Terminal device, network node, control method, and program for communication control taking into account antenna arrangement

Abstract

To perform appropriate communication control according to the arrangement of antennas in a terminal device.SOLUTION: A terminal device having a plurality of antennas notifies a network to which the terminal device belongs of information that allows identification of at least one of a second antenna that has a predetermined characteristic in common with a first antenna included in the plurality of antennas and a third antenna that does not have the predetermined characteristic in common with the first antenna, among the plurality of antennas.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a communication control technique according to the arrangement of antennas in a terminal device. [Background technology]

[0002] In accordance with the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, wireless communication systems are widely used in which multiple geographically dispersed base station devices provide wireless communication services to terminal devices within the range of the radio waves transmitted from each of them. In such wireless communication systems, various communication controls are performed depending on the state of the transmission path between the antenna of the base station device and the antenna of the terminal device.

[0003] As wireless communication is used in various situations, the configuration of terminal devices is becoming more diverse. For example, not only small terminal devices such as conventional mobile phones but also terminal devices mounted on large objects such as vehicles can be used. In addition, in fixed wireless access (FWA) using a cellular communication system, a user's wireless device can be used as the terminal device of the cellular communication system. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] Conventionally, when a terminal device has multiple antennas, it is assumed that all of the antennas are arranged inside a small terminal device, and therefore the characteristics of the transmission paths between the multiple antennas and the antenna of the base station device are generally treated as being common. However, with the diversification of terminal devices, it is assumed that the multiple antennas of the terminal device are arranged at positions distant from each other, and the characteristics of the transmission paths between the multiple antennas and the antenna of the base station device are significantly different. In such cases, if the characteristics of the transmission paths of the multiple antennas of the terminal device are treated as being generally common, it becomes difficult to obtain sufficient communication quality. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present invention provides a method for enabling appropriate communication control to be performed in accordance with the arrangement of antennas in a terminal device.

[0006] A terminal device according to one aspect of the present invention includes: a notification means for notifying a network to which the terminal device belongs of information that can identify at least one of a plurality of antennas, a second antenna among the plurality of antennas that shares a predetermined characteristic with a first antenna included in the plurality of antennas, and a third antenna that does not share the predetermined characteristic with the first antenna; and a receiving means for receiving communication settings to be set for each of the plurality of antennas, wherein the receiving means receives the communication settings that are the same as those of the first antenna as the communication settings to be set for the second antenna, and receives the communication settings that are at least partially different from those of the first antenna as the communication settings to be set for the third antenna. .

[0007] A network node according to one aspect of the present invention includes an acquisition means for acquiring information from a terminal device belonging to a network including the network node, capable of identifying at least one of a second antenna having a predetermined characteristic in common with a first antenna included in a plurality of antennas possessed by the terminal device, and a third antenna having a predetermined characteristic not in common with the first antenna, and controlling communication of the terminal device based on the information, the acquisition means comprising: Communication settings to be set for each of the plurality of antennas A control means for controlling the above; wherein the control means controls the second antenna to have the same communication settings as the first antenna, and controls the third antenna to have the communication settings that are at least partially different from the first antenna. . [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present invention, it is possible to perform appropriate communication control in accordance with the arrangement of antennas in a terminal device. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system configuration. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the apparatus. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a terminal device. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a base station device. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of processing executed in the system. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of processing executed in the system. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow of processing executed in the system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention as claimed, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the invention. Two or more of the features described in the embodiments may be combined in any desired manner. Furthermore, the same reference numerals are used to designate identical or similar components, and redundant descriptions will be omitted.

[0011] (System Configuration) 1 shows an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system according to this embodiment. This wireless communication system may be, for example, a cellular communication system conforming to the fifth generation (5G) standard standardized by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). However, this is just one example, and the following discussion may also be applied to wireless communication systems conforming to conventional standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) or sixth generation or later standards, and may also be applied to wireless communication systems other than cellular communication systems.

[0012] The wireless communication system includes, for example, a base station device 101 and a terminal device 111. The base station device 101 is a radio access network node connected to a core network. Naturally, the network may also include other network nodes, but for simplicity of explanation, such configurations are omitted from FIG. 1 . Here, the terminal device 111 has multiple (at least two) antennas, and among the multiple antennas, antennas 121 and 122 are assumed to be located far away from antennas 123 and 124. In this case, it is assumed that the antennas 121 and 122 have roughly similar characteristics with respect to radio waves arriving from the base station device 101. For example, the reception timings of radio waves received by the antennas 121 and 122 are roughly similar, and the same settings can be used for downlink reception timing control, such as timing control for Fourier transform, and the same settings can be used for uplink transmission timing control, such as timing advance. That is, a common communication timing control (timing control for at least one of the uplink and the downlink) can be used in communications via antennas 121 and 122. Similarly, antennas 123 and 124 are assumed to have roughly similar characteristics with respect to radio waves arriving from base station device 101, and for example, a common communication timing control can be applied. On the other hand, antennas 121 or 122 and antennas 123 or 124 may be assumed to have different characteristics. For this reason, applying a common communication timing control to antennas 121 and 123 may result in inappropriate communications. For example, a Fourier transform window setting that is appropriate for antenna 121 in the downlink may be inappropriate for antenna 123, making it impossible to ensure orthogonality.

[0013] Furthermore, for example, the terminal device 111 can use multiple panels to communicate with different transmission / reception points within the network. In this case, it is expected that the characteristics of each panel will differ significantly, so it may not be appropriate to use common settings for communications using multiple panels. Although separate settings can be applied to each of the multiple antennas, the processing may become more complicated as the number of antennas increases.

[0014] For this reason, in this embodiment, when radio waves arriving from the base station device 101 via multiple antennas are detected, it can be determined whether to apply the same setting control or different setting controls depending on whether the predetermined characteristics of the respective antennas are common to the terminal device 111. To this end, the terminal device 111 notifies the base station device 101 (a network node in the network) of information that can identify at least one of a second antenna that shares the predetermined characteristic with the first antenna among the multiple antennas the terminal device has, and a third antenna that does not share the predetermined characteristic with the first antenna. For example, the terminal device 111 can notify the base station device 101 that the antenna 121 shares the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 122. The terminal device 111 may also notify the base station device 101 that the antenna 121 does not share the predetermined characteristic with the antennas 123 and 124. Furthermore, the terminal device 111 may notify the base station device 101 that, for example, the antennas 121 and 122 belong to a first group, and the antennas 123 and 124 belong to a second group. In this case, it may be indicated that two antennas in the same group share a predetermined characteristic, and two antennas in different groups do not share a predetermined characteristic. Based on this notification, the network node (for example, the base station device 101) sets up and controls common communication for the group of antennas that share the predetermined characteristic, and sets up and controls communication independently for the group of antennas that do not share the predetermined characteristic.

[0015] In one example, the predetermined characteristic relates to the magnitude of delay observed in radio waves arriving from the base station device 101 or the base station device 102. The predetermined characteristic may also relate to the magnitude of delay between radio waves transmitted from each of the antennas 121 to 124 of the terminal device 111 and the base station device 101 or the base station device 102. Hereinafter, for example, the magnitude of delay at a predetermined antenna of the terminal device 111 is expressed to encompass the magnitude of delay observed by the terminal device 111 in the downlink and the magnitude of delay observed by the base station device 101 or the base station device 102 in the uplink. In this case, based on the difference between the magnitude of delay at the antenna 121 and the magnitude of delay at another antenna, an antenna whose difference does not exceed a predetermined value is treated as an antenna whose predetermined characteristic is common to the antenna 121. Furthermore, an antenna whose difference exceeds a predetermined value may be treated as an antenna whose predetermined characteristic is not common to the antenna 121. The magnitude of the delay here may be the average value of the time difference between the radio waves transmitted from the base station device 101 or the base station device 102 for each antenna and arriving at the terminal device 111. The magnitude of the delay at each antenna may be determined based on the timing at which the radio waves arrive at any one of the antennas.

[0016] The network node may apply a common communication timing control to antenna groups in which the timings at which radio waves transmitted from the base station device 101 and the base station device 102 reach the terminal device 111 are sufficiently close, i.e., antenna groups with common delay characteristics. On the other hand, the network node may apply independent communication timing control to antenna groups with different delay characteristics, since applying a common communication timing control to antenna groups may make it difficult to ensure orthogonality. The communication timing control may include, for example, setting a timing advance used when transmitting an uplink signal. The network node may also notify the terminal device 111 of setting information that enables different reception controls, such as setting Fourier transform windows corresponding to different timings for the antennas 121 and 122 and the antennas 123 and 124. The network node may also commonly set and control uplink transmission power control for antenna groups with common delay characteristics, and independently set and control uplink transmission power control for antenna groups with different delay characteristics. It is assumed that antennas with significantly different average delays will have different propagation losses due to the difference in the magnitude of the average delays. For this reason, a common transmission power control setting and control may be performed for antenna groups with roughly the same average delay, and transmission power control may be set and controlled independently for antenna groups with different average delays.

[0017] Furthermore, in one example, the predetermined characteristic relates to the magnitude of delay spread observed for radio waves arriving at the base station device 101 or the base station device 102 from each of the antennas 121 to 124 of the terminal device 111. In this case, based on the difference between the magnitude of the delay spread for the antenna 121 and the magnitude of the delay spread for the other antennas, an antenna for which the difference does not exceed a predetermined value is treated as an antenna that shares the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 121. An antenna for which the difference exceeds a predetermined value may be treated as an antenna that does not share the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 121. Furthermore, when the shape of the delay spread for the antenna 121 and a correlation value between the shape of the delay spread are calculated, an antenna for which the correlation value exceeds a predetermined value may be treated as an antenna that shares the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 121. Furthermore, an antenna for which the correlation value does not exceed a predetermined value may be treated as an antenna that does not share the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 121.

[0018] For example, a network node may apply a common sounding reference signal (SRS) setting to a group of antennas that share common delay spread characteristics. On the other hand, a separate SRS setting may be applied to a group of antennas that do not share common delay spread characteristics. Here, the SRS setting may include, for example, a setting of the density of frequency resources on which the SRS is to be transmitted. That is, the number of subcarriers on which the SRS is transmitted may be set to be different for each of the multiple antennas included in the terminal device 111. In this way, a common SRS setting is applied to a group of antennas that share common delay spread characteristics, and separate settings are applied independently to groups of antennas that do not share common delay spread characteristics. This allows an SRS setting suitable for the transmission path to be used for each of the multiple antennas with significantly different transmission path conditions.

[0019] In addition, in one example, the predetermined characteristic relates to the direction in which radio waves transmitted from the base station device 101 or the base station device 102 reach the terminal device 111. In this case, based on the difference between the arrival direction of radio waves at the antenna 121 and the arrival direction of radio waves at other antennas, an antenna for which the difference does not exceed a predetermined value is treated as an antenna that shares the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 121. Also, an antenna for which the difference exceeds the predetermined value may be treated as an antenna that does not share the predetermined characteristic with the antenna 121. For example, the network node may share the same settings and control for beam control for a group of antennas that share the same characteristics of the arrival direction of radio waves. On the other hand, the network node may independently apply the settings and control for beam control to a group of antennas that do not share the same characteristics of the arrival direction of radio waves. Here, the settings for beam control may include, for example, settings of channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0020] The above-mentioned predetermined characteristics may be fixedly specified depending on the installation positions of the antennas 121 to 124 in the terminal device 111. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, when the antennas 121 and 122 are located sufficiently close to each other and are located at different positions from the antennas 123 and 124, the antennas 121 and 122 may be treated as having a common predetermined characteristic. Similarly, the antennas 123 and 124 may be treated as having a common predetermined characteristic. On the other hand, the antennas 121, 123, and 124 may be treated as not having a common predetermined characteristic, and the antennas 122, 123, and 124 may also be treated as not having a common predetermined characteristic. The terminal device 111 may notify the network, for example, of information indicating which characteristics of the above-mentioned predetermined characteristics are common or not common, together with the above-mentioned information. This notification may be notified, for example, as capability information (UE Capability). In this case, the terminal device 111 can notify the above-mentioned capabilities by, for example, responding to a capability information inquiry message (UECapabilityEnquiry) from the base station device 101 and transmitting a message (UECapabilityInformation) notifying the capability information to the base station device 101. Furthermore, the base station device 101 can configure, for example, a radio resource control (RRC) layer based on the acquired information, and can also perform configuration and control of the terminal device 111 using, for example, downlink control information (DCI) or the like.

[0021] (Device configuration) Next, the configurations of the base station device 101 and the terminal device 111 that execute the above-described processes will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the base station device 101 and the terminal device 111. In one example, the base station device 101 and the terminal device 111 are configured to include a processor 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, a storage device 204, and a communication circuit 205. The processor 201 is a computer configured to include one or more processing circuits, such as a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and executes the overall processing of the device and each of the above-described processes by reading and executing programs stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204. The ROM 202 is a read-only memory that stores information such as programs and various parameters related to the processes executed by the base station device 101 and the terminal device 111. The RAM 203 functions as a workspace when the processor 201 executes a program, and is also a random access memory that stores temporary information. The storage device 204 is configured, for example, by a removable external storage device. The communication circuit 205 is configured to include, for example, a circuit for communicating with other devices. Although one communication circuit 205 is illustrated in Fig. 2, the base station device 101 and the terminal device 111 may have multiple communication circuits. The terminal device 111 of this embodiment may be configured to include multiple antennas, and the multiple antennas may be connected to one communication circuit 205, or one or more of the multiple antennas may be connected to one communication circuit 205 and other antennas may be connected to another communication circuit 205.

[0022] Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the terminal device 111. The terminal device 111 includes, for example, an information notification unit 301 and a processing unit 302. The functions shown in Fig. 3 can be realized, for example, by the processor 201 executing a program stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204. Note that this is just one example, and some or all of the functions shown in Fig. 3 may be realized by dedicated hardware. Furthermore, Fig. 3 shows only functions related to the present embodiment among the functions possessed by the terminal device 111, and the terminal device 111 may naturally have functions other than those shown in Fig. 3, such as functions naturally possessed by a terminal device in a cellular communication system, for example.

[0023] For example, as described above, the information notification unit 301 notifies the base station device 101 (network) of information that can identify at least one of a combination of antennas that share a predetermined characteristic and a combination of antennas that do not share the predetermined characteristic among the multiple antennas possessed by the terminal device 111. Note that the information notification unit 301 may notify the base station device 101 of information that identifies the predetermined characteristic in addition to the information. For example, the information notification unit 301 may notify the base station device 101 of information that specifies the average delay, delay spread, direction of arrival of radio waves, etc. as the predetermined characteristic, and information that can identify at least one of a combination of antennas that share the predetermined characteristic and a combination of antennas that do not share the predetermined characteristic. Note that if it is determined in advance which of multiple types of predetermined characteristics information should be notified, the information notification unit 301 does not need to notify the base station device 101 of information indicating the predetermined characteristic. The processing unit 302 receives control and setting instruction information from the base station device 101 and executes setting processing and control processing based on the instruction information.

[0024] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the functional configuration of the base station device 101. The base station device 101 includes, for example, an information acquisition unit 401 and a setting control unit 402. The functions illustrated in FIG. 4 can be realized, for example, by the processor 201 executing a program stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204. Note that this is just one example, and some or all of the functions illustrated in FIG. 4 may be realized by dedicated hardware. Furthermore, FIG. 4 illustrates only the functions related to the present embodiment among the functions possessed by the base station device 101, and the base station device 101 may naturally have functions other than those illustrated in FIG. 4, such as functions naturally possessed by a base station device in a cellular communication system.

[0025] The information acquisition unit 401 acquires from the terminal device 111 information capable of identifying at least one of a combination of antennas having a predetermined characteristic in common and a combination of antennas having no predetermined characteristic in common among the multiple antennas possessed by the terminal device 111. Furthermore, when it is not predetermined which of the multiple types of predetermined characteristics the information relates to, the information acquisition unit 401 can acquire information specifying which predetermined characteristic the information relates to and capable of identifying at least one of a combination of antennas having a predetermined characteristic in common and a combination of antennas having no predetermined characteristic in common. The setting control unit 402 executes setting and control of the terminal device 111 based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 401.

[0026] (Processing flow) Next, an example of the flow of processing executed between the base station device 101 and the terminal device 111 will be described.

[0027] 5 shows an example of a process flow for uplink transmission power control when the predetermined characteristic relates to average delay. In this process, first, for example, when the terminal device 111 enters a connected state, the base station device 101 transmits a message to the terminal device 111 inquiring about its capability information (S501). Then, in response to the message, the terminal device 111 notifies the base station device 101 of its capability information (S502). At this time, the terminal device 111 may notify the base station device 101 that the antennas 121 and 122 have a common average delay characteristic when radio waves arrive from the base station device 101, and that the antennas 123 and 124 similarly have a common average delay characteristic. Note that, if it is predetermined that antennas are classified based on the average delay characteristic, the notification that the predetermined characteristic is a characteristic related to the average delay may be omitted. In this case, the terminal device 111 may notify the base station device 101 of only information indicating that the antennas 121 and 122 belong to an antenna group having a predetermined characteristic in common, and that the antennas 123 and 124 belong to an antenna group having a predetermined characteristic in common. Also, the terminal device 111 may notify the base station device 101 that the predetermined characteristic is not common between the antenna 121 (or the antenna 122) and the antennas 123 and 124.

[0028] The base station device 101 performs configuration and control for communication with the terminal device 111 based on the information received in S502. For example, the base station device 101 performs separate configuration of transmission power control for the antennas 121 and 122 and for the antennas 123 and 124. The base station device 101 transmits, for example, an RRC reconfiguration message including a transmission power configuration for each antenna group to the terminal device 111 (S503). In response to this, the terminal device 111 transmits an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the base station device 101 (S504) to complete the configuration. Note that conventional terminal devices cannot notify information that can identify at least one of antenna groups that share a predetermined characteristic and antenna groups that do not share the predetermined characteristic, as in S502. For this reason, the base station device 101 performs a single common configuration for multiple antennas for such conventional terminal devices, regardless of their arrangement, etc. In contrast, in this embodiment, the base station device 101 can determine whether a common setting can be used for each of the antennas possessed by the terminal device 111 based on information obtained from the terminal device 111, and can perform setting control based on the results of this determination.

[0029] Thereafter, the base station device 101 allocates, for example, frequency and time resources for uplink signal transmission to the terminal device (S505), and the terminal device 111 transmits uplink data (Physical Uplink Shared Channel PUSCH) using each antenna based on the allocation (S506). The base station device 101 determines whether transmit power control is necessary for each antenna of the terminal device 111, for example, by measuring a predetermined signal such as a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) among the signals transmitted from each of the antennas 121 to 124. Here, it is assumed that the base station device 101 determines that the received power of the DM-RS transmitted from the antennas 121 and 122 is low and that the transmit power should be increased (S507). In this case, the base station device 101 increases the transmit power of the antennas 121 and 122, while transmitting an instruction to the terminal device 111 to keep the transmit power of the antennas 123 and 124 unchanged. For example, the base station device 101 may transmit such an instruction in downlink control information (DCI) that allocates resources for uplink data transmission to the terminal device 111 (S508). Note that, for example, information associating the identification information (“A” or “B” in FIG. 5) allocated to each setting in S503 with a transmission power control command may be transmitted to the terminal device 111. Upon receiving this instruction, the terminal device 111 increases the transmission power of the antenna 121 and the antenna 122 and transmits uplink data using the allocated resources using each antenna (S509).

[0030] The base station device 101 also monitors the DM-RS when receiving this uplink data, and continuously adjusts the transmission power according to the received power. Here, it is assumed that the base station device 101 determines that the received power of the DM-RS transmitted from the antennas 123 and 124 is high and that the transmission power should be reduced (S510). In this case, the base station device 101 transmits an instruction to the terminal device 111 to reduce the transmission power of the antennas 123 and 124, while maintaining the transmission power of the antennas 121 and 122 unchanged. For example, the base station device 101 may transmit such an instruction in downlink control information (DCI) that allocates resources for uplink data transmission to the terminal device 111 (S511). Then, upon receiving this instruction, the terminal device 111 reduces the transmission power of the antennas 123 and 124 and transmits uplink data using the allocated resources using each antenna (S512).

[0031] 5 shows an example in which the increase in transmission power of antennas 121 and 122 and the decrease in transmission power of antennas 123 and 124 are performed at different times, but these controls may be performed simultaneously. For example, base station device 101 may transmit to terminal device 111, in a DCI, an instruction to increase the transmission power of antennas 121 and 122 and decrease the transmission power of antennas 123 and 124. It is sufficient that antennas 121 and 122 and antennas 123 and 124 are controlled independently, and an instruction to increase or decrease the transmission power of all of these antennas may be sent. However, even in this case, the instruction may be sent for each group of antennas that share predetermined characteristics.

[0032] By the above-described processing, it is possible to appropriately control the transmission power for each antenna, thereby improving the efficiency of communication.

[0033] 6 shows an example of the flow of setting control processing related to beam reporting in the case where the predetermined characteristic relates to the direction in which radio waves from the base station device 101 reach the terminal device 111. In this processing, as in the case of FIG. 5, first, the base station device 101 transmits a message to the terminal device 111 inquiring about its capability information (S601). Then, in response to the message, the terminal device 111 notifies the base station device 101 of its capability information (S602). At this time, the terminal device 111 may notify the base station device 101 that the antennas 121 and 122 have common characteristics of the direction in which radio waves from the base station device 101 arrive (Angle of Arrival, AoA), and that similarly, the antennas 123 and 124 have common AoA characteristics. Note that, if it is predetermined that antennas are classified based on AoA characteristics, notification that the predetermined characteristic is an AoA-related characteristic may be omitted.

[0034] The base station device 101 performs configuration and control for communication of the terminal device 111 based on the information received in S602. The base station device 101 transmits, for example, an RRC reconfiguration message including configuration for beam control and management for each antenna group to the terminal device 111 (S603). In response to this, the terminal device 111 transmits an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the base station device 101 (S604) to complete the configuration. The base station device 101 notifies, for example, the terminal device 111 of a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) configuration and its reporting configuration for each antenna group that shares predetermined characteristics, as configuration necessary for beam control and management. Note that, in this processing, a single common configuration is performed for multiple antennas in a conventional terminal device, regardless of their arrangement, etc. In contrast, in this embodiment, the base station device 101 determines whether a common configuration can be used for each of the antennas of the terminal device 111 based on information acquired from the terminal device 111, and can perform configuration control based on the determination result.

[0035] Thereafter, the base station device 101 transmits a CSI-RS corresponding to the settings for, for example, antennas 121 and 122 (S605), and the terminal device 111 measures the CSI-RS using antennas 121 and 122 (S606). Note that the terminal device 111 may avoid performing measurements of this CSI-RS using antennas 123 and 124. The base station device 101 also transmits a CSI-RS corresponding to the settings for, for example, antennas 123 and 124 (S607), and the terminal device 111 measures the CSI-RS using antennas 123 and 124 (S608). Note that the terminal device 111 may avoid performing measurements of this CSI-RS using antennas 121 and 122. The terminal device 111 continuously measures CSI-RS based on a first configuration for the antennas 121 and 122, using the antennas 121 and 122 (S609). Then, if the measurement result satisfies a condition specified by the reporting configuration for the antennas 121 and 122 (S610), the terminal device 111 notifies the base station device 101 of the measurement result (S611). Similarly, the terminal device 111 continuously measures CSI-RS based on a second configuration for the antennas 123 and 124, using the antennas 123 and 124 (S612). Then, if the measurement result satisfies a condition specified by the reporting configuration for the antennas 123 and 124 (S613), the terminal device 111 notifies the base station device 101 of the measurement result (S614).

[0036] Based on the notified measurement results, the base station device 101 performs beam control and management as usual. This processing allows appropriate beam control and management for each antenna, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0037] 7 shows an example of the flow of a configuration control process for a sounding reference signal when the predetermined characteristic relates to delay spread. In this process, as in the cases of FIGS. 5 and 6, first, the base station device 101 transmits a message to the terminal device 111 inquiring about its capability information (S701). Then, in response to the message, the terminal device 111 notifies the base station device 101 of its capability information (S702). At this time, the terminal device 111 may notify the base station device 101 that the radio waves transmitted from the antennas 121 and 122 have the same delay spread characteristic when they reach the base station device 101, and that the delay spread characteristic is also common to the antennas 123 and 124. Note that if it is predetermined that antennas are classified based on the delay spread characteristic, the notification that the predetermined characteristic is an AoA-related characteristic may be omitted.

[0038] The base station device 101 performs configuration and control for communication of the terminal device 111 based on the information received in S702. The base station device 101 transmits, for example, an RRC reconfiguration message including a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration for each antenna group to the terminal device 111 (S703). In response to this, the terminal device 111 transmits an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the base station device 101 (S704) to complete the configuration. The base station device 101 can, for example, configure the subcarrier spacing (SRS density on the frequency axis) for transmitting the SRS separately for each of the antennas 121 and 122 and the antennas 123 and 124. Thereafter, the terminal device 111 transmits the SRS using the antennas 121 and 122 based on a first SRS configuration for those antennas, and also transmits the SRS using the antennas 123 and 124 based on a second SRS configuration for those antennas. This makes it possible to suppress the deterioration of efficiency caused by using a common setting between antennas for which the conditions of the transmission paths are expected to differ greatly. Note that, in this process, for a conventional terminal device, one common setting is applied to multiple antennas regardless of their locations. In contrast, in this embodiment, the base station device 101 determines whether a common setting can be used for each of the antennas of the terminal device 111 based on information acquired from the terminal device 111, and can perform setting control based on the determination result.

[0039] Note that the processes shown in Figures 5 to 7 are merely examples, and processes other than the illustrated setting and control processes may be performed. Furthermore, although Figures 5 to 7 describe antennas as being classified by average delay, AoA, and delay spread, in reality, these may be determined solely by the antenna arrangement. That is, antennas whose inter-antenna distance is within a predetermined range may be treated as a group having common characteristics, while antennas whose inter-antenna distance exceeds the predetermined range may be treated as having different characteristics. Furthermore, the relationship between the distance and position of antenna arrangement may be correlated in advance with the presence or absence of commonality in the predetermined characteristics, and based on the characteristics used for the setting control, at least one of the antenna groups that should be subjected to common setting control and the antenna groups that should be subjected to independent setting control may be notified to the network from the terminal device. For example, in the above example, regardless of the type of the predetermined characteristic, it was assumed that antennas 121 and 122 have a common characteristic, and antennas 123 and 124 have different characteristics from antennas 121 and 122 but have a common characteristic between antennas 123 and 124. However, this is not limited to this. For example, with regard to the average delay, antennas 121 and 122 may have common characteristics, and antennas 123 and 124 may have common characteristics, while with regard to the delay spread, antennas 121 and 124 may have common characteristics, and antennas 122 and 123 may have common characteristics, etc. In this way, the multiple antennas are classified into antenna groups each including one or more antennas, but the classification may vary depending on predetermined characteristics.

[0040] In this way, it becomes possible to perform appropriate communication control in response to the diversification of antenna placements in terminal devices, thereby contributing to Goal 9 of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to "Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation."

[0041] The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the invention.

Claims

1. A terminal device, A plurality of antennas; a notification means for notifying a network to which the terminal device belongs of information capable of identifying at least one of a second antenna, which has a predetermined characteristic in common with a first antenna included in the plurality of antennas, and a third antenna, which does not have the predetermined characteristic in common with the first antenna; a receiving means for receiving a communication setting to be set for each of the plurality of antennas, The receiving means receives the communication setting that is the same as that of the first antenna as the communication setting to be set for the second antenna, and receives the communication setting that is at least partially different from that of the first antenna as the communication setting to be set for the third antenna. A terminal device comprising:

2. 2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein said notification means notifies said network of said predetermined characteristic together with said information.

3. A terminal device as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the specified characteristic relates to the magnitude of delay observed in radio waves arriving from a base station device belonging to the network or the magnitude of delay observed in radio waves arriving from the terminal device to the base station device.

4. 3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined characteristic relates to a magnitude of delay spread observed for radio waves transmitted from the terminal device and arriving at a base station device belonging to the network.

5. 3. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined characteristic relates to a direction in which radio waves arrive from a base station device belonging to the network.

6. 6. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein said notification means notifies said information in response to a request for information on the capabilities of said terminal device from said network.

7. A network node, an acquisition means for acquiring information capable of identifying at least one of a second antenna having a predetermined characteristic in common with a first antenna included in a plurality of antennas of a terminal device belonging to a network including the network node, and a third antenna having the predetermined characteristic not in common with the first antenna; a control means for controlling communication settings of the terminal device based on the information, the control means controlling communication settings to be set for each of the plurality of antennas; The control means controls the second antenna to have the same communication settings as those of the first antenna, and controls the third antenna to have the communication settings that are at least partially different from those of the first antenna. A network node comprising:

8. 8. The network node according to claim 7, wherein said acquiring means acquires said predetermined characteristic together with said information from said terminal device.

9. The predetermined characteristic relates to a magnitude of delay observed in radio waves arriving from a base station device belonging to the network or a magnitude of delay observed in radio waves arriving from the terminal device to the base station device, the control means performs a common transmission power control for the first antenna and the second antenna, and performs independent transmission power control for the first antenna and the third antenna; A network node according to claim 7 or 8.

10. The predetermined characteristic relates to a delay of radio waves arriving at the terminal device from a base station device belonging to the network, the control means performs a common communication timing control for the first antenna and the second antenna, and performs an independent communication timing control for the first antenna and the third antenna; A network node according to claim 7 or 8.

11. the predetermined characteristic relates to a delay spread observed for a radio wave transmitted from the terminal device and arriving at a base station device belonging to the network, the control means sets a common sounding reference signal for the first antenna and the second antenna, and sets independent sounding reference signals for the first antenna and the third antenna; A network node according to claim 7 or 8.

12. The predetermined characteristic relates to a direction in which a radio wave transmitted from a base station device belonging to the network reaches the terminal device, the control means performs common beam control for the first antenna and the second antenna, and performs independent beam control for the first antenna and the third antenna; A network node according to claim 7 or 8.

13. 13. The network node according to claim 7, wherein the acquiring means transmits a request for capability information to the terminal device and acquires the information in response to the request.

14. A control method executed by a terminal device having multiple antennas, comprising: notifying a network to which the terminal device belongs of information capable of identifying at least one of a second antenna, which has a predetermined characteristic in common with a first antenna included in the plurality of antennas, and a third antenna, which does not have the predetermined characteristic in common with the first antenna, among the plurality of antennas; and receiving communication settings to be set for each of the plurality of antennas; The receiving includes receiving the same communication setting as that of the first antenna as the communication setting to be set for the second antenna, and receiving the communication setting at least partially different from that of the first antenna as the communication setting to be set for the third antenna. A control method comprising:

15. A control method performed by a network node, comprising the steps of: acquiring information from a terminal device belonging to a network including the network node, capable of identifying at least one of a second antenna having a predetermined characteristic in common with a first antenna included in the plurality of antennas of the terminal device, and a third antenna having the predetermined characteristic not in common with the first antenna; Controlling communication of the terminal device based on the information, and controlling communication settings to be set for each of the plurality of antennas; The control includes controlling the second antenna to have the same communication settings as those of the first antenna, and controlling the third antenna to have the communication settings that are at least partially different from those of the first antenna. A control method comprising:

16. A program for causing a computer to function as the terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

17. A program for causing a computer to function as the network node according to any one of claims 7 to 13.

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