Communication method, communication device, computer program product, and readable storage medium

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications and provides a communication method, a communication device, a computer program product, and a readable storage medium. A terminal receives a medium access control layer control element (MAC CE) sent by a network device. The MAC CE may be used for indicating that the network device activates at least one TCI state among preconfigured TCI states for the terminal, and the MAC CE may further comprise or be used to indicate at least one path loss offset. The path loss offset comprised in the MAC CE is associated with a first TCI state among the at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset is used for determining a path loss of an uplink channel corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset. The terminal obtains the MAC CE sent by the network device, so that the MAC CE can be parsed to obtain the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state. The terminal adjusts a transmission power of an uplink signal on the basis of the path loss offset associated with the TCI state, thereby increasing the success rate of the terminal transmitting the uplink signal to an uplink base station currently corresponding thereto.

Description

Communication method, communication device, computer program product and readable storage medium

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411394156.2, filed on September 29, 2024, and entitled "Communication method, communication device, computer program product and readable storage medium", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, in particular to a communication method, a communication device, a computer program product and a readable storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0003] Wireless communication has a smaller coverage range as the frequency of the transmitted signal increases. The transmission power of the terminal is limited, which results in a limited coverage range of the uplink base station. To enhance the uplink coverage, more base stations can be deployed on the network side. To reduce the deployment cost, some base stations deployed on the network side can be base stations that support fewer functions.

[0004] Different uplink base stations, such as a first base station and a second base station, are deployed on the network side. The first base station supports uplink transmission and downlink transmission, and the second base station only supports uplink transmission.

[0005] The terminal can receive the downlink reference signal of the first base station, and then obtain the path loss between the terminal and the first base station, and adjust the path loss to realize the uplink transmission of the terminal to the second base station.

[0006] In the case that the terminal cannot receive the downlink reference signal of the second base station, the terminal cannot obtain the path loss between the terminal and the second base station, and cannot guarantee the effective uplink transmission of the terminal to the second base station.

[0007] Due to the mobility of the terminal, the serving base station of the uplink transmission of the terminal may switch back and forth between different base stations. The uplink transmission of the terminal to different base stations all has path loss, and the path loss of different base stations has an offset, i.e., a path loss offset (PLO).

[0008] There is an urgent need for a scheme in which the network side indicates the path loss offset between different base stations to the terminal. SUMMARY

[0009] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, a communication device, a computer program product and a readable storage medium, and the terminal can obtain the path loss offset through the MAC CE.

[0010] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0011] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a terminal. The terminal receives a medium access control control element (MAC CE) sent by a network device. The MAC CE can be used to indicate that the network device activates at least one transmission configuration indication (TCI) state of a preconfigured TCI state for the terminal, and the MAC CE can also include or be used to indicate at least one path loss offset.

[0012] The path loss offset included in the MAC CE is associated with a first TCI state of the at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset. The first TCI state is an uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state activated by the network device.

[0013] The terminal obtains the MAC CE sent by the network device, parses the MAC CE, and obtains the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state. The terminal adjusts the transmission power of the uplink signal according to the path loss offset associated with the TCI state, so as to improve the success rate of the terminal transmitting the uplink signal to the current corresponding uplink base station.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the MAC CE sent by the network device includes at least one first field, the at least one first field corresponds to the at least one path loss offset, and one first field indicates one path loss offset associated with one or more first TCI states.

[0015] The network device indicates the path loss offset to the terminal through the first field of the MAC CE, and indicates the path loss offset associated with the one or more first TCI states through the at least one first field. In this way, the terminal can accurately obtain the transmission power of the uplink signal corresponding to the activated TCI state, and improve the accuracy of transmitting the uplink signal on the uplink channel.

[0016] In an example, the number of at least one TCI state activated by the MAC CE is N, and there are M TCI states (i.e., first TCI states) associated with path loss offsets in the N TCI states, M is less than or equal to N, and M and N are positive integers. The MAC CE includes M first fields, and the M first fields are associated with the M first TCI states.

[0017] Further, the order of the M first fields is associated with the order of the M first TCI states in a positive association or a reverse association. For example, in the case of positive association, the first first field is associated with the first first TCI state. In the case of reverse association, for example, the first first field is associated with the last first TCI state, and the like, which is not limited.

[0018] The MAC CE sent by the network device includes M first fields, and M TCI states of the multiple TCI states activated by the MAC CE have corresponding path loss offsets. In this way, the M first fields are associated with the M first TCI states, one first field indicates a path loss offset of an associated first TCI state, and the ordering of the first fields is associated with the field ordering of the first TCI states.

[0019] In this way, the terminal can accurately obtain the path loss offset associated with the activated first TCI state, adjust the transmission power on the uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state, and improve the success rate of uplink signal transmission.

[0020] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first field of the MAC CE sent by the network device for indicating the path loss offset can directly include a value of at least one path loss offset, or can include an index corresponding to the value.

[0021] For example, the values of possible path loss offsets [-10, 60] dB can be mapped to corresponding 19 indexes, or can be expanded to [-12, 60] dB and then mapped to corresponding indexes.

[0022] In this way, the number of bits occupied by the path loss offset in the MAC CE can be effectively reduced, or the amount of MAC CE data transmitted can be reduced, and the communication efficiency can be improved.

[0023] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the MAC CE sent by the network device can further include a second field, and the second field is used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates at least one path loss offset.

[0024] For example, the second field L is set to 0, indicating that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset. In this case, the MAC CE can not include at least one first field. For another example, the second field is set to 1, indicating that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset.

[0025] In implementation, the MAC CE can add a second field, or can reuse a reserved field as the second field, for example, reuse the first reserved field R of the first octet of the MAC CE as the second field L. Reusing the existing reserved field can save the number of bits occupied by the field.

[0026] The MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal includes a second field, and the terminal can determine whether the MAC CE indicates at least one path loss offset according to the second field of the MAC CE. In a case where it is determined that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, the terminal parses the first field in the MAC CE to obtain the path loss offset associated with at least one first TCI state. In a case where it is determined that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset, the terminal does not need to parse the first field of the MAC CE, thereby saving the calculation amount of the terminal.

[0027] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the MAC CE sent by the network device can further include at least one third field, the at least one third field corresponding to at least one TCI state, and one third field being used to indicate whether the MAC CE contains a path loss offset corresponding to one TCI state in the at least one TCI state.

[0028] For example, in a case where the MAC CE sent by the network device is a MAC CE of the first type, one third field L i is set to 0, L i corresponding to a code point P i, and L i being used to indicate that P i indicates that the activated TCI state does not include a path loss offset. For another example, L i is set to 1, indicating that the activated TCI state includes a path loss offset. For example, in a case where the MAC CE of the first type is multiplexed, seven reserved fields are multiplexed as third fields L 1 to L 7, corresponding to code points P 1 to P 7.

[0029] The MAC CE can add at least one third field, or multiplex a reserved field as the third field, for example, multiplexing a plurality of reserved fields R of the MAC CE as third fields L i.

[0030] The network device uses the at least one third field of the MAC CE to respectively indicate whether the corresponding code point indicates that the activated TCI state has the corresponding path loss offset, and the accuracy of the terminal in obtaining the path loss offset is higher.

[0031] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the MAC CE sent by the network device includes a fourth field, and the fourth field is used to indicate the number of at least one path loss offset contained in the MAC CE.

[0032] The network device multiplexes different types of MAC CEs, and the maximum number of path loss offsets included can be different, and the number of bits required for indication is also different.

[0033] For example, the network device multiplexes a first type of MAC CE. The MAC CE corresponds to 8 code points, and the 8 code points can be associated with at most 8 TCI states. Based on this, the MAC CE can use 4 bits as the fourth field, and the 4 bits can indicate a quantity of path loss offsets in a range of 0-15. The MAC CE multiplexes 4 reserved bits L1-L4 as the fourth field, and according to L1-L4, indicates that the activated TCI state includes the path loss offset.

[0034] For another example, the network device multiplexes a third type of MAC CE. The MAC CE corresponds to 8 code points, and the 8 code points can be associated with at most 16 TCI states. Based on this, the MAC CE can use 5 bits as the fourth field, and the 5 bits can indicate a quantity of path loss offsets in a range of 0-31. The MAC CE multiplexes 5 reserved bits L1-L5 as the fourth field, and according to L1-L5, indicates that the activated TCI state includes the path loss offset.

[0035] In implementation, the MAC CE can add the fourth field, or multiplex a reserved field as the fourth field, for example, multiplexes a plurality of reserved fields R of the MAC CE as the fourth field Li.

[0036] The scheme provided in this example is that the MAC CE includes the fourth field, and the fourth field is used to indicate a quantity of path loss offsets included in the MAC CE, so that the terminal can obtain the path loss offset with higher accuracy.

[0037] In a possible implementation form of the first aspect, the MAC CE sent by the network device can be a first type of MAC CE, a second type of MAC CE, and a third type of MAC CE, different types of MAC CEs correspond to different types of code points, and different MAC CEs correspond to different logical channel identifiers LCIDs.

[0038] The MAC CE sent by the network device can be based on the first type of MAC CE to adjust the fields. The first type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one first type of TCI code point, and the first type of TCI code point is used to indicate one downlink TCI state and one uplink TCI state, or one downlink TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one uplink TCI state activated by the first type of MAC CE.

[0039] The MAC CE sent by the network device can be based on the second type of MAC CE to adjust the fields. The second type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one second type of TCI code point, and the second type of TCI code point is used to indicate at most two joint TCI states activated by the second type of MAC CE.

[0040] The MAC CE sent by the network device can be based on a third type of MAC CE to adjust the field. The third type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one third type of TCI code point, and the third type of TCI code point is used to indicate at most two downlink TCI states and / or at most two uplink TCI states activated by the third type of MAC CE.

[0041] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is used to update an initial path loss offset.

[0042] Specifically, before receiving the MAC CE sent by the network device, the network device can first receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling sent by the network device. The RRC signaling is used to preconfigure a TCI state, and the RRC signaling is also used to indicate an initial path loss offset associated with the preconfigured TCI state.

[0043] In implementation, the value of the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is zero or the value of the initial path loss offset is zero.

[0044] In the scheme, the MAC CE can directly indicate the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state, or can indicate the initial path loss offset indicated by the RRC signaling.

[0045] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the MAC CE sent by the network device can include a first MAC CE and a second MAC CE sent respectively, and the terminal determines the path loss offset associated with the activated first TCI state based on the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE jointly.

[0046] The first MAC CE sent by the network device is used to indicate that the network device activates at least one TCI state in the preconfigured TCI state for the terminal. In specific implementation, the first MAC CE sent by the network device can be one of the three types of MAC CEs, that is, the LCID of the first MAC CE is the same as the LCID of one of the first type of MAC CE, the second type of MAC CE, and the third type of MAC CE.

[0047] The second MAC CE sent by the network device includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset associated with a first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the second MAC CE can be a MAC CE newly added in the scheme. The second MAC CE is associated with a logical channel (LCID), and the LCID of the second MAC CE is different from the LCIDs of the three types of MAC CEs.

[0048] The first MAC CE and the second MAC CE sent by the network device are associated in various manners.

[0049] For example, the second MAC CE includes or is associated with the LCID of the first MAC CE, or the LCID of the second MAC CE and the LCID of the first MAC CE are associated. For another example, after receiving the second MAC CE, the terminal receives the last received MAC CE before the second MAC CE as the associated first MAC CE.

[0050] In this scheme, the network device adds a MAC CE to indicate the path loss offset associated with the activated multiple TCI states to the terminal. In this way, the terminal can accurately adjust the output power of the uplink signal based on the transmission power of the uplink signal corresponding to the TCI state, so as to improve the transmission accuracy of the uplink signal.

[0051] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method applied to a network device, and the network device sends a MAC CE to a terminal. The MAC CE can be used to indicate that the network device activates at least one TCI state in the preconfigured TCI state for the terminal, and the MAC CE can also include or be used to indicate at least one path loss offset.

[0052] The path loss offset included in the MAC CE is associated with a first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of the uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset. Wherein, the first TCI state is an activated uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state.

[0053] The terminal can parse the MAC side and obtain the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state by obtaining the MAC CE sent by the network device. The terminal adjusts the transmission power of the uplink signal according to the path loss offset associated with the TCI state, so as to improve the success rate of the terminal transmitting the uplink signal to the current corresponding uplink base station.

[0054] The communication method provided in the second aspect has multiple possible implementation schemes, and for details, refer to the multiple possible implementation schemes of the communication method provided in the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0055] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a transceiver, a memory and a processor, the transceiver and the memory are coupled to the processor;

[0056] The memory stores computer execution instructions;

[0057] The processor executes the computer execution instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device executes the communication method in any one of the first aspect.

[0058] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided, which has a function of implementing the communication method of the first aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0059] In a fifth aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores instructions, when running on a computer, enabling the computer to perform the communication method of any one of the first aspect.

[0060] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which contains instructions, when running on a computer, enabling the computer to perform the communication method of any one of the first aspect.

[0061] The technical effects brought by any one of the designs of the second aspect to the sixth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by the different designs of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0062] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system to which a communication method provided by embodiments of the present application is applied;

[0063] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0064] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a flow of another communication method provided by embodiments of the present application;

[0065] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device to which a communication method provided by embodiments of the present application is applied;

[0066] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device to which a communication method provided by embodiments of the present application is applied. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0067] Exemplary embodiments of the present application are described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present application by a person of ordinary skill in the art, and are taken not to limit the scope of the present application. Accordingly, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that modifications and other embodiments that do not specifically address the more detailed description below can be made without departing from the scope of the present application. Likewise, the description set forth herein with reference to the accompanying drawings is also not as limiting as the scope of the application will be interpreted by the appended claims.

[0068] For the convenience of understanding, some technical common knowledge related to embodiments of the present application is introduced first.

[0069] A terminal is an entity on a user side for receiving or transmitting signals, used for transmitting uplink signals to a network device or receiving downlink signals from the network device. The terminal can be a user equipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), or the like, including a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a computing device, or a sensing device with wireless communication function. Specifically, the terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with wireless transceiver function, and can also be a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal in smart power grid, a wireless terminal in smart city, a smart home (e.g., a smart speaker), a vehicle-mounted terminal, a train detector, or the like. In embodiments of the present application, a device for implementing the functions of the terminal can be the terminal, or can be a device capable of supporting the terminal to implement the functions, such as a chip system (e.g., a chip or a processing system composed of multiple chips) or a modem. In the following, the device for implementing the functions of the terminal is taken as an example to describe the method provided in embodiments of the present application.

[0070] A network device (ND) refers to a network side device providing a mobile communication network. Within the coverage of the mobile communication network provided by the network device, one or more UEs can access the mobile communication network to implement communication. The network device is used to receive an uplink signal from a UE or send a downlink signal to the UE to implement functions such as resource scheduling, radio resource management, and radio access control of the UE. It is a device in a radio access network (RAN) that accesses a UE to a wireless network. The RAN can be connected to a core network (for example, a core network of LTE or a core network of 5G, etc.). The network device can be an evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, or a base station in a 5G network or a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), or a base station supporting one-way transmission (for example, an uplink only TRP or an asymmetric TRP supporting uplink transmission and not supporting downlink transmission), or a broadband network gateway (BNG), or a convergence switch, or a non-3GPP access device; or the network device in the embodiments of the present application can also be a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN); or a transmission and reception point (TRP), or a device including a TRP, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations in this regard. Optionally, the network device in the embodiments of the present application can include various forms of base stations, such as macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations in this regard. In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be a network device, or a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system (for example, a chip or a processing system composed of multiple chips) or a modem. In the following, the device for implementing the functions of the network device is taken as an example to describe the method provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0071] A plurality of UEs and a network device constitute a mobile communication system. The mobile communication system can mainly include a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), a 5th Generation (5G) communication system, a communication system after 5G, a New Radio Access Technology (NR) system, and the like. Of course, the mobile communication system can also include a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) system, a GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) system of an Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) system. In addition, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments can also be applied to a wireless communication system involving multiple terminals, such as a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) system, a Vehicle-to-X (V2X) system, and the like. Among them, the V2X system can include a Vehicle to Network (V2N) system, a Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) system, a Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) system, a Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P) system, a Long Term Evolution-Vehicle (LTE-V) system, a vehicle networking system, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) system, an Internet of Things (IoT) system, a Long Term Evolution-Machine (LTE-M) system, a Machine to Machine (M2M) system, and the like, without limitation.

[0072] The wireless protocol stack is a core technology in a wireless communication system, which defines the transmission, reception and processing manner of a wireless signal.

[0073] The wireless protocol stack is divided into two planes, i.e., a user plane (UP) and a control plane (CP). The user plane protocol stack is a protocol cluster adopted by user data transmission, and the control plane protocol stack is a protocol cluster adopted by system control signaling transmission. The user plane protocol stack includes, from top to bottom, a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Broadcast / Multicast Control (BMC) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and a Physical (PHY) layer. The control plane protocol stack includes, from top to bottom, a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and a Physical (PHY) layer.

[0074] In order to realize the communication between the UE and the access network device and the core network device (such as an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF)), on the UE side, the control plane protocol stack is located in the UE. On the network side, the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC and PHY are located in the access network device, and the NAS is located in the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) of the core network.

[0075] Based on the foregoing wireless protocol stack, two key signaling transmitted by the network device to the terminal, i.e., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling and Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC CE) signaling.

[0076] RRC signaling is mainly responsible for functions such as wireless resource management, connection management, and mobility management. RRC signaling can be transmitted in different RRC states, including idle state (RRC_IDLE), connected state (RRC_CONNECTED), and inactive state (RRC_INACTIVE) in 5G. The transmission process of RRC signaling includes connection establishment, reconfiguration, release, and the like.

[0077] MAC CE signaling is control information transmitted at the MAC layer, used to perform operations such as uplink synchronization adjustment, DRX cycle adjustment, and inter-cell handover. MAC CE signaling is usually included in a MAC PDU, transmitted through PUSCH or PDSCH, and its presence can be indicated in PDCCH.

[0078] In LTE and 5G NR, the transmission mechanisms of RRC signaling and MAC CE signaling are different. For example, in LTE, the RRC Connection Setup message is transmitted through CCCH, and the NAS information is carried in the RRC Connection Setup Complete message. In 5G NR, RRC signaling can be transmitted through SRB (Signaling Radio Bearers), and MAC CE signaling can be transmitted through the data transmission opportunity indicated by PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel).

[0079] RRC signaling and MAC CE signaling are important components in wireless communication, working together to ensure that terminals can efficiently and reliably communicate with network devices. The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application mainly involves a scheme in which the network device preconfigures a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state for the terminal based on RRC signaling, and activates the TCI state through MAC CE signaling. The following explains the TCI state.

[0080] In a communication system such as 5G NR, a network device can use / implement / enable an analog beamforming (ABF) technology to enhance the robustness of high-frequency communication. The analog beamforming technology is a method of processing signals in the radio frequency (RF) domain, which forms a beam pointing to a specific direction by adjusting the phase and amplitude of each antenna element in an antenna array. The hardware structure of the analog beamforming technology is simple, and the implementation cost is relatively low. In 5G communication, the analog beamforming technology is suitable for millimeter wave frequency bands, and more accurate beam control is used in the millimeter wave frequency band to compensate for signal attenuation. The analog beamforming technology can realize phase adjustment of radio frequency signals by using an analog phase shifter, thereby forming a beam in a specific direction. This analog beamforming technology can reduce the complexity and implementation cost of the communication system while improving the spectrum efficiency when implementing multi-terminal services.

[0081] The beam states involved in the analog beamforming technology include a quasi co-location (QCL) state and a transmission configuration indication (TCI) state. The QCL is used to describe the channel characteristic relationship between different antenna ports, and two reference signals can share similar channel conditions and attributes if they have a QCL relationship. The TCI is used to establish a QCL connection between a target reference signal (RS) and a source RS. The TCI state is a set of QCL information used to indicate downlink reception and uplink transmission, including QCL information for downlink reception and information for determining the spatial filter and / or path loss reference signal of uplink transmission. The QCL state and the TCI state can support beam indication of one or more types of channels and / or signals.

[0082] For example, the QCL state and / or the TCI state can support beam indication of a downlink (DL) control channel, a DL data channel, a reference signal, or other types of signals. The DL control channel can include a PDCCH and / or other channels, the DL data channel can include a PDSCH and / or other channels, the reference signal can include a channel state information reference signaling (CSI-RS) and / or other types of signals, and the like, without limitation.

[0083] For another example, a QCL state and / or a TCI state can also support beam indication for an uplink (UL) control channel, an UL data channel, a reference channel, and / or other types of channels / signals. Wherein, the UL control channel can be a PUCCH, the reference signal can be a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), the UL data channel can be a PUSCH and / or other channels, and the beam indication can be implemented / realized / enabled by mapping one or more ports of the UL data channel and / or one or more SRS resources.

[0084] In some cases, a beam state can correspond / refer to a QCL state, a TCI state, a spatial relation state (or a spatial relation information state), a reference signal (RS), a spatial filter, and / or a precoding. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a “beam state” can be referred to as a “beam”. Specifically:

[0085] a) A transmit (Tx) beam can correspond / refer to a QCL state, a TCI state, a spatial relation state, a DL / UL reference signal, a Tx spatial filter, and / or a Tx precoding.

[0086] b) A receive (Rx) beam can correspond / refer to a QCL state, a TCI state, a spatial relation state, a spatial filter, a Rx spatial filter, and / or a Rx precoding.

[0087] c) A beam identifier (ID) can correspond / refer to a QCL state index, a TCI state index, a spatial relation state index, a reference signal index, a spatial filter index, a precoding index, and / or other indices.

[0088] In some embodiments, a spatial relation information can include one or more reference RSs. The spatial relation information can be used to specify / indicate / convey / represent a spatial relation between a target RS / channel and the one or more reference RSs.

[0089] In some embodiments, a QCL state can include one or more reference RSs and / or one or more corresponding QCL type parameters. A QCL type parameter can include at least one of Doppler spread, Doppler shift, delay spread, average delay, average gain, and / or spatial parameter (e.g., spatial Rx parameter). In some embodiments, a TCI state can correspond / reference a QCL state. In some embodiments, QCL Type A can include Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and / or delay spread. In some embodiments, QCL Type B can include Doppler shift and / or Doppler spread. In some embodiments, QCL Type C can include Doppler shift and / or average delay. In some embodiments, QCL Type D can include spatial Rx parameter. In some embodiments, an RS can include Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) (or SS / PBCH), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), and / or other signal / channel. In some embodiments, an RS can include at least one of a Downlink Reference Signal (DL RS) and / or an Uplink Reference Signal (UL RS). In some embodiments, a DL RS can include at least one of: a CSI-RS, an SSB, and / or a DMRS (e.g., a DL DMRS). In some embodiments, an UL RS can include at least one of: an SRS, a DMRS (e.g., an UL DMRS), and / or a PRACH.

[0090] In implementation, an UL signal can include a PUCCH, a PUSCH, an SRS, and / or other channel / signal, and a DL signal can include a PDCCH, a PDSCH, a CSI-RS, and / or other channel / signal.

[0091] In 5G communication, a network device can configure a terminal with N TCI states through RRC signaling, each of the N TCI states is uniquely determined by a TCI state index. The TCI state is used to indicate spatial relationship information, usually one TCI state can be used to indicate at most two QCL types, each QCL type is associated with a reference signal, which can be used to specify / indicate / convey / represent the spatial relationship between the target signal / channel and one or more reference signals.

[0092] The network device can also activate N TCI states for the terminal through MAC CE signaling (hereinafter referred to as MAC CE for short), the N TCI states belong to K TCI states pre-configured by RRC, and N≤K.

[0093] The network device can also activate at least one TCI state from the N TCI states activated by the MAC CE through a downlink indication (DCI) command. The terminal implements reception and demodulation of one or more target channels or target signals according to the TCI state indicated by the DCI. There is an indication field in the DCI command, which can indicate one of multiple states, each state can be referred to as a code point, and each code point corresponds to a TCI state activated by a field in the MAC CE. If the indication field in the DCI indicates a code point, it means that the TCI state activated by the corresponding field in the MAC CE corresponding to the code point is indicated. The indicated TCI state can be used to determine the beam, QCL, and power of the signal transmission / reception and other information.

[0094] The configuration and activation of the TCI state can be completed through the RRC message. The UE can configure or pre-configure multiple TCI states, which are configured in the parameter PDSCH-Config and the maximum value is determined by the parameter maxNumberConfiguredTCIstatesPerCC. The TCI state can not only be used for PDSCH DMRS, but also for CSI-RS and PDCCH DMRS.

[0095] The activation and indication of the TCI state can be realized through the MAC CE or the downlink control information (DCI). For example, the base station can indicate a TCI state for the UE to receive the PDCCH of a CORESET, which includes information such as the service cell ID, the CORESET ID, and the TCI state ID. If the CORESET ID is 0, it indicates the control resource set configured by controlResourceSetZero.

[0096] In addition, the switching of the TCI state can be started through the MAC CE or the DCI, allowing the UE to have a certain time to prepare when receiving a new TCI state. The network can indicate the change of the TCI state of the PDCCH through the MAC CE and the command, and the change of the TCI state of the PDSCH through the DCI. The known TCI state is defined as the target TCI state to which the UE can switch without further measurement of the Rx beam and / or time / frequency synchronization.

[0097] Wireless communication has a smaller coverage range as the frequency of the transmitted signal increases. The terminal has limited transmission power, and the coverage of the uplink transmission is limited. In order to enhance the uplink coverage, more sites are deployed on the network side, and some sites on the network side can support less functions. As shown in FIG. 1, a schematic diagram of a communication system involved in a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. The uplink base station of the terminal includes a first base station and a second base station, the first base station can be a macro base station, and the second base station can be a micro base station. As shown in (1) of FIG. 1, the terminal receives the downlink signal transmitted by the macro base station, transmits the uplink signal to the micro base station, and cannot receive the downlink signal of the micro base station. As shown in (2) of FIG. 1, the macro base station can simultaneously support downlink transmission and uplink reception, and in order to enhance the uplink coverage, a micro base station that only supports uplink reception can be deployed, thereby saving the deployment cost. Under this deployment architecture, since the micro base station cannot perform downlink transmission, the terminal cannot receive the reference signal from the micro base station, and thus cannot determine the path loss between the terminal and the micro base station. Therefore, the power control mechanism of the uplink transmission becomes a problem to be solved. Due to the mobility of the terminal, the uplink serving base station can switch back and forth between the macro base station and the micro base station or switch back and forth between multiple micro base stations.

[0098] The power control parameter is usually associated with the TCI state, and the network indicates the TCI state used by the terminal, and also indicates the power control parameter used for uplink transmission. In an implementation, the network can indicate / associate a path loss offset (PLO) in a TCI state for determining the path loss used for uplink transmission, and the actual path loss used for uplink transmission is determined by the path loss obtained by downlink reference signal measurement and the path loss offset. Due to the mobility of the terminal, the uplink serving base station of the terminal can switch back and forth between different base stations, and the terminal uplink transmission to different base stations all has path loss, and the path loss of different base stations has an offset, that is, the path loss offset (PLO).

[0099] As shown in (2) of FIG. 1, the micro base station is usually closer to the macro base station, so the power required for the uplink transmission to the micro base station is usually smaller than the power required for the uplink transmission to the macro base station. Therefore, the actual path loss of the uplink transmission can be the path loss obtained by downlink reference signal measurement minus the path loss offset. For example, the value range of the path loss offset can be [-10, 60] dB. In the case that the terminal cannot receive the downlink reference signal of the micro base station, the terminal cannot obtain the path loss between the terminal and the micro base station, and the effective uplink transmission between the terminal and the micro base station cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, a scheme is urgently needed for the network to indicate the path loss offset between different base stations to the terminal.

[0100] Based on this, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a communication system including a network device and a terminal. The network device indicates, by a MAC CE, a case that the network device activates at least one TCI state in preconfigured TCI states for the terminal. The MAC CE further includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset, so that the terminal determines the path loss of an uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset. The terminal adjusts the transmission power of the uplink signal according to the path loss offset associated with the TCI state, so as to improve the success rate of the terminal transmitting the uplink signal to the current corresponding uplink base station.

[0101] Referring to FIG. 2, a flowchart of a communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown. As shown in FIG. 2, the provided communication method mainly includes the following steps:

[0102] S21: The terminal receives a MAC CE from the network device. Correspondingly, the network device sends the MAC CE to the terminal.

[0103] The MAC CE is used to indicate that the network device activates at least one TCI state in preconfigured TCI states for the terminal. The MAC CE further includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset. The path loss offset is associated with a first TCI state in the at least one TCI state. The path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset.

[0104] The network device obtains the MAC CE and sends the MAC CE to the terminal. The MAC CE is mainly used to activate the TCI state for the terminal. Before the network device sends the MAC CE to the terminal, the network device sends an RRC signaling to the terminal and preconfigures multiple TCI states for the terminal. The network device activates at least one TCI state in the preconfigured multiple TCI states by the MAC CE.

[0105] In addition, the network device further sends or indicates, by the MAC CE, at least one path loss offset to the terminal. The at least one path loss offset is associated with part of the TCI states in the activated at least one TCI state. The path loss offset is used to determine the path loss of an uplink signal corresponding to the associated TCI state. For the convenience of description, the TCI state in the activated at least one TCI state that can be associated with the path loss offset is referred to as the first TCI state.

[0106] The network device sends at least one path loss offset to the terminal through a MAC CE, and each path loss offset can be associated with at least one first TCI state. For example, each path loss offset is associated with one first TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the path loss required for the transmission power of the uplink signal (for example, an uplink physical channel or an uplink reference signal) corresponding to the first TCI state.

[0107] S22: The terminal acquires the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state.

[0108] The terminal acquires the MAC CE, that is, the at least one TCI state activated by the MAC CE is parsed, and the path loss offset associated with part of the first TCI state in the at least one TCI state is acquired. The terminal determines the transmission power of the uplink signal corresponding to each first TCI state according to the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state. In this way, when the terminal transmits the uplink signal through the first TCI state, the transmission power of the uplink signal can be adjusted according to the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state, so as to ensure that the uplink signal is successfully transmitted to the network device through the uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state.

[0109] The network device sends multiple MAC CEs to the terminal, and the logical channel identifiers (LCIDs) of different MAC CEs are different. Among the multiple MAC CEs sent by the network device to the terminal, the MAC CEs for activating the TCI state mainly include three types. For ease of description, the three types of MAC CEs for activating the TCI state are referred to as first MAC CEs. The first MAC CEs include three categories, and each category of MAC CE corresponds to a different type of TCI code point, and the activated TCI state is indicated through the different types of TCI code points.

[0110] Specifically, the first MAC CEs can include first-type MAC CEs, second-type MAC CEs, and third-type MAC CEs.

[0111] The first-type MAC CEs correspond to at least one first-type TCI code point, and the first-type TCI code point is used to indicate one downlink TCI state and one uplink TCI state activated by the first-type MAC CEs, or one downlink TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one uplink TCI state.

[0112] The second-type MAC CEs correspond to at least one second-type TCI code point, and the second-type TCI code point is used to indicate at most two joint TCI states activated by the second-type MAC CEs.

[0113] The third type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one third type of TCI codepoint, the third type of TCI codepoint being used to indicate at most two downlink TCI states and / or at most two uplink TCI states activated by the third type of MAC CE.

[0114] The network device can activate the TCI state for the terminal through any one of the three types of first MAC CEs. In other cases, the three types of MAC CEs can also have other names, which are not limited.

[0115] In the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the network device also indicates the path loss offset through the MAC CE. In one case, the network device can multiplex or adjust part of the fields of the existing first MAC CE, so that the adjusted MAC CE can indicate both the activated TCI state and the path loss offset.

[0116] In another case, the network device can not adjust the fields of the existing first MAC CE, and send a new MAC CE, referred to as a second MAC CE, to the network device on the basis of sending the first MAC CE to the terminal. The second MAC CE is associated with a logical channel identifier for determining / identifying the type of MAC CE. The second MAC CE can be used to indicate the path loss offset corresponding to the TCI state activated by the first MAC CE. The second MAC CE is not used to indicate the activated TCI state, and the second MAC CE includes or is used to indicate the path loss offset, and the terminal determines the path loss offset of at least one first TCI state through the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE.

[0117] The two cases will be described in detail through different embodiments.

[0118] On the one hand, the network device multiplexes and / or adjusts part of the fields of the existing first MAC CE, so that the adjusted MAC CE can indicate both the activated TCI state and the path loss offset.

[0119] The network device can add at least one field in the MAC CE, and one field corresponds to one path loss offset. For ease of description, the field corresponding to the path loss offset is referred to as the first field.

[0120] In one specific embodiment, the MAC CE sent by the network device includes at least one first field, at least one first field corresponding to at least one path loss offset, and one first field indicating one path loss offset being associated with one or more first TCI states.

[0121] Specifically, the first field can include M, M first fields are associated with M first TCI states in the at least one TCI state, M is less than or equal to the number N of the at least one TCI state, M and N are positive integers. Further, in the MAC CE, the order of the M first fields is associated with the field mapping manner of the M first TCI states. In this way, the terminal can determine the path loss offset associated with each first TCI state. In a specific implementation, the order of the M first fields and the fields of the M first TCI states can be positively associated or negatively associated, without limitation.

[0122] The first MAC CE multiplexed or adjusted by the network device can be any one of the three types of first MAC CEs. Different initial field mapping manners of different first MAC CEs are different, and the field mapping manners of the MAC CEs obtained after adjustment are also different. The following will describe the corresponding field mapping manners for the three types of first MAC CEs. The first MAC CE after multiplexing or adjustment has the same LCID as the original first MAC CE.

[0123] Example 1, the network device adjusts the field mapping manner of the first type of MAC CE.

[0124] The first type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one first type of TCI code point, and the first type of TCI code point is used to indicate one downlink TCI state and one uplink TCI state, or one downlink TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one uplink TCI state activated by the first type of MAC CE.

[0125] As shown in Table 1, the field mapping manner of the first type of MAC CE is shown in Table 1.

[0126] Table 1

[0127] In Table 1, the field Serving Cell ID represents the service cell ID, indicating the index of the service cell to which the MAC CE is applicable, and the length is 5 bits.

[0128] The field DL BWP ID indicates the downlink BWP to which the MAC CE is applicable, and the length is 2 bits.

[0129] The field UL BWP ID indicates the uplink BWP to which the MAC CE is applicable, and the length is 2 bits.

[0130] The field Pi corresponds to the first type of code point, that is, it indicates whether the code point of the DCI field contains multiple TCI states or a single TCI state. The code point to which the TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position in all TCI state ID fields.

[0131] If the Pi field is set to 1, it means that the ith TCI codepoint includes one downlink (DL) TCI state and one uplink (UL) TCI state.

[0132] If the Pi field is set to 0, it means that the ith TCI codepoint includes only one DL TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one UL TCI state. Among them, the joint TCI state can be used to indicate the TCI state of uplink and downlink at the same time, the DL TCI state can only be used to indicate the TCI state of downlink, and the UL TCI state can only be used to indicate the TCI state of uplink.

[0133] The field D / U indicates whether the TCI state ID in the same octet is used for a joint TCI state, a downlink TCI state or an uplink TCI state. If the field D / U is set to 1, the TCI state ID in the same octet is used to indicate a joint TCI state or a downlink TCI state. If the field D / U is set to 0, the TCI state ID in the same octet is used to indicate an uplink TCI state.

[0134] The field TCI state ID indicates one of the multiple TCI states configured by RRC. The field TCI state ID and the field D / U belong to the same octet. If the field D / U is set to 1, the TCI state ID is of 7-bit length. If the D / U is set to 0, the most significant bit of the TCI state ID is regarded as a reserved bit. The maximum number of activated TCI states is codepoint P*8 = 16.

[0135] The field R in Table 1 is also included, which is a reserved bit or a reserved field. The first type of MAC CE includes 7 reserved fields. In the case of no field adjustment of the first type of MAC CE, the field R in the MAC CE is usually set to 0.

[0136] On the basis of Table 1, it is determined that the first type of codepoint Pi in Table 1 indicates that there are M first TCI state associated path loss offsets in the multiple activated TCI states. The network equipment adds M first fields to the MAC CE, and each first field includes or is used to indicate one path loss offset. As shown in Table 2, the field mapping mode of the adjusted first type of MAC CE is shown.

[0137] Table 2

[0138] In Table 2, M first fields, i.e., Path loss offset 1-Path loss offset M, are added. The field mapping manner of the M first fields is consistent with the ordering of the M first TCI states associated with the M first fields. The ordering of the M first TCI states is the ordering in the activated multiple TCI states indicated by the P1-P8 codepoints. The M first fields correspond to the M first TCI states respectively, and the M first TCI states are UL TCI states or joint TCI states. If M=1, all the UL TCI states or joint TCI states activated by the MAC CE are associated with the same path loss offset.

[0139] For example, P1 indicates activation of one UL TCI state, P2 indicates activation of one DL TCI state, P3 indicates activation of one UL TCI state, and P4-P8 all indicate DL TCI states. That is, among the multiple TCI states activated by the first type of MAC CE, there are two first TCI states (i.e., the two UL TCI states indicated by P1 and P3). Then, the MAC CE adds two first fields, i.e., Path loss offset 1 and Path loss offset 2. Among them, Path loss offset 1 corresponds to the first UL TCI state indicated in the 8 codepoints, i.e., P1 indicates the activated UL TCI, and Path loss offset 2 corresponds to the second UL TCI state indicated in the 8 codepoints, i.e., P3 indicates the activated UL TCI.

[0140] In a possible implementation manner, the first field added by the MAC CE can indicate the path loss offset in multiple ways.

[0141] In one case, the first field can include the numerical value of at least one path loss offset.

[0142] For example, Path loss offset 1 is 00000, indicating that the corresponding path loss offset is 0 dB. For another example, Path loss offset 2 is 01111=15 dB.

[0143] In another case, the first field includes an index corresponding to the numerical value of at least one path loss offset, or the path loss offset indicates an index. In order to reduce the number of bytes occupied by the path loss offset or reduce the amount of MAC CE data transmitted, an index corresponding to the numerical value of the path loss offset can be determined, and each index corresponds to a numerical value of the path loss offset.

[0144] For example, the path loss offset values [-10, 60] dB can be divided into 19 segments as evenly as possible, with a 2 dB or 4 dB interval between adjacent segments. As shown in Table 3, the network device can also find the corresponding index according to the value of the path loss offset and the mapping relationship between the value of the path loss offset and the index, and indicate the corresponding index through the first field. In Table 3, at least 5 bits are required for the index corresponding to each path loss offset.

[0145] Table 3

[0146] In Table 3, the difference between the path loss offset corresponding to index 0 and index 1 is 2 dB, and the difference between the path loss offset corresponding to other adjacent indexes is 4. The difference between the path loss offset corresponding to any two adjacent path loss offset indication indexes is not a fixed value, that is, the path loss offset is not quantized at equal intervals. In order to meet the equal interval quantization, the value range of the path loss offset can be expanded to [-12, 60] dB, and after expansion, the index can be quantized at equal intervals to obtain the mapping relationship as shown in Table 4.

[0147] Table 4

[0148] The communication method provided by the embodiment saves the number of bits based on the clear indication of the path loss offset by indicating the path loss offset through the index in the MAC CE.

[0149] In another possible implementation, to ensure byte consistency, the newly added first field can be expanded to an octet. Or in other cases, considering that the actual existing path loss offset values may belong to the range [-10, 60] dB, the first field can be represented by 5 bits. Based on this, 3 reserved fields can also be added before each first field, each reserved field occupying one bit, and the 3 reserved fields and the first field belong to the same octet.

[0150] Based on the scheme provided in Example 1, the network device can also indicate other related information of the path loss offset through other fields in the MAC CE, for example, indicating whether the MAC CE includes the path loss offset, or indicating the number of path loss offsets included in the MAC CE. The following will explain the possible implementation schemes through several associated examples.

[0151] Example 1.1, the MAC CE includes a second field, and the second field is used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates at least one path loss offset.

[0152] The MAC CE can add a second field or reuse a reserved field as the second field, for example, reusing the first reserved field R of the first octet of the MAC CE as the second field L.

[0153] For example, the second field L is set to 0, indicating that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset. In this case, the MAC CE can not include at least one first field, as shown in Table 5.

[0154] Table 5

[0155] For another example, the second field is set to 1, indicating that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, as shown in Table 6.

[0156] Table 6

[0157] For another example, the second field L is set to 1, indicating that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset. The MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal includes a second field, and the terminal can determine whether the MAC CE indicates at least one path loss offset according to the second field of the MAC CE. In the case where the terminal determines that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, the terminal parses the first field in the MAC CE to obtain the path loss offset associated with at least one first TCI state. In the case where the terminal determines that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset, the terminal does not need to parse the first field of the MAC CE, saving the calculation amount of the terminal and the number of bits of the MAC CE.

[0158] Example 1.2, the MAC CE includes at least one third field, and the at least one third field corresponds to at least one TCI state. One third field is used to indicate whether the MAC CE contains a path loss offset corresponding to one TCI state in the at least one TCI state.

[0159] The MAC CE can add at least one third field or reuse a reserved field as the third field, for example, reusing multiple reserved fields R of the MAC CE as the third fields L1.

[0160] The MAC CE includes at least one third field, and each third field indicates whether an activated TCI state includes a path loss offset. For example, one third field L1 is set to 0, L1 corresponds to a code point P1, and L1 is used to indicate that the TCI state activated by P1 does not include a path loss offset. For another example, L1 is set to 1, indicating that the TCI state activated by P1 includes a path loss offset. For example, the fields of the MAC CE are as shown in Table 7. In Table 7, seven reserved fields are reused as third fields L1-L7, corresponding to code points P1-P7.

[0161] Table 7

[0162] For example, as shown in Table 8, if L1-L7 is set to 1001001, wherein L1, L4 and L7 are set to 1, it indicates that the TCI states associated with P1, P4 and P7 include the corresponding path loss offset, and the TCI states associated with P2, P3, P5 and P6 do not include the corresponding path loss offset.

[0163] Table 8

[0164] If the TCI states associated with P1, P4 and P7 in Table 8 include the corresponding path loss offset, the 3 first fields included are Path loss offset 1-Path loss offset 3, wherein Path loss offset 1 indicates the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state for P1, Path loss offset 2 indicates the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state for P4, and Path loss offset 3 indicates the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state for P7.

[0165] In other cases, the network device can also multiplex the 7 reserved fields of the first type of MAC CE as the third fields L1-L7, corresponding to the code points P2-P8, respectively indicating whether the corresponding code point indicates the activated TCI state whether there is a corresponding path loss offset.

[0166] The scheme provided in the example provides that the MAC CE includes at least one third field, and different third fields are respectively used to indicate whether the corresponding code point indicates the activated TCI state whether there is a corresponding path loss offset, and the accuracy of the terminal acquiring the path loss offset is higher.

[0167] Example 1.3, the MAC CE includes a fourth field, and the fourth field is used to indicate the number of at least one path loss offset contained in the MAC CE.

[0168] The MAC CE can add a fourth field, or multiplex a reserved field as a fourth field, for example, multiplexing multiple reserved fields R of the MAC CE as the fourth field Li.

[0169] The MAC CE includes 8 code points, and the 8 code points can be associated with at most 8 TCI states. Based on this, the MAC CE can use 4 bits as the fourth field, and the number of path loss offsets that can be indicated by 4 bits ranges from 0 to 15. The MAC CE multiplexes 4 reserved bits L1-L4 as the fourth field, and according to L1-L4, the activated TCI state includes the path loss offset, as shown in Table 9.

[0170] Table 9

[0171] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4=0000, it means that the MAC CE does not contain path loss offset indication;

[0172] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4=0001, it means that the MAC CE contains M=1 path loss offset indicators.

[0173] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4=0010, it means that the MAC CE contains M=2 path loss offset indicators, as shown in Table 10.

[0174] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4 = 1000, it means that the MAC CE contains M = 8 path loss offset indicators.

[0175] M path loss offset indicators are used to indicate the path loss offset associated with the top M UL TCI states and / or joint TCI states in the MAC CE.

[0176] Table 10

[0177] In other cases, network devices may also reuse the other four reserved fields or more reserved bits of MAC CE as the fourth field L1 to L4 to indicate the amount of path loss offset included in MAC CE.

[0178] The scheme provided in this example includes a fourth field in the MAC CE, which indicates the number of path loss offsets included in the MAC CE, resulting in higher accuracy for the terminal in obtaining the path loss offsets.

[0179] Example 2: The network device adjusts the field mapping method of the second type of MAC CE.

[0180] The second type MAC CE corresponds to at least one second type TCI code point, which is used to indicate at most two joint TCI states activated by the second type MAC CE.

[0181] Table 11 shows the field mapping method for the second type of MAC CE.

[0182] Table 11

[0183] In Table 11, the Serving Cell ID field represents the serving cell ID, indicating the index of the serving cell to which MAC CE applies, and has a length of 5 bits.

[0184] The field DL BWP ID indicates the downlink BWP to which the MAC CE applies, and has a length of 2 bits.

[0185] The field F i,j Corresponding to the second type of codepoint, it indicates whether the jth joint TCI state in the TCI state ID field related to the codepoint i of the DCI transmission configuration indication field exists, where j = 1, 2. If the Fi,j field is set to 1, it indicates that the jth joint TCI state of the codepoint i exists. If the Fi,j field is set to 0, it indicates that the jth joint TCI state of the codepoint i does not exist. The codepoint to which the TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position in all TCI state ID fields. i,j The field is set to 0, indicating that the jth joint TCI state of the codepoint i does not exist. The codepoint to which the TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position in all TCI state ID fields.

[0186] The field TCI state ID indicates one of the multiple TCI states configured by RRC. The maximum number of activated TCI states is 16.

[0187] The field R in Table 11 is also included, which is a reserved bit or a reserved field. The second type of MAC CE includes 1 reserved field. In the case of no field adjustment to the existing MAC CE, the field R in the MAC CE is usually set to 0.

[0188] Based on Table 11, the second type of codepoint F i,j indicates that there are M first TCI state associated path loss offsets in the activated multiple TCI states. The network device adds M first fields to the MAC CE, and each first field includes or is used to indicate one path loss offset. As shown in Table 12, the field mapping mode of the adjusted second type of MAC CE is shown.

[0189] Table 12

[0190] In Table 12, M first fields, i.e., Path loss offset 1-Path loss offset M, are added, and the field mapping mode of the M first fields is consistent with the ordering of the associated M first TCI states, and the ordering of the M first TCI states is F 1,1 -F 8,2 The codepoint indicates the ordering in the activated multiple TCI states. If M = 1, all joint TCI states activated by the MAC CE are associated with the same path loss offset.

[0191] For example, F 1,1 set to 1 indicates that one joint TCI state is activated, F 1,2 set to 1 F 2,1Set to 1 indicates activating one joint TCI state. That is, among the multiple TCI states indicated to be activated by the second type of MAC CE, there are 2 first TCI states. Then, the MAC CE adds 2 first fields, i.e., Path loss offset 1 and Path loss offset 2. Among them, Path loss offset 1 corresponds to the first code point in the 8 code points to indicate the first joint TCI state to be activated, i.e., F 1,1 indicates the activated UL TCI, Path loss offset 2 corresponds to the second code point in the 8 code points to indicate the second UL TCI state to be activated, i.e., F 2,1 indicates the activated UL TCI.

[0192] In a possible implementation manner, the first field added by the MAC CE can have multiple manners to indicate the path loss offset.

[0193] In one case, the first field can include the numerical value of at least one path loss offset.

[0194] In another case, the first field includes an index corresponding to the numerical value of at least one path loss offset, or the path loss offset indicates the index. In order to reduce the number of bytes occupied by the path loss offset, or reduce the amount of MAC CE data transmitted, the numerical value of the path loss offset can be determined to correspond to an index, and each index corresponds to a numerical value of a path loss offset. For details, refer to the schemes shown in Tables 3 and 4 described above, which are not limited.

[0195] In another possible implementation manner, in order to ensure byte consistency, the first field added can be expanded to an octet. Or in other cases, considering that the actual range of the numerical value of the path loss offset may be [-10, 60] dB, the first field can be represented by 5 bits. Based on this, 1 reserved field can be added in front of each first field, each reserved field occupies 1 bit, and 1 reserved field and the first field belong to one octet.

[0196] On the basis of the scheme provided in Example 2, the network device can also indicate other related information of the path loss offset in the MAC CE through other fields, for example, indicating whether the MAC CE includes the path loss offset.

[0197] Example 2.1, the MAC CE includes a second field, and the second field is used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates at least one path loss offset.

[0198] The MAC CE can add a second field or reuse a reserved field as the second field, for example, reusing the first reserved field R of the first octet of the MAC CE as the second field L.

[0199] For example, the second field L is set to 0, indicating that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset. In this case, the MAC CE can not include at least one first field, as shown in Table 13.

[0200] Table 13

[0201] For another example, the second field is set to 1, indicating that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, as shown in Table 14.

[0202] Table 14

[0203] The MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal includes a second field, and the terminal can determine whether the MAC CE indicates at least one path loss offset according to the second field of the MAC CE. In the case where the terminal determines that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, the terminal parses the first field in the MAC CE to obtain the path loss offset associated with at least one first TCI state. In the case where the terminal determines that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset, the terminal does not need to parse the first field of the MAC CE, thereby saving the calculation amount of the terminal and the overhead of the MAC CE.

[0204] Example 3, the network device adjusts the field mapping mode of the third type of MAC CE.

[0205] The third type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one third type of TCI code point, and the third type of TCI code point is used to indicate at most two downlink TCI states and / or at most two uplink TCI states activated by the third type of MAC CE.

[0206] As shown in Table 15, the field mapping mode of the third type of MAC CE.

[0207] Table 15

[0208] In Table 15, the field Serving Cell ID indicates the index of the service cell to which the MAC CE is applied, and has a length of 5 bits.

[0209] The field DL BWP ID indicates the downlink BWP to which the MAC CE is applied, and has a length of 2 bits.

[0210] The field UL BWP ID indicates the uplink BWP to which the MAC CE applies, with a length of 2 bits.

[0211] The field F i,j and S i,j corresponds to the third type of codepoint, i.e., indicates whether the codepoint of the DCI field contains multiple TCI states or a single TCI state. The codepoint to which the TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position in all the TCI state ID fields.

[0212] The field F i,j indicates whether the jthDLTCIstate in the TCI state ID field is present or not in relation to the codepoint i of the DCI transmission configuration indication field, where j = 1, 2. If F i,j The field is set to 1 if the jthDLTCIstate of the codepoint i is present. If F i,j The field is set to 0 if the jthDLTCIstate of the codepoint i is not present.

[0213] The field S i,j indicates whether the jthULTCIstate in the TCI state ID field is present or not in relation to the codepoint i of the DCI transmission configuration indication field, where j = 1, 2. If S i,j The field is set to 1 if the jthULTCIstate of the codepoint i is present. If S i,j The field is set to 0 if the jthULTCIstate of the codepoint i is not present.

[0214] TCI state ID: This field indicates one of the multiple TCI states configured by RRC. If the indicated TCI state ID is a DL TCI state, the TCI state ID is of 7-bit length. If the indicated TCI state ID is a UL TCI state, the most significant bit of the TCI state ID is considered as a reserved bit and the remaining 6 bits indicate the UL TCI state ID. The order of the TCI state ID is determined by the indication order of the fields F i,j and S i,j fields. The codepoint to which the TCI state is mapped is determined by its ordinal position in all the TCI state ID fields. The maximum number of activated TCI states is 32.

[0215] The field R in Table 15 is also included, which is a reserved bit or a reserved field. The third type of MAC CE includes 7 reserved fields. The field R in the MAC CE is usually set to 0 in the absence of field adjustment to the existing MAC CE.

[0216] Based on Table 15, it is determined that the third type code point in Table 15 indicates that there are M first TCI states associated with path loss offset in the activated multiple TCI states. The network device adds M first fields to the MAC CE, and each first field includes or is used to indicate a path loss offset. As shown in Table 16, the field mapping mode of the adjusted third type MAC CE is shown.

[0217] Table 16

[0218] In Table 16, M first fields, i.e., Path loss offset 1-Path loss offset M, are added. The field mapping mode of the M first fields is consistent with the order of the M first TCI states associated therewith, and the order of the M first TCI states is S 1,1 -S 8,2 The code point indicates the order in the activated multiple UL TCI states. If M = 1, all the UL TCI states activated by the MAC CE are associated with the same path loss offset.

[0219] For example, S 1,1 indicates that one UL TCI state is activated, S 2,1 indicates that one UL TCI state is activated, and the other code points all indicate DL TCI states. That is, the third type MAC CE indicates that there are 2 first TCI states in the activated multiple TCI states. Then, the MAC CE adds 2 first fields, i.e., Path loss offset 1 and Path loss offset 2. Among them, Path loss offset 1 corresponds to the first code point in the 8 code points, indicating the first UL TCI state activated, i.e., S 1,1 indicates the activated UL TCI state, Path loss offset 2 corresponds to the first code point in the 8 code points, indicating the second UL TCI state activated, i.e., S 2,1 indicates the activated UL TCI state.

[0220] In a possible implementation manner, the first field added by the MAC CE can have multiple ways to indicate the path loss offset.

[0221] In one case, the first field can include the numerical value of at least one path loss offset.

[0222] In another case, the first field includes an index corresponding to a value of the at least one path loss offset, or the path loss offset indicates the index. In order to reduce the number of bytes occupied by the path loss offset, or reduce the amount of MAC CE data transmitted, the value of the path loss offset can be determined to correspond to an index, and each index corresponds to a value of the path loss offset. For details, refer to the schemes shown in Tables 3 and 4 described above, which are not limited.

[0223] In another possible implementation, in order to ensure byte consistency, the newly added first field can be expanded to an octet. Or in other cases, considering that the actual existing path loss offset value range may be [-10, 60] dB, the first field can be represented by 5 bits. Based on this, 3 reserved fields can also be added before each first field, each reserved field occupies one bit, and the 3 reserved fields and the first field belong to the same octet.

[0224] Based on the scheme provided in Example 3, the network device can also indicate other related information of the path loss offset in the MAC CE through other fields, for example, indicating whether the MAC CE includes the path loss offset, or indicating the number of path loss offsets included in the MAC CE. The following will explain the possible implementation schemes through several associated examples.

[0225] Example 3.1, the MAC CE includes a second field, and the second field is used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset.

[0226] The MAC CE can add a second field, or reuse a reserved field as the second field, for example, reusing the first reserved field R of the first octet of the MAC CE as the second field L.

[0227] For example, the second field L is set to 0, indicating that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset. In this case, the MAC CE can not include at least one first field, as shown in Table 17.

[0228] Table 17

[0229] For another example, the second field is set to 1, indicating that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, as shown in Table 18.

[0230] Table 18

[0231] The MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal includes a second field. The terminal can determine whether the MAC CE indicates at least one path loss offset according to the second field of the MAC CE. In a case where it is determined that the MAC CE includes at least one path loss offset, the terminal parses the first field in the MAC CE to obtain the path loss offset associated with at least one first TCI state. In a case where it is determined that the MAC CE does not include at least one path loss offset, the terminal does not need to parse the first field of the MAC CE, thereby saving the calculation amount of the terminal.

[0232] Example 3.2. The MAC CE includes a fourth field, and the fourth field is used to indicate the number of at least one path loss offset included in the MAC CE.

[0233] The MAC CE can add a fourth field, or can reuse a reserved field as the fourth field, for example, reusing a plurality of reserved fields R of the MAC CE as the fourth field L i.

[0234] The MAC CE includes 8 code points, and the 8 code points can be associated with at most 16 UL TCI states. Based on this, the MAC CE can use 5 bits as the fourth field, and the number of path loss offsets that can be indicated by the 5 bits ranges from 0 to 31. The MAC CE reuses 5 reserved bits L1-L5 as the fourth field, and according to L1-L5, it is indicated that the activated TCI state includes a path loss offset, as shown in Table 19.

[0235] Table 19

[0236] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4:L5=00000, it indicates that the MAC CE does not include a path loss offset indication.

[0237] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4:L5=00001, it indicates that the MAC CE includes M=1 path loss offset indication.

[0238] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4:L5=00010, it indicates that the MAC CE includes M=2 path loss offset indications, as shown in Table 20.

[0239] For example, when L1:L2:L3:L4:L5=10000, it indicates that the MAC CE includes M=16 path loss offset indications.

[0240] The MAC CE includes M path loss offset indications, which are respectively used to indicate the path loss offset associated with the M UL TCI states with the highest order in the MAC CE.

[0241] Table 20

[0242] In other cases, the network device can also multiplex other 5 reserved fields of the MAC CE or more reserved bits as the fourth field L1-L5 to indicate the number of path loss offsets included in the MAC CE.

[0243] The scheme provided by the present example provides that the MAC CE includes a fourth field for indicating the number of path loss offsets included in the MAC CE, and the terminal can obtain the path loss offset with higher accuracy.

[0244] The schemes provided by the above examples provide that the network device multiplexes the first MAC CE and adds at least a first field to indicate the path loss offset associated with the multiple first TCI states in the activated multiple TCI states, thereby reducing the number of signaling sent by the network device and the channel occupancy.

[0245] On the other hand, the network device sends a new second MAC CE to the terminal on the basis of sending the first MAC CE to the terminal, the second MAC CE includes or is used to indicate the path loss offset, and the terminal determines the path loss offset of the at least one first TCI state through the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE.

[0246] Referring to FIG. 3, a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. As shown in (1) of FIG. 3, the provided communication method mainly includes the following steps:

[0247] S311: The terminal receives the first MAC CE. Correspondingly, the network device sends the first MAC CE to the terminal.

[0248] The first MAC CE is used to indicate that the network device activates at least one TCI state in the preconfigured TCI state for the terminal.

[0249] S312: The terminal receives the second MAC CE. Correspondingly, the network device sends the second MAC CE to the terminal.

[0250] The second MAC CE includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset, the path loss offset is associated with a first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of the uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset.

[0251] S313: The terminal obtains the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state.

[0252] The network device acquires a first MAC CE, and sends the first MAC CE to the terminal, where the first MAC CE is mainly used to activate a TCI state for the terminal. Before sending the first MAC CE to the terminal, the network device sends an RRC to the terminal, and preconfigures a plurality of TCI states for the terminal. The network device activates at least one TCI state from the preconfigured plurality of TCI states through the first MAC CE.

[0253] In addition, the network device also sends or indicates, to the terminal through a second MAC CE, at least one path loss offset, which is associated with a part of the activated at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to the associated TCI state. For ease of description, the TCI state associated with the path loss offset in the activated at least one TCI state is referred to as a first TCI state.

[0254] The network device sends, to the terminal through the second MAC CE, at least one path loss offset, and each path loss offset can be associated with at least one first TCI state. For example, each path loss offset is associated with one first TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state.

[0255] The terminal acquires the second MAC CE, determines the associated first MAC CE, that is, parses the at least one TCI state activated by the MAC CE, and acquires the path loss offset associated with a part of the first TCI state in the at least one TCI state. The terminal determines the transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to each first TCI state according to the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state. In this way, when the terminal transmits an uplink signal through the first TCI state, the transmission power of the uplink signal can be adjusted according to the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state, so as to ensure that the uplink signal is successfully transmitted to the network device through the uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state.

[0256] The network device sends, to the terminal, the second MAC CE, which is associated with the first MAC CE. The first MAC CE can be any one of a first type of MAC CE, a second type of MAC CE, and a third type of MAC CE.

[0257] In one case, the second MAC CE contains an LCID of a first MAC CE, and determines which type of first MAC CE the associated first MAC CE is.

[0258] In another case, after the terminal acquires the second MAC CE, the terminal determines a last MAC CE received before the second MAC CE is received as the associated first MAC CE.

[0259] In other cases, the network device can also acquire the LCIDs of the first MAC CE and the second MAC CE respectively, and determine the associated first MAC CE and second MAC CE according to the pre-defined association relationship between the LCIDs.

[0260] The second MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal has multiple possible implementation manners in terms of field format and field mapping manner, which will be described below through different examples.

[0261] In Example 4, the network device can include at least one first field in the second MAC CE, and the first field corresponds to one path loss offset.

[0262] In one specific implementation, the second MAC CE sent by the network device includes at least one first field, and the at least one first field corresponds to at least one path loss offset. One first field indicates one path loss offset associated with one or more first TCI states.

[0263] The specific implementation of the path loss offset included or indicated by the second MAC CE can refer to the related schemes described above, and will not be described here.

[0264] The first MAC CE associated with the second MAC CE sent by the network device can be any of the three types of first MAC CEs. The initial field mapping manner of different first MAC CEs is different, and the field mapping manner of the associated second MAC CE is also different. The field mapping manner of the corresponding second MAC CE will be described below for the three types of first MAC CEs.

[0265] In Example 4.1, the second MAC CE received by the terminal is associated with the first type of MAC CE.

[0266] The first type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one first type of TCI code point. The first type of TCI code point is used to indicate one downlink TCI state and one uplink TCI state activated by the first type of MAC CE, or one downlink TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one uplink TCI state.

[0267] The second MAC CE includes a plurality of third fields, and the plurality of third fields indicate the path loss offset information corresponding to the TCI state activated by the first type of MAC CE. As shown in Table 21, the plurality of third fields indicate whether there is an associated path loss offset for the TCI state indicated by the first type of code point in the first type of MAC CE.

[0268] Table 21

[0269] For example, a third field Li is set to 0, Li corresponds to a code point Pi, Li is used to indicate that Pi indicates that the activated TCI state does not include a path loss offset. For another example, Li is set to 1, indicating that the activated TCI state includes a path loss offset. In Table 21, 8 reserved fields are used as third fields L1-L8, corresponding to code points P1-P8.

[0270] For example, as shown in Table 22, if L1-L8 is set to 10010010, wherein L1, L4 and L7 are set to 1, it indicates that the TCI states associated with P1, P4 and P7 include corresponding path loss offsets, which are Path loss offset 1, Path loss offset 2 and Path loss offset 3, respectively, and the TCI states associated with P2, P3, P5, P6 and P8 do not include corresponding path loss offsets.

[0271] Table 22

[0272] In Table 22, the TCI states associated with P1, P4 and P7 include corresponding path loss offsets, the included first fields are Path loss offset 1-Path loss offset 3, wherein Path loss offset 1 is the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state indicated by P1, Path loss offset 2 is the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state indicated by P4, and Path loss offset 3 is the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state indicated by P7.

[0273] The scheme provided in this example is that the MAC CE includes at least one third field, and different third fields are respectively used to indicate whether the corresponding code point indicates that the activated TCI state has a corresponding path loss offset, so that the accuracy of the terminal in acquiring the path loss offset is higher.

[0274] Example 4.2, the second MAC CE sent by the network device is associated with a second type of MAC CE.

[0275] The second type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one second type of TCI code point, and the second type of TCI code point is used to indicate at most two joint TCI states activated by the second type of MAC CE. The second MAC CE includes a plurality of third fields, and the plurality of third fields indicate path loss offset information corresponding to the TCI states indicated by the second type of MAC CE. As shown in Table 23, the second MAC CE includes a plurality of third fields, and the plurality of third fields indicate whether the TCI states indicated by the M second type of code points activated by the second type of MAC CE have associated path loss offsets.

[0276] Table 23

[0277] For example, L i,j Corresponding F i,j The activated TCI state, a third field L i,j Set to 0, L i,j For indicating F i,j Indicate that the activated TCI state does not include the path loss offset. For example, L i,j Set to 1, indicating that the activated TCI state includes the path loss offset.

[0278] Example 4.3, the second MAC CE received by the terminal is associated with the third type of MAC CE.

[0279] The third type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one third type of TCI code point, and the third type of TCI code point is used to indicate at most two downlink TCI states and / or at most two uplink TCI states activated by the third type of MAC CE.

[0280] Table 24

[0281] The second MAC CE includes a plurality of third fields, and the plurality of third fields indicate the path loss offset information corresponding to the TCI state activated by the third type of MAC CE. As shown in Table 24, the second MAC CE is used to indicate or update the path loss offset associated with the TCI state that has been activated, which refers to the UL TCI state that has been activated.

[0282] The plurality of third fields L i，j (i=1, 2, 3, …, 8; j=1, 2), the third field is used to indicate whether there is a corresponding path loss offset indication in the second type of MAC CE in the MAC CE S i，j Corresponding TCI state.

[0283] If L i，j =1, in the second MAC CE, there is a corresponding path loss offset indication in the third type of MAC CE S i，j Corresponding TCI state. If L i，j =0, in the second MAC CE, there is no corresponding path loss offset indication in the third type of MAC CE S i，j Corresponding TCI state.

[0284] The communication method provided in the above examples includes that the second MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal includes at least one third field, which is used to respectively indicate whether there is a corresponding path loss offset for the activated TCI state of the first MAC CE, and the terminal can obtain the path loss offset with higher accuracy.

[0285] Referring to (2) in FIG. 3, a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown. As shown in (2) in FIG. 3, the communication method mainly includes the following steps:

[0286] S321: The terminal receives K TCI states preconfigured by the network device in RRC signaling.

[0287] S322: The terminal receives the MAC CE sent by the network device.

[0288] S323: The terminal determines the path loss offset corresponding to the K TCI states preconfigured in the RRC signaling.

[0289] The scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application includes that the terminal receives the RRC signaling and the MAC CE sent by the network device. The terminal receives the RRC signaling to obtain the preconfigured K TCI states. The terminal receives the MAC CE to obtain the path loss offset corresponding to the K TCI states. The K TCI states are joint TCI states or UL TCI states. The MAC CE includes at least one first field, which is used to indicate the path loss offset.

[0290] Specifically, the first field can include K, and the K first fields are associated with N TCI states. Further, in the MAC CE, the ordering of the K first fields is associated with the field mapping manner of the K TCI states or the index size of the TCI states. In this way, the terminal can determine the path loss offset associated with each TCI state. In specific implementation, the ordering of the K first fields and the field of the K first TCI states can be positively associated or negatively associated, which is not limited.

[0291] In the present example, the RRC configures N TCI states, and the MAC CE includes K first fields, each of which is used to indicate the path loss offset of a corresponding TCI state. That is, in the present example, the MAC CE received by the terminal allocates a corresponding first field for indicating the path loss offset for each preconfigured TCI, but it is not limited that there is a corresponding path loss offset for each TCI state, or in other words, it is not limited that the path loss offset included in each TCI state is not zero.

[0292] As shown in Table 25, it is a field mapping manner of MAC CE. The MAC CE includes K first fields, and the K first fields correspond to K TCI states in sequence, and the first field indicates a path loss offset. In a case where the first MAC CE indicates that the activated TCI state is a joint TCI state or an uplink TCI state, there is a corresponding path loss offset.

[0293] Table 25

[0294] As shown in Table 25, the second MAC CE can also include a Serving Cell ID (Serving Cell ID) and an UL BWP ID. In addition, the second MAC CE can also include a plurality of reserved fields R, and R can be set to 0 for subsequent expansion evolution.

[0295] In a possible implementation manner, the first field newly added in the MAC CE can have multiple manners of indicating the path loss offset.

[0296] In a case, the first field can include a value of at least one path loss offset.

[0297] In another case, the first field includes an index corresponding to a value of at least one path loss offset, or a path loss offset indication index. In order to reduce the number of bytes occupied by the path loss offset, or to reduce the amount of MAC CE data transmitted, the value of the path loss offset can be determined to correspond to an index, and each index corresponds to a value of the path loss offset. For details, refer to the schemes shown in Tables 3 and 4 described above, which are not limited.

[0298] In another specific embodiment, in order to ensure byte consistency, the newly added first field can be expanded to an octet. Or in other cases, considering that the actual existing path loss offset value range can be [-10, 60] dB, the first field can be represented by 5 bits. Based on this, 3 reserved fields can also be newly added in front of each first field, each reserved field occupies 1 bit, and 1 reserved field and the first field belong to the same octet.

[0299] In some cases, the network device can also indicate other related information of the path loss offset in the MAC CE through other fields, for example, indicating whether the MAC CE includes the path loss offset.

[0300] In an example, the MAC CE received by the terminal includes at least one third field, and the at least one third field corresponds to at least one TCI state. The MAC CE includes K third fields, respectively used to indicate whether the TCI state associated with the third field has a path loss offset. The TCI state is an RRC preconfigured TCI state.

[0301] The MAC CE includes at least one third field, and each third field indicates whether the RRC preconfigured TCI state includes a path loss offset. For example, one third field Li is set to 0, Li corresponds to the RRC preconfigured TCI state i, and Li is used to indicate that the RRC preconfigured TCI state i does not include a path loss offset. For another example, Li is set to 1, indicating that the RRC preconfigured TCI state i includes a path loss offset. For example, the fields of the second MAC CE are as shown in Table 26. In Table 26, N reserved fields are multiplexed as third fields L1-LN, corresponding to the first TCI state to the Kth TCI state.

[0302] Table 26

[0303] The scheme provided in this example is that the MAC CE includes at least one third field, and different third fields are respectively used to indicate whether the corresponding path loss offset exists in the RRC preconfigured TCI state, so that the accuracy of the terminal in acquiring the path loss offset is higher.

[0304] In some other cases, the network device can also first indicate one path loss offset for the terminal through RRC signaling, denoted as an initial path loss offset. The network device then updates the initial path offset indicated by the RRC through the path signal offset indicated by the MAC CE.

[0305] Specifically, before receiving the MAC CE sent by the network device, the network device can also receive radio resource control (RRC) signaling sent by the network device; the RRC signaling is used to preconfigure the TCI state; and the RRC signaling is also used to indicate an initial path loss offset associated with the preconfigured TCI state.

[0306] In some cases, the value of the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is zero or the value of the initial path loss offset is zero.

[0307] In some other cases, the MAC CE can directly indicate the path loss offset associated with the activated TCI state, and in this case, the RRC preconfigured TCI state can not be associated with the path loss offset.

[0308] In some other cases, the MAC CE sent by the network device to the terminal can also include an indication field, which is used to indicate whether the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is used to update the initial path loss offset. For example, in the case where the indication field is set to 1, the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is used to update the initial path loss offset.

[0309] In summary, the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the terminal receives the MAC CE sent by the network device, multiplexes the existing three types of MAC CEs, or adds a new MAC CE based on the existing MAC CE, or based on the pre-configuration of N TCI states in the RRC signaling, the terminal receives the MAC CE to obtain the path loss offset associated with the TCI state. In this way, the terminal can accurately adjust the output power of the uplink signal based on the path loss of the uplink signal corresponding to the TCI state, so as to improve the transmission accuracy of the uplink signal.

[0310] As a possible product form, the terminal or network device of the embodiments of the present application can be realized by a general bus architecture. For ease of illustration, refer to FIG. 4, which is a structural schematic diagram of a communication device 400 provided by the embodiments of the present application, the communication device 400 comprising a processor 401 and a transceiver 402. The communication device 400 can be a gNB, or a chip or chip system therein; or, the communication device 400 can be a UE, or a chip or module therein. FIG. 4 only shows the main components of the communication device 400. In addition to the processor 401 and the transceiver 402, the communication device can further comprise a memory 403, and an input / output device (not shown in the figure).

[0311] Optionally, the processor 401 is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, and controlling the entire communication device, executing software programs, and processing data of the software programs. The memory 403 is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The transceiver 402 can comprise a radio frequency circuit and an antenna, the radio frequency circuit being mainly used for conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing of the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. The input / output device, such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., is mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user.

[0312] Optionally, the processor 401, the transceiver 402, and the memory 403 can be connected through a communication bus.

[0313] When the communication device is powered on, the processor 401 can read the software program in the memory 403, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be transmitted wirelessly, the processor 401 performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted, and outputs the baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit. The radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signal, and transmits the radio frequency signal in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is transmitted to the communication device, the radio frequency circuit receives the radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 401. The processor 401 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0314] In another implementation, the radio frequency circuitry and antennas can be provided separately from a processor that performs baseband processing, for example in a distributed scenario where the radio frequency circuitry and antennas can be arranged in a remote manner from the communication device.

[0315] In some embodiments, on a hardware implementation, those skilled in the art can conceive that the above-mentioned communication device 1200 can take the form of the communication device 400 shown in FIG. 4.

[0316] As yet another possible product form, the communication device in the present application can adopt the constituent structure shown in FIG. 5, or include the components shown in FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a constituent diagram of a communication device 500 provided in the present application, which can be a terminal or a chip or system on chip in a terminal; or, can be a module or a chip or system on chip in a terminal or network device.

[0317] As shown in FIG. 5, the communication device 500 includes at least one processor 501, and at least one communication interface (only one communication interface 504 is shown in FIG. 5 by way of example, and the processor 501 is taken as an example for description). Optionally, the communication device 500 can further include a communication bus 502 and a memory 503.

[0318] The processor 501 can be a general central processing unit (CPU), a general processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 501 can also be other apparatuses with processing function, such as a circuit, a device, or a software module, without limitation.

[0319] The communication bus 502 is used to connect different components in the communication device 500, so that different components can communicate. The communication bus 502 can be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 5, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0320] The communication interface 504 is configured to communicate with other devices or communication networks. For example, the communication interface 504 can be a module, a circuit, a transceiver, or any device capable of realizing communication. Alternatively, the communication interface 504 can also be an input / output interface in the processor 501, configured to realize signal input and signal output of the processor.

[0321] The memory 503 can be a device with a storage function, configured to store instructions and / or data. For example, the instructions can be a computer program.

[0322] For example, the memory 503 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and / or instructions, or can be a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and / or instructions, or can be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, a magneto-optical disk, a magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage device, and the like, without limitation.

[0323] It should be noted that the memory 503 can be independent of the processor 501, or can be integrated with the processor 501. The memory 503 can be located in the communication device 500, or can be located outside the communication device 500, without limitation. The processor 501 can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 503, to realize the method provided in the embodiments described below.

[0324] As an optional implementation, the communication device 500 can further include an output device 505 and an input device 506. The output device 505 is in communication with the processor 501, and can display information in various ways. For example, the output device 505 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector, etc. The input device 506 is in communication with the processor 501, and can receive user input in various ways. For example, the input device 506 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, a sensor device, etc.

[0325] In some embodiments, the communication device 400 shown in FIG. 4 can take the form of the communication device 500 shown in FIG. 5 in hardware implementation, which can be conceived by those skilled in the art.

[0326] As an example, the functions / implementation procedures of the processor in FIG. 4 can be implemented by the processor 501 in the communication device 500 shown in FIG. 5 invoking the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory 503. The functions / implementation procedures of the transceiver in FIG. 4 can be implemented by the communication interface 504 in the communication device 500 shown in FIG. 5.

[0327] It should be noted that the structure shown in FIG. 5 does not constitute a specific limitation on the communication device. For example, in some other embodiments of the present application, the communication device can include more or fewer components than those shown, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or different arrangement of components. The components shown can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0328] In some embodiments, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, which includes a processor for implementing the method in any of the above method embodiments.

[0329] As a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory. The memory is used to save necessary computer programs and data. The computer programs can include instructions, and the processor can invoke the instructions in the computer programs stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute the method in any of the above method embodiments. Of course, the memory can also not be in the communication device.

[0330] As another possible implementation, the communication device further includes an interface circuit, which is a code / data read-write interface circuit, and the interface circuit is used to receive computer-executed instructions (computer-executed instructions are stored in the memory, which can be directly read from the memory or can pass through other devices) and transmit them to the processor.

[0331] As yet another possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface, which is used to communicate with modules outside the communication device.

[0332] It can be understood that the communication device can be a chip or a chip system. When the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or can include a chip and other discrete devices, and the embodiments of the present application do not make a specific limitation thereon. The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program, and when the computer program runs on a computer, it makes the computer execute the communication method provided by the above embodiments.

[0333] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product containing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the communication method provided by the above embodiment.

[0334] The specific implementation and the technical effects brought by the communication device, the computer readable storage medium, and the computer program product containing instructions provided by the embodiment of the present application can be referred to the specific implementation process and the technical effects brought by the communication method provided by the above embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0335] In some embodiments, through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, only the above division of functional modules is taken as an example, and in actual application, the above functions can be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above. The specific working process of the system, device and unit described above can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0336] The functional units in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0337] The integrated unit, if realized in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application essentially or said part that makes contributions to the prior art or the whole or part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes: a flash memory, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

[0338] The above description is only a specific implementation of the embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto. Any change or replacement within the technical scope disclosed by the embodiments of the present application should be covered in the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The communication method is applied to a terminal and includes the following steps: receiving a medium access control control element (MAC CE) sent by a network device, the MAC CE being used to indicate that the network device activates at least one pre-configured transmission configuration indication (TCI) state for the terminal, the MAC CE further including or being used to indicate at least one path loss offset, the path loss offset being associated with a first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset being used to determine a transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset; obtaining the path loss offset associated with the first TCI state.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized by, The MAC CE includes at least one first field, the at least one first field corresponding to the at least one path loss offset, one path loss offset indicated by one first field being associated with one or more first TCI states.

3. The communication method according to claim 2, wherein, The first field includes M first fields, the M first fields being associated with M first TCI states in the at least one TCI state, M being less than or equal to a number N of the at least one TCI state, M and N being positive integers.

4. The communication method according to claim 3, characterized by, An order of the M first fields is associated with a field order of the M first TCI states.

5. The communication method according to any one of claims 2-4, characterized by, The first field includes a value of the at least one path loss offset; or The first field includes an index corresponding to a value of the at least one path loss offset.

6. The communication method according to any one of claims 2-5, characterized by, The MAC CE further includes a second field, the second field being used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates the at least one path loss offset.

7. The communication method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized by, The second field is a reserved field in the MAC CE.

8. The communication method according to any one of claims 2-7, characterized by, The MAC CE includes at least one third field, the at least one third field corresponding to the at least one TCI state, one third field being used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates a path loss offset corresponding to one TCI state in the at least one TCI state.

9. The communication method according to claim 8, wherein, The third field is a reserved field in the MAC CE.

10. The communication method according to any one of claims 2-9, wherein, The MAC CE includes a fourth field, the fourth field being used to indicate a number of the at least one path loss offset included or indicated in the MAC CE.

11. The communication method according to claim 10, wherein, The fourth field is a reserved field in the MAC CE.

12. The communication method according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein, The MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE; or The MAC CE is a second type of MAC CE; or The MAC CE is a third type of MAC CE. The first type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one first type of TCI codepoint, the first type of TCI codepoint being used to indicate one downlink TCI state and one uplink TCI state activated by the first type of MAC CE, or one downlink TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one uplink TCI state; The second type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one second type of TCI codepoint, the second type of TCI codepoint being used to indicate at most two joint TCI states activated by the second type of MAC CE; The third type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one third type of TCI codepoint, and the third type of TCI codepoint is used to indicate that the third type of MAC CE activates at most two downlink TCI states and / or at most two uplink TCI states.

13. The communication method according to any one of claims 1-12, wherein, The path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is used to update an initial path loss offset, and before the network device sends the MAC CE, the communication method further comprises: receiving radio resource control (RRC) signaling sent by the network device, wherein the RRC signaling is used to preconfigure TCI states, and the RRC signaling is also used to indicate the initial path loss offset associated with the preconfigured TCI states.

14. The communication method according to claim 13, wherein, The value of the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is zero or the value of the initial path loss offset is zero.

15. The communication method according to any one of claims 1-14, wherein, The MAC CE includes a first MAC CE and a second MAC CE, the first MAC CE is used to indicate that the network device activates at least one TCI state in the preconfigured TCI states for the terminal, the second MAC CE includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset associated with the first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the second MAC CE is associated with a logical channel identifier (LCID).

16. The communication method according to any one of claims 1-15, wherein, The first TCI state is an activated uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state.

17. A method of communication, comprising: The communication method is applied to a network device, and the communication method comprises: obtaining a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), wherein the MAC CE is used to indicate that the network device activates at least one transmission configuration indication (TCI) state in preconfigured TCI states for a terminal, and the MAC CE further includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset, wherein the path loss offset is associated with a first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the path loss offset is used to determine the transmission power of an uplink signal corresponding to the first TCI state associated with the path loss offset; sending the MAC CE to the terminal.

18. The communication method according to claim 17, wherein, The MAC CE includes at least one first field, the at least one first field corresponds to the at least one path loss offset, and one path loss offset indicated by one first field is associated with one or more first TCI states.

19. The communication method of claim 18, wherein, The first field includes M first fields, the M first fields are associated with M first TCI states in the at least one TCI state, M is less than or equal to the number N of the at least one TCI state, and M and N are positive integers.

20. The communication method according to claim 19, wherein, The order of the M first fields is associated with the field order of the M first TCI states.

21. The communication method according to any one of claims 18-20, wherein, The first field includes the value of the at least one path loss offset; or The first field includes an index corresponding to the value of the at least one path loss offset.

22. The communication method according to any one of claims 18-21, wherein, The MAC CE further includes a second field, and the second field is used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates the at least one path loss offset.

23. The communication method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein, The second field is a reserved field in the MAC CE.

24. The communication method according to any one of claims 18-23, wherein, The MAC CE includes at least one third field corresponding to the at least one TCI state, and one of the third fields is used to indicate whether the MAC CE includes or indicates a path loss offset corresponding to one of the at least one TCI state.

25. The communication method according to claim 24, wherein, The third field is a reserved field in the MAC CE.

26. The communication method of any of claims 18-25, wherein, The MAC CE includes a fourth field used to indicate the number of the at least one path loss offset included or indicated in the MAC CE.

27. The communication method of claim 26, wherein, The fourth field is a reserved field in the MAC CE.

28. The communication method of any of claims 17-27, wherein, The MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE; or The MAC CE is a second type of MAC CE; or The MAC CE is a third type of MAC CE. The first type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one first type of TCI codepoint, and the first type of TCI codepoint is used to indicate one downlink TCI state and one uplink TCI state, or one downlink TCI state, or one joint TCI state, or one uplink TCI state activated by the first type of MAC CE. The second type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one second type of TCI codepoint, and the second type of TCI codepoint is used to indicate up to two joint TCI states activated by the second type of MAC CE. The third type of MAC CE corresponds to at least one third type of TCI codepoint, and the third type of TCI codepoint is used to indicate up to two downlink TCI states and / or up to two uplink TCI states activated by the third type of MAC CE.

29. The communication method according to any one of claims 17-28, wherein, The path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is used to update an initial path loss offset, and before the MAC CE sent by the receiving network device, the communication method further includes: Receiving radio resource control (RRC) signaling sent by the network device; the RRC signaling is used to pre-configure a TCI state; and the RRC signaling is further used to indicate the initial path loss offset associated with the pre-configured TCI state.

30. The communication method of claim 29, wherein, The value of the path loss offset indicated by the MAC CE is zero or the value of the initial path loss offset is zero.

31. The communication method according to any one of claims 17-30, wherein, The MAC CE includes a first MAC CE and a second MAC CE, the first MAC CE is used to indicate that the network device activates at least one TCI state in the pre-configured TCI state for the terminal, the second MAC CE includes or is used to indicate at least one path loss offset associated with the first TCI state in the at least one TCI state, and the second MAC CE is associated with a logical channel identifier (LCID).

32. The communication method according to any one of claims 17-31, wherein, The first TCI state activates an uplink TCI state or a joint TCI state.

33. A communications device, characterized by The communication device includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor, the transceiver and the memory are both coupled to the processor; The memory stores computer execution instructions; The processor executes the computer execution instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device performs the communication method in any one of claims 1 to 32.

34. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 32.

35. A computer program product, characterised in that, The computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 32.

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