Enhancements on UE-based reporting framework

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to enhancements on user equipment-based beam reporting framework A method comprises performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator state. In this way, potential misunderstanding between user equipment and base station can be avoided when it comes to the current beam assumption or change.

Description

ENHANCEMENTS ON UE-BASED REPORTING FRAMEWORKCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to Great Britain Application No. 2411200.5, filed July 31 , 2024, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD

[0002] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for enhancements on user equipment-based (UE-based) beam reporting framework.BACKGROUND

[0003] With the development of wireless communication technology, 5G networks have gradually become a reality, significantly enhancing data transmission speeds and network capacity. However, as user demands continue to grow and new application scenarios emerge, existing 5G networks still face many challenges, driving the development of future 6G networks. Channel State Information (CSI) is a critical part of wireless communication systems, directly affecting signal transmission quality and overall system performance. Therefore, the enhancement and improvement of CSI and beam reporting become particularly important.SUMMARY

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: perform a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; determine whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and based on a determination that the event occurs, transmit, to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receive, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; determining whetheran event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; means for determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and means for based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0010] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: perform a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; determine whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and based on a determination that the event occurs, transmit, to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0011] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receive, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0012] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configurationindicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0013] In a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0014] In an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; means for determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and means for based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0015] In a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0016] In a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: determine whether a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied; and based on a determination that the condition is satisfied, transmit, to a second apparatus, a report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0017] In a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: based on a determination that a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied at a first apparatus, receive, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current TCI state.

[0018] In a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: determining whether a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied; and based on a determination that the condition is satisfied, transmitting to a second apparatus, a report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0019] In a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: based on a determination that a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state is satisfied at a first apparatus, receiving, from the firstapparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current TCI state.

[0020] In a seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for determining whether a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied; and means for based on a determination that the condition is satisfied, transmitting to a second apparatus, a report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0021] In an eighteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for based on a determination that a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state is satisfied at a first apparatus, receiving, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current TCI state.

[0022] In a nineteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third, ninth, or fifteenth aspect.

[0023] In a twentieth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth, tenth, or sixteenth aspect.

[0024] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0026] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart for reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling chart for reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0029] FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling chart for reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0030] FIG. 5A to FIG. 5G illustrate schematic diagrams of time instants according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, respectively;

[0031] FIG. 6 illustrates an example signaling chart for reporting according to some exampleembodiments of the present disclosure;

[0032] FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0036] FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0037] FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0038] FIG. 13 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0039] FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0040] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0042] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0043] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described.

[0044] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0045] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0046] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0047] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0048] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0049] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers animplementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0050] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE- A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-loT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1 G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0051] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (I AB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0052] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wirelesslocal loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0053] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0054] CSI-reference signals (RS) are UE-specifically configured in radio resource control (RRC). However, CSI-RS reference signals can be shared among many UEs, that is, more than 1 UE are configured to receive the same resource elements (RE).

[0055] In general, in order to save on DL resources, the gNB would try to use cell-specific or groupspecific CSI-RS resources. The worst case of DL overhead is with UE specific CSI-RS where the DL overhead increases linearly with the number of UEs in the cell. CSI-RS has many functions in NR, such as the followings:• CSI-RS for DL CSI acquisition• CSI-RS for beam management (BM) (based on L1-RSRP)• CSI-RS for tracking (TRS)• UL CSI acquisition in reciprocity-based UL precoding

[0056] In some applications, for example, CSI-RS for BM, CSI-RS are spatially beamformed into different directions.

[0057] In general, a UE can be configured with up to 48 report configurations (CSI-ReportConfig)per component carrier (CC) / 4 per bandwidth part (BWP). One CSI resource config within 1 report configuration can be configured with up to 16 resource sets for aperiodic CSI, otherwise configured with 1 resource set. In each CSI resource, up to 64 NZP CSI-RS resources are set, and up to 32 antenna ports are set for 1 NZP-CSI-RS resource.

[0058] For CSI acquisition, the UE is configured also with a codebook type. Given the measured channel across a CSI-RS resource, the UE can choose a favourite codeword from the specified codebook, i.e., precoding matrix indicator (PMI), along with channel quality indicator (CQI), rank indicator (Rl). UE can also be configured to measure several CSI-RS resources (up to 8) within a resource set and report the favourite resource, CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), along with PMI, CQI and Rl which corresponds to that selected resource.

[0059] In the time domain, a CSI-RS resource may start at any OFDM symbol of a slot and it spans 1 , 2, or 4 OFDM symbols depending on the number of ports configured. Likewise, also the UE measurement reporting of CSI can be also operated with periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic manner, which is so-called report types in NR report configuration. However, there are certain limitations, based on which the UE periodic report can operate only based on the configured periodic CSI-RS resource-set, the UE semi-persistent report can operate based on both configured periodic and semi-persistent CSI-RS resource-set, and finally the UE aperiodic report can operate based on all periodic, semi-persistent, and aperiodic CSI-RS resource-set, that is: the periodic CSI-RS resources can be used to generate any report type; the semi-persistent and periodic CSI-RS resources can be used to generate semi-persistent CSI reports; and the aperiodic CSI-RS can only be utilized only to generate the aperiodic report.

[0060] As for frequency-granularity, the CSI report setting also defines which part of the bandwidth the CSI should correspond to, and in addition, what granularity in frequency the CSI should have. To accomplish this, the bandwidth of a BWP is divided into a number of subbands.

[0061] All CSI-RS resources within one set are configured with same density and same nrofPorts, except for the NZP CSI-RS resources used for interference measurement. For semi-persistent and aperiodic CSI-RS, the actual triggering of CSI-RS transmission is per CSI-RS resource-set via either MAC CE or DCI. And a resource set can be used as part of UE report configurations describing what to be measured and, correspondingly, which measurement reporting are to be done by the UE. Specifically, if a CSI-RS resource-set is configured as ‘aperiodic’ by RRC, the CSI-RS resource set configuration includes a slot offset, aperiodicTriggeringOffset which defines the time interval between the triggering DCI and the CSI-RS transmission.

[0062] For A-CSI reporting up to 16 different reporting settings can be triggered with single Downlink Control Information (DCI) (e.g. for multiple component carriers) while SP-CSI reporting can trigger only one report setting with a single DCI. In order to trigger several SP-CSI reports (each in differentslots), multiple DCIs are needed.

[0063] For Type I and Type II CSI feedback on Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a CSI report comprises of two parts. Part 1 has a fixed payload size and is used to identify the number of information bits in Part 2. Part 1 shall be transmitted in its entirety before Part 2.

[0064] As for Type I CSI feedback, Part 1 contains Rl (if reported), CRI (if reported), Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) for the first codeword. Part 2 contains PMI (if reported), LI (if reported), and contains the CQI for the second codeword when Rl (if reported) is larger than 4.

[0065] As for Type II CSI feedback, Part 1 contains Rl (if reported), CQI, and an indication of the number of non-zero wideband amplitude coefficients per layer for the Type II CSI (see sub-clause 5.2.2). The fields of Part 1 - Rl (if reported), CQI, and the indication of the number of non-zero wideband amplitude coefficients for each layer - are separately encoded. Part 2 contains the PMI of the Type II CSI. Part 1 and 2 are separately encoded.

[0066] It is noted that the precoder matrices W in Type-I and Type-ll codebooks can be described as being decomposed into two matrix factors which are each matrix factor such that W(i1 , i2) = W1 (i1) W2(i2), where W1 is precoder matrix targeting the long-term channel which is selected on a wideband basis while W2 targets the short-term / frequency-selective properties of the channel and can be reported on a per-subband basis.

[0067] In some solutions, supports for both UE non-group and group-based beam reporting schemes (technical specification (TS) 38.214) are provided. Network can configure up to four CRIs / beams with L1 -RSRP values to be reported via Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0068] In some other solutions, unified TCI framework was introduced, meaning that TCI states so far providing QCL assumptions for the reception of DL signals and channels would be used also to provide spatial sources for the transmission of UL signals and channels to determine UL TX spatial filter.

[0069] Furthermore, the unified TCI framework defines the concept of activated codepoints and indicated TCI states. The activated codepoints contains a subset of the configured TCI states of up to 8 joint UL / DL configured TCI states or up to 8 separate DL and UL configured TCI states. The gNB may indicate which of the activated codepoints to use by indicating a particular codepoint to the UE in DCI.

[0070] One or multiple (in case of multi-TRP for instance) of the configured TCI states is / are indicated TCI state(s) at a time. The indicated TCI state can be joint DL and UL TCI state or separate DL and separate UL TCI states. Indicated TCI state provides QCL source (DL) and spatial source (UL) for the set of downlink signals and channels and for the set of uplink signals and channels, respectively. In Rel-17 there can be one indicated joint DL / UL TCI state, or one indicated DL and one indicated ULTCI state for the UE. Unified TCI framework is extended in Rel-18 so that there can be multiple indicated DL and UL TCI states.

[0071] In some solutions, MIMO scope includes an objective which is on UE initiated beam reporting or CSI reporting, shown in the following Table 1 :Table 1

[0072] However, under event-based CSI or UE-triggered CSI, the UE needs to first request UL resource if the at least one event has occurred, so that the network grants the UE UL resources for CSI reporting, or the UE notifies the network that the at least one event has occurred, then the UE can directly access some preconfigured UL resources for CSI reporting. To determine whether to send the request or notification, the UE would need to first perform measurements based on DL reference signals.

[0073] Moreover, there are some more schemes shown in the following Table 2:Table 2• Step 1 : UE transmits a first PUCCH (one-bit / multi-bit) notifying a second UL channel to carry beam report• FFS: Notification format, e.g., SR or a new UCI type.• Step 2: UE transmits the beam report in the second UL channel.• FFS: Details on the second UL channel, e.g., whether the second UL channel is PUCCH, PUSCH or both• The notification in Step 1 is in a separate reporting instance from the beam report in Step 2.FFS: Whether UE receives acknowledge information with response to each step for all modes For above procedures, cross-CC beam reporting is supported for both modes.• FFS: Details.Scheme: On UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, regarding trigger-event detection for beam reporting, at least support Event-2: Quality of at least one new beam, such as L1-RSRP, becomes a threshold value better than the current beam.At least L1 -RSRP is supported as quality metrics used for Event-2• FFS: How the L1-RSRP is used to determine the triggering event (e.g. timer, counter, filter coefficient)• FFS: Whether the network controls how the L1 -RSRP is used to determine the triggering eventRegarding RS measurement for the new beam for Event-2, down-select one or more of the following:• Option-3a (explicit manner): The RS(s) for new beam(s) are explicitly configured by RRC (e.g., reusing legacy configuration of RS measurement or in TCI-State) or MAC-CE• Option-3b (implicit manner): The RS(s) for new beam(s) are implicitly derived from QCL RS(s) of activated TCI state(s).• Optionee (implicit manner): The RS(s) for new beam(s) are implicitly derived from QCL RS(s) of configured TCI state(s).Note-1 : ‘New / current beam’ is for discussion purpose.Note-2: Other trigger events / quality metrics (e.g., L1-SINR) are not precluded.Note-3: For above implicit manner(s), if there are two QCL RSs in a TCI state, the measurement RS is derived from RS w.r.t. QCL-TypeD, if applicable.Scheme: On UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, regarding Event-2, the threshold value is RRC configuredScheme: On UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, regarding Event-2, ‘current beam’ is a beam corresponding to the indicated TCI state.RS measurement for the current beam for Event-2, i-2a is• Option-2a (implicit manner): The RS for current beam is implicitly derived from a QCL RS of indicated TCI state.■ FFS: The RS for current beam can be either the QCL RS in the indicated TCI state or the SSB which is QCLed with the QCL RS in the indicated TCI state.• FFS: Optionee (explicit manner): The RS for current beam is explicitly configured by RRC or MAC-CE.■ Note: SSB or CSI-RS can be configuredScheme: On UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, regarding UL signaling content(s) of L1-RSRP report depending on Event-2, in a report instance, at least Option-3 is supportedOption-3: N > 1 beam(s) are reported in the report instance,• At least one of N reported beam(s) should satisfy the condition of Event-2• N is configured by gNB♦ FFS: candidate value of ‘N’.• FFS: RRC can enable or disable whether current beam is always reported in addition to the N beams- FFS: Option-1 / 1 a / 1 b / 2.Above applies at least for the single CC caseScheme: Regarding RS measurement for the current beam for Event 2, for Option-2a, support the both schemes as follows.Scheme-1 : RS for current beam is the QCL RS in the indicated TCI state• FFS: Whether / How to handle the case if only one TRS is configured in the indicated TCI state.Scheme-2: the RS for current beam is the SSB which is QCLed with the QCL RS in the indicated TCI state.Enabling one of either Scheme-1 or Scheme-2 is selected by NW.• FFS: The above selection is via an explicit RRC parameter or an implicit manner, e.g., if the RS(s) for new beam are CSI-RS, Scheme-1 is enabled; otherwise, Scheme-2 is enabled.• (Working Assumption) Enabling of either Scheme-1 or Scheme-2 should ensure the same RS type for RS measurement for current beam and new beam.The above QCL RS is the RS w.r.t. QCL-TypeD, if there are two QCL RSs in the indicated TCI state.Scheme: Regarding RS measurement for the new beam for Event 2, at least Option-3a is supportedOption-3a (explicit manner): The RS(s) for new beam(s) are explicitly configuredFFS: Option-3b / 3c i-3b: The for new are implicitly derived from QCL RS(s) ofactivated TCI state(s).• Optionee: The RS(s) for new beam(s) are implicitly derived from QCL RS(s) of TCI state(s) in a configured subset of the legacy RRC-configured TCI state listScheme: On UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, regarding L1-RSRP report format Option-3 depending on Event-2, for a report instance where N > 1 beam(s) are reported, the following is supported.RRC can enable or disable whether current beam is always reported♦ When enabled by RRC, the current beam + N beams from the measurement RSs for new beam(s) are reported• Note: The reported current beam is NOT counted in the N reported beams.♦ When disabled by RRC, N beams are reported.Scheme: On beam report transmission procedure for UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, regarding Mode-A, the DCI format in Step-2 comprises UL-grant DCI format, and the second channel in Step-3 is at least PUSCH.The UL-grant DCI format at least comprises DCI format 0_1 / 0_2.• FFS: DCI format 0_3FFS: How to trigger the UEI beam report by the UL-grant DCI formatFFS: the DCI format in Step-2 comprises DL-grant DCI format, and the second channel in Step-3 is PUCCH.♦ 1 -bit field in the DL-grant DCI format is introduced to indicate the transmission of the UEI beam report• The PUCCH resource for HARQ-ACK transmission can be reused to carry both the HARQ-ACK and UEI beam report.♦ The DL-grant DCI format at least comprises DCI format 1_1 / 1_2.• FFS: DCI format 1_3Scheme: Regarding the triggering event determination for Event 2:If within a time window (which is configurable), the number of Event-2 instance(s) for at least one same new beam is greater than or equal to a configurable number M, UE initiated beam report occurs.• Note: Event-2 instance for a new beam is determined if the L1 -RSRP of the new beam becomes a threshold value better than the current beamAbove feature is subject to UE capability.Basic feature: Once the L1 -RSRP of the new beam becomes a threshold value better than the current beam, UE initiated beam report occursFFS: Whether the above is captured in RAN1 or RAN2 specification.

[0074] One of the solutions on whether the UE reports L1 -RSRP for current beam is shown above. However, the assumption on current beam may be unclear between UE and gNB, that is, there could be different understanding between the gNB assumption or understanding and what the UE actually assumes or uses as current TCI state, beam or RS, for example, RS measurements determine if at least one event related to UE initiated CSI or beam reporting has occurred.

[0075] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for enhancements on UE-based beam reporting framework. In the solution, both UE and gNB have a common understanding of the current TCI state, which means UE and gNB both know which beam or reference signal (RS) the UE has used to measure RS and determine if any event triggering CSI or beam reporting has happened, or which RS the UE received during or after detecting the event. In this way, the solution can avoid potential misunderstanding between UE and gNB when it comes to the current beam assumption or change. Further, it allows to have a common understanding between the UE and gNB regarding current TCI state, and thus current beam or RS (reference signal), the UE has (i) used for RS measurements to determine if at least one event related to UE initiated CSI / beam reporting has occurred or (ii) received before or during or after it has detected that the at least one event has occurred.

[0076] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, including a first apparatus 1 10 and a second apparatus 120, can communicate with each other. In the example of FIG. 1 , the first apparatus 1 10 may be a UE and the second apparatus 120 may be a base station serving the UE. The serving area of the second apparatus 120 may be called a cell 102.

[0077] It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell 102, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 100. It is noted that although illustrated as a network device, the second apparatus 120 may be another device than a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, the first apparatus 110 may be another device than a terminal device.

[0078] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a UE and the second apparatus 120 operating as a base station. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0079] In some example embodiments, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0080] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0081] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is noted the order acts shown in FIG. 2-4 is only an example not limitation. Acts can be performed in any suitable manner. Example embodiments described with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 can be implemented separately or combined in anymanner. For example, one or more example embodiments shown in FIG. 2 can be combined with one or more example embodiments shown in one or more other drawings.

[0082] Reference is made to FIG. 2, which illustrates a signaling flow 200 of reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 200 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1 , for example, by using the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 2 is only an example not limitation.

[0083] The first apparatus 110 performs (2015) a reference signal measurement(s) on a reference signal. For example, the first apparatus 110 may measure one or more reference signals from the second apparatus 120 on reference signal resources. For example, the first apparatus 110 may perform the measurement(s) on reference signals related to a current beam and reference signals related to one or more candidate beams. One beam may correspond to one reference signal resource or a set of reference signal resources. Alternatively, or in addition, a beam may correspond to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state.

[0084] In some example embodiments, the reference signal may include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). Alternatively, or in addition, the reference signal may include sounding reference signal. In some other example embodiments, the reference signal may include a synchronization signals (SS), for example, synchronization signal block or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) / SS block.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may perform periodic measurements. For example, the first apparatus 110 may make the periodic L1 measurements. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may measure reference signal received power (RSRP) of the reference signal. Alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may measure reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) of the reference signal. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may measure signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the reference signal.

[0086] In addition, the first apparatus 110 determines (2030) whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement. In some example embodiments, the report may be a beam report. Alternatively, or in addition, the report may be a CSI report.

[0087] In some example embodiments, a measurement result of the measurement may be obtained averaging or considering a plurality of measurements within a time window. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may obtain the measurement result directly from the plurality of measurements. For example, the plurality of measurements may be directly used for UEIBM (UE- initiated beam management) event triggering. Table 3 below shows examples of events for UE- initiated / event-driven reporting. It is noted that the trigger events shown in Table 3 are only examplesnot limitations.Table 3

[0088] In some example embodiments, at least L1 -RSRP may be used as quality metrics used for Event-2. For example, if a difference between the RSRP of a candidate beam and a RSRP of a current beam is above a threshold (such as, RSRP threshold), the first apparatus 1 10 may determine that the event for triggering the report occurs. Alternatively, if the difference between the RSRP of the candidate beam and the RSRP of the current beam is not above the threshold, the first apparatus 1 10 may determine that the at least one beam does not satisfy the event.

[0089] Based on a determination that the event occurs, the first apparatus 1 10 transmits (2040), to a second apparatus 120, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state. In other words, based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus 1 10, the second apparatus 120 receives (2040), from the first apparatus 1 10, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state. For example, if the first apparatus 1 10 determines that Event-2 occurs, the first apparatus 1 10 may transmit the report based on the occurrence of Event-2.

[0090] The first apparatus 1 10 may be configured, for example, through RRC, or indicated via MAC CE, to provide the reporting of the information indicative of the current TCI state. In this way, both the first apparatus 1 10 and the second apparatus 120 know which beam or reference signal (RS) the UE has used to measure RS and determine if any event triggering CSI or beam reporting has happened, or which RS the UE received during or after detecting the event.

[0091] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state may correspond to the reference signalon which the reference measurement is performed. Alternatively, the current TCI state may be a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus 120 before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence. In some other example embodiments, the current TCI state may be a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed. In some examples, the number of bits is preconfigured. In other examples, the fixed number of bits is specified or configured (e.g., via RRC) to provide the information about current TCI state. For example, the number of bits may be configured in a channel state information report configuration or setting.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state may depend on the number of active TCI states. For example, the first apparatus 110 may determine (2025) the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states. For example, in case of N (DL / joint) active TCI states, the first apparatus 110 may use [Log2 (N)] bits to provide the information about current TCI state. By way of example, if there are 8 active TCI states, the number of bits for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state is 3.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (2005), to the first apparatus 110, a configuration or indication indicating (or associated with) at least one of a set (or subset) of TCI states or a set (or subset) of reference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated. In other words, the first apparatus 110 may receive (2005), from the second apparatus 120, a configuration or indication (or associated with) indicating at least one of a set (or subset) of TCI states or a set (or subset) of reference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated. In this case, the first apparatus 110 may then determine (2010) the number of bits for the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of the number of TCI states of the set (or subset) of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set (or subset) of reference signals. For example, if the set (or subset) of TCI states includes 4 TCI states, the number of the bits may be 2.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (2035), based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or notification to the second apparatus 120. In this case, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (2040) the report including the information indicative of the current TCI state after the transmission of the request or notification.

[0096] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state may indicate an index of the current TCI state. For example, if the index of current TCI state is “001”, the information may include the index “001.” Alternatively, or in addition, the information indicative of the current TCI state may include an indication of the current TCI state. In some other exampleembodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state may indicate a change of the current TCI state. In some further example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state may indicate a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state. For example, the information may include an index of the reference signal corresponding to the TCI state. The information indicative of the current TCI state may indicate or may correspond to a channel state information resource indicator (CRI) associated with the current TCI state, and / or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, and / or TRS (tracking reference signal) resource indicator.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit a TCI state switching indication to the first apparatus 110. In this case, after receiving the TCI state switching indication, the first apparatus may transmit (2040), based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication, the report including the information indicative of the current TCI state. The TCI state switching indication may be transmitted in one of: downlink control information (DCI), medium access control control element (MAC CE) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Alternatively, if there is no TCI state switching indication before a reference time or a reference resource, the first apparatus may transmit the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state. In some further example embodiments, if there is not TCI state switching indication after a reference time or a reference resource, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (2040) the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state. In other words, if there is no TCI state switching indication before or after a reference time or a reference resource, the second apparatus 120 may receive the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0098] In some other example embodiments, if there is no TCI state switching indication for a time duration, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (2040) the report including the information indicative of the current TCI state. Alternatively, the second apparatus 120 may transmit a TCI state switching indication within a time duration. In this case, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state. That is, if the second apparatus 120 transmits the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the second apparatus 120 may receive the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state. Alternatively, if the TCI state switching indication is received within the time duration, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (2040) the report including the information indicative of the current TCI state. That is, if the second apparatus 120 transmits the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the second apparatus 120 may also receive the report including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit, the first apparatus 110, the TCI state switching indication before a reference time or reference resource. In this case,based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state. Alternatively, if the second apparatus 120 may transmit, the first apparatus 110, the TCI state switching indication after a reference time or reference resource, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state. That is, if the second apparatus 120 transmits the TCI state switching indication before or after a reference time or reference resource, the second apparatus 120 may receive the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit, to the first apparatus 110, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state. In this case, after receiving the indication, the first apparatus may transmit (2040), based on the indication, the report including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0101] In some further example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit information in a CSI report configuration corresponding to the event to the first apparatus 110. In this case, based on the received information, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (2040) the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0102] Reference is made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling flow 300 of reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 300 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1 , for example, by using the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 3 is only an example not limitation.

[0103] The first apparatus 110 performs (3010) a reference signal measurement on a reference signal. For example, the first apparatus 110 may measure one or more reference signals from the second apparatus 120 on reference signal resources. For example, the first apparatus 110 may perform the measurement on reference signals related to a current beam and reference signals related to one or more candidate beams. One beam may correspond to one reference signal resource or a set of reference signal resources.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the reference signal may include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). Alternatively, or in addition, the reference signal may include sounding reference signal. In some other example embodiments, the reference signal may include a synchronization signals (SS), for example, synchronization signal block or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) / SS block.

[0105] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may perform periodic measurements. For example, the first apparatus 110 may make the periodic L1 measurements. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may measure reference signal received power (RSRP) of thereference signal. Alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may measure reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) of the reference signal. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may measure signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the reference signal. Performing (3010) the measurement may be similar to or same as performing (2010) the measurement shown in FIG. 2. It is noted that one or more example embodiments of the performing (2010) may also be applied to the performing (3010).

[0106] The first apparatus 110 determines (3015) whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement. In some example embodiments, the report may be a beam report. Alternatively, or in addition, the report may be a CSI report. Examples of the event are shown in Table 3.

[0107] In some example embodiments, a measurement result of the measurement may be obtained averaging a plurality of measurements within a time window. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may obtain the measurement result directly from the plurality of measurements. For example, the plurality of measurements may be directly used for UEIBM event triggering.

[0108] In some example embodiments, at least L1 -RSRP may be used as quality metrics used for Event-2. For example, if a difference between the RSRP of a candidate beam and a RSRP of a current beam is above a threshold (such as, RSRP threshold), the first apparatus 110 may determine that the event for triggering the report occurs. Alternatively, if the difference between the RSRP of the candidate beam and the RSRP of the current beam is not above the threshold, the first apparatus 110 may determine that the at least one beam does not satisfy the event. The determination (3015) shown in FIG. 3 may be similar to or same as the determination (2015) in FIG. 2. It is noted that one or more example embodiments of the determination (2015) may also be applied to the determination (3015).

[0109] If the event occurs, the first apparatus 110 transmits (3040), to a second apparatus 120, the report including information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred. In other words, based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus 110, the second apparatus 120 receives (3040), from the first apparatus 110, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred. For example, if the first apparatus 110 determines that Event-2 occurs, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the report based on the occurrence of Event-2. By way of example, the report may include a field including one or more bits to indicate that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, if the field indicates “1 ”, it means that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. In some example embodiments, the report further may indicate at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, and indication of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signalresource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0110] The first apparatus 110 may be configured, for example, through RRC, or indicated via MAC CE, to provide the reporting of the information indicative of the current TCI state. In this way, both the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 know which beam or reference signal (RS) the UE has used to measure RS and determine if any event triggering CSI or beam reporting has happened, or which RS the UE received during or after detecting the event.

[0111] In some example embodiments, a current TCI state may correspond to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed. In some other example embodiments, the current TCI state may be a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus 120 before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence. Alternatively, the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0112] In some example embodiments, if a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state is within a period time, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, if the last report indicating the first TCI state is transmitted at the time instant 511 and the current TCI state is changed from the first TCI state to the second TCI state within the period time 512, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. In some example embodiments, the period time 512 may be configured by the second apparatus 120 or may be preconfigured.

[0113] In some other example embodiments, if the change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state is before a transmission of the last report, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 521 and the transmission of the last report is at the time instant 522, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. Alternatively, if the change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state is after the transmission of the last report, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5B, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 523 and the transmission of the last report is at the time instant 522, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0114] In some example embodiments, if a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state before a request or notification indicative of an occurrence of the event transmitted by the first apparatus 110, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 531 and the transmission of the requestfor reporting the occurrence of the event at the time instant 532, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. Alternatively, if the change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state is after the request or notification indicative of the occurrence of the event transmitted by the first apparatus 110, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5C, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 533 and the transmission of the request for reporting the occurrence of the event at the time instant 532, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0115] In some example embodiments, if a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state is before a reference resource based on which whether the event has occurred is determined, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5D, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 541 and the reference signal for determining the event occurs is received at the time instant 542, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0116] In some other example embodiments, if the change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the reference resource, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5D, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 543 and the reference signal for determining the event occurs is received at the time instant 541 , the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0117] In some example embodiments, if a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state before a reference time based on which whether the event has occurred is determined, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5E, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 551 and the reference time for determining the event occurs is the time instant 552, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. Alternatively, based on a determination of the change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the reference time, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred. For example, as shown in FIG. 5E, if the current TCI state is changed to the second TCI state at the time instant 553 and the reference time for determining the event occurs is the time instant 552, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed due to newly indicated / applicable TCI state. For example, the secondapparatus 120 may transmit (3025), to the first apparatus 110, a TCI state switching indication indicating a second TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report. In other words, the first apparatus 110 may receive (3025) from the second apparatus 120, a TCI state switching indication indicating the second TCI state. In this case, the first apparatus 110 may determine the change of the current TCI state has occurred based on the TCI state switching indication. In some example embodiments, the TCI state switching indication may be transmitted via DCI. Alternatively, the TCI state switching indication may be transmitted via MAC CE. In some other example embodiments, the TCI state switching indication may be transmitted via RRC signaling. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may receive (3030), from the second apparatus 120, an indication of a new indicated TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report, that is, the first apparatus 110 may indicate the new TCI state to the second apparatus 120, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred based on the reception of the new indicated TCI state. The new indicated TCI state may be transmitted in one of DCI, MAC CE or RRC signaling. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed after beam application time of the second TCI state.

[0119] Alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed due to default TCI state being applicable. For example, if there is a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a default TCI state that is applicable, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0120] In some other embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed due to assumed TCI state after beam failure recovery. For example, if the first apparatus 110 performs or completes a beam failure recovery, the first apparatus 110 may determine (3035) that the change of the current TCI state occurs. It is noted that the beam failure recovery can be performed in any suitable manner. The present disclosure is not limited to this aspect.

[0121] Reference is made to FIG. 4, which illustrates a signaling flow 400 of reporting according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 400 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1 , for example, by using the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 4 is only an example not limitation.

[0122] The first apparatus 110 may perform (4006) a reference signal measurement on a reference signal. For example, the first apparatus 110 may measure one or more reference signals from the second apparatus 120 on reference signal resources. For example, the first apparatus 110 may perform the measurement on reference signals related to a current beam and reference signals related to one or more candidate beams. One beam may correspond to one reference signal resource or aset of reference signal resources. Alternatively, or in addition, a beam may correspond to a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the reference signal may include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). Alternatively, or in addition, the reference signal may include sounding reference signal. In some other example embodiments, the reference signal may include a synchronization signals (SS), for example, synchronization signal block or physical broadcast channel (PBCH) / SS block.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may perform periodic measurements. For example, the first apparatus 110 may make the periodic L1 measurements. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may measure reference signal received power (RSRP) of the reference signal. Alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may measure reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) of the reference signal. In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may measure signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the reference signal.

[0125] The first apparatus 110 determines (4010) whether a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied. In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 receives (4005), from the second apparatus 120, a TCI state switching indication, the first apparatus 110 may determine (4010) the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication. For example, the TCI state switching indication may be received within a period of time configured for monitoring an event for triggering the report. As an example, as shown in FIG. 5F, the time period 562 is configure for monitoring the event and the TCI state switching indication is received at the time instant 561 which is within the time period 562. In this case, the condition is satisfied.

[0126] In some other example embodiment, if that the first apparatus 110 has not received a TCI state switching indication for a time duration, the first apparatus 110 may determine (4010) the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication. For example, as shown in FIG. 5G, if that the first apparatus 110 has not received a TCI state switching indication for the time duration 572, the first apparatus 110 may determine (4010) the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication at 571. Alternatively, if the TCI state switching indication is received within the time period 572, the first apparatus 110 may determine (4010) the condition for reporting information indicative of the current TCI state is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (4005), to the first apparatus 110, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state. In this case, after receiving (4005) the indication, and the first apparatus 110 may determine (4010) the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the indication.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (4007) whether a change of the current TCI state occurs. In this case, if the change of the current TCI state occurs, the first apparatus 110 determines (4010) the condition is satisfied. The determination (4007) of the change is similar to the determination (3035) of the change in FIG. 3. It is noted that one or more example embodiments of the determination (3035) of the change may also be applied to the performing (4007).

[0129] The first apparatus 110 may be configured, for example, through RRC, or indicated via MAC CE, to provide the reporting of the information indicative of the current TCI state, in this way, both the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 know which beam or reference signal (RS) the UE has used to measure RS and determine if any event triggering CSI or beam reporting has happened, or which RS the UE received during or after detecting the event.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed. In some examples, the number of bits is preconfigured. In other examples, the fixed number of bits is specified or configured (e.g., via RRC) to provide the information about current TCI state. For example, the number of bits may be configured in a channel state information report configuration or setting.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state may depend on the number of active TCI states. For example, the first apparatus 110 may determine the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states. For example, in case of N (DL / joint) active TCI states, the first apparatus 110 may use [Log2 (N)] bits to provide the information about current TCI state. By way of example, if there are 8 active TCI states, the number of bits for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state is 3.

[0132] In some other example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may receive, from the second apparatus 120, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signal from which the current TCI state is indicated. In this case, the first apparatus 110 may determine the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of the number of TCI states of the set of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set of reference signals.

[0133] If the condition is satisfied, the first apparatus 110 transmits (4020), to a second apparatus 120, a report including the information indicative of the current TCI state. In other words, based on a determination that a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied at a first apparatus 110, the second apparatus 120 receives (4020), from the first apparatus 110, the report comprising information indicative of a current TCI state. In some example embodiments, the report may be a beam report. Alternatively, or inaddition, the report may be a CSI report. In some example embodiments, the current TCI state may correspond to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed. In some other example embodiments, the current TCI state may be a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus 120 before or during or after a determination of an event occurrence. Alternatively, the current TCI state may be a TCI state applicable before, during or after the determination of the event occurrence. In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0134] Reference is made to FIG. 6, which illustrates an example signaling flow 600 of CSI enhancement according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 600 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1 , for example, UE 610 may be the first apparatus 110 and gNB 620 may be the second apparatus 120. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 6 is only an example not limitation.

[0135] As shown in FIG. 6, in some example embodiments, the gNB 620 may transmit (6010) a configuration message which enables the UE 610 to provide indication indicative of the current assumption of the UE 610 regarding current TCI state. After that the gNB 620 may transmit (6020) activate 8 joint TCI states or DL TCI states, that is, TCI state 1 , TCI state 2, ..., to TCI state 8. In addition, the gNB 620 may transmit (6030) an indication of TCI state 1 to the UE 610. After receiving the indication, the UE 610 may use TCI state 1 as current TCI state for UE-initiated CSI reporting. In some example, embodiments, the gNB may transmit (6040) an indication of TCI state 3 to the UE 610. The UE 610 may determine current TCI state change from TCI state 1 to 3, and UE 610 uses TCI state 3 as current TCI state for UE-initiated CSI reporting. In some example embodiments, the UE 610 may detect that at least one event occurred based at least partially on TCI state 3. Furthermore, the UE 610 may initiate request or notification indicative of CSI reporting, and then the UE 610 may perform CSI reporting. The UE 610 may transmit (6060) information about current TCI state assumption of the UE 610, TCI state 3, using 3 bits, in this case, the information is included in UE initiated CSI report. At last, the gNB 620 may correctly understand assumption on current TCI state of the UE 610 used for the CSI reporting.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the UE may be specified or configured to provide (respectively, not to provide) the information / indication indicative of the current TCI state if the UE receives TCI state switching / indication / update. Otherwise, the UE may provide (respectively, does not provide) the information / indication indicative of the current TCI state if the UE hasn’t received TCI state switching / indication / update.

[0137] In some embodiments, the information / indication indicative of the current TCI state may comprise a single bit which indicates whether there has been a change of current TCI state or not. The change may be with respect to one or more of: the current TCI state used for or reported in last CSI / beam report (for UE-initiated reporting), the change may be within a period of time or before or after a point in time, before or after notification or request the UE sends corresponding the event occurrence, before or after reference resource / time considered to determine if the event has occurred. In some examples, the above may be considered / applied when RRC TCI state switching is used. Or when MAC CE based TCI state switching is used.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the UE may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed due to newly indicated / applicable TCI state, through DCI or MAC CE or even RRC, or after beam application time. In some other embodiments, the UE may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed due to assumed TCI state after beam failure recovery. Alternatively, the UE may consider or assume that current TCI state has changed due to default TCI state being applicable.

[0139] FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0140] At block 710, the first apparatus 110 performs a reference signal measurement on a reference signal.

[0141] At block 720, the first apparatus 110 determines whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement.

[0142] At block 730, based on a determination that the event occurs, the first apparatus 110 transmits to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states,

[0147] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated; and determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of the number of TCI states of the set of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set of reference signals.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: transmitting, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or notification to the second apparatus; and transmitting the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the transmission of the request or notification.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: transmitting, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or a notification to the second apparatus; and transmitting the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the transmission of the request or the notification.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication before a reference time or a reference resource or based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication after the reference time or the reference resource, transmitting the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication for a time duration, transmitting the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises receiving, from the secondapparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication before a reference time or reference resource or after the reference time or reference resource; and transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication before or after the reference time or the reference resource, the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and transmitting, based on the indication, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, information in a CSI report configuration corresponding to the event; and transmitting', based on the received information, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0160] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0161] At block 810, based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, the second apparatus 120 receives from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0162] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to a reference signal on which a reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after a determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0163] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set ofreference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated.

[0166] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: receiving, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or notification from the first apparatus; and receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the reception of the request or notification.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication before a reference time or a reference resource or based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication after the reference time or the reference resource, receiving the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0170] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication for a time duration, receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0171] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and receiving the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0172] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication before a reference time or reference resource or after the reference time or reference resource; and receiving the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, information in a CSI report configuration corresponding to the event; and receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0176] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0177] FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an example method 900 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 900 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0178] At block 910, the first apparatus performs a reference signal measurement on a reference signal.

[0179] At block 920, the first apparatus determines whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement.

[0180] At block 930, based on a determination that the event occurs, the first apparatus transmits to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0181] In some example embodiments, a current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0182] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state within a period time, thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state before a transmission of the last report, or thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the transmission of the last report.

[0183] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state before a request or notification indicative of an occurrence of the event transmitted by the first apparatus, or thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the request or notification indicative of the occurrence of the event transmitted by the first apparatus.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the first is caused to: determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state is before a reference resource based on which whether the event has occurred is determined, or thing change from the first TCI state to thesecond TCI state after the reference resource.

[0185] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state before a reference time based on which whether the event has occurred is determined, or thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the reference time.

[0186] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication indicating the second TCI state.

[0187] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a new indicated TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report; and determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred based on the reception of the new indicated TCI state.

[0188] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: based on a determination of a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a default TCI state that is applicable, determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0189] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: determining that the change of the current TCI state occurs based on a determination that a beam failure recovery is performed or completed.

[0190] In some example embodiments, the report further indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, and indication of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0191] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0192] FIG. 10 shows a flowchart of an example method 1000 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0193] At block 1010, based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, the second apparatus receives from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0194] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or afterthe determination of the event occurrence.

[0195] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication indicating a second TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report.

[0196] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a new indicated TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report.

[0197] In some example embodiments, the report further indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, and indication of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0198] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0199] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an example method 1100 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1100 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0200] At block 1110, the first apparatus determines whether a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied.

[0201] At block 1120, based on a determination that the condition is satisfied, the first apparatus transmits to a second apparatus, a report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0202] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after a determination of an event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0203] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and determining the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication.

[0204] In some example embodiments, the TCI state switching indication is received within a period of time configured for monitoring an event for triggering the report.

[0205] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: based on a determination that the first apparatus has not received a TCI state switching indication for a time duration, determining the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication.

[0206] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: receiving, from thesecond apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and determining the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the indication.

[0207] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: determining whether a change of the current TCI state occurs; and based on a determination that the change of the current TCI state occurs, determining the condition is satisfied.

[0208] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0209] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0210] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states.

[0211] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signal from which the current TCI state is indicated; and determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of the number of TCI states of the set of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set of reference signals.

[0212] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0213] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0214] FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of an example method 1200 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1100 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0215] At block 1210, based on a determination that a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state is satisfied at a first apparatus, the second apparatus receives, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current TCI state.

[0216] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI stateconfigured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after a determination of an event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0217] In some example embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication.

[0218] In some example embodiments, the TCI state switching indication is received within a period of time configured for monitoring an event for triggering the report.

[0219] In some example embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0220] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0221] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0222] In some example embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signal from which the current TCI state is indicated.

[0223] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0224] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0225] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0226] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; means for determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and means for based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0227] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI stateconfigured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0228] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0229] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0230] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states,

[0231] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated; and means for determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of the number of TCI states of the set of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set of reference signals.

[0232] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or notification to the second apparatus; and means for transmitting the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the transmission of the request or notification.

[0233] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for transmitting, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or a notification to the second apparatus; and means for transmitting the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the transmission of the request or the notification.

[0234] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0235] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and means for transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0236] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication before a reference time or a referenceresource or based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication after the reference time or the reference resource, transmitting the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0237] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication for a time duration, transmitting the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0238] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and means for transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0239] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and means for transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0240] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication before a reference time or reference resource or after the reference time or reference resource; and means for transmitting, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication before or after the reference time or the reference resource, the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0241] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and means for transmitting, based on the indication, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0242] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, information in a CSI report configuration corresponding to the event; and means for transmitting, based on the received information, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0243] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0244] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1 may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0245] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for based on adetermination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

[0246] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to a reference signal on which a reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after a determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0247] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0248] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0249] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated.

[0250] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or notification from the first apparatus; and means for receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the reception of the request or notification.

[0251] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0252] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and means for receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0253] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication before a reference time or a reference resource or based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication after the reference time or the reference resource, receiving the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0254] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication for a time duration, receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0255] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and means for receiving the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0256] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and means for receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0257] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication before a reference time or reference resource or after the reference time or reference resource; and means for receiving the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0258] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and means for receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0259] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, information in a CSI report configuration corresponding to the event; and means for receiving the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0260] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0261] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 900 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 900. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0262] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; means for determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and means for based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0263] In some example embodiments, a current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0264] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state within a period time, means for thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state before a transmission of the last report, or means for thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the transmission of the last report.

[0265] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state before a request or notification indicative of an occurrence of the event transmitted by the first apparatus, or means for thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the request or notification indicative of the occurrence of the event transmitted by the first apparatus.

[0266] In some example embodiments, the first is caused to: means for determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state is before a reference resource based on which whether the event has occurred is determined, or means for thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the reference resource.

[0267] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred, based on a determination of one of: a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a second TCI state before a reference time based on which whether the event has occurred is determined, or means for thing change from the first TCI state to the second TCI state after the reference time.

[0268] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication indicating the second TCI state.

[0269] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a new indicated TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report; and means for determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred based on the reception of the new indicated TCI state.

[0270] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination of a change from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report to a default TCI state that is applicable, determining that the change of the current TCI state has occurred.

[0271] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the change of the current TCI state occurs based on a determination that a beam failure recovery is performed or completed.

[0272] In some example embodiments, the report further indicates at least one of: an index of thecurrent TCI state, and indication of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0273] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0274] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1000 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1000. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0275] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicating whether a change of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state has occurred.

[0276] In some example embodiments, a current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0277] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication indicating a second TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report.

[0278] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a new indicated TCI state which is different from a first TCI state used for and / or reported in a last report.

[0279] In some example embodiments, the report further indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, and indication of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0280] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0281] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1100 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 ) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1100. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus maybe implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1 .

[0282] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for determining whether a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI, state is satisfied; and means for based on a determination that the condition is satisfied, transmitting to a second apparatus, a report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0283] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after a determination of an event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0284] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and means for determining the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication.

[0285] In some example embodiments, the TCI state switching indication is received within a period of time configured for monitoring an event for triggering the report.

[0286] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for based on a determination that the first apparatus has not received a TCI state switching indication for a time duration, determining the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication.

[0287] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and means for determining the condition is satisfied based on the reception of the indication.

[0288] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether a change of the current TCI state occurs; and means for based on a determination that the change of the current TCI state occurs, determining the condition is satisfied.

[0289] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0290] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0291] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states.

[0292] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signal from which the current TCI state is indicated; and means fordetermining the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of the number of TCI states of the set of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set of reference signals.

[0293] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0294] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0295] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1200 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1200. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0296] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for based on a determination that a condition for reporting information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state is satisfied at a first apparatus, receiving, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current TCI state.

[0297] In some example embodiments, the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before or during or after a determination of an event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before or during or after the determination of the event occurrence.

[0298] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a TCI state switching indication.

[0299] In some example embodiments, the TCI state switching indication is received within a period of time configured for monitoring an event for triggering the report.

[0300] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state.

[0301] In some example embodiments, the number of bits for or corresponding to the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

[0302] In some example embodiments, the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

[0303] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signal from which the current TCI state is indicated.

[0304] In some example embodiments, the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

[0305] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

[0306] FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1300 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1300 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 1300 includes one or more processors 1310, one or more memories 1320 coupled to the processor 1310, and one or more communication modules 1340 coupled to the processor 1310.

[0307] The communication module 1340 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1340 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 1340 may include at least one antenna.

[0308] The processor 1310 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1300 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0309] The memory 1320 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1324, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 1322 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0310] A computer program 1330 includes computer executable instructions that are executed bythe associated processor 1310. The instructions of the program 1330 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1330 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1324. The processor 1310 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1330 into the RAM 1322.

[0311] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1330 so that the device 1300 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 12. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0312] In some example embodiments, the program 1330 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1300 (such as in the memory 1320) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1300. The device 1300 may load the program 1330 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1322 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e. , tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0313] FIG. 14 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1400 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1300 has the program 1330 stored thereon.

[0314] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0315] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machineexecutable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0316] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0317] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0318] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0319] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[0320] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

l / We Claim:1 . A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: perform a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; determine whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and based on a determination that the event occurs, transmit, to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the current TCI state corresponds to the reference signal on which the reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before, during, or after the determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before, during, or after the determination of the event occurrence.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the number of bits for the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

4. The first apparatus of claim 3, wherein the number of bits is preconfigured, or wherein the number of bits is configured in a channel state information report configuration.

5. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: determine the number of bits for the information indicative of the current TCI state based on the number of active TCI states,6. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, a configuration or an indication indicating at least one of a set of TCI states or a set of reference signals from which the current TCI state is indicated; anddetermine the number of bits for the information indicative of the current TCI state based on at least one of: the number of TCI states of the set of TCI states or the number of reference signals of the set of reference signals.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: transmit, based on a determination of the event occurrence, a request or a notification to the second apparatus; and transmit the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state after the transmission of the request or the notification.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -7, wherein the information indicative of the current TCI state indicates at least one of: an index of the current TCI state, an indication of the current TCI state, a change of the current TCI state, a reference signal corresponding to the current TCI state, a channel state information resource indicator associated with the current TCI state, or a synchronization signal resource block resource indicator associated with the current TCI state.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication; and transmit, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

10. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication before a reference time or a reference resource or based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication after the reference time or the reference resource, transmit the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.11 . The first apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: based on a determination that there is no TCI state switching indication for a time duration, transmit the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

12. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:receive, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and transmit, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

13. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication within a time duration; and transmit, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication within the time duration, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

14. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, a TCI state switching indication before a reference time or reference resource or after the reference time or reference resource; and transmit, based on the reception of the TCI state switching indication before or after the reference time or the reference resource, the report without including the information indicative of the current TCI state.

15. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, an indication for providing the information indicative of the current TCI state; and transmit, based on the indication, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

16. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, information in a CSI report configuration corresponding to the event; and transmit, based on the received information, the report comprising the information indicative of the current TCI state.

17. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-16, wherein the first apparatus is a terminal device and the second apparatus is a network device.

18. A second apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to:based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receive, from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

19. The second apparatus of claim 18, wherein the current TCI state corresponds to a reference signal on which a reference measurement is performed, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state configured or indicated by the second apparatus before, during, or after a determination of the event occurrence, or wherein the current TCI state is a TCI state applicable before, during, or after the determination of the event occurrence.

20. The second apparatus of claim 18 or 19, wherein the number of bits for the information indicative of the current TCI state is fixed.

21. A method comprising: performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal. determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement. based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

22. A method comprising: based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

23. A first apparatus comprising: means for performing a reference signal measurement on a reference signal; means for determining whether an event for triggering a report occurs based on a measurement result of the reference signal measurement; and means for based on a determination that the event occurs, transmitting to a second apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

24. A second apparatus comprising:means for based on a determination that an event for triggering a report occurs at a first apparatus, receiving from the first apparatus, the report comprising information indicative of a current transmission configuration indicator, TCI state.

25. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 21 or the method of claim 22.

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