Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus. In the solution, a terminal device simultaneously performs beam failure detection on a serving beam and beam measurement on beams other than the serving beam in a serving beam group, that is, two operations, beam failure detection and candidate beam detection, are performed at the same time. Compared with a scheme in which beam failure detection is performed first and candidate beam detection is performed only after it is confirmed that a serving beam has failed, the solution of the present application can reduce the delay of a beam failure recovery procedure. Moreover, when the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request to a network device, the success rate of beam failure recovery can also be increased.

Description

Communication method and communication device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on December 8, 2023, with application number 202311689377.8 and invention name "A Communication Method and Communication Device", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and a communication device. Background Art

[0004] Millimeter-wave and terahertz frequency bands experience high path loss, so beamforming is often used to focus signal energy in a specific direction or receive energy from a specific direction, thereby increasing coverage distance. Due to beamforming at both the transmitter and receiver, communication links are easily blocked and interrupted. Therefore, the fifth-generation (5G) standard introduces a beam failure recovery process. This process dynamically maintains available beams and improves communication link stability by continuously monitoring beam quality, searching for candidate beams, sending beam failure recovery requests, and receiving beam failure recovery responses.

[0005] The current beam failure recovery process is as follows: the terminal device performs beam failure detection (BFD). After confirming a beam failure, it begins candidate beam detection (CBD). After selecting a candidate beam, the terminal device sends a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) to the network device to request the use of the selected candidate beam. The network device then sends a beam failure recovery response (BFRR) to the terminal device to indicate confirmation of the use of the selected candidate beam.

[0006] Regarding the above-mentioned beam failure recovery process, how to shorten the detection delay and improve the success rate of beam failure recovery remains to be studied.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and a communication device for shortening the detection delay of a beam failure recovery process and improving the success rate of beam failure recovery.

[0009] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that can be performed by a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) in the terminal device. The method includes: performing beam failure detection on a service beam within a service beam group, and performing beam measurement on beams other than the service beam within the service beam group; and, if a failure occurs in the service beam and the measurement result of at least one first beam within the service beam group meets a first condition, sending at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one first beam to a network device.

[0010] In the above solution, while the terminal device performs beam failure detection on the serving beam, it also performs beam measurement on beams other than the serving beam in the serving beam group. That is, the beam failure detection and candidate beam detection operations are performed simultaneously. Compared to the solution that first performs beam failure detection and then performs candidate beam detection after confirming that the serving beam has failed, the present application solution can shorten the latency of the beam failure recovery process. Furthermore, when the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request to the network device, the success rate of beam failure recovery can also be improved.

[0011] In a possible implementation method, the method further includes: detecting a beam failure recovery response in a common search space associated with the at least one first beam.

[0012] In one possible implementation method, the beams in the service beam group are concurrent beams.

[0013] In one possible implementation method, the first condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold value; the at least one first beam includes multiple first beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two first beams in the multiple first beams is less than a second threshold value.

[0014] The above scheme selects the beam with a measurement result greater than the threshold for beam recovery, which helps to improve the success rate of beam recovery.

[0015] In a possible implementation method, the method also includes: when the service beam fails and the measurement results of the beams in the service beam group do not meet the first condition, performing beam measurement on the beams in the first candidate beam group; when the measurement results of at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group meet the second condition, sending at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one second beam to the network device.

[0016] In the above solution, when the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request to the network device, the success rate of beam failure recovery can be improved.

[0017] In a possible implementation method, the method further includes: detecting a beam failure recovery response in a common search space associated with the at least one second beam.

[0018] In one possible implementation method, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold value; the at least one second beam includes multiple second beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two second beams in the multiple second beams is less than a fourth threshold value.

[0019] In one possible implementation method, the first candidate beam group is the candidate beam group with the largest spatial angular distance among at least one candidate beam group; the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam.

[0020] In a possible implementation method, the method also includes: receiving configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating information of multiple beam groups, the information of the multiple beam groups including identification information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, or including identification information and spatial angle information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, and the multiple beam groups including the service beam group and the at least one candidate beam group.

[0021] In one possible implementation method, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is less than the fifth threshold value; or, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is greater than the sixth threshold value; or, the beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups are concurrent beams.

[0022] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a network device or a module (such as a chip) in the network device. The method includes: sending configuration information to a terminal device, the configuration information indicating information of multiple beam groups, the information of the multiple beam groups including identification information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, or including identification information and spatial angle information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, the multiple beam groups including a service beam group and at least one candidate beam group of the terminal device; receiving at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam within the service beam group from the terminal device, the measurement result of the at least one first beam meeting a first condition; or receiving at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one second beam within a first candidate beam group from the terminal device, the measurement result of the at least one second beam meeting a second condition, and the first candidate beam group belongs to the at least one candidate beam group.

[0023] In the above solution, when the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request to the network device, the success rate of beam failure recovery can be improved.

[0024] In one possible implementation method, the beams in the service beam group are concurrent beams.

[0025] In one possible implementation method, the first condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold value; the at least one first beam includes multiple first beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two first beams in the multiple first beams is less than a second threshold value.

[0026] In one possible implementation method, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold value; the at least one second beam includes multiple second beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two second beams in the multiple second beams is less than a fourth threshold value.

[0027] In one possible implementation method, the first candidate beam group is the candidate beam group with the largest spatial angular distance among the at least one candidate beam group; the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam in the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam in the service beam group.

[0028] In one possible implementation method, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is less than the fifth threshold value; or, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is greater than the sixth threshold value; or, the beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups are concurrent beams.

[0029] In one possible implementation method, the receiving of at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam in the service beam group from the terminal device includes: receiving the at least one beam failure recovery request on at least one random access channel (RACH), wherein the at least one RACH corresponds one-to-one to the at least one first beam; the method also includes: sending at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam to the terminal device on a common search space corresponding to at least one target beam in the at least one first beam; wherein the sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the at least one target beam is greater than a sequence threshold value.

[0030] In one possible implementation method, the receiving of at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group from the terminal device includes: receiving the at least one beam failure recovery request on at least one RACH, wherein the at least one RACH corresponds one-to-one to the at least one second beam; the method also includes: sending at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam to the terminal device on a common search space corresponding to at least one target beam in the at least one second beam; wherein the sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the at least one target beam is greater than a sequence threshold value.

[0031] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) in the terminal device. The device has the function of implementing any implementation method of the first aspect described above. The function may be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software implementations in hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a network device or a module (such as a chip) in a network device. The device has the function of implementing any implementation method of the second aspect described above. The function may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0033] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a unit or means for executing each step of any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to second aspects.

[0034] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and execute any of the implementation methods in the first to second aspects above. The processor comprises one or more.

[0035] Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory for storing computer instructions, the memory being coupled to a processor, and the processor executing the computer instructions stored in the memory so that the device executes any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to second aspects.

[0036] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are run by a communication device, any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to second aspects is executed.

[0037] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, which, when run on a communication device, enables any implementation method in the above-mentioned first aspect to be executed.

[0038] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, comprising: a processor for executing any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to second aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] FIG1( a ) is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 1(b) shows a schematic diagram of a network device;

[0041] FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG3 is an example diagram of beam grouping;

[0043] FIG4 is another example diagram of beam grouping;

[0044] Figure 5 is an example diagram of airspace angular distance;

[0045] FIG6 is another example diagram of airspace angle distance;

[0046] FIG7 is another example diagram of airspace angle distance;

[0047] FIG8 is another example diagram of airspace angle distance;

[0048] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0050] Figure 1(a) is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application. The communication system shown in Figure 1(a) includes a wireless access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system also includes the Internet 300. The wireless access network 100 may include at least one network device (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1(a)) and may also include at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1(a)). The terminal device is connected to the network device wirelessly, and the network device is connected to the core network wirelessly or by wire. The core network device and the network device may be independent and distinct physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the network device may be integrated into the same physical device, or a physical device may integrate some of the functions of the core network device and some of the functions of the network device. Terminal devices and network devices may be connected to each other via wired or wireless connections. Figure 1(a) is merely a schematic diagram. The communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figure 1(a).

[0051] A network device is an access device that a terminal device uses to access a communication system via a wired or wireless method. A network device may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation base station in a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system; it may also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, for example, a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). A network device may be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG1(a)), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG1(a)), a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0052] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to or receive signals from a network device. Terminal devices include but are not limited to terminal devices, terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can specifically be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, aircraft, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0053] Network devices and terminal devices can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; they can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons, and artificial satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of network devices and terminal devices.

[0054] The roles of network devices and terminal devices can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1(a) can be configured as a mobile network device. For terminal devices 120j that access the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal device 120i is a network device. However, for network device 110a, 120i is a terminal device, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via an interface protocol between network devices. In this case, relative to 110a, 120i is also a network device. Therefore, both network devices and terminal devices can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1(a) can be referred to as communication devices with network device functionality, and 120a-120j in Figure 1(a) can be referred to as communication devices with terminal device functionality.

[0055] Network devices and terminal devices, network devices and network devices, and terminal devices and terminal devices can communicate through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz simultaneously. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communications.

[0056] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem that includes the network device functions. The control subsystem that includes the network device functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device that includes the terminal device functions.

[0057] In this application, a network device sends downlink signals or downlink information to a terminal device, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel. A terminal device sends uplink signals or uplink information to a network device, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. To communicate with a network device, a terminal device needs to establish a wireless connection with a cell controlled by the network device. The cell with which a terminal device has established a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal device.

[0058] Figure 1(b) shows a schematic diagram of a network device. As shown in Figure 1(b), the network device includes one or more CUs, one or more DUs, and one or more RUs. For clarity, Figure 1(b) shows only one CU, DU, and RU. The CU is connected to the core network and one or more DUs. Optionally, the CU may have some of the core network's functionality. The CU may include a CU-control plane (CP) and a CU-user plane (UP).

[0059] The CU and DU can be configured according to the protocol layer functions of the wireless network they implement: for example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and the protocol layers above it (such as the radio resource control (RRC) layer and / or the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, etc.); the DU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and / or the physical (PHY) layer, etc.). For another example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers above the PDCP layer (such as the RRC layer and / or the SDAP layer), and the DU is configured to implement the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layers below it (such as the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and / or the PHY layer, etc.).

[0060] The above configuration of CU and DU is only an example, and the functions of CU and DU can also be configured as needed. For example, the CU or DU can be configured to have the functions of more protocol layers, or the CU or DU can be configured to have partial processing functions of the protocol layer. For example, some functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are set in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set in the DU. For another example, the functions of the CU or DU can be divided according to the service type or other system requirements, such as by delay, and the functions whose processing time needs to meet the smaller delay requirement are set in the DU, and the functions that do not need to meet the delay requirement are set in the CU.

[0061] The DU and RU can work together to implement the functions of the PHY layer. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and RU can be configured in various ways according to the design. For example, the DU is configured to implement the baseband function, and the RU is configured to implement the mid-RF function. For another example, the DU is configured to implement the high-layer functions in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement the low-layer functions in the PHY layer or to implement the low-layer functions and the RF functions. The high-layer functions in the physical layer may include a part of the functions of the physical layer, which is closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the physical layer may include another part of the functions of the physical layer, which is closer to the mid-RF side.

[0062] The CU and DU may be set separately, or may be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, CU, DU or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, and RU may also be called O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0063] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a few explanations are first given in this application.

[0064] 1. Beam, which can be understood as a spatial filter or spatial parameters. The beam used to transmit signals can be called a transmission beam (Tx beam), which can be a spatial domain transmit filter or spatial transmit parameters (spatial Tx parameters). The beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), which can be a spatial domain receive filter or spatial receive parameters (spatial Rx parameters).

[0065] The beamforming technology can be beamforming or other technologies. For example, the beamforming technology can be digital beamforming, analog beamforming, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming. The transmit beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna, and the receive beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of the wireless signal received by the antenna.

[0066] In the new radio (NR) protocol, a beam can be, for example, a spatial filter. However, it should be understood that this application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in future protocols to express the same or similar meanings.

[0067] The information of the beam can be identified by index information. Optionally, the index information can correspond to a resource identifier (identity, ID) configured for the UE, for example, the index information can correspond to the ID or resource of a configured channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or can correspond to the ID or resource of a configured uplink sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0068] If multiple beams can be transmitted concurrently, they are referred to as concurrent beams. Concurrent transmission refers to the simultaneous transmission or reception of data or signaling. This means that multiple beams can transmit or receive data or signaling within the same time unit. A time unit can be, for example, a symbol, a time slot, or a subframe.

[0069] 2. In this application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, explicit indication, and implicit indication. When describing that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0070] In this application, the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where there is an association between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can also be achieved by using the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (for example, specified by the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. In addition, the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or it can be divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different.

[0071] 3. In this application, "sending" and "receiving" indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as the destination of the information is XX, which can include direct sending through the air interface, and also include indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as the source of the information is YY, which can include direct receiving from YY through the air interface, and also include indirect receiving from YY through the air interface from other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be carried out between devices, for example, between network devices and terminal devices, or can be carried out within a device, for example, sending or receiving between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within the device through a bus, trace or interface.

[0072] Millimeter-wave and terahertz frequency bands experience high path loss, so beamforming is often used to focus signal energy in a specific direction or receive energy from a specific direction, thereby increasing coverage distance. Due to beamforming at both the transmitter and receiver, communication links are easily blocked and interrupted. Therefore, the 5G standard introduces a beam failure recovery process. This process dynamically maintains available beams and improves communication link stability by continuously monitoring beam quality, searching for candidate beams, sending beam failure recovery requests, and receiving beam failure recovery responses.

[0073] The current beam failure recovery process is as follows: the terminal device performs beam failure detection, and after confirming that a beam failure has occurred, it starts candidate beam detection. After selecting a candidate beam, the terminal device sends a beam failure recovery request to the network device to request the use of the selected candidate beam. The network device then sends a beam failure recovery response to the terminal device to indicate confirmation of the use of the selected candidate beam.

[0074] The above-mentioned beam failure recovery process first performs beam failure detection, and only begins candidate beam detection after beam failure is confirmed. Therefore, the beam failure recovery process has a long delay. In addition, only one candidate beam is selected at a time and a beam failure recovery request corresponding to that candidate beam is sent. If the network device confirms that the candidate beam cannot serve as a new serving beam, a new candidate beam must be selected and a beam failure recovery request corresponding to that candidate beam must be sent. This process repeats until the network device confirms that a candidate beam can serve as a new serving beam, or confirms that all candidate beams cannot serve as new serving beams. Therefore, this method of selecting candidate beams further increases the delay of beam failure recovery and has a low success rate.

[0075] Regarding the above-mentioned beam failure recovery process, how to shorten the detection delay and improve the success rate of beam failure recovery remains to be studied.

[0076] To solve this problem, this application provides corresponding embodiments, which are described in detail below.

[0077] Figure 2 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by a network device or a module (such as a chip) of a network device, and a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) of a terminal device. The following description uses the network device and the terminal device as an example to illustrate the method.

[0078] The method comprises the following steps:

[0079] In step 201, the terminal device performs beam failure detection on the service beam in the service beam group, and performs beam measurement on the beams other than the service beam in the service beam group.

[0080] In this embodiment of the present application, multiple beams are grouped to form multiple beam groups, each of which contains one or more beams. The beam group containing the terminal device's serving beam is referred to as the serving beam group, and beam groups other than the serving beam group are referred to as candidate beam groups. For example, beams within a serving beam group are concurrent beams.

[0081] In step 201, the terminal device performs beam failure detection on the service beam while also performing beam measurement on the beams other than the service beam in the service beam group. That is, the two operations of beam failure detection and candidate beam detection are performed simultaneously. In the existing scheme, beam failure detection is performed first, and candidate beam detection is performed only after confirming that the service beam has failed. Therefore, the scheme of the present application can shorten the delay of the beam failure recovery process.

[0082] As an implementation method, before step 201, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device. The configuration information indicates information about multiple beam groups, where the multiple beam groups include the serving beam group and at least one candidate beam group. The information about each beam group in the multiple beam groups includes identification information of the beams within the beam group, or includes identification information and spatial angle information of the beams within the beam group. The spatial angle information includes azimuth and / or zenith angle.

[0083] In the embodiment of the present application, the beam may be used to transmit a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB), a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), or a sensing reference signal (SERS). When the beams within a beam group are concurrent beams, multiple beams within the beam group may transmit SSB, CSI-RS, PRS, TRS, or SERS simultaneously.

[0084] Three different implementation methods for grouping beams are introduced below.

[0085] Implementation method 1 is to group spatially adjacent beams into the same beam group, for example, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group is less than the fifth threshold value.

[0086] Figure 3 shows an example of beam grouping. In this example, four spatially adjacent beams can be grouped into the same beam group based on spatial angle information, such as zenith angle and azimuth angle. The beam grouping is as follows:

[0087] Group 0: {beam 0, beam 1, beam 8, beam 9};

[0088] Group 1: {beam 2, beam 3, beam 10, beam 11};

[0089] Group 2: {beam 4, beam 5, beam 12, beam 13};

[0090] Group 3: {beam 6, beam 7, beam 14, beam 15};

[0091] Group 4: {beam 16, beam 17, beam 24, beam 25};

[0092] Group 5: {beam 18, beam 19, beam 26, beam 27};

[0093] Group 6: {beam 20, beam 21, beam 28, beam 29};

[0094] Group 7: {beam 22, beam 23, beam 30, beam 31}.

[0095] Implementation method 2 is to group beams with large spatial distances into the same beam group. For example, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group is greater than a sixth threshold value.

[0096] Figure 4 shows another example of beam grouping. In this example, four beams with large spatial distances can be grouped into the same beam group based on spatial angle information, such as zenith angle and azimuth angle. The beam grouping is as follows:

[0097] Group 0: {beam 0, beam 4, beam 16, beam 20};

[0098] Group 1: {beam 1, beam 5, beam 17, beam 21};

[0099] Group 2: {beam 2, beam 6, beam 18, beam 22};

[0100] Group 3: {beam 3, beam 7, beam 19, beam 23};

[0101] Group 4: {beam 8, beam 12, beam 24, beam 28};

[0102] Group 5: {beam 9, beam 13, beam 25, beam 29};

[0103] Group 6: {beam 10, beam 14, beam 26, beam 30};

[0104] Group 7: {beam 11, beam 15, beam 27, beam 31}.

[0105] Implementation method three is to group the beams that can be transmitted concurrently into the same beam group. That is, the beams in each beam group are concurrent beams.

[0106] That is, multiple beams in the same beam group can be used concurrently for data transmission.

[0107] As an implementation method, the above implementation method one and implementation method three can be implemented in combination, and implementation method two can also be implemented in combination with implementation method three.

[0108] After beam measurement is performed on beams other than the serving beam in the serving beam group, two situations can be classified.

[0109] One scenario is that there are available beams within the serving beam group. Here, an available beam means that the measurement results for beams within the serving beam group satisfy the first condition. In this scenario, step 202 is performed after step 201, and steps 203 through 204 are not performed. Another scenario is that there are no available beams within the serving beam group. In other words, the measurement results for beams within the serving beam group do not satisfy the first condition. In this scenario, steps 203 through 204 are performed after step 201, and step 202 is not performed. Each of these scenarios is explained below.

[0110] Step 202: When a service beam fails and a measurement result of at least one first beam in the service beam group meets a first condition, the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one first beam to the network device.

[0111] The measurement result of at least one first beam in the service beam group meets the first condition, which can be understood as the terminal device believing that the measurement result of the at least one first beam meets the requirements for being configured as a service beam.

[0112] If the measurement results of N first beams in the service beam group meet the first condition, the terminal device sends N beam failure recovery requests to the network device, and the N beam failure recovery requests correspond one-to-one to the N first beams, and N is a positive integer. The beam failure recovery request is used to request the use of the first beam for beam recovery, or to request the use of the first beam to be configured as a service beam, or to request the use of the first beam for data transmission. Exemplarily, if the measurement results of two first beams in the service beam group meet the first condition, and the two first beams are respectively referred to as beam 1 and beam 2, the terminal device sends beam failure recovery request 1 and beam failure recovery request 2 to the network device, wherein beam failure recovery request 1 is used to request the use of beam 1 for beam recovery, or to request the configuration of beam 1 as a service beam, or to request the use of beam 1 for data transmission. Beam failure recovery request 2 is used to request the use of beam 2 for beam recovery, or to request the configuration of beam 2 as a service beam, or to request the use of beam 2 for data transmission.

[0113] When the terminal device is able to send multiple beam failure recovery requests to the network device, the success rate of beam failure recovery can be improved.

[0114] Exemplarily, the first condition includes at least one of the following: 1) the measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold; 2) the at least one first beam includes multiple first beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two first beams in the multiple first beams is less than a second threshold. The first threshold and the second threshold may be preconfigured for the terminal device by the network device or predefined by the protocol. As an example, if the measurement results of two beams other than the serving beam in the service beam group are greater than the first threshold, beam failure recovery requests corresponding to the two beams may be sent to the network device. This example only requires that the measurement results of the beams be greater than the first threshold and does not require that the difference between the measurement results of the two beams be less than the second threshold. As another example, if the measurement results of two beams other than the serving beam in the service beam group are greater than the first threshold and the difference between the measurement results of the two beams is less than the second threshold, beam failure recovery requests corresponding to the two beams may be sent to the network device. If the measurement results of the two beams are greater than the first threshold value, but the difference between the measurement results of the two beams is greater than or equal to the second threshold value, the terminal device does not send the beam failure recovery requests corresponding to the two beams to the network device, or only sends the beam failure recovery request corresponding to one of the beams to the network device. That is, in this example, if beam failure recovery requests corresponding to multiple beams are to be sent, on the one hand, the measurement results of the multiple beams are required to be greater than the first threshold value, and on the other hand, the difference between the measurement results of any two beams in the multiple beams is required to be less than the second threshold value, that is, the measurement results of the multiple beams are relatively close.

[0115] As an implementation method, in step 202 above, the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam to the network device. This may be: the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request to the network device on at least one random access channel (RACH) corresponding to the at least one first beam, where the at least one RACH has a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one first beam. After receiving the at least one beam recovery request, the network device determines which first beams can serve as serving beams, wherein the first beam that can serve as a serving beam among the at least one first beam is referred to as a target beam. Exemplarily, if the sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the first beam is greater than a sequence threshold value, the first beam is determined to be the target beam, i.e., the first beam can serve as the serving beam. After determining the at least one target beam, the network device sends at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam to the terminal device on a common search space (CSS) corresponding to the at least one target beam, wherein the at least one target beam has a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one beam failure recovery response. The terminal device detects a beam failure recovery response in the common search space associated with the at least one first beam. This will be explained below with reference to a specific example. For example, the terminal device determines that beam 1, beam 2, and beam 3 in the service beam group meet the first condition, then sends beam failure recovery request 1 to the network device on RACH1 corresponding to beam 1, sends beam failure recovery request 2 to the network device on RACH2 corresponding to beam 2, and sends beam failure recovery request 3 to the network device on RACH3 corresponding to beam 3. The network device determines that the sequence correlation value of RACH1 and RACH2 is greater than the sequence threshold value, then the network device sends beam failure recovery response 1 corresponding to beam failure recovery request 1 to the terminal device on the common search space corresponding to beam 1, and sends beam failure recovery response 2 corresponding to beam failure recovery request 2 to the terminal device on the common search space corresponding to beam 2. The terminal device detects the beam failure recovery response on the common search space corresponding to beam 1, beam 2, and beam 3. Finally, the terminal device can detect the beam failure recovery response in the common search space corresponding to beam 1 and beam 2, thereby determining that beam 1 and beam 2 can be used as service beams.

[0116] Step 203: When the serving beam fails and the measurement results of the beams in the serving beam group do not meet the first condition, the terminal device performs beam measurement on the beams in the first candidate beam group.

[0117] As another implementation method, the terminal device can also perform beam measurement on the beams in the first candidate beam group while performing beam measurement on the beams in the serving beam group. That is, the terminal device simultaneously performs beam measurement on the beams in the serving beam group and the first candidate beam group. This can further reduce the latency of the beam failure recovery process.

[0118] The first candidate beam group is a candidate beam group among at least one candidate beam group configured by the network device. Exemplarily, the first candidate beam group is a candidate beam group with the largest spatial angular distance among the at least one candidate beam group configured by the network device. Four different definitions of spatial angular distance are described below.

[0119] Definition method 1: The spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group.

[0120] Figure 5 is an example diagram of the spatial angular distance. In this example, it is assumed that beam group 0 is the serving beam group and beam 0 is the serving beam, and the spatial angular distance is defined as the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group. The black dots in the example of Figure 5 represent the angular centers of each candidate beam group, and the black squares represent the angular center of the serving beam group. The angular center of a candidate beam group can be calculated based on the spatial angular information of each beam in the candidate beam group, and the angular center of the serving beam group can be calculated based on the spatial angular information of each beam in the serving beam group.

[0121] Taking the example of Figure 5 as an example, beam group 0 is the service beam group, beam group 1 to beam group 7 are all candidate beam groups, and the spatial angular distance relationship of the 7 candidate beam groups is: beam group 7> beam group 3> beam group 6> beam group 2> beam group 5> beam group 4 = beam group 1, so beam group 7 can be used as the aforementioned first candidate beam group.

[0122] Definition method 2: The spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam.

[0123] Figure 6 is another example diagram of spatial angular distance. In this example, it is assumed that beam group 0 is the serving beam group, and beam 0 is the serving beam, and the spatial angular distance is defined as the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group. The black dots in the example of Figure 6 represent the angular centers of each candidate beam group, and the black squares represent the angular center of the serving beam. The angular center of a candidate beam group can be calculated based on the spatial angular information of each beam in the candidate beam group, and the angular center of the serving beam can be calculated based on the spatial angular information of the serving beam.

[0124] Definition method three: the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group.

[0125] In this application, the half-power coverage range, also referred to as the half-power coverage angle or half-power angle, refers to the antenna angle within the range where the power drops by half within the antenna coverage range. For example, the radiation intensity on both sides of the maximum radiation direction of the main lobe beam of the candidate beam group gradually decreases. When the radiation intensity decreases by 3 decibels (dB), the power is reduced by half. At this time, the angle formed by the directions on both sides of the main lobe beam where the power is reduced by half is the half-power coverage range of the candidate beam group.

[0126] Figure 7 is another example diagram of the spatial angle distance. In this example, it is assumed that beam group 0 is the service beam group, and beam 0 is the service beam, and the spatial angle distance is defined as the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angle center of the service beam group, and the any angle refers to the angle in the candidate beam group that is closest to the angle center of the service beam group. The black dots in the example of Figure 7 represent the angles of each candidate beam group that are closest to the angle center of the service beam group, and the black squares represent the angle center of the service beam group. Among them, the angle closest to the angle center of the service beam group in a candidate beam group can be calculated based on the spatial angle information of each beam in the candidate beam group and the angle center of the service beam group, and the angle center of the service beam group can be calculated based on the spatial angle information of each beam in the service beam group.

[0127] Definition method 4: The spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage range of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam.

[0128] Figure 8 is another example diagram of the spatial angle distance. In this example, it is assumed that beam group 0 is the service beam group, and beam 0 is the service beam, and the spatial angle distance is defined as the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angle center of the service beam, and the any angle refers to the angle closest to the angle center of the service beam in the candidate beam group. The black dots in the example of Figure 8 represent the angles of each candidate beam group closest to the angle center of the service beam, and the black squares represent the angle center of the service beam. Among them, the angle closest to the angle center of the service beam in a candidate beam group can be calculated based on the spatial angle information of each beam in the candidate beam group and the angle center of the service beam, and the angle center of the service beam can be calculated based on the spatial angle information of the service beam.

[0129] Step 204: When the measurement result of at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group meets the second condition, the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one second beam to the network device.

[0130] The measurement result of at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group meets the second condition, which can be understood as the terminal device believing that the measurement result of the at least one second beam meets the requirements of being configured as a service beam.

[0131] If the measurement results of M second beams in the first candidate beam group meet the second condition, the terminal device sends M beam failure recovery requests to the network device, and the M beam failure recovery requests correspond one-to-one to the M second beams, and M is a positive integer. The beam failure recovery request is used to request the use of the second beam for beam recovery, or to request the use of the second beam to be configured as a service beam, or to request the use of the second beam for data transmission. Exemplarily, if the measurement results of 2 second beams in the first candidate beam group meet the second condition, and the 2 second beams are respectively referred to as beam 1 and beam 2, the terminal device sends beam failure recovery request 1 and beam failure recovery request 2 to the network device, wherein beam failure recovery request 1 is used to request the use of beam 1 for beam recovery, or to request the configuration of beam 1 as a service beam, or to request the use of beam 1 for data transmission. Beam failure recovery request 2 is used to request the use of beam 2 for beam recovery, or to request the configuration of beam 2 as a service beam, or to request the use of beam 2 for data transmission.

[0132] When the terminal device is able to send multiple beam failure recovery requests to the network device, the success rate of beam failure recovery can be improved.

[0133] Exemplarily, the second condition includes at least one of the following: 1) the measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold; 2) the at least one second beam includes multiple second beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two second beams in the multiple second beams is less than a fourth threshold. The third and fourth thresholds may be preconfigured for the terminal device by the network device or predefined by the protocol. As an example, if the measurement results of two beams in the first candidate beam group are greater than the third threshold, beam failure recovery requests corresponding to each of the two beams may be sent to the network device. This example only requires that the measurement results of the beams be greater than the third threshold and does not require that the difference between the measurement results of the two beams be less than the fourth threshold. As another example, if the measurement results of two beams in the first candidate beam group are greater than the third threshold and the difference between the measurement results of the two beams is less than the fourth threshold, beam failure recovery requests corresponding to each of the two beams may be sent to the network device. If the measurement results of the two beams are greater than the third threshold value, but the difference between the measurement results of the two beams is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold value, the terminal device does not send the beam failure recovery requests corresponding to the two beams to the network device, or only sends the beam failure recovery request corresponding to one of the beams to the network device. That is, in this example, if beam failure recovery requests corresponding to multiple beams are to be sent, on the one hand, the measurement results of the multiple beams are required to be greater than the third threshold value, and on the other hand, the difference between the measurement results of any two beams in the multiple beams is required to be less than the fourth threshold value, that is, the measurement results of the multiple beams are relatively close.

[0134] As an implementation method, in step 204, the terminal device sends at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one second beam to the network device. This may be done by: the terminal device sends the at least one beam failure recovery request to the network device via at least one RACH corresponding to the at least one second beam, where the at least one RACH has a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one second beam. After receiving the at least one beam recovery request, the network device determines which second beams can serve as serving beams. The second beam that can serve as a serving beam among the at least one second beams is referred to as a target beam. Exemplarily, if the sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the second beam is greater than a sequence threshold, the second beam is determined to be the target beam, meaning that the second beam can serve as the serving beam. After determining the at least one target beam, the network device sends at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam to the terminal device via the common search space corresponding to the at least one target beam, where the at least one target beam has a one-to-one correspondence with the at least one beam failure recovery response. The terminal device detects the beam failure recovery response in the common search space associated with the at least one second beam. This is explained below with reference to a specific example. For example, if the terminal device determines that beams 1, 2, and 3 within the first candidate beam group meet the second condition, it sends beam failure recovery request 1 to the network device on RACH 1 corresponding to beam 1, beam failure recovery request 2 to the network device on RACH 2 corresponding to beam 2, and beam failure recovery request 3 to the network device on RACH 3 corresponding to beam 3. If the network device determines that the sequence correlation value between RACH 1 and RACH 2 is greater than a sequence threshold, it sends beam failure recovery response 1 corresponding to beam failure recovery request 1 to the terminal device on the common search space corresponding to beam 1, and beam failure recovery response 2 corresponding to beam failure recovery request 2 to the terminal device on the common search space corresponding to beam 2. The terminal device detects beam failure recovery responses in the common search spaces corresponding to beams 1, 2, and 3. Ultimately, the terminal device detects beam failure recovery responses in the common search spaces corresponding to beams 1 and 2, thereby determining that beams 1 and 2 can serve as serving beams.

[0135] In one implementation method, if a serving beam fails and the measurement results of all beams in the serving beam group fail to meet the first condition, and the measurement results of all beams in the first candidate beam group fail to meet the second condition, the terminal device selects the candidate beam group with the largest spatial angular distance from the remaining candidate beam groups in sequence according to the spatial angular distance and performs beam measurement until a candidate beam that meets the conditions exists in the selected candidate beam groups, or until all beams in all candidate beam groups fail to meet the conditions. After selecting a beam that meets the conditions, the terminal device sends a beam failure recovery request corresponding to the selected beam to the network device.

[0136] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the relationship between the first threshold value, the second threshold value, the third threshold value, the fourth threshold value, the fifth threshold value, and the sixth threshold value is not limited. The numbers "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish the various threshold values ​​from each other and do not constitute limitations on their meaning.

[0137] It is understood that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the terminal device or network device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and method steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a manner driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0138] Figures 9 and 10 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be a terminal device or a network device, or it can be a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal device or the network device.

[0139] The communication device 900 shown in Figure 9 includes a processing unit 910 and a transceiver unit 920. The communication device 900 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiment.

[0140] When the communication device 900 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment, the processing unit 910 is used to perform beam failure detection on the service beam in the service beam group, and perform beam measurement on the beams other than the service beam in the service beam group; the transceiver unit 920 is used to send at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one first beam in the service beam group to the network device when the service beam fails and the measurement result of the at least one first beam in the service beam group meets the first condition.

[0141] In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 910 is further configured to detect a beam failure recovery response in a common search space associated with the at least one first beam.

[0142] In one possible implementation method, the beams in the service beam group are concurrent beams.

[0143] In one possible implementation method, the first condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold value; the at least one first beam includes multiple first beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two first beams in the multiple first beams is less than a second threshold value.

[0144] In one possible implementation method, the processing unit 910 is further used to perform beam measurement on the beams in the first candidate beam group when the service beam fails and the measurement results of the beams in the service beam group do not meet the first condition; the transceiver unit 920 is further used to send at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one second beam to the network device when the measurement results of at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group meet the second condition.

[0145] In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 910 is further configured to detect a beam failure recovery response in a common search space associated with the at least one second beam.

[0146] In one possible implementation method, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold value; the at least one second beam includes multiple second beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two second beams in the multiple second beams is less than a fourth threshold value.

[0147] In one possible implementation method, the first candidate beam group is the candidate beam group with the largest spatial angular distance among at least one candidate beam group; the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam.

[0148] In one possible implementation method, the transceiver unit 920 is also used to receive configuration information from the network device, where the configuration information indicates information of multiple beam groups, and the information of the multiple beam groups includes identification information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, or includes identification information and spatial angle information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, and the multiple beam groups include the service beam group and the at least one candidate beam group.

[0149] In one possible implementation method, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is less than the fifth threshold value; or, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is greater than the sixth threshold value; or, the beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups are concurrent beams.

[0150] When the communication device 900 is used to implement the function of the network device in the above method embodiment, the processing unit 910 is used to control the transceiver unit 920 to send configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information indicates information of multiple beam groups, and the information of the multiple beam groups includes identification information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, or includes identification information and spatial angle information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, and the multiple beam groups include a service beam group and at least one candidate beam group of the terminal device; receiving at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam within the service beam group from the terminal device, and the measurement result of the at least one first beam meets the first condition; or receiving at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one second beam within the first candidate beam group from the terminal device, and the measurement result of the at least one second beam meets the second condition, and the first candidate beam group belongs to the at least one candidate beam group.

[0151] In one possible implementation method, the beams in the service beam group are concurrent beams.

[0152] In one possible implementation method, the first condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold value; the at least one first beam includes multiple first beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two first beams in the multiple first beams is less than a second threshold value.

[0153] In one possible implementation method, the second condition includes at least one of the following: the measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold value; the at least one second beam includes multiple second beams, and the difference between the measurement results of any two second beams in the multiple second beams is less than a fourth threshold value.

[0154] In one possible implementation method, the first candidate beam group is the candidate beam group with the largest spatial angular distance among the at least one candidate beam group; the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam in the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam group; or, the spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam in the service beam group.

[0155] In one possible implementation method, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is less than the fifth threshold value; or, the spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups is greater than the sixth threshold value; or, the beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups are concurrent beams.

[0156] In one possible implementation method, the processing unit 910 is used to control the transceiver unit 920 to receive at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam in the service beam group from the terminal device, specifically including: controlling the transceiver unit 920 to receive the at least one beam failure recovery request on at least one RACH, wherein the at least one RACH corresponds one-to-one to the at least one first beam; the processing unit 910 is also used to control the transceiver unit 920 to send at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam in the at least one first beam to the terminal device in the common search space corresponding to at least one target beam in the at least one first beam; wherein the sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the at least one target beam is greater than the sequence threshold value.

[0157] In one possible implementation method, the processing unit 910 is used to control the transceiver unit 920 to receive at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam in the service beam group from the terminal device, specifically including: controlling the transceiver unit 920 to receive the at least one beam failure recovery request on at least one RACH, wherein the at least one RACH corresponds one-to-one to the at least one second beam; the processing unit 910 is also used to control the transceiver unit 920 to send at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam in the at least one second beam to the terminal device on the common search space corresponding to at least one target beam in the at least one second beam; wherein the sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the at least one target beam is greater than the sequence threshold value.

[0158] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 910 and the transceiver unit 920, reference can be made to the relevant description in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0159] The communication device 1000 shown in Figure 10 includes a processor 1010 and an interface circuit 1020. The processor 1010 and the interface circuit 1020 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 1020 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 1000 may also include a memory 1030 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1010, or storing input data required by the processor 1010 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 1010 executes instructions.

[0160] When the communication device 1000 is used to implement the above method embodiment, the processor 1010 is used to implement the functions of the above processing unit 910 , and the interface circuit 1020 is used to implement the functions of the above transceiver unit 920 .

[0161] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0162] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disks, mobile hard disks, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a terminal device or a network device. Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in an access network device or a terminal.

[0163] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. A computer program refers to a set of instructions that instruct an electronic computer or other device with message processing capabilities to perform each step of the action, usually written in a certain programming language and running on a certain target architecture. When the computer program or instruction is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is executed in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network or other programmable device. The computer program or instruction can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program or instruction can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and non-volatile types of storage media.

[0164] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0165] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next related objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formulas of this application, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next related objects are in a "division" relationship.

[0166] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Performing beam failure detection on a service beam in a service beam group, and performing beam measurement on beams other than the service beam in the service beam group; When the service beam fails and a measurement result of at least one first beam in the service beam group satisfies a first condition, at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one first beam is sent to a network device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: A beam failure recovery response is detected in a common search space associated with the at least one first beam.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The beams in the service beam group are concurrent beams.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that The first condition includes at least one of the following: The measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold value; The at least one first beam includes a plurality of first beams, and a difference between measurement results of any two first beams among the plurality of first beams is less than a second threshold value.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: When the serving beam fails and the measurement results of the beams in the serving beam group do not meet the first condition, performing beam measurement on the beams in the first candidate beam group; When the measurement result of at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group satisfies a second condition, at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to the at least one second beam is sent to the network device.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: A beam failure recovery response is detected in a common search space associated with the at least one second beam.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that The second condition includes at least one of the following: The measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold value; The at least one second beam includes a plurality of second beams, and a difference between measurement results of any two second beams among the plurality of second beams is less than a fourth threshold value.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that The first candidate beam group is a candidate beam group having the largest spatial angle distance among at least one candidate beam group; The spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group; or, The spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam; or, The spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group; or, The spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating information of multiple beam groups, the information of the multiple beam groups including identification information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, or including identification information and spatial angle information of the beams within the multiple beam groups, the multiple beam groups including the service beam group and the at least one candidate beam group.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group of the multiple beam groups is less than a fifth threshold value; or, The spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group of the multiple beam groups is greater than a sixth threshold value; or, The beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups are concurrent beams.

11. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending configuration information to a terminal device, where the configuration information indicates information of a plurality of beam groups, where the information of the plurality of beam groups includes identification information of beams in the plurality of beam groups, or includes identification information and spatial angle information of the beams in the plurality of beam groups, where the plurality of beam groups includes a serving beam group of the terminal device and at least one candidate beam group; receiving at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam in the service beam group from the terminal device, wherein a measurement result of the at least one first beam satisfies a first condition; or, receiving at least one beam failure recovery corresponding to at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group from the terminal device The request is that the measurement result of the at least one second beam satisfies a second condition, and the first candidate beam group belongs to the at least one candidate beam group.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The beams in the service beam group are concurrent beams.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that The first condition includes at least one of the following: The measurement result of the first beam is greater than a first threshold value; The at least one first beam includes a plurality of first beams, and a difference between measurement results of any two first beams among the plurality of first beams is less than a second threshold value.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that The second condition includes at least one of the following: The measurement result of the second beam is greater than a third threshold value; The at least one second beam includes a plurality of second beams, and a difference between measurement results of any two second beams among the plurality of second beams is less than a fourth threshold value.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that The first candidate beam group is a candidate beam group having the largest spatial angular distance among the at least one candidate beam group; The spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group; or, The spatial angular distance is the distance between any angle within the half-power coverage of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the service beam in the service beam group; or, The spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam group; or, The spatial angular distance is the distance between the angular center of the candidate beam group and the angular center of the serving beam in the serving beam group.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that The spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group of the multiple beam groups is less than a fifth threshold value; or, The spatial angular distance between any two beams in each beam group of the multiple beam groups is greater than a sixth threshold value; or, The beams in each beam group in the multiple beam groups are concurrent beams.

17. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that The receiving at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one first beam in the service beam group from the terminal device includes: Receiving the at least one beam failure recovery request on at least one random access channel RACH, wherein the at least one RACH corresponds one-to-one to the at least one first beam; The method further comprises: On a common search space corresponding to at least one target beam in the at least one first beam, at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam is sent to the terminal device; wherein a sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the at least one target beam is greater than a sequence threshold value.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that The receiving, from the terminal device, at least one beam failure recovery request corresponding to at least one second beam in the first candidate beam group comprises: Receiving the at least one beam failure recovery request on at least one random access channel RACH, wherein the at least one RACH corresponds one-to-one to the at least one second beam; The method further comprises: In a common search space corresponding to at least one target beam in the at least one second beam, at least one beam failure recovery response corresponding to the at least one target beam is sent to the terminal device; wherein a sequence correlation value of the RACH corresponding to the at least one target beam is greater than a sequence threshold value.

19. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module for executing the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or executing the method described in any one of claims 11 to 18.

20. A communication device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is used to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or execute the method described in any one of claims 11 to 18.

21. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises instructions, and when the instructions are executed on a processor, the processor is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or execute the method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10 or the method described in any one of claims 11 to 18 is implemented.

23. A chip system, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or execute the method according to any one of claims 11 to 18.

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