Number of reported beams reporting

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to report the number of beams A method comprises transmitting, from a first apparatus to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; receiving, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmitting, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

Description

NUMBER OF REPORTED BEAMS REPORTINGCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to, and the benefit of, Great Britain Application No. 2411192.4, 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 reporting the number of beams, especially for User Equipment-Initiated Beam Management (UEIBM).BACKGROUND

[0003] The UE-initiated Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI)-state / beam reporting feature refers to the case where the UE may be configured with at least one event / condition, and then the UE may start TCI-state beam reporting if this at least one event / condition occurs or is satisfied.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 at least to: transmit, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; receive, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmit, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

[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 at least to: receive, from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; determine, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmit, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, from a first apparatus to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplinkchannel; receiving, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmitting, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, at a second apparatus from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; determining, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmitting, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and means for transmitting, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for receiving from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; means for determining, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and means for transmitting, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

[0010] In a seventh 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 aspect.

[0011] In an eighth 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 aspect.

[0012] 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

[0013] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of beam management procedures;

[0016] FIG. 3A illustrates an example of TCI state configuration;

[0017] FIG. 3B illustrates another example of TCI state configuration;

[0018] FIG. 4 illustrates an example process of beam management report in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling flow of a first report of beam management in accordance with some other example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 6 illustrates a signaling flow of a first report of beam management in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 7 illustrates a signaling flow of a first report of beam management in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an example method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 12 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0027] FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0028] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “some exampleembodiments,” 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 not explicitly described.

[0032] 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.

[0033] 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.

[0034] 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.

[0035] 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.

[0036] 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, toperform 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.

[0037] 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 an implementation 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.

[0038] 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.

[0039] 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 transmission reception point (TRP), 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 nonterrestrial 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 aUE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0040] 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, wireless local 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.

[0041] 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.

[0042] The term “scheduling request (SR)” used herein may refer to a mechanism by which the UE can request the gNB for uplink resources to transmit data. The term “beam switching” used herein may refer to a procedure where a device is switching from one beam to another, which can also be called intra-cell mobility or beam-level mobility. Beam switching is based on a trigger condition for a beam and the configured beam switching algorithm. The term “information element (IE)” used herein may refer to a fundamental component of many communication protocols, used to convey various types of information.

[0043] The term “transmission configuration indication (TCI)” used herein may refer to a parameterused in telecommunications systems to indicate the configuration and characteristics of a transmission link or channel. It provides information about the transmission medium, allowing the receiving equipment to properly interpret and process the transmitted data. One TCI may correspond to one beam. The term “beamforming” used herein may refer to a particular processing technique for signals that allow for directional transmission or reception. Beamforming is a technique to improve the signal- to-noise ratio, eliminate undesirable interference sources, and focus transmitted signals to specific locations. The term “beam” used herein may refer to a specific direction in which radio signals are transmitted or received. It is the directional pattern of the radio waves that are focused in a particular direction to maximize the signal strength in that direction while minimizing it in others. A “beam” in the context of telecommunications is the focused and directional propagation of electromagnetic waves, particularly in antenna systems, where the signal is concentrated in a specific angular spread to enhance communication efficiency and coverage in the desired direction. Beams are characterized by their width, shape, and orientation, and are crucial for applications such as satellite communication, radar systems, and wireless transmission, where targeted signal delivery is essential. The terms “beam”, “CSI reference signal resource indicator (CRI)”, “beam index” and “synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block resource indicator (SSBRI)” may be used interchangeable hereinafter.

[0044] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication network 100 may comprise a first apparatus 110 which may be, for example, a terminal device. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may also be discussed as a UE.

[0045] The communication network 100 may further comprise a second apparatus 120, which may be, for example, a network device. In some example embodiments, the network device may be discussed as a BS, a gNB, or an eNB.

[0046] A serving area provided by the second apparatus 120 is called a cell. The first apparatus 110 may communicate with the second apparatus 120 within the cell 102. The cell currently serving the first apparatus 110 may be considered as a serving cell 102.

[0047] As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication network 100 may comprise a third apparatus 130 which may be, for example, a terminal device. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may also be discussed as a UE. The third apparatus 130 may communicate with the second apparatus 120.

[0048] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operationsdescribed in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0049] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and second apparatus 120 is a network device, 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) apparatus (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) apparatus (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX apparatus (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX apparatus (or a receiver).

[0050] 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 (1 G), 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.

[0051] In some solutions, the Beam management has been specified in 3 procedures controlled by network: Procedure#! (P1), Procedure#2 (P2) and Procedure#3 (P3), as illustrated in FIG. 2. The following beam management procedures are supported within one or multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) of the serving cell:- P1 : is used to enable UE measurement on different TRP Tx beams to support selection of TRP Tx beams / UE Rx beam(s).• For beamforming at TRP, it typically includes an intra / inter-TRP Tx beam sweep from a set of different beams. For beamforming at UE, it typically includes a UE Rx beam sweep from a set of different beams. UE may scan its antennas / panels sequentially for each SS burst and average over e.g. 3 samples.- P2: is used to enable UE measurement on different TRP Tx beams to possibly change i nter / i ntra-TRP Tx beam(s).• From a possibly smaller set of beams for beam refinemenst than in P1 . Note that P2 can be a special case of P1. P2 may use narrower channel state information (CSI) beams compared toSSB beams.- P3: is used to enable UE measurement on the same TRP Tx beam to change UE Rx beam in the case UE uses beamforming (e.g. mmW arrays on UEs for FR2 operation). P3 may use aperiodic CSI-RS with ‘repetition’ flag ‘on’ which means that the same beam is repeated from network side to enable UE to refine its Rx beam.

[0052] In some solutions, periodic, semi-persistent and aperiodic channel state information (CSI) reporting are proposed. For example, CSI resource configuration may specify what type of reference signal (such as, non-zero-power CSI reference signal (RS) synchronization signal block (SSB) (nzp- CSI-RS-SSB), csi-interference measurement (IM)-Resource) is to be transmitted. It also configures the types of the transmission (periodic, aperiodic, semipersistent). The parameter reportConfigType may indicate the scheduling method of the report. It can be periodic, aperiodic and semi-persistent as shown in the table 1 below which is from 3GPP technical specification (TS) 38.214.Table 1 : Triggering / Activation of CSI Reporting for the possible CSI-RS Configurations.configuration indication (TCI) states providing quasi co-location (QCL) assumptions for the reception of DL signals and channels can be used also to provide spatial sources for the transmission of UL signals and channels to determine UL TX spatial filter. Furthermore, the unified TCI framework defines the concept of indicated TCI state. That means that 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.

[0054] In some solutions, it introduces the unified TCI framework for s-TRP, with one indicated joint DL and UL at a time OR one indicated DL and one indicate UL TCI state at a time for the UE. An example of visual representation of unified TCI framework for s-TRP is shown in FIG. 3A. In some other solutions, it extends the unified TCI framework for m-TRP, with two indicated joint TCI states at a time or two indicated DL TCI states and two indicated UL TCI states at a time for the UE. An example of visual representation of unified TCI framework for m-TRP is shown in FIG. 3B.

[0055] In some solutions, UE-initiated beam management (UEIBM) is introduced. The UE-initiated TCI-state / beam reporting feature refers to the case where the UE may be configured with at least one event / condition, and then the UE may start TCI-state / beam reporting if this at least one event / condition occurs or is satisfied.

[0056] MIMO work item description in 3GPP Rel-19 is listed as below:Table 2_

[0057] In some solutions, in the context of which event(s) may trigger a UEIBM report, the following has been proposed:Table 30058] In some solutions, Event-2, where the quality of at least one new beam, such as L1 -RSRP, becomes a “threshold value” better than the current beam, has been agreed as an event that can trigger a UEIBM report. For example, the network may configure the UE with a certain threshold, for example 6 dB, and when the UE measures a new beam to have a L1 -RSRP which is 6 dB better than the L1 -RSRP of the current beam, then a UEIBM report is triggered. Besides Event-2, some other events are currently under discussion, like Event-1 , Event-7a and Event-7b.

[0059] In some other solutions, in the context of the content of these UEIBM reports, i.e., the UL signal content of the UEIBM report with Event-2 with L1 -RSRP as quality metric, the following has been proposed:Table 40060] Option-3 has up to now been agreed, where the UE reports N beams, with N>1 configured by the network via RRC, and at least one of those N beams satisfies Event-2. Note that some other options are still under discussion, in particular Option 1 , where the network configures the maximum number of beams Nmaxthat can be reported by the UE, and then the UE reports N< Nmaxbeams. Option 3 is a very simple baseline. On the other hand, Option 1 has the advantage to allow more flexibility, because it allows to adapt the number of beams to be reported in each occasion an event is triggered: we may have an event where the UE needs to report back 3 beams, and another wherethe UE just needs to send back 1 beam. Moreover Options 1 / 1 a have this characteristic of “variable size of the report”, which on one side is an advantage, as it allows using the appropriate amount of resources to send back the report, but on the other side may also increase the complexity as the network may not know in advance what is the size of the report.

[0061] In some solutions, in the context of how these reports are sent back by the UE to the network, there may be the following proposals and assumptions:Table 50062] In some solutions, two procedures for actually sending back the report have been proposed:• Mode A, where the second UL channel for the UEIBM report is dynamically scheduled by the gNB; in such procedure the following steps are implemented: a. The UE sends in a first PUCCH channel an UL indication to request to the gNB resources in a second UL channel to carry the UEIBM report; b. The gNB indicates via DCI to the UE a resource in a second UL channel to carry the UEIBM report; c. The UE sends the UEIBM report on the second UL channel.• Mode B, where the second UL channel for the UEIBM report is pre-configured by the gNB; in such procedure the following steps are implemented: a. The UE sends in a first PUCCH channel an UL indication to notify to the gNB that a UEIBM report will be transmitted in a second UL channel; b. UE sends the UEIBM report on the second UL channel.

[0063] Mode A is the baseline and is going to be supported by all UEs capable of UEIBM. Mode B is optional and may be supported only by some UEs.

[0064] Furthermore, it has been discussed how such UL indication in the first PUCCH channel should look like, and two alternatives have been identified:• One-bit indication, i.e. , to simply indicate to the network that an event has been triggered.• Multi-bit indication where the UE could give some additional information to the network, for example which event has been triggered (although up to now only Event-2 has been agreed).

[0065] Considering that a multi-bit indication in the first PUCCH channel can be used by the UE to provide some additional information about the UEIBM report that the UE will send in a later step (step c. in Mode A and step b. in Mode B), the present disclosure provides a solution on how such bits could be used, also in case a single event, e.g., Event-2, is configured / agreed.

[0066] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for reporting the number of beams. In particular, a first apparatus transmits, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel. Moreover, the first apparatus receives, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report. Additionally, the first apparatus transmits, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

[0067] Correspondingly, the second apparatus receives, from the first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel. In addition, the second apparatus determines, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report. Furthermore, the second apparatus transmits, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

[0068] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0069] Reference is made to FIG. 4, which illustrates an example process 400 of beam management report in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 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 and not a limitation.

[0070] An example process according to the main concept of the solution of the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 4. At block 410, the first apparatus 110 (e.g., UE) may indicate in 1st UL channel (e.g., an uplink control channel such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)) how many beams will be reported in a report (e.g., a UEIBM report). At block 420, the second apparatus 120 (e.g., gNB) may allocate resources for second UL channel accordingly. At block 430, the first apparatus 110 (e.g., UE) may transmit the report with all required beams.

[0071] In some example embodiments, when the UE is further configured by the network with a maximum number of beams Nmaxto be reported (Options 1 / 1 a / 1 b shown in Table 4 regarding the UL signaling content of the UEIBM report), the “number of beams” may be exactly the number of beams N reported by the UE in the UEIBM report. In such embodiments, when the UE is configured with Mode A, the network may use such information to schedule an appropriate amount of resources on the second UL channel for the UE transmission of the UEIBM report.

[0072] Additionally, or alternatively, in case the UE is configured by the network to potentially report also beams that to do not satisfy the triggering event, e.g., Event-2, conditions, either with a maximum number of beams Nmaxto be reported (Options 1 a shown in Table 4) or with the exact number of beams to be reported (Option 3 shown in Table 4), the “number of beams” may be the number of beams that satisfy the conditions of the triggering event.

[0073] In particular, the number of beams may be the number of beams that do not satisfy the conditions of the triggering event. The number of beams may be used by the network to assess how critical the conditions of a specific UE is. For example, there are two UEs, both configured with Event- 2 Mode A and both configured to report N=4 beams with Option 3, but with the first UE informing that only one beam satisfies Event-2 and with the second UE informing that all 4 beams satisfy Event-2. The network may a) assess that the conditions of the second UE are more critical than the first UE, because the fact that all 4 beams are a threshold value better than the current beam may be an indication that the current beam has become particularly bad for such second UE, and b) schedule the UEIBM report of the second UE before the UEIBM report of the first UE. Criticality assessment from gNB may also include Layer 1 (Ll)-Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) value of current beam in addition of number of reported beams satisfying an event.

[0074] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated as a dimension / size of the UEIBM report in the second UL channel. Furthermore, the number of beams is indicated together with the event that has trigged UEIBM.

[0075] As a further alternative, or in addition, the first PUCCH channel indicates UE preferred reporting format. There can be multiple configured reporting formats, e.g., different number of beams. The UE would indicate the preferred format. The UE may determine the preferred format based on how many beams fulfill the certain criteria. Criteria may depend on the configured event type. One example is the situation where the UE has measured that 2 new beams would fulfill the event criteria and UE would indicate using the first PUCCH channel the reporting format that can carry 2 new beams.

[0076] According to the present disclosure, besides introducing a novel and beneficial use of this multi-bit indication in the first PUCCH channel, will facilitate the adoption of “variable size” Options 1 / 1 a, that have an advantage when compared to the already agreed Option 3 of allowing a variable number of beams to be reported by the UE on each occasion using the appropriate amount of resources.

[0077] As mentioned above, by indicating the number of beams that either satisfy or do not satisfy the triggering event conditions, the criticality of each UE condition can be informed in advance, and such information can be used by the network when scheduling in Mode A the resource(s) in the second UL channel.

[0078] Some examples of a procedure of beam report (e.g., UEIBM) by using Mode A will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 5-8 as below.

[0079] Reference is made to FIG. 5, which illustrates a signaling flow 500 of a first report of beam management in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 500 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first apparatus 110, the second apparatus 120. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 5 is only an example not limitation.

[0080] As shown in FIG. 5, the network configures (502) the first apparatus 110 (e.g., the UE) for UEIBM with one or more events and Nmax beams allowed to be reported. In some example embodiments, events may, for example, include Event-1 (quality of the current beam is worse than a certain threshold) and Event-2 (quality of at least one new beam, such as L1 -RSRP, becomes a threshold value better than the current beam).

[0081] The second apparatus 120 may also configure the first apparatus 110 with Mode A (dynamically scheduling by gNB), and Option 1 (e.g., variable size with N<Nmax beams reported, all satisfying the triggering conditions, and Nmax configured by the network) for a beam report.

[0082] Then one or more DL and UL transmissions may be performed (504) between the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120. Based on measurements on beams, i.e., a plurality ofcandidate beams, the UE may determine (506) that one or more events are triggered by at least one beam. In this situation, the first apparatus 110 may send to the second apparatus 120 a request of resources for sending a beam report.

[0083] In this case, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (508), via 1stuplink control channel, e.g., a PUCCH, to the second apparatus 120 when requesting the resources, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a beam report via a 2nduplink channel (i.e. , a PUCCH or a PUSCH).

[0084] As described above, in some embodiments, the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported. In some other embodiments, the number of beams may refer to one or more beams that do not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the beam report or that satisfy the condition of the one or more specific events for triggering the beam report.

[0085] In addition, or optionally, the indication may further indicate the one or more specific events for triggering the beam report along with the number of beams. For example, in a case where Event- 1 and Event-2 are configured for the first apparatus 110 and the first apparatus 110 determines both Event-1 and Event-2 are triggered (e.g., Event-2 is triggered by 2 new beams and Event 1 is triggered by the current beam, the first apparatus 110 may send, to the second apparatus 120, a request for resources to send a beam report, indicating that 2 new beams satisfy the conditions of Event-2 and / or 1 beam satisfies the conditions of Event-1. That is, multi-bit PUCCH indication on 1st UL channel may at least indicate number of beams (i.e., 2) which satisfy the conditions of Event-2. Alternatively, the indication may indicate Event-1 (with the current) and Event-2 (with 2 new beams) are triggered.

[0086] Upon receiving the indication, the second apparatus 120 may determine (510), based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the beam report.

[0087] For example, the second apparatus 120 (e.g., the gNB), considering that 2 new beams are a threshold value better than the current beam, may determine proper amount and allocation of resources needed for the beam report for reporting related beams. In some example embodiments, the gNB may assess that N=3 beams are reported by the UE, i.e., the current beam, because of Event- 1 , and the two new beams satisfying the Event-2 triggering conditions. Accordingly, the gNB may send (512) to the UE an indication to indicate proper amount of resources for the beam report, and the UE may send (514) to the gNB the beam report on 2nd UL channel.

[0088] If more than one UEs send a request for resource allocation for the beam report, the gNB may determine a priority of resource allocation for the UEs. That is to say, upon receiving the requests, the gNB may allocate resources first for a UE in more critical conditions.

[0089] Reference is made to FIG. 6, which illustrates a signaling flow 600 of a first report of beam management in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose ofdiscussion, the signaling flow 600 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1 , for example, by using the first apparatus 110, the second apparatus 120 and the third apparatus 130. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 6 is only an example and not a limitation.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 6, the gNB 630 (e.g., the second apparatus 120) may configure (601) two UEs, UE 610 (e.g., the first apparatus 110) and UE 620 (e.g., the third apparatus 130), for a beam report (e.g., a UEIBM) with Event-2 (Quality of at least one new beam, such as L1-RSRP, becomes a threshold value better than the current beam), Mode A (dynamically scheduling by the gNB 630), and Option 1 (variable size with N<Nmax beams reported, all satisfying the triggering conditions, and Nmax configured by the gNB 630).

[0091] Then one or more DL and UL transmissions may be performed (602) between the UE 610 and a gNB 630 and / or between the UE 620 and the gNB 630.

[0092] The UE 610 may determine (604) that Event-2 is triggered with N=1 beam satisfying the triggering conditions and send (605) to the gNB 630 a request for resources to report N=1 beam via 1stUL control channel. In this case, multi-bit PUCCH on 1st UL channel may indicate N=1 and request resources for the beam report.

[0093] The UE 620 may determine (606) that Event-2 is triggered with N=4 beams satisfying the triggering conditions and send (607) to the gNB 630 a request for resources to report N=4 beams. In this case, multi-bit PUCCH on 1st UL channel may indicate N=4 and request resources for the beam report.

[0094] Then, the gNB 630 may, considering that 4 new beams are a threshold value better than the current beam for the UE 620, assess (608) that UE 620 conditions are more critical than the UE 610. That is, the resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the UE 620 has a higher priority than a further resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the UE 610. Then the gNB 630 may determine (609) proper amount and allocation of resources needed for both UE 620 and UE 610 beam reports.

[0095] In some embodiments, the determination of the priority for resource allocation may be based on a comparison of the number of beams to be reported by the UE 610 and the number of beams to be reported by the UE 620.

[0096] In some other embodiments, the determination of the priority for resource allocation may be based on at least one specific event associated with the number of beams for triggering the report of the UE 610 and at least one other specific event associated with the number of beams for triggering the report of the UE 620.

[0097] The gNB 630 may send (611 ) to the UE 620 an indication to indicate proper amount of resources for UEIBM report, and the UE 620 may send (612) to the gNB 630 the UEIBM report on 2nd UL channel.

[0098] Likewise, the gNB 630 may send (613) to the UE 610 an indication to indicate proper amount of resources for the beam report, and the UE 610 may send (614) to the gNB 630 the beam report on 2nd UL channel.

[0099] Reference is made to FIG. 7, which illustrates a signaling flow 700 of a first report of beam management in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 700 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. 7 is only an example not limitation.

[0100] As shown in FIG. 7, the gNB 630 (e.g., the second apparatus 120) may configure (701) two UEs, UE 610 (e.g., the first apparatus 110) and UE 620 (e.g., the third apparatus 130), for a beam report (e.g., a UEIBM) with Event-2 (Quality of at least one new beam, such as L1-RSRP, becomes a threshold value better than the current beam), Mode A (dynamically scheduling by the gNB 630), and Option 3 (fixed size with N beams reported, and N configured by the gNB 630).

[0101] Then one or more DL and UL transmissions may be performed (702) between the between the UE 610 and a gNB 630 and / or between the UE 620 and the gNB 630.

[0102] In this case, the UE 610 may determine (704) that Event-2 is triggered with 1 beam satisfying the triggering conditions and send (705) to the gNB 630 a request to send a beam report. In this case, multi-bit PUCCH on 1 st UL channel may indicate 1 beam triggered Event-2 and request resources for the beam report.

[0103] The UE 620 may determine (706) that Event-2 is triggered with 4 beams satisfying the triggering conditions and send (707) to the gNB 630 a request for resources to send a beam report. In this case, multi-bit PUCCH on 1st UL channel may indicate 4 beams triggered Event-2 and request resources for the beam report.

[0104] Then, the gNB 630 may, considering that 4 new beams are a threshold value better than the current beam for UE 620, assess (708) that UE 620 conditions are more critical than UE 610. That is, the resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the UE 620 has a higher priority than a further resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the UE 610.

[0105] Then the gNB 630 may determine (709) allocation of resources needed for both UE 620 and UE 610 beam reports. Accordingly, the gNB 630 may send (711) to the UE 620 an indication to indicate resources for the beam report, and the UE 620 may send (712) to the gNB 630 the UEIBM report on 2nd UL channel.

[0106] Likewise, the gNB 630 may send (713) to the UE 610 an indication to indicate resources for the beam report, and the UE 610 may send (714) to the gNB 630 the beam report on 2nd UL channel.

[0107] In this way, by using multi-bit indication in the first PUCCH channel, the adoption of “variable size” Options 1 / 1 a may be facilitated, that have the advantage when compared to the already agreedOption 3 of allowing a variable number of beams to be reported by the UE in each occasion using the appropriate amount of resources.

[0108] By indicating the number of beams that either satisfy or do not satisfy the triggering event conditions, the network may be informed about the criticality of each UE condition in advance, and such information can be used by the network when scheduling in Mode A the resource(s) in the second UL channel.

[0109] Reference is made to FIG. 8, which illustrates a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a first apparatus 110 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may be the UE when implementing the method 800.

[0110] As shown in FIG. 8, at block 801 , the first apparatus 110 may monitor current beam and candidate beams. In particular, the first apparatus 110 may monitor DL RS from configured pool of beams, e.g., 8, for triggering the beam report (e.g., a UEIBM). Additionally, or alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with a maximum number of beams that can be reported in the beam report, e.g., 4.

[0111] At block 802, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether a specific event is triggered by a first candidate beam. In some example embodiments, e.g., if one DL RS is detected by the first apparatus 110 with L1-RSRP larger than current beam by a threshold e.g. 3 dB for a relative value compared to current beam, the first apparatus 110 may determine a specific event is triggered by a candidate beam associated with this DL RS. If the specific event is not triggered by the first candidate beam, the flow will be back to block 801 , i.e., the first apparatus 110 may continue monitoring the current beam and candidate beams.

[0112] If the specific event is triggered by the first candidate beam, as an option, at block 803, the first apparatus 110 may continue monitoring the rest candidate beams until the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may monitor the rest of the beams of the pool until first apparatus 110 has found the certain number (e.g., a configured maximum number) of candidate beams satisfying the condition, e.g., 4 first beams satisfying the condition, then skips the rest of the beams of the pool.

[0114] In this case, at block 805, in a case wherein the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams, the first apparatus 110 may determine that the certain number of candidate beams (e.g., 4) triggering the specific event are to be reported in the beam report. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may generate an indication of the certain number of beams to be reported in the beam report and transmit PUCCH in a 1 st UL channel indicating the number of beams to be reported in the beam report.

[0115] If the specific event is triggered by the first candidate beam, as another option, at block 804, the first apparatus 110 may continue monitoring the rest candidate beams until all the rest candidate beams are monitored. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may monitor the rest of the beams of the pool until first apparatus 110 has measured all the beams of the pool e.g., 8 and then takes the 4 best ones. It is to be understood that 4 best beams may include at least one beam that is not trigger the specific event.

[0116] At block 806, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether the specific event is triggered by certain number (e.g., 4) of candidate beams. If the specific event is triggered by certain number of candidate beams, the method 800 may proceed to block 805.

[0117] If the specific event is not triggered by certain number of candidate beams, e.g., only 2 candidate beams trigger the specific event when the certain number is configured with 4, as an option, at block 807, the first apparatus 110 may determine, in addition to the beams triggering the specific event, at least one other beam, that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition, is also to be reported in the beam report. For example, at least one other beam may be decided to be reported if the RSRP of this beam is above a second threshold.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may generate an indication of the number of beams (including the number of beams triggering the specific event and the number of at least one other beam that does not trigger the specific event) to be reported in the beam report and transmit PUCCH in a 1 st UL channel indicating the number of beams to be reported in the beam report.

[0119] If the specific event is not triggered by certain number of candidate beams, e.g., only 2 candidate beams trigger the specific event when the certain number is configured with 4, as an option, at block 808, the first apparatus 110 may determine that only candidate beams that trigger specific event are to be reported in the beam report.

[0120] After reporting the number of beams to be reported in the beam report, based on the corresponding beams to be reported in beam report, the first apparatus 110 may generate the beam report. The indices of the corresponding beams may be indicated in the beam report in a certain order.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the beam report may include the beam index (SSBRI / CRI) of the beam triggering the specific event, e.g., satisfying the configured threshold by the largest delta, for example, beam detected with the largest delta to current beam e.g. 6 dB. It is also possible that the beam report may further include the L1 -RSRP value (explicit, differential to the threshold or differential to the current beam). In addition, the beam report may further include the beam indices (SSBRI / CRI) of the other beams also satisfying the configured threshold, for example, in the order of difference to the threshold. In some example embodiments, a second beam in the report is 4 dB better than current beam, a third beam in the report is 3 dB better than current beam etc.

[0122] That is, whether for the case of reporting only candidate beams triggering the specific eventor for the case of reporting candidate beams triggering the specific event plus at least one candidate beam not triggering the specific event, the indices of reported beams may be ranked in the beam report based on the difference between a threshold power level and measured power level.

[0123] In some example embodiments, if both beams triggering the event and beams not triggering the event are to be reported, the beams triggering the event are ranked before the beams not triggering the event in the beam report.

[0124] Upon generating the beam report based on indices of beams in a certain order, at block 809, the first apparatus 110 may transmit the beam report in a second UL channel, e.g., a PUCCH or PUSCH,

[0125] FIG. 9 illustrates 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 or the third apparatus 130 in FIG. 1.

[0126] At block 910, the first apparatus transmits, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel.

[0127] At block 920, the first apparatus receives, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report.

[0128] At block 930, the first apparatus transmits, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

[0129] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the number of beams comprises a number of at least one beam that does not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the report or that satisfies the condition of the one or more specific events.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating the one or more specific events along with the number of beams.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated as a dimension or size of the report to be transmitted in the second uplink channel.

[0133] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating a reporting format preferred by the first apparatus for the report of the beam management initiated by the first apparatus along with the number of beams.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the indication is a multi-bit indication.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0137] FIG. 10 illustrates 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.

[0138] At block 1010, the second apparatus receives, from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel.

[0139] At block 1020, the second apparatus determines, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report.

[0140] At block 1030, the second apparatus transmits, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported by the first apparatus.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the number of beams comprises a number of at least one beam that does not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the report or that satisfies the condition of the one or more specific events.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: receiving, from the first apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating the one or more specific events along with the number of beams.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated as a dimension or size of the report to be transmitted in the second uplink channel.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: receiving, from the first apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating a reporting format preferred by the first apparatus for the report of the beam management initiated by the first apparatus along with the number of beams.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the indication is a multi-bit indication.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that a further indication at least indicating a further number of beams to be reported by a third apparatus in a further report is received via a further first uplink control channel between thesecond apparatus and the third apparatus, determining a priority of allocating resources for the report and the further report based on the indication and the further indication; and in accordance with a determination that, based on the indication and the further indication, the resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the first apparatus has a higher priority than a further resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the third apparatus, determining a resource allocation indicating the amount of resources available for the report.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the method 1000 further comprises: determining the priority of allocating the resources based on at least one of the following: a comparison of the number of beams to be reported in the report and the further number of beams to be reported in the further report; or at least one specific event associated with the number of beams for triggering the report and at least one further specific event associated with the further number of beams for triggering the further report.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the further report comprises a further UEIBM report.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0152] FIG. 11 illustrates 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 or the third apparatus 130 in FIG. 1.

[0153] At block 1110, the first apparatus obtains a configuration for a report at least indicating a condition associated with a specific event and a certain number of beams allowed to be reported in the report.

[0154] At block 1120, the first apparatus determines, based on a monitoring of a current beam and a plurality of candidate beams, whether the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams.

[0155] At block 1130, the first apparatus transmits, to a second apparatus at least based on the determination via a first uplink control channel between the first and the second apparatuses, an indication of a target number of beams to be reported in the report that is to be transmitted via a second uplink channel between the first and the second apparatuses.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the specific event is triggered by a first candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, continuing monitoring the rest candidate beams in the plurality of candidate beams until the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the specific event is triggered by a first candidate beam in the plurality of candidatebeams, continuing monitoring the rest candidate beams in the plurality of candidate beams until all the rest candidate beams are monitored.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams, transmitting to the second apparatus, an indication that the certain number of beams, as the target number of beams, to be reported in the report.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: generating the report by ordering indices of the certain number of candidate beams based on respective differences between received power level associated with the certain number of candidate beams and a further received power level associated with the current beam.

[0160] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event is less than the certain number of candidate beams, determining whether at least one candidate beam, that does not trigger the specific event but meets a further condition, is to be reported in the report; and in accordance with a determination that the at least one candidate beam is to be reported in the report, determining the target number of beams based on the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event and the number of the at least one candidate beam.

[0161] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: determining whether the at least one candidate beam, that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition, is allowed to be reported in the report; and in accordance with a determination that the at least one candidate beam is allowed to be reported, generating the report based on indices of the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event and one or more index of the at least one candidate beam that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition, wherein the indices of the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event in the report are ranked before the one or more index of the at least one candidate beam that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition.

[0162] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the at least one candidate beam is not allowed to be reported, generating the report based on indices of the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event by ordering the indices of the certain number of candidate beams.

[0163] In some example embodiments, the indices of the certain number of candidate beams are ordered based on respective differences between received power level associated with the certain number of candidate beams and a further received power level associated with the current beam.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0166] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 900 (for example, the first apparatus 110 or the third apparatus 130 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 or the third apparatus 130 in FIG. 1.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and means for transmitting, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the number of beams comprises a number of at least one beam that does not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the report or that satisfies the condition of the one or more specific events.

[0170] I n some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating the one or more specific events along with the number of beams.

[0171] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated as a dimension or size of the report to be transmitted in the second uplink channel.

[0172] I n some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating a reporting format preferred by the first apparatus for the report of the beam management initiated by the first apparatus along with the number of beams.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the indication is a multi-bit indication.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0176] 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 therespective 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.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; means for determining, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and means for transmitting, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

[0178] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported by the first apparatus.

[0179] In some example embodiments, the number of beams comprises a number of at least one beam that does not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the report or that satisfies the condition of the one or more specific events.

[0180] I n some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating the one or more specific events along with the number of beams.

[0181] In some example embodiments, the number of beams is indicated as a dimension or size of the report to be transmitted in the second uplink channel.

[0182] I n some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating a reporting format preferred by the first apparatus for the report of the beam management initiated by the first apparatus along with the number of beams.

[0183] In some example embodiments, the indication is a multi-bit indication.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

[0185] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that a further indication at least indicating a further number of beams to be reported by a third apparatus in a further report is received via a further first uplink control channel between the second apparatus and the third apparatus, determining a priority of allocating resources for the report and the further report based on the indication and the further indication; and means for in accordance with a determination that, based on the indication and the further indication, the resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the first apparatus has a higher priority than a further resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the third apparatus, determining a resource allocation indicating the amount of resources available for the report.

[0186] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means fordetermining the priority of allocating the resources based on at least one of the following: means for a comparison of the number of beams to be reported in the report and the further number of beams to be reported in the further report; or at least one specific event associated with the number of beams for triggering the report and at least one further specific event associated with the further number of beams for triggering the further report.

[0187] In some example embodiments, the further report comprises a further UEIBM report.

[0188] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0189] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1100 (for example, the first apparatus 110 or the third apparatus 130 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 may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 or the third apparatus 130 in FIG. 1.

[0190] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for obtaining a configuration for a report at least indicating a condition associated with a specific event and a certain number of beams allowed to be reported in the report; means for determining, based on a monitoring of a current beam and a plurality of candidate beams, whether the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams; and means for transmitting, to a second apparatus at least based on the determination via a first uplink control channel between the first and the second apparatuses, an indication of a target number of beams to be reported in the report that is to be transmitted via a second uplink channel between the first and the second apparatuses.

[0191] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the specific event is triggered by a first candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, continuing monitoring the rest candidate beams in the plurality of candidate beams until the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams.

[0192] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the specific event is triggered by a first candidate beam in the plurality of candidate beams, continuing monitoring the rest candidate beams in the plurality of candidate beams until all the rest candidate beams are monitored.

[0193] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the specific event is triggered by the certain number of candidate beams, transmitting to the second apparatus, an indication that the certain number of beams, as the target number of beams, to be reported in the report.

[0194] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for generatingthe report by ordering indices of the certain number of candidate beams based on respective differences between received power level associated with the certain number of candidate beams and a further received power level associated with the current beam.

[0195] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event is less than the certain number of candidate beams, determining whether at least one candidate beam, that does not trigger the specific event but meets a further condition, is to be reported in the report; and means for in accordance with a determination that the at least one candidate beam is to be reported in the report, determining the target number of beams based on the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event and the number of the at least one candidate beam.

[0196] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining whether the at least one candidate beam, that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition, is allowed to be reported in the report; and means for in accordance with a determination that the at least one candidate beam is allowed to be reported, generating the report based on indices of the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event and one or more index of the at least one candidate beam that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition, wherein the indices of the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event in the report are ranked before the one or more index of the at least one candidate beam that does not trigger the specific event but meets the further condition.

[0197] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the at least one candidate beam is not allowed to be reported, generating the report based on indices of the number of candidate beams triggering the specific event by ordering the indices of the certain number of candidate beams.

[0198] In some example embodiments, the indices of the certain number of candidate beams are ordered based on respective differences between received power level associated with the certain number of candidate beams and a further received power level associated with the current beam.

[0199] In some example embodiments, the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

[0200] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0201] FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1200 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1200 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the third apparatus 130 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1 . As shown, the device 1200 includes one or more processors 1210, one or more memories 1220 coupled to the processor 1210, and one or more communication modules1240 coupled to the processor 1210.

[0202] The communication module 1240 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1240 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 1240 may include at least one antenna.

[0203] The processor 1210 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 1200 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.

[0204] The memory 1220 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) 1224, 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) 1222 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0205] A computer program 1230 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1210. The instructions of the program 1230 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1230 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1224. The processor 1210 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1230 into the RAM 1222.

[0206] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1230 so that the device 1200 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 11. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0207] In some example embodiments, the program 1230 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1200 (such as in the memory 1220) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1200. The device 1200 may load the program 1230 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1222 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 ondata storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0208] FIG. 13 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1300 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1300 has the program 1230 stored thereon.

[0209] 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.

[0210] 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 modules may 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.

[0211] 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.

[0212] 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.

[0213] 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.

[0214] 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.

[0215] 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 at least to: transmit, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; receive, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmit, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the number of beams comprises a number of at least one beam that does not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the report or that satisfies the condition of the one or more specific events.

4. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the second apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating the one or more specific events along with the number of beams.

5. The first apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the number of beams is indicated as a dimension or size of the report to be transmitted in the second uplink channel.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the second apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating a reporting format preferred by the first apparatus for the report of the beam management initiated by the first apparatus along with the number of beams.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-6, wherein the indication is a multi-bit indication.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -7, wherein the report comprises a user equipment- initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

10. 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 at least to: receive, from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; determine, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmit, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.11 . The second apparatus of claim 10, wherein the number of beams is indicated by a value that does not exceed a maximum number of beams allowed to be reported by the first apparatus.

12. The second apparatus of claim 10, wherein the number of beams comprises a number of at least one beam that does not satisfy a condition of one or more specific events for triggering the report or that satisfies the condition of the one or more specific events.

13. The second apparatus of claim 10, the second apparatus is caused to: receive, from the first apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating the one or more specific events along with the number of beams.

14. The second apparatus of claim 10, wherein the number of beams is indicated as a dimension or size of the report to be transmitted in the second uplink channel.

15. The second apparatus of any of claims 10-14, the second apparatus is caused to: receive, from the first apparatus via the first uplink control channel, the indication indicating a reporting format preferred by the first apparatus for the report of the beam management initiated by the first apparatus along with the number of beams.

16. The second apparatus of any of claims 10-15, wherein the indication is a multi-bit indication.

17. The second apparatus of any of claims 10-16, wherein the report comprises a user equipment-initiated beam management, UEIBM, report.

18. The second apparatus of any of claims 10-17, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that a further indication at least indicating a further number of beams to be reported by a third apparatus in a further report is received via a further first uplink control channel between the second apparatus and the third apparatus, determine a priority of allocating resources for the report and the further report based on the indication and the further indication; and in accordance with a determination that, based on the indication and the further indication, the resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the first apparatus has a higher priority than a further resource allocation for the report to be transmitted by the third apparatus, determine a resource allocation indicating the amount of resources available for the report.

19. The second apparatus of claim 18, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: determine the priority of allocating the resources based on at least one of the following: a comparison of the number of beams to be reported in the report and the further number of beams to be reported in the further report; or at least one specific event associated with the number of beams for triggering the report and at least one further specific event associated with the further number of beams for triggering the further report.

20. The second apparatus of claim 18 or 19, wherein the further report comprises a further UEIBM report.

21. The second apparatus of any of claims 10-20, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

22. A method comprising: transmitting, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; receiving, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmitting, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using theamount of resources available for the report.

23. A method comprising: receiving, from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; determining, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and transmitting, the resource allocation to the first apparatus.

24. A first apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, to a second apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and means for transmitting, to the second apparatus via the second uplink channel, the report by using the amount of resources available for the report.

25. A second apparatus comprising: means for receiving, from a first apparatus via a first uplink control channel, an indication at least indicating a number of beams to be reported in a report via a second uplink channel; means for determining, based on the indication, a resource allocation indicating an amount of resources available for the report; and means for transmitting, the resource allocation to the second apparatus.

Images