Communication method and related device

Abstract

A communication method and a related device, which are used for enabling a terminal device to determine, during communication with a first network device and a second network device and on the basis of a first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device, a second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, such that the second path loss can also be determined when the second network device does not send a downlink reference signal. In the method, the terminal device can receive first information from a network device, and, on the basis of the first information and the first path loss, determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, such that the terminal device can perform uplink transmission to the second network device on the basis of the second path loss. The first information is determined on the basis of the received power of a first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device and the received power of a second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device.

Description

Communication method and related equipment

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on December 19, 2023, with application number 202311762027.X and invention name “Communication Methods and Related Equipment”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and related equipment. Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication can be the transmission of information between two or more communication nodes, typically network devices and terminal devices, without the use of conductors or cables. During communication, signals sent by the transmitter are affected by path loss (or path loss) as they propagate through the wireless channel. This can reduce the signal strength by the time it reaches the receiver. Therefore, the transmitter needs to appropriately adjust the signal transmission power to compensate for the effects of path loss.

[0004] Generally, taking the transmitting end as a terminal device as an example, the network device can indicate the transmit power of the downlink reference signal to the terminal device. After the terminal device receives the downlink reference signal, it can determine the path loss based on the received power and transmit power of the downlink reference signal. The terminal device can then determine the transmit power of the uplink transmission signal based on the path loss. In other words, in the above implementation, the terminal device relies on the downlink reference signals transmitted by different network devices to determine the path loss of different network devices.

[0005] However, in a communication system, a network device may be unable to send a downlink reference signal for some reasons, such as the network device is not configured with downlink resources or the network device does not have devices for downlink transmission. In this case, how the terminal device determines the path loss of the network device is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and related devices, which are used to enable the terminal device to determine a second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on the first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device during communication between the terminal device and the first network device, thereby enabling the second path loss to be determined even when the second network device does not send a downlink reference signal.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is executed by a terminal device, or the method is executed by some components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal device functions. In the first aspect and its possible implementation, the communication method is described as being executed by a terminal device. In this method, the terminal device receives first information, and the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, the first power being the receiving power of a first uplink reference signal received by a first network device from the terminal device, and the second power being the receiving power of a second uplink reference signal received by a second network device from the terminal device; the terminal device performs an uplink transmission to the second network device based on a second path loss, wherein the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device.

[0008] Based on the above technical solution, a terminal device can receive first information from a network device and determine a second path loss between the terminal device and a second network device based on the first information and the first path loss, so that the terminal device can perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on the second path loss. The first information is determined based on the received power of the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device and the received power of the second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device. Because the basis for determining the first information includes the second power, and the second power is the received power of the second uplink reference signal after being transmitted through the transmission path between the terminal device and the second network device, the terminal device can determine the path loss of the transmission path based on the first information. Thus, during communication between the terminal device and the first and second network devices, the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on the first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device, so that the second path loss can be determined even when the second network device does not send a downlink reference signal. In addition, in this way, the terminal device does not need to receive the downlink reference signal from the second network device (the terminal device also does not need to receive the configuration information of the downlink reference signal of the second network device), so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, thereby reducing the transmission overhead of the reference signal.

[0009] In this application, terms such as path loss (PL), path loss, transmission loss, signal attenuation, signal attenuation loss, attenuation loss, transmission loss, signal loss, transmission path loss, path loss estimation value, and path loss estimation value can be used interchangeably.

[0010] It should be understood that in the process of uplink transmission by the terminal device to the second network device based on the second path loss, the terminal device can send one or more of uplink signals, uplink information, uplink data, and uplink signaling. For example, the uplink transmission can be carried on one or more channels of the physical uplink control uplink channel (PUCCH), the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and the physical random access channel (PRACH). For another example, the uplink information can be one or more of uplink control information (UCI), scheduling request information (SR), channel state information (CSI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). The uplink signal can be a sounding reference signal (SRS), etc.

[0011] It should be understood that during the process of the terminal device performing uplink transmission to the second network device based on the second path loss, the terminal device can determine the transmit power of the uplink transmission based on the second path loss, and perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on the transmit power. In other words, the second path loss can serve as one of the bases for determining the transmit power of the terminal device for uplink transmission to the second network device.

[0012] It should be understood that the first path loss is the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device, and the downlink reference signal can be a path loss reference signal. The path loss reference signal can be a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB or SS / PBCH block), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc. Among them, the terminal device can receive a downlink reference signal from the first network device, and the terminal device can determine the path loss based on the received power of the downlink reference signal. For example, the path loss can be determined by the difference between the received power of the downlink reference signal and the transmit power of the downlink reference signal, and the transmit power of the downlink reference signal can be configured or pre-configured by the network device.

[0013] Optionally, the network device (eg, the first network device or the second network device or the third network device) may be replaced by a cell, a transmission reception point (TRP), a component carrier (CC), or the like.

[0014] Optionally, during the process of the terminal device communicating with the first network device and the second network device, the first network device and the second network device may be implemented in multiple ways.

[0015] For example, the first network device and the second network device may be different TRPs of the same cell.

[0016] For another example, the first network device is associated with the serving cell of the terminal device and the second network device is associated with other cells of the terminal device that are different from the serving cell (for example, non-serving cells or collaborative cells). Optionally, the cell identifiers of the other cells that are different from the serving cell may be additional physical cell identifiers (physical cell identifier, additional PCI). The serving cell may be a primary cell (Pcell), a secondary cell (Scell), or a primary secondary cell (PScell). In the embodiment of the present application, the cell of the primary component carrier (PCC) may be referred to as a Pcell, and the cell of the secondary component carrier (SCC) may be referred to as an Scell.

[0017] For another example, the cell associated with the first network device and the cell associated with the second network device are different serving cells or different component carriers (CCs).

[0018] For another example, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at the same site, that is, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at the same physical site.

[0019] For another example, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at different sites, that is, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at different physical sites.

[0020] Optionally, the first information received by the terminal device may come from a third network device. The third network device and the first network device may be the same network device, or the third network device may be another network device different from the first network device, which is not limited here.

[0021] Optionally, the downlink reference signal involved in the present application may include a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB, or SS / PBCH block), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc.

[0022] Optionally, the uplink reference signal involved in the present application may include a channel sounding reference signal (SRS), an uplink phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), or an uplink positioning reference signal (uplink positioning RS), etc.

[0023] Optionally, the number of reference signals involved in this application (for example, a first uplink reference signal, a second uplink reference signal, a downlink reference signal, etc.) can be one or more, so that the terminal device can determine one or more second path losses between the terminal device and the second network device based on one or more second uplink reference signals.

[0024] The second aspect of the present application provides a communication method, which is executed by a network device, or the method is executed by some components in the network device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the network device functions. In the second aspect and its possible implementation, the communication method is described as being executed by a third network device. In this method, the third network device determines first information, and the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power. The first power is the receiving power of the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device, and the second power is the receiving power of the second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device; wherein the first information and the first path loss are used to determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, and the first path loss is the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device; the third network device sends the first information.

[0025] Based on the above technical solution, the first information and the first path loss sent by the third network device are used to determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device. The first information is determined based on the received power of the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device and the received power of the second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device. Because the basis for determining the first information includes the second power, and the second power is the received power of the second uplink reference signal after transmission through the transmission path between the terminal device and the second network device, the terminal device can determine the path loss of the transmission path based on the first information. Thus, during communication between the terminal device and the first and second network devices, the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on the first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device. This allows the second path loss to be determined even when the second network device does not send a downlink reference signal. Furthermore, in this manner, the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device without receiving a downlink reference signal from the second network device (nor does the terminal device need to receive configuration information for the downlink reference signal from the second network device), thereby reducing reference signal transmission overhead.

[0026] It should be noted that the third network device and the first network device can be the same network device (that is, the third network device in the second aspect and related possible implementation methods can be replaced by the first network device), or the third network device can be other network devices different from the first network device, which is not limited here.

[0027] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the third network device receiving second information from the second network device, where the second information is used to indicate the second power.

[0028] Based on the above technical solution, the third network device may also receive second information from the second network device, so that the third network device can determine and send first information to the terminal device based on the second power indicated by the second information.

[0029] Optionally, when the third network device and the second network device are deployed at the same site, the third network device may determine the second power locally.

[0030] Optionally, the second information may further include an index / identifier of a second uplink reference signal.

[0031] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: the third network device receiving third information from the first network device, where the third information is used to indicate the first power.

[0032] Based on the above technical solution, the third network device may also receive third information from the first network device, so that the third network device can determine and send first information to the terminal device based on the first power indicated by the third information.

[0033] Optionally, when the third network device and the first network device are deployed at the same site, the third network device may determine the first power locally.

[0034] Optionally, the third information may further include an index / identifier of the first uplink reference signal.

[0035] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first information includes power difference information, where the power difference information is used to indicate a difference between the first power and the second power, or the power difference information is used to indicate a difference between the second power and the first power, or the power difference information is used to indicate a difference between the first path loss and the second path loss, or the power difference information is used to indicate a difference between the second path loss and the first path loss.

[0036] It should be understood that the first path loss may be the difference between the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the first power, and the second path loss may be the difference between the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal and the second power. In the case where the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal is the same as or similar to the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal, the difference between the first path loss and the second path loss and the difference between the first power and the second power may also be the same or similar.

[0037] Based on the above technical solution, the first information may include power difference information, so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on the power difference information and the first path loss.

[0038] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and satisfies:

[0039] PL2 = Pt2 - Pt1 + ΔP + PL1; or, PL2 = Pt2 - Pt1 - ΔP + PL1;

[0040] PL2 represents the second path loss, Pt2 represents the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal, Pt1 represents the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal, ΔP represents the difference indicated by the power difference information, and PL1 represents the first path loss.

[0041] Based on the above technical solution, during the process of determining the second path loss by the terminal device, the determination may be based on the first path loss and the power difference information included in the first information. Because the difference indicated by the power difference information may be associated with the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal, the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal may be introduced into the process of determining the second path loss, enabling the terminal device to determine the second path loss using the above implementation.

[0042] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and satisfies:

[0043] PL2 = PL1 + ΔP; or, PL2 = PL1 - ΔP;

[0044] PL2 represents the second path loss, ΔP represents the difference indicated by the power difference information, and PL1 represents the first path loss.

[0045] Based on the above technical solution, when the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal are the same, the values ​​of the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal may not affect the difference indicated by the power difference information. Therefore, the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal do not need to be introduced in the process of determining the second path loss, so that the terminal device can quickly determine the second path loss through the above implementation method.

[0046] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first information further includes at least one of the following:

[0047] an index or identifier of the first uplink reference signal;

[0048] an index or identifier of the second uplink reference signal;

[0049] The index or identifier of the downlink reference signal;

[0050] an identifier of an association relationship between the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal;

[0051] an identifier of an association relationship between the downlink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal;

[0052] an identifier of an association relationship between the downlink reference signal and the first uplink reference signal;

[0053] An identifier of the association relationship among the downlink reference signal, the first uplink reference signal, and the second uplink reference signal (that is, an identifier of the association relationship among these three reference signals).

[0054] Based on the above technical solution, the first information may include at least one of the above items in addition to the power difference information, so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the above at least one item.

[0055] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the second network device is used only for uplink transmission.

[0056] Based on the above technical solution, the second network device can be a network device used only for uplink transmission. Since the second network device used only for uplink transmission may not be able to send a downlink reference signal through downlink transmission, through the above technical solution, the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device used only for uplink transmission can be determined by the first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device, enabling the determination of the path loss of the network device used only for uplink transmission, and thus realizing uplink transmission between the terminal device and the second network device.

[0057] Optionally, the second network device being used only for uplink transmission may be understood as the second network device having one or more of the following characteristics:

[0058] Only has uplink receiving capability, no downlink transmission reference signal is configured, no downlink control channel is configured, no downlink data channel is configured, no downlink bandwidth is configured, no downlink frame structure is configured, no downlink time slot is configured, only uplink carrier is available, uplink carrier is available and downlink carrier is not available, downlink carrier is not available, carrier is uplink carrier, only includes uplink carrier, carrier includes uplink carrier and does not include downlink carrier, uplink transmission is activated (or turned on, enabled, enabled, etc.), downlink transmission is deactivated (or turned off, dormant, silent, prohibited, disabled, etc.).

[0059] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are the same reference signal.

[0060] Based on the above technical solution, the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the first network device and the second uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the second network device can be the same reference signal, that is, the terminal device can realize the reception of different network devices through a single uplink reference signal sending process, which can save the terminal device's overhead and energy consumption and reduce the implementation complexity.

[0061] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first uplink reference signal is different from the second uplink reference signal.

[0062] Based on the above technical solution, the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the first network device and the second uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the second network device can be different reference signals to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0063] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal satisfy at least one of the following:

[0064] The first uplink reference signal is one of the one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set, and the second uplink reference signal is one of the one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set;

[0065] The first uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal that is preconfigured or predefined among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set;

[0066] The second uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal that is preconfigured or predefined among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set;

[0067] The first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are reference signals for determining the second path loss;

[0068] The association relationship between the first uplink reference signal, the second uplink reference signal, and at least two reference signals among the downlink reference signal is pre-configured or configured by a network device;

[0069] The first uplink reference signal is one of N uplink reference signals, the second uplink reference signal is one of M uplink reference signals, and the downlink reference signal is one of K downlink reference signals, where N, M, and K are all positive integers; wherein the association between the N uplink reference signals, the M uplink reference signals, and the K downlink reference signals is pre-configured or configured by a network device.

[0070] Optionally, the first resource set configuration may be a configuration of transmission resources between the terminal device and the first network device, or a configuration of transmission resources between the terminal device and any network device. Similarly, the second resource set configuration may be a configuration of transmission resources between the terminal device and the second network device, or a configuration of transmission resources between the terminal device and any network device.

[0071] Based on the above technical solution, when the first uplink reference signal is different from the second uplink reference signal, since the terminal device may perform the transmission and reception process of multiple uplink and downlink reference signals, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal meet at least one of the above implementation methods, so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the associated first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal.

[0072] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the first transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the second transmit power of the second uplink reference signal satisfy at least one of the following:

[0073] The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power are determined based on the first path loss;

[0074] The first transmit power and the second transmit power are the same;

[0075] The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is the maximum transmit power of the terminal device;

[0076] The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on a power control parameter associated with a joint / uplink transmission configuration indicator state (joint / uplink transmission configuration indicator state, joint / UL TCI state);

[0077] The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on a power control parameter configured in a bandwidth part-uplink dedicated (BWP-UplinkDedicated).

[0078] Optionally, the power control parameters include one or more information such as an index or identifier of a path loss reference signal, a reference power, a path loss correction factor, and a closed-loop power control adjustment state index. For example, a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state is associated with a path loss reference signal (pathlosssReferenceRS) and an uplink power control (ul-powerControl) information, and the ul-powerControl information includes an AlphaSet for PUSCH, PUCCH, and SRS. Each AlphaSet includes a reference power, a path loss correction factor, and a closed-loop power control adjustment state index (which can be recorded as p0, alpha, closedLoopindex).

[0079] Based on the above technical solution, when the first uplink reference signal is different from the second uplink reference signal, the terminal device can determine the transmission power based on at least one of the above items to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0080] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect or the second aspect, the communication parameters for sending the downlink reference signal are the same as the communication parameters for receiving the first uplink reference signal, and / or the communication parameters for receiving the downlink reference signal are the same as the communication parameters for sending the first uplink reference signal.

[0081] Based on the above technical solution, during the communication process between the terminal device and the first network device, the communication parameters for sending and receiving the downlink reference signal and the communication parameters for sending and receiving the first uplink reference signal can be the same or similar. In this way, the downlink reference signal and the first uplink reference signal can be transmitted through the same or similar transmission path as much as possible, thereby making the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the received downlink reference signal the same or similar to the path loss determined by the first network device based on the received first uplink reference signal.

[0082] Optionally, the communication parameter includes at least one of the following: analog beam, spatial filter, spatial relationship, digital beam, digital precoding, number of antenna ports, and number of digital ports.

[0083] In a possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect, when one or more of the following conditions are met, the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss:

[0084] The path loss reference signal associated with the transmission configuration indicator state (TCI state) of the uplink transmission is the downlink reference signal or the second uplink reference signal;

[0085] The path loss reference signal associated with the TCI state of the uplink transmission is the downlink reference signal, and the reference signal of the quasi-co-location (QCL) type D (type D) associated with the TCI state is the second uplink reference signal;

[0086] When the uplink transmission does not indicate a TCI state, the reference signal of the uplink sending spatial domain filter of the uplink transmission is the second uplink reference signal.

[0087] Based on the above technical solution, during the process of uplink transmission from the terminal device to the network device, the terminal device can determine the path loss reference signal as the downlink reference signal and / or the second uplink reference signal based on the configuration of the TCI state. In this way, the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the configuration of the network device; or the terminal device can send the reference signal of the uplink spatial domain filter based on the uplink transmission as the second uplink reference signal, so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the configuration of the network device.

[0088] Optionally, the network device may configure one or more TCI states (joint TCI state or UL state), for example, via an RRC message. In addition, the network device may send indication signaling (e.g., downlink control information (DCI), MAC CE, etc.) to the terminal device, where the indication signaling is used to indicate a TCI state for uplink transmission, where the TCI state is one of the one or more configured TCI states.

[0089] Optionally, the network device configures uplink transmission and configures a reference signal of an uplink sending spatial domain filter for the uplink transmission.

[0090] A third aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which is a terminal device, or a component of a terminal device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the terminal device's functions. In the third aspect and its possible implementations, the communication device is described as an example of a terminal device.

[0091] The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the transceiver unit is used to receive first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, the first power being the reception power of a first uplink reference signal received by a first network device from a terminal device, and the second power being the reception power of a second uplink reference signal received by a second network device from the terminal device; the processing unit is used to perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on a second path loss, wherein the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device.

[0092] In the third aspect of the present application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to execute the steps performed in each possible implementation method of the first aspect and achieve corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0093] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, which is a network device, or a component of a network device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system), or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the network device's functions. In the fourth aspect and its possible implementations, the communication device is described as a network device.

[0094] The device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit; the processing unit is used to determine first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is the reception power of a first uplink reference signal received by a first network device from a terminal device, and the second power is the reception power of a second uplink reference signal received by a second network device from the terminal device; wherein the first information and the first path loss are used to determine a second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, where the first path loss is the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device; and the transceiver unit is used to send the first information.

[0095] In the fourth aspect of the present application, the constituent modules of the communication device can also be used to execute the steps performed in each possible implementation method of the second aspect and achieve corresponding technical effects. For details, please refer to the second aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0096] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is coupled to a memory; the memory is used to store programs or instructions; the at least one processor is used to execute the program or instructions so that the device implements the method described in any possible implementation method of any one of the first to second aspects.

[0097] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device comprising at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects.

[0098] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which includes the above-mentioned first communication device and second communication device.

[0099] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0100] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product (or computer program). When the computer program in the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects above.

[0101] In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a chip system comprising at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the method described in any possible implementation of any one of the first to second aspects.

[0102] In one possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may be composed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete components. Optionally, the chip system may further include an interface circuit for providing program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor.

[0103] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the third to tenth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by the different design methods in the above-mentioned first to second aspects, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0104] FIG1a is a schematic diagram of a signal indication involved in this application;

[0105] FIG1b is another schematic diagram of signal indication involved in this application;

[0106] FIG2a is a schematic diagram of a communication system involved in this application;

[0107] FIG2 b is another schematic diagram of the communication system involved in this application;

[0108] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a communication method provided by the present application;

[0109] FIG4 is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by the present application;

[0110] FIG5 is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by the present application;

[0111] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario provided by this application;

[0112] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0113] FIG8 is another schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0114] FIG9 is another schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0115] FIG10 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0116] First, some of the terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0117] (1) Configuration and pre-configuration: In this application, configuration and pre-configuration will be used at the same time. Configuration refers to the network equipment such as base stations or servers sending some parameter configuration information or parameter values ​​to the terminal through messages or signaling, so that the terminal can determine the communication parameters or resources during transmission based on these values ​​or information. Pre-configuration is similar to configuration. It can be a way for network equipment such as base stations or servers to send parameter information or values ​​to the terminal through a communication link or carrier; it can also be a way to give the definition of corresponding parameters or parameter values ​​in the standard, or by setting the relevant parameters or values ​​in the terminal device in advance. This application does not limit this. Furthermore, these values ​​and parameters can be changed or updated.

[0118] (2) In this application, “used for indication” can include direct indication and indirect 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.

[0119] 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. For example, it can be implemented by direct indication, such as by indicating the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. It can also be implemented by indirectly indicating other information, wherein 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 with the help of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, stipulated in the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent.

[0120] The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or 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. The specific sending method is not limited in this application. Among them, the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to the protocol, or configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. Among them, the configuration information can, for example, but not limited to, include one or a combination of at least two of radio resource control (RRC) signaling, media access control (MAC) layer signaling and physical layer signaling. Among them, MAC layer signaling, for example, includes MAC control element (CE); physical layer signaling, for example, includes downlink control information (DCI).

[0121] (3) Reference signal (RS), also known as pilot signal. In a communication system, it is necessary to estimate the uplink channel or downlink channel in order to send and receive data, obtain system synchronization, and feedback channel information. Channel estimation refers to the process of reconstructing or recovering the received signal in order to compensate for the signal distortion caused by channel fading and noise fading. It uses the reference signal known in advance by the transmitter and receiver to track the time domain and frequency domain changes of the channel. The above-mentioned reference signals are also called reference signals. They are distributed on different resource elements (REs) in the two-dimensional time-frequency space within the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol and have known amplitude and phase.

[0122] At the physical layer, uplink communications may include the transmission of uplink physical channels and uplink signals. Uplink physical channels include the random access channel (PRACH), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Uplink signals include the sounding reference signal (SRS), the physical uplink control channel demodulation reference signal (PUCCH-DMRS), the physical uplink data channel demodulation reference signal (PUSCH-DMRS), the phase noise tracking reference signal (PTRS), and the uplink positioning reference signal (uplink positioning RS).

[0123] At the physical layer, downlink communication may include the transmission of downlink physical channels and downlink signals. Downlink physical channels include the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. Downlink signals include the primary synchronization signal (PSS) / secondary synchronization signal (SSS), the physical downlink control channel demodulation reference signal (PDCCH-DMRS), the physical downlink data channel demodulation reference signal (PDSCH-DMRS), the phase noise tracking signal (PTRS), the channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), the cell reference signal (CRS), the time / frequency tracking reference signal (TRS), the positioning reference signal (Positioning RS), etc.

[0124] The network device configures one or more reference signal resources for the terminal device, and the reference signal resources are used to carry reference signals. In this application, the terms reference signal and reference signal resource can be used interchangeably. When configuring, each reference signal resource corresponds to a reference signal resource index (index) or a reference signal resource identifier (identifier, id) to distinguish each reference signal resource. In addition, the network device can configure one or more reference signal resource sets for the terminal device, each reference signal resource set includes one or more reference signal resources, and each reference signal resource set corresponds to a reference signal resource set identifier. In a certain reference signal resource set, each reference signal resource corresponds to a reference signal resource indicator (indicator), for example: the reference signal resource indicator is 0, indicating the first reference signal resource in the reference signal resource set, the reference signal resource indicator is 1, indicating the second reference signal resource in the reference signal resource set, and so on. When the network device indicates a reference signal resource in the reference signal resource set, or the terminal device reports the measurement result of a reference signal resource in the reference signal resource set, the reference signal resource indicator can be used to indicate the corresponding reference signal resource. In this application, an identifier can also be referred to as an identifier.

[0125] (4) The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application can be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated 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. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. In addition, unless otherwise specified, the ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects.

[0126] (5) “Sending” and “receiving” in the embodiments of the present application indicate the direction of signal transmission. For example, “sending information to device X” can be understood as the destination of the information being device X, which can include direct sending through the air interface, as well as indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. “Receiving information from device Y” can be understood as the source of the information being device Y, which can include direct receiving from device Y through the air interface, as well as indirect receiving from device Y 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.

[0127] For example, let's take the communication process between entity A and entity B as an example. In this application, when entity A sends information to entity B, it can be done directly from A to B, or indirectly through another entity. Similarly, when entity B receives information from entity A, it can be done directly from entity A, or indirectly through another entity. Entities A and B here can be radio access network (RAN) nodes or terminals, or modules within a RAN node or terminal. The sending and receiving of information can be information exchange between a RAN node and a terminal, such as information exchange between a base station and a terminal; the sending and receiving of information can also be information exchange between two RAN nodes, such as information exchange between a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU); the sending and receiving of information can also be information exchange between different modules within a device, such as information exchange between a terminal chip and other modules in the terminal, or information exchange between a base station chip and other modules in the base station.

[0128] (6) Antenna port: This can be referred to as a port. It can be understood as a transmitting antenna identified by the receiving end, or a transmitting antenna that can be distinguished in space. An antenna port can be pre-configured for each virtual antenna. Each virtual antenna can be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas. Each antenna port can correspond to a reference signal. Therefore, each antenna port can be called a reference signal port, such as a CSI-RS port, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), an SRS port, etc.

[0129] The term "antenna port" is a logical concept and generally does not directly correspond to a physical antenna. An antenna port is typically associated with a reference signal and can be understood as a transceiver interface on the channel through which the reference signal travels. For low-frequency systems, an antenna port may correspond to one or more antenna elements, which jointly transmit reference signals. The receiver can treat them as a whole without distinguishing between the elements. For high-frequency systems, an antenna port may correspond to a beam. Similarly, the receiver only needs to treat the beam as an interface, without distinguishing between individual elements.

[0130] In addition, a port group can refer to a collection corresponding to multiple antenna ports. One way is to group multiple digital ports of a network device to form multiple port groups. In another way (especially in a hybrid digital-analog beam architecture), a port group can be multiple digital ports corresponding to the same analog beam, also referred to as a port group, or a digital-analog port group. Alternatively, a port group can be a collection of digital ports corresponding to multiple analog beams, also referred to as a port group, or a digital-analog port group. Alternatively, multiple digital ports of the same analog beam are divided into multiple subsets, each subset is called a port group, or a digital-analog port group.

[0131] (7) Beam. Beams and beam pair links (BPLs) are introduced into communication systems. A beam is a communication resource. Beams can be divided into transmit beams and receive beams. Beam formation can be achieved through beamforming or other techniques. Beamforming includes transmit beamforming and receive beamforming. The beams here can also be referred to as analog beams.

[0132] The embodiment of the beam in the new radio (NR) protocol can be a spatial domain filter, or a spatial filter, or a spatial domain parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial domain setting, a spatial setting, or QCL (Quasi-colocation) information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, etc. The beam can be indicated by a transmission configuration indication state (TCI-state) parameter or by a spatial relation parameter. Therefore, in this application, the beam can be replaced by a spatial filter, a spatial filter, a spatial parameter, a spatial parameter, a spatial setting, a spatial setting, QCL information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, TCI-state (DL TCI-state, UL TCI-state), spatial relationship, etc. The above terms are also equivalent to each other. The beam can also be replaced by other terms representing the beam, which is not limited in this application.

[0133] The beam used to transmit a signal may be referred to as a transmission beam (Tx beam), or may be referred to as a spatial domain transmission filter, a spatial transmission filter, a spatial domain transmission parameter, or a spatial transmission parameter, or a spatial domain transmission setting. The downlink transmit beam may be indicated by a TCI-state.

[0134] In the embodiment of the present application, any two of the downlink beam, CSI-RS, TCI-state, downlink / joint TCI state (DL or joint TCI state), SSB, and tracking reference signal (TRS) can be replaced with each other.

[0135] The beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), and can also be called a spatial domain reception filter, a spatial reception filter, a spatial domain reception parameter, or a spatial reception parameter, a spatial domain reception setting, or a spatial reception setting. The uplink transmit beam can be indicated by a spatial relation, an uplink TCI-state, or an SRS resource (indicating the transmit beam using the SRS). Therefore, the uplink beam can also be replaced by an SRS resource.

[0136] In the embodiment of the present application, any two of the downlink beam, CSI-RS, TCI-state, downlink / joint TCI state (DL or joint TCI state), SSB, and tracking reference signal (TRS) can be replaced with each other.

[0137] The transmit beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna, and the receive beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of the wireless signal received from the antenna.

[0138] Furthermore, the beam can be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or other types of beams. The beam forming technology can be beamforming technology or other technologies. The beamforming technology can specifically be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology.

[0139] Beams generally correspond to resources. For example, during beam measurement, network equipment uses different resources to measure different beams. The terminal device then provides feedback on the measured resource quality, which allows the network equipment to determine the quality of the corresponding beam. During data transmission, beam information is also indicated by its corresponding resource. For example, the network equipment uses the TCI field in the DCI to indicate PDSCH beam information to the terminal device.

[0140] Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered a single beam. A beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and sounding signals. The one or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be considered an antenna port set.

[0141] In the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, a beam refers to a transmission beam of a network device. In beam measurement, each beam of a network device corresponds to a resource, so the beam corresponding to the resource can be uniquely identified by the resource index.

[0142] (8)TCI-state, which can be used to indicate the downlink beam.

[0143] Generally, network devices can generate different beams pointing in different transmission directions. In downlink data transmission, when a network device uses a specific beam to send data to a terminal device, it needs to inform the terminal device of the transmit beam information it uses. This allows the terminal device to use the receive beam corresponding to the transmit beam to receive the data sent by the network device. In the 3GPP R15 / R16 protocol, the network device uses the transmission configuration indicator (TCI) field in the downlink control information (DCI) to indicate to the terminal device the relevant information about the transmit beam it uses.

[0144] Exemplarily, in DCI, the TCI field size can be 3 bits, which can specifically represent 8 different field values ​​(codepoints). Each value of the TCI field corresponds to an index of a TCI-state, and the index of the TCI-state can identify a TCI-state. The TCI-state includes several parameters, by which the relevant information of the transmitted beam can be determined. The TCI-state is configured by the network device to each terminal device. Each TCI-state includes an index of its own (denoted as tci-StateId), and two quasi-co-location information (QCL-Info). Each QCL-Info includes a cell field and a bandwidth part identifier (band width part indentifier, bwp-Id), which respectively indicate which bandwidth part (band width part, BWP) of which cell (cell) the TCI-state is applied to, that is, different cells or different bwp of the same cell can be configured with different QCL-Info. QCL-Info also includes an indication of a reference signal, which is used to indicate which reference signal resource constitutes the QCL relationship. In the R15 / R16 protocol, the word "beam" generally does not appear directly, and beam is generally replaced by other terms. For example, in data transmission and channel measurement, beams correspond to reference signal resources, and one beam corresponds to one reference signal resource. Therefore, when we say which reference signal resource constitutes a QCL relationship here, we actually mean which beam constitutes a QCL relationship. A QCL relationship means that two reference signal resources (or two antenna ports, where antenna ports and reference signal resources also correspond one to one) have certain identical spatial parameters. Which specific spatial parameters are the same depends on the type of the QCL-Info, that is, another field qcl-Type of the QCL-Info. qcl-Type can have four values, including:

[0145] Type A: Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread;

[0146] Type B: Doppler shift, Doppler spread;

[0147] Type C: Doppler shift, average delay;

[0148] Type D: space receiving parameters.

[0149] Taking type D as an example, type D indicates that two reference signal resources have the same spatial reception parameter information, that is, the two beams have the same receive beam. Generally, at most one of the two QCL-Info included in the TCI-state is type D.

[0150] The following example illustrates how a network device based on the R15 / R16 protocol uses TCI-state to indicate the receive beam information of a data transmission beam to a terminal device, including the configuration, activation, and indication of TCI-state.

[0151] TCI-state configuration: The network device configures one or more TCI-states to the terminal device through RRC signaling. These TCI-states all include a QCL-Info of type D. The network device can also configure TCI-states that do not include QCL-Info of type D. However, these TCI-states are not used to indicate data transmission beams and are not further explained here.

[0152] TCI-state activation: After configuring one or more TCI-states, a network device can activate up to eight of these states through a MAC CE. These eight TCI states correspond one-to-one to the eight values ​​of the TCI field in the DCI. The TCI-states corresponding to the eight values ​​in the DCI TCI field are determined through MAC CE signaling.

[0153] An exemplary MAC CE structure for activating TCI is shown in Figure 1a. Fields T0 to T(N-2)x8+7 correspond to the TCI-states with indices 0 to (N-2)x8+7 configured in the first step, respectively. Each field is 1 bit in size and can have a value of 0 or 1. A value of 1 indicates that the TCI-state is activated, and a value of 0 indicates that the TCI-state is not activated. In theory, each MAC CE can have 8 activation fields with a value of 1, and the rest are all 0. The TCI-states corresponding to these 8 fields with a value of 1 are the 8 TCI-states corresponding to the 8 values ​​of the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the minimum value of the TCI field, 000, corresponds to the TCI-state with the smallest index activated in the MAC CE, and so on, one to one. There are many types of MAC CEs. In addition to MAC CEs used for TCI-state activation, there are also MAC CEs with many other uses. The present application relates to MAC-CEs for TCI-state / TCI-state combined activation. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the MAC CE described in this application refers to this type of MAC CE.

[0154] TCI-state indication: The network device indicates a specific TCI-state through the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the value of the TCI field in the DCI sent by the network device to the terminal device is 000, indicating that the data transmission beam adopts the TCI-state corresponding to 000. The referenceSignal contained in the QCL-Info of type D in the TCI-state is the CSI-RS with index #1, indicating that the beam used for data transmission is the same as the receiving beam corresponding to the CSI-RS with index #1. The receiving beam corresponding to the CSI-RS with index #1 can be determined through the beam measurement process and is known to the terminal device. Therefore, through the specific value of the TCI field, the terminal device can determine the receiving beam corresponding to the data transmission beam, and thus adopt the corresponding receiving beam to receive data.

[0155] (9) Spatial relation, which can be used to indicate the uplink beam.

[0156] In the current protocol, the transmit beam for uplink transmission is indicated by a spatial relation, which has a function similar to TCI-state and is used to inform the terminal device which transmit beam to use for uplink transmission.

[0157] Generally, the spatial relation can also be configured first through RRC signaling, including the spatial relation ID, cell ID, target reference signal resource, path loss measurement reference signal, power control parameters, etc. Among them, the target reference signal resource (which can be one of SRS / SSB / CSI-RS) is used to indicate the corresponding uplink beam. If the uplink transmission adopts spatial relation#1, and the spatial relation#1 includes a target reference signal resource#2, it means that the transmission beam adopted for the uplink transmission is the transmission / reception beam of the target reference signal. For example, when the target reference signal resource is the uplink resource SRS, it means that the transmission beam adopted for the uplink transmission is the transmission beam of the SRS (the transmission beam of the SRS is known). For another example, when the target reference signal resource is a downlink resource such as SSB / CSI-RS, it means that the transmission beam adopted for the uplink transmission is the reception beam of the SSB / CSI-RS (the reception beam of the SSB / CSI-RS is known).

[0158] Network equipment can configure multiple spatial relations for a terminal device. One of these relations is then activated via MAC CE for the corresponding data transmission. Uplink transmissions, including PUCCH, SRS, and PUSCH, all require a corresponding spatial relation. The spatial relation for PUCCH is indicated via MAC-CE signaling. The spatial relation for SRS is also indicated via MAC-CE signaling. PUSCH transmissions are associated with a specific SRS and use the spatial relation for that SRS.

[0159] (10) Unified TCI. Unified TCI was introduced in R17. Unified TCI is a unified beam indication framework. The network device can indicate a beam to the terminal device, and the beam is used for multiple channels and / or reference signals at the same time. The common beam can be an uplink common beam, a downlink common beam, or an uplink and downlink common beam. The terminal device can use the common beam in subsequent transmissions. That is, the network device can indicate an uplink common beam to the terminal device for the transmission of multiple uplink channels and / or uplink reference signals. It can also indicate a downlink common beam to the terminal device for the transmission of multiple downlink channels and / or downlink reference signals. It can also indicate an uplink and downlink common beam to the terminal device for the transmission of multiple uplink channels and / or uplink reference signals, as well as multiple downlink channels and / or downlink reference signals. In other words, the uplink and downlink common beams can be used for both uplink transmission and downlink transmission.

[0160] Exemplarily, in R17 and later, the terminal can configure two TCI states: DL or joint TCI and UL TCI. Take the terminal device as UE and the network device as base station as an example. For example, the UE can simultaneously configure the joint / download (download, DL) TCI state (up to 128) and UL TCI state (up to 64). For another example, in the serving cell configuration (serving cell config) of the RRC signaling, the base station can configure the TCI mode currently used by the UE to be joint mode or separate mode. In Joint mode, it is indicated that a joint TCI state can be used for both uplink and downlink transmissions; in separate mode, the base station needs to indicate that the DL TCI state and the UL TCI state are used for uplink and downlink transmissions respectively.

[0161] In addition, when the UE receives TCI state activation signaling indicated by MAC-CE, the activation signaling includes an identifier (ID) of the TCI state, and the UE determines which TCI is activated by MAC-CE according to the RRC configuration.

[0162] For example, Figure 1b illustrates an implementation of TCI state activation signaling. If the RRC configuration is for joint TCI mode, the TCI state ID is the ID of the joint TCI state. If the RRC configuration is for separate TCI mode, the UE determines whether the TCI state ID is the DL TCI state ID or the UL TCI state ID based on the value of the D / L field (e.g., 0 for UL TCI and 1 for DL ​​TCI).

[0163] (11) Uplink transmission power. Taking the terminal device as an example, the transmission power of PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS, and PRACH sent by the UE is mainly related to the maximum transmission power of the UE, the expected receiving power level of the network equipment, path loss, path loss correction factor, closed-loop power control adjustment, power adjustment status, number of transmission resource blocks, subcarrier spacing, etc.

[0164] As an example, taking PUSCH as an example, the UE's transmit power P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d ,l)Satisfy:

[0165] P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d ,l) is the minimum value of the two items in the above brackets;

[0166] b, f, c: corresponding to UL BWP index, carrier index, serving cell index;

[0167] i: corresponds to the transmission opportunity, which is defined by the time slot index of the system frame number and the symbol within the time slot;

[0168] j: parameter set configuration index. For example, j = 0, indicates the power control of message 3 (msg3); j = 1, indicates the PUSCH power control of the configured grant configuration (ConfiguredGrantConfig); j = 2 to J, the rest of the normal power control;

[0169] q d : Path loss reference signal index (can be SSB or CSI-RS. In the Unified TCI framework, it is determined by the path loss reference signal associated with the TCI state of the uplink transmission);

[0170] μ is the index of the subcarrier spacing configuration;

[0171] l: power control adjustment state index;

[0172] P CMAX,f,c (i) is the maximum transmit power of the UE;

[0173] P O_PUSCH,b,f,c (j) is the expected receiving power level of the network device;

[0174] α b,f,c (j) is the path loss correction factor;

[0175] PL b,f,c (q d ) is the downlink path loss estimated by the terminal according to the path loss reference signal;

[0176] The number of resource blocks allocated for sending PUSCH;

[0177] Δ TF,b,f,c (i) The power offset values ​​of different MCS formats relative to the reference modulation and coding scheme (MCS);

[0178] f b,f,c (i, l) is the adjustment amount of the transmit power, which is obtained from the transmit power control (TPC) information of the PDCCH.

[0179] As another example, taking SRS as an example, the UE's transmit power P SRS,b,f,c (i,q s ,l)Satisfy:

[0180] P SRS,b,f,c (i,q s ,l) is the minimum value of the two items in the above brackets;

[0181] P O_SRS,b,f,c (j) is the expected receiving power level of the network device;

[0182] α SRS,b,f,c (q s ) is the path loss correction factor;

[0183] M SRS,b,f,c (i) The number of resource blocks allocated for transmitting SRS;

[0184] q sis the path loss reference signal index (which can be SSB or CSI-RS. In the Unified TCI framework, it is determined by the path loss reference signal associated with the TCI state of the uplink transmission);

[0185] h b,f,c (i, l) is the adjustment amount of the transmit power, which is obtained from the transmit power control (TPC) information of the PDCCH.

[0186] The remaining parameters can refer to the above P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d , parameter definition in l).

[0187] As another example, taking PUCCH as an example, the UE's transmit power P SRS,b,f,c (i,q s ,l)Satisfy:

[0188] P PUCCH,b,f,c (i,q u ,q d ,l) is the minimum value of the two items in the above brackets;

[0189] q u is the path loss reference signal index (which can be SSB or CSI-RS. In the Unified TCI framework, it is determined by the path loss reference signal associated with the TCI state of the uplink transmission);

[0190] P O_PUCCH,b,f,c (q u ) is the expected receiving power level of the network device;

[0191] The number of resource blocks allocated for transmitting PUCCH;

[0192] Δ F_PUCCH (F) is the power offset value of different MCS formats relative to the reference modulation and coding scheme (MCS);

[0193] g b,f,c (i, l) is the adjustment amount of the transmit power, which is obtained from the transmit power control (TPC) information of the PDCCH.

[0194] The remaining parameters can refer to the above P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d , parameter definition in l).

[0195] Please refer to Figure 2a, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2a, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 2a, collectively referred to as 110) and may also include at least one terminal (such as 120a-120j in Figure 2a, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 2a). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 via a wireless connection, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 via a wireless or wired connection. The core network equipment in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 may be independent and different physical devices, or they may be the same physical device that integrates the logical functions of the core network equipment and the logical functions of the RAN node. Terminals and RAN nodes may be connected to each other via wired or wireless means.

[0196] RAN100 may be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a new radio (NR) system, or a future radio access system defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). RAN100 may also include two or more of the aforementioned different radio access systems. RAN100 may also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0197] A RAN node, also known as a radio access network device, RAN entity, or access node, facilitates wireless access to a communication system by a terminal. In one application scenario, a RAN node can 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, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. A RAN node can be a macro base station (such as 110a in Figure 2a), a micro base station, an indoor station (such as 110b in Figure 2a), a relay node, or a donor node.

[0198] In another application scenario, multiple RAN nodes can collaborate to help terminals achieve wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functions. For example, a RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU implements the base station's radio resource control protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) functions, as well as the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) functions. The DU implements the base station's radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer functions, as well as some or all of the physical layer functions. For detailed descriptions of each of the above protocol layers, please refer to the relevant 3GPP technical specifications. The RU can be used to implement the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals. The CU and DU can be two independent RAN nodes, or they can be integrated into the same RAN node, such as in a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in radio frequency equipment, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes: CU-control plane and CU-user plane.

[0199] In different systems, RAN nodes may have different names. For example, in an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN) system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0200] The communication between the access network device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure. The protocol layer may include a control plane protocol layer and a user plane protocol layer. The control plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, or a physical (PHY) layer. The user plane protocol layer may include at least one of the following: a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, or a physical layer.

[0201] For the correspondence between network elements in the ORAN system and their achievable protocol layer functions, please refer to Table 1 below.

[0202] Table 1

[0203] For ease of description, a base station is taken as an example of a RAN node for description below.

[0204] A terminal is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to a base station or receive signals from a base station. A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals 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. A terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, airplane, 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.

[0205] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; or on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and terminals.

[0206] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 2a can be configured as a mobile base station. To terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station. However, to base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, 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 a base station-to-base station interface protocol. In this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 2a can be referred to as communication devices with base station functionality, while 120a-120j in Figure 2a can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functionality.

[0207] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be carried out through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; communication can be carried out through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0208] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes the base station functions. The control subsystem that includes the base station 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 may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or modem) in the terminal, or by a device that includes the terminal functions.

[0209] For example, as shown in Figure 2b, the communication between each network device and each terminal device in the communication system shown in Figure 2a can also be represented in another form. In Figure 2b, terminal device 10 includes a processor 101, a memory 102, and a transceiver 103. Transceiver 103 includes a transmitter 1031, a receiver 1032, and an antenna 1033. Network device 20 includes a processor 201, a memory 202, and a transceiver 203. Transceiver 203 includes a transmitter 2031, a receiver 2032, and an antenna 2033. Receiver 1032 can be configured to receive transmission control information via antenna 1033, and transmitter 1031 can be configured to send transmission feedback information to network device 20 via antenna 1033. Transmitter 2031 can be configured to send transmission control information to terminal device 10 via antenna 2033, and receiver 2032 can be configured to receive transmission feedback information sent by terminal device 10 via antenna 2033.

[0210] In a communication system (such as the system shown in Figure 2a or Figure 2b), the signal sent by the transmitter is affected by path loss (or path loss) during propagation through the wireless channel. This affects the signal strength by the time it reaches the receiver. Therefore, the transmitter needs to appropriately adjust the signal transmission power to compensate for the effects of path loss. For example, in free space, the intensity of electromagnetic waves decreases with increasing propagation distance. The loss incurred during electromagnetic wave propagation in free space is called path loss. The electromagnetic wave signal sent by the transmitter is affected by path loss during propagation through the wireless channel, resulting in reduced signal strength by the time it reaches the receiver. Therefore, when the receiver is far away, the transmitter needs to appropriately adjust the signal transmission power to compensate for the effects of path loss.

[0211] Generally, the network device may indicate the transmit power of the downlink reference signal to the terminal device, and after the terminal device receives the downlink reference signal, the terminal device may determine the path loss based on the receive power of the downlink reference signal and the transmit power. Thereafter, the terminal device may determine the transmit power of the uplink transmission signal based on the path loss (for example, the determination process may refer to the above P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d ,l) or P PUCCH,b,f,c (i,qu ,q d ,l) or P SRS,b,f,c (i,q s ,l) implementation process).

[0212] Exemplarily, the terminal device may estimate the path loss (or path loss) through a downlink reference signal (such as an SSB or a CSI-RS), and the value of the path loss satisfies:

[0213] PL=referenceSignalPower-higher layer filtered RSRP;

[0214] PL represents path loss, referenceSignalPower can be understood as the power of the reference signal sent by the network device configuration, and higher layer filtered RSRP can be understood as the power of the reference signal received by the terminal. This power value is filtered by the higher layer (the higher layer filtering configuration is defined by QuantityConfig). The difference between the two is the path loss.

[0215] Generally, the downlink reference signal used for path loss estimation can be called a path loss reference signal (PL RS). For example, when the PL RS is SSB, referenceSignalPower = ss-PBCH-Blockpower, where ss-PBCH-Blockpower is configured by the network device and represents the transmit power of the SSB; when the PL RS is CSI-RS, referenceSignalPower = ss-PBCH-Blockpower + powerControlOffsetSS, where powerControlOffsetSS is the offset between the CSI-RS and SSB power configured by the network device. When this value is not configured, the value is 0.

[0216] In addition, when the terminal device performs uplink transmission, such as when sending PUSCH / PUCCH / SRS, it first determines the path loss reference signal, then calculates the downlink path loss value according to the above rules, and finally performs path loss compensation during uplink transmission. In other words, in the above implementation process, before the terminal device performs uplink transmission with a certain network device, the terminal device needs to receive a downlink reference signal from the network device, and after determining the path loss based on the downlink reference signal, it determines the uplink transmission power based on the path loss before it can perform uplink transmission to the network device. In other words, in the above implementation process, the terminal device can determine the path loss of different network devices only by relying on the downlink reference signals sent by different network devices.

[0217] However, in a communication system, a network device may be unable to send a downlink reference signal for some reasons, such as the network device is not configured with downlink resources or the network device does not have devices for downlink transmission. In this case, how the terminal device determines the path loss of the network device is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0218] In order to solve the above problems, the present application provides a communication method and related equipment, which will be described in detail below with reference to more figures.

[0219] Please refer to FIG3 , which is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided in this application. The method includes the following steps.

[0220] It should be noted that this application uses network devices and terminal devices as examples of the execution subjects of the interactive diagram to illustrate the method provided by this application, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interactive diagram. For example, the method executed by the network device can also be executed by a module of the network device (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the network device. The method executed by the terminal device can also be executed by a module of the terminal device (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor), and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device functions.

[0221] The method shown in FIG3 includes steps S301 to S302 , and each step will be described below.

[0222] S301. A third network device sends first information, and the terminal device receives the first information accordingly. The first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is the received power of a first uplink reference signal from the terminal device when the first network device receives the first uplink reference signal, and the second power is the received power of a second uplink reference signal from the terminal device when the second network device receives the second uplink reference signal.

[0223] Optionally, the first information may be carried in one or more of an RRC message, a MAC CE, or a DCI.

[0224] S302. The terminal device determines a second path loss based on the first path loss and the first information, wherein the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on a downlink reference signal of the first network device.

[0225] In this application, terms such as path loss, path loss, transmission loss, signal attenuation, signal attenuation loss, attenuation loss, transmission loss, signal loss, transmission path loss, path loss estimation value, and path loss estimation value can be used interchangeably.

[0226] Optionally, the uplink reference signal involved in the present application may include a channel sounding reference signal (SRS), an uplink phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), or an uplink positioning reference signal (uplink positioning RS), etc.

[0227] Optionally, the downlink reference signal involved in the present application may include a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB, or SS / PBCH block), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc.

[0228] It should be understood that the first path loss is the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device, and the downlink reference signal can be a path loss reference signal. The path loss reference signal can be a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB, or SS / PBCH block), or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), etc. Among them, the terminal device can receive a downlink reference signal from the first network device, and the terminal device can determine the path loss based on the received power of the downlink reference signal. For example, the path loss can be determined by the difference between the received power of the downlink reference signal and the transmit power of the downlink reference signal, and the transmit power of the downlink reference signal can be configured or pre-configured by the network device. Exemplarily, the path loss of the downlink reference signal (i.e., the first path loss) can refer to the implementation process of "PL=referenceSignalPower-higher layer filtered RSRP" in the previous text.

[0229] Optionally, the network device (eg, the first network device or the second network device or the third network device) may be replaced by a cell, a transmission reception point (TRP), a component carrier (CC), or the like.

[0230] In one possible implementation, the first information received by the terminal device in step S301 includes power difference information, and the power difference information satisfies one of the following methods A to D:

[0231] Mode A: The power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the first power and the second power;

[0232] Mode B: The power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the second power and the first power;

[0233] Mode C: The power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the first path loss and the second path loss;

[0234] Mode D: The power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the second path loss and the first path loss.

[0235] Therefore, the second information indicating the second power may include power difference information, so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on the power difference information and the first path loss.

[0236] The following describes the implementation process of the reference signal and path loss through some implementation examples.

[0237] For the transmission process of the first uplink reference signal, the transmission power of the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device can be recorded as Pt1 (for example, the value of Pt1 can refer to the above Pt1). SRS,b,f,c (i,q s ,l) determination process), and after the first uplink reference signal is transmitted through the path between the terminal device and the first network device, the first network device is able to receive the first uplink reference signal. The receiving power of the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device is the first power (the first power can be recorded as Pr1), and accordingly, the first path loss can be recorded as PL1 and satisfies: Pr1=Pt1-PL1 (1)

[0238] Similarly, for the transmission process of the second uplink reference signal, the transmission power of the second uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device can be recorded as Pt2 (for example, the value of Pt2 can refer to the above Pt2). SRS,b,f,c (i,q s ,l) determination process), and after the second uplink reference signal is transmitted through the path between the terminal device and the second network device, the second network device is able to receive the second uplink reference signal. The receiving power of the second uplink reference signal received by the second network device is the second power (the second power can be recorded as Pr2), and accordingly, the second path loss can be recorded as PL2 and satisfies: Pr2=Pt2-PL2 (2)

[0239] In addition, for the transmission process of the downlink reference signal, after the first network device sends the downlink reference signal, the terminal device can receive the downlink reference signal after the downlink reference signal is transmitted through the path between the first network device and the terminal device. Moreover, the terminal device can refer to the implementation process of "PL=referenceSignalPower-higher layer filtered RSRP" in the previous text based on the path loss of the downlink reference signal (i.e., the first path loss), that is, the terminal device can determine the first path loss (i.e., PL1) based on the reception process of the downlink reference signal. Here, it is considered that the first uplink reference signal and the downlink reference signal experience the same path loss, i.e., PL=PL1.

[0240] Based on the above implementation process, different devices can determine some of the parameters included in the above formulas (1) and (2).

[0241] For example, for the terminal device, since the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are both sent by the terminal device, the terminal device can clearly determine the values ​​of the parameters PL1, Pt1, and Pt2.

[0242] For another example, for the first network device, since the first uplink reference signal is received by the first network device, the first network device can clearly determine the value of the parameter Pr1.

[0243] For another example, for the second network device, since the second uplink reference signal is received by the second network device, the second network device can clearly determine the value of the parameter Pr2.

[0244] Furthermore, by combining equations (1) and (2), we can obtain the following equation (3): Pr1-Pr2=(Pt1-PL1)-(Pt2-PL2) (3)

[0245] Based on formula (3), we can obtain: PL2=(Pr1-Pr2)-(Pt1-PL1)+Pt2 (4) PL2=-(Pr2-Pr1)-(Pt1-PL1)+Pt2 (5)

[0246] For the terminal device, based on formula (4), since the terminal device knows the values ​​of parameters PL1, Pt1, and Pt2, the terminal device can determine the second path loss (PL2) based on the value of (Pr1-Pr2). Based on the aforementioned method A, it can be seen that in method A, the power difference information included in the first information can indicate the difference between the first power and the second power (Pr1-Pr2). Therefore, when the power difference information included in the first information is implemented through method A, the terminal device can determine the second path loss (PL2) based on the implementation of formula (4).

[0247] Similarly, for the terminal device, based on equation (5), since the terminal device knows the values ​​of parameters PL1, Pt1, and Pt2, the terminal device can determine the second path loss (PL2) based on the value of (Pr2-Pr1). Based on the aforementioned approach B, it can be seen that in approach B, the power difference information included in the first information can indicate the difference between the second power and the first power (Pr2-Pr1). Therefore, when the power difference information included in the first information is implemented using approach B, the terminal device can determine the second path loss (PL2) based on the implementation of equation (5).

[0248] In addition, since the terminal device already knows the value of the parameter PL1, accordingly, when the power difference information included in the first information is implemented through method C, the terminal device can determine the value of (PL1-PL2), so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss (PL2) based on the following formula (6). PL2 = PL1-(PL1-PL2) (6)

[0249] In addition, since the terminal device already knows the value of the parameter PL1, accordingly, when the power difference information included in the first information is implemented through method D, the terminal device can determine the value of (PL2-PL1), so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss (PL2) based on the following formula (7). PL2 = PL1 + (PL2-PL1) (7)

[0250] It can be understood that in method A, when the power difference information contained in the first information is expressed as △P=(Pr1-Pr2), the difference △P indicated by the power difference information is the difference between the first power and the second power. Accordingly, formula (4) can be transformed into PL2=△P-(Pt1-PL1)+Pt2, or PL2=Pt2-Pt1+△P+PL1.

[0251] Optionally, if the transmission power of the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are the same, Pt2=Pt1 is satisfied; therefore, equation (4) can be transformed into PL2=ΔP+PL1.

[0252] It can be understood that in method B, when the power difference information contained in the first information is expressed as △P=(Pr2-Pr1), the difference △P indicated by the power difference information is the difference between the second power and the first power. Accordingly, formula (5) can be transformed into PL2=-△P-(Pt1-PL1)+Pt2, or PL2=Pt2-Pt1-△P+PL1.

[0253] Optionally, if the transmission power of the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are the same, Pt2=Pt1 is satisfied; therefore, equation (5) can be transformed into PL2=-ΔP+PL1.

[0254] It can be understood that in mode C, when the power difference information included in the first information is expressed as ΔP = (PL1-PL2), the difference ΔP indicated by the power difference information is the difference between the first path loss and the second path loss. Accordingly, formula (6) can be transformed into PL2 = PL1-ΔP.

[0255] It can be understood that in mode D, when the power difference information included in the first information is expressed as ΔP = (PL2-PL1), the difference ΔP indicated by the power difference information is the difference between the second path loss and the first path loss. Accordingly, formula (7) can be transformed into PL2 = PL1 + ΔP.

[0256] PL2 represents the second path loss, Pt2 represents the transmit power of the second uplink reference signal, Pt1 represents the transmit power of the first uplink reference signal, ΔP represents the difference indicated by the power difference information, and PL1 represents the first path loss.

[0257] Optionally, the first information may include an implementation method of the above-mentioned power difference information, so that in addition to the terminal device determining the second path loss, the first information may also be implemented in other ways. For example, the first information may include value information or quantization value information of the received power of the second uplink reference signal. In this way, the terminal device can determine Pr2 and further determine PL2 based on the above-mentioned formula (2). Compared with the implementation method of the above-mentioned power difference information, the method in which the first information carries the value or quantization value of the above-mentioned received power may require more bits. For this reason, the implementation process of including the power difference information in the first information can reduce overhead.

[0258] In one possible implementation, the communication parameters for sending the downlink reference signal are the same as the communication parameters for receiving the first uplink reference signal, and / or the communication parameters for receiving the downlink reference signal are the same as the communication parameters for sending the first uplink reference signal. Specifically, during the communication process between the terminal device and the first network device, the communication parameters for sending and receiving the downlink reference signal and the communication parameters for sending and receiving the first uplink reference signal can be the same or similar. In this way, the downlink reference signal and the first uplink reference signal can be transmitted through the same or similar transmission path as much as possible, thereby making the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the received downlink reference signal the same or similar to the path loss determined by the first network device based on the received first uplink reference signal. In other words, it is to ensure that the path loss of the downlink reference signal estimated by the terminal side "PL = referenceSignalPower-higher layer filtered RSRP" is equal to the path loss PL1 = Pt1-Pr1 experienced by the first uplink reference signal.

[0259] Optionally, the above implementation method can be replaced by the terminal device expecting (or determining) that the communication parameters for sending the downlink reference signal are the same as the communication parameters for receiving the first uplink reference signal, and / or the terminal device expects (or determines) that the communication parameters for receiving the downlink reference signal are the same as the communication parameters for sending the first uplink reference signal.

[0260] Optionally, the communication parameters include at least one of the following: beam, analog beam, uplink spatial filter, spatial reception parameter, spatial filter, spatial relationship, digital beam, digital precoding, number of antenna ports, number of digital ports.

[0261] For example, the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device has the same analog beam / spatial filter / spatial relationship as the downlink reference signal sent by the first network device. This example can be understood as that the terminal device expects the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device to have the same spatial filter as the downlink reference signal sent by the first network device, or that the terminal device expects the first uplink reference signal and the downlink reference signal to satisfy a QCL type D relationship with the same reference signal, or that the terminal device expects the first uplink reference signal and the downlink reference signal to satisfy a QCL type D relationship.

[0262] For another example, the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device and the downlink reference signal sent by the first network device have the same digital beam / digital precoding. This example can be understood as the terminal device expecting the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device and the downlink reference signal sent by the first network device to have the same digital beam / digital precoding.

[0263] For another example, the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device and the downlink reference signal received by the terminal device have the same analog beam / spatial filter / spatial relationship. This example can be understood as that the uplink spatial domain filter of the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device refers to the downlink reference signal, or the uplink spatial domain filter of the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device and the downlink reference signal satisfy the QCL type D relationship, or the uplink spatial domain filter of the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device and the spatial domain reception parameter of the downlink reference signal received by the terminal device refer to the same reference signal.

[0264] For another example, the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device and the downlink reference signal received by the terminal device have the same digital beam / digital precoding.

[0265] Based on the technical solution in Figure 3, a terminal device can receive first information from a network device in step S301, and determine a second path loss between the terminal device and a second network device based on the first information and the first path loss in step S302, enabling the terminal device to perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on the second path loss. The first information is determined based on the received power of a first uplink reference signal from the terminal device received by the first network device and the received power of a second uplink reference signal from the terminal device received by the second network device. Because the basis for determining the first information includes the second power, and the second power is the received power of the second uplink reference signal after transmission through the transmission path between the terminal device and the second network device, the terminal device can determine the path loss of the transmission path based on the first information. Thus, during communication between the terminal device and the first and second network devices, the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device based on the first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device, enabling the determination of the second path loss even when the second network device is not transmitting a downlink reference signal. In addition, in this way, the terminal device does not need to receive the downlink reference signal from the second network device (the terminal device also does not need to receive the configuration information of the downlink reference signal of the second network device), so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, thereby reducing the transmission overhead of the reference signal.

[0266] In the above implementation process, during the communication between the terminal device and the first network device and the second network device, the first network device and the second network device may be implemented in a variety of ways.

[0267] For example, the first network device and the second network device may be different TRPs of the same cell. Exemplarily, the terminal device may operate in an intra-cell multiple transmission reception point (intra-cell mTRP) scenario, in which a cell may have two or more TRPs. In addition, the first network device and the second network device may be implemented through a single DCI mTRP scenario, that is, only the control resource set pool index (CORESETPoolindex) 0 is configured, or CORESETPoolindex0 is not configured. For example, when the TCI field indicated by each TCI code point (TCI Codepoint) (or DCI) activated by the first network device through MAC CE is associated with a pair of TCI-states, and the TCI-state does not contain additionalPCI, it can be considered that the terminal device operates in an intra-cell mTRP scenario.

[0268] For another example, the first network device is associated with a serving cell of the terminal device, and the second network device is associated with another cell of the terminal device that is different from the serving cell (e.g., a non-serving cell or a coordinated cell). The serving cell and the other cell can be distinguished by a physical cell identifier (PCI). If the other cell is a non-serving cell, the PCI of the non-serving cell can be an additional PCI.

[0269] For another example, the cell associated with the first network device and the cell associated with the second network device are different service cells or different component carriers (CCs). Exemplarily, multiple CCs can be aggregated in a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario, and each CC can be regarded as a service cell. For example, the cells associated with the first network device and the second network device can be used as different service cells for illustration, and the first network device and the second network device can also be said to belong to two CCs respectively. For example, the second network device is a secondary component carrier (SCC), and the first network device is a primary component carrier (PCC). Among them, the cell of the PCC (such as the cell of the first network device) can be called a primary cell (Pcell), and the cell of the SCC (such as the cell of the second network device) can be called a secondary cell (Scell). The first network device and the second network device belong to the same device or different devices.

[0270] For another example, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at the same site, that is, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at the same physical site.

[0271] For another example, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at different sites, that is, the first network device and the second network device are deployed at different physical sites.

[0272] Optionally, the first information received by the terminal device may come from a third network device. The third network device and the first network device may be the same network device, or the third network device may be another network device different from the first network device, which is not limited here.

[0273] In addition, the third network device and the first network device can be the same network device (i.e., the third network device in the second aspect and related possible implementations can be replaced by the first network device), or the third network device can be a network device other than the first network device, which is not limited here. The following will exemplarily describe the implementation process of each of the above reference signals with reference to more implementation examples.

[0274] As shown in FIG4 , when the first network device and the third network device are different network devices, compared with the implementation process shown in FIG3 , the implementation process may further include steps A to D.

[0275] Step A: The terminal device sends a first uplink reference signal, and correspondingly, the first network device receives the first uplink reference signal.

[0276] Step B: The terminal device sends a second uplink reference signal, and correspondingly, the second network device receives the second uplink reference signal.

[0277] Step C. The second network device sends second information, and the third network device receives the second information accordingly. The second information indicates the second power. Step C enables the third network device to determine first information based on the second power indicated by the second information, and to send the first information to the terminal device in step S301.

[0278] Optionally, the method shown in Figure 4 may further include: the third network device receiving third information from the first network device, where the third information is used to indicate the first power. Specifically, the third network device may further receive the third information from the first network device, so that the third network device can determine and send the first information to the terminal device based on the first power indicated by the third information.

[0279] Optionally, when the third network device and the first network device are deployed at the same site, the third network device may determine the first power locally.

[0280] Optionally, the third information may further include an index / identifier of the first uplink reference signal.

[0281] Optionally, the second information may further include an index / identifier of a second uplink reference signal.

[0282] Step D: The second network device sends a downlink reference signal, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the downlink reference signal.

[0283] Step S301: The third network device sends first information.

[0284] Step S302: The terminal device determines the second path loss. For steps S301 and S302, reference may be made to the description of the above embodiment.

[0285] Step E. The terminal device performs uplink transmission to the second network device. Specifically, after the terminal device determines the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device in step S302, the terminal device may perform uplink transmission to the second network device in step E based on the second path loss.

[0286] Exemplarily, in the process of uplink transmission by the terminal device to the second network device based on the second path loss, the terminal device may send one or more of an uplink signal, uplink information, uplink data, and uplink signaling. For example, the uplink transmission may be carried on one or more channels of a physical uplink control uplink channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and a physical random access channel (PRACH). For another example, the uplink information may be one or more of uplink control information (UCI), scheduling request information (SR), channel state information (CSI), and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). The uplink signal may be a sounding reference signal (SRS), etc.

[0287] For example, during the process of uplink transmission from the terminal device to the second network device based on the second path loss, the terminal device can determine the transmit power of the uplink transmission based on the second path loss, and perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on the transmit power. In other words, the second path loss can be used as one of the bases for determining the transmit power of the uplink transmission from the terminal device to the second network device. For example, taking the uplink transmission as PUSCH as an example, the terminal device can determine the transmit power of the uplink transmission based on the aforementioned P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d ,l) determines the power of the uplink transmission. From the above implementation, it can be seen that P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d ,l) is determined based on PL b,f,c (q d ) (i.e., the downlink path loss estimated by the terminal based on the path loss reference signal). In other words, the PL in the above implementation b,f,c (q d ) can be the second path loss determined by the terminal device in step S302, P PUSCH,b,f,c (i,j,q d ,l) can be the transmit power of uplink transmission.

[0288] In a possible implementation, when one or more of the following conditions are met, the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss:

[0289] The path loss reference signal associated with the transmission configuration indicator state (TCI state) of the uplink transmission is the downlink reference signal or the second uplink reference signal;

[0290] The path loss reference signal associated with the TCI state of the uplink transmission is the downlink reference signal, and the reference signal of the quasi-co-location (QCL) type D (type D) associated with the TCI state is the second uplink reference signal;

[0291] When the uplink transmission does not indicate a TCI state, the reference signal of the uplink sending spatial domain filter of the uplink transmission is the second uplink reference signal.

[0292] Specifically, during the process of uplink transmission from the terminal device to the network device, the terminal device can determine the path loss reference signal as the downlink reference signal and / or the second uplink reference signal based on the configuration of the TCI state. In this way, the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the configuration of the network device; or the terminal device can send the reference signal of the uplink spatial domain filter based on the uplink transmission as the second uplink reference signal, so that the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the configuration of the network device.

[0293] Optionally, the network device may configure one or more TCI states (joint TCI state or UL state), for example, via an RRC message. In addition, the network device may send indication signaling (e.g., downlink control information (DCI), MAC CE, etc.) to the terminal device, where the indication signaling is used to indicate a TCI state for uplink transmission, where the TCI state is one of the one or more configured TCI states.

[0294] It should be noted that in FIG4, the execution order of step A, step B and step D can be interchanged.

[0295] After step A, execute step B and then execute step D; for example, execute step D first, then execute step B and then execute step A; for example, execute step D first, then execute step A and then execute step B.

[0296] Optionally, in FIG4 , step A and step B may be the same step, that is, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal may be the same reference signal. For details, please refer to the description of implementation method 1 below.

[0297] Optionally, in Figure 4 , the above step C is an optional step. For example, in the case where the third network device and the second network device are co-located, the third network device may determine the second power locally.

[0298] As shown in FIG5 , when the first network device and the third network device are the same network device, compared with the implementation process shown in FIG3 , the implementation process may further include steps A to D.

[0299] Step A: The terminal device sends a first uplink reference signal, and correspondingly, the first network device (third network device) receives the first uplink reference signal.

[0300] Step B: The terminal device sends a second uplink reference signal, and correspondingly, the second network device receives the second uplink reference signal.

[0301] Step C. The second network device sends the second information, and the first network device (third network device) receives the second information accordingly. The second information indicates the second power. Step C enables the first network device (third network device) to determine the first information based on the second power indicated by the second information, and to send the first information to the terminal device in step S301.

[0302] Step D: The second network device sends a downlink reference signal, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the downlink reference signal.

[0303] Step S301: The first network device (third network device) sends first information.

[0304] Step S302: The terminal device determines the second path loss.

[0305] Step E: The terminal device performs uplink transmission to the second network device.

[0306] Compared with the implementation process shown in Figure 4, the implementation process shown in Figure 5 is different in that the receiver of step A, the sender of step D, the receiver of step C, and the sender of step S301 are the same device, namely the first network device (third network device) in Figure 5.

[0307] In addition, in FIG5 , the implementation process of each step may refer to the implementation process shown in FIG4 .

[0308] It can be seen from the above implementation process that the first network device has the ability of uplink transmission (such as the first uplink reference signal) and downlink transmission (such as the downlink reference signal), the second network device has at least the ability of uplink transmission (such as the second uplink reference signal), and the third network device has at least the ability of downlink transmission (such as the first information).

[0309] In one possible implementation, the second network device is used only for uplink transmission. Specifically, the second network device may be a network device used only for uplink transmission. Since the second network device used only for uplink transmission may not be able to send a downlink reference signal through downlink transmission, the terminal device may be unable to determine the path loss between the terminal device and the second network device through the downlink reference signal from the second network device. However, through the above technical solution, it can be seen from the implementation process of step S302 that the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device used only for uplink transmission can be determined by the first path loss between the terminal device and the first network device, enabling the determination of the path loss of the network device used only for uplink transmission, thereby realizing uplink transmission between the terminal device and the second network device.

[0310] As an application example, as shown in Figure 6, taking the first network device (third network device) in the method shown in Figure 5 as TRP1 and the second network device as TRP2 as an example, the TRP2 is an uplink only (UL only) TRP. The implementation process of each step in Figure 6 can refer to the previous description. In the example shown in Figure 6, if a certain network device is UL only, the terminal device may not be able to determine the path loss between it and the network device through the downlink reference signal sent by the network device, and thus the terminal device may not be able to perform uplink transmission to the network device; based on the technical solution shown in the previous text, the terminal device can determine the path loss between the terminal device and the UL only network device through the downlink reference signal of other network devices, as well as the power difference information between different network devices, and perform uplink transmission to the network device based on the determined path loss.

[0311] Optionally, the second network device being used only for uplink transmission can be understood as the communication method between the second network device and the terminal device being uplink only. The communication method between the second network device and other network devices (such as other access network devices or other core network devices) is not limited. For example, the second network device can communicate with other network devices via wired or wireless means.

[0312] Optionally, the second network device being used only for uplink transmission may be understood as the second network device having one or more of the following characteristics:

[0313] Only has uplink receiving capability, no downlink transmission reference signal is configured, no downlink control channel is configured, no downlink data channel is configured, no downlink bandwidth is configured, no downlink frame structure is configured, no downlink time slot is configured, only uplink carrier is available, uplink carrier is available and downlink carrier is not available, downlink carrier is not available, carrier is uplink carrier, only includes uplink carrier, carrier includes uplink carrier and does not include downlink carrier, uplink transmission is activated (or turned on, enabled, enabled, etc.), downlink transmission is deactivated (or turned off, dormant, silent, prohibited, disabled, etc.).

[0314] As an implementation example, the second network device does not have downlink transmission capability or the second network device is not configured with information related to downlink transmission. The information related to downlink transmission may include: information related to downlink reference signals, information related to downlink control channel transmission, information related to downlink data channel transmission, information related to downlink frame structure, information related to downlink time slots, or at least one of information related to downlink bandwidth. Information related to downlink reference signals not being configured may also be replaced by downlink reference signals not being configured. Information related to downlink control channel transmission not being configured may also be replaced by downlink control channel transmission not being configured. Information related to downlink data channel transmission not being configured may also be replaced by downlink data channel transmission not being configured. Information related to downlink frame structure not being configured may also be replaced by parameters related to downlink frame structure not being configured. Information related to downlink time slots not being configured may also be replaced by parameters related to downlink time slots not being configured. Information related to downlink bandwidth not being configured may also be replaced by downlink bandwidth not being configured.

[0315] As another implementation example, the first network device has uplink transmission capability; and / or, the first network device configures relevant information for uplink transmission. The uplink transmission-related information may include: uplink reference signal information, uplink control channel transmission information, uplink data channel transmission information, uplink frame structure-related information, uplink time slot-related information, or uplink bandwidth-related information. Configuring the information related to the uplink reference signal may also be replaced by configuring the uplink reference signal. Configuring the information related to the uplink control channel transmission may also be replaced by configuring the uplink control channel transmission. Configuring the information related to the uplink data channel transmission may also be replaced by configuring the uplink data channel transmission. Configuring the information related to the uplink frame structure may also be replaced by configuring parameters related to the uplink frame structure. Configuring the information related to the uplink time slot may also be replaced by configuring parameters related to the uplink time slot. Configuring the information related to the uplink bandwidth may also be replaced by configuring the uplink bandwidth. In this way, the terminal device can send information to the first network device, such as a preamble, etc.

[0316] It should be noted that the number of reference signals (for example, a first uplink reference signal, a second uplink reference signal, a downlink reference signal, etc.) involved in the method shown in Figure 3 / Figure 4 / Figure 5 can be one or more, so that the terminal device can determine one or more second path losses between the terminal device and the second network device based on one or more second uplink reference signals in step S302.

[0317] In other words, the first network device may send one or more downlink reference signals to the terminal device, the terminal device may also send one or more first uplink reference signals to the first network device, and the terminal device may also send one or more second uplink reference signals to the second network device. Accordingly, in one possible implementation, the first information received by the terminal device in step S301 may include, in addition to the power difference information, at least one of the following:

[0318] Information A: Index or identifier of the first uplink reference signal.

[0319] Information B: Index or identifier of the second uplink reference signal.

[0320] Information C: Index or identifier of the downlink reference signal.

[0321] Information D: an identifier of an association relationship between a downlink reference signal and a first uplink reference signal.

[0322] Information E: an identifier of an association relationship between the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal.

[0323] Information F: an identifier of an association relationship between a downlink reference signal and a second uplink reference signal.

[0324] Information G: an identifier of the association relationship among the downlink reference signal, the first uplink reference signal, and the second uplink reference signal (ie, an identifier of the association relationship among these three reference signals).

[0325] Through the above implementation, when the number of reference signals (e.g., a first uplink reference signal, a second uplink reference signal, a downlink reference signal, etc.) may be greater than 1, the terminal device can determine the reference signal associated with the second path loss (including the first uplink reference signal, the second uplink reference signal, and the downlink reference signal) through at least one item of information A to information G, and the terminal device can determine the second path loss based on the reference signal associated with the second path loss in step S302.

[0326] Optionally, the at least one item mentioned above may be included in the first information in step S301, or may be included in other information, which is not limited here.

[0327] Optionally, in the case where at least one of the above items is included in the first information in step S301, each item of information included in the first information can be transmitted once or multiple times so that the terminal device obtains the first information, which is not limited here.

[0328] In a possible implementation manner, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal may be implemented in multiple manners, which will be introduced below in combination with more implementation manners.

[0329] Implementation method 1: The first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are the same reference signal.

[0330] In implementation method one, the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the first network device and the second uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the second network device can be the same reference signal, that is, the terminal device can achieve reception of different network devices through a single uplink reference signal sending process, which can save the terminal device's overhead and energy consumption and reduce implementation complexity.

[0331] Implementation method 2: The first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are different reference signals.

[0332] In implementation mode 2, the first uplink reference signal is different from the second uplink reference signal. In other words, the first uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the first network device and the second uplink reference signal sent by the terminal device to the second network device can be different reference signals to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0333] In a possible implementation of implementation manner 2, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal meet at least one of the following manners 1 to 6:

[0334] Mode 1: The first uplink reference signal is one of the one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set, and the second uplink reference signal is one of the one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set.

[0335] Illustratively, in mode 1, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal may belong to two sounding reference signal resource sets (SRS resource sets), respectively. The two SRS resource sets may be used for codebook or non-codebook measurement, that is, 'usage' is configured as 'codebook' or 'nonCodebook'.

[0336] Mode 2: The first uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal that is preconfigured or predefined among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set.

[0337] Illustratively, in mode 2, the first uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal with the smallest index, an uplink reference signal with the largest index, etc. among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set.

[0338] Mode 3: The second uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal that is preconfigured or predefined among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set.

[0339] Illustratively, in mode 3, the second uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal with the smallest index, an uplink reference signal with the largest index, etc. among the one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set.

[0340] Mode 4: The first uplink reference signal and / or the second uplink reference signal is a reference signal used to determine the second path loss.

[0341] Exemplarily, in mode 4, the first uplink reference signal and / or the second uplink reference signal may be a path loss reference signal (PL RS) configured at least for determining the path loss of the second network device, that is, the first uplink reference signal and / or the second uplink reference signal may be a path loss reference signal. In this way, the terminal device can determine, through the configuration of the PL RS, that the first uplink reference signal and / or the second uplink reference signal can be used to determine the second path loss.

[0342] Mode 5: The association relationship between the first uplink reference signal, the second uplink reference signal, and at least two reference signals among the downlink reference signal is preconfigured or predefined or configured by a network device.

[0343] Optionally, mode 5 may be described as follows: the first uplink reference signal is one of N uplink reference signals, the second uplink reference signal is one of M uplink reference signals, and the downlink reference signal is one of K downlink reference signals, where N, M, and K are all positive integers. The association between the N uplink reference signals, the M uplink reference signals, and the K downlink reference signals is preconfigured or configured by a network device.

[0344] It should be noted that an association between different reference signals may indicate that the different reference signals can be used to determine (or jointly determine) path loss. For example, an association between a first uplink reference signal and a second uplink reference signal may indicate that the receive power and / or transmit power of the two reference signals can be used to determine the path loss on the transmission path of the second uplink reference signal. For another example, an association between a downlink reference signal and a second uplink reference signal may indicate that the receive power and / or transmit power of the two reference signals can be used to determine the path loss on the transmission path of the second uplink reference signal.

[0345] Optionally, "association relationship" can be replaced by other terms, such as association, mapping relationship, corresponding relationship, etc.

[0346] As an implementation example, in the above-mentioned method 5, the association relationship between at least two reference signals can be implemented as shown in the following Table 2 or Table 3.

[0347] Table 2

[0348] Table 3

[0349] In Table 2 and Table 3, "Index A" can be the index or identifier of the downlink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information A; "Index B" can be the index of the first uplink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information B; "Index C" can be the index of the second uplink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information C.

[0350] Correspondingly, the "index pair (A, B)" indicates the association relationship between the downlink reference signal and the first uplink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information D; the "index pair (B, C)" indicates the association relationship between the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information E; the "index pair (A, C)" indicates the association relationship between the downlink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information F; the "index pair (A, B, C)" indicates the association relationship between the downlink reference signal, the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal, that is, an implementation example of the above information G.

[0351] It can be understood that in the above-mentioned method 5, the association relationship between the at least two reference signals can be determined by the mapping relationship between at least two of the three columns of "Index A", "Index B", and "Index C" in Table 2 or Table 3. Alternatively, the association relationship between the at least two reference signals can be determined by the mapping relationship between one or more of the four columns of "Index Pair (A, B)", "Index Pair (B, C)", "Index Pair (A, C)", and "Index Pair (A, B, C)" in Table 2 or Table 3.

[0352] In the example shown in Table 2, the number of downlink reference signals, first uplink reference signals, and second uplink reference signals is equal. In this example, different reference signals may have a one-to-one association relationship. That is, there is an association relationship between the downlink reference signal, the first uplink reference signal, and the second uplink reference signal with the same index.

[0353] In the example shown in Table 3, the number of downlink reference signals, first uplink reference signals, and second uplink reference signals is unequal. In this example, different reference signals may have a one-to-many association relationship. For example, a downlink reference signal with an index of 1 corresponds to a first uplink reference signal with an index of 1 or 2, and a downlink reference signal with an index of 1 corresponds to a second uplink reference signal with an index of 1, 2, 3, or 4. For another example, a first uplink reference signal with an index of 1 corresponds to a first uplink reference signal with an index of 1 or 2, and a first uplink reference signal with an index of 2 corresponds to a first uplink reference signal with an index of 3 or 4.

[0354] In a possible implementation of implementation manner 2, the first transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the second transmit power of the second uplink reference signal satisfy at least one of the following conditions 1 to 5:

[0355] Condition 1: The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on the first path loss.

[0356] Condition 2: The first transmission power and the second transmission power are the same.

[0357] Based on condition 1 or condition 2, when the terminal device does not have a second path loss (or the terminal device has not determined the second path loss, or the second network device has not sent a downlink reference signal), the first uplink reference signal of the first network device and the second uplink reference signal of the second network device can both be sent based on the first path loss.

[0358] Condition 3. The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is the maximum transmit power of the terminal device.

[0359] Based on condition 3, when the terminal device does not have a second path loss (or the terminal device has not determined the second path loss, or the second network device has not sent a downlink reference signal), the possibility of the network device receiving the uplink reference signal can be increased by sending at maximum power.

[0360] Condition 4: The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on a power control parameter associated with a joint / uplink state (joint / UL state).

[0361] Condition 5: The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on a power control parameter configured in a bandwidth part-uplink dedicated (BWP-UplinkDedicated).

[0362] Based on condition 4 or condition 5, when the network device has path loss or other power control information before (i.e., historically determined path loss or other power control information), the terminal device can continue to send the reference signal according to the previous path loss or other power control information, and can also realize the update of the second path loss.

[0363] Optionally, the power control parameters include one or more information such as an index or identifier of a path loss reference signal, a reference power, a path loss correction factor, and a closed-loop power control adjustment state index. For example, the TCI state is associated with a path loss reference signal (pathlosssReferenceRS) and an uplink power control (ul-powerControl) information. The ul-powerControl information includes AlphaSets for PUSCH, PUCCH, and SRS. Each AlphaSet includes a reference power, a path loss correction factor, and a closed-loop power control adjustment state index (which can be recorded as p0, alpha, closedLoopindex).

[0364] Therefore, when the first uplink reference signal is different from the second uplink reference signal, the terminal device can determine the transmission power based on at least one of the above items to improve the flexibility of the solution implementation.

[0365] Referring to Figure 7, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device 700 that can implement the functions of the terminal device (or network device) in the above-mentioned method embodiment, thereby also achieving the beneficial effects of the above-mentioned method embodiment. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 700 can be a terminal device (or network device), or it can be an integrated circuit or component within the terminal device (or network device), such as a chip. The following embodiments are described using the communication device 700 as an example of a terminal device or network device.

[0366] In one possible implementation, when the apparatus 700 is used to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the aforementioned embodiment, the apparatus 700 includes a processing unit 701 and a transceiver unit 702; the transceiver unit 702 is used to receive first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is the receiving power of the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device, and the second power is the receiving power of the second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device; the processing unit 701 is used to perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on a second path loss, where the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device.

[0367] In one possible implementation, when the device 700 is used to execute the method executed by the network device in the aforementioned embodiment, the device 700 includes a processing unit 701 and a transceiver unit 702; the processing unit 701 is used to determine first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is the receiving power of the first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device, and the second power is the receiving power of the second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device; wherein the first information and the first path loss are used to determine the second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, where the first path loss is the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device; and the transceiver unit 702 is used to send the first information.

[0368] It should be noted that, for details on the information execution process of the units of the above-mentioned communication device 700, please refer to the description in the method embodiment shown above in this application, and no further details will be given here.

[0369] Please refer to Fig. 8, which is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device 800 provided in this application. The communication device 800 includes a logic circuit 801 and an input / output interface 802. The communication device 800 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0370] The transceiver unit 702 shown in FIG7 may be a communication interface, which may be the input / output interface 802 in FIG8 , which may include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface may be a transceiver circuit, which may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0371] Optionally, the input / output interface 802 is configured to receive first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is the received power of a first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device, and the second power is the received power of a second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device; and the logic circuit 801 is configured to perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on a second path loss, where the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device. The logic circuit 801 and the input / output interface 802 may also perform other steps performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned embodiment and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be described in detail here.

[0372] Optionally, logic circuit 801 is used to determine first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is the received power of a first uplink reference signal received by a first network device from a terminal device, and the second power is the received power of a second uplink reference signal received by a second network device from the terminal device; wherein the first information and the first path loss are used to determine a second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, where the first path loss is the path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device; and input / output interface 802 is used to send the first information. Logic circuit 801 and input / output interface 802 may also perform other steps performed by the network devices in the aforementioned embodiments and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be further described here.

[0373] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 701 shown in FIG. 7 may be the logic circuit 801 in FIG. 8 .

[0374] Optionally, the logic circuit 801 may be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device may be partially or entirely implemented by software. The functions of the processing device may be partially or entirely implemented by software.

[0375] Optionally, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform corresponding processing and / or steps in any one of the method embodiments.

[0376] Alternatively, the processing device may include only a processor. A memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory via circuits / wires to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. The memory and processor may be integrated or physically separate.

[0377] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system-on-chips (SoCs), central processor units (CPUs), network processors (NPs), digital signal processors (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors.

[0378] Please refer to Figure 9, which shows a communication device 900 involved in the above-mentioned embodiments provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 900 can specifically be a communication device serving as a terminal device in the above-mentioned embodiments. The example shown in Figure 9 is that the terminal device is implemented through the terminal device (or a component in the terminal device).

[0379] Herein, a possible logical structure diagram of the communication device 900 is shown. The communication device 900 may include but is not limited to at least one processor 901 and a communication port 902 .

[0380] Further optionally, the device may also include at least one of a memory 903 and a bus 904. In an embodiment of the present application, the at least one processor 901 is used to control and process the actions of the communication device 900.

[0381] In addition, the processor 901 can be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. It can implement or execute the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application. The processor can also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and so on. Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0382] It should be noted that the communication device 900 shown in Figure 9 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiment and achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device. The specific implementation methods of the communication device shown in Figure 9 can refer to the description in the aforementioned method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0383] Please refer to Figure 10, which is a structural diagram of the communication device 1000 involved in the above-mentioned embodiments provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 1000 can specifically be a communication device as a network device in the above-mentioned embodiments. The example shown in Figure 10 is that the network device is implemented through the network device (or a component in the network device), wherein the structure of the communication device can refer to the structure shown in Figure 10.

[0384] The communication device 1000 includes at least one processor 1011 and at least one network interface 1014. Further optionally, the communication device also includes at least one memory 1012, at least one transceiver 1013 and one or more antennas 1015. The processor 1011, the memory 1012, the transceiver 1013 and the network interface 1014 are connected, for example, via a bus. In an embodiment of the present application, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines or buses, etc., which are not limited in this embodiment. The antenna 1015 is connected to the transceiver 1013. The network interface 1014 is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 1014 may include a network interface between the communication device and the core network device, such as an S1 interface, and the network interface may include a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0385] Processor 1011 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process software program data, for example, to support the communication device in performing the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, while the central processing unit is primarily used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process software program data. Processor 1011 in Figure 10 may integrate the functions of both a baseband processor and a central processing unit. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may also be independent processors interconnected via a bus or other technology. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network standards, multiple central processing units to enhance its processing capabilities, and various components of the terminal device may be connected via various buses. The baseband processor may also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The functionality for processing communication protocols and communication data may be built into the processor or stored in memory as a software program, which is executed by the processor to implement the baseband processing functionality.

[0386] The memory is primarily used to store software programs and data. Memory 1012 can exist independently and be connected to processor 1011. Alternatively, memory 1012 and processor 1011 can be integrated together, for example, within a single chip. Memory 1012 can store program code for executing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and execution is controlled by processor 1011. The various computer program codes executed can also be considered drivers for processor 1011.

[0387] Figure 10 shows only one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device. The memory may be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, which is not limited in the present embodiment.

[0388] The transceiver 1013 can be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the communication device and the terminal. The transceiver 1013 can be connected to the antenna 1015. The transceiver 1013 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 1015 can receive radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1013 is used to receive the radio frequency signal from the antenna, convert the radio frequency signal into a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal, and provide the digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal to the processor 1011 so that the processor 1011 can further process the digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal, such as demodulation and decoding. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 1013 is also used to receive a modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 1011, convert the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and transmit the radio frequency signal through one or more antennas 1015. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more stages of down-mixing and analog-to-digital conversion on the RF signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal. The order of the down-mixing and analog-to-digital conversion processes is adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more stages of up-mixing and digital-to-analog conversion on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a RF signal. The order of the up-mixing and digital-to-analog conversion processes is adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital intermediate frequency signal may be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0389] The transceiver 1013 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Optionally, a device in the transceiver unit that implements a receiving function may be referred to as a receiving unit, and a device in the transceiver unit that implements a transmitting function may be referred to as a transmitting unit. That is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitting unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

[0390] It should be noted that the communication device 1000 shown in Figure 10 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiment, and to achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network device. The specific implementation methods of the communication device 1000 shown in Figure 10 can refer to the description in the aforementioned method embodiment, and will not be repeated here one by one.

[0391] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the method described in the possible implementation method of the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above embodiment.

[0392] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product (or computer program). When the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the method of the possible implementation method of the above-mentioned communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

[0393] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which includes at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the functions involved in the possible implementation methods of the above-mentioned communication device. Optionally, the chip system also includes an interface circuit, which provides program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor. In one possible design, the chip system may also include a memory, which is used to store the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. The chip system can be composed of chips, or it can include chips and other discrete devices, wherein the communication device can specifically be a terminal device or a network device in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0394] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, wherein the network system architecture includes the terminal device and the network device (including one or more network devices among the first network device, the second network device and the third network device) in any of the above embodiments.

[0395] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0396] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0397] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application can be integrated into a processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit. If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the contributing part or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receive first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is a received power of a first uplink reference signal received by a first network device from a terminal device, and the second power is a received power of a second uplink reference signal received by a second network device from the terminal device; Perform uplink transmission to the second network device based on a second path loss, wherein the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on a downlink reference signal of the first network device.

2. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Determine first information, where the first information is determined based on a first power and a second power, where the first power is a received power of a first uplink reference signal received by the first network device from the terminal device, and the second power is a received power of a second uplink reference signal received by the second network device from the terminal device; wherein the first information and the first path loss are used to determine a second path loss between the terminal device and the second network device, where the first path loss is a path loss determined by the terminal device based on the downlink reference signal of the first network device; The first information is sent.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: Second information is received from the second network device, where the second information is used to indicate the second power.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The first information includes power difference information, and the power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the first power and the second power, or the power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the second power and the first power, or the power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the first path loss and the second path loss, or the power difference information is used to indicate the difference between the second path loss and the first path loss.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and satisfies: PL2 = Pt2 - Pt1 + ΔP + PL1; Or, PL2 = Pt2 - Pt1 - ΔP + PL1; Among them, PL2 represents the second path loss, Pt2 represents the transmission power of the second uplink reference signal, Pt1 represents the transmission power of the first uplink reference signal, ΔP represents the difference indicated by the power difference information, and PL1 represents the first path loss.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss, and satisfies: PL2=PL1+ΔP; or, PL2=PL1-ΔP; Among them, PL2 represents the second path loss, ΔP represents the difference indicated by the power difference information, and PL1 represents the first path loss.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that: The first information also includes at least one of the following: An index or identifier of the first uplink reference signal; An index or identifier of the second uplink reference signal; The index of the downlink reference signal; an identifier of an association relationship between the first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal; an identifier of an association relationship between the downlink reference signal and the first uplink reference signal; an identifier of an association relationship between the downlink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal; An identifier of an association relationship among the downlink reference signal, the first uplink reference signal, and the second uplink reference signal.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The second network device is only used for uplink transmission.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are the same reference signal.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: The first uplink reference signal is different from the second uplink reference signal.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal satisfy at least one of the following: The first uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set, and the second uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set; The first uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal preconfigured or predefined among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the first resource set; The second uplink reference signal is an uplink reference signal preconfigured or predefined among one or more uplink reference signals configured in the second resource set; The first uplink reference signal and the second uplink reference signal are reference signals for determining the second path loss; The association relationship between the first uplink reference signal, the second uplink reference signal and at least two reference signals among the downlink reference signals is pre-configured or configured by a network device.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that: The first transmit power of the first uplink reference signal and the second transmit power of the second uplink reference signal satisfy at least one of the following: The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on the first path loss; The first transmit power and the second transmit power are the same; The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is the maximum transmit power of the terminal device; The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on a power control parameter associated with a joint / UL state; The first transmit power and / or the second transmit power is determined based on a power control parameter configured in a bandwidth part-uplink dedicated BWP-UplinkDedicated.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: The communication parameter for sending the downlink reference signal is the same as the communication parameter for receiving the first uplink reference signal, and / or the communication parameter for receiving the downlink reference signal is the same as the communication parameter for sending the first uplink reference signal.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The communication parameters include at least one of the following: Analog beams, spatial filters, spatial relationships, digital beams, digital precoding, number of antenna ports, number of digital ports.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that When one or more of the following conditions are met, the second path loss is a path loss determined based on the first information and the first path loss: The path loss reference signal associated with the transmission configuration indication state TCI state of the uplink transmission is the downlink reference signal or the second uplink reference signal; The path loss reference signal associated with the TCI state of the uplink transmission is the downlink reference signal, and the reference signal of the quasi co-location QCL type associated with the TCI state is type D type D is the second uplink reference signal; When the uplink transmission does not indicate a TCI state, the reference signal of the uplink sending spatial domain filter of the uplink transmission is the second uplink reference signal.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The TCI state of the uplink transmission is indicated in one or more configured TCI states through indication signaling.

17. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for performing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 16.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises at least one processor coupled to a memory; the at least one processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

19. The communication device according to claim 18, characterized in that: The communication device is a chip or a chip system.

20. A readable storage medium, characterized in that: The storage medium stores a computer program or an instruction, and when the computer program or the instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16 is implemented.

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