Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and a related apparatus, which relate to the technical field of communications. In the method, an access network device configures a terminal to report a measurement quantity of a predicted reference signal, such that the terminal can subsequently report the measurement quantity of the predicted reference signal on the basis of the configuration by the access network device, helping to the access network device acquiring more diverse information to calculate a monitoring indicator, and further helping to improve the accuracy of model monitoring performed by the access network device.

Description

Communication method and related apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411011344.2, filed on July 25, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and related apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a communication method and related apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] At present, artificial intelligence (AI) is introduced into a wireless communication network, and has been widely applied to many application scenarios of air interface technology, for example, AI-based channel state information (CSI) prediction, AI-based beam management, and AI-based CSI feedback, and plays an increasingly important role. At present, AI-based beam management can realize beam prediction in the time domain or the spatial domain, for example, and the model used for beam prediction can be deployed at the network side or the terminal side. AI lifecycle management (LCM) is usually controlled by the network side, but for the case where the model is deployed at the terminal side, it has not been defined in detail how the terminal side should report data for the network side to perform LCM. SUMMARY

[0004] The present application provides a communication method and related apparatus, which defines a way for a terminal to report data, and is beneficial to improve the accuracy of model monitoring.

[0005] The present application will be described from different aspects below. It should be understood that the implementation manners and beneficial effects of the different aspects below can be mutually referred to.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal side, such as a terminal or a communication module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip (such as 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) responsible for communication functions in the terminal. Taking the case where the method is applied to a terminal, in the method, the terminal receives a first configuration, which indicates that the terminal reports a measurement quantity of a first reference signal, the first reference signal is determined based on a measurement quantity of a second reference signal, the first reference signal belongs to a first reference signal set, and the second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs is a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set, or the reference signals in the second reference signal set have a quasi-co-location relationship with the reference signals in the first reference signal set. Then, the terminal measures the first reference signal to obtain the measurement quantity of the first reference signal.

[0007] It should be noted that compared with directly using the existing beam reporting configuration mode, there may be a problem that the actual measurement quality of the reported reference signal does not necessarily contain the actual measurement quality of the predicted reference signal. The present application proposes that the access network device can configure the terminal to report the measurement quantity of the predicted reference signal (i.e., the first reference signal), so that the terminal can subsequently report the measurement quantity (i.e., the true measurement quality) of the predicted reference signal based on the configuration of the access network device. This helps the access network device to obtain more diverse information for monitoring index calculation, thereby facilitating the improvement of the accuracy of model monitoring by the access network device.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the measurement quantity of the second reference signal is also used to determine a predicted quantity of the first reference signal; and the method further includes:

[0009] sending the index of the first reference signal and the predicted quantity of the first reference signal.

[0010] In this implementation, in addition to reporting the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, the terminal also needs to report the prediction result (i.e., the index of the first reference signal and the predicted quantity of the first reference signal), so that the access network device can obtain more diverse information for monitoring index calculation, thereby facilitating the improvement of the accuracy of model monitoring by the access network device.

[0011] In a possible implementation, the index of the first reference signal, the prediction of the first reference signal and the measurement of the first reference signal are carried in a same message. In this implementation, by configuring the measurement of the first reference signal and the prediction to be reported at the same time, signaling overhead can be saved. Alternatively, the prediction and the measurement of the first reference signal can also be carried in different messages, so that the decoupled reporting mode is more flexible.

[0012] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the terminal reports the measurements of N first reference signals, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0013] In this implementation, by configuring the number N of the first reference signals that need to be reported by the terminal, the base station can obtain more monitoring information, which is conducive to improving the accuracy of model monitoring of the access network device.

[0014] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes second indication information, and the second indication information indicates that the reporting of the measurements of the first reference signals is triggered by the first message.

[0015] The method further includes:

[0016] receiving the first message, where the first message is used to trigger the reporting of the measurements of the first reference signals.

[0017] In this implementation, the reporting of the measurements of the first reference signals is controlled to be started or stopped by the first message, and control flexibility is increased.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the first message is used to trigger the reporting of the measurements of P first reference signals, where P is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0019] In this implementation, the number P of the first reference signals that need to be reported by the terminal can also be controlled by the first message, and control flexibility is further increased.

[0020] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0021] storing the index of the first reference signal.

[0022] In this implementation, the terminal stores the index of the first reference signal, so that the terminal can subsequently know which first reference signals should be selected to report the measurements of N first reference signals.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the storage duration of the index of the first reference signal is a first duration, and the first duration is related to the capability of the terminal. In this implementation, the terminal can release the stored index of the first reference signal after the first duration, so that the storage space of the terminal can be saved.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0025] receiving a second configuration, the second configuration indicating that the terminal reports L reference signal combinations, the L reference signal combinations including the first reference signal, and L being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0026] In this implementation, when the prediction result is reported before the measurement of the first reference signal, the access network device can directly indicate which reference signals need to be reported by the terminal, so that the actual needs of the access network device can be better met, and the terminal does not need to store the index of the first reference signal, and the requirement on the storage capability of the terminal is lower.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes third indication information, the third indication information indicating M reference signal combinations, the M reference signal combinations including the L reference signal combinations, and M being an integer greater than or equal to L.

[0028] In this implementation, by configuring the M reference signal combinations first and then activating L reference signal combinations in the M reference signal combinations, the actual needs of the access network device can also be met, and the terminal does not need to store the index of the first reference signal, and the requirement on the storage capability of the terminal is lower.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes fourth indication information, the fourth indication information indicating a measurement threshold value; and the method further includes:

[0030] sending the measurement of the first reference signal, where a measurement difference between the measurement of the first reference signal and a first measurement is less than or equal to the measurement threshold value, the first measurement being a measurement of a third reference signal, the third reference signal being different from the first reference signal and belonging to the first reference signal set, and the measurement of the third reference signal being greater than the measurement of each reference signal in the first reference signal set except the third reference signal and the first reference signal whose prediction result is reported.

[0031] In this implementation, by increasing the measurement threshold value to limit whether the measurement of the first reference signal is truly reported, the reporting of the first reference signal with a too poor measurement (or the reporting of useless information) can be effectively avoided, and the reporting overhead can be saved.

[0032] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network side, for example, an access network device or a component (for example, a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the access network device. Taking the case that the method is applied to the access network device, in the method, the access network device determines a first configuration and sends the first configuration. The first configuration indicates a terminal to report a measurement quantity of a first reference signal, the first reference signal is determined based on a measurement quantity of a second reference signal, the first reference signal belongs to a first reference signal set, and a second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs is a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set, or a reference signal in the second reference signal set has a quasi co-location relationship with a reference signal in the first reference signal set.

[0033] In a possible implementation, the measurement quantity of the second reference signal is also used to determine a prediction quantity of the first reference signal; and the method further includes receiving an index of the first reference signal and the prediction quantity of the first reference signal.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the index of the first reference signal, the prediction quantity of the first reference signal and the measurement quantity of the first reference signal are carried in a same message.

[0035] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the terminal reports measurement quantities of N first reference signals, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0036] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes second indication information, and the second indication information indicates that the reporting of the measurement quantities of the first reference signals is triggered by a first message; and the method further includes sending the first message, where the first message is used to trigger the reporting of the measurement quantities of the first reference signals.

[0037] In a possible implementation, the first message is used to trigger the reporting of measurement quantities of P first reference signals, where P is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the method further includes sending a second configuration, where the second configuration indicates that the terminal reports L reference signal combinations, the L reference signal combinations include the first reference signal, and L is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes third indication information, and the third indication information indicates M reference signal combinations, the M reference signal combinations include the L reference signal combinations, and M is an integer greater than or equal to L.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the first configuration includes fourth indication information, and the fourth indication information indicates a measurement threshold value; the method further includes: receiving a measurement of the first reference signal, where a measurement difference between the measurement of the first reference signal and a first measurement is less than or equal to the measurement threshold value, the first measurement is a measurement of a third reference signal, the third reference signal is different from the first reference signal, the third reference signal belongs to the first reference signal set, and the measurement of the third reference signal is greater than measurements of reference signals in the first reference signal set except the third reference signal and the first reference signal of which the prediction measurement is reported.

[0041] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes units or modules for performing the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0042] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes a processor. The processor is configured to perform the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0043] Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a memory in which a computer program is stored; and the processor is configured to invoke the computer program stored in the memory, so that the communication apparatus performs the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the first aspect to the second aspect.

[0044] Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a transceiver.

[0045] In a possible design, the communication apparatus can be a chip or device that implements the above method.

[0046] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is configured to receive a signal from another communication apparatus outside the communication apparatus and transmit the signal to the processor, or send a signal from the processor to another communication apparatus outside the communication apparatus. The processor is configured to implement the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the first aspect to the second aspect, by means of a logic circuit or an execution code instruction.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is implemented, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the first aspect to the second aspect is implemented.

[0048] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which, when read and executed by a computer, causes the method of any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the aspects, to be implemented.

[0049] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, which comprises at least one processor and an interface, the processor being configured to read and execute instructions stored in a memory, when the instructions are run, causing the chip to perform the method of any one of the first aspect or the second aspect, or the method shown in any possible implementation of any of the aspects.

[0050] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, which can comprise a terminal and an access network device. The terminal is configured to perform the method shown in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect. The access network device is configured to perform the method shown in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0051] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applied;

[0052] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of BM-case1 for spatial domain beam prediction;

[0053] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of BM-case2 for time domain beam prediction;

[0054] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of reference signal prediction and reference signal measurement provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another scenario of reference signal prediction and reference signal measurement provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a possible communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a possible communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0060] In the description of the present application, "first" and "second" are used only to distinguish different objects, and are not used to describe a specific order. In addition, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or", for example, A / B can mean A or B. "And / or" in this paper is only a description of the relationship between the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c, can mean: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0061] The terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product or device, etc. including a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally also includes steps or units not listed, etc. or optionally also includes other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices, etc.

[0062] In this application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary", "for example" or "for instance" in this application should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of "exemplary", "for example" or "for instance" is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner.

[0063] It can be understood that in this application, "when", "if" and "if" all refer to the corresponding processing of the device under certain objective conditions, not the time limit, and also does not require the device to have a judgment action when it is implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0064] In this application, the use of singularly represented elements is intended to represent "one or more", not "one and only one", unless otherwise specified.

[0065] It can be understood that in each embodiment of the present application, "A corresponding to B" means that A and B have a corresponding relationship, and B can be determined according to A. Determining B according to A does not mean that B is determined only according to A, but B can also be determined according to A and / or other information.

[0066] In the present application, "indication" can include direct indication, indirect indication, display 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. In the present application, the information indicated by the indication information is referred to as to-be-indicated information. In the 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 an 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 as a plurality of sub-information, and the sending period and / or sending time of the sub-information can be the same or different.

[0067] 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 "output" of a chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as "input" of a chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be performed between devices, for example, between network devices and terminal devices, or can be performed within a device, for example, between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules in a device through a bus, wire or interface.

[0068] In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, first, the system architecture related to the embodiments of the present application is introduced as follows:

[0069] Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system to which embodiments of the present application can be applied. It is noted that FIG. 1 is one possible, non-limiting example of a system. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. Optionally, the communication system 10 can also include the Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1, collectively referred to as 120). Other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG. 1), can also be included in the RAN 100. The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner. The RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be different physical devices respectively, can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network and the logical functions of the radio access network, or can be a physical device integrated with part of the functions of the core network device and part of the functions of the RAN node 110. The terminals and the terminals, and the RAN nodes 110 and the RAN nodes 110 can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. FIG. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system can also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG. 1.

[0070] The RAN 100 can be a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP)-related cellular system, such as a 4G, 5G mobile communication system, or a future-oriented evolved system. The RAN 100 can also be an open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The RAN 100 can also be a communication system in which two or more of the above systems are integrated.

[0071] The RAN nodes 110, which can also be referred to as radio access network devices, access network devices, RAN entities, or access nodes, etc., form part of a communication system to help terminals to access the wireless access. The RAN nodes 110 in the communication system 10 can be of the same type or of different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN nodes 110 and the terminals 120 are relative, e.g., the network element 120i in Figure 1 can be a helicopter or a drone, which can be configured to be a mobile base station, for a terminal 120j accessing to the RAN 100 through the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal. The RAN nodes 110 and the terminals 120 are sometimes referred to as communication apparatuses, e.g., the network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be understood as communication apparatuses with base station functionalities, and the network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication apparatuses with terminal functionalities.

[0072] In a possible scenario, the RAN nodes 110 can be base stations, evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), access points (APs), transmission reception points (TRPs), next generation NodeBs (gNBs), base stations in future mobile communication systems, or access nodes in a WiFi system, etc. The RAN nodes 110 can be macro base stations (like 110a in Figure 1), micro base stations or indoor stations (like 110b in Figure 1), relay nodes or donor nodes, or wireless controllers in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN nodes 110 can also be servers, wearable devices, vehicles or vehicle-mounted devices, etc. For example, the wireless access network device in vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU). All or part of the functions of the RAN nodes 110 in this application can also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The RAN nodes 110 in this application can also be logical nodes, logical modules, or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the RAN nodes 110.

[0073] In another possible scenario, a terminal is assisted by multiple RAN nodes 110 to implement wireless access in cooperation, and different RAN nodes 110 respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a RAN node 110 can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a radio remote unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0074] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0075] A terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely applied to various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, automatic driving, remote medical treatment, smart power grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, unmanned aerial vehicle, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, etc. Embodiments of this application do not limit the device form of the terminal.

[0076] For ease of description, the following describes a base station as an example of the RAN node 110. The base station and the terminal can be fixed in position or mobile. The base station and the terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water; can also be deployed on an airplane, a balloon, and a man-made satellite. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the base station and the terminal.

[0077] The roles of the base station and the terminal can be relative, for example, the helicopter or the drone 120i in FIG. 1 can be configured as a mobile base station, and for those terminals 120j that access the wireless access network 100 through 120i, the terminal 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, that is, 110a communicates with 120i through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate through an interface protocol between base stations and base stations, at this time, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, the base station and the terminal can be collectively referred to as a communication device, 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication device with a base station function, and 120a-120j in FIG. 1 can be referred to as a communication device with a terminal function.

[0078] The base station and the terminal, the base station and the base station, and the terminal and the terminal can communicate through a licensed frequency spectrum, can communicate through an unlicensed frequency spectrum, or can simultaneously communicate through a licensed frequency spectrum and an unlicensed frequency spectrum; can communicate through a frequency spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), can communicate through a frequency spectrum above 6 GHz, or can simultaneously use a frequency spectrum below 6 GHz and a frequency spectrum above 6 GHz. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the frequency spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0079] In embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base station can also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the base station, or by a control subsystem containing base station functions. The control subsystem containing base station functions herein can be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal can also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal, or by a device containing terminal functions.

[0080] To facilitate understanding of the related content of the embodiments of the present application, the following introduces some knowledge needed by the schemes of the present application. It should be noted that these explanations are to make the embodiments of the present application easier to understand, and should not be regarded as limiting the scope of protection required by the present application, nor should it be regarded as prior art.

[0081] 1. Artificial intelligence (AI) model

[0082] An AI model is a concrete implementation of an AI function, and the AI model represents a mapping relationship between the input and output of the model. The type of AI model can be a neural network, a deep neural network, a linear regression model, a decision tree model, a support vector machine (SVM), a Bayesian network, a Q-learning model, or other machine learning (ML) models.

[0083] 2. AI application case

[0084] An AI application case is also referred to as an AI application scenario. The AI application case includes, but is not limited to, AI-based CSI prediction, AI-based beam management (BM), AI-based positioning, and AI-based CSI feedback, etc. The present application mainly relates to AI-based beam management, which further has two sub-use cases, namely BM-case 1 (or spatial domain beam prediction) for spatial domain beam prediction, and BM-case 2 (or time domain beam prediction) for time domain beam prediction. It should be understood that the AI model used for AI beam management is a single-end model, that is, the AI model is located / deployed at the network side (i.e., network side prediction) or at the terminal side (i.e., terminal side prediction).

[0085] The beam prediction mentioned in the present application is mainly downlink beam prediction, more specifically, prediction for downlink transmission beams. Generally speaking, in downlink transmission beam prediction, the set composed of the input beams of the AI model is referred to as Set B (i.e., SetB), and the set to which / where the output beams of the AI model belong / is located is referred to as Set A (i.e., SetA). In an example, the input of the AI model can be specifically the actual measurement quality of the beams in SetB, and the output of the AI model can be a prediction result (or referred to as an inference result), for example, the prediction result can refer to the predicted best beam (or referred to as the best predicted beam, or the best predicted reference signal). For another example, the prediction result can also refer to the predicted beam quality (or referred to as the beam prediction quality, or the signal prediction quality) of each beam in SetA. It should be understood that the best predicted beam is usually the predicted beam with the largest beam prediction quality among all predicted beams, or the predicted beams with larger beam prediction quality are taken as the best predicted beam after the beam prediction qualities of all predicted beams are sorted in descending order (or understood as in ascending order).

[0086] In the BM-case1 for spatial domain beam prediction, as shown in (a) of FIG. 2, SetB can be {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}, and SetA can be {beam 0, beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, beam 4, beam 5, beam 6, beam 7, beam 8, beam 9, beam 10, beam 11, beam 12, beam 13, beam 14, beam 15}. As can be seen from (a) of FIG. 2, SetB is contained in SetA. In one example, when performing downlink transmission beam prediction, the actual measurement quality of the 4 downlink beams in SetB can be input into an AI model, and the AI model can output a prediction result. For example, the prediction result can be the predicted beam quality of each of the 16 beams contained in SetA, or the prediction result can be the predicted beam quality of the best beam / the best beams in the 16 beams contained in SetA. The beam quality may, for example, be layer 1 (L1)-reference signal received power (RSRP), L1-reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or L1-signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR).

[0087] For ease of understanding, the size relationship of the predicted beam quality is taken as beam prediction quality of beam 1 > beam prediction quality of beam 2 > beam prediction quality of beam 4 > beam prediction quality of beam 5 > beam prediction quality of beam 0 > beam prediction quality of beam 3 > beam prediction quality of beam 6 > beam prediction quality of beam 7 > beam prediction quality of beam 8 > beam prediction quality of beam 9 > beam prediction quality of beam 10 > beam prediction quality of beam 11 > beam prediction quality of beam 12 > beam prediction quality of beam 13 > beam prediction quality of beam 14 > beam prediction quality of beam 15. If the best beam is the one with the largest beam prediction quality in SetA, the predicted best beam is beam 1. Assuming that the best beam is the top K beams with larger / largest beam prediction quality in SetA, and K is 4, then the predicted best beam is beam 1, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 5.

[0088] For example, as shown in (b) of FIG. 2, SetB can be {wide beam 1, wide beam 2, wide beam 3, wide beam 4}, and SetA can be {narrow beam 0, narrow beam 1, narrow beam 2, narrow beam 3, narrow beam 4, narrow beam 5, narrow beam 6, narrow beam 7, narrow beam 8, narrow beam 9, narrow beam 10, narrow beam 11, narrow beam 12, narrow beam 13, narrow beam 14, narrow beam 15}, where narrow beam 0 to narrow beam 3 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 1, narrow beam 4 to narrow beam 7 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 2, narrow beam 8 to narrow beam 11 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 3, and narrow beam 12 to narrow beam 15 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 4. In one example, when performing downlink transmission beam prediction, the actual measurement quality of the 4 downlink wide beams in SetB is input into an AI model, and the AI model can predict the best narrow beam in the 16 narrow beams included in SetA / the beam quality of the best narrow beam, or the AI model can predict the beam quality of each narrow beam in the 16 narrow beams included in SetA. The wide beams in SetB and the narrow beams in SetA shown in (b) of FIG. 2 have a quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship, for example, wide beam 1 and narrow beam 0, narrow beam 1, narrow beam 4, and narrow beam 5 have a quasi-colocation relationship, or in other words, the reference signals corresponding to wide beam 1, narrow beam 0, narrow beam 1, narrow beam 4, and narrow beam 5 have a quasi-colocation relationship.

[0089] As can be seen from (a) and (b) of FIG. 2, in the spatial domain beam prediction, based on the actual measurement quality of the beams in SetB, the beams (for example, the best predicted beam) in SetA / the beam quality can be output. That is, the beams in SetA / the beam quality can be obtained by prediction, without the need for actual measurement. Generally, the beams in SetA / the beam quality are all predicted, but usually K beams with better beam prediction quality are selected for reporting.

[0090] In BM-case2 for time-domain beam prediction, as shown in FIG. 3, SetB can be {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}, and SetA can be {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}. When performing downlink beam prediction, the actual measurement quality of the 4 downlink beams in SetB at t0 is input into the AI model, and the beam quality of the 4 downlink beams at a future time (for example, at t1 or at t2) can be predicted by the AI model. As can be seen from FIG. 3, SetB is the same as SetA. Therefore, in time-domain beam prediction, based on the actual measurement quality of the beams in SetB at the current time or at the historical time, the beam quality of each beam in SetA at the future time can be predicted.

[0091] 3、QCL

[0092] QCL means quasi co-location, also known as quasi co-site or quasi co-position. In the standard, if two reference signals have a quasi co-location type D (QCL TypeD) relationship, it is considered that the spatial reception parameters corresponding to the two reference signals are the same. That is, the two reference signals can be received using the same set of spatial reception parameters. When reference signal 1 is transmitted using beam 1, reference signal 2 is transmitted using beam 2, and reference signal 1 and reference signal 2 have a QCL TypeD relationship, the terminal can use the same receive beam to receive beam 1 and beam 2. For example, one beam 1 is a wide beam corresponding to reference signal 1, and the other beam 2 is a narrow beam corresponding to reference signal 2, and the narrow beam is within the coverage range of the wide beam, then reference signal 1 and reference signal 2 can have a quasi co-location relationship (QCL typeD). It can be understood that since there is a corresponding relationship between the reference signal and the used beam, the quasi co-location of the reference signal and the quasi co-location of the beam can be understood equivalently in this application.

[0093] 4、beam

[0094] The beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other types of beams. By using spatial transmission parameters (spatial Tx parameters) or spatial reception parameters (spatial Rx parameters) to process the transmitted or received signals, it can be considered as a process of beamforming. Using different spatial transmission parameters can be considered as using different transmission beamforming, or understood as using different transmission beams. Using different spatial reception parameters can be considered as using different reception beamforming, or understood as using different reception beams. The spatial transmission parameters or spatial reception parameters can be considered as parameters used by baseband processing, or can be considered as parameters used by radio frequency link processing. The beam is a kind of communication resource, and different beams can be considered as different resources. For example, in beam measurement, each reference signal resource (RS resource) corresponds to a beam, the base station measures different beams by configuring different measurement resources, and the terminal feeds back the measured resource quality, so that the base station knows the quality of the corresponding beam. In the beam management process defined in the new radio (NR) protocol, there is no concept of beam, and all beams are realized through reference signals or the quasi co-location (QCL) relationship between reference signals. For example, if the base station wants to configure the terminal to measure the beam, it can configure a reference signal set (or measurement resource), and the base station can use different beams to transmit these reference signals, so that the terminal measures these reference signals, which can achieve the purpose of measuring the beam. That is, the reference signal can represent the beam, or the beam is embodied through the reference signal. Alternatively, one beam can correspond to one or more reference signals, or different reference signals can be used to represent the same beam, and it should be understood that different reference signals representing the same beam have a quasi co-location relationship. As an example, the beam and the reference signal can be described interchangeably.

[0095] 5、reference signal (RS)

[0096] The reference signal can be used for channel estimation or channel measurement (CM), etc. For example, the reference signal can be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), or a synchronization signal block (SSB), etc. Here are some examples of reference signals, which are not limited by the present application, and any signal that can be used for channel estimation or channel measurement can be understood as a reference signal in the present application.

[0097] 6、LCM

[0098] In the air interface AI, the concept of AI life cycle management (LCM) is also introduced. At present, the corresponding management of AI models or AI functions on the network side / terminal side is mainly performed on the network side, for example, involving data collection, model inference, model monitoring, etc. Taking model monitoring as an example, model monitoring, in 3GPP TR38.843, refers to a monitoring process for AI / ML model inference performance.

[0099] For the case that the model is deployed on the terminal side, the network side needs to perform model monitoring based on the data reported by the terminal side. One possible model monitoring manner is to compare the predicted output of the model and the actual measurement. For example, the terminal's prediction result for SetA is result 1, and the actual measurement result for SetA is result 2. The terminal sends result 1 and result 2 to the network side, so that the network side can compare result 1 and result 2 after obtaining result 1 and result 2, and calculate the monitoring indicators on the network side. It should be noted that the terminal side usually needs to report data based on the reporting configuration configured by the network side. In the existing beam reporting configuration manner, the number of beams that can be configured for the terminal to report each time W is defined, wherein the value range of W is {1, 2, 3, 4}. Specifically, for a configured measurement resource set, the terminal usually selects the beam information (such as the index of the beam, or the CSI-RS reference signal resource index (CRI) corresponding to the beam, or the SSB resource index (SSBRI) corresponding to the beam, etc.) corresponding to the W beams with the best measurement quality in the measurement resource set and the actual measurement quality of the beams to report.

[0100] The present application mainly aims at the model monitoring scenario in AI beam management. In this scenario, the network side needs to perform model monitoring based on the data reported by the terminal side. If the existing beam reporting configuration mode is directly used, the actual measurement quality of the predicted beam may not be included in the actual measurement quality of the W beams reported by the terminal, which will result in that the network side cannot monitor some monitoring indicators, such as 1 dB margin or L1-RSRP diff. It should be understood that the so-called 1 dB margin refers to the probability that the actual measurement RSRP value of the predicted best beam is within 1 dB of the actual measurement RSRP value of the actual best beam; and the so-called L1-RSRP diff refers to the average of the difference between the actual measurement RSRP value of the predicted best beam and the actual measurement RSRP value of the actual best beam. Based on this, unlike the existing beam reporting configuration mode, a new beam reporting configuration mode is currently being discussed, that is, for part of the predicted beams (such as the predicted best beam) in SetA, the base station configures corresponding measurement resources, so that the terminal can report the beam prediction quality and the actual measurement quality of the part of the predicted beams based on the configured measurement resources. However, this reporting mode that forcibly requires reporting only the beam prediction quality and the actual measurement quality of the predicted beam may result in that the reported beams are beams with poor quality (for example, when the AI model prediction effect is poor, the predicted beams may all be beams with poor actual measurement quality), which will affect the performance of data transmission and model monitoring. Therefore, the incomplete data reported by the terminal side will affect the accuracy of model monitoring by the network side.

[0101] Based on this, the present application proposes a communication method and related apparatus, which improves the existing beam reporting configuration mode, defines the reporting mode of the terminal, and is beneficial to improve the accuracy of model monitoring.

[0102] It should be noted that the "prediction / reasoning" in the present application refers to prediction / reasoning based on an AI model.

[0103] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, the beam refers to the transmission beam of the access network device, or the downlink beam, or the downlink transmission beam. In addition, the beam and the reference signal in the present application can be replaced with each other.

[0104] The communication method and communication apparatus provided by the present application will be described in detail as follows:

[0105] Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method shown in FIG. 4 is executed by a terminal and an access network device. Specifically, the terminal can be a terminal or a module (for example, a chip) in the terminal, and the access network device can be an access network device or a module (for example, a chip) in the access network device. For the convenience of description, the terminal and the access network device are mainly used as the execution subject for illustrative description hereinafter. It should be noted that each step in FIG. 4 can be executed in a different order from that shown in FIG. 4. Wherein:

[0106] S401, the access network device sends a first configuration to the terminal. Accordingly, the terminal receives the first configuration from the access network device.

[0107] The first configuration indicates that the terminal reports a measurement quantity of a first reference signal. It can be understood that the first configuration involved in the present application can be understood as a CSI reporting configuration (i.e., CSI-ReportConfig), or the first configuration can also be understood as a configuration parameter, a configuration field or an information element (information element, IE), etc. For example, the first configuration can be a configuration parameter in the CSI-ReportConfig. Exemplarily, the first configuration can be carried in a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) message.

[0108] Alternatively, the first reference signal in the present embodiment can also be referred to as a predicted reference signal or a predicted beam, without limitation. Or, the first reference signal in the present embodiment can also be understood as a predicted reference signal or a predicted beam that needs to report a prediction quantity. It should be understood that the first reference signal is determined based on the measurement quantity of the second reference signal, or described as the first reference signal is predicted based on the measurement quantity of the second reference signal, or described as the first reference signal is inferred after the measurement quantity of the second reference signal is input into an AI model, or described as the first reference signal can be output after the measurement quantity of the second reference signal is input into an AI model. The number of the first reference signal can be one or more, which is not limited in the present application. It should be understood that the first reference signal can also be determined based on the information of the second reference signal (such as the index of the second reference signal) and the measurement quantity.

[0109] It can be understood that the first reference signal belongs to a first reference signal set. In one case, a second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs is a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set. In another case, the reference signals in the second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs have a quasi-co-location relationship with the reference signals in the first reference signal set. As an example, the first reference signal set involved in the embodiments of the present application can be understood as SetA, and the second reference signal set can be understood as SetB. The understanding of SetA and SetB can be referred to the aforementioned term explanation part, and will not be repeated here.

[0110] Optionally, the measurement quantity of the second reference signal can be used to determine not only the first reference signal, but also the predicted quantity of the first reference signal. That is, based on the measurement quantity of the second reference signal, both the first reference signal and the predicted quantity of the first reference signal can be predicted.

[0111] It should be noted that the predicted quantity of the reference signal described in the present application can also be referred to as the predicted measurement quality of the reference signal, or the signal prediction quality of the reference signal, or the inference measurement quality of the reference signal, etc. without limitation. For example, the predicted quantity of the reference signal can be L1-RSRP, RSRQ, or L1-SINR, etc. without limitation. Similarly, the measurement quantity of the reference signal described in the present application can also be referred to as the actual measurement quality of the reference signal, or the signal measurement quality of the reference signal, or the true measurement quality of the reference signal, etc. without limitation. For example, the measurement quantity of the reference signal can be L1-RSRP, RSRQ, or L1-SINR, etc. without limitation. The measurement quantity of any reference signal is obtained by the terminal by actually measuring the reference signal.

[0112] It should be noted that after the terminal predicts the first reference signal and / or the predicted quantity of the first reference signal based on the measurement quantity of the second reference signal, the terminal can send the index of the first reference signal and / or the predicted quantity of the first reference signal to the access network device, so that the access network device can subsequently perform model monitoring based on the index of the first reference signal and / or the predicted quantity of the first reference signal reported by the terminal. For simplicity of description, the first reference signal and / or the predicted quantity of the first reference signal predicted by the terminal can be referred to as the prediction result (or inference result) hereinafter.

[0113] It should be noted that the terminal can report the prediction result before step S401, or can report the prediction result after step S401, or can report the prediction result while performing step S401, which is determined according to actual conditions, and the present application does not make any limitation. Generally, the reported prediction result is usually the first K reference signals (referred to as the best K reference signals) with the largest / largest predicted quality of reference signals in Set A.

[0114] In a design 1, the first configuration instructing the terminal to report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal can be understood as: the first configuration includes an indication information (referred to as first indication information in the following for the sake of distinction), which instructs the terminal to report the measurement quantity of N first reference signals, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 1. In an example, if the value of N is less than the total number of predicted first reference signals, the terminal can generally select to report the measurement quantity of N first reference signals with larger measurement quantity. The measurement quantity of N first reference signals with larger measurement quantity means that after arranging all the measurement quantities of the first reference signals in descending (or understood as in ascending) order, the measurement quantities of the first N reference signals are reported.

[0115] It should be noted that in this design 1, the execution order of step S401 and the reporting of the prediction result can not be limited, that is, the reporting of the prediction result can be performed before step S401, or after step S401, or simultaneously with step S401. In addition, in this design 1, after the terminal obtains the prediction result, the terminal generally needs to store the prediction result, for example, the terminal can store the prediction result in the non-volatile memory. Alternatively, the storage duration of the prediction result stored in the non-volatile memory by the terminal is related to the capability of the terminal. Taking the first duration as an example, the first duration can be time slot level or millisecond level, which is not limited by the present application. That is, for each prediction result obtained by the terminal, the terminal can store the prediction result and release the prediction result after a certain storage duration. Alternatively, the terminal can also send the first duration to the access network device in the terminal capability report, so that the access network device can determine the specific configuration parameters of the first configuration according to the first duration. Alternatively, the first duration can also be a protocol predefined duration.

[0116] Optionally, in the design 1, the first configuration can further include an indication information (hereinafter referred to as second indication information for the sake of distinction) indicating triggering reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message. Alternatively, the second indication information can be added in the first configuration to indicate whether to enable starting or stopping reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message. For example, as shown in the following IE, taking the first configuration as CSI-ReportConfig, the second indication information can be DynamicCarryPrediction, when the value of the DynamicCarryPrediction is Enabled, it indicates enabling starting or stopping reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message, and when the value of the DynamicCarryPrediction is Disabled, it indicates disabling / inhibiting starting or stopping reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message.

[0117] Optionally, the second indication information can not be explicitly configured in the first configuration, for example, after the first configuration is configured, reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message is enabled by default, in this case, it can be understood that the second indication information always enables reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message, and therefore the first configuration information can not include the second indication information.

[0118] For example, the first message can be a medium access control control element (MAC CE) or a downlink control information (DCI), etc., which is not limited.

[0119] For example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures periodic reporting, taking the case of enabling the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message as an example, assuming that the reporting instants are t1, t1+T, t1+2T, t1+3T, …, where T is the reporting period. As an example, the first message can be a MAC-CE. If the access network device activates the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by a MAC-CE at time t2, where t1+T < t2 < t1+2T, before t2, the terminal can not report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal at times t1 and t1+T, and after t2, the terminal needs to report N measurement quantities of the first reference signal, for example, the terminal needs to report N measurement quantities of the first reference signal at times t1+2T, t1+3T, …. If the access network device deactivates the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by another MAC-CE at time t3, where t3 > t1+3T, after t3, the terminal can not report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal. As another example, the first message can be a DCI. The DCI has an indication field. When the value of the field is 1, it indicates that the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal is triggered. The DCI is associated with one of the periodic reporting, for example, the DCI is associated with the nearest periodic reporting after the DCI is received. Assuming that the access network device sends the DCI at time t2, where t1+T < t2 < t1+2T, before t2, the terminal can not report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, and at the time of the nearest periodic reporting (i.e., t1+2T), the terminal needs to report N measurement quantities of the first reference signal, and at time t1+3T, the terminal can not report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal.

[0120] For example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures semi-persistent reporting, the access network device can send a MAC CE to trigger the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal after sending the CSI-ReportConfig, for example, to enable the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal to be started or stopped by the first message. As an example, the access network device can multiplex the existing MAC CE for activating semi-persistent reporting as the MAC CE for triggering the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, and add an indication field in the MAC CE to indicate the triggering of the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal. Further, after starting the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal for a period of time, the access network device can also stop the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal at a later time by a MAC CE, so that the terminal can select the information (for example, the index of the reference signal) of the reference signal corresponding to the reference signal with the best measurement quality of the X reference signals in the set of measurement resources and the actual measurement quality of the reference signal to report in the subsequent measurement, that is, to report by multiplexing the existing beam reporting configuration. As another example, the access network device can use DCI as an indication message for triggering or stopping the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, for example, the DCI has an indication field, and the value of the field is 1, indicating the triggering of the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, and the value of the field is 0, indicating the stopping of the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal. The understanding of X can be referred to the relevant description in the following, which is not described in detail here. It can be understood that this way of dynamically starting or stopping the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal can better meet the monitoring needs of the access network device, and also increase flexibility.

[0121] For another example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures aperiodic reporting, the access network device can enable the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by the first message, for example. Assuming that there are two aperiodic reporting configurations, CSI-ReportConfig1 and CSI-ReportConfig2, and the access network device enables the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by DCI1 in CSI-ReportConfig1 and does not enable this function in another CSI-ReportConfig2, then when CSI-ReportConfig1 corresponding aperiodic reporting is triggered by DCI1, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of N first reference signals, and when CSI-ReportConfig2 corresponding aperiodic reporting is triggered by DCI2, the terminal can not report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal. Alternatively, DCI1 can further indicate whether the measurement quantity of N first reference signals needs to be reported in this aperiodic reporting corresponding to CSI-ReportConfig1.

[0122] Optionally, the first message can also carry information indicating the reporting quantity (e.g., P) of the first reference signals, that is, the first message can be used to trigger the reporting of the measurement quantity of P first reference signals, where P is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Optionally, P can be an integer less than or equal to N, or when the quantity of N is multiple, P can be one of the multiple N values, where the multiple N values can be indicated in the first configuration, or P can also be an integer irrelevant to the value of N. In one possible example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures aperiodic reporting, the DCI triggering the aperiodic reporting indicates the reporting quantity P of the first reference signals. In another possible example, if the DCI triggering the aperiodic reporting does not indicate P, or the indicated P is 0, the terminal can not report the measurement quantity of the first reference signals in this aperiodic reporting, or can be understood as reporting according to the existing beam reporting configuration mode.

[0123] In one design 2, the terminal can also receive a second configuration indicating that the terminal reports L reference signal combinations, where the first configuration and the second configuration can be carried in the same RRC message, or the first configuration can also include the second configuration. That is, the access network device can configure the terminal to report the measurement result of which reference signal or reference signals, and the configured reporting reference signals include the first reference signal. It can be understood that the first reference signal is included in the L reference signal combinations, and L is an integer greater than or equal to 1. Generally, one reference signal combination can include one or more reference signals, and optionally, the reference signal combination can also be described as a reference signal set (Set), or a reference signal pattern (Pattern), or a reference signal list (List), etc., without limitation. Optionally, under design 2, the access network device can send information to the terminal indicating which reference signal or reference signals the terminal should report after receiving the prediction result reported by the terminal each time.

[0124] For example, as shown in the following IE, taking the first configuration as an example, a reference signal list (i.e., the second configuration) that needs to be reported can be added in the CSI-ReportConfig, and the reference signal list can include RS1, RS2, and RS3. When the terminal receives the CSI-ReportConfig, the terminal can determine that the measurement quantity corresponding to RS1, the measurement quantity corresponding to RS2, and the measurement quantity corresponding to RS3 need to be reported. In one possible implementation, if the terminal reports the prediction results for RS1 (corresponding to beam 1), RS2 (corresponding to beam 2), and RS3 (corresponding to beam 3) before receiving the second configuration, the access network device can use beam 1 to send RS1, beam 2 to send RS2, and beam 3 to send RS3, so that the terminal can report the actual measurement results of the previously predicted beams.

[0125] In one example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures periodic reporting, when the terminal receives the CSI-ReportConfig, the reference signals reported at each time of reporting need to include the reference signals in the reference signal list, for example, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantities of {RS1, RS2, RS3} in the NeedReportList.

[0126] In another example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures semi-persistent reporting, when the terminal receives the CSI-ReportConfig and receives the corresponding non-persistent reporting activation MAC-CE, before the semi-persistent reporting is deactivated, the reference signals reported at each time of reporting need to include the reference signals in the reference signal list, for example, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantities of {RS1, RS2, RS3} in the NeedReportList.

[0127] In another example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures non-periodic reporting, when the terminal receives the CSI-ReportConfig and receives the non-periodic reporting trigger corresponding to the CSI-ReportConfig, the reference signals reported at this time of non-periodic reporting need to include the reference signals in the reference signal list, for example, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantities of {RS1, RS2, RS3} in the NeedReportList. In another possible example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures non-periodic reporting, if the reference signal list that the terminal needs to report is directly indicated in the non-periodic reporting trigger signaling (for example, DCI) corresponding to the CSI-ReportConfig, the reference signal list can not be configured in the CSI-ReportConfig.

[0128] In a design 3, the first configuration indicating the terminal to report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal can also be understood as: the first configuration includes an indication information (hereinafter referred to as third indication information for the sake of distinction) indicating M reference signal combinations, then the terminal receives the second configuration, the second configuration indicating the terminal to report L reference signal combinations, the M reference signal combinations include the L reference signal combinations, the L reference signal combinations include the first reference signal, L is an integer greater than or equal to 1, and M is an integer greater than or equal to L. Wherein, the first configuration can be carried in the RRC message, and the second configuration can be carried in the MAC CE or the DCI. That is, the access network device can first configure M reference signal combinations for the terminal through the RRC message, and then activate L reference signal combinations (or select L reference signal combinations from M reference signal combinations and indicate the terminal through the MAC CE or the DCI) in the M reference signal combinations through the MAC CE or the DCI, so as to enable the terminal to know which reference signal combination or which reference signal combinations should be reported.

[0129] For example, as shown in the following IE, taking the first configuration CSI-ReportConfig as an example, a NeedReportPattern (i.e., the third indication information) can be added in the CSI-ReportConfig, the NeedReportPattern including multiple reference signal combinations configured for the terminal, for example, taking 2 reference signal combinations as an example, the 2 reference signal combinations are reference signal combination 1 (i.e., Pattern1) and reference signal combination 2 (i.e., Pattern2), wherein the reference signal combination 1 includes RS1 and RS2, and the reference signal combination 2 includes RS2 and RS3. Then, the access network device can indicate to activate / select the reference signal combination 1 through the second configuration, or directly indicate to activate / select RS1 and RS2 through the second configuration, so that the terminal can determine that the measurement quantity corresponding to RS1 and the measurement quantity corresponding to RS2 need to be reported. It should be understood that, compared with directly indicating the reference signals in the reference signal combination, indicating the index of the reference signal combination has a smaller implementation cost.

[0130] In an example, when the CSI-ReportConfig is configured for periodic reporting, or when the CSI-ReportConfig is configured for semi-persistent reporting and the terminal receives the CSI-ReportConfig and receives the corresponding non-persistent reporting activation MAC-CE, the terminal can report in the order of L integer greater than 1 reference signal combinations. For example, assuming that the activated 2 (i.e. L = 2) reference signal combinations are Pattern1 and Pattern2, and the order of the two reference signal combinations is {Pattern1, Pattern2}, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of the reference signal included in Pattern1 in the first reporting, and the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of the reference signal included in Pattern2 in the second reporting. In another example, assuming that the default L = 3, but the network device actually only activates Pattern1 and Pattern2, and the order of the two reference signal combinations is {Pattern1, Pattern2, NULL}, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of the reference signal included in Pattern1 in the first reporting, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of the reference signal included in Pattern2 in the second reporting, and the terminal can reuse the existing beam reporting configuration for reporting in the third reporting because there is no reporting constraint.

[0131] In another example, when the CSI-ReportConfig configures non-periodic reporting, and the terminal receives the CSI-ReportConfig and receives the non-periodic reporting trigger (for example, DCI) corresponding to the CSI-ReportConfig, the access network device can indicate the reference signal combination corresponding to this non-periodic reporting in the DCI, taking L as an integer greater than 1 for example. For example, assuming that the configured 2 (i.e. L = 2) reference signal combinations are Pattern1 and Pattern2 respectively, if the access network device indicates non-periodic reporting at t1 through DCI and indicates using Pattern1 in the DCI, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of the reference signal contained in Pattern1 when reporting at t1; if the access network device indicates non-periodic reporting at t2 through DCI and indicates using Pattern2 in the DCI, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of the reference signal contained in Pattern2 when reporting at t2; if the access network device indicates non-periodic reporting at t3 through DCI and does not indicate a specific reference signal combination in the DCI, the terminal has no reporting constraint when reporting at t3 and can reuse the existing beam reporting configuration mode for reporting, for example, reporting the measurement quantity of the actual strongest X reference signals. Assuming that the configured reference signal combinations are {Pattern1, Pattern2, NULL}, the access network device indicates non-periodic reporting at t4 through DCI and indicates using NULL in the DCI, the terminal has no reporting constraint when reporting at t4 and can therefore reuse the existing beam reporting configuration mode for reporting, for example, reporting the measurement quantity of the actual strongest X reference signals.

[0132] It should be noted that in the above design 2 or design 3, the reporting of the prediction result needs to be performed before step S401, because the access network device needs to configure / indicate the terminal to activate / indicate to select which prediction quantity corresponding to which first reference signal should be reported according to the prediction result reported by the terminal. That is, the reference signal combination involved in the present embodiment contains the first reference signal. Alternatively, the reference signal combination can also contain other reference signals in addition to the first reference signal. For the convenience of understanding, the present embodiment is mainly exemplarily described by taking the example that the reference signal combination contains only the first reference signal. Alternatively, under design 2 or design 3, since the reporting of the prediction result is earlier than the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, the terminal can not store the prediction result, which can reduce the requirement for the storage capacity of the terminal.

[0133] Optionally, in addition to the above design 1~design 3, the first configuration can further include an indication information (hereinafter referred to as fourth indication information for the sake of distinction), which indicates a measurement threshold (or reporting threshold, or carryPredictionThreshold), which is used to further limit which measurement of the first reference signal needs to be reported. For example, for a measurement of a first reference signal, when the measurement difference between the measurement of the first reference signal and the first measurement is less than or equal to the measurement threshold, the terminal only reports the measurement of the first reference signal. Wherein the first measurement can be the measurement of the third reference signal, the third reference signal is different from the first reference signal and the third reference signal belongs to the first reference signal set. In an example, the measurement of the third reference signal is greater than the measurement of other reference signals in the first reference signal set except the third reference signal and the first reference signal whose prediction needs to be reported. Optionally, the number of third reference signals can be one or more. Optionally, the number of third reference signals can be indicated by the access network device, for example, the number of third reference signals is indicated in the first configuration or the fourth indication information. Optionally, the number of third reference signals can also be predefined by the protocol. Optionally, when the number of third reference signals is more than one, the first measurement can also be the measurement of the reference signal with the highest / maximum measurement among the third reference signals, or the first measurement can also be the measurement of the reference signal with the lowest measurement among the third reference signals. Optionally, the determination method of the first measurement can be predefined by the protocol. Optionally, the determination method of the first measurement can be indicated by the access network device, for example, the determination method of the first measurement is indicated in the first configuration or the fourth indication information.

[0134] It should be understood that the fourth indication information can also be indicated separately, for example, for the case of semi-persistent reporting, the fourth indication information can be indicated by MAC-CE, for example, the fourth indication information can be carried in the MAC-CE for activating semi-persistent reporting. For example, for the case of aperiodic reporting, the fourth indication information can be indicated by DCI, for example, the fourth indication information can be carried in the DCI for triggering aperiodic reporting.

[0135] For example, as shown in FIG. 5, taking the second reference signal set as {RS0, RS2, RS8, RS10} and the first reference signal set as {RS0, RS1, RS2, RS3, RS4, RS5, RS6, RS7, RS8, RS9, RS10, RS11, RS12, RS13, RS14, RS15} as an example, it is assumed that the measurement quantity of RS3 > the measurement quantity of RS0 > the measurement quantity of RS1 > the measurement quantity of RS2 > the measurement quantity of RS4 > the measurement quantity of RS5 > the measurement quantity of RS6 > the measurement quantity of RS7 > the measurement quantity of RS8 > the measurement quantity of RS9 > the measurement quantity of RS10 > the measurement quantity of RS11 > the measurement quantity of RS12 > the measurement quantity of RS13 > the measurement quantity of RS14 > the measurement quantity of RS15. It is also assumed that the prediction quantity of RS1 > the prediction quantity of RS2 > the prediction quantity of RS4 > the prediction quantity of RS5 > the prediction quantity of RS0 > the prediction quantity of RS3 > the prediction quantity of RS6 > the prediction quantity of RS7 > the prediction quantity of RS8 > the prediction quantity of RS9 > the prediction quantity of RS10 > the prediction quantity of RS11 > the prediction quantity of RS12 > the prediction quantity of RS13 > the prediction quantity of RS14 > the prediction quantity of RS15 is determined based on the measurement quantities of the second reference signals (i.e., the measurement quantity of RS0, the measurement quantity of RS2, the measurement quantity of RS8, and the measurement quantity of RS10), and the output result of the AI model is the best 4 first reference signals and the prediction quantities of the best 4 first reference signals, that is, the AI model outputs RS1, RS2, RS4, and RS5, and outputs the prediction quantity of RS1, the prediction quantity of RS2, the prediction quantity of RS4, and the prediction quantity of RS5. Then the prediction result reported by the terminal to the access network device can include RS1, RS2, RS4, and RS5, and the prediction quantity of RS1, the prediction quantity of RS2, the prediction quantity of RS4, and the prediction quantity of RS5. Alternatively, the output result of the AI model can also be the prediction quantities of each reference signal in the first reference signal set (i.e., the prediction quantities of RS0 to RS15), but when reporting the prediction result, only the indexes of the best K predicted reference signals and the corresponding prediction quantities need to be reported, where the size of K can be configured by the access network device or predefined by a protocol, for example, taking K = 4 as an example, the prediction result reported by the terminal to the access network device can include RS1, RS2, RS4, and RS5, and the prediction quantity of RS1, the prediction quantity of RS2, the prediction quantity of RS4, and the prediction quantity of RS5.

[0136] Taking FIG. 5 as an example, if the number of third reference signals is 1, then the third reference signal can be determined as RS3; if the number of third reference signals is 2, then the third reference signals can be determined as RS3 and RS0; if the number of third reference signals is 3, then the third reference signals can be determined as RS3, RS0, and RS6, and here, no example is given one by one.

[0137] For the convenience of understanding, the number of the third reference signals is 1 in the following description. It is understood that when the number of the third reference signals is 1, the measurement quantity of the third reference signal is the reference signal with the largest measurement quantity in the first reference signal set except the first reference signal that needs to be reported.

[0138] Optionally, in addition to the above-described design 1 to design 3, the first configuration can further include an indication information (hereinafter referred to as a fifth indication information for the convenience of distinction), which indicates a monitored reference signal set (or a reference signal set that needs to be measured by the terminal, or a measurement configuration, or a measurement resource set), for example, the monitored reference signal set can be the first reference signal set, or can be a subset of the first reference signal set. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the monitored reference signal set is understood as the first reference signal set. Optionally, the first configuration can further include an indication information (hereinafter referred to as a sixth indication information for the convenience of distinction), which is used to indicate the type of the measurement quantity (such as reportQuantity), for example, when reportQuantity is CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI)-RSRP, it indicates that the type of the measurement quantity includes CRI and L1-RSRP. Optionally, the first configuration can further include an indication information (hereinafter referred to as a seventh indication information for the convenience of distinction), which is used to indicate the total number of reported reference signals (such as nrofReportedRS), for example, nrofReportedRS is X, the value range of X can be {1, 2, 3, 4}, or X can be an integer greater than 4, or X can be less than a first value, wherein the first value is the total number of reference signals included in the first reference signal set. Optionally, the first configuration can further include an indication information (hereinafter referred to as an eighth indication information for the convenience of distinction), which indicates the reporting period T and offset of semi-persistent reporting or periodic reporting, or the offset of aperiodic reporting. The offset of semi-persistent reporting or periodic reporting can be understood as the time offset of the reporting time relative to the starting point of the reporting period, which can be in units of time slots. The offset of aperiodic reporting can be understood as the time offset of the reporting time relative to the time of receiving the DCI triggering the aperiodic reporting, which can be in units of time slots.

[0139] S402, the terminal measures the first reference signal to obtain the measurement quantity of the first reference signal.

[0140] In some possible implementation manners, the terminal can obtain the measurement quantity of the first reference signal by measuring the first reference signal. It should be noted that the embodiment does not limit that step S402 is necessarily performed after step S401, and step S402 can also be performed before step S401, or step S401 and step S402 can also be performed simultaneously. Further, the terminal can further send the measurement quantity of the first reference signal and the information (for example, the index of the first reference signal) of the first reference signal to the access network device. It should be understood that when X is greater than N, the terminal needs to report the measurement quantity of (X-N) reference signals other than the N first reference signals in addition to the measurement quantity of the N first reference signals, and the index of the reference signal. In an example, the (X-N) measurement quantities of the reference signals other than the N first reference signals reported above are usually the measurement quantities of the (X-N) reference signals with the largest measurement quantities among all the reference signals other than the N first reference signals in the first reference signal set. The measurement quantity of the (X-N) reference signals with the largest measurement quantity means that the measurement quantities of all the reference signals other than the N first reference signals in the first reference signal set are arranged in descending order, and the measurement quantities of the (X-N) reference signals other than the N first reference signals are reported. In order to simplify the description, the N measurement quantities of the first reference signals and the (X-N) measurement quantities of the reference signals other than the N first reference signals reported by the terminal can be referred to as monitoring results (or actual measurement results) hereinafter. Alternatively, when the monitoring result reporting is performed, the terminal can report the monitoring results at different times at one time, or can report the monitoring results at different times respectively.

[0141] For example, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 5 as an example, under the design 1, assuming that X=4 and N=3 are configured, the terminal can send the measurement quantity of RS3, the measurement quantity of RS1, the measurement quantity of RS2 and the measurement quantity of RS4 to the access network device. In the case of X=4 and N=3, it is further assumed that a measurement quantity threshold value is configured, and the first measurement quantity is the measurement quantity of RS3, if the measurement quantity difference between the measurement quantity of RS1 and the measurement quantity of RS3 is less than the measurement quantity threshold value, the measurement quantity difference between the measurement quantity of RS2 and the measurement quantity of RS3 is less than the measurement quantity threshold value, and the measurement quantity difference between the measurement quantity of RS4 and the measurement quantity of RS3 is greater than the measurement quantity threshold value, then the terminal can send the measurement quantity of RS3, the measurement quantity of RS0, the measurement quantity of RS1 and the measurement quantity of RS2 to the access network device.

[0142] Similarly, taking the scenario shown in FIG. 5 as an example, under the design 2, assuming that X=3 is configured, and RS1 and RS2 are included in the NeedReportList configured, then the terminal can send the measurement quantity of RS3, the measurement quantity of RS1 and the measurement quantity of RS2 to the access network device.

[0143] For example, in the scenario shown in FIG. 5, in design 3, it is assumed that the configuration X = 3, and the configured reference signal combination is reference signal combination 1 and reference signal combination 2, wherein reference signal combination 1 includes RS1 and RS2, and reference signal combination 2 includes RS4 and RS5. It is also assumed that the activated reference signal combination of the configuration is reference signal combination 1, and then the terminal can send the measurement quantity of RS3, the measurement quantity of RS1, and the measurement quantity of RS2 to the access network device.

[0144] For example, in the scenario shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the best beams at time t1 are beam 1 and beam 6 at time t0, and the prediction quantity of beam 1 is -90 dB, and the prediction quantity of beam 6 is -94 dB. For example, the measurement quantity of beam 1 is -91 dB, the measurement quantity of beam 6 is -99 dB, the measurement quantity of beam 2 is -89 dB, the measurement quantity of beam 7 is -93 dB, and the measurement quantity of beam 3 is -95 dB at time t1. It is assumed that 1 is a configuration X = 4 and N = 2, and then the terminal can report the measurement quantity -91 dB of beam 1, the measurement quantity -99 dB of beam 6, the measurement quantity -89 dB of beam 2, and the measurement quantity -93 dB of beam 7. It is assumed that 2 is a configuration X = 4 and N = 2, and the measurement quantity threshold is 2 dB, and then the terminal can report the measurement quantity -91 dB of beam 1, the measurement quantity -89 dB of beam 2, the measurement quantity -93 dB of beam 7, and the measurement quantity -95 dB of beam 3.

[0145] It should be noted that the reporting of the monitoring result and the reporting of the prediction result can be performed simultaneously or separately. The so-called simultaneous reporting can be understood as carrying the prediction result and the monitoring result in the same message and sending them to the access network device. For example, in the scenario corresponding to BM-case1, the simultaneous reporting scheme can be used. The so-called separate reporting can be understood as carrying the prediction result and the monitoring result in different messages and sending them to the access network device. For example, in the scenario corresponding to BM-case2, the separate reporting scheme can be used.

[0146] In the design 1, the reporting of the monitoring result and the reporting of the prediction result can be performed simultaneously or separately, and is not limited. In an example, when the reporting of the monitoring result and the reporting of the prediction result are performed simultaneously, in addition to the reporting configuration corresponding to the monitoring result (i.e., each configuration described in step S401) in the first configuration, the reporting configuration corresponding to the prediction result also needs to be configured in the first configuration. For example, in the reporting configuration corresponding to the prediction result, the measurement configuration and the reporting content configuration can be specifically included, wherein the measurement configuration is the second reference signal set, i.e., the terminal needs to measure each reference signal in the second reference signal set, and the reporting content configuration is the index of the first reference signal and / or the predicted value of the first reference signal, i.e., the prediction result. Optionally, when the reporting of the monitoring result and the reporting of the prediction result are performed simultaneously, the difference between the predicted value of the first reference signal and the measurement value can also be reported.

[0147] In the design 2 or the design 3, the reporting of the monitoring result and the reporting of the prediction result usually need to be performed separately, and the reporting of the prediction result needs to be performed before the reporting of the monitoring result, because the access network device needs to configure / indicate the terminal to activate / indicate which predicted value of which first reference signal should be reported according to the prediction result reported by the terminal.

[0148] For the access network device, after the access network device receives the monitoring result and the prediction result, the access network device can calculate the corresponding monitoring indicators, such as 1dB margin, L1-RSRP diff, prediction accuracy of the best beam / the best K beams, error between the prediction result and the actual measurement result of the beam, etc., to realize model monitoring and subsequent optimization of the model, etc.

[0149] In the embodiment, the access network device configures the terminal to report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, so that the terminal can subsequently report the measurement quantity of the first reference signal based on the configuration of the access network device. This helps the access network device to obtain more diverse information for calculation of the monitoring index, thereby facilitating improvement of the accuracy of model monitoring by the access network device. In addition, compared with the reporting mode of only reporting the measurement quantity of the predicted reference signal and the prediction quantity, and ignoring the actual measurement quality of the predicted reference signal (for example, when the AI model prediction effect is poor, the predicted reference signal may all be reference signals with poor actual measurement quality, and thus the reported reference signals are all reference signals with poor quality), the present application needs to report the measurement quantity of (X-N) reference signals other than the N first reference signals and the index of the reference signal when the total number X of the reported reference signals is greater than the number N of the reported first reference signals. This implementation can report reference signals with good actual measurement quality in the first reference signal set, and can avoid affecting subsequent data transmission due to the inability of the access network device to obtain information of reference signals with good actual measurement quality, thereby facilitating improvement of the performance of data transmission and model monitoring.

[0150] The communication device provided by the present application will be described in detail below in combination with FIGS. 7-8.

[0151] It can be understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and method steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is implemented in hardware or computer software driven hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0152] FIGS. 7 and 8 are structural schematic diagrams of possible communication devices provided by the embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal or the access network device (for example, the base station) in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be one of the terminals 120a-120j as shown in FIG. 1, or can also be the RAN node 110a or 110b as shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, it can also be a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal or the access network device.

[0153] As shown in FIG. 7, the communication device 700 includes a processing unit 710 and a transceiver unit 720. The communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the terminal or the access network device in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 4.

[0154] In an implementation manner, when the communication apparatus 700 is configured to implement the function of a terminal in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4:

[0155] The transceiver 720 is configured to receive a first configuration, the first configuration indicating that the terminal reports a measurement quantity of a first reference signal, the first reference signal being determined based on a measurement quantity of a second reference signal, the first reference signal belonging to a first reference signal set, the second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs being a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set, or a reference signal in the second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs having a quasi co-location relationship with a reference signal in the first reference signal set; and the processing unit 710 is configured to measure the first reference signal to obtain the measurement quantity of the first reference signal.

[0156] When the communication apparatus 700 is configured to implement the function of an access network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4:

[0157] The processing unit 710 is configured to determine a first configuration, the first configuration indicating that the terminal reports a measurement quantity of a first reference signal, the first reference signal being determined based on a measurement quantity of a second reference signal, the first reference signal belonging to a first reference signal set, the second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs being a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set, or a reference signal in the second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs having a quasi co-location relationship with a reference signal in the first reference signal set; and the transceiver 720 is configured to send the first configuration.

[0158] For more detailed description of the processing unit 710 and the transceiver 720, refer to the related description in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 4.

[0159] As shown in FIG. 8, the communication apparatus 800 includes a processor 810, and optionally further includes an interface circuit 820. The processor 810 and the interface circuit 820 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 820 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication apparatus 800 can further include a memory 830 for storing instructions executed by the processor 810 or storing input data required by the processor 810 to run instructions or storing data generated after the processor 810 runs instructions.

[0160] When the communication apparatus 800 is configured to implement the method shown in FIG. 4, the processor 810 is configured to implement the function of the processing unit 710, and the interface circuit 820 is configured to implement the function of the transceiver 720.

[0161] When the communication device is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the method embodiments. The terminal chip receives the information sent by the access network device to the terminal through other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal; or the terminal chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal, and the information is sent by the terminal to the access network device.

[0162] When the communication device is a module applied to an access network device, the access network device module implements the functions of the access network device in the method embodiments. The access network device module receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the access network device, and the information is sent by the terminal to the access network device; or the access network device module sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the access network device, and the information is sent by the access network device to the terminal. The access network device module herein can be a baseband chip of the access network device, or a CU, a DU or other module, or a device under the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture, such as an open CU, an open DU and the like.

[0163] It can be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0164] The steps of the methods in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware, or in software that is executable by a processor. The software instructions can be comprised in a software module, which can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read only memory, a programmable read only memory, an erasable programmable read only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. The storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. The ASIC can be located in an access network device or terminal. The processor and the storage medium can also be present as discrete components in an access network device or terminal.

[0165] In the above embodiments, the whole or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, the whole 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 programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the whole or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments are performed. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, or other programmable apparatus. The computer programs or 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 programs or instructions can be transferred from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center through wired or wireless 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. that integrates one or more available media. 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 digital video disc; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid state disk. The computer readable storage medium can be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0166] 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. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0167] It can be understood that various digital numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only distinguished for convenience of description, and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving a first configuration, the first configuration indicating the terminal to report a measurement quantity of a first reference signal, the measurement quantity of the first reference signal being determined based on a measurement quantity of a second reference signal, the first reference signal belonging to a first reference signal set, a second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs being a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set, or a reference signal in the second reference signal set having a quasi co-location relationship with a reference signal in the first reference signal set; measuring the first reference signal to obtain the measurement quantity of the first reference signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The measurement quantity of the second reference signal is also used to determine a predicted quantity of the first reference signal; the method further comprises: sending an index of the first reference signal and the predicted quantity of the first reference signal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The index of the first reference signal, the predicted quantity of the first reference signal, and the measurement quantity of the first reference signal are carried in a same message.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first configuration comprises first indication information, the first indication information indicating the terminal to report measurement quantities of N first reference signals, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The first configuration comprises second indication information, the second indication information indicating that the reporting of the measurement quantities of the first reference signals is triggered by a first message. The method further comprises: receiving the first message, the first message being used to trigger the reporting of the measurement quantities of the first reference signals.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein, The first message is used to trigger the reporting of measurement quantities of P first reference signals, P being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4-6, characterized in that, The method further comprises: storing the index of the first reference signal.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The storage duration of the index of the first reference signal is a first duration, the first duration being related to the capability of the terminal.

9. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving a second configuration, the second configuration indicating the terminal to report L reference signal combinations, the L reference signal combinations including the first reference signal, L being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The first configuration comprises third indication information, the third indication information indicating M reference signal combinations, the M reference signal combinations including the L reference signal combinations, M being an integer greater than or equal to L.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The first configuration comprises fourth indication information, the fourth indication information indicating a measurement quantity threshold value; the method further comprises: sending the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, wherein a measurement quantity difference between the measurement quantity of the first reference signal and a first measurement quantity is less than or equal to the measurement quantity threshold value, the first measurement quantity being a measurement quantity of a third reference signal, the third reference signal being different from the first reference signal, and the third reference signal belonging to the first reference signal set, the measurement quantity of the third reference signal being greater than the measurement quantities of the reference signals in the first reference signal set except the third reference signal and the first reference signal for which the predicted quantity is reported.

12. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: determining a first configuration, the first configuration indicating the terminal to report a measurement quantity of a first reference signal, the first reference signal being determined based on a measurement quantity of a second reference signal, the first reference signal belonging to a first reference signal set, a second reference signal set to which the second reference signal belongs being a non-empty subset of the first reference signal set, or a reference signal in the second reference signal set having a quasi co-location relationship with a reference signal in the first reference signal set; sending the first configuration.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The measurement quantity of the second reference signal is also used to determine a prediction quantity of the first reference signal; the method further comprises: receiving an index of the first reference signal and the prediction quantity of the first reference signal.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, The first configuration includes first indication information, the first indication information indicating the terminal to report measurement quantities of N first reference signals, N being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12-14, characterized in that, The first configuration includes second indication information, the second indication information indicating that the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal is triggered by a first message; The method further comprises: sending the first message, the first message being used to trigger the reporting of the measurement quantity of the first reference signal.

16. The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein, The method further comprises: sending a second configuration, the second configuration indicating the terminal to report L reference signal combinations, the L reference signal combinations including the first reference signal, L being an integer greater than or equal to 1.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, The first configuration includes third indication information, the third indication information indicating M reference signal combinations, the M reference signal combinations including the L reference signal combinations, M being an integer greater than or equal to L.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12-17, characterized in that, The first configuration includes fourth indication information, the fourth indication information indicating a measurement quantity threshold value; the method further comprises: receiving the measurement quantity of the first reference signal, wherein a measurement quantity difference between the measurement quantity of the first reference signal and a first measurement quantity is less than or equal to the measurement quantity threshold value, the first measurement quantity being a measurement quantity of a third reference signal, the third reference signal being different from the first reference signal and belonging to the first reference signal set, the measurement quantity of the third reference signal being greater than the measurement quantities of the reference signals in the first reference signal set other than the third reference signal and the first reference signal for which the prediction quantity is reported.

19. A communications device, characterized by comprise units or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 1-11, or comprise units or modules for performing the method of any one of claims 12-18.

20. A communications device, characterized by comprise a processor and an interface circuit for receiving signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmitting to the processor or sending signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, the processor being used to implement the method of any one of claims 1-11 or the method of any one of claims 12-18 through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method of any one of claims 1-11, or implement the method of any one of claims 12-18.

22. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer program code, when run on a computer, implements the method of any one of claims 1-11, or implements the method of any one of claims 12-18.

23. A communication system, characterized by The terminal is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1-11, and the access network device is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 12-18.

24. A chip, characterized by The computer program code, when run on a computer, implements the method of any one of claims 1-11, or implements the method of any one of claims 12-18. The terminal is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1-11, and the access network device is configured to implement the method of any one of claims 12-18. The computer program code, when run on a computer, implements the method of any one of claims 1-11, or implements the method of any one of claims 12-18.

Images