction requirements.

[0013] In a possible embodiment, the TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal is a TCI state having a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS as a source reference signal; a TCI state having a synchronization signal block SSB as a source reference signal; a TCI state in which a downlink channel is used as a reference source, the downlink channel including one or more of a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH, and a physical broadcast channel PBCH; The TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal is a TCI state having a sounding reference signal SRS as a source reference signal; and at least one of the TCI states in which an uplink channel is used as a reference source, the uplink channel including one or more of a physical random access channel PRACH, a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, and a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH.

[0014] In other words, in this implementation, for the TCI state where the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal and the TCI state where the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal, there may be multiple state configurations to meet different indication requirements.

[0015] In a possible implementation, when the terminal has reciprocity, the joint TCI state pool is the first part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool.

[0016] In other words, in this implementation, when the terminal has reciprocity, the first part resource pool may be used as a joint TCI state pool, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool may be used as a joint TCI state pool.

[0017] Reciprocity mainly refers to beam correspondence. The reciprocity of a terminal means that the transmit beam and receive beam of the terminal are the same or point in the same direction.

[0018] In a possible implementation, when the terminal does not have reciprocity, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and the second part resource pool is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the separate or joint TCI status indication based on the combined TCI status may include: - indicating or activating, using a medium access control control element MAC-CE, a first TCI state subset in a first part resource pool and a second TCI state subset in a second part resource pool, when the separate indication is based on separate TCI state pools, the first TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the second TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication, or indicating or activating, using a MAC-CE, a third TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a fourth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, the third TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the fourth TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication; performing joint indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool when the joint indication is based on separate TCI state pools, and indicating or activating a fifth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool using the MAC-CE, the fifth TCI state subset being used for uplink state indication and downlink state indication; or indexing the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool separately, and indicating or activating a sixth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a seventh TCI state subset in the second part resource pool using a MAC-CE, wherein the sixth TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the seventh TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation, and the sixth TCI state subset and the seventh TCI state subset have a specific association relationship; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field in each of two MAC-CEs when the separate indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in a joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; When the joint indication is based on a joint TCI status pool, indicating or activating each of two TCI status subsets in the joint TCI status pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs, the two TCI status subsets being used for downlink TCI status indication and uplink TCI status indication, respectively; Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in a joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or Indicating or activating one TCI state subset in a joint TCI state pool using one indication field of one MAC-CE, the one TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication.

[0020] In other words, in this implementation, separate instructions may be made based on separate TCI state pools, joint instructions may be made based on separate TCI state pools, separate instructions may be made based on a joint TCI state pool, and joint instructions may be made based on a joint TCI state pool.

[0021] Joint indexing is performed for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, and the MAC-CE is used to direct or activate the uplink and downlink. This scheme uses separate TCI state pool joint indexing and MAC-CE activation. Additionally, separate indexing is performed for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, and the MAC-CE is used to direct or activate the uplink and downlink. This scheme uses separate TCI state pool separate indexing and MAC-CE joint activation.

[0022] For example, in separate state pool joint indexing, the first part and the second part are spliced. If the first part is 128 states and the second part is 64 states, the range of the joint indexing is 1-128+64, and the range of the separate indexing is 1-128 and 1-64. These are two representation methods. Assuming that one field is used for indication, the first 64 states of the field indicate two values ​​used for uplink and downlink respectively. In the second representation method, two fields containing 128 states and 64 states respectively are used for separate indication, both in one MAC-CE signaling.

[0023] MAC-CE indication and MAC-CE activation are two implementations.

[0024] The MAC-CE indication means that the MAC-CE selects one state from the TCI state pool as the aggregate TCI state.

[0025] MAC-CE activation means that the MAC-CE selects N states from the TCI state pool as an activation set for a DCI indication.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the separate or joint TCI status indication based on the combined TCI status may include: Using one indication field in the radio resource control (RRC) or MAC-CE to explicitly indicate a separate or joint TCI status; using at least one indication field of a MAC-CE or a downlink control information (DCI) to explicitly indicate a separate or joint TCI status; and implicitly performing separate or joint TCI state indication using an integrated TCI state pool, or a terminal beaming capability, or using a combination of an integrated TCI state pool and a terminal beaming capability.

[0027] In other words, in this implementation, there may be two schemes for combined or joint TCI status indication: explicit indication and implicit indication.

[0028] The explicit indication uses explicit signaling, for example, RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, or DCI signaling.

[0029] The implicit indication uses a combination of the integrated TCI state pool and terminal beaming capability configured using RRC.

[0030] For example, when a terminal reports that a beam correspondence capability is supported and only a downlink TCI status pool is configured, the joint indication method 1 is currently implicitly supported. The joint indication method 1 is as follows: when DL and UL TCI status are jointly indicated, only a downlink TCI status pool may be used as a joint TCI status pool.

[0031] In another example, when a terminal reports that a beam correspondence capability is supported and uplink and downlink TCI status pools are configured, joint indication scheme 2 is currently implicitly supported. The joint indication scheme 2 is as follows: when the TCI status of DL and UL are jointly indicated, the downlink TCI status pool may be used in the downlink, and the uplink TCI status pool may be used in the uplink.

[0032] In another example, when the beam correspondence capability is not supported or the non-ideal beam correspondence capability is supported and the uplink and downlink TCI status pools are configured, the separate indication is currently implicitly supported. The separate indication is as follows: when the DL and UL TCI statuses are indicated separately, the downlink TCI status pool is used in the downlink and the uplink TCI status pool is used in the uplink.

[0033] In a possible implementation, performing the separate or joint TCI status indication includes performing the TCI status indication under a specific condition, the specific condition being: There is only an uplink TCI state; There is only a downlink TCI state; There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink; and there are different TCI states in the uplink and the downlink.

[0034] In other words, in this implementation, the beam direction is implemented in four scenarios: there is only an uplink TCI state, there is only a downlink TCI state, there is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink, and there are different TCI states in the uplink and downlink. The application scope of the beam direction is expanded.

[0035] In a possible implementation, providing a separate or joint TCI status indication includes providing a separate or joint TCI status indication in one or more dimensions, the multiple dimensions being: Multiple careers and A plurality of target signals or channels; A plurality of target transmission directions; and at least one of a plurality of terminals.

[0036] In other words, in this implementation, beam pointing may be implemented in four dimensions: multiple carriers, multiple target signals or channels, multiple target transmission directions, and multiple terminals. The scope of application of beam pointing is expanded.

[0037] According to a second aspect, one embodiment of the present application is a beam directing device, comprising: an acquisition module configured to acquire an integrated transmission configuration indication TCI state pool, the integrated TCI state pool being used for a separate TCI state pool or a joint TCI state pool; and an indication module configured to provide separate or joint TCI status indications based on the integrated TCI status pool.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the integrated TCI state pool includes a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool. When a joint TCI state pool is used for the joint TCI state pool, The first part resource pool is a joint TCI state pool, and the first part resource pool is used for downlink transmission configuration indication TCI state indication or activation, and uplink TCI state indication or activation; The second part resource pool is a joint TCI state pool, and the second part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; At least one of: the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are joint TCI state pools, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; When a combined TCI state pool is used in conjunction with separate TCI state pools, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the second part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, are used for uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are A first part resource pool includes a downlink TCI state and a second part resource pool includes an uplink TCI state; The first part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the second part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal; The first part resource pool includes downlink TCI states, and the second part resource pool includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with the downlink TCI states, where overlapping means that the numbers or indexes of the TCI states are the same, or the source reference signals of the TCI states are the same.

[0040] In a possible embodiment, the TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal is a TCI state having a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS as a source reference signal; a TCI state having a synchronization signal block SSB as a source reference signal; a TCI state in which a downlink channel is used as a reference source, the downlink channel including one or more of a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH, and a physical broadcast channel PBCH; The TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal is a TCI state having a sounding reference signal SRS as a source reference signal; and at least one of the TCI states in which an uplink channel is used as a reference source, the uplink channel including one or more of a physical random access channel PRACH, a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, and a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH.

[0041] In a possible implementation, when the terminal has reciprocity, the joint TCI state pool is the first part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool.

[0042] In a possible implementation, when the terminal does not have reciprocity, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and the second part resource pool is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0043] In a possible implementation, the instruction module comprises: - indicating or activating, using a medium access control control element MAC-CE, a first TCI state subset in a first part resource pool and a second TCI state subset in a second part resource pool, when the separate indication is based on separate TCI state pools, the first TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the second TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication, or a first indication submodule configured to indicate or activate, using a MAC-CE, a third TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a fourth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, the third TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the fourth TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication; performing joint indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool when the joint indication is based on separate TCI state pools, and indicating or activating a fifth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool using the MAC-CE, the fifth TCI state subset being used for uplink state indication and downlink state indication; or a second indication submodule configured to perform separate indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, and indicate or activate, using a MAC-CE, a sixth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a seventh TCI state subset in the second part resource pool, where the sixth TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the seventh TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation, and the sixth TCI state subset and the seventh TCI state subset have a specific association relationship; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field in each of two MAC-CEs when the separate indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or a third indication sub-module configured to indicate or activate two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, where the two TCI state subsets are used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; When the joint indication is based on a joint TCI status pool, indicating or activating each of two TCI status subsets in the joint TCI status pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs, the two TCI status subsets being used for downlink TCI status indication and uplink TCI status indication, respectively; Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in a joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or and a fourth indication sub-module configured to indicate or activate one TCI state subset in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field of one MAC-CE, the one TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication.

[0044] In a possible implementation, the instruction information may be: A fifth indication submodule configured to explicitly perform a separate or joint TCI status indication using one indication field of a radio resource control (RRC) or a MAC-CE; a sixth indication submodule configured to explicitly perform a separate or joint TCI status indication using at least one indication field of a MAC-CE or a downlink control information (DCI); and a seventh indication submodule configured to implicitly perform separate or joint TCI state indication using the joint TCI state pool, or the terminal beaming capability, or using a combination of the joint TCI state pool and the terminal beaming capability.

[0045] In a possible implementation, the instruction module comprises: and an eighth indication sub-module configured to issue a separate or joint TCI status indication, the TCI status indication being issued under a specific condition, the specific condition including: There is only an uplink TCI state; There is only a downlink TCI state; There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink; and there are different TCI states in the uplink and the downlink.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the instruction module comprises: a ninth indication sub-module configured to provide separate or joint TCI status indications in one or more dimensions, the plurality of dimensions including: Multiple careers and A plurality of target signals or channels; A plurality of target transmission directions; and at least one of a plurality of terminals.

[0047] According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam directing device including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, The memory is configured to store computer instructions, When the beam directing apparatus is executed, the processor executes the computer instructions enabling the beam directing apparatus to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0048] According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer storage medium comprising computer instructions which, when executed, perform a method according to the first aspect.

[0049] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed, perform a method according to the first aspect.

[0050] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal, the terminal being configured to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0051] The embodiments of this application provide a beam pointing method and apparatus, and a terminal, for implementing separate and joint TCI state pools and separate and joint TCI state indication using a loose TCI state pool design, so that the signaling overhead and the delay of beam pointing are reduced. The loose TCI state pool is applicable to both separate indication and joint indication. One TCI state pool may be used in the downlink, or may be used in the uplink and downlink. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0052] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of the downlink beam training process.

[0053] [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of beam keeping, tracking and pointing.

[0054] [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a beam pointing process.

[0055] [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system.

[0056] [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a beam pointing process according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0057] [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a beam pointing scheme according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0058] [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC-CE according to one embodiment of this application.

[0059] [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC-CE according to one embodiment of this application.

[0060] [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC-CE according to one embodiment of this application.

[0061] [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a MAC-CE according to one embodiment of this application.

[0062] [Figure 11] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a beam pointing method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0063] [Figure 12] 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a beam directing device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] [Figure 13] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal according to an embodiment of this application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0065] Hereinafter, the technical solutions of the embodiments in this application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is apparent that the described embodiments are only some, but not all, of the embodiments in this application.

[0066] In the description of this specification, the words "one embodiment," "some embodiments," and the like indicate that one or more embodiments of this application include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic that is described with reference to the embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in some other embodiments," "in other embodiments," and the like in different places in this specification are not necessarily meant to refer to the same embodiment. Instead, the phrases mean "one or more, but not all, of the embodiments," unless specifically emphasized otherwise.

[0067] In the description of this specification, " / " means "or" unless otherwise specified. For example, A / B may represent A or B. In this specification, "and / or" describes an association relationship between related objects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the following three cases, namely, only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists. Additionally, in the description of the embodiments of this application, "multiple" means two or more.

[0068] In the description of this specification, the terms "first" and "second" are for explanatory purposes and are not to be understood as an indication or implication of the relative importance of the number of technical features indicated, or as an implicit indication. Thus, a feature qualified by "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more features. The terms "comprise", "contain", "have" and variations thereof all mean "including, but not limited to", unless specifically emphasized otherwise.

[0069] First, the main technology in the embodiment of this application will be described below.

[0070] To meet the requirements of the three scenarios, 5G NR uses newly added high frequency bands (usually considered to be 6G and beyond), such as 28GHz, 39GHz, or 60GHz frequency bands, compared with 4G LTE using low frequency bands. By introducing high frequencies, higher bandwidth and higher transmission speeds are achieved. Due to the high frequency, signals may be significantly attenuated during propagation in space. Therefore, 5G NR uses BF technology to obtain good directional gain, which results in increased directional power in the transmission direction, improved SINR at the receiving end, and improved system performance. In the research process of 5G NR, the trade-off between cost and performance is considered, and finally HBF technology, including digital beamforming and analog beamforming, is used. In the implementation process of beamforming technology, the antenna panel is the core component, and the beam is transmitted or received through the antenna panel. In the deployment and implementation of 5G NR, directional beams are used. To meet wide-area coverage, both base stations and terminals are deployed using multiple antenna panels. Especially for terminals, in order to meet the coverage requirements and in the case where space is limited and costs are saved, the antenna panel deployment has a more significant impact on performance.

[0071] Because both base stations and terminals use hybrid beamforming technology, the resulting transmit and receive beam management issues have become a central issue in the 5G NR standardization discussion process. After multiple discussions, in the first release of 5G NR, 3GPP Rel-15, the beam management content has been standardized, and the beam management framework, including beam training, beam measurement and reporting, and beam instructions for signals or channels, has been further standardized.

[0072] The beam training content includes the receive beam and transmit beam sweeping process of the base station and the terminal, which aims to find a beam pair including a transmit beam and a receive beam. The gain of the received signal is optimal only when the directions of the transmit beam and the receive beam are aligned.

[0073] 1.Downlink beam training process shown in Figure 1

[0074] Process P1 (rough alignment):

[0075] The gNB covers the area by transmitting beam sweeping. The UE performs pairing, measurement and reporting separately by gNB transmitting beam and receiving beam sweeping. The gNB and UE select one or more suitable beams (pairs) as initial selection. To accelerate the process P1, the gNB and UE usually select coarse beam sweeping. The process P1 is not clearly described in the protocol.

[0076] Process P2 (fine-tuning the gNB transmit beam):

[0077] The gNB performs fine transmit beam sweeping based on the initial transmit beam obtained in process P1. The UE performs pairing, measurement, and reporting based on the first receive beam obtained in process P1 (or in a manner instructed by the base station) to train the gNB's fine transmit beam. For this process, only the identification of process P2 (Repetition=OFF) is described in the protocol. For other settings and processes, the main control is implemented by the gNB.

[0078] Process P3 (UE receive beam fine-tuning):

[0079] Based on process P2, the gNB acquires a fine transmit beam through training and transmits the same beam. The UE acquires a coarse beam through process P2, performs fine receive beam sweeping, and performs pairing and measurement to train the UE's fine receive beam. For this process, only the identification of process P3 (Repetition=ON) is described in the protocol. Other settings and processes are implemented by the gNodeB.

[0080] Please note that the above Repetition may also be understood as repeated beam transmission.

[0081] 2. Uplink beam training process (similar to downlink beam training process)

[0082] Process U1 (coarse alignment):

[0083] The UE covers the area with a transmit beam sweeping scheme. The gNB performs pairing and measurement with the UE's transmit beam and receive beam sweeping scheme separately. The gNB and UE select one or more suitable beams (pairs) as an initial selection. To accelerate the process U1, the gNB and UE usually select a coarse beam sweeping. The process U1 is not clearly described in the protocol.

[0084] Process U2 (UE receive beam fine-tuning):

[0085] The UE performs the same beam transmission based on the transmit beam set by the base station. The gNB performs fine receive beam sweeping based on the initial receive beam obtained in process U1, performs pairing and measurement, and selects a suitable fine receive beam. This process is not explicitly described in the protocol. The gNB implements the main control. It is agreed that the process performed when the gNB sets the same transmit beam for different reference signals of the UE may be considered as process U2.

[0086] Process U3 (UE transmit beam fine tuning):

[0087] The UE performs fine transmit beam sweeping based on the transmit beam set by the base station. The gNB performs pairing and measurement based on the receive beam obtained in process U2, and selects a suitable fine receive beam for the UE. This process is not explicitly described in the protocol. The gNB implements the main control. It is agreed that the process performed when the gNB sets different transmit beams for different reference signals of the UE may be considered as process U3.

[0088] In the above process, when Repetition is set to "ON" for CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal), the terminal assumes that the base station's transmit beam is the same for all CSI-RS in the CSI-RS set. When Repetition is set to "OFF" for CSI-RS, the terminal does not assume that the base station's transmit beam is the same for all CSI-RS in the CSI-RS set.

[0089] For the beam training process, the terminal needs to measure and report the measurement reference signal set by the base station. According to the protocol, the L1-RSRP (Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power) measurement metric is used to measure the beam quality, and the L1-SINR (Layer 1 Signal Interference Noise Ratio) measurement metric is used to measure the beam quality. Compared with L1-RSRP, the L1-SINR may further consider the impact of interference on the beam quality.

[0090] A terminal may find a beam pair for communicating with a base station using the beam training process described above. In the current protocol, the beam pair relationship is implicitly represented using a Quasi Co-Located (QCL) relationship. QCL was introduced from LTE to simplify the implementation of terminals in CoMP (Coordinated Multiple Points) scenarios. Currently, NR inherits the use of the LTE QCL relationship as before and further extends the LTE QCL relationship. The QCL relationship currently defined in Rel-15 NR is described in 3GPP protocol 38.211 as follows: "For two antenna ports, the large-scale channel characteristics of one port are inferred from the other port, and the two antenna ports may be considered to have a QCL relationship. The large-scale channel characteristics may be delay spread, average delay, Doppler frequency shift, Doppler spread, average gain, receive beam spatial parameters, etc." Currently, the QCL relationship is classified as follows: QCL-TypeA: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread} QCL-TypeB: {Doppler shift, Doppler spread} QCL-TypeC: {Doppler shift, average delay} QCL-TypeD:{Spatial Rx parameters}

[0091] The QCL relationship is further encapsulated in RRC (Radio Resource Control) parameters, the TCI state and the spatial relationship used by the uplink and downlink signals or channels. QCL-TypeD is an implicit beam-pair relationship. The terminal uses the aforementioned beam training process and the QCL relationship to provide a beam reference for the corresponding signal or channel.

[0092] It should be noted that the beam training process, also called the beam tracking and maintenance process, is concerned with beam measurements and reporting. The current protocol supports tracking of up to N beams, where N depends on the terminal capabilities. Periodic, semi-persistent and aperiodic measurements and reporting based on SSB (Synchronization Signal block) or CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal) are supported. The maximum number of measurement times reported at one time does not exceed 64. Non-group-based reporting and group-based reporting are supported. In non-group-based reporting, up to four beams are reported at one time, and in group-based reporting, up to two beam pairs are reported at one time. Usually, both coarse and fine beams need to be measured.

[0093] 3. Beam Direction

[0094] The uplink and downlink signals or channels described in the protocol may use the QCL relationship (TCI state / spatial relationship) to perform beam direction. The uplink and downlink beam direction may be a signaling explicit indication or a default beam reference implicit indication described in the protocol.

[0095] In case of explicit signaling, the beam pool for the entire downlink is defined in the PDSCH-Config IE (Physical Downlink Shared Channel). The beam pools for other signals or channels are subsets taken from the PDSCH-Config IE and are defined in the IEs of the corresponding channels or signals, respectively. For example, the beam pool of the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) is defined in the CORESET (Control-Resource Set) IE and is a subset of the beam pool in the PDSCH-Config IE, the beam pool of the P-CSI-RS (Periodic Channel State Information Reference Signal) is configured in the NZP Resources IE (i.e., NZP Resource Configuration Element), the beam pool of the SP (Semi-Persistent)-CSI-RS is configured in the PDSCH-Config IE, and the beam pool of the AP (Access Point)-CSI-RS is configured in the CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList IE.

[0096] The beam pool for the entire uplink is not defined in the protocol, and the uplink beam pool is defined for each corresponding signal or channel. For example, the beam pool for PUCCH (Physical uplink control channel) is defined in the PUCCH-config IE, the beam pool for P / AP-SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) is configured in the SRS-resource IE, and the beam pool for SP-SRS is indicated in the MAC-CE (Media Access Control-Control Element). The beam indication signal architecture is shown in Figure 2.

[0097] 3. Explicit beam direction

[0098] A three-level signaling indication structure is used for PDSCH: RRC+MAC-CE+DCI (Downlink Control Information). A beam resource pool is configured using higher layer RRC signaling, and a beam subset containing multiple beams is activated using MAC-CE signaling. Finally, one beam of the beam subset is triggered using DCI to indicate the PDSCH beam.

[0099] A two-level PDCCH:RRC+MAC-CE signaling structure is used: a beam resource pool is configured using higher layer RRC signaling, of which one beam is activated using MAC-CE signaling to indicate the PDCCH beam.

[0100] CSI-RS: For periodic CSI-RS, beams are configured using RRC. Semi-persistent CSI-RS beams are configured using RRC and commanded using MAC-CE. Aperiodic CSI-RS beams are configured using RRC, updated and activated using MAC-CE, and commanded through DCI triggers.

[0101] PUCCH: For PUCCH beam indication, a beam resource pool is configured using higher layer RRC signaling, of which one beam is activated using MAC-CE signaling to indicate the PUCCH beam.

[0102] PUSCH: PUSCH beam direction is performed using the SRS beam indicated by the Sounding Reference Signal Resource Indicator (SRI) associated with the PUSCH.

[0103] SRS: For periodic SRS, beams are configured using RRC. Semi-persistent SRS beams are configured using RRC and commanded using MAC-CE. Aperiodic SRS beams are configured using RRC, updated and activated using MAC-CE, and commanded through DCI triggers.

[0104] In the current case of explicit beam instruction signaling, each CC (Component Carrier) is indicated separately for the target signal or channel, separately for the target transmission direction DL (DownLink) or UL (UpLink), and separately for each UE based on three-level instruction of RRC+MAC-CE+DCI.

[0105] 4. Implicit method of beam direction

[0106] PDSCH:

[0107] Case (Instance) #1: There is a QCL relationship between the common (normal) PDSCH and the SSB associated with the decoded system information.

[0108] Case #2: After receiving the RRC initial configuration and before activating beam (MAC-CE) signaling, the terminal assumes that there is a QCL relationship between the PDSCH and the SSB used for initial access, where the QCL types are Type A and Type D.

[0109] Case #3: If the TCI validity field of the PDSCH in the DCI is not valid, there is a QCL relationship between the PDSCH and the PDCCH for scheduling the PDSCH, where the QCL type is type A / B / C / D.

[0110] Case #4: If the TCI validity field of PDSCH in DCI is valid, when the scheduling offset of PDSCH is less than the scheduling threshold, the PDSCH has a QCL relationship with the PDCCH with the smallest CORESET ID (identifier) ​​in the latest slot where PDCCH monitoring exists in the active BWP (Bandwidth part) of the serving cell, where the QCL type is type A / B / C / D. In multi-TRP (Transmission and Reception Point) scenario, the related CORESETs should be restricted to the same TRP.

[0111] Case #5: In a multi-TRP scenario, if the RRC configuration for the PDSCH includes at least one configuration with two TCI indications, the PDSCH shall use the configuration with the smallest ID and with two TCI indications when the current scheduling offset of the PDSCH is less than the scheduling threshold.

[0112] Case #6: In a cross-carrier scheduling scenario, when the TCI validity field of a PDSCH in the DCI is valid and the scheduling offset of the PDSCH is less than the scheduling threshold, it is assumed that the PDSCH on the scheduled carrier has a QCL relationship with the activated TCI state with the smallest ID.

[0113] PDCCH:

[0114] Case #1: There is a QCL relationship between the common PDCCH and the SSB associated with the decoded system information.

[0115] Case #2: For non-ID#0 CORESET, if no TCI state or multiple TCI states are configured in the initial RRC and MAC-CE is not activated, the PDCCH has a QCL relationship with the SSB for initial access.

[0116] Case #3: For a non-ID#0 CORESET, if multiple TCI-states are configured for RRC during HO (Hand Over) or SCell (Secondary Serving Cell) addition process and MAC-CE is not activated, the PDCCH has a QCL relationship with the SSB for random access initiated in that process.

[0117] Case #4: For ID#0 CORESET, if no TCI state or multiple TCI states are configured in the initial RRC and MAC-CE is not activated, the PDCCH has a QCL relationship with the SSB for initial access.

[0118] CSI-RS:

[0119] For periodic and semi-persistent CSI-RS, no default beam is defined. For aperiodic CSI-RS beams, if there is another channel or signal indicating a beam on the same symbol when the scheduling offset is less than the scheduling threshold, the beam of the other channel or signal is used, or if there is no other channel or signal indicating a beam on the same symbol, the CSI-RS has a QCL relationship with the PDCCH with PDCCH monitoring and with the smallest CORESET ID in the slot closest to the serving cell's active BWP.

[0120] PUCCH:

[0121] Case #1: If the PL-RS is not configured, an uplink beam is not configured, and a default beam is configured, beam lookup is performed for the beam of the CORESET with the smallest ID in the active BWP of the PCell.

[0122] PUSCH:

[0123] Case #1: If a PUSCH is scheduled using DCI 0_0, beam lookup is done to the beam of the PUCCH with the smallest ID dedicated to the active BWP of the CC.

[0124] Case #2: When a PUSCH is scheduled using DCI 0_0 and the default beam feature is enabled, if no PUCCH is configured in the active uplink BWP in connected mode, beam lookup is done for the beam of the CORESET with the smallest ID in the active BWP of the CC.

[0125] Case #3: When a PUSCH is scheduled using DCI 0_0 and the default beam feature is enabled, if the configured PUCCH does not have a beam reference, the beam reference is made to the beam of the CORESET with the smallest ID in the active BWP of the CC.

[0126] However, the above beam pointing has the following technical problems.

[0127] In the case of explicit indication, the three-level signal structure is complex and has long delays.

[0128] In the case of explicit indication, each UE is indicated separately, each signal and channel is indicated separately, DL or UL is indicated separately, and the system overhead is large.

[0129] With implicit indication, signaling is preserved, but rollback to the initial access beam occurs in more scenarios, resulting in poor alignment of the reference beam and degraded system performance.

[0130] In the case of implicit indication, the PDC / PDS / CSI-RS beams may be updated in a joint manner, but the current signaling structure is not flexible enough.

[0131] In order to reduce the signaling overhead and delay of beam indication, and considering practical scenarios, in many cases, multiple signals or channels use the same beam. Therefore, separate TCI state pool design, joint TCI state pool design, separate TCI state indication, and joint TCI state indication are generally required.

[0132] The first solution is shown in Figure 3.

[0133] (1) For separate TCI state pools, the implementation may be as follows:

[0134] Scheme 1: The existing downlink TCI state pool is reused in the downlink, and the existing downlink TCI state pool is reused as the uplink TCI state pool with separate indexing.

[0135] Separate indexing means that the downlink TCI status pool and the uplink TCI status pool share one TCI status pool, but the uplink indication and the downlink indication are separate and do not interfere with each other.

[0136] Method 2: An existing downlink TCI state pool is reused in the downlink, and a new uplink TCI state pool including downlink RS (Reference Signal) resources is created.

[0137] Scheme 3: The existing downlink TCI state pool is reused in the downlink, and the existing uplink pool including spatial relations is reused as the uplink TCI state pool.

[0138] However, the above-mentioned method 1 requires reciprocity, cannot be used in a scenario without reciprocity, and lacks SRS based TCI state indication. In the above-mentioned methods 2 and 3, the same TCI state as that in the downlink TCI state pool may exist, resulting in resource waste. For example, based on a scenario with reciprocity, assume that the TCI state is based on CSI-RS#1, the spatial relationship is also based on CSI-RS#1, and both indications essentially refer to the beam of CSI-RS#1. If CSI-RS#1 exists separately in the TCI state and the spatial relationship, the terminal needs to store and maintain twice, which is unnecessary in practice.

[0139] Note that reciprocity is primarily a beam correspondence and may be extended to channel reciprocity. Beam correspondence for a terminal means that the transmit and receive beams of the terminal are the same or point in the same direction.

[0140] (2) For a joint TCI state pool, the implementation may be as follows:

[0141] Scheme 1: Reuse the existing downlink TCI state pool and perform joint indexing.

[0142] The joint index has two meanings: Uplink and downlink can be indicated using the same signaling. In the same signaling, there may be only one field used to indicate uplink and downlink at the same time. In the same signaling, there may be two fields, one used to indicate uplink and the other used to indicate downlink. Uplink and downlink may be indicated at the same time.

[0143] Method 2: Create a new joint TCI state pool including uplink TCI state and downlink TCI state. The uplink TCI state and downlink TCI state may have different contents, and the uplink TCI state may include SRS or other uplink parameters. The other parameters may be parameters such as PC (Power Control) and TA (Timing Advance).

[0144] Method 3: Extend or create a new joint TCI state pool that includes the existing downlink TCI state pool and all uplink spatial relationships.

[0145] However, the above-mentioned scheme 1 requires reciprocity, cannot be used in scenarios without reciprocity, and lacks SRS based TCI state indication. In the above-mentioned schemes 2 and 3, the same TCI state may exist in the uplink and downlink TCI states, which results in resource waste.

[0146] (3) In the case of separate TCI status indication

[0147] Based on separate TCI state pools

[0148] Uplink: MAC-CE and / or DCI are used and the uplink TCI status pool is referenced.

[0149] Downlink: MAC-CE and / or DCI are used and the downlink TCI status pool is referenced.

[0150] Based on the joint TCI state pool,

[0151] Scheme 1: Uplink or downlink: A separate MAC-CE and / or separate DCI is used and a joint TCI status pool is referenced.

[0152] Scheme 2: Uplink or downlink: The same MAC-CE and / or the same DCI are used, a joint TCI state pool is referenced and a flag bit is used for differentiation.

[0153] (4) In the case of a joint TCI status indication

[0154] Based on the joint TCI state pool,

[0155] The same MAC-CE and / or the same DCI is used and a common pool is referenced.

[0156] Therefore, in order to solve the aforementioned technical problems and further reduce signaling overhead and beam direction delay, this application provides a beam direction method and apparatus, and a terminal, which implement separate and joint TCI state pools, and separate and joint TCI state indication, using a loose TCI state pool design.

[0157] The loose TCI state pool is applicable to both separate and joint indications. One TCI state pool may be used in the downlink or in the uplink and downlink.

[0158] In the protocol, DL / UL TCI states are described, and DL TCI states are used at least for downlink TCI state indication, and UL TCI states are used at least for uplink TCI state indication. However, for DL / UL TCI state pool, the protocol does not describe that DL TCI state pool explicitly includes DL TCI state, and UL TCI state pool explicitly includes UL TCI state. Alternatively, from another point of view, DL TCI state is not necessarily used only in downlink, but may also be used in uplink. Additionally, the concept of TCI state pool cannot be embodied in the protocol.

[0159] Below, a description is provided using a specific embodiment.

[0160] 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 900. As shown in FIG. 4, the communication system 900 includes a network device and a terminal.

[0161] The terminal in this application is also called UE, MS (Mobile Station), MT (Mobile Terminal), etc., and refers to a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, such as a handheld device or an in-vehicle device with wireless connectivity. Currently, some examples of terminals are mobile phones, tablet computers, notebook computers, palmtop computers, MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices), wearable devices, VR (Virtual Reality) devices, AR (Augmented Reality), wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, etc.

[0162] A network device in this application is a Radio Access Network (RAN) node or RAN device, also called a base station, that connects terminals to a wireless network. Currently, some examples of RAN nodes are gNB (Next Generation NodeB), TRP (Transmission Reception Point), eNB (evolved NodeB), RNC (Radio Network Controller), NB (NodeB), BSC (Base Station Controller), BTS (Base Transceiver Station), Home NodeB (e.g., Home evolved NodeB, or Home NodeB, HNB), BBU (BaseBand Unit), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP), etc.

[0163] In order to reduce the signaling overhead and delay of beam indication, a unified TCI framework and common beam indication are used in this application. In this specification, "unified" and "common" may be understood as having the same TCI state in one or more of the following dimensions: (1) Multiple CCs (2) Multiple target signals or channels (3) Multiple target transmission directions, i.e. DL or UL (4) Multiple UEs

[0164] In this application, beam pointing occurs in one or more of the following scenarios: (1) Only uplink TCI state exists (DL only TCI state) (2) Only downlink TCI state exists (UL only TCI state) (3) There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink (DL+UL with the same TCI state ID) (4) There are different TCI states in the uplink and downlink (DL+UL with different TCI state IDs)

[0165] This application includes a TCI state pool design and a TCI state instruction design. Additionally, the beam pool and beam instruction are specific examples of the TCI state pool and the TCI state instruction.

[0166] 1.TCI State Pool Design

[0167] The TCI state pool is divided into two parts, Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 and Part 2 may be used for uplink and downlink beam pools, respectively.

[0168] (1) Implementation 1: The first part may include the downlink TCI status, and the second part may include the uplink TCI status (this is an existing solution and will be used for the subsequent indication solution).

[0169] (2) Implementation 2: The first part may include a TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal (SSB / CSI-RS), and the second part may include a TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal (SRS).

[0170] (3) Implementation 3: The first part includes all downlink TCI states (including parts that overlap with uplink TCI states), and the second part includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with downlink TCI states. Overlapping means that the TCI state numbers or indices are the same.

[0171] The above may be configured independently or jointly using the RRC or MAC-CE.

[0172] As shown in Fig. 5, based on implementation 1 or implementation 2, for the first part (i.e., TCI pool part 1 in Fig. 5), an existing downlink TCI state pool, i.e., a TCI state list configured using PDSCH-config, may be reused or a new downlink TCI state pool may be created. Additionally, in Fig. 5, "with BC" represents the presence of reciprocity, and "w / o BC" or "without BC" represents the absence of reciprocity. In the case of reciprocity, a beam is trained for SRS through downlink beam training, and another channel or signal is indicated using the beam of SRS. Similarly, in the case of no reciprocity, a beam may be trained for SRS only through uplink beam training.

[0173] Furthermore, in the aforementioned TCI states, uplink parameters, such as PC, TA, etc. may be added but are only used to indicate the uplink TCI state.

[0174] Additionally, in the above implementation, the corresponding usage manner may include:

[0175] (1) Usage method 1: In the case of using a joint TCI status pool, the first part and the second part may be used, or only the first part may be used, or only the second part may be used.

[0176] When there is terminal reciprocity, the first part plus the second part may be used, or only the first part may be used.

[0177] Only the second part is used when there is no terminal reciprocity or when there is base station reciprocity.

[0178] In other cases, the first part plus the second part may be used.

[0179] (2) Usage method 2: In the case of using a separate TCI status pool, the first part is used for the downlink TCI status pool, and the first part + the second part or only the second part is used for the uplink TCI status pool.

[0180] When an uplink TCI status pool is used, it may be taken into account whether there is uplink and downlink reciprocity, and if there is reciprocity, the first part plus the second part is used, or if there is no uplink and downlink reciprocity, only the second part is used.

[0181] 2.TCI status indication design

[0182] (1) Indication method 1: When separate indication is performed based on a separate TCI state pool, only the N TCI states of the first part may be activated using the MAC-CE to perform downlink indication, the N TCI states of each of the first part and the second part may be activated using the MAC-CE to perform uplink indication with reciprocity, or the N TCI states of the second part may be activated using the MAC-CE to perform uplink indication without reciprocity.

[0183] (2) Indication method 2: When joint indication is performed based on separate TCI state pools, separate TCI state pool joint indexing may be used and MAC-CE activation may be used, or separate TCI state pool separate indexing may be used and MAC-CE joint activation may be used.

[0184] (3) Indication scheme 3: When separate indication is performed based on a joint TCI status pool, MAC-CE separate activation may be used.

[0185] (4) Indication scheme 4: When joint indication is performed based on a joint TCI status pool, MAC-CE joint activation may be used.

[0186] (5) Indication method 5: RRC / a MAC-CE uses one indication field to indicate separate or joint indication.

[0187] (6) Indication method 6: A combination of the TCI status pool and UE capabilities configured using RRC is used to obtain implicit separate or joint indications, i.e., indications for the following scenarios: There is only an uplink TCI state (DL only TCI state); There is only a downlink TCI state (UL only TCI state), There is the same TCI state in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with the same TCI state ID), or There are different TCI states in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with different TCI state IDs).

[0188] For example, the scenarios may be MPE mitigation (Maximum Permitted Exposure mitigation), UE power saving, UL interference management, supporting different configurations across panels, or UL mTRP (Uplink Multi-TRP).

[0189] (8) Indication Scheme 7: MAC-CE or DCI uses one indication field or two indication fields to indicate uplink and downlink. As shown in Figure 6, the following factors are taken into consideration: reciprocity and usage scenarios: non-ideal reciprocity (0 is reported for capabilities 2-20), ideal reciprocity (1 is reported for capabilities 2-20), and no reciprocity.

[0190] 3. Combination of the above implementation 1 with separate instructions and joint instructions

[0191] The existing downlink TCI state pool is reused as the downlink TCI state pool, i.e. tci-StatesToAddModList configured using the PDSCH-Config IE. Alternatively, a new downlink TCI state pool is created and the newly created state pool is placed at the BWP level or at the cell level, i.e. in the DL-BWP IE or the ServingcellConfig IE. The size of the downlink TCI state pool is M, where M may be 128, 256, etc.

[0192] The newly created uplink beam pool may be placed in the PUCCH-config IE, or may be placed at the BWP level or at the cell level, in other words, in the UL-BWP IE or the ServingcellConfig IE. The size of the uplink TCI state pool is N, where N may be 64, 128, etc.

[0193] Joint indication method 1: When the DL and UL TCI states are jointly indicated, only the downlink TCI state pool may be used as the joint TCI state pool, or when the DL and UL TCI states are jointly indicated, the downlink TCI state pool and the uplink TCI state pool may be jointly indexed to function as the joint TCI state pool.

[0194] Joint indication method 2: When the TCI status of DL and UL are jointly indicated, a downlink TCI status pool may be used in the downlink, and an uplink TCI status pool may be used in the uplink.

[0195] Separate indication: When the DL and UL TCI states are indicated separately, the downlink TCI state pool is used in the downlink and the uplink TCI state pool is used in the uplink.

[0196] For joint instruction method 1, joint instruction method 2, and separate instruction, the instruction may be given in an implicit manner.

[0197] Implicit method 1: When the terminal reports that the beam correspondence capability is supported and only the downlink TCI status pool is configured, the joint indication method 1 is currently supported implicitly.

[0198] Implicit Scheme 2: When the terminal reports that the beam correspondence capability is supported and the uplink and downlink TCI status pools are configured, the joint indication scheme 2 is currently supported implicitly.

[0199] Implicit Scheme 3: The separate indication scheme is currently supported implicitly when beam capability is not supported or non-ideal beam capability is supported and uplink and downlink TCI status pools are configured.

[0200] For joint indication method 1, joint indication method 2, and separate indication, indication may be performed using explicit signaling. Joint indication method 1, joint indication method 2, and separate indication may be used to complete indication in the following scenarios: DL only TCI state (separate instruction) UL only TCI status (separate indication) DL+UL with the same TCI status ID (joint indication method 1) DL+UL with different TCI status IDs (Joint Instruction Method 2)

[0201] Explicit signaling indication 1: As shown in FIG. 7 or FIG. 8, when the above-mentioned function indication is completed using one MAC-CE, the fields in the MAC-CE include a combination of one or more of the following: Serving Cell ID, 5 bits or Serving Cell Group ID One BWP ID identifying the same BWP in uplink and downlink, 2 bits or two BWP IDs, one identifying the uplink BWP and the other identifying the downlink BWP, 4 bits, Uplink TCI State ID, 6, 7, 8, log2 (number of uplink TCI states configured using RRC) bits, indicating the TCI state used; Downlink TCI State ID, 6, 7, 8, log2 (number of uplink TCI states configured using RRC) bits indicating the TCI state used; a channel or signal identifier indicating the channel or signal range over which the TCI condition operates; If a uniform transmission configuration indication status indication identifier is added to a channel or signal configured using RRC, the field indicates the corresponding identifier or, for different channels (groups) or signals (groups), 1 bit or N bits are used separately to indicate whether a common TCI is supported; A TRP identifier, a 1-bit identifier that is usually a coresetpoolindex (controlled resource set pool subindex, controlled resource set pool index) index, and that distinguishes between two TRPs. Optionally, a joint or separate uplink and downlink designation identifier, 2 bits, indicating the action and behavior of the following fields. There is only an uplink TCI state (DL only TCI state); There is only a downlink TCI state (UL only TCI state), There is the same TCI state in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with the same TCI state ID), or There are different TCI states in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with different TCI state IDs).

[0202] Explicit signaling indication 2: As shown in FIG. 9 or FIG. 10, when the above-mentioned function activation is completed using one MAC-CE, the fields in the MAC-CE include: Serving Cell ID, 5 bits or Serving Cell Group ID, One BWP ID identifying the same BWP in uplink and downlink, 2 bits, or two BWP IDs, one identifying the uplink BWP and the other identifying the downlink BWP, 4 bits, Uplink TCI State ID, (6, 7, or 8) x N bits or log2 (number of TCI states configured using RRC) x N bits indicating the TCI state used, or in a bitmap format mapping to the TCI state pool configured using RRC, 128 bits or 256 bits; Downlink TCI State ID, (6, 7, or 8) × N bits or log2 (number of TCI states configured using RRC) × N bits indicating the TCI state used, or in bitmap format mapping to the TCI state pool configured using RRC, 128 bits or 256 bits; a channel or signal identifier indicating the channel or signal range over which the TCI condition operates; If a channel or signal common TCI identifier configured using RRC is added, the field indicates the corresponding identifier or, for different channels (groups) or signals (groups), 1 bit or N bits are used separately to indicate whether common TCI is supported or not; A TRP identifier, 1 bit, typically a coresetpoolindex index, distinguishing between two TRPs, or Uplink and downlink joint or separate designation identifier, 2 bits, indicating the action and behavior of the following fields: There is only an uplink TCI state (DL only TCI state); There is only a downlink TCI state (UL only TCI state), There is the same TCI state in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with the same TCI state ID), or There are different TCI states in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with different TCI state IDs).

[0203] Explicit signaling instruction 3: When using the joint instruction method 1,

[0204] (1) When the MAC-CE is used for indication, the implementation process includes: the MAC-CE selects one TCI state from the TCI state pool as the integrated TCI state, and the fields in the MAC-CE include a combination of one or more of the following: Serving Cell ID, 5 bits or Serving Cell Group ID, One BWP ID identifying the same BWP in uplink and downlink, 2 bits, or two BWP IDs, one identifying the uplink BWP and the other identifying the downlink BWP, 4 bits, Uplink TCI State ID, 6, 7, 8, log2 (number of uplink TCI states configured using RRC) bits, indicating the TCI state used; a channel or signal identifier indicating the channel or signal range over which the TCI condition operates; If a channel or signal common TCI identifier configured using RRC is added, the field indicates the corresponding identifier or, for different channels (groups) or signals (groups), 1 bit or N bits are used separately to indicate whether common TCI is supported or not; TRP Identifier, 1 bit, usually a coresetpoolindex index, which distinguishes between two TRPs.

[0205] (2) When the MAC-CE is used for activation and the DCI is used for indication, the implementation process includes: the MAC-CE selects N TCI states from the TCI state pool as an activation set for the DCI indication, where the value of N depends on the bit width of the DCI indication field and is typically 8, and the fields in the MAC-CE include one or more combinations of the following: Serving Cell ID, 5 bits or Serving Cell Group ID, One BWP ID identifying the same BWP in uplink and downlink, 2 bits, or two BWP IDs, one identifying the uplink BWP and the other identifying the downlink BWP, 4 bits, A TCI state ID, either (6, 7, or 8) x N bits or log2(number of TCI states configured using RRC) x N bits indicating the TCI state used, or a bitmap format mapping to the TCI state pool configured using RRC, either 128 bits or 256 bits; a channel or signal identifier indicating the channel or signal range over which the TCI condition operates; If a channel or signal common TCI identifier configured using RRC is added, the field indicates the corresponding identifier or, for different channels (groups) or signals (groups), 1 bit or N bits are used separately to indicate whether common TCI is supported or not; TRP Identifier, 1 bit, usually a coresetpoolindex index, which distinguishes between two TRPs.

[0206] Explicit signaling instruction 4: When using the joint instruction method 2,

[0207] (1) When the MAC-CE is used for indication, the implementation process includes: the MAC-CE separately selects one TCI state from the uplink TCI state pool and / or the downlink TCI state pool to indicate the uplink and / or downlink TCI state. The fields in the MAC-CE include a combination of one or more of the following: Serving Cell ID, 5 bits or Serving Cell Group ID, One BWP ID identifying the same BWP in uplink and downlink, 2 bits, or two BWP IDs, one identifying the uplink BWP and the other identifying the downlink BWP, 4 bits, Uplink TCI State ID, 6, 7, 8, log2 (number of uplink TCI states configured using RRC) bits, indicating the TCI state used; Downlink TCI State ID, 6, 7, 8, log2 (number of uplink TCI states configured using RRC) bits indicating the TCI state used; a channel or signal identifier indicating the channel or signal range over which the TCI condition operates; If a channel or signal common TCI identifier configured using RRC is added, the field indicates the corresponding identifier or, for different channels (groups) or signals (groups), 1 bit or N bits are used separately to indicate whether common TCI is supported or not; A TRP identifier, 1 bit, typically a coresetpoolindex index, distinguishing between two TRPs, or Optionally, a joint or separate uplink and downlink designation identifier, 2 bits, indicating the action and behavior of the following fields. There is only an uplink TCI state (DL only TCI state), There is only a downlink TCI state (UL only TCI state), There is the same TCI state in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with the same TCI state ID), or There are different TCI states in uplink and downlink (DL+UL) with different TCI state IDs.

[0208] (2) When the MAC-CE is used for activation and the DCI is used for indication, the implementation process includes: the MAC-CE selects N TCI states and M TCI states from the uplink TCI state pool and the downlink TCI state pool, respectively, as an activation set for DCI indication, where the values ​​of N and M depend on the bit width of the DCI indication field and are typically 8. The fields in the MAC-CE include a combination of one or more of the following: Serving Cell ID, 5 bits or Serving Cell Group ID, One BWP ID identifying the same BWP in uplink and downlink, 2 bits, or two BWP IDs, one identifying the uplink BWP and the other identifying the downlink BWP, 4 bits, Uplink TCI State ID, (6, 7, or 8) x N bits or log2 (number of TCI states configured using RRC) x N bits indicating the TCI state used, or in a bitmap format mapping to the TCI state pool configured using RRC, 128 bits or 256 bits; Downlink TCI State ID, (6, 7, or 8) × N bits or log2 (number of TCI states configured using RRC) × N bits indicating the TCI state used, or in bitmap format mapping to the TCI state pool configured using RRC, 128 bits or 256 bits; a channel or signal identifier indicating the channel or signal range over which the TCI condition operates; If a channel or signal common TCI identifier configured using RRC is added, the field indicates the corresponding identifier or, for different channels (groups) or signals (groups), 1 bit or N bits are used separately to indicate whether common TCI is supported or not; A TRP identifier, 1 bit, typically a coresetpoolindex index, distinguishing between two TRPs, or Optionally, a joint or separate uplink and downlink designation identifier, 2 bits, indicating the action and behavior of the following fields. There is only an uplink TCI state (DL only TCI state); There is only a downlink TCI state (UL only TCI state), There is the same TCI state in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with the same TCI state ID), or There are different TCI states in uplink and downlink (DL+UL with different TCI state IDs).

[0209] Explicit signaling indication 5: When separate indication is made, two MAC-CEs are used to indicate or activate the uplink and downlink respectively.

[0210] From the above embodiments, it can be seen that in this application, joint indication and separate indication may be performed implicitly or explicitly, and multiple indication schemes may be implemented using the same MAC-CE signaling.

[0211] 4. Combination of the above implementation 2 with separate instructions and joint instructions

[0212] The existing downlink TCI state pool is reused as the downlink TCI state pool, i.e. tci-StatesToAddModList configured using the PDSCH-Config IE. Alternatively, a new downlink TCI state pool is created and the newly created state pool is placed at the BWP level or at the cell level, i.e. in the DL-BWP IE or the ServingcellConfig IE. The size of the downlink TCI state pool is M, where M may be 128, 256, etc.

[0213] The beam pool may be newly created in the uplink and placed in the PUCCH-config IE, or may be placed at the BWP level or at the cell level, i.e., in the UL-BWP IE or the ServingcellConfig IE. There are two schemes: Scheme 1: A second resource pool is newly added, with size N, N is 64, 128, etc. The second resource pool contains only TCI states with SRS as source reference signal. In this case, the uplink TCI state pool is the downlink TCI state pool combined with the newly added second resource pool, and the index of the uplink TCI state pool is obtained by jointly indexing the downlink TCI state pool and the newly added second resource pool. Method 2: Reuse the existing downlink TCI state pool as the uplink TCI state pool. Method 2 is used in scenarios with reciprocity.

[0214] Joint indication scheme 1: When DL and UL TCI status are jointly indicated, only the downlink TCI status pool may be used as the joint TCI status pool.

[0215] Separate indication scheme 1: When the TCI status of DL and UL are indicated separately, a downlink TCI status pool is used in the downlink, and an uplink TCI status pool is used in the uplink.

[0216] Separate indication method 2: When the DL and UL TCI states are indicated separately, the downlink TCI state pool is used in the downlink, and the downlink TCI state pool and the newly added second resource pool are used in combination in the uplink.

[0217] For the joint instruction method, the separate instruction method 1, and the separate instruction method 2, instructions may be given in an implicit manner.

[0218] When only the downlink TCI status pool is configured for the terminal, and the MAC-CE joint and separate indication fields are combined, it is determined whether the joint indication scheme or separate indication scheme 1 is currently supported.

[0219] Separate indication method 2 is currently implicitly supported when the uplink TCI status pool and the newly added second part of the TCI status pool are configured for a terminal.

[0220] For the joint indication scheme, separate indication scheme 1, and separate indication scheme 2, indication may be performed using explicit signaling. The joint instruction method, the separate instruction method 1, and the separate instruction method 2 may be used to complete instructions in the following scenarios. DL only TCI state (separate instruction) UL only TCI status (separate indication) DL+UL with the same TCI status ID (joint indication method 1) DL+UL with different TCI status IDs (Joint Instruction Method 2)

[0221] The MAC-CE design is similar to the above implementation 1 combined with separate indication and joint indication, only the TCI state index range is changed, and the details are not described again here.

[0222] From the above embodiment, it can be seen that in this application, joint indication and separate indication may be performed implicitly or explicitly. In the case of independent pool configuration (part containing SRS and part containing SSB / CSI-RS), this can implement a joint TCI state pool and a separate TCI state pool, reduce the redundancy and complexity of system configuration and maintenance, reduce the complexity of terminal tracking and maintenance, and achieve better forward compatibility.

[0223] Next, Figure 11 is a schematic flowchart of a beam directing method according to an embodiment of this application. The method may be applied to a communication device, for example, a terminal. As shown in Figure 11, the beam directing scheme may include the following steps:

[0224] S1101: An integrated TCI state pool is obtained, and the integrated TCI state pool is used for a separate TCI state pool or a joint TCI state pool.

[0225] In one embodiment, the integrated TCI state pool may include a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool, as shown in Figure 5, TCI pool part 1 is the first part resource pool and TCI pool part 2 is the first part resource pool.

[0226] When an integrated TCI state pool is used for a joint TCI state pool, the joint TCI state pool is the first part resource pool, the second part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool. When an integrated TCI state pool is used for separate TCI state pools, the first part resource pool is the downlink TCI state pool and the second part resource pool is the uplink TCI state pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are uplink TCI state pools.

[0227] Specifically, when a joint TCI state pool is used for the joint TCI state pool, the first part resource pool may be a joint TCI state pool, and the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation. Alternatively, the second part resource pool may be a joint TCI state pool, and the second part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation. Alternatively, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are joint TCI state pools, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0228] When a unified TCI state pool is used in conjunction with separate TCI state pools, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and the second part resource pool or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0229] In one embodiment, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are A first part resource pool includes a downlink TCI state and a second part resource pool includes an uplink TCI state; The first part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the second part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal; The first part resource pool includes downlink TCI states, and the second part resource pool includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with the downlink TCI states, where overlapping means that the numbers or indexes of the TCI states are the same, or the source reference signals of the TCI states are the same.

[0230] In one embodiment, the TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal is a TCI state having a CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal) as a source reference signal; a TCI state with SSB (Synchronization Signal Block) as the source reference signal; and at least one of: a TCI state in which a downlink channel is used as a reference source, the downlink channel including one or more of a PDCCH, a PDSCH, and a PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel).

[0231] The TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal is a TCI state having a sounding reference signal SRS as a source reference signal; and at least one of: a TCI state in which an uplink channel is used as a reference source, the uplink channel including one or more of a PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel), a PUCCH, and a PUSCH.

[0232] In one embodiment, when the terminal has reciprocity, the joint TCI state pool is a first part resource pool, or a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool.

[0233] In one embodiment, when the terminal does not have reciprocity, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation, and the second part resource pool is used for uplink TCI status indication or activation.

[0234] S1102: Based on the integrated TCI status pool, a separate or joint TCI status indication is performed.

[0235] In one embodiment, providing a separate or joint TCI status indication based on the integrated TCI status pool includes: - indicating or activating, using a medium access control control element MAC-CE, a first TCI state subset in a first part resource pool and a second TCI state subset in a second part resource pool, when the separate indication is based on separate TCI state pools, the first TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the second TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication, or indicating or activating, using a MAC-CE, a third TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a fourth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, the third TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the fourth TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication; performing joint indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool when the joint indication is based on separate TCI state pools, and indicating or activating a fifth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool using the MAC-CE, the fifth TCI state subset being used for uplink state indication and downlink state indication; or indexing the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool separately, and indicating or activating a sixth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a seventh TCI state subset in the second part resource pool using a MAC-CE, wherein the sixth TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the seventh TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation, and the sixth TCI state subset and the seventh TCI state subset have a specific association relationship; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field in each of two MAC-CEs when the separate indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in a joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; When the joint indication is based on a joint TCI status pool, indicating or activating each of two TCI status subsets in the joint TCI status pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs, the two TCI status subsets being used for downlink TCI status indication and uplink TCI status indication, respectively; Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in a joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or Indicating or activating one TCI state subset in a joint TCI state pool using one indication field of one MAC-CE, the one TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication.

[0236] In one embodiment, providing a separate or joint TCI status indication based on the integrated TCI status pool includes: Explicitly performing separate or joint TCI status indication using one indication field in the RRC or MAC-CE; Explicit separate or joint TCI status indication using at least one indication field of the MAC-CE or DCI; or This includes implicitly performing separate or joint TCI status indication using an integrated TCI state pool, or a terminal beaming capability, or using a combination of an integrated TCI state pool and a terminal beaming capability.

[0237] The instruction fields are shown in FIGS.

[0238] In one embodiment, making the separate or joint TCI status indication includes making the TCI status indication under a particular condition, the particular condition being: There is only an uplink TCI state; There is only a downlink TCI state; There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink; and there are different TCI states in the uplink and the downlink.

[0239] In one embodiment, providing a separate or joint TCI status indication includes providing a separate or joint TCI status indication in one or more dimensions, the multiple dimensions comprising: Multiple careers and A plurality of target signals or channels; A plurality of target transmission directions; and at least one of a plurality of terminals.

[0240] From the above embodiment, a loose TCI state design is designed to implement separate and joint TCI state pools and separate and joint TCI state indications, so that the signaling overhead and delay of beam indication are reduced. The loose TCI state pool is applicable to both separate indication and joint indication. One TCI state pool may be used in the downlink, or may be used in the uplink and downlink.

[0241] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a beam directing device according to an embodiment of this application. The device may be applied to a communication device, for example, a terminal. As shown in FIG. 12, the beam directing device includes the following: Module may include: an acquisition module 122 configured to acquire an integrated transmission configuration instruction TCI status pool, the integrated TCI status pool being used for a separate TCI status pool or a joint TCI status pool; An indication module 122 configured to execute separate or joint TCI status indications based on the integrated TCI status pool.

[0242] In one embodiment, the integrated TCI state pool includes a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool. When a joint TCI state pool is used for the joint TCI state pool, The first part resource pool is a joint TCI state pool, and the first part resource pool is used for downlink transmission configuration indication TCI state indication or activation, and uplink TCI state indication or activation; The second part resource pool is a joint TCI state pool, and the second part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; At least one of: the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are joint TCI state pools, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for downlink TCI state indication or activation and uplink TCI state indication or activation; When a combined TCI state pool is used in conjunction with separate TCI state pools, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the second part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, are used for uplink TCI state indication or activation.

[0243] In one embodiment, the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are A first part resource pool includes a downlink TCI state and a second part resource pool includes an uplink TCI state; The first part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the second part resource pool includes a TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal; The first part resource pool includes downlink TCI states, and the second part resource pool includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with the downlink TCI states, where overlapping means that the numbers or indexes of the TCI states are the same, or the source reference signals of the TCI states are the same.

[0244] In one embodiment, a TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal is a TCI state in which a downlink channel is used as the reference source, the downlink channel including one or more of a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH, and a physical broadcast channel PBCH.

[0245] The TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal is a TCI state having a sounding reference signal SRS as a source reference signal; The uplink channel includes at least one of the following: a TCI state having a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS as a source reference signal; The TCI state includes at least one of the following: a TCI state having a synchronization signal block SSB as a source reference signal, and one or more of a physical random access channel PRACH, a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, and a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH.

[0246] In one embodiment, when the terminal has reciprocity, the joint TCI state pool is a first part resource pool, or a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool.

[0247] In one embodiment, when the terminal does not have reciprocity, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation, and the second part resource pool is used for uplink TCI status indication or activation.

[0248] In a possible implementation, the instruction module comprises: - indicating or activating, using a medium access control control element MAC-CE, a first TCI state subset in a first part resource pool and a second TCI state subset in a second part resource pool, when the separate indication is based on separate TCI state pools, the first TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the second TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication, or a first indication submodule configured to indicate or activate, using a MAC-CE, a third TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a fourth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, the third TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the fourth TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication; performing joint indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool when the joint indication is based on separate TCI state pools, and indicating or activating a fifth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool using the MAC-CE, the fifth TCI state subset being used for uplink state indication and downlink state indication; or a second indication submodule configured to perform separate indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, and indicate or activate, using a MAC-CE, a sixth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a seventh TCI state subset in the second part resource pool, where the sixth TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the seventh TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation, and the sixth TCI state subset and the seventh TCI state subset have a specific association relationship; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field in each of two MAC-CEs when the separate indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or a third indication sub-module configured to indicate or activate two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, where the two TCI state subsets are used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; When the joint indication is based on a joint TCI status pool, indicating or activating each of two TCI status subsets in the joint TCI status pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs, the two TCI status subsets being used for downlink TCI status indication and uplink TCI status indication, respectively; Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in a joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or and a fourth indication sub-module configured to indicate or activate one TCI state subset in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field of one MAC-CE, the one TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication.

[0249] In one embodiment, the instruction module 122 includes: A fifth indication submodule configured to explicitly perform a separate or joint TCI status indication using one indication field of a radio resource control (RRC) or a MAC-CE; a sixth indication submodule configured to explicitly perform a separate or joint TCI status indication using at least one indication field of a MAC-CE or a downlink control information (DCI); and a seventh indication submodule configured to implicitly perform separate or joint TCI state indication using the joint TCI state pool, or the terminal beaming capability, or using a combination of the joint TCI state pool and the terminal beaming capability.

[0250] In one embodiment, the instruction module 122 includes: and an eighth indication sub-module configured to issue a separate or joint TCI status indication, the TCI status indication being issued under a specific condition, the specific condition including: There is only an uplink TCI state; There is only a downlink TCI state; There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink; and there are different TCI states in the uplink and the downlink.

[0251] In one embodiment, the instruction module 122 includes: a ninth indication sub-module configured to provide separate or joint TCI status indications in one or more dimensions, the plurality of dimensions including: Multiple careers and A plurality of target signals or channels; A plurality of target transmission directions; and at least one of a plurality of terminals.

[0252] It should be understood that the apparatus is configured to perform the beam directing method in the embodiment shown in Fig. 11. The implementation principle and technical effect of the corresponding program modules in the apparatus are similar to those described in the beam directing method in the embodiment shown in Fig. 11. For the working process of the apparatus, please refer to the corresponding process of the beam directing method in the embodiment shown in Fig. 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0253] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal according to one embodiment of this application. The terminal may implement a beam pointing method. For ease of explanation, FIG. 13 shows the main components of the terminal. As shown in FIG. 13,

[0254] The terminal includes at least one processor 1311, at least one transceiver 1312, and at least one memory 1313. The processor 1311, the memory 1313, and the transceiver 1312 are connected. Optionally, the terminal may further include an output device 1314, an input device 1315, and one or more antennas 1316. The antenna 1316 is connected to the transceiver 1312, and the output device 1314 and the input device 1315 are connected to the processor 1311.

[0255] The processor 1311 is mainly configured to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

[0256] In any implementation, the terminal device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is mainly configured to process communication protocols and communication data. The central processing unit is mainly configured to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

[0257] The functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit may be integrated into the processor of FIG. 13. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may be independent processors and are interconnected using a technology such as a bus. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network standards, that the terminal device may include multiple central processing units to enhance the processing capabilities of the terminal device, and that the components of the terminal device may be connected using various buses. The baseband processor may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and the communication data may be built into the processor or may be stored in the memory in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to implement the baseband processing function.

[0258] The memory 1313 is configured to store software programs and data. The memory 1313 may exist independently and be connected to the processor via the communication line 1311. Optionally, the memory 1313 and the processor 1311 may be integrated, for example, integrated into one chip, i.e., an on-chip memory, or the memory 1313 may be an independent storage element. This is not limited in this embodiment of this application. The memory 1313 may store program codes for executing the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, and the processor 1311 controls the execution of the program codes. Various types of computer program codes executed may also be considered as drivers of the processor 1311.

[0259] The transceiver 1312 may be configured to perform conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and process the radio frequency signals. The transceiver 1312 is connected to an antenna 1316. The transceiver 1312 includes a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx). Specifically, the one or more antennas 1316 may receive the radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1312 may be configured to receive the radio frequency signals from the antenna, convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provide the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to the processor 1311, so that the processor 3201 further processes the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, for example, demodulation and decoding. Additionally, the transmitter Tx of the transceiver 1312 may be configured to receive a modulated digital baseband signal or a modulated digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 1311, convert the modulated digital baseband signal or the modulated digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and transmit the radio frequency signal via one or more antennas 1316. Specifically, the receiver Rx may selectively perform one or more levels of frequency downmixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal. The sequence of the frequency downmixing and analog-to-digital conversion processes is adjustable. The transmitter Tx may selectively perform one or more levels of frequency upmixing and digital-to-analog conversion on the modulated digital baseband signal or the modulated digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a radio frequency signal. The sequence of the frequency upmixing and digital-to-analog conversion processes is adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital intermediate frequency signal may be collectively referred to as a digital signal.Optionally, the transmitter Tx and the receiver Rx may be implemented by different physical structures / circuits or by the same physical structure / circuits, in other words, the transmitter Tx and the receiver Rx may be inherited together.

[0260] The transceiver may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Optionally, a component configured to implement a receiving function and located within the transceiver unit may be considered as a receiving unit, and a component configured to implement a transmitting function and located within the transceiver unit may be considered as a transmitting unit. In other words, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc. The transmitting unit may also be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc. Alternatively, the Tx, Rx, and an antenna may be combined into a transceiver.

[0261] The output device 1314 may display information in a number of ways. For example, the output device 1314 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 1315 may receive user input in a number of ways. For example, the input device 1315 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensing device, or the like.

[0262] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer storage medium, the computer storage medium including computer instructions, which, when executed, perform the beam pointing method described above.

[0263] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, the computer program product including computer instructions, which, when executed, perform the beam pointing method described above.

[0264] All or part of the above-described embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement the embodiments, the embodiments may be implemented, in whole or in part, in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the procedures or functions according to the embodiments of this application are generated, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted using a computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center in a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, or digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, radio, or microwave) manner. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium accessible by a computer, or a data storage device, such as a server, data center, including one or more available media integrated therein. The usable media may be magnetic media (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape), optical media (e.g., DVD), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid state drive, solid state disk (SSD)).

[0265] It will be understood that the various numbers in the embodiments of this application are used only for distinction to facilitate description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A communication method performed by a communication device, comprising: Obtaining a radio resource control (RRC) indication field, the indication field indicating a joint indication or a separate indication for a transmission configuration indication (TCI) status; When a TCI state is jointly indicated, obtaining a first resource pool configured by a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH-Config) information element, the first resource pool being used for joint indication for the TCI state; and obtaining an uplink TCI status pool configured by an uplink bandwidth portion (UL-BWP) and the first resource pool configured by the PDSCH-Config information element when a TCI status is indicated separately, wherein the uplink TCI status pool is used for uplink TCI status indication and the first resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication.

2. the first resource pool includes a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool; when the first resource pool is used for a joint TCI status pool, The first part resource pool is the joint TCI status pool, and the first part resource pool is used for downlink transmission configuration indication TCI status indication or activation, and uplink TCI status indication or activation; The second part resource pool is the joint TCI status pool, and the second part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation and uplink TCI status indication or activation; at least one of: the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are the joint TCI status pool, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for downlink TCI status indication or activation and uplink TCI status indication or activation; 2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the first resource pool is used for a separate TCI status pool, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation, and the second part resource pool or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for uplink TCI status indication or activation.

3. The first part resource pool and the second part resource pool include: The first part resource pool includes a downlink TCI state and the second part resource pool includes an uplink TCI state; the first part resource pool includes a TCI state in which a source reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the second part resource pool includes a TCI state in which a source reference signal is an uplink reference signal; 3. The method of claim 2, comprising any one of: the first part resource pool includes downlink TCI states; and the second part resource pool includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with the downlink TCI states, the overlap meaning that the TCI states have the same number or index, or the TCI states have the same source reference signal.

4. The TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal is a TCI state having a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) as the source reference signal; a TCI state having a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) as the source reference signal; and TCI states in which a downlink channel is used as a reference source, the downlink channel including one or more of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH); The TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal is a TCI state having a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) as the source reference signal; 4. The method of claim 3, comprising at least one of: a TCI state in which an uplink channel is used as a reference source, the uplink channel comprising one or more of a physical random access channel (PRACH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein when a terminal has reciprocity, the joint TCI status pool is the first part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein when a terminal does not have reciprocity, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation, and the second part resource pool is used for uplink TCI status indication or activation.

7. providing separate or joint indication for a TCI condition based on the first resource pool, indicating or activating a first TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a second TCI state subset in the second part resource pool using a medium access control element (MAC-CE) when the separate indication is based on the separate TCI state pool, the first TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the second TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication; or indicating or activating, using MAC-CE, a third TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a fourth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, the third TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and the fourth TCI state subset being used for uplink TCI state indication; performing joint indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool when the joint indication is based on the separate TCI status pools, and indicating or activating a fifth TCI status subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool using MAC-CE, the fifth TCI status subset being used for uplink status indication and downlink status indication; or indexing the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool separately, and indicating or activating a sixth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a seventh TCI state subset in the second part resource pool using MAC-CE, wherein the sixth TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the seventh TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation, and the sixth TCI state subset and the seventh TCI state subset have a specific association relationship; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs when the separate indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or Indicating or activating two TCI status subsets in the joint TCI status pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI status subsets being used for downlink TCI status indication and uplink TCI status indication, respectively; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs when the joint indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or A method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, comprising indicating or activating a TCI state subset in the joint TCI state pool using an indication field of a MAC-CE, the TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication.

8. When the TCI status is indicated separately, 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), in which there is an uplink TCI state and a downlink TCI state, or there is an uplink TCI state ID and a downlink TCI state ID.

9. When the TCI status is indicated separately, or obtaining an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), in which in the MAC-CE, there is only an uplink TCI state or there is only a downlink TCI state; or 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), in which only an uplink TCI state ID is present or only a downlink TCI state ID is present in the MAC-CE.

10. When the TCI condition is jointly indicated, 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining an indication in at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), wherein in the MAC-CE, there is a same TCI state for uplink and downlink.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein the MAC-CE further includes two BWP ID indication fields, one BWP ID indication field being used to indicate an uplink BWP and the other BWP ID indication field being used to indicate a downlink BWP.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the MAC-CE further includes a BWP ID indication field, and the BWP ID indication field is used to indicate the same BWP for uplink and downlink.

13. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the size of the first resource pool is 128 and the size of the uplink TCI status pool is 64.

14. The TCI state being indicated separately or jointly includes the TCI state being indicated separately or jointly under a specific condition, the specific condition being: There is only an uplink TCI state; There is only a downlink TCI state; There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink; The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, comprising at least one of: and having different TCI conditions in the uplink and in the downlink.

15. The TCI condition being separately or jointly indicated includes the TCI condition being separately or jointly indicated in one or more dimensions, the one or more dimensions being: Multiple careers and A plurality of target signals or channels; A plurality of target transmission directions; The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, comprising at least one of:

16. When a TCI state is jointly indicated, an uplink power control parameter is set in the TCI state in the first resource pool; A method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein uplink power control parameters are set in uplink TCI states in the uplink TCI state pool when the TCI states are indicated separately.

17. 1. A beam directing device, comprising: An acquisition module configured to acquire an indication field of a radio resource control (RRC), the indication field indicating a joint indication or a separate indication for a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state; The acquiring module is configured to acquire a first resource pool configured by a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH-Config) information element when a TCI state is jointly indicated, the first resource pool being used for joint indication for a TCI state; The acquisition module is configured to acquire an uplink TCI status pool set by an uplink bandwidth part (UL-BWP) and the first resource pool set by the PDSCH-Config information element when a TCI status is indicated separately, the uplink TCI status pool being used for uplink TCI status indication and the first resource pool being used for downlink TCI status indication.

18. the first resource pool includes a first part resource pool and a second part resource pool; when the first resource pool is used for a joint TCI status pool, The first part resource pool is the joint TCI status pool, and the first part resource pool is used for downlink transmission configuration indication TCI status indication or activation, and uplink TCI status indication or activation; The second part resource pool is the joint TCI status pool, and the second part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation and uplink TCI status indication or activation; at least one of: the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are the joint TCI status pool, and the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool are used for downlink TCI status indication or activation and uplink TCI status indication or activation; 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein when the first resource pool is used for a separate TCI status pool, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation, and the second part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, are used for uplink TCI status indication or activation.

19. The first part resource pool and the second part resource pool include: The first part resource pool includes a downlink TCI state and the second part resource pool includes an uplink TCI state; the first part resource pool includes a TCI state in which a source reference signal is a downlink reference signal, and the second part resource pool includes a TCI state in which a source reference signal is an uplink reference signal; 20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first part resource pool includes downlink TCI states and the second part resource pool includes uplink TCI states that do not overlap with the downlink TCI states, the overlapping meaning that the TCI states have the same number or index or the same source reference signal.

20. The TCI state in which the source reference signal is a downlink reference signal is a TCI state having a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) as the source reference signal; a TCI state having a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) as the source reference signal; and TCI states in which a downlink channel is used as a reference source, the downlink channel including one or more of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH); The TCI state in which the source reference signal is an uplink reference signal is a TCI state having a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) as the source reference signal; 20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein an uplink channel includes at least one of a TCI state used as a reference source, the uplink channel including one or more of a physical random access channel (PRACH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

21. The apparatus according to any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein when a terminal has reciprocity, the joint TCI state pool is the first part resource pool, or the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool.

22. The apparatus according to any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein when a terminal does not have reciprocity, the first part resource pool is used for downlink TCI status indication or activation, and the second part resource pool is used for uplink TCI status indication or activation. or indicating or activating, using a medium access control element (MAC-CE), a first TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a second TCI state subset in the second part resource pool when separate indications are made based on separate TCI state pools, wherein the first TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication and the second TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication; or a first indication submodule configured to indicate or activate, using MAC-CE, a third TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a fourth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, wherein the third TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication and the fourth TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication; performing joint indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool when joint indication is based on separate TCI status pools, and indicating or activating a fifth TCI status subset in the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool using MAC-CE, the fifth TCI status subset being used for uplink status indication and downlink status indication; or a second indication sub-module configured to perform separate indexing for the first part resource pool and the second part resource pool, and indicate or activate a sixth TCI state subset in the first part resource pool and a seventh TCI state subset in the second part resource pool using MAC-CE, where the sixth TCI state subset is used for downlink TCI state indication or activation, and the seventh TCI state subset is used for uplink TCI state indication or activation, and the sixth TCI state subset and the seventh TCI state subset have a specific association relationship; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs when the separate indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or a third indication sub-module configured to indicate or activate two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; Indicating or activating each of two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using one indication field of each of two MAC-CEs when the joint indication is based on the joint TCI state pool, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; Indicating or activating two TCI state subsets in the joint TCI state pool using two indication fields of one MAC-CE, respectively, the two TCI state subsets being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication, respectively; or and a fourth indication sub-module configured to indicate or activate a TCI state subset in the joint TCI state pool using an indication field of a MAC-CE, the TCI state subset being used for downlink TCI state indication and uplink TCI state indication.

24. When the TCI status is separately indicated, the acquisition module:

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further configured to obtain an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), in which there is an uplink TCI state and a downlink TCI state, or there is an uplink TCI state ID and a downlink TCI state ID.

25. When the TCI status is separately indicated, the acquisition module: and further configured to obtain an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), in which the MAC-CE indicates whether there is only an uplink TCI state, or whether there is only a downlink TCI state, or 20. The apparatus of claim 17, further configured to obtain an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), in which there is only an uplink TCI state ID or there is only a downlink TCI state ID.

26. When the TCI status is jointly indicated, the acquisition module:

20. The apparatus of claim 17, further configured to obtain an indication of at least one indication field of a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE), wherein in the MAC-CE, there is a same TCI state for uplink and downlink.

27. The apparatus according to any one of claims 24 to 26, wherein the MAC-CE further includes two BWP ID indication fields, one BWP ID indication field being used to indicate an uplink BWP and the other BWP ID indication field being used to indicate a downlink BWP.

28. 27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the MAC-CE further includes a BWP ID indication field, the BWP ID indication field being used to indicate a same BWP for uplink and downlink.

29. 20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first resource pool has a size of 128 and the uplink TCI status pool has a size of 64.

30. Under certain conditions, a TCI state is indicated separately or jointly, said certain conditions being: There is only an uplink TCI state; There is only a downlink TCI state; There is the same TCI state in the uplink and downlink; The apparatus of any one of claims 17 to 29, comprising at least one of: and having different TCI conditions in uplink and downlink.

31. The TCI condition is indicated in one or more dimensions, either separately or jointly, the one or more dimensions being: Multiple careers and A plurality of target signals or channels; A plurality of target transmission directions; The apparatus of any one of claims 17 to 29, comprising at least one of: a plurality of terminals.

32. The apparatus according to any one of claims 17 to 31, wherein uplink power control parameters are set in TCI states in the first resource pool when TCI states are jointly indicated.

33. A communication device including a processor and a memory, the memory is configured to store computer instructions; A communications device, wherein said processor executes said computer instructions to enable said communications device to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

34. A computer storage medium comprising computer instructions which, when executed, perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 16.

35. A computer program comprising computer instructions which, when executed by the communication device, cause the method of any one of claims 1 to 16 to be performed.

36. A terminal, said terminal being configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

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