Method and apparatus for beam management in a wireless communication system

Abstract

A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving, from a base station, configuration information on a beam failure recovery (BFR); identifying that the terminal detects a beam failure; in case that the terminal detects the beam failure, receiving, from the base station, a synchronization signal block (SSB) comprising a first reference signal and a second reference signal, and performing measurement of the SSB;based on a result of the measurement, identifying at least one candidate beam; selecting a random access occasion (RO) resource; and transmitting, to the base station, information on a beam recovery request.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BEAM MANAGEMENT IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more specifically, to a beam management method and device.

[0002] Considering the development of wireless communication from generation to generation, the technologies have been developed mainly for services targeting humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. Following the commercialization of 5th-generation (5G) communication systems, it is expected that the number of connected devices will exponentially grow. Increasingly, these will be connected to communication networks. Examples of connected things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machines, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various form-factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the 6th-generation (6G) era, there have been ongoing efforts to develop improved 6G communication systems. For these reasons, 6G communication systems are referred to as beyond-5G systems.

[0003] The 6G communication system, which is expected to be commercialized around 2030, has significantly improved various indicators compared with the existing 5G communication system. Its peak rate will reach at least 50Gbit / s, the user experience rate will reach at least 300Mbit / s, the air interface delay will be less than 1ms, and the air interface reliability will reach 10-5. In addition to the basic communication metrics mentioned above, 6G communication systems will provide awareness, AI-related capabilities, better security, interoperability, and sustainability.

[0004] In order to accomplish such a high data rate and an ultra-low latency, it has been considered to implement 6G communication systems in a terahertz band (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands). It is expected that, due to severer path loss and atmospheric absorption in the terahertz bands than those in mmWave bands introduced in 5G, technologies capable of securing the signal transmission distance (that is, coverage) will become more crucial. It is necessary to develop, as major technologies for securing the coverage, radio frequency (RF) elements, antennas, novel waveforms having a better coverage than orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), beamforming and massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, and multiantenna transmission technologies such as large-scale antennas. In addition, there has been ongoing discussion on new technologies for improving the coverage of terahertz-band signals, such as metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, orbital angular momentum (OAM), and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS).

[0005] In order to satisfy the newly added functions of 6G communication system, new technologies need to be developed in network energy-saving, air interface security and network security. Meanwhile, the feasibility of communication integration technology needs to be studied.

[0006] Moreover, in order to improve the spectral efficiency and the overall network performances, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: a full-duplex technology for enabling an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resource at the same time; a network technology for utilizing satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and the like in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and enabling network operation optimization and automation and the like; a dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on a prediction of spectrum usage; an use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wireless communication for improvement of overall network operation by utilizing AI from a designing phase for developing 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and a next-generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limit of user equipment (UE) computing ability through reachable super-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as mobile edge computing (MEC), clouds, and the like) over the network. In addition, through designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing a hardware-based security environment and safe use of data, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, attempts to strengthen the connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote softwarization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communications are continuing.

[0007] It is expected that research and development of 6G communication systems in hyper-connectivity, including person to machine (P2M) as well as machine to machine (M2M), will allow the next hyper-connected experience. Particularly, it is expected that services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram, and digital replica could be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery for security and reliability enhancement, industrial automation, and emergency response will be provided through the 6G communication system such that the technologies could be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles, and home appliances.

[0008] In line with development of the communication systems, there is a need for effective method for the beam management.

[0009] The technical subjects pursued in the disclosure may not be limited to the above mentioned technical subjects, and other technical subjects which are not mentioned may be clearly understood, through the following descriptions, by those skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains.

[0010] The present disclosure relates to a user equipment, a base station, and methods performed by the UE, the method performed by the UE comprising: receiving a first broadcast signal including a first reference signal, and second information related to a second reference signal, the second reference signal being associated with the first reference signal, the second information including first indication information indicating whether the UE may receive the second reference signal through a broadcast signal; In the case where the first indication information indicates that the UE may receive the second reference signal through a broadcast signal, receiving the second reference signal through a second broadcast signal according to the configuration information for the second reference signal; reporting first information related to a measurement of a first reference signal and a measurement of a second reference signal; receiving, from the base station, a signal transmitted based on a beam associated with the first information.

[0011] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, comprising:

[0012] receiving a first broadcast signal, the first broadcast signal including a first reference signal, and second information related to a second reference signal, the second reference signal being associated with the first reference signal, the second information including first indication information indicating whether the UE can receive the second reference signal through a broadcast signal;

[0013] in case that the first indication information indicates that the UE can receive the second reference signal through a broadcast signal, receiving the second reference signal through a second broadcast signal according to configuration information for the second reference signal;

[0014] reporting first information related to measurement of the first reference signal and measurement of the second reference signal;

[0015] receiving, from a base station, a signal transmitted based on a beam associated with the first information.

[0016] In an implementation, the second information further comprises at least one of: second indication information indicating that the second reference signal is used for determining an angle in a horizontal or vertical dimension, configuration information for the second reference signal, information related to determining of the first information, information related to reporting of the first information,

[0017] wherein the information related to determining of the first information includes at least one of: parameter information related to beam calculation, corresponding relationship information between measurement results and beams.

[0018] In an implementation, the corresponding relationship information between measurement results and beams is the corresponding relationship information between ratios of received signals and angle deviation values. For example, the terminal obtains the corresponding relationship information through a table.

[0019] In an implementation, the angle deviation values in the corresponding relationship information correspond to multiple angle ranges in the horizontal or vertical direction.

[0020] In an implementation, the configuration information of the second reference signal comprises at least one of: transmission periodicity information of the second reference signal, location information of a time domain unit for the second reference signal, frequency domain resource distribution density information for the second reference signal, transmit power related information of the second reference signal.

[0021] In an implementation, the transmit power related information comprises at least one of: an offset value with respect to a transmit power of the first reference signal, transmit power information of the second reference signal.

[0022] In an implementation, if the configuration information for the second reference signal does not include the frequency domain resource distribution density information for the second reference signal, a frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal is the same as a frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal or the frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal is a pre-defined value.

[0023] In an implementation, the frequency domain resource distribution density information for the second reference signal includes at least one of: information indicating that a frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal is the same as a frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal, a value of the frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal, and information related to an association relationship between the frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal and the frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal.

[0024] In an implementation, if the number of second reference signals is multiple, a frequency domain resource distribution density of at least one of the multiple second reference signals is the same as the frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal, and / or the frequency domain resource distribution densities of the remaining second reference signals of the multiple second reference signals are determined based on the frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal.

[0025] In an implementation, if the configuration information for the second reference signal does not include the transmission periodicity information of the second reference signal, the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal is the same as a transmission periodicity of the first reference signal, or the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal is a pre-defined value.

[0026] In an implementation, the transmission periodicity information of the second reference signal includes at least one of: information indicating that a transmission periodicity of the second reference signal is the same as a transmission periodicity of the first reference signal, the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal, and information related to an association relationship between the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal and the transmission periodicity of the first reference signal.

[0027] In an implementation, the second reference signal comprises multiple second reference signals,

[0028] transmission periodicities of the multiple second reference signals are different, or

[0029] transmission periodicities of the multiple second reference signals are the same.

[0030] In an implementation, a transmission periodicity of at least one of the multiple second reference signals is the same as a transmission periodicity of the first reference signal, and / or transmission periodicities of other second reference signals of the multiple second reference signals are determined based on the transmission periodicity of the first reference signal.

[0031] In an implementation, part of the second information is obtained through a sequence of a synchronization signal in the received first broadcast signal.

[0032] In an implementation, the second reference signal includes multiple second reference signals, and the configuration information includes configuration information corresponding to each of the multiple second reference signals.

[0033] the second information further includes information indicating dimension of a beam corresponding to each of the multiple reference signals.

[0034] In an implementation, the information related to reporting of the first information comprises at least one of:

[0035] information indicating transmitting the first information through a resource scheduled by DCI or a reserved resource activated by DCI;

[0036] information indicating transmitting the first information through a PUSCH in a MsgA of random access;

[0037] information indicating transmitting MsgA through a random access resource corresponding to the first information;

[0038] information indicating transmitting the first information through a Msg3 of random access, or

[0039] information indicating transmitting a message 1 using a random access resource corresponding to the first information.

[0040] In an implementation, the random access resource comprises a RO and / or a preamble.

[0041] In an implementation, information related to corresponding relationship between the first information and the random access resource is obtained by received second information or by information pre-defined in the UE.

[0042] In an implementation, at least part of the second information is obtained through MIB and / or SIB.

[0043] In an implementation, part of the second information is pre-defined.

[0044] In an implementation, the first indication information is obtained through a MIB, and other information in the second information is obtained through a SIB and / or is pre-defined.

[0045] In an implementation, the first broadcast signal or the second broadcast signal is a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel block SSB. In an implementation, the second broadcast signal is a broadcast signal carrying the second reference signal, such as a new-type SSB, or an SSB including the second reference signal, or a broadcast signal including only the second reference signal, or other broadcast signals including the second reference signal, or a broadcast signal including the second reference signal and a part of the SSB.

[0046] In an implementation, the configuration information for the second reference signal includes information related to the periodicity and the number of the second reference signals.

[0047] In an implementation, the bandwidth of the second reference signal is the same as that of the first reference signal.

[0048] In an implementation, the transmit power of the second reference signal is the same as that of the first reference signal.

[0049] In an implementation, the last group of first reference signals in time domain in the second broadcast signal and the second reference signal are continuously transmitted, for example, the last group of first reference signals in time domain and the second reference signal are continuously transmitted in time domain.

[0050] In an implementation, the last group of first reference signals in time domain and the second reference signal are transmitted using the same sequence.

[0051] In an implementation, the UE transmits the first information using an RO associated with a narrow beam.

[0052] In an implementation, the configuration information related to random access received by the UE includes configuration information of two groups of ROs, and the configuration information of each group of ROs includes information related to the start RO and information related to the number of ROs.

[0053] In an implementation, the two groups of ROs include a first RO subgroup and a second RO subgroup, the first RO subgroup is associated with a wide beam, and different ROs in the second RO subgroup are associated with narrow beams of different SSBs.

[0054] In an implementation, narrow beam(s) of the same SSB is (are) associated with multiple ROs.

[0055] In an implementation, the UE determines whether to perform random access through a wide beam based on a threshold. For example, the threshold is obtained by SIB.

[0056] In an implementation, the UE determines an angle deviation value corresponding to the measurement result according to the corresponding relationship information between the ratios of received signals and the angle deviation values, and sends the first information using the RO corresponding to the angle deviation value. For example, an RO corresponds to an SSB index and an angle deviation value.

[0057] In an implementation, an RO corresponds to an SSB index, a horizontal angle deviation value and a vertical angle deviation value.

[0058] In an implementation, multiple frequency division multiplexed ROs correspond to the same SSB index, the same horizontal angle deviation value and the same vertical angle deviation value.

[0059] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, comprising:

[0060] in case that the UE has not reported a candidate beam, receiving configuration information for beam failure recovery, the configuration information including information related to a first preamble, and the first preamble is used for a beam failure recovery request;

[0061] if a beam failure is detected:

[0062] measure a first reference signal and a second reference signal associated with the first reference signal to obtain third information related to beam failure recovery,

[0063] transmitting, to a base station, the third information relating to beam failure recovery, including:

[0064] transmitting the first preamble using a RO corresponding to the third information, or

[0065] transmitting the first preamble using a RO associated with the first reference signal, and transmitting the third information through a Msg3,

[0066] wherein the first preamble is not related to a candidate beam for beam failure recovery.

[0067] In an implementation, the third information includes information related to the candidate beam for beam failure recovery.

[0068] In an implementation, the third information includes information related to measurement results of the first reference signal and the second reference signal.

[0069] In an implementation, the UE sends the first preamble using an RO corresponding to the measurement result.

[0070] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, comprising:

[0071] during data transmission, performing measurement of a reference signal transmitted by a base station to obtain a first measurement result;

[0072] transmitting a measurement request to the base station if a beam failure is detected based on the first measurement result, the measurement request including a difference value between the first measurement result and a measurement result of the connected beam when being selected.

[0073] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a communication system, comprising:

[0074] transmitting a first broadcast signal, the first broadcast signal including a first reference signal, and second information related to a second reference signal, the second reference signal being associated with the first reference signal, the second information including first indication information indicating whether a UE can receive the second reference signal through a broadcast signal;

[0075] in case that the first indication information indicates that the UE can receive the second reference signal through a broadcast signal, transmitting the second reference signal through a second broadcast signal according to configuration information for the second reference signal;

[0076] receiving first information related to measurement of the first reference signal and measurement of the second reference signal;

[0077] determining a beam based on the first information;

[0078] transmitting a signal based on the beam.

[0079] In an implementation, the second information further comprises at least one of: second indication information indicating that the second reference signal is used for determining an angle in a horizontal or vertical dimension, configuration information for the second reference signal, information related to determining of the first information, information related to reporting of the first information,

[0080] wherein the information related to determining of the first information includes at least one of: parameter information related to beam calculation, corresponding relationship information between measurement results and beams.

[0081] In an implementation, the configuration information of the second reference signal comprises at least one of: transmission periodicity information of the second reference signal, location information of a time domain unit for the second reference signal, frequency domain resource distribution density information for the second reference signal, transmit power related information of the second reference signal.

[0082] In an implementation, the transmit power related information comprises at least one of: an offset value with respect to a transmit power of the first reference signal, transmit power information of the second reference signal.

[0083] In an implementation, if the configuration information for the second reference signal does not include the frequency domain resource distribution density information for the second reference signal, a frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal is the same as a frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal or the frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal is a pre-defined value.

[0084] In an implementation, the frequency domain resource distribution density information for the second reference signal includes at least one of: information indicating that a frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal is the same as a frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal, a value of the frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal, and information related to an association relationship between the frequency domain resource distribution density of the second reference signal and the frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal.

[0085] In an implementation, if the number of second reference signals is multiple, a frequency domain resource distribution density of at least one of the multiple second reference signals is the same as the frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal, and / or the frequency domain resource distribution densities of the remaining second reference signals of the multiple second reference signals are determined based on the frequency domain resource distribution density of the first reference signal.

[0086] In an implementation, if the configuration information for the second reference signal does not include the transmission periodicity information of the second reference signal, the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal is the same as a transmission periodicity of the first reference signal, or the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal is a pre-defined value.

[0087] In an implementation, the transmission periodicity information of the second reference signal includes at least one of: information indicating that a transmission periodicity of the second reference signal is the same as a transmission periodicity of the first reference signal, the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal, and information related to an association relationship between the transmission periodicity of the second reference signal and the transmission periodicity of the first reference signal.

[0088] In an implementation, the second reference signal comprises multiple second reference signals,

[0089] transmission periodicities of the multiple second reference signals are different, or

[0090] transmission periodicities of the multiple second reference signals are the same.

[0091] In an implementation, a transmission periodicity of at least one of the multiple second reference signals is the same as a transmission periodicity of the first reference signal, and / or transmission periodicities of other second reference signals of the multiple second reference signals are determined based on the transmission periodicity of the first reference signal.

[0092] In an implementation, part of the second information is obtained through a sequence of a synchronization signal in the received first broadcast signal.

[0093] In an implementation, the second reference signal includes multiple second reference signals, and the configuration information includes configuration information corresponding to each of the multiple second reference signals.

[0094] the second information further includes information indicating dimension of a beam corresponding to each of the multiple reference signals.

[0095] In an implementation, the information related to reporting of the first information comprises at least one of:

[0096] information indicating transmitting the first information through a resource scheduled by DCI or a reserved resource activated by DCI;

[0097] information indicating transmitting the first information through a PUSCH in a MsgA of random access;

[0098] information indicating transmitting MsgA through a random access resource corresponding to the first information;

[0099] information indicating transmitting the first information through a Msg3 of random access, or

[0100] information indicating transmitting a message 1 using a random access resource corresponding to the first information.

[0101] In an implementation, the random access resource comprises a RO and / or a preamble.

[0102] In an implementation, the second information further includes information related to corresponding relationship between the first information and the random access resource.

[0103] In an implementation, at least part of the second information is obtained through MIB and / or SIB.

[0104] In an implementation, the first indication information is transmitted through a MIB, and other information in the second information is transmitted through a SIB.

[0105] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a communication system, comprising:

[0106] transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), configuration information for beam failure recovery, the configuration information comprising information related to a first preamble for a beam failure recovery request;

[0107] transmitting, to the UE, a first reference signal and a second reference signal associated with the first reference signal;

[0108] receiving, from the UE, the first preamble on a RO corresponding to third information related to beam failure recovery, or

[0109] receiving the first preamble from the UE on a RO associated with the first reference signal and receiving third information related to beam failure recovery from the UE through Msg3,

[0110] wherein the first preamble is not related to a candidate beam for beam failure recovery.

[0111] In an implementation, the third information includes information related to the candidate beam for beam failure recovery.

[0112] In an implementation, the third information includes information related to measurement results of the first reference signal and the second reference signal. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a communication system, comprising:

[0113] receiving a measurement request from a user equipment (UE), the measurement request including a difference value between a first measurement result of a connected beam of the UE and a measurement result of the connected beam when being selected;

[0114] configuring, to the UE, a range of measurement based on the difference value.

[0115] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE), and the UE includes:

[0116] a transceiver configured to transmit and / or receive signals;

[0117] a controller configured to control the UE to perform a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0118] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station, and the base station includes:

[0119] a transceiver configured to transmit and / or receive signals;

[0120] a controller configured to control the base station to perform a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0121] The present disclosure provides an effective and efficient method for the beam management. Advantageous effects obtainable from the disclosure may not be limited to the above mentioned effects, and other effects which are not mentioned may be clearly understood, through the following descriptions, by those skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains.

[0122] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0123] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0124] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0125] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram in which the terminal measures beams in multiple directions and reports the measurement result to the base station;

[0126] FIG. 5 illustrates an example block diagram of a CPE;

[0127] FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram of beams between a CPE and a base station;

[0128] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of an SSB structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0129] FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of another SSB structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0130] FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of yet another SSB structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0131] FIGs. 10-12 illustrate schematic diagrams of various examples of indications of assistance RS according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0132] FIGs. 13-14 illustrate schematic diagrams of interactions between the UE and the base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0133] FIG. 15 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example mapping between beams and ROs;

[0134] FIGs. 16-17 illustrate schematic diagrams of interactions between the UE and the base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0135] FIG. 18 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example mapping between measured values and beam directions;

[0136] FIG. 19 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0137] FIG. 20 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0138] FIGs. 21 to 24 illustrate schematic diagrams of SSB involving assistance reference signals (or referred to as additional reference signals A-RS) according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0139] FIGs. 25A, 25B and 31 illustrate schematic diagrams of terminal or UE behavior according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0140] FIGs. 26A, 26B, 27A, 27B, 32A, 32B,33 illustrate schematic diagrams of interaction between a UE and a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0141] FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example correlation between the detection direction and the ratio of the equivalent combined channel;

[0142] FIG. 29 illustrates a schematic diagram of different RO subgroups related to SSBs;

[0143] FIG. 30 illustrates a schematic diagram of the resource arrangement of RO resources in time-frequency domain.

[0144] Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase "associated with," as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The term "controller" means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of," when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, "at least one of: A, B, and C" includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C. Likewise, the term "set" means one or more. Accordingly, a set of items can be a single item or a collection of two or more items.

[0145] Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

[0146] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0147] The figures included herein, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Further, those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged wireless communication system.

[0148] FIGs. 1-3 below describe various embodiments of the present disclosure implemented in wireless communications systems. The descriptions of FIGs. 1-3 are not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations to the manner in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably-arranged communications system.

[0149] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0150] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network includes a base station (next generation nodeB, gNB or gNodeB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0151] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which may be located in a small business; a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R1); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R2); and a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116, as well as subscriber stations (SS, for example, UEs) 117, 118 and 119. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using existing wireless communication techniques, and one or more of the UE 111-119 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., UEs 117-119) using other existing or proposed wireless communication techniques.

[0152] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced (or "evolved") base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a base station-type apparatus and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" (UE) can refer to any component such as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station (SS), remote terminal, wireless terminal, receive point, or user device. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a user equipment-type device and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normally considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0153] Dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0154] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-119 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gNBs 101-103 includes circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof.

[0155] Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the wireless network could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0156] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

[0157] As shown in FIG 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 200a-200n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 201a-201n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 203, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 204. The gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 205, a memory 206, and a backhaul or network interface 207.

[0158] The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive, from the antennas 200a-200n, incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100. The RF transceivers 201a-201n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are transmitted to the RX processing circuitry 204, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 204 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 205 for further processing.

[0159] The TX processing circuitry 203 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, electronic mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 205. The TX processing circuitry 203 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TX processing circuitry 203 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 201a-201n.

[0160] The controller / processor 205 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 205 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 201a-201n, the RX processing circuitry 204, and the TX processing circuitry 203 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 205 could support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.

[0161] For instance, the controller / processor 205 could support beam forming or directional routing operations in which outgoing signals from multiple antennas 200a-200n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 205.

[0162] The controller / processor 205 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 206, such as an operating system (OS). The controller / processor 205 can move data into or out of the memory 206 as required by an executing process.

[0163] The controller / processor 205 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 207. The backhaul or network interface 207 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The interface 207 could support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The interface 207 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0164] The memory 206 is coupled to the controller / processor 205. Part of the memory 206 could include a random access memory (RAM), and another part of the memory 206 could include a Flash memory or other read only memory (ROM).

[0165] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of each component shown in FIG. 2. As a particular example, an access point could include a number of interfaces 207, and the controller / processor 205 could support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, while shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 203 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 204, the gNB 102 could include multiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver). Also, various components in FIG. 2 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs.

[0166] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 and 117-119 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0167] As shown in FIG. 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, TX processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 305. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller or processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 308, an input device 309, a touchscreen display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an OS 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0168] The RF transceiver 302 receives, from the antenna 301, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuitry 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to the processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0169] The TX processing circuitry 303 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 307. The TX processing circuitry 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0170] The processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 307 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuitry 305, and the TX processing circuitry 303 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0171] The processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 311, such as processes for channel state information (CSI) reporting on uplink channel. The processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 307 is configured to execute the applications 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from gNBs or an operator. The processor 307 is also coupled to the I / O interface 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 308 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 307.

[0172] The processor 307 is also coupled to the touchscreen display 310. The user of the UE 116 can use the touchscreen display 310 to enter data into the UE 116. The touchscreen display 310 may be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0173] The memory 311 is coupled to the processor 307. Part of the memory 311 could include RAM, and another part of the memory 311 could include a Flash memory or other ROM.

[0174] Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, various components in FIG. 3 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 307 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while FIG. 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0175] With the rapid development of mobile communication technology, higher requirement is put on transmission rate of the network. During the deployment and development process of 5G / 6G technology, the advantages of high-frequency communications with large bandwidth, high capacity, and high-rate are obvious, but it also exposes the problems of large transmission loss, small coverage, high power consumption, high cost, etc., which is particularly prominent in frequency bands such as millimeter waves, THz and the like. These problems limit the large-scale application of millimeter-wave communications at a certain extent. Currently, only a few countries can provide services in corresponding frequency bands.

[0176] The transmission distance of a signal is inversely proportional to the operating frequency. For the same transmission power at the base station and the same transmission distance, the higher the frequency of the transmitted signal, the greater the transmission path loss and the weaker the signal strength received by the terminal. In order to meet the complete coverage of the cell with high-frequency signals, it can be achieved by increasing the transmission power at the base station or increasing the construction density of base stations. However, this will bring a sharp increase in the equipment cost and energy consumption of the base station, which has become a big obstacle to a large-scale commercialization of high-frequency communication.

[0177] Beamforming focuses the energy of transmit beams of the base station and uses narrower beams to transmit data to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, thereby wider coverage and higher data transmission efficiency may be achieved. In order to ensure the connection speed of users in accessing the base station, wide beams are adopted for beams for broadcasting and achieving complete coverage of a cell, and each wide beam corresponds to a beam set of narrow beams. When the width of the narrow beam used by the base station becomes smaller, the number of narrow beam sets corresponding to each wide beam becomes larger. In order to determine the beam for the terminal to communicate with the base station, the base station configures the terminal to perform a beam management process. Each narrow beam in the beam set corresponds to at least one reference signal (RS), and the terminal determines at least one narrow beam from the transmit beam set of the base station by measuring the reference signal transmitted by the base station, which will cause signaling overhead and / or increased delay.

[0178] In order to monitor the change in quality of the transmission channel between the terminal and the base station, the terminal may measure beams in multiple directions according to the configuration signaling of the base station, and report the measurement result to the base station, as shown in FIG. 4. The terminal measures other beams related to the beam direction for communication. For example, the terminal measures the reference signal (CSI-RS, channel state information-reference signal) specified in the beam and reports the measurement result. The reported measurement result may be index information (CSI-RS index) of the beam corresponding to the maximum RSRP in the measured reference signal power value (RSRP, reference signal received power). Such index information may constitute a candidate beam or a group of candidate beams. When transmission quality changes, the base station switches the beam for communication to one of the candidate beams based on the measurement information of the candidate beams reported by the terminal.

[0179] In addition, for fixed wireless access (FWA), it is a technology that uses a CPE (customer premises equipment) device to achieve broadband connection at relatively fixed locations by receiving and forwarding base station signals of mobile operators. Fixed wireless access, which may support 5G technology, offers the potential for ultra-high speed, low latency, and large capacity for next generation wireless connectivity. In addition to home users, FWA may also provide economical and convenient broadband access for small and micro enterprises, shops and temporary locations, and gradually begins to enter the industrial Internet field in scenarios such as factories, parks, mines, ports and the like, providing high-rate, low-latency 5G connections for Internet of Things terminals within the region.

[0180] In areas where wired cables such as fiber optics cannot be laid (due to cost reasons, right-of-way reasons, building protection reasons, etc.), FWA may provide users with network access. It avoids construction works such as right-of-way acquisition, pipeline excavation, cable laying, wall perforation and the like, greatly simplifies the network opening process, shortens the construction period, and saves costs. Therefore, for many operators, FWA is a means for rapidly expanding population of customers and a cost-effective business model. From a social perspective, FWA may help households in economically underdeveloped areas gain rapid access to Internet connectivity, enjoy information dividends, and improve quality of life. In addition, in rural areas, the main market for FWA, there is usually additional spectrum capacity due to the lower population density.

[0181] The CPE device includes two parts: a receiving module 501 that communicates with the base station and a forwarding module 502 that communicates with other terminals, as shown in FIG. 5. Among them, the receiving module 501 may communicate with the base station as a terminal, receive data from the base station, or transmit data to the base station; The signal forwarding module 502, which functions like a network hotspot, provides services for one or more terminals in a specified area, transmits data obtained from the signal receiving module 501 to different terminals, or receives information transmitted by different terminals and forwards it to the base station through the signal receiving module 501; The signal forwarding module 502 is connected to the signal receiving module 501, transmits uplink data to the signal receiving module or receives downlink data obtained from the signal receiving module. The signal receiving module 501 and the signal forwarding module 502 may be two modules of the CPE, or two functions of one module. The connection form between the base station and the signal receiving module 501 is a wireless connection, and the connection form between the signal forwarding module 502 and the terminal may be a wired connection or a wireless connection, such as network cables, WiFi, mobile networks, optical fibers, etc.

[0182] Usually the CPE will be installed at a fixed location outside the building, such as a rooftop pole, to ensure stable communication quality on the line of sight (LOS) of communication from the base station. Therefore, the change in transmission path through which the CPE communicates with the base station is little, and candidate beams of the transmission path may not be measured and monitored. As shown in FIG. 6, for the CPE device, the base station may only configure and transmit the beam in the connection direction between the base station and the CPE determined through the beam management process, and not transmit and / or configure measurement of beams in other directions for the CPE, to reduce the corresponding signaling overhead. In this case, the CPE may only receive the beam in the transmission direction transmitted by the base station and communicate with the base station through the beam until the data transmission is completed or the connection is interrupted. When the transmission environment changes, for example, the relative position of the CPE and the base station changes slightly due to wind blowing, the communication is not interrupted but the communication quality is degraded, and the data transmission speed is reduced. However, since there is no measurement of beams (candidate beams) in other directions and comparison of signal quality, and a triggering condition for communication interruption is not met, the CPE may only use the original beam for low-rate data transmission.

[0183] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a beam management method is proposed, in which a terminal (for example, it may be a normal UE, or a CPE) determines a narrow beam for base station transmission by measuring the common signal transmitted by the base station and reporting the measurement result. Through the method provided by the present disclosure, in terms of beam management, signaling overhead may be reduced, and / or latency may be reduced, etc.

[0184] For example, through the method of the present disclosure, the terminal may quickly determine the beam pair for communication with the base station that is suitable for the current transmission environment, thereby improving the data transmission efficiency. The method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure may be used for beam management, beam switching, beam recovery and other related processes of the terminal. Especially for high-frequency communications, in traditional beam management methods based on beam sweeping and measurement in different directions, the signaling overhead and time required to determine the narrow beam used by the terminal to communicate with the base station are inversely proportional to the width of the narrow beam, and the wider the beam, the more the beams that need to be measured, the greater the corresponding signaling overhead. Based on the method of the present invention, it is only necessary to adjust the accuracy of measurement and reporting on differential beams by the terminal to obtain narrow beams with corresponding accuracy, and the signaling overhead is greatly reduced.

[0185] In addition, for a terminal with little change in the transmission channel (such as a CPE), the terminal does not need to periodically measure beams in multiple directions transmitted and configured by the base station and report the measurement result, may quickly obtain an accurate beam that adapts to the new transmission environment, and the signaling and resource overhead are reduced. According to the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure, such type of terminal only needs to measure the common signal when the transmission signal quality meets a specific threshold condition to obtain a preferred beam adapted to the new transmission path, the data transmission rate and service quality are ensured. Especially for such type of terminal with LOS path transmission as a CPE, in order to improve data transmission efficiency for it, narrower high-gain beams will be used for communication, the signaling overhead saved in processes related to beam management and beam recovery based on this method is more obvious.

[0186] In embodiments of the present disclosure, there is designed an SSB (synchronization signal and PBCH block) structure or configuration, the SSB structure includes the structure of PSS (primary synchronization signal) / SSS (secondary synchronization signal) / PBCH (physical broadcast channel) in the legacy SSB structure and at least one set of assistance RSs, or the SSB configuration involves legacy SSB and associated at least one set of assistance RSs (for example, transmitted through a broadcast signal), to be suitable for a device that supports a specific beam mode, such as a device that supports differential beamforming (DBF) technology. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applicable to a device that supports DBF, or a device that supports other beam-related technologies involving obtaining information related to a narrow beam for communication through measurements of multiple associated reference signals. In the present disclosure, for convenience of description, DBF technology is described as an example of such technology. It should be understood that this is exemplary only and not limiting.

[0187] In addition, for convenience of description, the SSB and reference signals associated with the SSB are collectively referred to as a new-type SSB or a new SSB in this disclosure, which is only for convenience of description, such expression is not intended to limit the present disclosure to only an overall SSB structure including SSB and additional or assistance reference signals, but may cover various organization forms of SSB and additional or assistance RSs, for example, an assistance RS may be considered as part of the new-type SSB, referred to as the new-type SSB together with the legacy SSB, or an assistance RS may be considered as a type of reference signal related to the legacy SSB (e.g., it is configured by the legacy SSB, or it is associated with the legacy SSB otherwise ), but it is not considered as part of the SSB.

[0188] According to the new SSB of the embodiment of the present disclosure, each assistance RS group includes at least one assistance RS, which is used to estimate the transmission channel characteristics of the differential beam transmitted through the assistance RS, combined with the transmission channel characteristics estimated by the reference signal in the SSB transmitted through a sum beam, such as DMRS (demodulation reference signal), the offset angle between a relative angle of the terminal receiving the new SSB relative to the base station and a boresight direction of the SSB may be determined. The terminal considers that occasions for receiving PBCH, PSS, SSS, and assistance RS are in continous symbols. In other words, the terminal receives PSS, SSS, PBCH and assistance RS on continous symbols. That is, the terminal receives SSB and assistance RS on consecutive symbols. In this way, even for mobile terminals, the transmission channel changes little, and the result of channel estimation based on the measurement results is more accurate.

[0189] In some embodiments, assistance RSs are distributed in a manner similar to DMRS in PBCH. Taking the structure shown in FIG. 7 as an example, the SSB includes a legacy SSB structure and a structure of a set of assistance RSs, the assistance RSs for measurement are of the same bandwidth, the same the frequency domain gap, as those of the DMRS in the adjacent PBCH, and occupies one symbol in time domain. The resources corresponding to the assistance RSs for measurement may be additional assistance RSs transmitted and included in the new SSB, and / or multiplex DMRS on other channels.

[0190] Optionally, other frequency domain resources in the same time as the assistance RS may also be used for data / signaling / signal transmission of other terminals. Therefore, in some cases, the density information of the assistance RS or the size of the occupied resources will affect the data transmission delay of other terminals. For example, within the bandwidth occupied by the assistance RS, only part of the resources are used to send the assistance RS, and the number of resources occupied by the assistance RS, that is, the density information of the assistance RS, may be obtained from the configuration information (for example, 1 / 4). The remaining resources (e.g. REs) within this bandwidth may be used to send data. Optionally, the change in size of data transmission resources caused by assistance RS may be reduced by configuring the periodicity of assistance RS or the number of groups of assistance RSs. For example, when the terminal in connected state has periodic low-delay data transmission requirements, the transmission requirements of the user may be compatible by adjusting the time distribution (e.g., periodicity) or frequency domain density distribution of the assistance RS.

[0191] Optionally, the influence of the resources occupied by the assistance RS on the transmission delay of other terminals may be reduced by adjusting the periodicity configuration of the assistance RS. For example, the periodicity of assistance RS is twice that of SSB.

[0192] For legacy terminals, the legacy SSB structure may still be received, and the new SSB structure does not affect its related processes such as initial access, random access and the like. For new-type terminals (for example, CPEs) that support functions of reception, measurement and reporting of differential beams, the beam used by the base station to communicate with the terminal in the current transmission environment (the transmit and / or receive beam used by the base station) may be quickly determined by receiving and measuring the new SSB, the codebook or codebook index information (codebook index) used by the base station may be obtained, the time for beam sweeping and measurement and corresponding signaling overhead for determining high-gain narrow beams may be shortened. Through the invention, the terminal may use a narrow beam for communication even in random access process, channel quality may be significantly enhanced and data transmission efficiency may be improved.

[0193] Optionally, the number of assistance RS groups may be one or more, which are respectively used for measurement of differential beams in different directions and / or different dimensions. For example, the structure shown in FIG. 8 includes two groups of assistance RSs (RS # 1 and RS # 2, or referred to as A-RS#1 and A-RS#2), which may be used, for example, to determine the angles of narrow beams in the horizontal and vertical directions respectively, or to determine the angles of narrow beams in two other directions. The terminal may use the measurement results of the two groups of assistance RSs and the measurement result of the DMRS in the SSB to perform channel estimation and calculation respectively to determine the angle deviation value of the beam used by the terminal to communicate with the base station relative to the boresight direction of the differential beam pair. Among them, corresponding boresight directions of differential beams of different assistance RSs may be different. According to the relative relationship between the boresight directions of different groups of assistance RSs and the angle deviation values calculated based on different groups of assistance RSs, the specific direction information of the narrow beam for communication in the multi-dimensional space may be determined.

[0194] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, for convenience of description, the DMRS in the PBCH is called a first reference signal, alternatively, the last column of DMRS in PBCH is called a first reference signal, and the assistance reference signal is called a second reference signal. For example, the assistance reference signal may include one or more groups of assistance reference signals, or the second reference signal may include one or more groups of second reference signals, such as assistance RS#1 and assistance RS#2. In some cases, if multiple groups of assistance reference signals are described, for convenience of description, the assistance reference signals are also exemplarily named as the second reference signal and the third reference signal in the description of this disclosure for convenience of clear description, for example, the assistance RS # 1 is called a second reference signal, and the assistance RS # 2 is called a third reference signal; it can be understood that in such a description, the third reference signal may be considered as a kind of second reference signal. However, such naming is only exemplary, and other naming methods may be adopted. In addition, the number of assistance reference signals is only exemplary, and the number of assistance RS may be 1 or any other integer greater than 1.

[0195] Optionally, the frequency domain resource distribution density of each group of assistance RSs may be different from the frequency domain resource distribution density of DMRS in the SSB. Alternatively, the frequency domain resource distribution densities of multiple groups of assistance RSs are different. The density information of the assistance RS may be obtained directly in the MIB or SIB information of the SSB, or the distribution density of the assistance RS may be indicated by receiving different PSS / SSS sequences in the SSB. As shown in FIG. 9, the density of the first group of assistance RSs is the same as that of DMRS, and the density of the second group of assistance RSs is half the density of the first group of assistance RSs. At this time, 1-bit A-RS type signaling in the MIB may be used to indicate this information. If A-RS = 0, it means the same as the DMRS in PBCH. If A-RS = 1, it means that the distribution density of the RS is 1 / 2 of that of the DMRS in PBCH. Correspondingly, if the first group of assistance RSs is used to transmit a differential beam in the horizontal direction, it is used to determine the angle offset value in the horizontal direction; the second group of assistance RSs is used to transmit a differential beam in the vertical direction, it is used to determine the angle offset value in the vertical direction. Since the peak of the differential beam in the vertical direction is close in distance to the terminal, channel estimation may be completed using a small amount of assistance RSs. In this case, the density of assistance RS # 2 may be reduced to increase the number of resources for serving other users and improve resource utilization. In this case, the base station may transmit multiple configuration information, respectively indicating the configuration information of multiple groups of assistance RSs.

[0196] The base station transmits the new SSB structure using a differential beam pair. When transmitting the legacy SSB structure, using the first beam, such as a normal beam (also called a "sum beam") generated by the beam generation method of the existing system, for transmission; When transmitting the assistance RS # 1, using a second beam, for example, a differential beam in horizontal direction corresponding to the first beam, for transmission. Among them, the second beam may be generated based on the first beam, and the generation method is as follows: the generation parameters for generating the first beam are divided into two groups, the generation parameters of the former group remain unchanged, and the coefficients of the generation parameters of the latter group become the negative form of the original generation parameters (for example, 1 becomes-1). The first beam and the second beam form a differential beam pair in the horizontal direction, and the present invention determines the angle information of the terminal relative to the base station based on the measurement result of the differential beam pair. Similarly, a third beam is used to transmit assistance RS # 2, the third beam is a differential beam of the first beam in the vertical direction, and the third beam and the first beam form a differential beam pair in the vertical direction. Because the third beam is different from the second beam with respect to the boresight direction, its parameters for generation may be different from the parameters of the second beam.

[0197] For convenience of explanation, the method involved in this invention will be described later through a differential beam pair composed of a first beam (corresponding to the first reference signal) and a second beam (corresponding to the second reference signal). For example, according to the configuration information, the first reference signal and the second reference signal contained in the SSB are measured respectively, and the measurement result are processed to implement the beam management process.

[0198] If the SSB includes multiple groups of assistance RSs, the configuration information may be of multiple sets, and the terminal needs to perform the related process based on the configuration information of each set of assistance RSs and by referring to the method for assistance RS # 1. Among them, in order to reduce the signaling overhead, if the configuration information of multiple groups of assistance RSs is the same, only one set of configuration information may be transmitted, or the configuration information may be pre-defined in the terminal. For example, the method of "pre-stored" described in this disclosure may also be replaced by the method of "predefined". For example, a way described as pre-storing configuration information, may be described as that the configuration information is predefined. For example, "pre-stored value" may also be replaced by "predefined value", "predetermined value" and so on.

[0199] The terminal receives the legacy SSB, measures and reads the PBCH in the SSB, and obtains necessary system information and signal synchronization. Among them, the terminal receives and measures DMRS in PBCH for channel estimation and synchronization of L1; The terminal reads the MIB information in the PBCH to obtain the cell information and / or indication information of cell information required to access the network.

[0200] Information related to assistance RS (or referred to as second information) may be carried in SSB, for example, MIB and / or SIB1 (including SIB1 PDCCH and / or SIB1 PDSCH) of PBCH in SSB. Alternatively, it may also be indicated by different PSS / SSS sequences in the SSB. The content of the information related to assistance RS includes at least one of: whether the base station supports a differential beamforming function, an SSB structure type (legacy SSB, new-type SSB), whether an SSB includes an assistance RS, the number of assistance RS groups included in the SSB, time-frequency resource location of the assistance RS (for example, a time offset), density of the assistance RS (frequency domain type), a power value used to transmit the assistance RS (or a difference relative to a power for transmitting SSB, an energy value on each RE, or a difference between an energy value on each RE of the assistance RS group and an energy value on each RE of the DMRS), a form of reporting a measured value of the RS (for example, at least one of: direct channel estimation value, other values calculated based on the measured value (SINR, RSRP, etc.), an offset value of the preferred beam angle relative to the boresight direction, a beam index corresponding to the preferred beam), other parameters required for calculation (the calculation method of a beam, or the association relationship for beam indexes), the quantization accuracy for reporting the measured value, the channel on which the measured value is reported, and the method of reporting the measured value. For example, different PSS / SSS sequences in the SSB may implicitly indicate first indication information used to indicate whether the UE may receive the assistance RS through a broadcast signal. For example, the PSS / SSS sequence represents information related to at least one of the SSB structure type (legacy SSB, new-type SSB), whether an SSB includes an assistance RS, and the number of assistance RS groups included in the SSB.Optionally, part or all of the information related to the assistance RS may be agreed and stored in the storage structure of the terminal in advance to reduce signaling overhead. If the terminal does not receive related configuration information from the base station, it uses the pre-defined values to perform subsequent procedure. For example, the following content may be specified in advance: the measured value of SSB reported by the terminal may be a ratio of channel estimation values of the second reference signal and the first reference signal, and the ratio value is quantized into 4-bit data, which is transmitted and reported through subsequent msg3.

[0201] In some cases, most of the information related to the assistance RS is agreed (e.g. predefined) and stored in advance, only 1-2 bits of indication information need to be carried in the MIB for the terminal to determine whether the SSB is transmitted using differential beamforming, or whether multiple groups of assistance RS are included for measurement, or, which of multiple groups of assistance RSs is included (for example, whether including an assistance RS for determining the horizontal direction or including an assistance RS for determining the vertical direction (for example, it may be referred to as second indication information)). In this way, the terminal may quickly obtain the indication information of whether the assistance RS is included in the MIB.

[0202] Optionally, the terminal determines whether to receive the assistance RS according to the indication information.

[0203] Alternatively, the terminal may be agreed or configured in advance, to receive the information on the location where the assistance RS may exist while receiving SSB, and determine whether to process this part of information according to the indication information in SSB, to determine the narrow beam.

[0204] Optionally, the transmission periodicity of the assistance RS may be different from the transmission periodicity of the SSB, and the periodicities of multiple groups of assistance RSs may also be different. For example, the periodicity of assistance RS # 1 may be M times the SSB periodicity, the periodicity of assistance RS # 2 may be N times the SSB periodicity, and M may be different from N. In this case, the terminal needs to determine whether the SSB includes an assistance RS for measurement, or determine which RS group the assistance RS for measurement included in the SSB is, based on the indication information carried in the SSB. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 10, the MIB includes two-bits of indication information to indicate whether the SSB includes assistance RS1 and / or assistance RS2. When the indication information is 00, it means that the assistance RS is not included in this SSB structure; When the indication information is 01, it means that assistance RS1 is not included in this SSB structure, but assistance RS2 is included; When the indication information is 1, it means that this SSB structure includes assistance RS1 and assistance RS2.

[0205] Optionally, the transmission periodicities of the two groups of assistance RSs may be the same. For example, one SSB may contain two groups of assistance RSs at the same time, or may not include two groups of assistance RSs at the same time. In this case, only 1-bit indication information is needed to be added to the MIB to indicate whether this SSB includes two groups of assistance RSs at the same time.

[0206] Optionally, the terminal may also receive the next resource information containing the assistance RS corresponding to an SSB in the current SSB.

[0207] Optionally, the resource information may be a time offset value. In this case, if the SSB received by the terminal does not contain the assistance RS for measurement, the terminal may perform the measurement of the assistance RS for an SSB corresponding to the specified offset to determine the narrow beam, as shown in FIG. 21.

[0208] Optionally, the terminal may receive the assistance RS on the resource with the same SSB index in the next SSB periodicity based on the SSB periodicity.

[0209] Optionally, the terminal may be configured with a periodicity-related parameter value. The value is used to indicate on which periodicity next to the SSB, there is an assistance RS for determining a narrow beam on resource with the same SSB index.

[0210] Optionally, the measurement of a next SSB includes the measurement of the last column of DMRS in the PBCH and the measurement of at least one group of assistance RSs, and the narrow beam is determined based on the measurement result. In this case, the transmission channels for the two groups of measurement results change little, and the determined narrow beam direction is more accurate.

[0211] Optionally, the transmission periodicities of the two groups of assistance RSs may be different from that of SSB, so as to reduce the signaling overhead corresponding to the additional RSs. In this case, if the terminal fails to receive an assistance RS in the received SSB, the terminal may receive the DMRS and the assistance RS on the designated resources based on indication information. After the narrow beam is determined according to the measurement results, random access procedure is performed using the resources corresponding to the narrow beam. Alternatively, when a SSB burst contains multiple SSB repetition periodicities, the assistance RS may be sent only in the last L repetition periodicities within the SSB burst, as shown in FIG. 22. For example, L may be 1. In this case, all terminals accessed in the burst may complete the measurement of the assistance RS according to the configuration or indication information, and the access delay is shortened.

[0212] Optionally, the periodicities of the two groups of assistance RSs may be the same, but appear alternately, so as to reduce the influence of different resource sizes occupied by the assistance RSs at different times on resource utilization and scheduling flexibility. In this case, after receiving a group of assistance RS, the terminal may also go to the next resource to receive another group of assistance RS according to the configuration information to determine the two-dimensional angle information. This method is suitable for scenarios with low user mobility but high resource utilization requirements. As shown in FIG. 23, in different SSB burst, the assistance RS sent with SSB are different, for example, they appear alternately. In this case, the terminal may determine the time-frequency resource for the terminal to receive another assistance RS according to the configuration information in SSB. Or, according to the SSB periodicity, the terminal directly goes to the next periodicity to receive another assistance RS.

[0213] Optionally, considering the accuracy of the measurement results, when the terminal determines the horizontal and vertical angles, the DMRS which is closest to the transmit time of the assistance RS is used for determining. For example, in FIG. 23 below, the terminal measures the DMRS in two SSBs respectively, and performs channel estimation with the measurement results of assistance RS#1 and RS#2 respectively to determine the horizontal and vertical angle values.

[0214] Optionally, the terminal may determine the resource information of the next assistance RS based on the periodicity information of SSB burst and the periodicity of SSB repetition transmission inside the burst, as shown in FIG. 24.

[0215] Optionally, the time domain resource location of each group of assistance RSs relative to the SSB may be a fixed value, as shown in FIG. 11. If the SSB includes assistance RS1 and assistance RS2, there will be RS1 for measurement at fixed location 1 associated with the SSB, and there will be RS2 for measurement at fixed location 2 associated with the SSB. If the SSB only includes a certain group of assistance RSs, for example, the SSB only includes assistance RS2 but not assistance RS1, fixed location 1 is not used to transmit assistance RS2.

[0216] Based on the new SSB structure, the new behavior of the UE may be for example, as shown in any one of FIGs. 25 to 27, for example, may include at least some of the following:

[0217] 1. The UE receives the SSB transmitted by the network side, and determines related information of the assistance RS based on the information carried and / or indicated in the SSB (such as MIB, SIB1).

[0218] The related information of the assistance RS (for example, referred to as second information) includes at least one of: whether the base station supports the differential beamforming function, whether the SSB includes the assistance RS, the number of assistance RS groups included in the SSB, the time-frequency resource location of the assistance RS, and the power value used to transmit the assistance RS (or, the difference between the energy on each RE relative to the power for transmitting PBCH, the power value on each RE, the difference between the power value on each RE of the assistance RS group and the power value on each RE of DMRS), the measured value to be transmitted for the new SSB (a time domain value of the received signal, a frequency domain value of the received signal, a channel estimation value, RSRP, SINR), the form of the measured value reported by the terminal (for example, a direct channel estimation value, other values calculated based on the measured value, a beam direction determined based on the measured value, a beam index corresponding to the beam determined based on the measured value), the quantization accuracy for reporting the measured value, and the resource for reporting the measured value. If the terminal reports the measured value in the form of beam-related information, the terminal also needs to obtain other parameters required to calculate a beam, such as the data processing method of the measured value, the mapping relationship between the measured value and the beam, a conversion method between a beam calculated based on multiple groups of assistance RSs and an actual beam, the corresponding relationship between a beam index and a calculated beam, etc.

[0219] Optionally, in order to ensure the accuracy of channel estimation results, the bandwidth of sending assistance RS may be the same as that of DMRS.

[0220] Optionally, considering the nonlinearity of hardware, the power for sending assistance RS may be the same as that of DMRS.

[0221] Optionally, considering the mobility of users, the last column of DMRS in the PBCH and at least one group of assistance RS may be continuously transmitted in order to ensure that the transmission channel changes little.

[0222] Optionally, in order to reduce the complexity for detection of reference signal sequence by the user, the last column of DMRS in the PBCH and at least one group of assistance RS may use the same sequence.

[0223] Optionally, in order to reduce the time required to read information, the terminal may read the related information of the assistance RS in a hierarchical manner. First, the UE determines whether the base station supports the differential beamforming function. If the base station does not support the differential beamforming function, the remaining information related to assistance RS does not need to read any more. If the base station supports the differential beamforming function, the UE continues to read the indication information of whether the SSB includes an assistance RS. If the SSB does not include an assistance RS, there is no need to continue to read information related to assistance RS. Whether the SSB contains the information of the assistance RS may be sent in MIB. By this method, the terminal may quickly determine whether it needs to receive the assistance RS at the designated location. If this SSB includes at least one group of assistance RSs, the UE continues to read the remaining related information of assistance RS. Or, the SSB does not contain the assistance RS, and the UE may determine information of the next set of time-frequency resources containing the assistance RS according to the information contained in the SSB. The information of the remaining assistance RS and / or the next group of assistance RS may be obtained in SIB, and this part of signaling may contain more information bits and transmit more accurate information.

[0224] Optionally, in order to reduce signaling overhead, part of the related information of assistance RS may be transmitted to the base station side in advance, or agreed in advance and stored in the storage unit of the terminal.

[0225] Optionally, the indication information of the assistance RS may include multiple groups of sub-indication information, used to respectively indicate the related information of multiple groups of assistance RSs.

[0226] 2. The terminal receives and measures the first reference signal and the second reference signal respectively according to the information in the SSB and / or the related information stored in the terminal, and obtains at least one measured value.

[0227] The measured value may be channel estimation values (channel estimation results) determined based on signals received by the terminal, including equivalent first channel estimation results (channel estimation results 1) based on the received first reference signal and equivalent second channel estimation results (channel estimation results 2) based on the received second reference signal, which may also be extended to other channel estimation values corresponding to multiple groups of assistance RSs, such as equivalent third channel estimation values (channel estimation results 3) determined based on the third reference signal.

[0228] Optionally, if the data reading time of the terminal is long, the terminal may first assume that the SSB includes an assistance RS, and receive and measure the first reference signal and the second reference signal based on the information related to assistance RS stored in advance by the UE. After the analysis and reading of configuration data in the SSB is completed, determine whether the measured values are valid based on the obtained information related to assistance RS. If the read information related to assistance RS indicates that this SSB does not include an assistance RS, the measured values corresponding to the present / current reception will not be used for subsequent procedure.

[0229] Optionally, if the data reading time of the terminal is long, the assistance RS configuration information carried in the SSB may be information of the assistance RS in the following Nth (N is an integer greater than 0) SSB. The value of N may be stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance, or carried and / or indicated in the SSB. As shown in FIG. 13, if the indication information in the SSB is 11, it means that the Nth SSB after this SSB includes two groups of assistance RSs; If the indication information in the SSB is 00, it means that the Nth SSB after this SSB does not include an assistance RS. In other words, the configuration information used by the terminal to measure the assistance RS in the SSB is determined based on the information carried in the previous Nth SSB.

[0230] 3. The terminal reports measurement results of the SSB according to the configuration information related to reporting measurement results, for example, reports first information related to the measurement of the first reference signal and the measurement of the second reference signal.

[0231] The method of obtaining configuration information related to reporting measurement results by the terminal may be at least one of: stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance, obtained from the MIB, and obtained from the system information (SIB1, SIB, SIB-DBF).

[0232] Among them, SIB-DBF is system information related to differential beamforming, which the terminal may obtain by transmitting an on-demand request.

[0233] The configuration information for reporting measurement results by the terminal may be included in information related to reporting configuration, for example, included in CSI-reportConfig. Configuration information related to reporting measurement results by the terminal, includes at least one of: the form of reported measured values, related parameters required to calculate the reported measured values (calculation method of the beam, corresponding relationship for the beam index), quantization accuracy of reported measured values, a channel for reporting measured values, resources used for reporting measured values, related information required for reporting measured values, and a type of the reporting.

[0234] Among them, the form of reported measured values (or referred to as first information) by the terminal may be configured in the parameter reportQuantity in CSI-reportConfig, and the specific form may be at least one of:

[0235] - channel estimation values (channel estimation results) of multiple reference signals respectively obtained by the terminal through measurement

[0236] - indirect values calculated by the terminal based on the received values, for example, reference signal receiving power (RSRP), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the reference signal, or signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the reference signal.

[0237] - channel estimation values ratio (channel estimation results ratio 12) of differential beam pairs in multiple groups received by the terminal, for example, the ratio of channel estimation values corresponding to the first reference signal and the second reference signal respectively, the value of which may be channel estimation results 1 / channel estimation results 2, or channel estimation results 2 / channel estimation results 1. Similarly, it may be extended to the ratio of the first reference signal and the channel estimation values (channel estimation results 3) of the third reference signal, for example, signal ratio13 = channel estimation results 1 / channel estimation results 3.

[0238] - an angle direction deviation value between the boresight directions of the transmit beam of the base station for communication by the terminal and the differential beam pair;

[0239] - a beam index of the transmit beam of the base station for communication by the terminal, the beam index is determined based on corresponding relationship between the angle deviation value and the beam index. The corresponding relationship includes a corresponding relationship between one ratio of received signals and one angle deviation value (or angle adjustment value) (for example, a one-to-one corresponding relationship, or a corresponding relationship between different ratio ranges and angle deviation values or adjustment values), one of the angle deviation values (or angle adjustment values) may be obtained through one of the ratios of received signals.

[0240] Optionally, the corresponding relationship between a ratio of received signals and an angle deviation value may be configured in the form of a table. For example, as shown in Table 1. In this case, according to the ratio of the measured received signals, the terminal looks up the table to determine its corresponding angle value, or determines the indication information corresponding to the angle value (such as sub-angle index m, or referred to as angle deviation value m), where m is the index / number information of each range after the sum beam is divided into multiple sub-angles in the horizontal or vertical dimension. It should be understood that the specific numerical values shown in Table 1 are only exemplary, and other numerical values may also be used, or other forms besides numerical values may also be used to express the corresponding relationship between the ratio range and the angle deviation value m.

[0241] Table 1 Corresponding relationship between ratio range and angle deviation value (m)

[0242]

[0243] Referring to FIG. 25A, UE behaviors related to A-RS periodicity configuration may include:

[0244] UE receives SSB;

[0245] UE obtains the configuration information in the MIB, for example, the UE may determine whether the SSB is with an A-RS;

[0246] UE obtains the configuration information in the SIB, for example, the information related to location of the A-RS may be obtained;

[0247] UE measures DMRS in PBCH and associated A-RS;

[0248] UE performs channel estimation and determines information about a narrow beam.

[0249] Referring to FIG. 25B, UE behaviors related to A-RS periodicity configuration may include:

[0250] UE receives SSB;

[0251] The UE obtains the configuration information in the MIB, for example, the UE can determine whether the SSB is with A-RS; According to MIB configuration information, determine whether the current SSB contains A-RS. If A-RS is included, the UE measures the DMRS in the PBCH and the associated A-RS; If the A-RS is not included, the UE receives the SIB and obtains the configuration information in the SIB, for example, the configuration information includes the location-related information of the A-RS;

[0252] The UE receives SSB with A-RS based on the configuration information obtained in SIB and / or MIB, for example, receives the associated SSB on the specified time domain resources;

[0253] UE measures DMRS and associated A-RS in PBCH;

[0254] The UE performs channel estimation and determines information about the narrow beam.

[0255] Referring to FIG. 26A, the interaction between a UE and a base station (e.g., gNB) may include:

[0256] The base station sends SSB to UE, wherein the configuration related to A-RS periodicity is included in MIB and / or SIB, and the UE receives SSB;

[0257] UE performs MIB reading to obtain information related to SSB without A-RS;

[0258] UE performs SIB reading, for example, it may obtain the information related to location of A-RS;

[0259] The base station sends SSB with A-RS to UE, and the UE receives SSB with A-RS from the base station;

[0260] The UE performs measurement of the new SSB. For example, in addition to measuring what the legacy SSB may contain, the UE may additionally measure A-RS. For example, as shown in the following FIG. 26B, UE may measure DMRS in PBCH and 2 A-RS. The number 2 of A-RS is merely exemplary, and may be other values.

[0261] Optionally, in order to obtain a more accurate channel estimation result and its corresponding narrow beam, the measurement of the new SSB may include the measurement of the last column of DMRS in the PBCH in the new SSB and the measurement of the assistance RS.

[0262] Referring to FIG. 27A, the interaction between a UE and a base station (e.g., gNB) may include:

[0263] The base station sends SSB with A-RS to UE, for example, the configuration related to A-RS periodicity is included in MIB;

[0264] UE performs MIB reading to obtain information related to SSB with A-RS;

[0265] The UE performs measurement of A-RS. Referring to FIG. 27B, the measurement by the UE is the measurement of the DMRS and two A-RSs in the PBCH included in the current SSB.

[0266] In FIG. 28, the detectable range of the sum beam in the horizontal direction is divided into multiple parts, and different values of m are used to indicate the angle range, for example, m=1, m=2 and m=5 shown in the figure. In addition, although not shown, the angle ranges such as m = 3 and m = 4 may also be involved in the figure. Similarly, the vertical direction may also be divided into multiple parts, indicating multiple ranges of the ratio of equivalent combined channels, for example, n is used to refer to the index / number of range. The number / index including m and n may be used for a narrow beam corresponding to the angle range value of the corresponding probing direction and the ratio range value of the equivalent combined channel.

[0267] Optionally, the values of m and n may be related to the narrow beam accuracy of the base station, the size of the number of resources that the base station can configure for feeding back the narrow beam information, the coverage of the base station and other information.

[0268] Among them, the reported measured values may be data obtained by quantizing measured values according to the quantization accuracy information for reported measured values in the configuration information related to the measurement result reporting. Its calculation may be in the form of a formula or a lookup table. The quantization accuracy of measured values is related to calculation accuracy of the beam, and further, to the number of distinguishable narrow beams included in the first beam. The narrower the beam width, the higher the quantization accuracy required.

[0269] The channel for reporting a measurement result may be PUCCH, PUSCH, or PRACH.

[0270] If the measurement result is reported in the PUCCH, the terminal needs to transmit the measurement result in the resources reserved in advance in the UCI, or the base station transmits DCI signaling to activate the resources for measurement result reporting after transmitting the SSB, to schedule the uplink resources required for reporting.

[0271] If the measurement result is reported in PUSCH, the terminal may report the measurement result in uplink msg3, or report the measurement result after the initial access is completed.

[0272] If the measurement result is reported in PRACH, the terminal may report the measurement result at the same time when transmitting a random access request. The form of the measurement result may be explicit or implicit. For example, the terminal uses a dedicated preamble and / or a dedicated RO resource corresponding to the beam angle offset value to indicate the measurement result, and the corresponding relationship between the PRACH resource and the angle offset value may be notified in advance or stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance. Alternatively, in the sequence generated using preamble , the calculation method of information related to the measurement result is added, to enable the base station to determine the measurement result.

[0273] The type for reporting a measurement result by the terminal may be transmitted in the report config type. It may be in form of periodic, aperiodic, or semi-periodic.

[0274] 4. The terminal communicates with the base station through a beam index (codebook, or codebook index) determined by measurement of the SSB.

[0275] 5. The base station receives the measurement result reported by the terminal, determines and uses the corresponding narrow beam to communicate with the terminal. The narrow beam is used as a transmit and / or receive beam for the base station to communicate with the terminal.

[0276] Based on the measurement of the SSB including an assistance RS, the beam management process may be completed before random access to determine the narrow beam (corresponding codebook or codebook index) used by the terminal to communicate with the base station without a beam management process based on measurement and reporting of CSI-RS in different directions. The terminal may use a high-gain beam for communication even during the random access process, which may improve the data transmission reliability of the terminal before RRC connection, and enhance the signal coverage during the random access process, and the improvement effect is better and obvious especially for cell edge terminals.

[0277] Embodiment 1

[0278] When the terminal connects to the base station supporting the differential beam transmission function, based on the reception and measurement of the new SSB of the present invention, a beam management process may be completed before entering the connected state (RRC connected), and a high-gain narrow beam may be quickly determined and used to communicate with the base station, which enhances the reliability in the initial access stage. The following illustrates the content of the present invention through examples of related processes.

[0279] A specific implementation of this embodiment may be as shown in FIG. 13. In this embodiment, the SSB-related steps of the terminal are as follows:

[0280] Step 1: The terminal receives the first reference signal. The SSB where the first reference signal is located carries PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0281] Step 2: The terminal measures the first reference signal.

[0282] Step 3: The terminal determines information carried in the SSB. The read information may be in the MIB of the SSB, which includes information related to an assistance RS, used to determine whether the SSB includes an assistance RS for beam management, and related configuration information of the assistance RS.

[0283] Optionally, the present invention does not limit the execution order of step 2 and step 3. They may be performed simultaneously or in sequence, including but not limited to the sequence in start time and / or end time.

[0284] Step 4 (optional): The terminal receives the second reference signal. The related indication information of the second reference signal may be obtained in step 3. The beam used to transmit the second reference signal is related to the beam used to transmit the first reference signal, and together form a differential beam pair in a group.

[0285] Step 5 (optional): The terminal measures the second reference signal based on information related to the second reference signal in the SSB. If the information carried in the SSB indicates that the SSB includes at least one group of assistance RSs transmitted using a differential beam pair, the terminal measures the assistance RSs. Among them, the configuration information required for measurement may be obtained from the SSB or stored in the storage module of the terminal in advance.

[0286] Among them, step 4 and step 5 are optional. Whether the terminal performs step 4 and / or step 5 is related to the SSB structure type received by the terminal. If the SSB received by the terminal includes an assistance RS, step 4 and / or step 5 need to be performed; If the SSB received by the terminal does not include an assistance RS, there is no need to perform step 4 and / or step 5.

[0287] Step 6: The terminal transmits a message 1 (MSG1) carrying a random access request. Among them, the beam used by the base station to receive MSG1 is a wide beam associated with the SSB.

[0288] Step 7: The terminal attempts to receive random access response information (RAR, MSG2) transmitted by the base station. The beam used by the base station to transmit MSG2 is a wide beam associated with the SSB.

[0289] Step 8: The terminal transmits MSG3 carrying measurement results of the first reference signal and the second reference signal to the base station. Among them, the measurement results are used to determine a narrow beam (beam index, codebook) used by the terminal to communicate with the base station. The content of measurement result reporting may be: channel estimation values by the terminal for the first reference signal and the second reference signal, or related values of measured values of the first reference signal and the second reference signal by the terminal, or information related to a narrow beam determined by the terminal based on measured values of the first reference signal and the second reference signal. In this method, since MSG3 is transmitted in PUSCH (physical uplink shared channel), accurate measurement results with more bits may be transmitted, and the narrow beam determined based on the measurement results is more accurate.

[0290] Optionally, the related values obtained by the terminal through the measured values of the first reference signal and the second reference signal may be at least one of: a ratio of received signals of differential beam pairs in at least one group respectively received by the terminal, the respective frequency domain signal values of the multiple beams included in differential beam pairs in at least one group respectively received by the terminal, a ratio of the frequency domain signal values of differential beam pairs in at least one group respectively received by the terminal, the frequency domain channel estimation values respectively corresponding to multiple beams included in differential beam pairs in at least one group respectively received by the terminal, and a ratio of the frequency domain channel estimation values of differential beam pairs in at least one group respectively received by the terminal.

[0291] Optionally, quantization accuracy of the reported measured values or values related to the measured values is related to the accuracy in determining the narrow beam. The quantization accuracy may be obtained from configuration signaling of the base station (for example, MIB), or stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance.

[0292] Optionally, the information related to a narrow beam determined by the terminal based on measured values of the differential beams may be an angle deviation value between the narrow beam direction and the boresight direction of the differential beam pair, or beam index information corresponding to the narrow beam (narrow beam index, codebook index). Wherein, in determining information of the narrow beam based on measurement results by the terminal, information such as corresponding relationship between the angle deviation of the measured values of the differential beam pair and the measured values of signals, and / or corresponding relationship between beam index information of the narrow beam and the angle deviation and the like, are also required. The information may be stored in the terminal in advance, or obtained through other signaling transmitted by the base station (for example, information related to on-demand system information, such as on-demand SIB-DBF).

[0293] Step 9 (optional): The base station determines the beam index information for communicating with the terminal based on the measurement results reported by the terminal. If the measurement results transmitted by the terminal are the direct channel estimation values of the first reference signal and the second reference signal by the terminal and / or the related value obtained by the terminal based on the measured values of the first reference signal and the second reference signal and / or the angle deviation value of the narrow beam direction relative to the boresight direction of the differential beam pair, the base station needs to process the data to determine the narrow beam used to communicate with the terminal and its corresponding codebook information (codebook index). In this case, the terminal does not need to receive related information for calculation, which includes but is not limited to: corresponding relationship between the measured values of the differential beam pair and the angle deviation, corresponding relationship between index information of the narrow beam and the angle deviation, and the signaling overhead is reduced. Further, the base station may determine a more accurate narrow beam based on other information.

[0294] Step 10: The terminal receives MSG4 transmitted by the base station using a narrow beam. The base station transmits MSG4 using a narrow beam, the narrow beam is determined through information related to measurement of differential beams reported by the terminal. Based on this method, by using a high-gain narrow beam, the output transmission efficiency is increased and the reliability in transmitted data becomes higher, the improvement effect is obvious especially for terminals at the edge of a cell.

[0295] Embodiment 2

[0296] In another implementation, the terminal may report measurement results of the SSB in MSG1. As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 14 below, the steps performed by the terminal that are the same as those in Embodiment 1 will not be described again, and the related steps that are different from Embodiment 1 are as follows:

[0297] Step 3 (optional): The terminal determines information carried in the SSB. In addition to the information related to the assistance RS, the SSB may also carry related configuration information of MSG1, for example, at least one RO associated with the SSB, corresponding relationship between each RO and a beam; or, a reserved preamble (or preamble index) associated with the SSB, or corresponding relationship between each preamble and a beam.

[0298] Alternatively, if the base station cannot use multiple narrow beams to receive msg1 at the same time, the terminal may use ROs at different times to associate the narrow beams.

[0299] Optionally, in order to be compatible with the existing terminals that do not support DBF, ROs associated with the wide beam still needs to be reserved for the random access procedure for the legacy UE. In this case, the ROs of the terminal are divided into two groups. One group is associated with a wide beam and the other group is associated with narrow beams, as shown in FIG. 29. Among them, the first subgroup is used for the connection of legacy UE and / or cell center UE and / or UE with low delay demand, and the configuration information and resource allocation method for this subgroup are the same as those for the existing 5G UE, and each RO corresponds to a different wide beam for base station reception. The second subgroup is used for coverage enhancement of the UE at the cell edge, and the time during which it presents is after the first subgroup. In the second RO subgroup, ROs are distributed at different times according to the order of their associated indexes of wide beams (for example, the wide beam SSB0 related to the first subgroup). Each wide beam correspond to multiple RO resources, and RO resources corresponding to different times may be received by the base station use corresponding different narrow beams. Correspondingly, the last few RO resources in the second RO subgroup correspond to different SSB1~SSBn respectively. In this case, the narrow beams for the second subgroup jointly achieve the same angle coverage as the wide beams of the first subgroup, but the coverage range in distance is wider. For example, as shown in FIG. 29, the same SSB0 corresponds to multiple different RO resources in time domain, and each RO resource in time domain corresponds to a different narrow beam for the base station to receive.

[0300] Optionally, the terminal may also receive a threshold information. The threshold information may be used to judge whether the terminal may perform random access through a wide beam. For example, when the terminal is located in the center of the cell, there is no need to fight against the path loss through a narrow beam. In this case, the terminal may use a wide beam to send msg1 as soon as possible and complete random access.

[0301] Optionally, the threshold may be obtained in SSB, e.g., obtained in SIB.

[0302] Optionally, the terminal will receive two sets of configuration information of ROs, respectively including configuration information indicating the start resource of ROs and information indicating the number of RO resources.

[0303] Optionally, in order to be compatible with the existing terminals, the first RO subgroup corresponding to the wide beam may be mapped first, and then the second RO subgroup corresponding to the narrow beams may be mapped.

[0304] Step 6: Based on information related to the SSB, the terminal transmits MSG1 carrying measurement result information to request random access. Among them, the measurement result indication information carried in MSG1 may be in implicit form or explicit form, the indicated content may be the quantized ratio of channel estimation values, or the quantized angle offset value information of the narrow beam direction relative to the boresight direction determined based on the measurement results, or narrow beam index information determined based on the measurement results. The form used to indicate the narrow beam index in MSG1 may be a specific preamble sequence, a specific random access occasion (RO, RACH occasion), a combination of a specific preamble sequence and a specific RO.

[0305] Optionally, if the method of indicating the narrow beam index is through a specific RO, the terminal may determine the RO used to transmit MSG1 based on the corresponding relationship between the RO and the beam index. In this case, in addition to the RO where the SSB received by the terminal is located, each SSB may also have multiple associated ROs, each RO is associated with a different beam for the base station and is used to indicate the beam index determined by the terminal based on the measurement results. As shown in FIG. 15, the terminal receives SSB0 transmitted by the base station on RO1, and determines the RO (RO5) used to transmit MSG1 based on the information carried in SSB0 / the service type supported by the terminal (whether the differential beamforming function is supported) / measurement results of the differential beam pair. When the terminal is a legacy UE, the terminal does not support the differential beamforming function and cannot perform beam management through measurement of SSB. In this case, the terminal uses the same RO1 as that for receiving SSB0 to transmit MSG1; When the terminal is a new-type UE, for example, the terminal supports the differential beamforming function and may perform beam management based on measurement results of the new SSB, in this case, the terminal selects a RO from RO2 ~ RO5 associated with receiving SSB0 to transmit MSG1 based on measurement results of the new SSB. Each RO has an associated beam, RO1 corresponds to the legacy wide beam, and RO2 ~ RO5 correspond to narrow beams. The corresponding relationship between ROs and narrow beams may be stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance, or received through other signaling, such as SIB1.

[0306] Optionally, the terminal may also decide whether to select the first RO group or the second RO group based on the threshold. For example, for the users in the cell center, the access requirements may be met without a narrow beam, and the terminal may determine whether to use the first RO group according to the comparison result between the RSRP of SSB and the threshold. Optionally, the base station may use different narrow beams to receive MSG1 transmitted by the terminal. For example, when receiving RO2, narrow beam 1 is used to receive MSG1 to enhance the coverage of cell edge UEs.

[0307] Optionally, the time-frequency resource where the RO is located is related to the sub-angle index / number value determined by the terminal according to the measurement result of the reference signal. The terminal determines the ratio information based on the measurement results of the differential beams, and then determines the corresponding sub-angle index according to the table to obtain the SSB RO index / number information. Then, according to the SSB RO index / number information, the corresponding RO resources are determined.

[0308] Optionally, as shown in FIG. 30, the arrangement of the RO resources is sequentially distributed in the time domain resources in the order of SSB number x, horizontal sub-angle index m and vertical sub-angle index n. Different SSB indexes in the figure correspond to different narrow beams for base station reception and are distributed on different time domain resources for base station to switch different narrow beams for reception; SSB indexes in the frequency domain are the same, corresponding to multiple available RO resources of the same narrow beam, to reduce the contention between terminals.

[0309] Optionally, in a base station system that does not support multi-panel or JPTA(joint phase and time array) function, the SSB RO indexes corresponding to ROs distributed on different frequency domain resources at the same time are the same, that is, they correspond to the same narrow beam.

[0310] Optionally, if the method of indicating the narrow beam index is through a specific preamble sequence, the terminal needs to determine the preamble used to transmit MSG1 based on corresponding relationship between the narrow beam and the preamble and combined with measurement results of the SSB. In this case, at least one preamble is reserved to indicate the beam index reported by the terminal, and this part of reserved preambles correspond to narrow beam indexes one-to-one. The corresponding relationship between the preamble (or preamble index) and the narrow beam index may be stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance, or transmitted to the terminal through other signaling, such as SIB1 and PDCCH.

[0311] Step 7: The terminal attempts to receive random access response message (MSG2) transmitted by the base station. Among them, the narrow beam used by the base station to transmit MSG2 is determined based on information indicated in MSG1.

[0312] Step 8: The terminal transmits MSG3 to the base station. The beam used by the base station to receive MSG3 may also be the narrow beam.

[0313] Step 10: The terminal receives MSG4 transmitted by the base station using the narrow beam.

[0314] Based on the method described in this embodiment, measurement results are reported in an implicit form without occupying additional signaling overhead. Moreover, starting from MSG1 of the random access process, the base station may use a high-gain narrow beam for data transmission, which has higher transmission efficiency.

[0315] Embodiment 3

[0316] The new beam management method based on SSB carrying an assistance RS may also be used for beam failure recovery (BFR) related processes. The terminal quickly determines a high-gain beam to communicate with the base station in a new transmission environment by receiving and measuring the SSB. Based on this method, there is no need to continuously transmit beams in other directions related to the direction of transmission data and perform measurement in order to obtain candidate beams, and report measurement result, which may reduce related signaling overhead for beam failure recovery.

[0317] Below, the method is illustrated with example through the embodiment shown in FIG. 16.

[0318] Step 1: After successful random access to the base station by the terminal, the terminal receives configuration signaling for beam recovery (BFR config), which includes at least one of: a dedicated preamble for transmitting a beam recovery request on the PRACH channel, BFR dedicated search space (recovery search space ID), a BFR timer, a type of random access (contention or not, access in two-step or four-step), response time window (RA-responseWindow).

[0319] Among them, the dedicated preamble is not related to the new beam (or called the candidate beam) used for beam recovery, and is only used for the base station to determine the purpose of a random access request transmitted by the terminal. For example, the number of such dedicated preamble may be 1. Therefore, such configuration information does not need to be updated according to the situation in which the terminal uses a different beam pair to communicate with the base station or a change in the beam pair used for transmission by the terminal. In some cases, after the terminal successfully enters the connected state (RRC-connected), this configuration signaling only needs to be transmitted once, it is still applicable after the beam pair used for communication between the terminal and the base station changes, and the signaling overhead is reduced.

[0320] Step 2: When the terminal detects beam failure, it receives, parses and measures the SSB carrying the first reference signal and the second reference signal.

[0321] Or expressed as, re-measuring SSB.

[0322] Step 3: The terminal obtains candidate narrow beams in the new transmission environment based on measurement results.

[0323] Optionally, the order in time for measuring the first reference signal and the second reference signal and the order for beam failure detection may be performed simultaneously, or one after another with a time difference, including the start time and / or the end time.

[0324] Optionally, the terminal may perform channel estimation according to the measurement results, determine the SSB RO index corresponding to the narrow beam, and determine the RO resources used for transmitting the PRACH signal according to the index, as shown in FIG. 32. In this case, the base station does not need to send the specific configuration information of the narrow beam in the configuration information, but only needs to configure the relationship between the RO resources and the measurement results. As shown in FIG. 32A, the interaction between the base station and the UE includes:

[0325] The base station sends a BFR configuration to the UE, for example, the BFR configuration includes information related to the preamble index used for BFR request; The reserved preamble resource in the configuration information is not associated with the candidate beam of the terminal, and is only used to indicate that the terminal has a beam failure and requests for beam failure recovery. In some cases, the number of reserved preambles contained in the configuration information may be one.

[0326] The UE performs BFD (beam failure detection), and the terminal monitors the quality of the transmission channel to ensure the efficiency of data transmission. For example, when the terminal measures that the RSRP of an existing beam for data transmission is less than a specific threshold for many times (or at least once) within a certain time of a timer, it is considered that the communication quality of the terminal needs to be improved by switching a candidate beam.

[0327] The UE performs measurement of SSB including assistance RS after determining that beam failure occurs; By measuring the new SSB, the terminal re-determines the new narrow beam information whose communication quality meets the requirements.

[0328] The UE sends a BFR request to the base station, for example, the BFR request is sent through MSG1; Among them, the preamble used by the terminal to send msg1 is obtained from the BFR configuration information, and the RO resource used by the terminal to send msg1 is obtained from measurement results of the new SSB. In this case, the terminal selects an RO resource corresponding to the new narrow beam in the second RO subgroup for sending msg1.

[0329] As shown in FIG. 32B, the RO resource used for sending msg1 is with a new narrow beam determined by the terminal based on measurement of SSB including A-RS. That is, the RO resource is associated with a new narrow beam of the terminal. By this method, the terminal can report the narrow beam information determined by measurement.

[0330] The base station sends MSG2 to the UE in response to MSG1. The narrow beam used by the base station to send msg2 may be the same as the narrow beam used to receive msg1, and both are the same as the new narrow beam determined based on the measurement results of the new SSB reported by the terminal.

[0331] Step 4: The terminal selects a RO resource associated with a candidate beam based on a new beam determined by measurement, to transmit a preamble indicating a beam recovery request. The method for RO selection is the same as the method shown in FIG. 15 described in Embodiment 2.

[0332] Step 5: After transmitting the preamble, the terminal attempts to receive beam recovery request response information from the base station (MSG2). If the terminal may successfully receive the response information MSG2 transmitted by the base station, the beam recovery is successful, and the terminal may continue data transmission. Among them, the candidate narrow beam used by the base station to transmit MSG2 is determined by the RO for transmitting the beam recovery request by the terminal. If the terminal cannot successfully receive the response information MSG2 of the base station, the beam recovery is unsuccessful, and the terminal re-performs the random access related process.

[0333] In some embodiments, if the beam recovery parameters configured by the base station indicate that the random access for beam recovery is a four-step random access, the candidate beam determined based on measurement of the SSB may be reported in MSG3. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, when the terminal needs to perform beam failure recovery, the beam recovery request (beam failure recovery request) transmitted by the terminal is transmitted on the same RO as that for the received SSB, for example, candidate beam information is not carried.

[0334] The candidate beam obtained based on the measurement by the terminal may be reported through MSG3, without a RO dedicated to indicating the candidate beam in MSG1 being reserved. The form of reporting the candidate beam may be through beam index information or an angle offset value between boresight directions of the candidate beam and the SSB.

[0335] Alternatively, referring to the method of Embodiment 1, the terminal may directly report in MSG3, measurement results of the SSB, including but not limited to the channel estimation values of the first reference signal, the second reference signal, and the third reference signal respectively, and the base station side processes the measurement results reported in MSG3 to determine a candidate beam pair for the terminal to communicate with the base station.

[0336] Embodiment 4

[0337] In another implementation, the terminal may report measurement results of the SSB in MSG A. Among them, msgA includes MsgA preamble and msgA payload. If the terminal reports the measurement results in the PUSCH channel of MSG A, for the specific method, the method of the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 may be referred to; If the terminal reports the measurement results in the PRACH channel of MSG A, for the specific method, the method of the above-mentioned Embodiment 2 may be referred to. Alternatively, the terminal may transmit part of the results in the PUSCH channel, and transmit part of the results in the PUCCH channel.

[0338] Based on the information included in the received MSG A, the base station may determine the beam used to transmit MSG B. If MSG A includes the measurement results, the base station may use the narrow beam corresponding to the measurement results when transmitting MSG B; If MSG A does not include the measurement results, the base station uses the wide beam corresponding to the SSB when transmitting MSG B.

[0339] Embodiment 5

[0340] In some cases, if the terminal does not support the differential beamforming related function, even if the base station transmits the second reference signal through the SSB structure, the terminal cannot determine the narrow beam for its communication by measuring the second reference signal. Similarly, its candidate beam for beam recovery cannot be obtained through measurement of at least one group of reference signals.

[0341] In this embodiment, if the terminal is not configured with periodic CSI-RS measurement for determining a candidate beam, the candidate beam may be obtained through on-demand measurement. When the terminal detects beam failure, the terminal transmits to the base station a measurement request signaling (on-demand measurement request). This signaling is used to request on-demand measurement for determining a candidate beam from the base station.

[0342] Optionally, the measurement is a measurement based on a specific reference signal, which may be SSB, CSI-RS or SRS.

[0343] Optionally, the measurement request may be transmitted on the PUCCH channel. The terminal may transmit a request signaling indicating whether to request on-demand measurement on the resource of one bit reserved in advance in the UCI. For example, "0" means not request measurement, and "1" means request measurement.

[0344] Optionally, indication information of the measurement request in the UCI may be multiple bits (N bits, N > 1). The content transmitted in the UCI includes: whether to request measurement, and / or assistance measurement configuration information. For example, the assistance information may be the current RSRP value measured with the beam for connection, or a difference value between the current RSRP value measured with the beam for connection and the RSRP value measured with the beam when beam management is completed. Based on the relationship between the measured value and the beam pattern output by the base station (as shown in FIG. 18), the angle offset of the current beam may be determined, the angle range of the present measurement may be narrowed, and the number of beams to measure and the related measurement time and signaling overhead may be further reduced.

[0345] Optionally, the reported assistance information may be a quantized value, and the quantized bits are related to information such as the width of the transmit beam of the base station, beam pointing accuracy, and the number of bits of reporting signaling and the like. The quantization configuration information referenced by the terminal may be transmitted by the configuration signaling of the base station, or stored in the storage unit of the terminal in advance.

[0346] Optionally, the measurement request may also be transmitted on the PRACH channel. The terminal uses a dedicated preamble to transmit request signaling indicating whether to request on-demand measurement. Among them, the dedicated preamble may be obtained from the configuration signaling transmitted by the base station for beam recovery (for example, BFR config).

[0347] After transmitting the measurement request signaling, the terminal receives measurement request response information from the base station. The response information may include configuration signaling for measurement and / or configuration signaling for reporting measurement results. Among them, the configuration signaling for measurement includes at least one of: the type of resource for measurement (CSI-RS, SSB, SRS), the type of measuring resource (periodic, semi-periodic, aperiodic), measurement resource configuration information (for example, density, time domain and / or frequency domain starting location, the number of antenna ports, the type of code division multiplexing (CDM)), bandwidth information (BWP, Bandwidth Part), measurement content measurement content (RSRP, CRI, CQI (CQI-channel quality indication), RI (rank indication), PMI (precoding matrix indicator)). The configuration signaling for reporting measurement results includes at least one of: the resources (MSG1, MSG3, UCI) for reporting measurement results, the number of bits for reporting measurement results, and the quantization accuracy for reporting measurement results.

[0348] In addition, the terminal may also receive DCI trigger signaling for activating the resources for reporting, and / or indicating the measurement time T1 and / or the time for reporting the measurement results.

[0349] If the measurement response information indicates the measurement of CSI-RS, the terminal measures multiple groups of downlink CSI-RSs in different directions transmitted by the base station to determine a candidate beam according to the received configuration signaling, and reports the measurement results according to the configuration signaling for reporting measurement results.

[0350] If the measurement response information indicates the measurement of SRS, the terminal transmits multiple groups of SRSs in the same direction to the base station according to the received configuration signaling, and the base station uses beams in different directions for reception and measurement to determine a candidate beam.

[0351] The base station determines a new candidate beam based on the measurement results or the results measured and reported by the terminal, and uses the candidate beam to transmit an RAR in response to the beam recovery request transmitted by the terminal.

[0352] Embodiment 6

[0353] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a terminal, as shown in FIG. 31, which includes at least some of steps S3101 to S3109.

[0354] Step S3101: the terminal performs SSB measurement and selection. For example, the terminal receives the SSB and obtains configuration information related to the assistance RS in the SSB, the configuration information includes at least one of the following: whether it is an SSB indicating differential beamforming, resource information where the assistance RS is located, RO resource configuration information associated with the SSB, and threshold information for judging whether to select the RO group associated with a narrow beam.

[0355] Step S3102: The terminal determines whether the SSB is without assistance reference signal (A-RS), for example, the terminal determines whether the SSB supports DBF. If the SSB is not an SSB supporting DBF, the method includes step S3104: following the legacy RO selection and reusing the existing NR related processes.

[0356] If the SSB is an SSB supporting DBF, performing Step S3103: determining whether the RSRP of the SSB is greater than a threshold value, for example, the threshold value is compared with the SSB RSRP to determine whether access is required with a narrow beam.

[0357] If the SSB RSRP is greater than the threshold, proceed to step S3105: select RO in the first subgroup, for example, it is not necessary to access with a narrow beam.

[0358] If the SSB RSRP is less than the threshold, access may be performed with a narrow beam, and steps S3106 to S3109 are performed. The terminal measures SSB and determines the narrow beam according to configuration information in the SSB.

[0359] According to the RO configuration information in SSB, the terminal determines the RO resource corresponding to the narrow beam, and uses this resource to send a random access request, such as a preamble.

[0360] S3106: performing A-RS or SSB measurement;

[0361] Step S3107: determining a sub-angle index;

[0362] Step S3108: performing RO selection in the second subgroup;

[0363] Step s3109: sending msg 1.

[0364] Correspondingly, the signaling of the interaction between the terminal and the base station is shown in FIG. 33.

[0365] Referring to FIG. 33, the terminal has received a new SSB supporting DBF function from the base station. The terminal measures the SSB, such as measuring and decoding, to determine whether the SSB contains an assistance RS for determining the narrow beam. For example, receiving SSB supporting DFB and making SSB measurement may be performed once or more, as shown in the figure.

[0366] If the SSB includes an assistance RS, the terminal measures the assistance RS (included in the SSB); If the assistance RS is not included, receive the assistance RS (or SSB including the assistance RS) on the designated resource according to indication information.

[0367] The terminal may perform subgroup selection. For example, based on the configuration information from the base station (for example, the threshold information for judging whether it is a cell center user) or the terminal capability information (whether it supports DBF function), the terminal determines whether it may perform random access with a narrow beam, that is, whether it may select or use the second RO subgroup. Alternatively, the terminal may perform channel estimation.

[0368] If the terminal may use the second RO subgroup, the terminal determines the corresponding narrow beam based on the measurement result of SSB, and selects an RO resource for transmitting PRACH or msg1 in the second RO subgroup according to the association relationship information between the narrow beams and ROs, and uses the RO to transmit PRACH. In this case, the base station uses the corresponding narrow beam to receive msg1 on the corresponding RO.

[0369] FIG. 19 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment 1900 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 19, the user equipment 1900 includes a transceiver 1901 and a controller 1902. The transceiver 1901 is configured to transmit data or signals and to receive data or signals. The controller 1902 is coupled with the transceiver 1901 and configured to perform control such that the user equipment 1900 performs a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the user equipment 1900 may also include a memory (not shown) on which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by the controller 1902, the user equipment 1900 may perform at least one method corresponding to the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0370] FIG. 20 illustrates a schematic structural diagram of a network device 2000 according to at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 20, the network device 2000 includes a transceiver 2001 and a controller 2002. The transceiver 2001 is configured to transmit data or signals and to receive data or signals. The controller 2002 is coupled with the transceiver 2001 and configured to perform control such that the network device 2000 performs a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the network device 2000 may also include a memory (not shown) on which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the instructions are executed by the controller 2002, the network device 2000 may perform at least one method corresponding to the above embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0371] The above description is only an exemplary embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

[0372] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention includes reference to devices for performing one or more of the operations described herein. These devices may be specially designed and manufactured for the required purposes, or they may comprise known devices found in general purpose computers. These devices have computer programs stored therein that are selectively activated or reconfigured. Such a computer program may be stored in a device (e.g., a computer) readable medium, including, but not limited to, any type of disk including a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a CD-ROM, and a magnetic-optical disk, a ROM (Read-Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), a flash memory, a magnetic card, or an optical card, or in any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, respectively coupled to a bus. That is, a readable medium includes any medium that stores or transmits information in a form readable by a device (e.g., a computer).

[0373] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that each block of the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flow diagrams, may be implemented by computer program instructions. Those skilled in the art may understand that these computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing method for implementation, so that the solution specified in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flow diagrams disclosed in the present invention may be executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing method.

[0374] Those skilled in the art may understand that the steps, measures, and solutions in the various operations, methods, and processes that have been discussed in this disclosure may be alternated, changed, combined, or deleted. Further, other steps, measures, and solutions in the various operations, methods, and processes that have been discussed in this disclosure may also be alternated, changed, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted. Further, the steps, measures, and solutions in the various operations, methods, and processes disclosed in the present disclosure in the prior art may also be alternated, changed, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted.

[0375] The above are only some embodiments of the present invention. It should be noted that those of ordinary skill in the art may also make several improvements and modifications without departing from the principles of the present invention. These improvements and modifications are also It should be regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1.A method performed by a terminal in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving, from a base station, configuration information on a beam failure recovery (BFR);identifying that the terminal detects a beam failure;in case that the terminal detects the beam failure, receiving, from the base station, a synchronization signal block (SSB) comprising a first reference signal and a second reference signal, and performing measurement of the SSB;based on a result of the measurement, identifying at least one candidate beam;selecting a random access occasion (RO) resource; andtransmitting, to the base station, information on a beam recovery request.2.The method of claim 1,wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of information on a dedicated preamble, information on a search space, information on a timer, information on a type of a random access, or information on a preamble index,wherein the SSB comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the first reference signal, and the second reference signal, andwherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal are associated with an assistance reference signal.3.The method of claim 1,wherein the result of the measurement comprises information on an angle deviation associated with a horizontal or vertical dimension.4.The method of claim 1, further comprising:identifying an RO index corresponding to the at least one candidate beam.5.A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting, to a terminal, configuration information on a beam failure recovery (BFR);transmitting, to the terminal, a synchronization signal block (SSB) comprising a first reference signal and a second reference signal; andreceiving, from the terminal, information on a beam recovery request,wherein measurement of the SSB is performed by the terminal, andwherein at least one candidate beam is identified based on a result of the measurement.6.The method of claim 5,wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of information on a dedicated preamble, information on a search space, information on a timer, information on a type of a random access, or information on a preamble index,wherein the SSB comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the first reference signal, and the second reference signal, andwherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal are associated with an assistance reference signal.7.The method of claim 5,wherein the result of the measurement comprises information on an angle deviation associated with a horizontal or vertical dimension, andwherein a random access occasion (RO) index is identified corresponding to the at least one candidate beam.8.A terminal in a wireless communication system, the terminal comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to:receive, from a base station, configuration information on a beam failure recovery (BFR),identify that the terminal detects a beam failure,in case that the terminal detects the beam failure, receive, from the base station, a synchronization signal block (SSB) comprising a first reference signal and a second reference signal, and perform measurement of the SSB,based on a result of the measurement, identify at least one candidate beam,select a random access occasion (RO) resource, andtransmit, to the base station, information on a beam recovery request.9.The terminal of claim 8,wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of information on a dedicated preamble, information on a search space, information on a timer, information on a type of a random access, or information on a preamble index,wherein the SSB comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the first reference signal, and the second reference signal, andwherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal are associated with an assistance reference signal.10.The terminal of claim 8,wherein the result of the measurement comprises information on an angle deviation associated with a horizontal or vertical dimension.11.The terminal of claim 8, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:identify an RO index corresponding to the at least one candidate beam.12.A base station in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:a transceiver; andat least one processor coupled with the transceiver and configured to:transmit, to a terminal, configuration information on a beam failure recovery (BFR),transmit, to the terminal, a synchronization signal block (SSB) comprising a first reference signal and a second reference signal, andreceive, from the terminal, information on a beam recovery request,wherein measurement of the SSB is performed by the terminal, andwherein at least one candidate beam is identified based on a result of the measurement.13.The base station of claim 12,wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of information on a dedicated preamble, information on a search space, information on a timer, information on a type of a random access, or information on a preamble index,wherein the SSB comprises a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), the first reference signal, and the second reference signal, andwherein the first reference signal and the second reference signal are associated with an assistance reference signal.14.The base station of claim 12,wherein the result of the measurement comprises information on an angle deviation associated with a horizontal or vertical dimension.15.The base station of claim 12,wherein a random access occasion (RO) index is identified corresponding to the at least one candidate beam.

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