Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: a terminal device performing beam measurement according to reporting configuration information of a network device, and actively initiating beam reporting; and when initiating beam reporting, the terminal device submitting a measurement report to the network device using a first mode or a second mode, wherein the first mode and the second mode are manners in which the terminal device submits the measurement report to the network device. According to the method in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can initiate beam reporting as needed, while also determining the mode used to initiate the beam reporting. This not only reduces uplink resource overhead, but also improves transmission performance between a terminal device and a network device.

Description

Communication method and communication apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410708171.3 filed on May 31, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and communication apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to a communication method and a communication apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] In wireless communication, in order to transmit and receive data, obtain system synchronization and feedback channel information, etc., a reference signal will be transmitted between a sending end and a receiving end. For example, the sending end sends a reference signal to the receiving end, and the receiving end receives the reference signal, and then can perform corresponding operations based on the reference information, such as performing channel measurement and reporting a beam. At present, the timing of beam reporting is mainly determined by a network device, which results in a large overhead of uplink resources. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus, which initiates beam reporting by a terminal device, can realize on-demand beam reporting, and reduces the overhead of uplink resources.

[0005] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to the terminal side, that is, the method can be executed by a terminal device, or can be executed by a component (such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit or a communication module) of the terminal device, which is not limited in the present application. Hereinafter, the terminal device will be mainly taken as an example for description.

[0006] The method can include: receiving, by a terminal device, first reporting configuration information from a network device, the first reporting configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report; and transmitting, by the terminal device, the measurement report to the network device in a first mode or a second mode, the first mode and the second mode being a mode of transmitting the measurement report by the terminal device.

[0007] Specifically, the first mode can be a mode in which the terminal device transmits the measurement report based on a scheduling resource requested from the network device, and the scheduling resource requested from the network device by the terminal device can be a resource allocated for one time of beam reporting. The second mode can be a mode in which the terminal device transmits the measurement report based on a scheduling-free resource, and the scheduling-free resource can be a resource for periodic reporting, which is not limited in the present application.

[0008] Optionally, the terminal device determines whether to transmit the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode based on the first reporting configuration information.

[0009] The method can be initiated by the terminal device on demand, and the terminal device can also determine a mode for reporting the measurement report to the network device, thereby reducing the uplink resource overhead and improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0010] In some implementations of the first aspect, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode, including: the terminal device sends first information to the network device through the first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource for transmitting the measurement report; the terminal device receives scheduling information from the network device, the scheduling information being used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource; and the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the second resource.

[0011] In the method, the resource for reporting the measurement report by the terminal device can be scheduled by the network device, thereby improving the resource utilization efficiency.

[0012] In some implementations of the first aspect, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after the first time.

[0013] The first time can be the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time can be the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0014] The first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be predefined by a protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0015] If the first time interval is indicated by the network device to the terminal device, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0016] In the method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0017] In some implementations of the first aspect, the scheduling information includes first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, or the scheduling information corresponds to a first search space, the first search space being a search space specially used for transmitting the scheduling information.

[0018] By the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, if there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information; or, if there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information.

[0020] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0021] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be predefined by a protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0022] Exemplarily, if the first time interval is indicated by the network device to the terminal device, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0023] By the above method, when there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device or when there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, the terminal device can determine one scheduling information from the at least two scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0024] Exemplarily, part or all of the scheduling information or the multiple scheduling information described above can be scheduling information for uplink scheduling or scheduling information for downlink scheduling, which is not limited in the present application.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the second mode, comprising: the terminal device sends third information to the network device through a third resource, the third information being used for indicating that the terminal device will send the measurement report to the network device through a fourth resource; and the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource.

[0026] The fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource.

[0027] By the method, the terminal device reports the measurement report on the periodic uplink transmission resource preconfigured by the network device, without the network device configuring additional resources, so that signaling overheads can be saved and resource occupation can be reduced.

[0028] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, there is one sending opportunity for each period of the fourth resource, and the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first sending opportunity after the first time.

[0029] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the third information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the third information and the first time interval.

[0030] For example, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be predefined by a protocol, which is not limited in the application.

[0031] For example, if the first time interval is indicated by the network device to the terminal device, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0032] The terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first sending opportunity after the first time can be replaced by the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth sending opportunity after the first time, where K is any positive integer.

[0033] By the method, when the terminal device reports the measurement report on the periodic uplink transmission resource preconfigured by the network device, the terminal device can determine a sending opportunity for transmitting the measurement report from the periodic uplink transmission resource, so that the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device can be improved.

[0034] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes that the terminal device sends terminal capability information to the network device, and the terminal capability information includes at least one of the following information:

[0035] For example, whether the terminal device supports the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, information of at least one first event supported by the terminal device, and the like.

[0036] The second reporting configuration information is reporting configuration information corresponding to beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the at least one first event is an event used by the terminal device to determine whether to initiate beam reporting, and the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured includes at least one of the following:

[0037] The number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, the number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, and the number of aperiodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured.

[0038] In an implementation, if the terminal device indicates in the terminal capability information that the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the terminal device is considered to support the first mode by default. In this implementation, the terminal capability information does not need to carry additional indication information to indicate whether the terminal device supports the first mode, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0039] In another implementation, the terminal capability information can further include first mode indication information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the first mode.

[0040] Optionally, the terminal capability information can further include second mode indication information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the second mode.

[0041] Through the above method, the terminal device can report the capability related to the first mode and / or the second mode, so that the network device can more reasonably indicate the mode of transmitting the measurement report to the terminal device.

[0042] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first reporting configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

[0043] The reporting mode of the beam reporting, the information of the first resource, the third resource, the fourth resource, the at least one second event, and the first time interval.

[0044] The at least one second event is used to assist the terminal device in determining whether to initiate beam reporting.

[0045] For example, the reporting mode of the beam reporting can be a reporting mode supported by the terminal device.

[0046] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode according to the reporting mode of the beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information, according to whether the fourth resource is included in the first reporting configuration information, or according to the first resource or the third resource included in the first reporting configuration information.

[0047] For example, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode according to the reporting mode of the beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information, which can be implemented in the following ways. If the reporting mode of the beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information indicates the first mode, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode. If the reporting mode of the beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information indicates the second mode, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the second mode.

[0048] For example, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode according to whether the fourth resource is included in the first reporting configuration information, which can be implemented in the following ways. If the fourth resource is not included in the first reporting configuration information, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode. If the fourth resource is included in the first reporting configuration information, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the second mode.

[0049] For example, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode according to the first resource or the third resource included in the first reporting configuration information, which can be implemented in the following ways. If the first resource is included in the first reporting configuration information, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode. If the third resource is included in the first reporting configuration information, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the second mode.

[0050] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to the network side, that is, the method can be executed by a network device or a component (for example, a chip or a chip system or a circuit or a communication module) of the network device, and the present application does not limit the same. Hereinafter, the network device is mainly taken as an example for description.

[0051] The method can comprise: the network device sending first reporting configuration information to the terminal device, the first reporting configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report; and the network device receiving the measurement report from the terminal device, the measurement report being sent by the terminal device in a first mode or a second mode, the first mode and the second mode being modes in which the terminal device sends the measurement report.

[0052] Specifically, the first mode can be a mode in which the terminal device sends the measurement report based on a scheduled resource requested from the network device, and the scheduled resource requested from the network device by the terminal device can be a resource allocated for one-time beam reporting. The second mode can be a mode in which the terminal device sends the measurement report based on a grant-free resource, and the grant-free resource can be a resource for periodic reporting, which is not limited in the present application.

[0053] The method described above can be initiated by the terminal device on demand, and the terminal device can also determine which mode to use to initiate the beam reporting, which can not only reduce the uplink resource overhead, but also improve the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0054] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the network device receiving the measurement report from the terminal device comprises: the network device receiving first information from the terminal device, the first information being sent by the terminal device through a first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource for transmitting the measurement report; the network device sending scheduling information to the terminal device based on the first information, the scheduling information being used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource; and the network device receiving the measurement report from the terminal device, the measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the second resource.

[0055] Through the method described above, the network device can schedule a resource for the terminal device to report the measurement report, thereby improving the resource utilization efficiency.

[0056] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after a first time.

[0057] The first time can be the time at which the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time can be the sum of the time at which the terminal device sends the first information and a first time interval.

[0058] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be predefined by a protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0059] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, and the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0060] Through the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0061] In some implementations of the second aspect, the scheduling information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report.

[0062] Through the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0063] In some implementations of the second aspect, if there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information.

[0064] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0065] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be predefined by a protocol, and the present application does not make any limitation in this regard.

[0066] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, and the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0067] Through the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0068] Exemplarily, part or all of the scheduling information or the plurality of scheduling information described above can be scheduling information for uplink scheduling or scheduling information for downlink scheduling, which is not limited in the present application.

[0069] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the network device receiving the measurement report from the terminal device comprises: the network device receiving third information from the terminal device, the third information being sent by the terminal device through the third resource, the third information being used to indicate that the terminal device will send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource; and the network device receiving the measurement report from the terminal device, the measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the fourth resource.

[0070] The fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource.

[0071] By the above method, the terminal device reports the measurement report using the periodic uplink transmission resource pre-configured by the network device, without the network device configuring additional resources, which not only saves signaling overhead, but also reduces resource occupation.

[0072] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the fourth resource comprises: the measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the fourth resource at a first sending opportunity after a first time.

[0073] The first time is a time when the terminal device sends the third information, or the first time is a sum of a time when the terminal device sends the third information and a first time interval.

[0074] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be pre-defined by a protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0075] Exemplarily, if the first time interval is indicated by the network device to the terminal device, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0076] The measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the fourth resource at the first sending opportunity after the first time can be replaced by the measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the fourth resource at the Kth sending opportunity after the first time, K being any positive integer.

[0077] By the method, the terminal device can determine a transmission opportunity for transmitting the measurement report from the periodic uplink transmission resource when reporting the measurement report on the periodic uplink transmission resource preconfigured by the network device, thereby improving transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0078] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes, before the method, receiving, by the network device, terminal capability information from the terminal device, the terminal capability information including at least one of the following:

[0079] whether the terminal device supports the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, a number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, information of at least one first event supported by the terminal device, and the like.

[0080] The second reporting configuration information refers to reporting configuration information corresponding to the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the at least one first event refers to an event for the terminal device to determine whether to initiate the beam reporting, and the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with includes at least one of the following:

[0081] a number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, a number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, and a number of aperiodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with.

[0082] In an implementation, if the terminal device indicates in the terminal capability information that the terminal device supports the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the terminal device is by default considered to support the first mode. In this implementation, the terminal capability information does not need to carry additional indication information to indicate whether the terminal device supports the first mode, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0083] In another implementation, the terminal capability information can further include first mode indication information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the first mode.

[0084] Optionally, the terminal capability information can further include second mode indication information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the second mode.

[0085] By the method, the terminal device can report the capability related to the first mode and / or the second mode, so that the network device can more reasonably indicate the mode of transmitting the measurement report to the terminal device.

[0086] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first reporting configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0087] The reporting mode of the beam reporting, the first resource, the third resource, the fourth resource, the information of the at least one second event, the first time interval, and the like.

[0088] The at least one second event is used to assist the terminal device in determining whether to initiate the beam reporting.

[0089] For example, the reporting mode of the beam reporting can be determined based on terminal capability information reported by the terminal device.

[0090] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to the terminal side, that is, the method can be executed by a terminal device or a component (for example, a chip or a chip system or a circuit or a communication module) of the terminal device, and the present application does not limit this. Hereinafter, the terminal device is taken as an example for description.

[0091] The method can include: receiving, by the terminal device, first reporting configuration information from a network device, the first reporting configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report; sending, by the terminal device, first information to the network device through a first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource for transmitting the measurement report; and sending, by the terminal device, the measurement report to the network device through the second resource or a fourth resource according to whether scheduling information is received, the fourth resource being a periodic uplink transmission resource.

[0092] For example, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the second resource if the terminal device receives the scheduling information, and sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource if the terminal device does not receive the scheduling information.

[0093] The method can be initiated by the terminal device as needed, and the terminal device can also determine which resource to use to initiate the beam reporting according to whether scheduling information from the network device is received. This not only reduces the uplink resource overhead, but also improves the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0094] In some implementations of the third aspect, the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device includes: the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device between a first time and a second time.

[0095] The first time is a time at which the terminal device transmits the first information, or the first time is a sum of the time at which the terminal device transmits the first information and the first time interval. The second time is a sum of the time at which the terminal device transmits the first information and the second time interval, or the second time is a sum of the first time and the second time interval.

[0096] Exemplarily, the first time interval and / or the second time interval can be indicated to the terminal device by the network device, or the first time interval and / or the second time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval and / or the second time interval can be predefined by a protocol, and the application does not limit this.

[0097] Exemplarily, if the first time interval and / or the second time interval is indicated to the terminal device by the network device, the first time interval and / or the second time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0098] By the above method, the terminal device is limited to receive the scheduling information within a period of time, and the effectiveness of the measurement report can be ensured.

[0099] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after the first time.

[0100] The first time is a time at which the terminal device transmits the first information, or the first time is a sum of the time at which the terminal device transmits the first information and the first time interval.

[0101] By the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0102] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the scheduling information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report; or the scheduling information corresponds to a first search space, and the first search space is a search space specially used for transmitting the scheduling information.

[0103] By the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0104] In some implementations of the third aspect, if there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information; or if there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information.

[0105] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0106] Through the above method, when there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, or when there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, the terminal device can determine a scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report from the at least two scheduling information, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0107] Exemplarily, part or all of the scheduling information or the multiple scheduling information described above can be scheduling information for uplink scheduling or scheduling information for downlink scheduling, which is not limited in the present application.

[0108] In some implementations of the third aspect, there is one transmission opportunity in each period of the fourth resource, and the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource, including: the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first transmission opportunity after the first time.

[0109] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0110] The terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first transmission opportunity after the first time can be replaced by the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth transmission opportunity after the first time, K being any positive integer.

[0111] Through the above method, when there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, or when there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, the terminal device can determine a scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report from the at least two scheduling information, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0112] In some implementations of the third aspect, before the method, the method further includes: sending, by the terminal device, terminal capability information to the network device, the terminal capability information including at least one of the following:

[0113] whether the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, a number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, information of at least one first event supported by the terminal device, and the like.

[0114] The second reporting configuration information refers to reporting configuration information corresponding to beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the at least one first event refers to an event used by the terminal device to determine whether to initiate beam reporting, and the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with includes at least one of the following:

[0115] a number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, a number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, and a number of aperiodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with.

[0116] In some implementations of the third aspect, the first reporting configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0117] the first resource, the fourth resource, information of at least one second event, the first time interval, the second time interval, and the like.

[0118] The at least one second event is used to assist the terminal device in determining whether to initiate beam reporting.

[0119] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to the network side, that is, the method can be executed by a network device or a component (such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit or a communication module) of the network device, and the present application does not limit this. Hereinafter, the network device will be mainly taken as an example for description.

[0120] The method can include: sending, by the network device, first reporting configuration information to a terminal device, the first reporting configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report; receiving, by the network device, first information from the terminal device, the first information being sent by the terminal device through a first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource for transmitting the measurement report; and receiving, by the network device, the measurement report from the terminal device, the measurement report being sent by the terminal device through the second resource or a fourth resource, the second resource or the fourth resource being determined by the terminal device according to whether or not a scheduling information is received, the scheduling information being used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource, and the fourth resource being a periodic uplink transmission resource.

[0121] Exemplarily, the second resource or the fourth resource can be determined by the terminal device according to whether the scheduling information is received, and can be specifically: if the terminal device receives the scheduling information, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the second resource; and if the terminal device does not receive the scheduling information, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource.

[0122] The method can be initiated by the terminal device as needed to report the beam, and the terminal device can also determine the resource for reporting the measurement report to the network device according to whether the scheduling information of the network device is received, which can not only reduce the uplink resource overhead, but also improve the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0123] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after the first time.

[0124] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0125] Exemplarily, the first time interval can be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, or the first time interval can be determined by the terminal device itself, or the first time interval can be predefined by a protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0126] Exemplarily, if the first time interval is indicated by the network device to the terminal device, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0127] Through the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0128] In combination with the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the scheduling information includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report; or the scheduling information corresponds to a first search space, and the first search space is a search space specially used for transmitting the scheduling information.

[0129] Through the above method, when the terminal device receives multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0130] In some implementations of the fourth aspect, if there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information; or if there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information.

[0131] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0132] Through the above method, when there are at least two scheduling information including the first indication information in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, or when there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space in the multiple scheduling information received by the terminal device, the terminal device can determine a scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report from the at least two scheduling information, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0133] Exemplarily, part or all of the scheduling information or the multiple scheduling information described above can be scheduling information for uplink scheduling or scheduling information for downlink scheduling, which is not limited in the present application.

[0134] In some implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further comprises, before the method:

[0135] The network device receives terminal capability information from the terminal device, and the terminal capability information includes at least one of the following information:

[0136] Whether the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, information of at least one first event supported by the terminal device, and the like.

[0137] The second reporting configuration information refers to the reporting configuration information corresponding to the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the at least one first event refers to an event for the terminal device to determine whether to initiate beam reporting, and the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured includes at least one of the following:

[0138] The number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, the number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, and the number of aperiodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured.

[0139] In some implementations of the fourth aspect, the first reporting configuration information further includes at least one of the following information:

[0140] the first resource, the fourth resource, the first time interval, information of the at least one second event.

[0141] The at least one second event is used to assist the terminal device to determine whether to initiate the beam reporting.

[0142] In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The apparatus is configured to perform the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the apparatus is configured to perform the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the apparatus is configured to perform the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or the apparatus is configured to perform the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect. Specifically, the apparatus can include a unit and / or module for performing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the apparatus can include a unit and / or module for performing the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the apparatus can include a unit and / or module for performing the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or the apparatus can include a unit and / or module for performing the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, such as a processing unit and / or a communication unit.

[0143] In an implementation, the apparatus is a communication device (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device). When the apparatus is a communication device, the communication unit can be a transceiver, or an input / output interface; the processing unit can be at least one processor. Optionally, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input / output interface can be an input / output circuit.

[0144] In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a chip system or a circuit or a communication module for a communication device (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device). When the apparatus is a chip, a chip system or a circuit for a communication device, the communication unit can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or related circuit on the chip, the chip system or the circuit, etc.; the processing unit can be at least one processor, a processing circuit or a logic circuit, etc.

[0145] In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor configured to execute computer program or instructions to perform the method in the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a memory configured to store the computer program or instructions. Optionally, the apparatus further includes a communication interface coupled to the processor, which can be configured to input the computer program or instructions to the processor, or output information in the processor.

[0146] In an implementation, the apparatus is a communication device (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device).

[0147] In another implementation, the apparatus is a chip, a chip system or a circuit or a communication module for a communication device (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device).

[0148] In a seventh aspect, a processor is provided for performing the method provided in the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0149] For the sending and obtaining / receiving operations involved in the processor, if no special description is made, or if it does not contradict the actual role or the inherent logic in the related description, it can be understood as the processor output and receive, input operations, and can also be understood as the sending and receiving operations performed by the radio frequency circuit and the antenna, which is not limited in the present application.

[0150] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a memory for storing programs, and correspondingly, the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions in the memory.

[0151] Optionally, the apparatus further comprises a communication interface, which is coupled with the processor and can be used to input information to the processor or output information in the processor.

[0152] In an eighth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores program codes for execution by a device, and the program codes comprise codes for performing the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0153] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product containing instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method in any possible implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0154] In a tenth aspect, a chip is provided, which comprises a processor and a communication interface, and the processor reads instructions on a memory through the communication interface and executes the method provided in any implementation of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0155] Optionally, the chip is a Modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core.

[0156] Optionally, as an implementation form, the chip further comprises a memory, the memory storing a computer program or instructions, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program or instructions on the memory, and when the computer program or instructions are executed, the processor is configured to execute the method provided by any of the implementation forms of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0157] In a eleventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises instructions, and when the computer program product is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method provided by any of the implementation forms of the first aspect or the second aspect or the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0158] In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, which comprises the terminal device and the network device. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0159] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application.

[0160] FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application.

[0161] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0162] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 400 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0163] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 500 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0164] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 600 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0165] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus 700 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0166] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 800 according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0167] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0168] The technical solutions provided in the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, a 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) system, a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, and the like. The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to future communication systems. The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), machine type communication (MTC), and an internet of things (IoT) communication system. The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to a low-frequency scenario, a high-frequency scenario, a terahertz, and the like.

[0169] The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system, such as an inter-satellite communication and a satellite communication. As an example, a satellite communication system includes a satellite base station and a terminal device. The satellite base station provides a communication service for the terminal device. The satellite base station can also communicate with a base station. The satellite can act as a base station or a terminal device. The satellite can be an unmanned aerial vehicle, a hot air balloon, a low-orbit satellite, a medium-orbit satellite, a high-orbit satellite, and the like. The satellite can also be a non-ground base station or a non-ground device.

[0170] A device in a communication system can send a signal to another device or receive a signal from another device. The signal can include information, signaling, or data, and the like. The device can be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a network element, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, and the like. The present disclosure describes the device as an example. For example, the communication system can include at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device can send a downlink signal to the terminal device, and / or the terminal device can send an uplink signal to the network device.

[0171] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application can be a device or module with corresponding communication functions for accessing the above communication system. The terminal device can include various devices with wireless communication functions, which can be used to connect people, things, machines, etc. The terminal device can be widely used in various scenarios, such as cellular communication, D2D, V2X, peer to peer, M2M, MTC, IoT, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, autonomous driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city UAV, robot, remote sensing, passive sensing, positioning, navigation and tracking, autonomous delivery, etc. The terminal device can be a terminal in any of the above scenarios, such as an MTC terminal, an IoT terminal, etc. The terminal device can be a user equipment (UE) of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard, a terminal, a fixed device, a mobile station device or a mobile device, a subscriber unit, a handset, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wireless modem, a handset, a laptop computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a smart book, a vehicle, a satellite, a global positioning system (GPS) device, a target tracking device, an aircraft (such as a drone, a helicopter, a multi-copter, a quad-copter, or an airplane, etc.), a ship, a remote control device, a smart home device, an industrial device, a transport vehicle with wireless communication function, a communication module, a road side unit (RSU) with terminal function, or a device built in the above device (such as a communication module, a modem or a chip in the above device, etc.), or other processing devices connected to the wireless modem. For the sake of convenience, the terminal device is described below as an example.

[0172] It should be understood that in some scenarios, the terminal device can also be used to act as a base station. For example, the terminal device can act as a scheduling entity which provides sidelink signals between terminal devices in V2X, D2D or end-to-end scenarios.

[0173] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device, i.e., the terminal device, can be a terminal device or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system or a chip or a circuit or a communication module (i.e., a communication module performing a communication function), which can be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip or can include a chip and other discrete devices. In addition, the device can also be configured with program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions.

[0174] The network device in the embodiments of the present application can be a device or module with a corresponding communication function. The network device can be a device for communicating with the terminal device, and the network device can also be referred to as an access network device or a radio access network device, such as a network device which can be a base station. The network device in the embodiments of the present application can refer to a radio access network (RAN) node (or device) for accessing the terminal device to a wireless network. The base station can broadly cover various names in the following or be replaced by the following names, such as: Node B (NodeB), evolved Node B (eNB), next generation Node B (gNB), relay station, access point, transmission point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmission point, primary station, secondary station, multi-standard radio (MSR) node, home base station, network controller, access node, wireless node, access point (AP), transmission node, transceiver node, baseband unit (BBU), remote radio unit (RRU), active antenna unit (AAU), remote radio head (RRH), centralized unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), positioning node, etc.

[0175] The base station can be a macro base station, a micro base station, a relay node, a donor node, or the like, or a combination thereof. The base station can also refer to a communication module, a modem, or a chip for being disposed in the aforementioned device or apparatus. The base station can also be a mobile switching center, a device assuming a base station function in D2D, V2X, M2M communication, a network side device in a future communication network, a device assuming a base station function in a future communication system, and the like. The base station can support networks of the same or different access technologies. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0176] The base station can be fixed or mobile. For example, a helicopter or a drone can be configured to act as a mobile base station, and one or more cells can move according to the location of the mobile base station. In other examples, a helicopter or a drone can be configured to act as a device that communicates with another base station.

[0177] It should be noted that in different systems, the CU (or centralized unit-control plane (CU-CP) and centralized unit-user plane (CU-UP)), DU, or radio unit (RU) can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, the radio access network can also be an open radio access network (ORAN) architecture, in which the CU can also be referred to as an open centralized unit (O-CU), the DU can also be referred to as an open distributed unit (O-DU), the CU-CP can also be referred to as an open centralized unit-control plane (O-CU-CP), the CU-UP can also be referred to as an open centralized unit-user plane (O-CU-UP), and the RU can also be referred to as an open radio unit (O-RU). Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in the present application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0178] In an embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device can be a network device, or can be an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system or a chip or a circuit or a communication module (i.e., a communication module performing a communication function), which can be installed in the network device. In an embodiment of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices. In addition, program instructions for performing corresponding communication functions can also be configured in the apparatus. In an embodiment of the present application, only the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device is taken as an example of the network device, and the scheme of the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

[0179] The network device and the terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water; and can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons and satellites in the air. The scenario in which the network device and the terminal device are located is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In addition, the terminal device and the network device can be hardware devices, or software functions running on special hardware, software functions running on general hardware, such as virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform), or entities including special or general hardware devices and software functions. The specific form of the terminal device and the network device is not limited in the present application.

[0180] First, a communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application is briefly introduced as follows.

[0181] Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application.

[0182] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless communication system includes a radio access network 100. The radio access network 100 can be a future version of a radio access network, or a traditional (for example, 5G, 4G, 3G or 2G) radio access network. One or more terminal devices (120a-120j, collectively referred to as 12) can be connected to each other or connected to one or more network devices (110a, 110b, collectively referred to as 110) in the radio access network 100. The network elements in the wireless communication system are connected through an interface (for example, an NG interface, an Xn interface), or an air interface.

[0183] FIG. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the wireless communication system can also include other devices, such as core network (CN) devices, wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, etc., which are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0184] Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an ORAN system applicable to embodiments of the present application. The ORAN system includes a core network device, an access network device (e.g., a RAN), and a UE. Optionally, the ORAN system can include other components than those shown in FIG. 1, which are not limited in the present application. The access network device communicates with the core network device through a backhaul link and communicates with the terminal device through an air interface. For example, the BBU in the access network device communicates with the core network device through a backhaul link, and the RU in the access network device communicates with at least one terminal device through an air interface. The BBU can communicate with at least one RU through a front-haul link, and the BBU and the RU can be co-located or not co-located. The BBU includes at least one CU and at least one DU, and the CU and the DU can communicate through at least one mid-haul link.

[0185] In some deployments, as shown in FIG. 3, the CU is a logical node that carries the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and other control functions of the access network device. The CU can be connected to network nodes such as core network through some interfaces, which can be E2 interface, etc. Optionally, the CU can have part of the functions of the core network. The CU (e.g., the PDCP layer and higher layers of the CU) is connected to the DU (e.g., the radio link control (RLC) layer and lower layers) through some interfaces, which can be F1 interface, etc. In some examples, these interfaces (e.g., F1 interface) can provide control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane) functions (e.g., interface management, system information management, UE context management, RRC message transmission, etc.). The F1 application protocol (F1AP) is an application protocol for the F1 interface, which defines the signaling procedures of F1 in some examples. The F1 interface supports control plane F1-C and user plane F1-U.

[0186] In some deployments, as shown in FIG. 3, a CU can be split into a CU-CP and a CU-UP. The CU-CP is a logical node that carries the control plane part of PDCP (PDCP-C) layer and RRC layer, and is used to implement the control plane function of the CU. The CU-CP can interact with a network element in the core network that is used to implement the control plane function. The network element in the core network that is used to implement the control plane function can be an access and mobility function network element, such as an access and mobility management (AMF) network element in a 5G system, which is used to be responsible for mobility management in a mobile network, such as location updating of a terminal device, registration network of a terminal device, handover of a terminal device, and the like. The CU-UP is a logical node that carries the user plane part of PDCP (PDCP-U) layer and SDAP layer, and is used to implement the user plane function of the CU. The CU-UP can interact with a network element in the core network that is used to implement the user plane function. The network element in the core network that is used to implement the user plane function can be a user plane function network element, such as a user plane function (UPF) network element in a 5G system, which is used to be responsible for forwarding and receiving data in a terminal device. The above configuration of the CU and the DU is only an example, and in actual applications, the CU and the DU can also be configured to have functions according to needs. For example, the CU or the DU can be configured to have more protocol layer functions, or the CU or the DU can be configured to have partial processing functions of the protocol layers. For example, partial functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are arranged in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are arranged in the DU. For another example, the functions of the CU or the DU can be divided according to a service type or other system requirements, for example, functions that need to meet a relatively short delay requirement in processing time are arranged in the DU, and functions that do not need to meet the delay requirement are arranged in the CU.

[0187] In some deployments, as shown in FIG. 3, the DU is a logical node that carries the RLC layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, the higher physical layer (Higher PHY layer), and other functions. In some examples, the DU can control at least one RU. The DU is connected to the RU through some interfaces, which can be a front-haul interface. In some examples, the Higher PHY layer includes part of the PHY layer processing, such as forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, and the like.

[0188] In some deployments, as shown in FIG. 3, the RU is a logical node that hosts lower physical layer (Lower PHY) and radio frequency (RF) processing. In some examples, the RU can be a TRP or a RRH or other similar functional entity. In some examples, the Low-PHY includes portions of PHY processing such as fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast Fourier transformation (IFFT), digital beamforming and filtering, and other processing functions. The RU communicates with one or more terminal devices over a wireless link.

[0189] The DU and the RU can or can not be co-located. The DU and the RU exchange control plane information and user plane information over a front-haul link via a lower-layer split control, user, and synchronization plane (LLS-CUS) interface. The LLS-CUS can include a lower-layer split control (LLS-C) interface and a lower-layer split user (LLS-U) interface that provide control plane (C-Plane) and user plane (U-Plane), respectively. In some examples, the control plane refers to real-time control between the DU and the RU. The DU and the RU exchange management information over a lower-layer split management plane (LLS-M) interface of the front-haul link, and the management plane (M-Plane) refers to non-real-time management operations between the DU and the RU.

[0190] The DU and the RU can cooperate to collectively implement the functionality of the PHY layer. One DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functionalities of the DU and the RU can be configured in a variety of ways according to design. For example, the DU is configured to implement baseband functionality, and the RU is configured to implement intermediate RF functionality. As another example, the DU is configured to implement high-layer functionality in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement low-layer functionality in the PHY layer or to implement the low-layer functionality and RF functionality. The high-layer functionality in the PHY layer can include a portion of the functionality of the PHY layer that is closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functionality in the PHY layer can include another portion of the functionality of the PHY layer that is closer to the intermediate RF side.

[0191] In order to better understand the technical solutions of the present application, some related technologies involved in the technical solutions of the present application are introduced.

[0192] 1、beam: a kind of communication resource. Different beams can be considered as different resources. The same information or different information can be transmitted through different beams.

[0193] The embodiment of beam in NR protocol can be spatial domain filter, or spatial filter or spatial parameter, or spatial domain parameter, or spatial parameter, or spatial domain setting, or spatial setting, or quasi-co-location (QCL) information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, etc. Beam can be indicated by transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state (TCI-state or TCIstate) parameter, or indicated by spatial relation parameter. Therefore, in this application, beam can be replaced by spatial domain filter, spatial filter, spatial domain parameter, spatial parameter, spatial domain setting, spatial setting, QCL information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, TCI-state, spatial relation, etc. The above terms are also equivalent to each other. Beam can also be replaced by other terms representing beam, which is not limited in this application.

[0194] Beam for transmitting signal can be called transmission beam (Tx beam), or spatial domain transmission filter, spatial transmission filter, spatial domain transmission parameter or spatial transmission parameter, spatial domain transmission setting or spatial transmission setting. Downlink transmission beam can be indicated by TCI-state.

[0195] The beam used to receive signals can be called a reception beam (Rx beam), a spatial domain reception filter, a spatial reception filter, a spatial domain reception parameter, a spatial reception setting, or a spatial reception setting. The uplink transmit beam can be indicated by a spatial relation, an uplink TCI-state, or a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource (indicating the transmit beam using that SRS). Therefore, uplink beams, SRS resources, and uplink TCI-states are interchangeable.

[0196] The transmitting beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after a signal is transmitted through an antenna, while the receiving beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of a wireless signal received from an antenna.

[0197] Furthermore, the beam can be a wide beam, a narrow beam, or other types of beam. The beamforming technology can be beamforming technology or other technologies. Specifically, beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology, etc.

[0198] As an example, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as a single beam.

[0199] Beams are generally associated with resources. For example, when performing beam measurement, network devices measure different beams through different resources. The terminal devices provide feedback on the measured resource quality, and the network devices then know the quality of the corresponding beam.

[0200] Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as a single beam. A beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and detection signals, etc. One or more antenna ports forming a beam can also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

[0201] 2、Reference signal (RS): can also be referred to as pilot, reference sequence, reference signal, etc. For the sake of unity, the reference signal is described below. The reference signal can be used for channel measurement or channel estimation, etc.

[0202] The channel measurement involved in the present application also includes beam measurement, i.e. obtaining beam quality information by measuring the reference signal. As an example, the parameters used to measure the beam quality include at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) (or can be simply referred to as signal-to-noise ratio). In the embodiments of the present application, for the sake of convenience, the channel measurement involved can be regarded as beam measurement unless otherwise specified.

[0203] As an example, the reference signal involved in the present application can be any of the following: channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), synchronization signal block (synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block, SSB for short), sounding reference signal (SRS), UE-specific reference signal (US-RS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS), cell reference signal (CRS), etc. It should be understood that the reference signals listed above are only examples and should not constitute any limitation on the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of defining other reference signals in future protocols to achieve the same or similar functions.

[0204] In addition, the reference signal can be understood as a reference signal associated with a handover candidate cell configuration. The handover candidate cell can also be referred to as a candidate cell or a neighbor cell, which can be a current serving cell or a non-serving cell, and the physical cell identifier (PCI) of the handover candidate cell is different from that of the current primary cell (PCell). In addition, the reference signal can also be a reference signal associated with an additional PCI (additional PCI), i.e., a reference signal of a neighbor cell.

[0205] The terminal device can be configured with one or more candidate cell configurations, each of which can include a configuration of a reference signal resource.

[0206] 3. Reference signal resource: a transmission attribute that can be used to configure a reference signal.

[0207] Generally, a reference signal is configured in the form of a resource. The network device can configure each reference signal in the form of a resource to the terminal device, and one resource is one configuration information unit, which usually includes a reference signal related parameter, such as the type of the reference signal, the time-frequency resource position carrying the reference signal, the number of ports used to transmit the reference signal, the time domain type (periodic / semi-static / non-periodic) of transmitting the reference signal, and the like. The transmitting terminal device can transmit the reference signal based on the reference signal resource, and the receiving terminal device can receive the reference signal based on the reference signal resource.

[0208] In order to distinguish different reference signal resources, each reference signal resource can correspond to a reference signal resource identifier, such as a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI), and an SRS resource indicator (SRI).

[0209] 4. Beam management: beam management is a measurement process, for example, including beam measurement, such as measurement based on a reference signal to determine a better quality beam. Beam management can be divided into downlink beam management and uplink beam management.

[0210] Among them, the downlink beam management mainly includes the following four steps:

[0211] S1. The network device sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device.

[0212] The measurement configuration information is sent by the network device to the terminal device through RRC signaling. The measurement configuration information mainly includes two parts: resource configuration information and reporting configuration information. The resource configuration information is measurement resource related information, which is configured in the related protocol through a three-level structure: resource configuration-resource set-resource (resourceConfig-resourceSet-resource). The network device can configure one or more resource configurations (resourceConfig can also be written as resourceSetting) for the terminal device, each resource configuration includes one or more resource sets, and each resource set can include one or more resources. Each resource configuration / resource set / resource includes its own index. In addition, some other parameters are included, such as the period of the resource, the signal type corresponding to the resource, etc. The reporting configuration information refers to the measurement result reporting related information, which is configured in the protocol through reporting configuration (ReportConfig). The network device can configure one or more reporting configurations ReportConfig for the terminal device, each reporting configuration includes reporting indicators, reporting time, reporting period, reporting format and other reporting related information. In addition, the reporting configuration also includes the index of the resource configuration, which is used to indicate that the reported measurement result is obtained through which resource configuration.

[0213] For example, the specific formats of the resource configuration and the reporting configuration in the related protocol are listed below to facilitate further understanding of the resource configuration and the reporting configuration. Some parameters irrelevant to the present application are omitted in the specific formats of the resource configuration and the reporting configuration shown below.

[0214] S2, the network device sends a downlink reference signal on the resource corresponding to the resource configuration information, so that the terminal device determines the quality of each resource, i.e., the quality of the beam corresponding to the resource, by measuring the downlink reference signal.

[0215] S3, the terminal device measures the downlink reference signal according to the measurement configuration information.

[0216] S4, the terminal device sends a beam measurement report to the network device.

[0217] The beam measurement report can include the index of one or more resources, the quality of the resource, etc.

[0218] Table 1 is the reporting format used in the beam measurement in the related protocol. As shown in Table 1:

[0219] Table 1

[0220] Wherein, the CRI field and the SSBRI field are used to indicate the resource index to be reported. The terminal device can report only the CRI or the SSBRI, or both. and are the lengths of the CRI field and the SSBRI field. RSRP is the quality of the resource. The reporting of RSRP adopts a differential reporting criterion, that is, the RSRP (RSRP field in Table 1) of the best resource is reported by 7-bit quantization, and the RSRP (differential RSRP field in Table 1) of other resources is reported by 4-bit quantization.

[0221] The above reporting information can be carried in a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0222] Wherein, the uplink beam management mainly includes the following three steps:

[0223] S1, the network device sends resource configuration information of an uplink reference signal to the terminal device. Illustratively, the uplink reference signal can be an SRS.

[0224] The network device can configure one or more SRS resource sets (SRS-ResourceSet) for the terminal device for uplink beam management, each SRS resource set including one or more SRS resources (SRS-Resource). Each SRS resource is associated with a beam. Each SRS resource includes an SRS signal, and uplink beam measurement can be performed by measuring the SRS signals corresponding to the SRS resources.

[0225] Illustratively, the specific format of the SRS resource configuration in the relevant protocol is listed below to facilitate further understanding of the SRS resource configuration. Some parameters irrelevant to the present application are omitted in the specific format of the SRS resource configuration shown below.

[0226] S2, the terminal device sends the corresponding SRS using the uplink transmission beam associated with each SRS resource according to the SRS resource configuration.

[0227] S3, the network device measures each SRS signal sent by the terminal device and measures the quality of each SRS resource.

[0228] 5、Measurement reporting: Currently, according to the time domain configuration behavior of reporting, the network device can configure three kinds of measurement reporting (also known as beam reporting, or beam measurement reporting, or channel state information (CSI) reporting) processes: periodic reporting, semi-persistent reporting, and aperiodic reporting. The following is a brief introduction.

[0229] 1) Periodic reporting: First, the network device configures periodic reference signal measurement, that is, the network device periodically sends measurement reference signals to the terminal device, and the terminal device measures these reference signals and periodically reports the measurement results. After the configuration signaling takes effect, the terminal device periodically reports the measurement report. To terminate the measurement reporting process, the RRC signaling can be sent to release the related configuration parameters of the measurement reporting process.

[0230] 2) Semi-persistent reporting: One is that the reference signal measurement is periodic, and the measurement result reporting is semi-persistent. First, the network device can configure periodic reference signals, that is, the network device periodically sends measurement reference signals to the terminal device, and the terminal device measures these reference signals. When the terminal device receives the activation signaling (such as medium access control control element (MAC CE) signaling or downlink control information (DCI) signaling) sent by the network device, the terminal device will continue to periodically report the measurement results. Of course, the network device can also send deactivation signaling to the terminal device to deactivate the semi-persistent reporting process. The other is that both the reference signal measurement and the measurement result reporting are semi-persistent. When the terminal device receives the activation signaling (such as MAC CE signaling or DCI signaling) sent by the network device, the terminal device will continue to periodically measure the reference signal and report the measurement result. When the terminal device receives the deactivation signaling sent by the network device, the terminal device stops the continuous reporting.

[0231] 3) Aperiodic reporting: This reporting is executed only after the terminal device receives a trigger signaling sent by the network device. After the reporting is completed, the terminal device will stop continuing to report, that is, it is a one-time reporting.

[0232] The above measurement result reporting is either periodic or semi-persistent or aperiodic reporting triggered by the network device through indication signaling, that is, the reporting occasion is determined by the network device. This approach results in a large overhead of uplink resources. Specifically, in periodic and semi-persistent measurement reporting, the terminal device needs to report measurement results every period, and these measurement results can be meaningless to the network device. For example, the current measurement result is not different from the last reported measurement result (such as the optimal beam has not changed), and reporting such measurement results is meaningless, resulting in waste of uplink resources.

[0233] Therefore, the present application proposes a beam reporting triggered by a terminal device, which determines whether to report measurement results to a network device, thereby avoiding the terminal device from repeatedly reporting measurement results with no difference and saving resources. Meanwhile, the terminal device can also determine how to report measurement results to the network device, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0234] Before introducing the scheme of the present application, the following points are explained.

[0235] (1) In the present application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, explicit indication, and implicit indication. When describing that 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.

[0236] In the present application, the information indicated by various information is referred to as to-be-indicated information. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example, but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or the index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part of the to-be-indicated information, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of a specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, a protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. In addition, the to-be-indicated information can be sent as a whole, or can be sent separately in multiple sub-information, and the sending period and / or sending occasion of these sub-information can be the same or different.

[0237] (2) In the present application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as that the destination of the information is XX, which can include direct sending through the air interface, or indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as that the source of the information is YY, which can include direct receiving from YY through the air interface, or indirect receiving from YY through the air interface by other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be carried out between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or can be carried out within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within a device through a bus, wire or interface.

[0238] (3) In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other if there is no special description and logical conflict, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0239] (4) In the present application, "first", "second" are only convenient for description, used for distinguishing objects, and do not limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. They are not used to describe the order or sequence of characteristics. It should be understood that the objects thus described can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so as to be able to describe schemes other than the embodiments of the present application.

[0240] (5) In the present application, "predefined" and "preset" can represent standard protocol predefinition, or can also represent pre-agreement or pre-negotiation between devices.

[0241] (6) In the present application, words such as "exemplarily" and "such as" are used to represent examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "example" in the present application should not be interpreted as more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Rather, the word "example" is intended to present the concept in a specific way. In the embodiments of the present application, "of", "corresponding" and "corresponding" can be used interchangeably at times. It should be pointed out that when the distinction is not emphasized, the meanings expressed are consistent.

[0242] The method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments provided by the present application can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1, without limitation.

[0243] In the following embodiments, terminal devices and network devices are exemplarily illustrated. The terminal devices can be replaced by constituent components (e.g., chips or chip systems or circuits) of the terminal devices, and the network devices can be replaced by constituent components (e.g., chips or chip systems or circuits) of the network devices.

[0244] Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 400 shown in FIG. 4 can include the following steps:

[0245] Optionally, at S410, the terminal device sends terminal capability information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the terminal capability information from the terminal device.

[0246] Specifically, the terminal capability information includes at least one of the following information:

[0247] whether the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, a number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, information of at least one first event supported by the terminal device, and a reporting mode supported by the terminal device.

[0248] The second reporting configuration information refers to reporting configuration information corresponding to the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device. The number of the second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with includes at least one of a number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, a number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, and a number of aperiodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with. The at least one first event refers to an event used for the terminal device to support judging whether to initiate beam reporting. The reporting mode supported by the terminal device can include the first mode but not the second mode, or include the second mode but not the first mode, or include both the first mode and the second mode. The first mode and the second mode are described in detail below in S440.

[0249] It should be noted that the measurement report sent by the terminal device to the network device contains beam information, and thus the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device can also be the terminal device initiating beam reporting. The beam reporting involved in the embodiments of the present application can be replaced by measurement report reporting, measurement result reporting, etc., which are not limited in the present application.

[0250] Specifically, when the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode.

[0251] Specifically, if the terminal device supports the terminal device initiated beam reporting, the terminal device supports the first mode by default. Whether the terminal device supports the second mode can be reported by a terminal capability parameter. For example, the terminal capability parameter can be the second mode indication information described below. Since the first mode is a more basic reporting mode, if the terminal device supports the terminal device initiated beam reporting, it supports the first mode by default, and does not need to report an additional terminal capability parameter, which can save the overhead of the terminal capability information.

[0252] Specifically, the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured is used for the network device to send the first reporting configuration information shown below to the terminal device. For example, if the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured is 10, the network device can determine based on this that the number of first reporting configuration information sent to the terminal device is less than or equal to 10. In another example, if the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured is 10, wherein the number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured is 5, and the number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured is 3, the network device can determine based on this that the number of periodic first reporting configuration information sent to the terminal device is less than or equal to 5, and the network device can determine based on this that the number of semi-persistent first reporting configuration information sent to the terminal device is less than or equal to 3. The description of the first reporting configuration information referred to here is described in detail below in step S420.

[0253] The terminal device can also report support for multiple first events through a terminal capability parameter. If the terminal device does not report the terminal capability parameter, it means that it does not support multiple first events. If the terminal device does not support multiple first events, the terminal device supports one event by default. For example, if the terminal device does not support multiple first events, the terminal device supports one first event by default, for example, the terminal device supports event 2 shown below. Alternatively, if the terminal device does not support multiple first events, the terminal device supports one first event by default, for example, the terminal device supports event 1 shown below.

[0254] The terminal device can also report support for associating multiple first events with one measurement reporting configuration through a terminal capability parameter. If the terminal device does not report the terminal capability parameter, it means that it does not support associating multiple first events with one measurement reporting configuration. If the terminal device does not support associating multiple first events with one measurement reporting configuration, the terminal device supports associating one first event with one measurement reporting configuration.

[0255] S420, the network device sends first reporting configuration information to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the first reporting configuration information from the network device.

[0256] Exemplarily, after the network device obtains the terminal capability information from the terminal device, the network device determines first reporting configuration information according to the terminal capability information, and sends the first reporting configuration information to the terminal device. The first reporting configuration information is used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report.

[0257] It should be understood that the first reporting configuration information includes at least one reporting configuration, each reporting configuration in the at least one reporting configuration is associated with at least one resource configuration, and each resource configuration in the at least one resource configuration includes a channel measurement resource for channel measurement or an interference measurement resource for interference measurement. Each resource configuration includes one or more resource sets, wherein the resource set configured in the resource configuration for channel measurement is a resource set for channel measurement, and the resource set configured in the resource configuration for interference measurement is a resource set for interference measurement. Each resource set includes one or more measurement resources.

[0258] It should also be understood that the configuration parameters corresponding to the measurement reporting process of the terminal device can be configured by the reporting configuration and the resource configuration associated with the reporting configuration. The reporting configuration includes the calculation method of the measurement result and the related parameters required for reporting the measurement result. The resource configuration includes the reference signal resource that needs to be measured. For a measurement reporting process corresponding to one reporting configuration, the network device can configure one resource set for channel measurement for the terminal device, which can be specifically a resource setting, a resource set, or a subset in the resource set, and the like. The terminal device performs measurement on the channel measurement resource set and determines the quality of each beam. For a measurement reporting process corresponding to one reporting configuration, the network device can configure multiple resource sets for channel measurement for the terminal device, and the terminal device measures the channel measurement resource set to determine the quality of each beam.

[0259] The first reporting configuration information described above can be carried in RRC signaling and sent to the terminal device, or carried in other downlink signaling and transmitted, which is not limited in the present application.

[0260] Optionally, the first reporting configuration information described above can further include information of at least one second event, which is used to assist the terminal device to determine whether to initiate beam reporting.

[0261] Regarding the at least one second event, the following three cases are included.

[0262] In a first possible case, the at least one second event is determined based on the terminal capability information. In other words, the at least one second event is an event supported by the terminal device, or in other words, the at least one second event is an event indicated by the terminal device through the terminal capability information. In this case, the first reporting configuration information in step S420 can not include information of the at least one second event, that is, the network device can not indicate the information of the at least one second event to the terminal device.

[0263] In a second possible case, the at least one second event is configured by the network device, that is, the network device itself configures (or selects) the at least one second event. In this case, it can be defaulted that the terminal device supports the at least one second event configured by the network device. In this case, the terminal capability information in step S410 can not include information of the at least one first event supported by the terminal device, that is, the terminal device can not indicate the event information supported by the terminal device to the network device.

[0264] In a third possible case, the at least one second event is determined based on the terminal capability information and the network device configuration. For example, the network device configures at least one event, the terminal device supports at least one first event, and the at least one second event is determined based on the at least one event configured by the network device and the at least one first event supported by the terminal device.

[0265] The above three possible cases are exemplary, and embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto. For brevity, the at least one second event is described below.

[0266] Exemplarily, the first reporting configuration information includes an index of the at least one second event, and the terminal device can obtain the at least one second event based on the first reporting configuration information.

[0267] Specifically, the at least one first event or the at least one second event includes one or more of the following events:

[0268] Event 1: the beam quality of a current serving beam is less than a first threshold.

[0269] The terminal device can report whether the terminal device supports beam reporting based on the event 1 through a terminal capability parameter. Alternatively, if the terminal device supports terminal device-initiated beam reporting, it is defaulted that the terminal device supports beam reporting based on the event 1, and a special terminal capability parameter is not needed to indicate.

[0270] Event 2: there are at least M1 beams whose beam quality is greater than the beam quality of the current serving beam, and the difference between the beam quality of each of the at least M1 beams and the beam quality of the current serving beam is greater than a second threshold.

[0271] The terminal device can report whether the terminal device supports beam reporting based on the event 2 through a terminal capability parameter. Alternatively, if the terminal device supports the terminal device initiated beam reporting, it is by default that the terminal device supports the beam reporting based on the event 2, without the need for a special terminal capability parameter to indicate.

[0272] Event 3: there are at least M2 beams whose beam quality is greater than a third threshold value.

[0273] Event 4: the beam quality of the current serving beam is less than a fourth threshold value, and there are at least M3 beams whose beam quality is greater than a fifth threshold value.

[0274] Event 5: the difference between the beam quality of each of at least M4 beams and the beam quality of the current serving beam is less than a sixth threshold value.

[0275] Event 6: the current serving beam does not belong to the K1 best beams.

[0276] Specifically, the K1 best beams can also be understood as the beams corresponding to the K1 currently activated TCI-states.

[0277] Event 7: there are at least M5 beams whose beam quality is greater than the beam quality of the best beam among the currently activated beams, and the difference between the two is greater than a seventh threshold value.

[0278] The terminal device can report whether the terminal device supports beam reporting based on the event 7 through a terminal capability parameter. Alternatively, if the terminal device supports the terminal device initiated beam reporting, it is by default that the terminal device supports the beam reporting based on the event 7, without the need for a special terminal capability parameter to indicate.

[0279] Event 8: there are at least M6 beams whose beam quality is greater than the beam quality of the worst beam among the currently activated beams, and the difference between the two is greater than an eighth threshold value.

[0280] The terminal device can report whether the terminal device supports beam reporting based on the event 8 through a terminal capability parameter. Alternatively, if the terminal device supports the terminal device initiated beam reporting, it is by default that the terminal device supports the beam reporting based on the event 8, without the need for a special terminal capability parameter to indicate.

[0281] Event 9: there are at least M7 beams whose beam quality is greater than the quality of the configured reference beam, and the difference between the beam quality of each of the M7 beams and the quality of the configured reference beam is greater than a ninth threshold value.

[0282] The beam quality in the present application can indicate the value of the RSRP or SINR corresponding to the beam.

[0283] Specifically, the less than in the above examples 1-9 can be replaced by less than or equal to, and the greater than can be replaced by greater than or equal to.

[0284] Specifically, M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7, K1 involved in the above examples 1-9 are all integers greater than or equal to 1.

[0285] Specifically, the threshold values (first threshold value, …, ninth threshold value), the values of M (for example, M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M7), and the value of K1 involved in the above examples 1-9 can be determined by the terminal device, or determined by the network device, or predefined by the system or protocol, and the specific values of the above parameters are not limited in the present application. The threshold values (first threshold value, …, ninth threshold value) involved in the above examples 1-9 can be the same or different. Two threshold values can be associated, that is, the associated threshold value can be derived through one threshold value, or they can not be associated. The units of the threshold values can be decibels (dB), decibel milliwatts (dBm), etc.

[0286] S430, the terminal device performs beam measurement according to the first reporting configuration information to obtain a measurement result.

[0287] Specifically, after the terminal device receives the first reporting configuration information from the network device, the terminal device performs beam measurement according to the resource configuration associated with the first reporting configuration information to obtain a measurement result.

[0288] It should be understood that the detailed description of the terminal device measuring the beam according to the resource configuration to obtain the measurement result can be referred to the description of the related technology, and the detailed process will not be repeated here.

[0289] The terminal device can determine whether to report the measurement result to the network device according to the obtained measurement result. For example, if the measurement result satisfies the at least one second event, the terminal device can initiate beam reporting; if the measurement result does not satisfy the at least one second event, the terminal device does not initiate beam reporting.

[0290] S440, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode. Correspondingly, the network device receives the measurement report from the terminal device.

[0291] Specifically, the above first mode includes the following steps:

[0292] (1) The terminal device sends first information to the network device through the first resource, and the first information is used to request a second resource for transmitting a measurement report. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first information from the terminal device.

[0293] The first resource can be carried in the first reporting configuration information. For example, the first reporting configuration information can include an index of the first resource, which can be a PUCCH resource or a scheduling request (SR) resource.

[0294] For example, the first information can be PUCCH signaling.

[0295] (2) The network device sends scheduling information to the terminal device based on the first information, and the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device.

[0296] For example, the scheduling information can be a DCI for uplink scheduling, which is used to schedule a PUSCH; or the scheduling information can also be a DCI for downlink scheduling, which can be used to schedule a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a PUCCH for carrying HARQ feedback information of the PDSCH, i.e., the DCI for downlink scheduling indicates an index of a PUCCH.

[0297] (3) The terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the second resource. Accordingly, the network device receives the measurement report from the terminal device.

[0298] In the above step (2), the terminal device can receive multiple scheduling information, and the terminal device can determine the scheduling information from the multiple scheduling information by the following three methods:

[0299] Method 1: The terminal device receives multiple scheduling information from the network device; the terminal device takes the first scheduling information received after the first time as the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after the first time.

[0300] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval. For example, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information. The first time interval can also be reported by the terminal capability information, or the first time interval can also be a fixed value specified by the protocol.

[0301] Exemplarily, the multiple scheduling information can be multiple DCI for uplink scheduling. Alternatively, the multiple scheduling information can be multiple DCI for downlink scheduling. The DCI for uplink scheduling is used for scheduling PUSCH, and the DCI for downlink scheduling can be used for scheduling PDSCH and scheduling PUCCH for carrying HARQ feedback information of the PDSCH, i.e., the DCI for downlink scheduling indicates an index of a PUCCH. Alternatively, the DCI for downlink scheduling does not schedule PDSCH, but schedules a PUCCH for beam reporting.

[0302] Suppose that the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3. In one implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#2, DCI#3, and DCI#1 in time sequence after sending the first information, and the terminal device can determine the first received DCI#2 as the scheduling information. In another implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#3 and DCI#1 in time sequence after the time of sending the first information plus a first time interval, and the terminal device can determine the first received DCI#3 as the scheduling information.

[0303] Method 2: The terminal device receives multiple scheduling information from the network device; and the terminal device determines, as the scheduling information, scheduling information including first indication information, the first indication information being used for indicating that the scheduling information is used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report. In other words, the scheduling information is the scheduling information including the first indication information.

[0304] Suppose that the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 includes the first indication information, and DCI#2 and DCI#3 do not include the first indication information, and the terminal device can determine DCI#1 as the scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report.

[0305] If at least two scheduling information in the multiple scheduling information includes the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information as the scheduling information, or the terminal device can determine the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information after a first time as the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information, or the scheduling information is the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information after the first time. The first scheduling information refers to the scheduling information with a relatively earlier starting time in the at least two scheduling information. Alternatively, the first scheduling information refers to the scheduling information with a smaller PDCCH candidate index in the at least two scheduling information.

[0306] Suppose the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 and DCI#2 include the first indication information, and DCI#3 does not include the first indication information. At this time, the terminal device can determine that DCI#1 and DCI#2 are scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report. In one implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#2, DCI#3, and DCI#1 in time sequence after sending the first information. Since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, DCI#3 can be ignored. The terminal device can determine the first received DCI#2 in DCI#1 and DCI#2 as the scheduling information. In another implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#3 and DCI#1 in time sequence after the time when the first information is sent plus the first time interval. Since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, DCI#3 can be ignored. The terminal device can determine DCI#1 as the scheduling information.

[0307] Method 3: The terminal device receives multiple scheduling information from the network device; and the terminal device determines the scheduling information corresponding to the first search space as the scheduling information, where the first search space is a search space specially used for transmitting the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the scheduling information corresponding to the first search space.

[0308] Suppose the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 is the scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, DCI#2 is the scheduling information corresponding to the second search space, and DCI#3 is the scheduling information corresponding to the third search space. At this time, the terminal device can determine DCI#1 corresponding to the first search space as the scheduling information.

[0309] If there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space in the multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information as the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information.

[0310] Assuming that the plurality of scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 and DCI#2 are scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, and DCI#3 is scheduling information corresponding to the third search space, at this time, the terminal device can determine that DCI#1 and DCI#2 are scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report. One implementation manner is that the terminal device receives DCI#2, DCI#3, and DCI#1 in time sequence after sending the first information, since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, it can be ignored, at this time, the terminal device can determine the first received DCI#2 in DCI#1 and DCI#2 as the scheduling information. Another implementation manner is that the terminal device receives DCI#3 and DCI#1 in time sequence after the time when the first information is sent plus the first time interval, since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, it can be ignored, at this time, the terminal device can determine DCI#1 as the scheduling information.

[0311] Specifically, the second mode includes the following steps:

[0312] (1) The terminal device sends third information to the network device through a third resource, and the third information is used to indicate that the terminal device will send a measurement report to the network device through a fourth resource. Correspondingly, the network device receives the third information from the terminal device.

[0313] The third resource can be carried in the first reporting configuration information. For example, the first reporting configuration information can include an index of the third resource, and the third resource can be a PUCCH resource.

[0314] Exemplarily, the third information can be PUCCH signaling.

[0315] (2) The terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource. Correspondingly, the network device receives the measurement report from the terminal device.

[0316] The fourth resource can be carried in the first reporting configuration information. For example, the first reporting configuration information can include an index of the fourth resource.

[0317] Specifically, the fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource. Exemplarily, the fourth resource can be a PUCCH resource or a grant-free PUSCH resource, for example, the grant-free PUSCH resource is a configured grant Type 1 PUSCH resource.

[0318] Specifically, there is one sending opportunity for each period of the fourth resource, and the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first sending opportunity after the first time. Alternatively, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth sending opportunity after the first time, where K is an arbitrary integer. Alternatively, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first sending opportunity after the first time can be replaced by the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first period after the first time. Alternatively, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth sending opportunity after the first time can be replaced by the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth period after the first time. Illustratively, K is a value indicated by the network device, determined by the terminal device, or specified by a protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0319] wherein the first time is the time at which the terminal device sends the third information, or the first time is the sum of the time at which the terminal device sends the third information and the first time interval.

[0320] The first mode and the second mode are introduced above, and whether the terminal device uses the first mode or the second mode to send the measurement report to the network device can be determined in the following three ways:

[0321] Method one: the first reporting configuration information can further include a reporting mode of beam reporting, and the terminal device can determine the first mode or the second mode to send the measurement report to the network device according to the reporting mode of beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information.

[0322] Illustratively, if the reporting mode of beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information is the first mode, the terminal device determines to use the first mode to send the measurement report to the network device; if the reporting mode of beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information is the second mode, the terminal device determines to use the second mode to send the measurement report to the network device.

[0323] Optionally, the reporting mode of the beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information can be determined based on the terminal capability information reported by the terminal device, and the reporting mode of the beam reporting included in the first reporting configuration information is a reporting mode supported by the terminal device. For example, if the terminal device indicates in the terminal device information that the terminal device supports the beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, it means that the terminal device supports the first mode. In another example, the terminal device can carry first mode indication information in the terminal capability information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the first mode. In another example, the terminal device can carry second mode indication information in the terminal capability information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the second mode.

[0324] Mode two: the terminal device determines to send the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode according to whether the first reporting configuration information includes the fourth resource.

[0325] For example, if the first reporting configuration information does not include the fourth resource, the terminal device determines to send the measurement report to the network device in the first mode; if the first reporting configuration information includes the fourth resource, the terminal device determines to send the measurement report to the network device in the second mode.

[0326] Mode three: the first reporting configuration information can further include the first resource or the third resource, and the terminal device can determine to send the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode according to the first resource or the third resource included in the first configuration information.

[0327] For example, if the first reporting configuration information includes the first resource, the terminal device determines to send the measurement report to the network device in the first mode; if the first reporting configuration information includes the third resource, the terminal device determines to send the measurement report to the network device in the second mode.

[0328] Through the above communication method 400, not only the timing of reporting the measurement result to the network device is determined by the terminal device, but also the terminal device can determine how to report the measurement result to the network device, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0329] The communication method 400 described above describes a method in which a terminal device reports a measurement report to a network device in a first mode or a second mode. The present application can also provide another communication method 500 in which a terminal device reports a measurement report to a network device. See FIG. 5. FIG. 5 exemplarily illustrates a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device can be replaced by a component (for example, a chip or a chip system or a circuit) of the terminal device, and the network device can be replaced by a component (for example, a chip or a chip system or a circuit) of the network device. The method 500 shown in FIG. 5 can include the following steps:

[0330] Optionally, S510, the terminal device sends terminal capability information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the terminal capability information from the terminal device.

[0331] Specifically, the terminal capability information includes at least one of the following information:

[0332] Whether the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, and information of at least one first event supported by the terminal device.

[0333] The second reporting configuration information refers to reporting configuration information corresponding to beam reporting initiated by the terminal device. The number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured includes at least one of the number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, the number of semi-persistent second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured, and the number of aperiodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured. The at least one first event refers to an event used to determine whether to initiate beam reporting.

[0334] Specifically, when the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the terminal device can send the first information shown below to the network device.

[0335] The related explanation of the information included in the terminal capability information in step S510 can refer to the above-mentioned step S410, which will not be described here.

[0336] Steps S520-S530 can refer to the above-mentioned steps S420-S430, which will not be described here.

[0337] S540, the terminal device sends first information to the network device through a first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource for transmitting a measurement report. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first information from the terminal device.

[0338] The first resource can be carried in first reporting configuration information. For example, the first reporting configuration information can include an index of the first resource, which can be a PUCCH resource or an SR resource.

[0339] The first information can be PUCCH signaling.

[0340] Optionally, at S550, the network device sends scheduling information to the terminal device based on the first information, the scheduling information being used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device.

[0341] The scheduling information can be DCI for uplink scheduling, which is used to schedule a PUSCH. Alternatively, the scheduling information can also be DCI for downlink scheduling, which can be used to schedule a PDSCH and a PUCCH for carrying HARQ feedback information of the PDSCH, i.e., the DCI for downlink scheduling indicates an index of a PUCCH.

[0342] At S560, the terminal device transmits the measurement report to the network device through the second resource or a fourth resource according to whether the scheduling information is received.

[0343] The fourth resource can be carried in the first reporting configuration information. For example, the first reporting configuration information can include an index of the fourth resource.

[0344] For example, if the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device at S550, the terminal device transmits the measurement report to the network device through the second resource. If the terminal device does not receive the scheduling information from the network device at S550, the terminal device transmits the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource.

[0345] The terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device at S550 can mean that the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device between a first time and a second time. The first time is the time when the terminal device transmits the first information or the sum of the time when the terminal device transmits the first information and a first time interval, and the second time is the sum of the time when the terminal device transmits the first information and a second time interval or the sum of the first time and the second time interval.

[0346] For example, if the first time is the time when the terminal device transmits the first information, the second time can be the sum of the time when the terminal device transmits the first information and a second time interval or the sum of the first time and the second time interval. In this case, the first time interval and the second time interval can be set arbitrarily according to actual needs, which are not limited in the present application.

[0347] In another example, the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information plus the first time interval, and the second time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information plus the second time interval. In this case, the second time interval needs to be greater than the first time interval. In another example, the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information plus the first time interval, and the second time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information plus the second time interval. In this case, the first time interval and the second time interval can be set arbitrarily according to actual needs, which are not limited by the present application.

[0348] The first time interval and / or the second time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information.

[0349] If the terminal device receives the scheduling information from the network device in step S550, the terminal device can receive multiple scheduling information. The terminal device can determine the scheduling information from the multiple scheduling information by the following three methods:

[0350] Method 1: The terminal device receives multiple scheduling information from the network device; the terminal device takes the first scheduling information received after the first time as the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after the first time.

[0351] The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information plus the first time interval. Exemplarily, the first time interval can be carried in the first reporting configuration information. The first time interval can also be reported by the terminal capability information, or the first time interval can also be a fixed value specified by the protocol.

[0352] Exemplarily, the multiple scheduling information can be multiple DCIs for uplink scheduling. Or, the multiple scheduling information can be multiple DCIs for downlink scheduling. The DCI for uplink scheduling is used to schedule PUSCH, and the DCI for downlink scheduling can be used to schedule PDSCH and PUCCH used to carry the HARQ feedback information of the PDSCH, i.e., the DCI for downlink scheduling indicates the index of a PUCCH. Or, the DCI for downlink scheduling does not schedule PDSCH, but schedules a PUCCH for beam reporting.

[0353] Assume that the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3. In one implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#2, DCI#3, and DCI#1 in time sequence after sending the first information, and the terminal device can determine the first received DCI#2 as the scheduling information. In another implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#3 and DCI#1 in time sequence after the time of sending the first information plus the first time interval, and the terminal device can determine the first received DCI#3 as the scheduling information.

[0354] Method 2: The terminal device receives multiple scheduling information from the network device; and the terminal device determines the scheduling information including the first indication information as the scheduling information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report. In other words, the scheduling information is the scheduling information including the first indication information.

[0355] Assume that the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 includes the first indication information, and DCI#2 and DCI#3 do not include the first indication information, and the terminal device can determine DCI#1 used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report as the scheduling information.

[0356] If at least two scheduling information in the multiple scheduling information includes the first indication information, the terminal device can determine the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information as the scheduling information, or the terminal device can determine the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information after the first time as the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information, or the scheduling information is the first scheduling information in the at least two scheduling information after the first time. The first scheduling information refers to the scheduling information with relatively earlier starting time in the at least two scheduling information. Alternatively, the first scheduling information refers to the scheduling information with smaller PDCCH candidate index in the at least two scheduling information.

[0357] Assume that the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 and DCI#2 include the first indication information, and DCI#3 does not include the first indication information. At this time, the terminal device can determine that DCI#1 and DCI#2 are scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report. In one implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#2, DCI#3, and DCI#1 in time sequence after sending the first information. Since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, DCI#3 can be ignored. The terminal device can determine the first received DCI#2 in DCI#1 and DCI#2 as the scheduling information. In another implementation, the terminal device receives DCI#3 and DCI#1 in time sequence after the time when the first information is sent plus the first time interval. Since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, DCI#3 can be ignored. The terminal device can determine DCI#1 as the scheduling information.

[0358] Method 3: The terminal device receives multiple scheduling information from the network device; and the terminal device determines the scheduling information corresponding to the first search space as the scheduling information, where the first search space is a search space specially used for transmitting the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the scheduling information corresponding to the first search space.

[0359] Assume that the multiple scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 is the scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, DCI#2 is the scheduling information corresponding to the second search space, and DCI#3 is the scheduling information corresponding to the third search space. At this time, the terminal device can determine DCI#1 corresponding to the first search space as the scheduling information.

[0360] If there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space in the multiple scheduling information, the terminal device can determine the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information as the scheduling information. In other words, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information after the first time among the at least two scheduling information.

[0361] Assuming that the plurality of scheduling information includes DCI#1, DCI#2, and DCI#3, DCI#1 and DCI#2 are scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, and DCI#3 is scheduling information corresponding to the third search space, at this time, the terminal device can determine that DCI#1 and DCI#2 are scheduling information for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report. One implementation manner is that the terminal device receives DCI#2, DCI#3, and DCI#1 in time sequence after sending the first information, since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, it can be ignored, at this time, the terminal device can determine the first received DCI#2 in DCI#1 and DCI#2 as the scheduling information. Another implementation manner is that the terminal device receives DCI#3 and DCI#1 in time sequence after the time when the first information is sent plus the first time interval, since DCI#3 is not used for scheduling the terminal device to transmit the measurement report, it can be ignored, at this time, the terminal device can determine DCI#1 as the scheduling information.

[0362] Specifically, the fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource. Illustratively, the fourth resource can be a PUCCH resource or a grant-free PUSCH resource, for example, the grant-free PUSCH resource is a configured grant Type 1 PUSCH resource.

[0363] Specifically, there is one transmission opportunity in each period of the fourth resource, and the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first transmission opportunity after the first time. Alternatively, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth transmission opportunity after the first time, where K is an arbitrary integer. Alternatively, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first transmission opportunity after the first time, which can be replaced by the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the first period after the first time. Alternatively, the terminal device can send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth transmission opportunity after the first time, which can be replaced by the terminal device sending the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource at the Kth period after the first time. Illustratively, K is a value indicated by the network device, determined by the terminal device, or specified by the protocol, which is not limited in the present application.

[0364] Wherein, the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

[0365] Through the communication method 500, not only can the terminal device determine the timing of reporting the measurement result to the network device, but also can determine how to report the measurement result to the network device, thereby improving the transmission performance between the terminal device and the network device.

[0366] It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application can not depend on other features in some scenarios, or can be combined with other features in some scenarios, without limitation.

[0367] It can also be understood that the solutions in the embodiments of the present application can be reasonably combined, and the explanations or descriptions of various terms appearing in the embodiments can be mutually referenced or explained in various embodiments, without limitation.

[0368] It can also be understood that the methods and operations implemented by the devices (such as terminal devices and network devices) in the above method embodiments can also be implemented by components (such as chips or circuits) of the devices, without limitation.

[0369] The above describes the method provided by the embodiments of the present application in detail in combination with FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. The following describes the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application in combination with FIG. 6 to FIG. 8. It should be understood that the description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments, and therefore, the content not described in detail can be referred to the method embodiments described above, which will not be described here for brevity.

[0370] Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 600 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 600 includes a transceiver unit 610. The transceiver unit 610 can be used to implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 610 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit.

[0371] Optionally, the apparatus 600 further includes a processing unit 620. The processing unit 620 can be used for processing, such as beam measurement. The functions of the processing unit 620 can be implemented by one or more processors. Specifically, the processor can include a modem chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core.

[0372] Optionally, the apparatus 600 can further include a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data. The processing unit 620 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit, so that the apparatus implements the foregoing method embodiments.

[0373] Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 can include a receiving unit and a sending unit. The receiving unit can be used to perform receiving related operations (such as operations of receiving data or messages), and the sending unit can be used to perform sending related operations (such as operations of sending data or messages).

[0374] In a first possible design, the apparatus 600 can be a terminal device in the foregoing embodiments, and the apparatus 600 can implement steps or procedures corresponding to steps or procedures performed by a terminal device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5. The transceiver unit 610 can be configured to perform operations related to transceiving (e.g., operations of transmitting and / or receiving data or messages) of a terminal device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5. The processing unit 620 can be configured to perform operations related to processing of a terminal device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5, or operations other than transceiving (e.g., operations other than transmitting and / or receiving data or messages).

[0375] The transceiver unit 610 can be configured to receive first reporting configuration information from a network device, where the first reporting configuration information is used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report. The transceiver unit 610 can also be configured to transmit the measurement report to the network device in the first mode or the second mode.

[0376] In a possible design, the transceiver unit 610 can also be configured to transmit, to the network device, first information through the first resource, where the first information is used to request a second resource for transmitting the measurement report.

[0377] In a possible design, the transceiver unit 610 can also be configured to receive, from the network device, scheduling information, where the scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource.

[0378] In a possible design, the transceiver unit 610 can also be configured to transmit, to the network device, the measurement report through the second resource or the fourth resource according to whether the scheduling information is received.

[0379] In a possible design, the transceiver unit 610 can also be configured to transmit, to the network device, terminal capability information.

[0380] The processing unit 620 can be configured to perform beam measurement according to the first reporting configuration information to obtain a measurement result.

[0381] In a second possible design, the apparatus 600 can be a network device in the foregoing embodiments, and the apparatus 600 can implement steps or procedures corresponding to steps or procedures performed by a network device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5. The transceiver unit 610 can be configured to perform operations related to transceiving (e.g., operations of transmitting and / or receiving data or messages) of a network device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5. The processing unit 620 can be configured to perform operations related to processing of a network device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5, or operations other than transceiving (e.g., operations other than transmitting and / or receiving data or messages). In a second possible design, the apparatus 600 can be a network device in the foregoing embodiments, and the apparatus 600 can implement steps or procedures corresponding to steps or procedures performed by a network device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5. The transceiver unit 610 can be configured to perform operations related to transceiving (e.g., operations of transmitting and / or receiving data or messages) of a network device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5. The processing unit 620 can be configured to perform operations related to processing of a network device in the method embodiments of FIG. 4 or the method embodiments of FIG. 5, or operations other than transceiving (e.g., operations other than transmitting and / or receiving data or messages).

[0382] The transceiver 610 can be configured to send first reporting configuration information to the terminal device, the first reporting configuration information being used to configure the terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain a measurement report. The transceiver 610 can also be configured to receive the measurement report from the terminal device.

[0383] In a possible design, the transceiver 610 can also be configured to receive first information from the terminal device, the first information being used to request a second resource for transmitting the measurement report.

[0384] In a possible design, the transceiver 610 can also be configured to send scheduling information to the terminal device, the scheduling information being used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource.

[0385] In a possible design, the transceiver 610 can also be configured to receive terminal capability information from the terminal device.

[0386] It should be understood that the specific process in which each unit performs the corresponding steps described above has been described in detail in the method embodiments described above, and thus will not be described here again for the sake of brevity.

[0387] It should also be understood that the apparatus 600 herein is embodied in the form of functional units. The term “unit” herein can refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (for example, a shared processor, a dedicated processor, or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combination of logical circuit and / or other suitable components supporting the described functions. In an alternative example, those skilled in the art can understand that the apparatus 600 can be embodied as the communication apparatus in the above embodiments, and can be configured to perform the processes and / or steps corresponding to the communication apparatus in each method embodiment described above. Thus, the description will not be repeated here.

[0388] The apparatus 600 in each of the above solutions has the function of performing the corresponding steps performed by the communication apparatus in the above methods. The function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions; for example, the transceiver can be replaced by a transceiver (for example, the transmitting unit in the transceiver can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver can be replaced by a receiver), and other units such as the processing unit can be replaced by a processor, which respectively performs the transceiving operation and the related processing operation in each method embodiment.

[0389] In addition, the transceiver 610 described above can also be a transceiver circuit (for example, which can include a receiving circuit and a transmitting circuit), and the processing unit can be a processing circuit.

[0390] It should be noted that the apparatus in FIG. 6 can be a communication device in the foregoing embodiments, or can be a chip or a chip system, for example, a modem chip or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a SIP chip containing a modem core. The transceiver unit can be an input / output circuit or a communication interface, and the processing unit can be a processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip. Here, no limitation is made.

[0391] Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus 700 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus 700 includes a processor 710 coupled with a memory 720, the memory 720 being configured to store computer programs or instructions and / or data, and the processor 710 being configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 720, or read the data stored in the memory 720, to perform the methods in the method embodiments.

[0392] Optionally, the processor 710 is one or more.

[0393] Optionally, the memory 720 is one or more.

[0394] Optionally, the memory 720 and the processor 710 are integrated together, or are separately arranged.

[0395] Optionally, as shown in FIG. 7, the apparatus 700 further includes a transceiver 730 configured to receive and / or send signals. For example, the processor 710 is configured to control the transceiver 730 to receive and / or send signals. For example, the transceiver 730 can include a transmitter configured to perform a sending operation, and / or a receiver configured to perform a receiving operation.

[0396] For example, the processor 710 can have the functions of the processing unit 620 shown in FIG. 6, the memory 720 can have the functions of a storage unit, and the transceiver 730 can have the functions of the transceiver unit 610 shown in FIG. 6.

[0397] As an example, the apparatus 700 is configured to implement the operations performed by the communication apparatus in the method embodiments.

[0398] For example, the processor 710 is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 720, to implement the related operations of the terminal device or the network device in the method embodiments.

[0399] It should be appreciated that a processor as mentioned in this application can be any known or future developed processor, and more particularly, a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or the like. The general purpose processor can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor can be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine, etc.

[0400] It should also be appreciated that a memory as mentioned in this application can be any known or future developed memory, and more particularly, a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory can be a random access memory (RAM). For example, the RAM can be used as the external cache. By way of example and not limitation, the RAM includes the following types: static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0401] It should be noted that when the processor is a general processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a FPGA, or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated in the processor.

[0402] It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, the memory types and any other suitable type of memory.

[0403] Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 800 according to an embodiment of the present application. The chip system 800 (or also referred to as a processing system) includes a logic circuit 810 and an input / output interface 820.

[0404] The logic circuit 810 can be a processing circuit in the chip system 800. The logic circuit 810 can be coupled to a storage unit, and invoke instructions in the storage unit, so that the chip system 800 can implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application. The input / output interface 820 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system 800, and output information processed by the chip system 800, or input data or signaling information to be processed by the chip system 800.

[0405] Optionally, the logic circuit 810 can be implemented by one or more processors, including the one or more processors or processing portions in the one or more processors.

[0406] Optionally, the input / output interface 820 can include a transceiver, a transceiver, an input / output circuit or a communication interface.

[0407] As an option, the chip system 800 is configured to implement the operations performed by the communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0408] For example, the logic circuit 810 is configured to implement processing-related operations performed by the communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device) in the above method embodiments; the input / output interface 820 is configured to implement sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by the communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device) in the above method embodiments, the input interface is configured to perform receiving operations, and the output interface is configured to perform sending operations.

[0409] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for implementing the method performed by the communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0410] For example, the computer program is executed by a computer, so that the computer can implement the method performed by the communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0411] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which are executed by a computer to implement the method performed by the communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

[0412] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, which comprises the terminal device and / or the network device in the above embodiments. For example, the system comprises the terminal device and the network device in FIG. 4.

[0413] The explanations and beneficial effects of the related contents in any of the above-provided devices can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0414] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units or components shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0415] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. For example, the computer can be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) manner. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. integrated with one or more available media sets. The available media can be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD), etc. For example, the foregoing available media includes but is not limited to: a variety of media that can store program codes such as a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

[0416] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive first reported configuration information from network device, the first reported configuration information is used to configure terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain measurement report; The measurement report is sent to the network device using either a first mode or a second mode, where the first mode and the second mode are the methods by which the terminal device sends the measurement report.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Sending the measurement report to the network device using the first mode includes: Send first information to the network device through a first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource to transmit the measurement report; Receive scheduling information from the network device, the scheduling information being used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource; The measurement report is sent to the network device via the second resource.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, Sending the measurement report to the network device using the second mode includes: The terminal device sends third information to the network device via a third resource, the third information being used to instruct the terminal device to send the measurement report to the network device via a fourth resource; The measurement report is sent to the network device via the fourth resource.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource, with one transmission opportunity per period. Sending the measurement report to the network device via the fourth resource includes: The measurement report is sent to the network device through the fourth resource at the first transmission opportunity after the first time, where the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the third information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the third information and the first time interval.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, Prior to the method, it also includes: Sending terminal capability information to the network device, wherein the terminal capability information includes at least one of the following: Whether the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, and information on at least one first event supported by the terminal device; The second reporting configuration information refers to the reporting configuration information corresponding to beam reporting initiated by the terminal device. The at least one first event refers to an event used by the terminal device to determine whether to initiate beam reporting. The number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with includes at least one of the following: The number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured to receive, the number of semi-continuous second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured to receive, or the number of non-periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured to receive.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, If the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, then the terminal device supports the first mode; and / or, The terminal capability information also includes second mode indication information, which is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports the second mode.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The first reported configuration information includes at least one of the following: The beam reporting mode, first resource, third resource, fourth resource, information on at least one second event, and first time interval; The first resource is used by the terminal device to send first information, the first information is used to request a second resource to transmit the measurement report, the third resource is used by the terminal device to send third information, the third information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the measurement report to the network device through the fourth resource, the first time interval is preset, and the at least one second event is used to assist the terminal device in determining whether to initiate beam reporting.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, Sending the measurement report to the network device using the first mode or the second mode includes: According to the beam reporting mode included in the first reporting configuration information, the measurement report is sent to the network device using either the first mode or the second mode; or, Depending on whether the first reported configuration information includes the fourth resource, the measurement report is sent to the network device using either the first mode or the second mode. or, Based on the first resource or the third resource included in the first reported configuration information, the measurement report is sent to the network device using the first mode or the second mode, wherein the first reported configuration information includes one of the first resource or the third resource.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of sending the measurement report to the network device using either the first mode or the second mode, based on whether the first reported configuration information includes the fourth resource, includes: If the first reported configuration information does not include the fourth resource, then the measurement report is sent to the network device using the first mode; or, If the first reported configuration information includes the fourth resource, then the second mode is used to send the measurement report to the network device.

10. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The step of sending the measurement report to the network device using the first mode or the second mode based on the first resource or the third resource included in the first reported configuration information includes: If the first reported configuration information includes the first resource, then the measurement report is sent to the network device using the first mode; or, If the first reported configuration information includes the third resource, then the second mode is used to send the measurement report to the network device.

11. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Receive first reported configuration information from network device, the first reported configuration information is used to configure terminal device to perform beam measurement and obtain measurement report; Send first information to the network device through a first resource, the first information being used to request a second resource to transmit the measurement report; Depending on whether scheduling information is received, the measurement report is sent to the network device through the second resource or the fourth resource. The scheduling information is used to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report through the second resource, and the fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The step of sending the measurement report to the network device via the second or fourth resource, depending on whether the scheduling information has been received, includes: If the scheduling information is received from the network device, the measurement report is sent to the network device via the second resource; or... If the scheduling information is not received from the network device, the measurement report is sent to the network device via the fourth resource.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The receipt of the scheduling information from the network device includes: The scheduling information is received from the network device between the first and second time intervals. The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval, and the second time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the second time interval, or the second time is the sum of the first time and the second time interval.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, Each period in the fourth resource provides one transmission opportunity, and sending the measurement report to the network device via the fourth resource includes: The measurement report is sent to the network device through the fourth resource at the first transmission opportunity after the first time, where the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

15. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, characterized in that, Prior to the method, it also includes: Sending terminal capability information to the network device, wherein the terminal capability information includes at least one of the following: Whether the terminal device supports beam reporting initiated by the terminal device, the number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with, and information on at least one first event supported by the terminal device; The second reporting configuration information refers to the reporting configuration information corresponding to beam reporting initiated by the terminal device. The at least one first event refers to an event used by the terminal device to determine whether to initiate beam reporting. The number of second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured with includes at least one of the following: The number of periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured to receive, the number of semi-continuous second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured to receive, or the number of non-periodic second reporting configuration information that the terminal device can be configured to receive.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that, The first reported configuration information also includes at least one of the following: Information about the first resource, the fourth resource, the first time interval, the second time interval, and at least one second event; The first resource is used to send first information, the first information is used to request the transmission of the measurement report, the fourth information, the fourth resource is a periodic uplink transmission resource, the first time interval and the second time interval are preset, and the at least one second event is used to assist the terminal device in determining whether to initiate beam reporting.

17. The method according to any one of claims 2, 11 to 16, characterized in that, The scheduling information is the first scheduling information received by the terminal device after a first time, where the first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and a first time interval.

18. The method according to any one of claims 2, 11 to 16, characterized in that, The scheduling information includes first indication information, which is used to instruct the scheduling information to schedule the terminal device to transmit the measurement report; or, The scheduling information corresponds to a first search space, which is a search space specifically used for transmitting the scheduling information.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that, If at least two scheduling information include the first indication information, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information that is located after the first time among the at least two scheduling information; or, If there are at least two scheduling information corresponding to the first search space, the scheduling information is the first scheduling information that is located after the first time among the at least two scheduling information; The first time is the time when the terminal device sends the first information, or the first time is the sum of the time when the terminal device sends the first information and the first time interval.

20. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes modules or units for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19.

21. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes at least one processor, said at least one processor being configured to execute a computer program or instructions to cause said apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 19.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21, characterized in that, The device further includes a memory for storing the computer program or instructions; and / or, The device further includes a communication interface coupled to the at least one processor, the communication interface being used for inputting and / or outputting information.

23. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed on a communication device or computer, cause the communication device to perform the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 19.

24. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 19.

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