Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus, applied to the field of communications. The method comprises: a terminal receives first indication information, the first indication information being used for indicating a first beam set; the terminal further obtain a second beam set on the basis of the first beam set and communication environment information, wherein the communication environment information is used for indicating a communication environment of the terminal; and the terminal sends second indication information, the second indication information being used for indicating the second beam set. By means of said method, a transmit beam communicating with the terminal can be determined from the second beam set, improving the performance of the transmit beam determined by a network device, thereby improving the communication performance of a communication system.

Description

A communication method and a communication apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411369305.X, filed on September 27, 2024, and entitled "A communication method and a communication apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0003] In a communication system, a terminal and a network device can perform beam alignment through a beam management process. Generally, the beam management process can be roughly divided into the following three stages: a stage of performing coarse beam alignment based on synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel blocks (SSBs) by the network device and the terminal, determining the network device transmission beam range and the terminal reception beam range, also known as the P1 stage; a stage of performing network device side fine adjustment based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), or in other words, determining the network device transmission beam from the transmission beam range of the P1 stage, also known as the P2 stage; and a stage of performing terminal side fine adjustment based on CSI-RSs, or in other words, determining the terminal reception beam from the reception beam range of the P1 stage, also known as the P3 stage.

[0004] In order to reduce the overhead in the beam management process, it is proposed to assist the beam management through an artificial intelligence (AI) model. For example, in an AI-based beam management process, an AI model is used to predict the signal quality of each beam, thereby reducing the measurement reporting overhead in the beam management process.

[0005] However, in the process of assisting the beam management through the AI model, if the communication environment changes (for example, the terminal is in a moving state, or changes its posture, or has other interference, etc.), the inference accuracy of the AI model will be significantly reduced, thereby causing a decline in communication performance. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus, which can obtain a second beam set with better performance than the first beam set by combining the predicted beams (i.e., the beams in the first beam set) of the network device side and the communication environment in which the terminal is located, thereby facilitating the improvement of communication performance.

[0007] In a first aspect, this application provides a communication method applied to a terminal or a module within a terminal (e.g., a chip or chip system). Taking an application to a terminal as an example, the method includes: the terminal receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating a first beam set; further, the terminal obtaining a second beam set based on the first beam set and communication environment information, wherein the communication environment information indicates the terminal's communication environment; and the terminal sending second indication information, the second indication information indicating a second beam set.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the terminal obtains the second beam set based on the first beam set and communication environment information by inputting the first beam set and communication environment information into a first model and outputting the second beam set.

[0009] Based on the method described in the first aspect, the terminal deploys a first model, or the device deploying the first model has a communication connection. In this case, after the terminal obtains the inference result (i.e., the first beam set) of the network device's AI model through the first indication information, it performs inference using the first model combined with the terminal's communication environment and the first beam set to obtain a second beam set, and then indicates the second beam set to the network device. Subsequently, the network device can determine the transmission beam for communicating with the terminal from the second beam set. Compared to directly determining the transmission beam from the first beam set without considering communication environment information, this can, to some extent, compensate for the inference accuracy of the AI ​​model on the network device side, which is beneficial to improving the performance of the transmission beam determined by the network device, thereby improving the communication performance of the communication system.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the terminal can specifically obtain a second beam set based on a first beam set, communication environment information, and first measurement information, wherein the first measurement information is correlated with the first beam set. By implementing this possible implementation, when obtaining the second beam set, the terminal combines not only the first beam set and communication environment information but also the first measurement information correlated with the first beam set, which helps to improve the accuracy of the second beam set obtained through reasoning.

[0011] In one possible implementation, the first beam set includes T i There are n predicted beams at time t, where n is an integer; the second beam set includes m1 predicted beams, which belong to the n predicted beams, where m1 is a positive integer. Based on this possible implementation, the network device indicates T to the terminal. iThe terminal combines the communication environment in which the terminal is located and the n predicted beams to infer m1 predicted beams, and indicates the m1 predicted beams to the network device. In this way, the inference accuracy of the AI model on the network device side can be compensated to some extent, which is beneficial to improving the performance of the transmit beam determined by the network device, thereby improving the communication performance of the communication system.

[0012] In a possible implementation, n is greater than a first threshold value, m1 is equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to the path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or n is less than or equal to the first threshold value, and m1 is equal to n.

[0013] Based on the possible implementation, after the terminal determines the n predicted beams through the first indication information, the terminal determines the path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams in combination with the communication environment information, and determines the m1 predicted beams from the n predicted beams according to the path metric values and / or the first threshold value, which is beneficial to reducing the predicted beams included in the second beam set while compensating for the inference accuracy of the AI model on the network device side and improving the performance of the transmit beam determined by the network device, thereby saving communication resources and reducing the computational complexity of the network device in acquiring predicted beams at a time after T i .

[0014] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, wherein predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams, and the path corresponding to predicted beam #j includes predicted beam #j and predicted beams at a time before T i .

[0015] Based on the possible implementation, after the terminal determines the paths corresponding to the n predicted beams through the first indication information, the terminal determines the path metric values of the paths corresponding to each of the n predicted beams in combination with the communication environment information, and indicates the path metric values of each of the predicted beams to the network device. Therefore, the network device can determine the m1 predicted beams from the n predicted beams according to the path metric values of each of the predicted beams and / or the first threshold value, which is beneficial to reducing the predicted beams included in the second beam set while compensating for the inference accuracy of the AI model on the network device side and improving the performance of the transmit beam determined by the network device, thereby saving communication resources and reducing the computational complexity of the network device in acquiring predicted beams at a time after T i .

[0016] In a possible implementation, the communication environment information includes at least one of the following: movement information of the terminal, position information of the terminal, posture information of the terminal, shielding information corresponding to the terminal, or interference information of the terminal.

[0017] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate the first beam set, specifically embodied in that the first indication information is used to configure a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal reports a beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

[0018] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is used to indicate the second beam set, specifically embodied in that the second indication information is used to indicate channel state information (CSI) corresponding to the second beam set; and the CSI includes at least one of the following: channel state information reference signal resource indicator (cri) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, channel state information reference signal resource indicator-reference signal receiving power (cri-RSRP) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or channel state information reference signal resource indicator-signal to interference plus noise ratio (cri-SINR) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0019] In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, predicted reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of each predicted beam in the first beam set, or predicted signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of each predicted beam in the first beam set.

[0020] In a possible implementation, the second indication information further includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set, or an SINR measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0021] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a network device, or a module (such as a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the network device, and is taken as an example for the network device, the method includes: the network device sends first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate a first beam set; further, the network device receives second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate a second beam set, the second beam set is determined based on the first beam set and communication environment information, the communication environment information is used to indicate a communication environment of a terminal.

[0022] Based on the method described in the second aspect, after the network device predicts the first beam set, the network device indicates the first beam set to the terminal through the first indication information. The terminal obtains the second beam set by combining the communication environment in which the terminal is located and the first beam set, and indicates the second beam set to the network device. Subsequently, the network device can determine a beam (for example, referred to as a target beam) from the second beam set, and transmit data to the terminal through the target beam. Compared with the way in which the network device directly determines the target beam from the first beam set predicted by itself, the way of determining the target beam from the second beam set obtained by combining the communication environment in which the terminal is located is beneficial to improving the communication performance of the system. The beneficial effects of other embodiments based on the second aspect can be referred to the beneficial effects of the embodiments described in the first aspect, and subsequent details will not be described.

[0023] In a possible implementation, the second beam set is determined according to the first beam set, the communication environment information, and first measurement information, the first measurement information has an association relationship with the first beam set.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the first beam set includes n predicted beams at a time, n is an integer; the second beam set includes m1 predicted beams, the m1 predicted beams belong to the n predicted beams, and m1 is a positive integer. i In a possible implementation, n is greater than a first threshold, m1 is equal to the first threshold, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or n is less than or equal to the first threshold, and m1 is equal to n.

[0025] In a possible implementation, n is greater than a first threshold, m1 is equal to the first threshold, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or n is less than or equal to the first threshold, and m1 is equal to n.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, wherein predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams, the path corresponding to predicted beam #j includes predicted beam #j and the predicted beam at the time point before the time point T i m1 is equal to n; and the second indication information is further used to indicate path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, the path metric value corresponding to predicted beam #j being determined according to the path corresponding to predicted beam #j.

[0027] In a possible implementation, n is greater than the first threshold value, and the network device further determines m2 predicted beams from the n predicted beams according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, m2 being equal to the first threshold value.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the communication environment information includes at least one of the following: movement information of the terminal, position information of the terminal, attitude information of the terminal, blocking information corresponding to the terminal, or interference information of the terminal.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to indicate the first beam set, specifically embodied in that: the first indication information is used to configure a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is used to indicate the second beam set, specifically embodied in that: the second indication information is used to indicate CSI corresponding to the second beam set. The CSI includes at least one of the following: cri corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, cri-RSRP corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or cri-SINR corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0031] In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, an RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set, or an SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the second indication information further includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set, or an SINR measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0033] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which can be a terminal, a device in the terminal, or a device capable of being used with the terminal. The communication apparatus can also be a chip system. The communication apparatus can perform the method of the first aspect. The functions of the communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions. The units or modules can be software and / or hardware. The operations and advantages of the communication apparatus can be found in the method of the first aspect and the advantages.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which can be a network device, a device in the network device, or a device capable of being used with the network device. The communication apparatus can also be a chip system. The communication apparatus can perform the method of the second aspect. The functions of the communication apparatus can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions. The units or modules can be software and / or hardware. The operations and advantages of the communication apparatus can be found in the method of the second aspect and the advantages.

[0035] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus and transmit the signals to the processor, or send signals from the processor to other communication apparatuses outside the communication apparatus. The processor is used to implement the method of the first aspect or the method of the second aspect through logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0036] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which includes a processor connected to a memory. The processor is used to call programs stored in the memory to execute the method of the first aspect or the method of the second aspect. The memory can be located in the terminal or the network device, or outside the terminal or the network device. The processor includes one or more.

[0037] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are executed by a communication apparatus, the method of the first aspect or the method of the second aspect is implemented.

[0038] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when read and executed by a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method of the first aspect, or cause the communication device to perform the method of the second aspect.

[0039] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication system comprising a communication device for performing the method of the first aspect and a communication device for performing the method of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0040] Figure 1a is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 1b is a further schematic diagram of a wireless communication system suitable for use with embodiments of the present application;

[0042] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of spatial domain beam prediction according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of time domain beam prediction according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a beam tree according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a further beam tree according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0050] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of a further communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Figure 13 is a schematic diagram of using monitoring results to correct sequence inference according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Figure 14 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG. 15 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] To facilitate the specific understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the system architecture related to the embodiments of the present application will be introduced first.

[0057] FIG. 1a is a structural schematic diagram of a communication system 1000 to which the embodiments of the present application are applied. As shown in FIG. 1a, the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 can also include an Internet 300. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1a, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1a, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 100 can also include other RAN nodes, such as a wireless relay device and / or a wireless backhaul device (not shown in FIG. 1a). The terminal 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner, and the RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 can be independent and different physical devices, or can be the same physical device integrated with the logical functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the RAN node. The terminals can be connected to each other and the RAN nodes can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner.

[0058] The RAN 100 can be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) system, a new radio (NR) system, and a future wireless access system defined in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). The RAN 100 can also include two or more different wireless access systems. The RAN 100 can also be an open RAN (O-RAN).

[0059] A RAN node, also referred to as a radio access network device, a RAN entity, or an access node, can hereinafter also be referred to as a network device, to help a terminal access a communication system through wireless means. In one application scenario, the RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation NodeB in a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, or a base station in a future mobile communication system. The RAN node can be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in FIG. 1a), a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in FIG. 1a), or a relay node or a donor node.

[0060] In another application scenario, a terminal can access a communication system through wireless means by cooperation of multiple RAN nodes, each of which implements part of functions of a base station. For example, the RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU here implements functions of a radio resource control protocol and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of a base station, and can also implement functions of a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP). The DU implements functions of a radio link control layer and a medium access control (MAC) layer of a base station, and can also implement part of functions or all functions of a physical layer. For details of the protocol layers, refer to relevant technical specifications of 3GPP. The RU can be used to implement functions of transceiving radio frequency signals. The CU and the DU can be two independent RAN nodes, or can be integrated in the same RAN node, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device, such as a remote radio unit (RRU) or an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU can be further divided into two types of RAN nodes, CU-control plane and CU-user plane.

[0061] The RAN node can support one or more types of fronthaul interfaces, different fronthaul interfaces respectively corresponding to DUs and RUs having different functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is a common public radio interface (CPRI), the DU is configured to implement one or more of baseband functions, and the RU is configured to implement one or more of radio frequency functions. If the fronthaul interface between the DU and the RU is an enhanced common public radio interface (eCPRI), compared with the CPRI, part of the downlink and / or uplink baseband functions are moved from the DU to the RU for implementation. The splitting manner between the DU and the RU is different, corresponding to different categories (Cat) of eCPRI, such as eCPRI Cat A, B, C, D, E, and F.

[0062] Taking eCPRI Cat A as an example, for downlink transmission, layer mapping is split, the DU is configured to implement one or more of layer mapping and functions before the layer mapping (i.e., one or more of encoding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping), and other functions after the layer mapping (e.g., one or more of resource element (RE) mapping, digital beamforming (BF), or inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) / adding a cyclic prefix (CP)) are moved to the RU for implementation. For uplink transmission, RE demapping is split, the DU is configured to implement one or more of demapping and functions before the demapping (i.e., one or more of decoding, de-rate matching, de-scrambling, de-modulation, inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT), channel equalization, and RE demapping), and other functions after the demapping (e.g., one or more of digital BF or fast Fourier transform (FFT) / CP removal) are moved to the RU for implementation. It can be understood that the function description of the DU and the RU corresponding to various types of eCPRI can refer to the eCPRI protocol, and will not be described here.

[0063] In a possible design, the processing unit in the BBU for implementing baseband functions is referred to as a base band high (BBH) unit, and the processing unit in the RRU / AAU / RRH for implementing baseband functions is referred to as a base band low (BBL) unit.

[0064] In different systems, the RAN node can have different names, for example, in an O-RAN system, the CU can be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), the DU can be referred to as an open DU (O-DU), and the RU can be referred to as an open RU (O-RU). The RAN node in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module, for example, the RAN node can be a server loaded with a corresponding software module. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form adopted by the RAN node. For ease of description, a base station is described as an example of the RAN node in the following.

[0065] The terminal is a device with wireless transceiver function, which can send signals to the base station or receive signals from the base station. The terminal can also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, remote medical treatment, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, airplane, ship, robot, mechanical arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form adopted by the terminal.

[0066] The base station and the terminal can be fixed in position or movable. The base station and the terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water surface; can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons and artificial satellites. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the base station and the terminal.

[0067] The roles of the base stations and the terminals can be relative. For example, the helicopter or the drone 120i in FIG. 1a can be configured as a mobile base station, and for the terminal 120j that accesses the wireless access network 100 through the 120i, the terminal 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the 120i is a terminal, that is, the 110a and the 120i communicate through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, the 110a and the 120i can also communicate through a base station-to-base station interface protocol, and in this case, the 120i is also a base station relative to the 110a. Therefore, the base stations and the terminals can be collectively referred to as communication apparatuses, the 110a and the 110b in FIG. 1a can be referred to as communication apparatuses with base station functions, and the 120a-120j in FIG. 1a can be referred to as communication apparatuses with terminal functions.

[0068] The base stations and the terminals, the base stations and the base stations, and the terminals and the terminals can communicate through licensed frequency spectrums, can communicate through unlicensed frequency spectrums, or can communicate through both licensed frequency spectrums and unlicensed frequency spectrums; can communicate through frequency spectrums below 6 gigahertz (GHz), can communicate through frequency spectrums above 6 GHz, or can communicate through both frequency spectrums below 6 GHz and frequency spectrums above 6 GHz. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the frequency spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0069] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the base stations can also be performed by modules (such as chips) in the base stations or by control subsystems containing base station functions. The control subsystems containing base station functions herein can be control centers in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. The functions of the terminals can also be performed by modules (such as chips or modems) in the terminals or by apparatuses containing terminal functions.

[0070] Please refer to FIG. 1b, which is another schematic diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0071] As shown in FIG. 1b, a RAN intelligent controller (RIC) is included in the wireless communication system. As an example, the RIC can be used to implement artificial intelligence (AI) related functions. As an example, the RIC includes a near-real time RIC (near-RT RIC) and a non-real time RIC (Non-RT RIC). Among them, the non-real time RIC mainly processes non-real time information, such as data that is not sensitive to latency, which can be seconds. The real-time RIC mainly processes near-real-time information, such as data that is relatively sensitive to latency, which is tens of milliseconds.

[0072] The near-real-time RIC is used for model training and inference. For example, it is used to train an AI model and use the AI model for inference. The near-real-time RIC can obtain network side and / or terminal side information from RAN nodes (such as CUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, DUs, and / or RUs) and / or terminals. This information can be used as training data or inference data. Optionally, the near-real-time RIC can submit inference results to RAN nodes and / or terminals. Optionally, inference results can be exchanged between CUs and DUs, and / or between DUs and RUs. For example, the near-real-time RIC submits inference results to the DU, which sends them to the RU.

[0073] The non-real-time RIC is also used for model training and inference. For example, it is used to train an AI model and use the model for inference. The non-real-time RIC can obtain network side and / or terminal side information from RAN nodes (such as CUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, DUs, and / or RUs) and / or terminals. This information can be used as training data or inference data, and inference results can be submitted to RAN nodes and / or terminals. Optionally, inference results can be exchanged between CUs and DUs, and / or between DUs and RUs. For example, the non-real-time RIC submits inference results to the DU, which sends them to the RU.

[0074] The near-real-time RIC and the non-real-time RIC can also be separately set up as a network element, respectively. Optionally, the near-real-time RIC and the non-real-time RIC can also be part of other devices, for example, the near-real-time RIC is set up in the RAN node (such as the CU, the DU), and the non-real-time RIC is set up in the operation, administration and maintenance (OAM), the cloud server, the core network device, or other network devices.

[0075] In actual applications, the wireless communication system can comprise multiple network devices (also referred to as access network devices) at the same time, and can also comprise multiple terminals at the same time, without limitation. One network device can serve one or more terminals at the same time. One terminal can access one or more network devices at the same time. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of terminals and network devices comprised in the wireless communication system.

[0076] In order to facilitate the understanding of the related content of the embodiments of the present application, the following will explain the part of the language involved in the embodiments of the present application. This part is only for the convenience of understanding, and cannot be regarded as the disclosure or specific limitation of the technical solutions of the present application.

[0077] 1、beam

[0078] The embodiment of the beam in the new radio (NR) protocol can be a spatial filter, or a spatial parameter, or a precoder. The beam used for transmitting a signal can be referred to as a transmission beam (Tx beam), and can be referred to as a spatial transmission filter or a spatial transmission parameter; the beam used for receiving a signal can be referred to as a reception beam (Rx beam), and can be referred to as a spatial reception filter or a spatial reception parameter.

[0079] The transmission beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted by the antenna, and the reception beam can refer to the distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of the wireless signal received by the antenna. The same information or different information can be transmitted through different beams. The technology for forming the beam can be beamforming technology or other technology.

[0080] It should be understood that the above-mentioned embodiment of the beam in the NR protocol is only an example, and should not constitute any limitation on the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in other protocols to represent the same or similar meaning.

[0081] In addition, the beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other types of beams. Different beams can be considered to correspond to different resources (including one or more of time domain resources, frequency domain resources or spatial domain resources).

[0082] For example, in beam measurement, each reference signal resource (RS resource) corresponds to a beam, and the base station measures different beams by configuring different measurement resources, and the terminal feeds back the measured resource quality, so that the base station knows the quality of the corresponding beam.

[0083] For example, in the beam management procedure defined in the NR protocol, all beams are realized through reference signals or quasi co-location (QCL) relationship between reference signals.

[0084] For example, if the base station wants to configure the terminal to measure the beam, it can configure a set of reference signals (or measurement resources), and the base station can use different beams to transmit these reference signals, and let the terminal measure these reference signals, so as to achieve the purpose of measuring the beam. That is, the reference signal can represent the beam, or the beam is embodied through the reference signal.

[0085] Optionally, one beam can correspond to one or more reference signals, or different reference signals can be used to represent the same beam, and it should be understood that different reference signals representing the same beam have a quasi co-location relationship. As an example, the beam and the reference signal can be described interchangeably.

[0086] 2、Reference signal (RS)

[0087] The reference signal can be used for channel estimation or channel measurement (CM) and the like. For example, the reference signal can be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a positioning reference signal (PRS), or a synchronization signal block (SSB), etc. Here are some examples of reference signals, which are not limited by the present application. Any signal that can be used for channel estimation or channel measurement can be understood as a reference signal in the present application.

[0088] 3、AI model

[0089] An AI model is a concrete implementation of an AI function, and the AI model represents a mapping relationship between the input and output of the model. The type of AI model can be a neural network, a deep neural network, a linear regression model, a decision tree model, a support vector machine (SVM), a Bayesian network, a Q-learning model, or other machine learning (ML) models.

[0090] 4. AI application case

[0091] An AI application case is also referred to as an AI application scenario. The AI application case includes, but is not limited to, AI-based CSI prediction, AI-based beam management (BM), AI-based positioning, and AI-based CSI feedback, etc. The present application mainly relates to AI-based beam management, which further has two sub-use cases, namely BM-case 1 (or spatial domain beam prediction) for spatial domain beam prediction, and BM-case 2 (or time domain beam prediction) for time domain beam prediction. It should be understood that the AI model used for AI beam management is a single-end model, that is, the AI model is located / deployed at the network side (i.e., network side prediction) or at the terminal side (i.e., terminal side prediction).

[0092] The beam prediction mentioned in the present application is mainly downlink beam prediction, more specifically, prediction for downlink transmission beams. Generally speaking, in downlink transmission beam prediction, the set composed of the input beams of the AI model is referred to as Set B (i.e., SetB), and the set to which / where the output beams of the AI model belong / is located is referred to as Set A (i.e., SetA). In an example, the input of the AI model can be the actual measurement quality of the beams in SetB, and the output of the AI model can be a prediction result (or inference result), for example, the prediction result can refer to the predicted best beam (or best predicted beam, or best predicted reference signal). For another example, the prediction result can also refer to the predicted beam quality (or beam prediction quality, or signal prediction quality) of each beam in SetA. It should be understood that the best predicted beam is usually the predicted beam with the largest beam prediction quality among all predicted beams, or the first few predicted beams with larger beam prediction quality are taken as the best predicted beam after sorting all predicted beam prediction qualities in descending order (or in ascending order, which can be understood as from high to low).

[0093] In the BM-case1 for spatial domain beam prediction, as shown in (a) of FIG. 2, SetB can be {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}, and SetA can be {beam 0, beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, beam 4, beam 5, beam 6, beam 7, beam 8, beam 9, beam 10, beam 11, beam 12, beam 13, beam 14, beam 15}. As can be seen from (a) of FIG. 2, SetB is contained in SetA. In one example, when performing downlink beam prediction, the actual measurement quality of the 4 downlink beams in SetB can be input into an AI model, and the AI model can output a prediction result. For example, the prediction result can be the predicted beam quality of each of the 16 beams contained in SetA, or the prediction result can be the predicted beam quality of the best beam / the best beams in the 16 beams contained in SetA. The beam quality may, for example, be layer 1 (L1)-RSRP, reference signal received quality (RSRQ), or L1-SINR.

[0094] For ease of understanding, the size relationship of the predicted beam quality is taken as an example, i.e., the beam prediction quality of beam 1 > the beam prediction quality of beam 2 > the beam prediction quality of beam 4 > the beam prediction quality of beam 5 > the beam prediction quality of beam 0 > the beam prediction quality of beam 3 > the beam prediction quality of beam 6 > the beam prediction quality of beam 7 > the beam prediction quality of beam 8 > the beam prediction quality of beam 9 > the beam prediction quality of beam 10 > the beam prediction quality of beam 11 > the beam prediction quality of beam 12 > the beam prediction quality of beam 13 > the beam prediction quality of beam 14 > the beam prediction quality of beam 15. If the best beam is the beam with the largest beam prediction quality in SetA, the predicted best beam is beam 1. It is assumed that the best beam is the top K beams with larger / largest beam prediction quality in SetA, and K is 4. Then, the predicted best beam is beam 1, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 5.

[0095] For example, as shown in (b) of FIG. 2, SetB can be {wide beam 1, wide beam 2, wide beam 3, wide beam 4}, and SetA can be {narrow beam 0, narrow beam 1, narrow beam 2, narrow beam 3, narrow beam 4, narrow beam 5, narrow beam 6, narrow beam 7, narrow beam 8, narrow beam 9, narrow beam 10, narrow beam 11, narrow beam 12, narrow beam 13, narrow beam 14, narrow beam 15}, where narrow beam 0 to narrow beam 3 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 1, narrow beam 4 to narrow beam 7 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 2, narrow beam 8 to narrow beam 11 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 3, and narrow beam 12 to narrow beam 15 are 4 narrow beams in the coverage range of wide beam 4. In one example, when performing downlink transmission beam prediction, the actual measurement quality of the 4 downlink wide beams in SetB is input into an AI model, and the AI model can predict the best narrow beam in the 16 narrow beams included in SetA / the beam quality of the best narrow beam, or the AI model can predict the beam quality of each narrow beam in the 16 narrow beams included in SetA. The wide beams in SetB and the narrow beams in SetA shown in (b) of FIG. 2 have a quasi-colocation (QCL) relationship, for example, wide beam 1 and narrow beam 0, narrow beam 1, narrow beam 4, and narrow beam 5 have a quasi-colocation relationship, or in other words, the reference signals corresponding to wide beam 1, narrow beam 0, narrow beam 1, narrow beam 4, and narrow beam 5 have a quasi-colocation relationship.

[0096] As can be seen from (a) and (b) of FIG. 2, in the spatial domain beam prediction, based on the actual measurement quality of the beams in SetB, the beams (for example, the best predicted beam) in SetA / the beam quality can be output. That is, the beams in SetA / the beam quality can be obtained by prediction, without the need for actual measurement. Generally, the beams in SetA / the beam quality are all predicted, but usually K beams with better beam prediction quality are selected for reporting.

[0097] In BM-case2 for time-domain beam prediction, as shown in FIG. 3, SetB can be {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}, and SetA can be {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}. When performing downlink beam prediction, the actual measurement quality of the 4 downlink beams in SetB at t0 is input to the AI model, and the beam quality of the 4 downlink beams at a future time (for example, at t1 or at t2) can be predicted by the AI model. As can be seen from FIG. 3, SetB is the same as SetA. Therefore, in time-domain beam prediction, based on the actual measurement quality of the beams in SetB at the current time or at the historical time, the beam quality of each beam in SetA at the future time can be predicted.

[0098] 5. Lifecycle management (LCM)

[0099] In air interface AI, the concept of AI LCM is also introduced. Currently, the network side mainly performs corresponding management on the AI model or AI function of the network side / terminal side, such as data collection, model inference, model monitoring, etc. Taking model monitoring as an example, model monitoring, in 3GPP TR 38.843, refers to a monitoring process for AI / ML model inference performance.

[0100] For the case where the model is deployed on the terminal side, the network side needs to perform model monitoring based on the data reported by the terminal side. One possible model monitoring method is to compare the predicted output of the model with the actual measurement. For example, the prediction result of SetA is result 1, and the actual measurement result of SetA by the terminal is result 2. The terminal sends result 1 and result 2 to the network side, so that the network side can compare and count result 1 and result 2, and calculate the monitoring index at the network side. It should be noted that the terminal side usually needs to report data based on the reporting configuration configured by the network side. In the existing beam reporting configuration method, the number of beams that can be configured for the terminal to report each time W is defined, where the value range of W is {1, 2, 3, 4}. Specifically, for a configured measurement resource set, the terminal usually selects the beam information (such as the index of the beam, or the CSI-RS resource index (CRI) corresponding to the beam, or the SSB resource index (SSBRI) corresponding to the beam, etc.) and the actual measurement quality of the W beams with the best measurement quality in the measurement resource set to report.

[0101] In an AI-based beam management process, there are cases where the communication environment in which the terminal is located changes, such as the terminal being in a moving state, or the terminal changing its posture, or other interference. In this case, if the change in the communication environment in which the terminal is located is not considered in the beam management process, the inference accuracy of the AI model (for the sake of distinction, referred to as a beam prediction model) used to predict the beam will decrease. The target beam (which can be understood as the beam used to transmit data to the terminal) determined by the network device from the beam set inferred by the beam prediction model may also have a situation where the target beam does not adapt or has a low degree of adaptation to the current communication environment of the terminal, thereby causing the communication performance between the network device and the terminal to decrease.

[0102] Through the communication method provided in the present application, the predicted beam (i.e., the beam in the first beam set) inferred by the network device through the beam prediction beam and the communication environment in which the terminal is located can be combined to obtain a second beam set with better beam quality than the first beam set. Subsequently, the target beam is determined from the second beam set, which is beneficial to improving the adaptation of the target beam to the current communication environment of the terminal, thereby improving the communication performance.

[0103] The communication method and the communication device provided in the present application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0104] It should be noted that the execution subject of the communication method described in the present application can be a terminal and a network device, or the execution subject of the communication method described in the present application can be a module in the terminal and a module in the network device, or the execution subject of the communication method described in the present application can be a chip in the terminal and a chip in the network device. The communication method described in the present application is described by taking the terminal and the network device as the execution subject, which should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application. It should also be noted that the terminal (or network device) mentioned in the present application can be the network device shown in FIG. 1a or the terminal shown in FIG. 1a, and the present application does not make specific limitations.

[0105] In the case where the beam prediction model is deployed on the network device side, the present application provides several communication methods as shown in FIGS. 4-6, 9-11. In the case where the beam prediction model is deployed on the terminal side, the present application provides a communication method as shown in FIG. 12.

[0106] The communication methods provided in FIGS. 4-6, 9-11 will be further described below.

[0107] Referring to FIG. 4, the communication method shown in FIG. 4 includes steps S401-S403. Among them:

[0108] S401, the network device sends first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first beam set.

[0109] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first indication information.

[0110] The network device infers, through the beam prediction model, an identifier of a plurality of predicted beams and a beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the plurality of predicted beam sets. The beam quality prediction value of the predicted beam mentioned in the present application includes but is not limited to one or more of a predicted beam RSRP prediction value, a predicted beam SINR prediction value, a predicted beam RSRQ prediction value or score information. The score information of the predicted beam has an association with one or more of the predicted beam RSRP prediction value, the predicted beam SINR prediction value, the predicted beam RSRP measurement value or the SINR measurement value. Further, the network device sends, to the terminal, first indication information for indicating the first beam set, the first indication information including at least one of the following: identifier information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, a predicted beam RSRP prediction value in the first beam set, or a predicted beam SINR prediction value in the first beam set.

[0111] It should be noted that the "prediction / inference" in the present application refers to prediction / inference based on an AI model (such as a beam prediction beam or a first model). The predicted beam mentioned in the present application refers to a beam obtained by the AI model through prediction / inference. The predicted beam RSRP prediction value mentioned in the present application refers to the RSRP of the beam obtained by the AI model through prediction / inference. The predicted beam SINR prediction value mentioned in the present application refers to the SINR of the beam obtained by the AI model through prediction / inference.

[0112] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, if not specified, the beam refers to a network device transmitting beam, or a downlink beam, or a downlink transmitting beam. In addition, the expressions of beam and reference signal in the present application can be replaced with each other.

[0113] In a possible implementation, the terminal measures at least one transmission beam and reports a beam quality measurement value (i.e., an actual measurement value obtained by the terminal measuring the beam) of the at least one transmission beam to the network device. The beam quality measurement value mentioned in the present application includes but is not limited to one or more of an RSRP measurement value, an SINR measurement value, or an RSRQ measurement value. A set of beams measured by the terminal is denoted as SetB. Further, the network device infers SetA (i.e., the identification information of each predicted beam in SetA) and the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in SetA from SetB by using the beam prediction model deployed on the network device, in the manner described in the foregoing FIG. 2 or FIG. 3. The network device determines a first beam set from the SetA and sends first indication information indicating the first beam set to the terminal, where the first beam set indicated by the first indication information is a non-empty subset of the SetA.

[0114] For example, the total beam set corresponding to the transmission beams of the network device is {beam 0, beam 1, …, beam 23}. The network device receives the beam quality measurement values (for example, the RSRP measurement values of each beam) of each beam in SetB from the terminal, where the SetB is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 8, beam 10}. The network device infers SetA and the beam quality prediction value (for example, the RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam) corresponding to each predicted beam in SetA based on the beam quality measurement values of each beam in SetB, where the SetA is {beam 0, beam 1, …, beam 15}. Further, the network device forms a first beam set (for example, the first beam set is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}) by using the four predicted beams with the largest beam quality prediction values in the SetA, and indicates the identification of each predicted beam in the first beam set and the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set to the terminal by using the first indication information.

[0115] S402, the terminal obtains a second beam set based on the first beam set and communication environment information.

[0116] The communication environment information is used to indicate the communication environment of the terminal. Alternatively, the communication environment information is information extracted from the communication environment, which is used to reflect the characteristics of the communication environment, and has a one-to-one correspondence with the communication environment. In a possible implementation, the communication environment information mentioned in the present application includes but is not limited to at least one of the following: movement information (for example, the moving direction and speed of the terminal) of the terminal, position information (for example, the information of the longitude and latitude where the terminal is located, and the geographical environment information of the area where the terminal is located) of the terminal, attitude information of the terminal, shielding information (for example, the signal shielding situation of the location where the terminal is located) corresponding to the terminal, or interference information of the terminal, and the like.

[0117] That is, after the terminal determines the first beam set according to the first indication information, the second beam set is obtained based on the calculation rule / algorithm in combination with the communication environment information and the first beam set, and the beam quality prediction value or the beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the second beam set is determined.

[0118] For example, the total beam set corresponding to the transmission beam of the network device is {beam 0, beam 1, …, beam 23}. The network device indicates the first beam set {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8} to the terminal through the first indication information, and indicates the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set. Further, the network device obtains the second beam set based on the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set and the communication environment information, and the second beam set is {beam 1, beam 3, beam 5, beam 7}, and determines the beam quality prediction value and / or the beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0119] In a possible implementation, the terminal inputs the first beam set and the communication environment information into the first model to obtain the second beam set. It can be understood that the input of the first model includes the communication environment information and the first beam set (including the identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set and / or the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam), and the output of the first model is a beam set SetC (including the identification information of each predicted beam in SetC and / or the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in SetC). The second beam set mentioned in the present application is a non-empty subset of the SetC. For ease of understanding, in the scheme described in FIG. 4, only the case where the second beam set is the same as SetC is taken as an example for description, and should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application.

[0120] Exemplarily, the first indication information in S401 indicates the identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, the RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set, and the SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set. In this case, if the terminal inputs the identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, the RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set, and the communication environment information into the first model, the first model can output the identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, the RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, and / or the score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set. If the terminal inputs the identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, the SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set, and the communication environment information into the first model, the first model can output the identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, the SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, and / or the score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0121] It needs to be understood that the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set can be output by the first model or determined by other models, which is not limited in the present application. The beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the second beam set is obtained by the terminal measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0122] It also needs to be explained that the name of the first model is not limited in the present application, and the first model can also be called a prediction model, a reward model or an evaluation model, etc. The first model can be deployed on the terminal or on a device having a communication connection with the terminal.

[0123] It also needs to be explained that if all beams for communication between the network device and the terminal are recorded as a total beam set, the beam set mentioned in the present application, such as any one of the first beam set, the second beam set or SetA-SetC, is a non-empty subset of the total beam set. Taking the same SetC and the second beam set as an example, the relationship between the first beam set and the second beam set can be any one of the following relationships:

[0124] ①, the predicted beams contained in the first beam set and the predicted beams contained in the second beam set are the same, and the size order of each beam quality prediction value in the first beam set is the same as the size order of each beam quality prediction value in the second beam set.

[0125] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The second beam set obtained based on the first model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the second beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the second beam set obtained based on the first model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8.

[0126] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The second beam set obtained based on the first model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the second beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the second beam set obtained based on the first model, in descending order as beam 2, beam 4, beam 0, and beam 8.

[0127] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The second beam set obtained based on the first model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the second beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the second beam set obtained based on the first model, in descending order as beam 2, beam 4, beam 0, and beam 8.

[0128] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The second beam set obtained based on the first model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the second beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the second beam set obtained based on the first model, in descending order as beam 2, beam 4, beam 0, and beam 8.

[0129] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The second beam set obtained based on the first model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the second beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the second beam set obtained based on the first model, in descending order as beam 2, beam 4, beam 0, and beam 8.

[0130] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order as beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The second beam set obtained based on the first model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the second beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values of the predicted beams in the second beam set obtained based on the first model, in descending order as beam 2, beam 4, beam 0, and beam 8.

[0131] For example, the first beam set obtained based on the beam prediction model is {beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, beam 8}, and the predicted beams in the first beam set are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values obtained based on the beam prediction model, in descending order, beam 0, beam 2, beam 4, and beam 8. The predicted beams are sorted according to the beam quality prediction values obtained based on the first model, in descending order, beam 2, beam 4, beam 0, and beam 8. Further, the predicted beams corresponding to the top two beam quality prediction values output by the first model are combined to form a second beam set, and the second beam set is {beam 2, beam 4}.

[0132] To improve the accuracy of the second beam set obtained by the terminal, in a possible implementation, the terminal can obtain the second beam set in combination with the first measurement information in addition to the first beam set and the communication environment information. That is, the terminal obtains the second beam set based on the first beam set, the communication environment information, and the first measurement information.

[0133] The first measurement information has an association relationship with the first beam set. Optionally, the first measurement information is measurement information about a beam set SetD, and the SetD is a non-empty subset of the beams used to infer the first beam set. For example, the first beam set is a non-empty subset of SetA in S401, the SetD is a non-empty subset of SetB, and the first measurement information is measurement information of the terminal on each beam in SetD.

[0134] It should be noted that the first measurement information can be the same as the measurement information used when inferring SetA. For example, when the network device infers SetA based on the measurement information #1 corresponding to SetB, the terminal obtains the second beam set based on the first beam set, the communication environment information, and the measurement information #1 corresponding to SetB. The first measurement information can also be different from the measurement information used when inferring SetA. For example, when the network device infers SetA based on the measurement information #1 corresponding to SetB, the terminal obtains the second beam set based on the first beam set, the communication environment information, and the measurement information #2 corresponding to SetB. The measurement information #2 can be understood as updated measurement information of the terminal on the measurement information #1 corresponding to SetB.

[0135] S403, the terminal sends second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the second beam set.

[0136] Correspondingly, the network device receives the second indication information.

[0137] The second indication information includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set, or an SINR measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0138] It can be understood that after the terminal determines the second beam set according to the first beam set and the communication environment information, and determines the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set and / or the beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam, the terminal indicates one or more of the identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam, and / or the beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam to the network device through the second information.

[0139] After the network device receives the second indication information from the terminal, the network device determines a target beam from the second beam set and transmits data to the terminal through the target beam.

[0140] For example, the second indication information indicates that the second beam set is {beam 1, beam 3, beam 5, beam 7}, and the score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set is beam 1, beam 3, beam 5, and beam 7 in descending order. Further, the network device determines beam 1 as the target beam from the second beam set and transmits data to the terminal through beam 1.

[0141] Based on the method described in FIG. 4, after combining the communication environment in which the terminal is located and the first beam set to infer the second beam set, the network device determines the transmission beam for communication with the terminal from the second beam set. Compared with the method of directly determining the transmission beam from the first beam set without considering the communication environment information, the inference accuracy of the AI model (an AI model for inferring the first beam set) on the network device side can be compensated to some extent, which is beneficial to improve the performance of the transmission beam determined by the network device, thereby improving the communication performance of the communication system.

[0142] Referring to FIG. 5, the communication method shown in FIG. 5 includes steps S501-S503. It should be understood that the communication method described in FIG. 5 can be regarded as an application of the method described in FIG. 4 in the application scenario of channel state information (CSI) reporting. Wherein:

[0143] S501, the network device sends first indication information, the first indication information is used for configuring a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to a first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used for instructing the terminal to report a beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

[0144] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first indication information and determines the first beam set according to the first indication information.

[0145] That is, the network device configures, through the first indication information, reporting of the beam quality of the reference signal corresponding to which beams. The first indication information can indicate a resource set used for mapping the reference signals, or can indicate identification information of the beams / reference signals. Further, the terminal forms the first beam set by the beams indicated by the first indication information. The beam quality includes a beam quality prediction value and / or a beam quality measurement value.

[0146] In a possible example, the network device configures, through radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a resource set of the reference signal corresponding to the beam whose beam quality needs to be reported by the terminal, or configures identification information of the beams / reference signals that need to be measured by the terminal. The terminal determines the first beam set according to the RRC signaling, and the first beam set includes the beams indicated / associated by the RRC signaling. Further, the network device triggers / activates, through the first indication information, the terminal to measure the reference signal corresponding to each beam in the first beam set, or the network device triggers / activates, through the first indication information, the terminal to report the beam quality of the reference signal corresponding to each beam in the first beam set. The first indication information can be carried in downlink control information (DCI) or a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0147] In another possible example, in a case where the beams that need to be reported by the terminal in this configuration are different from the beams that need to be reported by the terminal in the last configuration, the network device indicates, through the first indication information, a resource set of the reference signal corresponding to the beams that need to be reported in this configuration to the terminal, or configures identification information of the beams / reference signals whose beam quality needs to be reported by the terminal. Further, the terminal determines the first beam set according to the first indication information, and measures, according to the first indication information, the reference signal corresponding to each beam in the first beam set, or reports, according to the first indication information, the beam quality of the reference signal corresponding to each beam in the first beam set. The first indication information can be carried in RRC reconfiguration signaling.

[0148] It should be noted that the specific manner in which the network device determines the first beam set can be referred to the related description in the foregoing S401, which will not be described here.

[0149] S502, the terminal obtains a second beam set based on the first beam set and the communication environment information.

[0150] The specific implementation of S502 can be referred to the description of the specific implementation of the foregoing S402, which will not be described here.

[0151] S503, the terminal sends second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate CSI corresponding to the second beam set.

[0152] Correspondingly, the network device receives the second indication information.

[0153] That is, after the terminal determines the second beam set, the terminal sends CSI to the network device, the CSI including at least one of cri corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, cri-RSRP corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or cri-SINR corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0154] Based on the method described in FIG. 5, in the application scenario of configuring CSI reporting, the second beam set is obtained by reasoning based on the communication environment in which the terminal is located and the first beam set. Further, the network device can determine the transmission beam for communication with the terminal from the second beam set. Compared with the manner of directly determining the transmission beam from the first beam set without considering the communication environment information, the reasoning accuracy of the AI model (used to reason the first beam set) on the network device side can be compensated to some extent, which is conducive to improving the performance of the transmission beam determined by the network device, thereby improving the communication performance of the communication system.

[0155] Please refer to FIG. 6, the communication method shown in FIG. 6 includes steps S601-S603. It should be understood that the communication method described in FIG. 6 can be regarded as an application of the method described in FIG. 4 in the application scenario corresponding to BM-case2 of time domain beam prediction. Wherein:

[0156] S601, the network device sends first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first beam set, the first beam set including n predicted beams at time T i n is a positive integer.

[0157] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the first indication information.

[0158] It should be noted that in the application scenario corresponding to BM-case2 of time domain beam prediction, the time at which the i th predicted beam output by the network device is recorded as T iT1 is an integer, and T1 < T2. The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i-1 The prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0 are obtained based on the initial beams. The initial beams are determined from at least one beam measured and reported by the terminal. It should be noted that the application does not limit the time of obtaining the initial beams. For example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal at least once before T1. For another example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal closest to T1 before T1. i-1 For details of the initial beams, please refer to the relevant description in S602 and S603, which will not be described here.

[0159] It should be noted that the prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the initial beams (denoted as the beam set reserved by the network device at T0). The initial beams are determined from at least one beam measured and reported by the terminal. It should be noted that the application does not limit the time of obtaining the initial beams. For example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal at least once before T1. For another example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal closest to T1 before T1.

[0160] The network device determines T i-1 The prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0 are obtained based on the initial beams. The initial beams are determined from at least one beam measured and reported by the terminal. It should be noted that the application does not limit the time of obtaining the initial beams. For example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal at least once before T1. For another example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal closest to T1 before T1. i-1 The prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0 are obtained based on the initial beams. The initial beams are determined from at least one beam measured and reported by the terminal. It should be noted that the application does not limit the time of obtaining the initial beams. For example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal at least once before T1. For another example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal closest to T1 before T1. i The prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0 are obtained based on the initial beams. The initial beams are determined from at least one beam measured and reported by the terminal. It should be noted that the application does not limit the time of obtaining the initial beams. For example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal at least once before T1. For another example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal closest to T1 before T1.

[0161] The prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0 are obtained based on the initial beams. The initial beams are determined from at least one beam measured and reported by the terminal. It should be noted that the application does not limit the time of obtaining the initial beams. For example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal at least once before T1. For another example, the initial beams can be the beam set corresponding to the beam quality measurement result reported by the terminal closest to T1 before T1. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i-1 The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i-1 The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i-1 The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i-1 The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i-1 The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0. i The prediction beams output by the network device at T1 are based on the prediction beams reserved by the network device at T0.

[0162] In one example, taking the total beam set corresponding to the sending beams of the network device as {beam 0, beam 1, …, beam 23} with P as 2 for example. At T0 time / period, the network device receives the terminal to measure the beam quality of each beam in the total beam set, wherein beam 17 is the beam with the largest beam quality measurement value in the total beam set. The network device determines beam 17 as the reserved beam at T0 time / period. At T1 time / period, the network device performs path extension on the beams at T0 time / period based on the beam quality measurement values of the reserved beams at T0 time / period, and obtains 2 predicted beams corresponding to T1 time / period: beam 17 and beam 16. In the case of reserving both beam 17 and beam 16 corresponding to T1 time / period, at T2 time / period, the network device performs path extension on the predicted beams reserved at T1 time / period based on the beam quality prediction values of each beam at T1 time / period, and obtains 4 predicted beams corresponding to T2 time / period, wherein the 2 predicted beams corresponding to T2 time / period of the reserved beam 17 at T1 time / period are beam 17 and beam 16, and the 2 predicted beams corresponding to T2 time / period of the reserved beam 16 at T1 time / period are beam 12 and beam 13. In the case of reserving beam 17, beam 16, beam 12 and beam 13 corresponding to T2 time / period, at T3 time / period, the network device performs path extension on the predicted beams at T2 time / period based on the beam quality prediction values of each beam reserved at T2 time / period, and obtains 8 predicted beams corresponding to T3 time / period, wherein the 2 predicted beams corresponding to T3 time / period of the reserved beam 17 at T2 time / period are beam 12 and beam 16, the 2 predicted beams corresponding to T3 time / period of the reserved beam 16 at T2 time / period are beam 17 and beam 16, the 2 predicted beams corresponding to T3 time / period of the reserved beam 12 at T2 time / period are beam 13 and beam 12, and the 2 predicted beams corresponding to T3 time / period of the reserved beam 13 at T2 time / period are beam 13 and beam 16.

[0163] In one possible implementation, the network device or the terminal maintains the predicted beam tree / beam list obtained by the reserved predicted beams at each time / period. For example, taking the above example, the network device or the terminal maintains the beam tree as shown in FIG. 7.

[0164] In one possible implementation 1 of S601, the first indication information only includes the first beam set at T i time / period.

[0165] In another possible implementation 2 of S601, in addition to including the first beam set at T i time / period, the first indication information also includes the first beam set at T i-1Predicted beams reserved at time instance / period, and T i First beam set at time instance / period and T i-1 Relationship between each predicted beam reserved at time instance / period. It can be understood that, T i-1 Each predicted beam reserved at time instance / period can be understood as the beam tree / beam list determined by the terminal and / or network device at T i-1 Branch reserved at time instance / period.

[0166] In other words, the embodiment 2 can also be understood as, in addition to indicating n predicted beams at T i Time instance / period, the first indication information also indicates the paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, wherein predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams at T i Time instance / period, the path corresponding to predicted beam #j includes predicted beam #j and the predicted beam at the time instance before T i Time instance / period. For example, in FIG. 7, beam 17 at T0 time instance / period, beam 17 at T1 time instance / period, beam 17 at T2 time instance / period, beam 17 at T 13 Time instance / period, beam 12 at T0 time instance / period, beam 16 at T1 time instance / period, beam 12 at T2 time instance / period, beam 12 at T 13 Time instance / period, beam 13 at T0 time instance / period, beam 16 at T1 time instance / period, beam 13 at T2 time instance / period, beam 13 at T

[0167] S602, the terminal obtains a second beam set based on the first beam set and the communication environment information, the second beam set including m1 predicted beams.

[0168] Wherein, the m1 predicted beams belong to the n predicted beams in the first beam set, and m1 is a positive integer. That is, the second beam set is a non-empty subset of the first beam set.

[0169] It needs to be understood that, in the beam management process in the time domain, T i The more the number of predicted beams reserved at T i+1 The more the number of predicted beams at T i+1 The higher the calculation complexity of T i+1 In order to reduce the calculation complexity of T i The terminal or network device can reduce the number of predicted beams at T i According to the first threshold, that is, reserve part of the predicted beams extended by the beam prediction model at T

[0170] The first threshold is a positive integer, and its value can be determined by the network device or agreed upon by the network device and the terminal. This application does not limit the specific value of the first threshold. The first threshold can be understood as the maximum number of branches allowed in the beam tree.

[0171] Execute T on the terminal side i When the number of predicted beams at any given time is reduced, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal as described in Implementation 1 of S601. Further, the terminal combines communication environment information and the first beam set to determine the path metric value of each predicted beam in the first beam set, and determines a second beam set from the first beam set based on each first threshold and / or the path metric value of each predicted beam in the first beam set. It is understood that this second beam set is T. i Predicted beams retained at specific times / periods.

[0172] in:

[0173] In one possibility ①, when the number of predicted beams n in the first beam set is less than or equal to the first threshold, the number of predicted beams m1 in the second beam set is equal to n, that is, the second beam set is the same as the first beam set.

[0174] Taking a first threshold value of 4 as an example. For instance, in Figure 7, the first beam set at time T1 / period is {beam 17, beam 16}, and the number of predicted beams is 2 (less than the first threshold). Therefore, the second beam set determined by the terminal at time T1 / period is {beam 17, beam 16}. As another example, in Figure 7, the first beam set at time T2 / period is {beam 17, beam 16, beam 12, beam 13}, and the number of predicted beams is 4 (equal to the first threshold). Therefore, the second beam set determined by the terminal at time T2 / period is {beam 17, beam 16, beam 12, beam 13}.

[0175] In one possibility ②, when n is greater than the first threshold, m1 equals the first threshold, meaning the second beam set is less than the first beam set. These m1 predicted beams are determined based on the path metrics corresponding to the n predicted beams. In another possible implementation, these m1 predicted beams are the predicted beams corresponding to the m1 largest path metrics among the n predicted beams.

[0176] For example, the first beam set of T3 moment / period in FIG. 7 is {beam 12, beam 16, beam 17, beam 16, beam 13, beam 12, beam 13, beam 16}, and the number of predicted beams is 8 (greater than the first threshold value). It needs to be understood that each predicted beam in the first beam set corresponds to a path, and the paths corresponding to the predicted beams in the first beam set include paths 0-7 as shown in FIG. 8. The terminal determines the path metric values of the predicted beams in the first beam set at T3 moment / period, or understands as determining the path metric values of the paths corresponding to the first beam set at T3 moment / period. If paths 0, 2, 4 and 6 are the four paths with the largest path metric values among the eight paths corresponding to the first beam set, the terminal determines to retain beam 12 corresponding to path 0, beam 17 corresponding to path 2, beam 13 corresponding to path 4 and beam 13 corresponding to path 6 at T3 moment / period, i.e., the number of predicted beams of the second beam set is 4, and the second beam set is {beam 12, beam 17, beam 13, beam 13}. In this case, the beam tree maintained by the network device / terminal is shown by the black solid line in FIG. 8.

[0177] It needs to be explained that the path metric values of the predicted beams mentioned in FIG. 6 can be associated with one or more of the score information of the predicted beams, the beam quality prediction value or the beam quality measurement value. For the description of the communication environment information, please refer to the related description of the communication environment information in FIG. 4, which will not be repeated here.

[0178] Optionally, the terminal inputs the first beam set and the communication environment information into the first model to obtain the path metric values of the predicted beams in the first beam set. Alternatively, the terminal inputs the first beam set and the communication environment information into the first model to obtain the second beam set.

[0179] In the case of reducing the number of predicted beams at T i moment, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal in the manner described in embodiment 2 of S601. The terminal determines the path metric values of the predicted beams in the first beam set at T i-1 moment in combination with the communication environment information, the second beam set at T i moment and the first beam set at T i moment. For example, the terminal determines the path metric values of the predicted beams in the first beam set at T iThe path metric value corresponding to the predicted beam #j in the first beam set at the time instant is determined according to the path corresponding to the predicted beam #j. Further, the terminal determines that the second beam set is the same as the first beam set, m1 is equal to n, and indicates the path metric values of the respective predicted beams in the second beam set to the network device through the second indication information.

[0180] In S603, the terminal sends second indication information, which indicates the second beam set and indicates the path metric values of the respective predicted beams in the second beam set.

[0181] In combination with the execution of the determination of T i In the case that the number of predicted beams at the time instant is reduced, the terminal sends second indication information to the network device, which indicates the second beam set and indicates the path metric values of the respective predicted beams in the second beam set. Subsequently, the network device can obtain T i+1 The first beam set at the time instant / period.

[0182] In combination with the execution of the determination of T i In the case that the number of predicted beams at the time instant is reduced, the terminal sends second indication information to the network device, which indicates the second beam set and indicates the path metric values of the respective predicted beams in the second beam set. Subsequently, the network device determines m2 predicted beams from the n predicted beams included in the second beam set based on the respective first threshold and / or the path metric values of the respective predicted beams in the second beam set. It can be understood that the m2 predicted beams are T i The predicted beams reserved at the time instant / period. Wherein:

[0183] In a possible scenario ①, when the number n of predicted beams in the second beam set is less than or equal to the first threshold, m2 is equal to n.

[0184] In a possible scenario ②, when the number n of predicted beams in the second beam set is greater than the first threshold, m2 is equal to the first threshold, and the m2 predicted beams are determined according to the path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively.

[0185] It should be noted that the description of m2 in possible scenarios ① and ② of S603 can refer to the description of m1 in possible scenarios ① and ② of S602, which will not be repeated here. Subsequently, the network device can obtain T i+1 The first beam set at the time instant / period.

[0186] Please refer to FIG. 9, the communication method shown in FIG. 9 includes steps S901-S905. Wherein:

[0187] S901, the network device sends a monitoring parameter.

[0188] Correspondingly, the terminal receives the monitoring parameter.

[0189] It should be noted that the monitoring parameter can be understood as a parameter for monitoring / management of the beam prediction model. The monitoring parameter includes one or more of a monitoring period, a key performance indicator (KPI), a measurement resource, and a reporting configuration. Among them:

[0190] The monitoring period can be understood as a period for monitoring / management of the beam prediction model, or a period for the terminal to report the beam quality (including the beam quality measurement value and / or the beam quality prediction value). Alternatively, when the monitoring parameter includes the monitoring period, the terminal periodically sends the beam quality to the network device according to the monitoring period, and the network device manages the beam prediction model based on the beam quality.

[0191] The monitoring KPI includes but is not limited to one or more of the following: ①, a measurement value of the beam prediction accuracy of the beam prediction model, a prediction value of the beam prediction accuracy, or a difference between the prediction value and the measurement value of the beam prediction accuracy; alternatively, the beam prediction accuracy of the beam prediction model includes the beam prediction accuracy of k beams output by the beam prediction model, wherein k is a positive integer, for example, the k beams are the top k beams with optimal beam quality output by the beam prediction model; ②, a statistical result of the data distribution input by the beam prediction model, a prediction result of the data distribution input by the beam prediction model, or a difference between the prediction result and the statistical result of the data distribution input by the beam prediction model; wherein the data distribution input by the beam prediction model includes a statistical function or a statistical value (such as a median or a mode, etc.) corresponding to the input data of the beam prediction model; ③, a statistical result of the data distribution output by the beam prediction model, a prediction result of the data distribution output by the beam prediction model, or a difference between the prediction result and the statistical result of the data distribution output by the beam prediction model; wherein the data distribution output by the beam prediction model includes a statistical function or a statistical value corresponding to the output data of the beam prediction model; ④, a prediction value of the throughput of the communication system, a measurement value of the throughput of the communication system, or a difference between the prediction value and the measurement value of the throughput of the communication system; ⑤, a beam quality measurement value of one or more beams by the terminal, a beam quality prediction value of one or more beams by the terminal, or a difference between the beam quality prediction value and the beam quality measurement value of the one or more beams obtained by the terminal; ⑥, a hypothetical BLER, a measurement value of the BLER, or a difference between the hypothetical BLER and the measurement value of the BLER.

[0192] The measurement resource can be understood as a resource for mapping the reference signal described in S902-S903, and a transmission period of the reference signal. In the communication method described in FIG. 9, a beam set containing all beams used to transmit the reference signal described in S903 is denoted as a third beam set, and the measurement resource can be understood as a resource for mapping the reference signal corresponding to each beam in the third beam set. It can be understood that the third beam set is a non-empty subset of the total beam set (including all beams used for communication between the network device and the terminal).

[0193] The reporting configuration can be understood as configuration information related to reporting the beam quality by the terminal to the network device. For example, the reporting configuration includes a resource that can be used to map the reporting content, or indication information used to indicate the reporting content, etc. The reporting content includes one or more of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the fourth beam set, a beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the fourth beam set, a beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the third beam set, and a monitoring KPI. The fourth beam set is a beam set obtained by the terminal through the first model based on the beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the third beam set and the communication environment information.

[0194] It should be noted that when the monitoring parameter does not include a monitoring period, it can be understood that the monitoring parameter includes a trigger condition, and if the trigger condition is met, S904 is triggered, i.e., the terminal reports the monitoring result. The trigger condition can be adaptively adjusted according to specific application scenarios, and the present application does not limit the trigger condition. For example, the trigger condition includes one or more of the following: a predicted value of the throughput of the communication system is less than or equal to a third threshold, a measured value of the throughput of the communication system is less than or equal to a fourth threshold, a difference between the predicted value and the measured value of the throughput of the communication system is greater than or equal to a fifth threshold, a measured value of the beam prediction accuracy of the beam prediction model is less than or equal to a sixth threshold, a predicted value of the beam prediction accuracy of the beam prediction model is less than or equal to a seventh threshold, a difference between the predicted value and the measured value of the beam prediction accuracy of the beam prediction model is greater than or equal to an eighth threshold, a hypothetical BLER is greater than or equal to a ninth threshold, a measured value of the BLER is greater than or equal to a tenth threshold, a difference between the hypothetical BLER and the measured value of the BLER is greater than or equal to an eleventh threshold.

[0195] It should be noted that the specific values of the thresholds mentioned in the present application (including the first threshold to the eleventh threshold) can be adaptively adjusted according to specific application scenarios, and the present application does not limit this.

[0196] S902, the network device transmits the reference signal based on the transmission period of the reference signal.

[0197] S903, the terminal measures the reference signal to obtain a measurement result.

[0198] The terminal receives the reference signal corresponding to the third beam set according to the transmission period of the reference signal, and measures the reference signal to obtain a beam quality measurement value of each beam in the third beam set. It needs to be declared that the third beam set can be the same as the first beam set, or different from the first beam set.

[0199] In a possible implementation, one monitoring period can contain one or more transmission periods of the reference signal, that is, the terminal measures the reference signal one or more times in one monitoring period. When the terminal measures multiple reference signals, the terminal retains the latest beam quality measurement value.

[0200] Optionally, the terminal infers the fourth beam set and a beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the fourth beam set through the first model based on the beam quality measurement value of each beam in the third beam set and the communication environment information.

[0201] That is, the measurement result includes the beam quality measurement value of each beam in the third beam set, and / or the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the fourth beam set.

[0202] S904, the terminal sends a monitoring result based on the measurement result and the monitoring parameter.

[0203] Correspondingly, the network device receives the monitoring result. The monitoring result includes one or more of the following: a monitoring KPI, identification information of each beam in the third beam set, a beam quality measurement value of each beam in the third beam set, identification information of each predicted beam in the fourth beam set, or a beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the fourth beam set.

[0204] For example, when the monitoring parameter includes a monitoring period, the terminal sends the monitoring result to the network device when the monitoring period arrives.

[0205] For another example, when the trigger condition for reporting the monitoring result is configured in the monitoring parameter, the terminal sends the monitoring result to the network device when the trigger condition is met.

[0206] S905, the network device manages the beam prediction model based on the monitoring result.

[0207] The network device manages the beam prediction model includes one or more of the following: model switching, model activation, model deactivation, model fallback, or using the monitoring result to correct the sequence inference. It should be understood that the process of managing the beam prediction model can also be understood as the LCM process. Next, the process of using the monitoring result to correct the sequence inference is exemplarily illustrated.

[0208] For example, as shown in (a) of FIG. 13, the terminal measures at least one transmission beam, and reports the beam quality measurement value of the at least one transmission beam (denoted as a beam set Set#t0) to the network device at time t0, and the network device sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t0. At time t0, the network device inputs Set#t0 to the beam prediction model to obtain Set#t1, and sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t1. At time t1, the network device inputs Set#t1 to the beam prediction model to obtain Set#t2, and sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t2. At time t2, the network device inputs Set#t2 to the beam prediction model to obtain Set#t3, and sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t3. At time t3, the network device inputs Set#t3 to the beam prediction model to obtain Set#t4, and sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t4. At time t4, the network device inputs Set#t4 to the beam prediction model to obtain Set#t5, and sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t5.

[0209] If the network device receives the monitoring result from the terminal after time t3 and before time t4 as shown in (b) of FIG. 13, the network device performs step S905 to replace Set#t4 with the monitoring result, that is, the network device inputs the monitoring result to the beam prediction model to obtain Set#t5', and sends data to the terminal according to the beams in Set#t5'.

[0210] It should be noted that in this example, only the input of the beam prediction model is the output of the beam prediction model at the previous time, which should not be regarded as a specific limitation of the present application. In one possibility, the input of the beam prediction model can also be the output of the beam prediction model at all previous times. For example, at t3, the input of the beam prediction model is Set#t0 obtained at t0, Set#t1 obtained at t1 and Set#t2 obtained at t2. In another possibility, the input of the beam prediction model can also be Set#t0 obtained at t0 and the output of the beam prediction model at the previous time. For example, at t3, the input of the beam prediction model is Set#t0 obtained at t0 and Set#t2 obtained at t2, and at t4, the input of the beam prediction model is Set#t0 obtained at t0 and Set#t3 obtained at t3.

[0211] Referring to FIG. 10, the communication method shown in FIG. 10 includes steps S1001-S1004. Among them:

[0212] S1001, the terminal sends third indication information, which indicates the first environment information.

[0213] It should be understood that the communication environment information mentioned in FIG. 4 is divided into first environment information and second environment information. Among them, the update period of the first environment information is greater than or equal to the second threshold, and the update period of the second environment information is less than the second threshold. Among them, the specific value of the second threshold can be adjusted according to the specific application scene, and the present application does not make any limitation.

[0214] It can be understood that the first environment information is environment information with a longer update period, or environment information that will not be updated for a longer period of time. For example, when the terminal remains stationary, the first environment information includes the terminal's location information and / or the terminal's movement information, etc. The second environment information is environment information with a shorter update period, or environment information that will be updated for a shorter period of time. For example, when the terminal moves, the second environment information includes the terminal's location information, the terminal's movement information, or the terminal's corresponding shielding information, etc.

[0215] That is, after the terminal obtains the communication environment information, the terminal reports the first environment information with a longer update period to the network device through the third indication information.

[0216] S1002, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal based on the first environment information, which is used to indicate the first beam set.

[0217] The network device determines the first beam set in combination with the first environment information, and sends the first indication information for indicating the first beam set to the terminal.

[0218] In a possible implementation 1, the terminal measures at least one sending beam and reports, to the network device, a beam quality measurement value of the at least one sending beam. A set of beams measured by the terminal is denoted as SetB. The network device inputs the beam quality measurement value of each beam in SetB into a beam prediction model, and infers a set of beams SetA and a beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in SetA. The network device inputs the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in SetA and the first environment information into a second model, and infers a first set of beams.

[0219] In another possible implementation 2, the terminal measures at least one sending beam and reports, to the network device, a beam quality measurement value of the at least one sending beam. A set of beams measured by the terminal is denoted as SetB. The network device inputs the beam quality measurement value of each beam in SetB and the first environment information into a beam prediction model, and infers a first set of beams.

[0220] It can be understood that the difference between the implementation 1 and the implementation 2 is that, in the implementation 1, the input of the beam prediction model does not include the first environment information, and the network device obtains the first set of beams by the second model in combination with the first environment information; and in the implementation 2, the input of the beam prediction model includes the first environment information, and the network device obtains the first set of beams by the beam prediction model in combination with the first environment information.

[0221] It should be noted that the name of the second model is not limited in the present application, and the second model can also be referred to as a prediction model, a reward model or an evaluation model.

[0222] S1003, the terminal obtains a second set of beams based on the first set of beams and second environment information.

[0223] After the terminal determines the first set of beams according to the first indication information, the terminal obtains a second set of beams based on a calculation rule / algorithms in combination with the second environment information and the first set of beams, and determines a beam quality prediction value or a beam quality measurement value of each predicted beam in the second set of beams.

[0224] The specific implementation of S1003 can refer to the description of the specific implementation of the foregoing S402, and the difference between S1003 and S402 is that the communication environment information of S402 is replaced with the second environment information.

[0225] S1004, the terminal sends second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the second set of beams.

[0226] Correspondingly, the network device receives the second indication information.

[0227] The specific implementation of S1004 can refer to the description of the specific implementation of the preceding S403, and details are not described herein.

[0228] Referring to FIG. 11, the communication method shown in FIG. 11 includes steps S1101-S1103. Among them:

[0229] S1101, the terminal sends fourth indication information, which indicates the model parameters and / or model structure of the first model.

[0230] It should be understood that in the case that the update period of the communication environment information is long or the communication environment information is not updated, the terminal obtains the first model based on the communication environment information. Further, the terminal reports the model parameters and / or model structure of the first model to the network device.

[0231] S1102, the network device determines the first beam set.

[0232] The specific manner in which the network device determines the first beam set can refer to the specific implementation of the network device determining the first beam set in the preceding S401, and details are not described herein.

[0233] S1103, the network device obtains the second beam set based on the model parameters and / or model structure of the first model and the first beam set.

[0234] After the network device receives the fourth indication information, the network device determines the first model according to the model parameters and / or model structure indicated by the fourth indication information. Further, after the network device determines the first beam set, the network device inputs the first beam set into the first model to obtain the second beam set. The input of the first model includes the first beam set and / or the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set, and the output of the first model includes the second beam set and / or the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0235] In the case that the beam prediction model is deployed on the terminal side, the present application provides a communication method as shown in FIG. 12. The communication method provided by FIG. 12 is further introduced as follows.

[0236] Referring to FIG. 12, the communication method shown in FIG. 12 includes steps S1201-S1204. Among them:

[0237] S1201, the network device and the terminal perform beam model alignment.

[0238] It should be noted that the beam model mentioned in the present application includes the mapping relationship (or understood as the corresponding relationship) between the beam features (such as beam direction) and the beam identifier. That is, the network device and the terminal reach a consensus on the beam corresponding to each beam identifier.

[0239] In a possible implementation, the network device indicates to the terminal a mapping relationship between the respective beam features and the respective beam identifiers, and the terminal performs beam model alignment with the network device according to the mapping relationship.

[0240] In another possible implementation, the terminal reports to the network device a mapping relationship between the respective beam features and the respective beam identifiers, and the network device performs beam model alignment with the terminal according to the mapping relationship. Optionally, in this possible implementation, the terminal can indicate the mapping relationship between the respective beam features and the respective beam identifiers to the terminal through capability reporting information.

[0241] S1202. The terminal determines a first beam set.

[0242] The specific implementation of the terminal determining the first beam set can be referred to the description of the specific implementation of the foregoing S401, S501, S601, or S902, and the difference is that the execution subject of S1202 is the terminal, for example, the first beam set and the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the first beam set are inferred by the beam prediction model deployed on the terminal.

[0243] S1203. The terminal obtains a second beam set based on the first beam set and the communication environment information.

[0244] The specific implementation of S1203 can be referred to the description of the specific implementation of the terminal determining the second beam set in the foregoing S402, and details are not described herein.

[0245] In a possible implementation, S1202 and S1203 are implemented by the same model. For example, the input of the model includes the beam quality measurement value of each beam in SetB and the communication environment information, and the output of the model includes the beam quality prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0246] S1204. The terminal sends second indication information, and the second indication information indicates the second beam set.

[0247] The specific implementation of S1204 can be referred to the description of the specific implementation of the foregoing S403, and details are not described herein.

[0248] It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the above device comprises hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is realized in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application of the technical solution and the design constraint conditions. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to realize the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0249] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of the terminal or network device according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The above integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or software functional module. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical functional division. Actual implementation can have another division manner.

[0250] Please refer to FIG. 14, which shows a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus 1400 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus shown in FIG. 14 can be a terminal, a device in the terminal, or a device capable of being used in matching with the terminal. The communication apparatus shown in FIG. 14 can comprise a communication unit 1401 and a processing unit 1402. The communication apparatus shown in FIG. 14 can be a network device, a device in the network device, or a device capable of being used in matching with the network device. The communication apparatus shown in FIG. 14 can comprise a communication unit 1401 and a processing unit 1402. Specifically, the processing unit 1402 is configured to process data, which can be data received by the communication unit 1401, and the processed data can also be transmitted by the communication unit 1401. The communication unit 1401 can be understood as a transceiver unit, comprising a receiving module and / or a transmitting module. The receiving module is configured to perform the receiving action of the device (i.e. the terminal or the network device) in any of the embodiments of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 and FIG. 9 to FIG. 12. The transmitting module is configured to perform the transmitting action of the device (i.e. the terminal or the network device) in any of the embodiments of FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 and FIG. 9 to FIG. 12.

[0251] In an embodiment, the communication apparatus 1400 is a terminal, a device in the terminal (for example, a chip or a chip system in the terminal), or a device capable of being used in matching with the terminal, wherein:

[0252] The communication unit 1401 is configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first beam set; the processing unit 1402 is configured to obtain a second beam set based on the first beam set and communication environment information, the communication environment information being used to indicate a communication environment of the terminal; and the communication unit 1401 is further configured to send second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate the second beam set.

[0253] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 1402 is specifically configured to input the first beam set and the communication environment information into a first model, and output the second beam set.

[0254] In a possible implementation, the processing unit 1402 is specifically configured to obtain the second beam set based on the first beam set, the communication environment information and first measurement information, the first measurement information having an association relationship with the first beam set.

[0255] In a possible implementation, the first beam set includes n predicted beams at a time T, the n being an integer; and the second beam set includes m1 predicted beams, the m1 predicted beams belonging to the n predicted beams, the m1 being a positive integer. i In a possible implementation, the n is greater than a first threshold value, the m1 is equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or the n is less than or equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 is equal to the n.

[0256] In a possible implementation, the n is greater than a first threshold value, the m1 is equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or the n is less than or equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 is equal to the n.

[0257] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, wherein a predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams, and a path corresponding to the predicted beam #j includes the predicted beam #j and a predicted beam at a time before the time T; the m1 is equal to the n; and the second indication information is further used to indicate path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, a path metric value corresponding to the predicted beam #j being determined according to the path corresponding to the predicted beam #j. i

[0258] In a possible implementation, the communication environment information includes at least one of the following: movement information of the terminal, position information of the terminal, attitude information of the terminal, occlusion information corresponding to the terminal, or interference information of the terminal.

[0259] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to configure a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report a beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

[0260] ​In a possible implementation, the second indication information is used for indicating channel state information, CSI, corresponding to the second beam set.

[0261] The CSI includes at least one of the following: channel state information reference signal resource indication, cri, corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, channel state information reference signal resource indication-reference signal received power, cri-RSRP, corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or channel state information reference signal resource indication-signal to interference noise ratio, cri-SINR, corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0262] In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, predicted reference signal received power, RSRP, of each predicted beam in the first beam set, or predicted signal to interference noise ratio, SINR, of each predicted beam in the first beam set.

[0263] In a possible implementation, the second indication information further includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, an RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set, or an SINR measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0264] For more detailed description of the communication unit 1401 and the processing unit 1402, refer to the related description of the terminal in the method embodiments shown in FIGS. 4-6 and FIGS. 9-12.

[0265] In an embodiment, the communication apparatus 1400 is a network device, a device in a network device, or a device capable of being used with a network device.

[0266] The communication unit 1401 is configured to send first indication information, the first indication information being used for indicating a first beam set; and the communication unit 1401 is further configured to receive second indication information, the second indication information being used for indicating a second beam set, the second beam set being determined based on the first beam set and communication environment information, the communication environment information being used for indicating a communication environment of the terminal.

[0267] In a possible implementation, the second beam set is determined according to the first beam set, the communication environment information, and first measurement information, the first measurement information having an association relationship with the first beam set.

[0268] In a possible implementation, the first beam set includes T i n predicted beams at the time T, where n is an integer; the second beam set includes m1 predicted beams, where the m1 predicted beams belong to the n predicted beams, and m1 is a positive integer.

[0269] In a possible implementation, n is greater than a first threshold, m1 is equal to the first threshold, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or n is less than or equal to the first threshold, and m1 is equal to n.

[0270] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is further used to indicate paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, where predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams, and the path corresponding to the predicted beam #j includes the predicted beam #j and a predicted beam at a time before the time T; m1 is equal to n; and the second indication information is further used to indicate path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, where the path metric value corresponding to the predicted beam #j is determined according to the path corresponding to the predicted beam #j. i

[0271] In a possible implementation, n is greater than a first threshold, and the processing unit 1402 is configured to determine m2 predicted beams from the n predicted beams according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, where m2 is equal to the first threshold.

[0272] In a possible implementation, the communication environment information includes at least one of the following: movement information of the terminal, position information of the terminal, attitude information of the terminal, blocking information corresponding to the terminal, or interference information of the terminal.

[0273] In a possible implementation, the first indication information is used to configure a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report a beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

[0274] In a possible implementation, the second indication information is used to indicate channel state information (CSI) corresponding to the second beam set; and the CSI includes at least one of the following: channel state information reference signal resource indication (cri) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, channel state information reference signal resource indication-reference signal received power (cri-RSRP) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or channel state information reference signal resource indication-signal interference noise ratio (cri-SINR) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0275] ​In a possible implementation, the first indication information includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, a predicted reference signal received power (RSRP) of each predicted beam in the first beam set, or a predicted signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) of each predicted beam in the first beam set.

[0276] In a possible implementation, the second indication information further includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, a predicted RSRP of each predicted beam in the second beam set, a predicted SINR of each predicted beam in the second beam set, a measured RSRP of each predicted beam in the second beam set, or a measured SINR of each predicted beam in the second beam set.

[0277] For more details of the communication unit 1401 and the processing unit 1402, refer to the descriptions of the network device in the method embodiments of FIGS. 4-6 and FIGS. 9-12.

[0278] In a possible implementation, when the communication apparatus 1400 is a chip, the communication unit 1401 can be a communication interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc. The communication interface can be configured to input data to be processed to the processor, and output the processing result of the processor to outside. In practice, the communication interface can be a general purpose input output (GPIO) interface, and can be connected with a plurality of peripheral devices (such as a display (LCD), a camera, a radio frequency (RF) module, an antenna, etc.). The communication interface is connected with the processor through a bus.

[0279] The processing unit 1402 can be a processor that can execute computer-executed instructions stored in the storage module to cause the chip to perform the methods described in any of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 4-6, 9-12. Further, the processor can include a controller, an arithmetic unit, and a register. Illustratively, the controller is mainly responsible for instruction decoding and sending control signals for corresponding operations of the instructions. The arithmetic unit is mainly responsible for performing fixed-point or floating-point arithmetic operations, shift operations, and logic operations, etc., and can also perform address operations and conversion. The register is mainly responsible for saving the register operands and intermediate operation results temporarily stored in the process of instruction execution, etc. In a specific implementation, the hardware architecture of the processor can be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) architecture, a microprocessor without interlocked piped stages architecture (MIPS) architecture, an advanced RISC machines (ARM) architecture, or a network processor (NP) architecture, etc. The processor can be single-core or multi-core. The storage module can be a storage module within the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc. The storage module can also be a storage module located outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM), etc.

[0280] It should be noted that the functions of the processor and the interface correspondingly can be implemented by hardware design, by software design, or by a combination of software and hardware, which is not limited here.

[0281] FIG. 15 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. It can be understood that the communication apparatus 1500 includes necessary means such as modules, units, elements, circuits, or interfaces, which are properly configured together to execute the present solution. The communication apparatus 1500 can be the terminal or the network device described above, or can be a component (such as a chip) of these devices, to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments.

[0282] In a possible design, as shown in FIG. 15, the communication apparatus 1500 includes a processor 1510 and an interface circuit 1520. The processor 1510 and the interface circuit 1520 are coupled to each other.

[0283] Optionally, one or more processors 1510 can be included in the communication device 1500. The processor 1510 can be a general processor or a special purpose processor, etc. For example, it can be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit can be used to control the communication device (e.g., a terminal device, a network device, or a chip), execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

[0284] It can be understood that the interface circuit 1520 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. When the communication device 1500 is a terminal or a network device, the interface circuit 1520 is a transceiver, including a transmitter and / or a receiver. The transmitter can be referred to as a sending unit, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc., for implementing a sending function, and the receiver can be referred to as a receiving unit, a receiver, or a receiving circuit, etc., for implementing a receiving function. When the communication device 1500 is a chip in a terminal or a network device, the interface circuit 1520 is an input / output interface of the chip. Optionally, the communication device 1500 can also include an antenna (not shown in the figure), and the interface circuit 1520 can also be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver, a transceiving circuit, or a transceiver, etc., for implementing the transceiving function of the communication device through the antenna.

[0285] Optionally, the communication device 1500 can also include a memory 1530 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1510 or storing input data required by the processor 1510 to run the instructions or storing data generated after the processor 1510 runs the instructions. Optionally, the processor 1510 and the memory 1530 can be separately arranged or integrated together.

[0286] When the communication device 1500 is used to implement the method shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 7, the processor 1510 is used to implement the functions of the processing unit 1402, and the interface circuit 1520 is used to implement the functions of the communication unit 1401.

[0287] When the above communication device is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. The terminal chip receives information from a network device, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal and then being sent to the terminal chip by the modules. The terminal chip sends information to the network device, which can be understood as the information being first sent to other modules (e.g., a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal and then being sent to the network device by the modules.

[0288] When the communication device is a chip applied to a network device, the network device chip implements the functions of the network device in the method embodiments. The network device chip receives information from a terminal, which can be understood as the information being received by other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device first, and then being sent to the network device chip by the modules. The network device chip sends information to the terminal, which can be understood as the information being sent to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network device first, and then being sent to the terminal by the modules.

[0289] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed, the computer executes the method according to any one of the embodiments of any one of the methods shown in FIGS. 4-6 and 9-12.

[0290] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which includes computer program codes. When the computer program codes are run by a computer, the computer executes the method according to any one of the embodiments of any one of the methods shown in FIGS. 4-6 and 9-12.

[0291] In the present application, the sending of information from entity A to entity B can be direct sending from A to B, or indirect sending from A to B through other entities. Similarly, the receiving of information from entity A by entity B can be direct receiving of the information sent by entity A, or indirect receiving of the information sent by entity A through other entities. The entities A and B can be RAN nodes or terminals, or modules in the RAN nodes or terminals. The sending and receiving of information can be information interaction between RAN nodes and terminals, for example, information interaction between a base station and a terminal. The sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between two RAN nodes, for example, information interaction between a CU and a DU. The sending and receiving of information can also be information interaction between different modules in one device, for example, information interaction between a terminal chip and other modules in the terminal, or information interaction between a base station chip and other modules in the base station.

[0292] It is to be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be a central processing unit (CPU), and can also be other general-purpose processors, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0293] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions executable by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, an erasable programmable read-only memory, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, a register, a hard disk, a mobile hard disk, a CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor, so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and the storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the base station or the terminal.

[0294] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment or other programmable apparatus. The computer programs or instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transferred from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer programs or instructions can be transferred from one website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center through wired or wireless manner. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center and the like integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disc; and a semiconductor medium, such as a solid state disk. The computer readable storage medium can be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or can include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0295] Reference to "embodiments" in this document means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are they necessarily mutually exclusive of one another. It is expressly understood that the embodiments described herein are merely examples from a multitude of possible embodiments.

[0296] In various embodiments of the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be mutually referred to if there is no special description and logical conflict. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0297] In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of the present application, the character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it; in the formulas of the present application, the character " / " represents a "division" relationship between the associated objects before and after it. "Including at least one of A, B and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0298] The terms "first" and "second" and the like in the description, claims, and drawings of the present application are used to distinguish different objects, and are not used to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of operations or units is not limited to the listed operations or units, but can optionally include operations or units not listed, or can optionally include other operations or units inherent to the process, method, product, or device.

[0299] In the present application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as the destination of the information being XX, which can include direct transmission through the air interface, or indirect transmission through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as the source of the information being YY, which can include direct reception from YY through the air interface, or indirect reception from YY through the air interface from other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within a device through a bus, wire or interface. It can be understood that the information between the source and the destination of the information transmission may be necessary processing, such as encoding and modulation, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be similarly understood and will not be repeated.

[0300] The "indication" in this application can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by certain information (indication information described below) is referred to as to-be-indicated information. In the implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or the index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part of the to-be-indicated information, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of a specific information can be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, protocol predefined), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The specific manner of indication is not limited in this application. It can be understood that, for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the to-be-indicated information, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the to-be-indicated information.

[0301] It can be understood that the various numerical numbers involved in the embodiments of the present application are only for convenient differentiation, and do not limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. The size of the serial number of the above processes does not mean the execution order, and the execution order of the processes should be determined according to its function and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: receiving first indication information, the first indication information being used for indicating a first beam set; obtaining a second beam set based on the first beam set and communication environment information, the communication environment information being used for indicating a communication environment of a terminal; sending second indication information, the second indication information being used for indicating the second beam set.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The obtaining of the second beam set based on the first beam set and the communication environment information comprises: inputting the first beam set and the communication environment information into a first model, and outputting the second beam set.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein, The obtaining of the second beam set based on the first beam set and the communication environment information comprises: obtaining the second beam set based on the first beam set, the communication environment information and first measurement information, the first measurement information having an association relationship with the first beam set.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein: The first beam set includes T i n predicted beams at the moment, n being an integer; the second beam set comprises m1 predicted beams, the m1 predicted beams belonging to the n predicted beams, and the m1 being a positive integer.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein: the n is greater than a first threshold value, the m1 is equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or, the n is less than or equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 is equal to the n.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein: The first indication information is also used for indicating paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, wherein predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams, and the predicted beam #j corresponding path includes the predicted beam #j and a predicted beam at a time point before the T i time point. the m1 is equal to the n; the second indication information is further used for indicating path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, and a path metric value corresponding to the predicted beam #j is determined according to a path corresponding to the predicted beam #j.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The communication environment information comprises at least one of the following: movement information of the terminal, position information of the terminal, attitude information of the terminal, occlusion information corresponding to the terminal or interference information of the terminal.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The first indication information is used for indicating a first beam set, comprising: the first indication information is used for configuring a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used for instructing the terminal to report beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The second indication information is used for indicating the second beam set, comprising: the second indication information is used for indicating channel state information (CSI) corresponding to the second beam set; wherein the CSI comprises at least one of the following: channel state information reference signal resource indication (cri) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, channel state information reference signal resource indication-reference signal received power (cri-RSRP) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or channel state information reference signal resource indication-signal to interference plus noise ratio (cri-SINR) corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The first indication information comprises at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, a predicted reference signal receiving power (RSRP) of each predicted beam in the first beam set, or a predicted signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) of each predicted beam in the first beam set.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The second indication information further comprises at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, a predicted RSRP of each predicted beam in the second beam set, a predicted SINR of each predicted beam in the second beam set, a measured RSRP of each predicted beam in the second beam set, or a measured SINR of each predicted beam in the second beam set.

12. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: sending first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate a first beam set; receiving second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate a second beam set, the second beam set being determined based on the first beam set and communication environment information, the communication environment information being used to indicate a communication environment of a terminal.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The second beam set is determined according to the first beam set, the communication environment information, and first measurement information, the first measurement information having an association relationship with the first beam set.

14. The method of claim 12 or claim 13, wherein: The first beam set includes T i n predicted beams at the time, n being an integer; The second beam set comprises m1 predicted beams, the m1 predicted beams belonging to the n predicted beams, the m1 being a positive integer.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein: The n is greater than a first threshold value, the m1 is equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 predicted beams are determined according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively; or, the n is less than or equal to the first threshold value, and the m1 is equal to the n.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein: The first indication information is also used for indicating paths corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, wherein predicted beam #j is one of the n predicted beams, and the predicted beam #j corresponding path includes the predicted beam #j and a predicted beam at a time point before the T i time point. The m1 is equal to the n. The second indication information is further used to indicate path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, and a path metric value corresponding to the predicted beam #j is determined according to a path corresponding to the predicted beam #j.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, The n is greater than a first threshold value, and the method further comprises: determining m2 predicted beams from the n predicted beams according to path metric values corresponding to the n predicted beams respectively, the m2 being equal to the first threshold value.

18. The method of any one of claims 12-17, wherein, The communication environment information comprises at least one of the following: movement information of the terminal, position information of the terminal, attitude information of the terminal, occlusion information corresponding to the terminal, or interference information of the terminal.

19. The method of any one of claims 12-18, wherein, The first indication information is used to indicate a first beam set, comprising: The first indication information is used to configure a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the first beam set, and / or the first indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report beam quality corresponding to the first beam set.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, The second indication information is used to indicate the second beam set, comprising: The second indication information is used to configure a resource set of a reference signal corresponding to the second beam set, and / or the second indication information is used to instruct the terminal to report beam quality corresponding to the second beam set. The second indication information is used for indicating channel state information, CSI, corresponding to the second beam set. The CSI includes at least one of the following: channel state information reference signal resource indication, cri, corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, channel state information reference signal resource indication-reference signal received power, cri-RSRP, corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set, or channel state information reference signal resource indication-signal to interference noise ratio, cri-SINR, corresponding to each predicted beam in the second beam set.

21. The method of any one of claims 12-20, wherein, The first indication information includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the first beam set, predicted reference signal received power, RSRP, of each predicted beam in the first beam set, or predicted signal to interference noise ratio, SINR, of each predicted beam in the first beam set.

22. The method of any one of claims 12-21, wherein, The second indication information further includes at least one of the following: identification information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, score information of each predicted beam in the second beam set, RSRP prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, SINR prediction value of each predicted beam in the second beam set, RSRP measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set, or SINR measurement value obtained by measuring each predicted beam in the second beam set.

23. A communications device, characterized by The communication device further includes an interface circuit and / or a memory.

24. A communications device, characterized by The communication device is a chip or a chip system.

25. The communication apparatus according to claim 24, wherein, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by the communication device, implement the method according to any one of claims 1-22.

26. The communication apparatus according to claim 24 or 25, wherein, The computer program product includes instructions, which, when executed by the communication device, implement the method according to any one of claims 1-22.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, ​ 28. A computer program product, characterised in that, ​

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