Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, relating to the technical field of communications. The method comprises: measuring B reference signals to obtain a measurement report, wherein B is a positive integer, the B reference signals include L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states, R is a positive integer, L is a positive integer, the measurement report comprises first information, and the first information is used for determining a signal quality relationship of some or all of the L reference signals; and sending the measurement report. A network device can determine, on the basis of the first information, the quality of a beam corresponding to a currently activated TCI state, thereby determining whether to update the activated TCI state, or determining an updated activated TCI state. Therefore, by means of the first information, the solution can effectively assist the network device in updating the activated TCI state.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202411401174.9, filed on September 30, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and 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 more particularly, to a communication method and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] In data transmission, both the network device and the terminal device adopt correct beams, so as to achieve correct transmission. For example, in downlink transmission, the network device can indicate the downlink transmission beam adopted by the network device to the terminal device. The downlink transmission beam can be indicated by a corresponding transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state. For example, the network device can configure multiple TCI states for the terminal device through signaling. After the network device configures multiple TCI states, the network device can activate 8 TCI states among them through a media / medium access control control element (MAC CE or MAC-CE).

[0004] However, how to assist the network device to update the activated TCI state is a problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus, which can effectively assist the network device to update the activated TCI state by making the network device obtain the quality size relationship of part or all of the signals in the activated reference signal.

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The execution subject of the method provided in the first aspect can be a first apparatus. In the absence of special description, the first apparatus in the present application can refer to the terminal device itself, or a component (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) in the terminal device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the terminal device. For ease of description, the terminal device is taken as an example for description hereinafter.

[0007] For example, the chip can be a Modem chip, also known as a baseband chip. For another example, the chip can be a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip including a modem core.

[0008] The method comprises: measuring B reference signals to obtain a measurement report, B being a positive integer, the B reference signals including L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, R being a positive integer, L being a positive integer, wherein the measurement report includes first information used to determine a signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals; and sending the measurement report.

[0009] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can indicate, through the first information, a quality size relationship of part or all of the reference signals associated with the currently activated TCI states. In this way, the network device can determine, according to the first information, a quality situation of the beams corresponding to the currently activated TCI states, and thus determine whether to update the activated TCI states or the updated activated TCI states. Therefore, the above scheme can effectively assist the network device to update the activated TCI states through the first information.

[0010] In some implementations, the first information used to determine the signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals comprises: the first information used to determine a reference signal of which the signal quality is greater than or equal to a signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals, the first reference signal being a reference signal ranked in an Mth position in terms of signal quality among the L reference signals, M being a positive integer less than or equal to L.

[0011] Based on the above scheme, the first information can indicate reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states, so that the network device can determine reference signals with better quality, thereby further effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI states.

[0012] In some implementations, the first information includes X bits, X being a positive integer, wherein the first information used to determine a reference signal of which the signal quality is greater than or equal to a signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals comprises: a first bit in the X bits used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal among the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0013] Based on the above scheme, the first information can indicate whether part or all of the L reference signals are in the first M reference signals in the reference signals associated with the activated TCI state, thereby effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI state with less overhead.

[0014] In some implementations, the first bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal in the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal corresponding to the first code point of the TCI state is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal; or, the R TCI states include T different TCI states, the first bit is used to indicate whether the at least one reference signal associated with one TCI state in the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, T is a positive integer less than or equal to R; or, the L reference signals include V different reference signals, the first bit is used to indicate whether one reference signal in the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, V is a positive integer less than or equal to L.

[0015] In some implementations, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, and the first code point is the xth code point in the X code points of the first signaling; or, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, and the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is the xth TCI state in the R TCI states, R=X; or, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, and the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is the xth reference signal in the L reference signals, L=X; or, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, and the xth bit corresponds to the xth TCI state in the T different TCI states, T=X; or, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, and the xth bit corresponds to the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals, V=X; where x is a positive integer less than or equal to X.

[0016] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine the reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals, including: the first information is used to indicate a first index, the first index being a reference signal index of the reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals, or the first information is used to indicate a second index, the second index being a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with the reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals, or the first information is used to indicate a third index, the third index being a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to the reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals.

[0017] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can indicate the reference signal whose signal quality ranks in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI state through the first information, thereby effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI state with less overhead.

[0018] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine the reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals, including: the first information is used to indicate a fourth index, the fourth index being a reference signal index of the reference signal whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals, or the first information is used to indicate a fifth index, the fifth index being a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with the reference signal whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals, or the first information is used to indicate a sixth index, the sixth index being a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to the reference signal whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals.

[0019] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can indicate the reference signal whose signal quality ranks in the last L-M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI state through the first information, thereby effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI state with less overhead.

[0020] In some implementations, in the case that M is less than or equal to Q, the first information is used to indicate the first index, or the second index, or the third index; or in the case that M is greater than or equal to Q, the first information is used to indicate the fourth index, or the fifth index, or the sixth index; wherein Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0021] Based on the above scheme, in a case that the number of reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states is small, the terminal device can indicate the reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states by the first information. In a case that the number of reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states is large, the terminal device can indicate the reference signals ranked in the last L-M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states by the first information. The terminal device can flexibly select a manner with small transmission overhead to assist the network device to update the activated TCI states.

[0022] In some implementations, Q=4, or Q is half of the number of code points in the first signaling, or Q is half of the number of different TCI states in the R TCI states, or Q is half of the number of different reference signals in the L reference signals.

[0023] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine, among the L reference signals, a reference signal with a signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including: the first information is used to indicate indexes of the L reference signals, and the indexes of the L reference signals are arranged in an order of the signal quality of the L reference signals from high to low or from low to high.

[0024] Based on the above scheme, the first information can indicate indexes of the L reference signals arranged in an order of the signal quality of the L reference signals. The first information can provide the network device with more quality size relationships of the reference signals, thereby better assisting the network device to update the activated TCI states.

[0025] In some implementations, the measurement report further includes at least one of: an index of the first reference signal; a signal quality of the first reference signal; indexes of the A reference signals; or, signal qualities of the A reference signals; wherein the B reference signals include the A reference signals, and A is a positive integer.

[0026] In some implementations, the indexes of the L reference signals include reference signal indexes or TCI state indexes of the L reference signals, and the index of the first reference signal includes a reference signal index or a TCI state index of the first reference signal; wherein the L reference signals include V different reference signals, and the reference signal indexes are ordinal position indexes of the V different reference signals; and / or, the R TCI states include T different TCI states, and the TCI state indexes are ordinal position indexes of the T different TCI states.

[0027] Based on the above scheme, the reference signal index can be a serial position index of the V different reference signals. In this way, the same reference signal can use the same reference signal index, thereby being able to reduce the total number of reference signal indexes. Reducing the total number of reference signal indexes can reduce the number of bits occupied by the reference signal index, thereby reducing the overhead of transmitting the index and the overhead of processing the index. The beneficial effects brought by the TCI state index are described above, and will not be described again.

[0028] In some implementations, the method further includes receiving the first signaling, the first signaling being used to activate the R TCI states, the first signaling including at least one codepoint, one of the at least one codepoint corresponding to at least one of the R TCI states.

[0029] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided. The execution subject of the method provided in the second aspect can be a second device. In the absence of special description, the second device in the present application can refer to a network device, or a component (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) in the network device, or a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the network device functions. For ease of description, the network device is taken as an example for description hereinafter.

[0030] The method includes receiving a measurement report, the measurement report being obtained by measuring B reference signals, B being a positive integer, the B reference signals including L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication, TCI, states, R being a positive integer, L being a positive integer, wherein the measurement report includes first information, the first information being used to determine a signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals.

[0031] In some implementations, the method further includes sending first signaling, the first signaling being used to activate the R TCI states, the first signaling including at least one codepoint, one of the at least one codepoint corresponding to at least one of the R TCI states.

[0032] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, including processing circuitry (or a processor) and an input and output interface (also referred to as an interface circuit), the input and output interface being configured to input and / or output signals, and the processing circuitry being configured to perform the first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, or the processing circuitry being configured to perform the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect.

[0033] In some implementations, the processing circuitry is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and perform the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, or perform the second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The communication apparatus can include means, units, or modules for performing the functions of the communication apparatus.

[0035] In some implementations, the communication apparatus can include a module, unit, or means for performing the method / operation / step / action described in the first aspect and each possible implementation of the first aspect one-to-one, which can be hardware circuit, software, or a combination of hardware circuit and software.

[0036] In some implementations, the communication apparatus includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit. The processing unit is configured to measure B reference signals to obtain a measurement report, B is a positive integer, the B reference signals include L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, R is a positive integer, and L is a positive integer. The measurement report includes first information used to determine a signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals. The transceiver unit is configured to transmit the measurement report.

[0037] In some implementations, the first information used to determine the signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals includes the first information used to determine a reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to a signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals. The first reference signal is a reference signal ranked in an Mth position in terms of signal quality among the L reference signals, and M is a positive integer less than or equal to L.

[0038] In some implementations, the first information includes X bits, X is a positive integer, and the first information used to determine a reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to a signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals includes a first bit in the X bits used to indicate whether a signal quality of at least one reference signal among the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0039] In some implementations, the first bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal of the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal; or, the R TCI states include T different TCI states, the first bit is used to indicate whether the at least one reference signal associated with one TCI state of the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, T being a positive integer less than or equal to R; or, the L reference signals include V different reference signals, the first bit is used to indicate whether one reference signal of the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, V being a positive integer less than or equal to L.

[0040] In some implementations, the first bit is the xth bit of the X bits, the first codepoint is the xth codepoint of the X codepoints of the first signaling; or, the first bit is the xth bit of the X bits, the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is the xth TCI state of the R TCI states, R=X; or, the first bit is the xth bit of the X bits, the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is the xth reference signal of the L reference signals, L=X; or, the first bit is the xth bit of the X bits, the xth bit corresponds to the xth TCI state of the T different TCI states, T=X; or, the first bit is the xth bit of the X bits, the xth bit corresponds to the xth reference signal of the V different reference signals, V=X; where x is a positive integer less than or equal to X.

[0041] In some implementations, the first information is used to determine the reference signal of the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including: the first information is used to indicate a first index, the first index being a reference signal index of the reference signal of the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal; or, the first information is used to indicate a second index, the second index being a TCI state index of the TCI state associated with the reference signal of the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal; or, the first information is used to indicate a third index, the third index being a codepoint index of the codepoint corresponding to the reference signal of the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0042] In some embodiments, the first information is used to determine the reference signal(s) with signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal from the L reference signals, including: the first information is used to indicate a fourth index, the fourth index being a reference signal index of the reference signal(s) with signal quality less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal from the L reference signals, or the first information is used to indicate a fifth index, the fifth index being a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with the reference signal(s) with signal quality less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal from the L reference signals, or the first information is used to indicate a sixth index, the sixth index being a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to the reference signal(s) with signal quality less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal from the L reference signals.

[0043] In some embodiments, the first information is used to indicate the first index, or the second index, or the third index, when M is less than or equal to Q, or the first information is used to indicate the fourth index, or the fifth index, or the sixth index, when M is greater than or equal to Q, where Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0044] In some embodiments, Q = 4, or Q is half of the number of codepoints in the first signaling, or Q is half of the number of different TCI states in the R TCI states, or Q is half of the number of different reference signals in the L reference signals.

[0045] In some embodiments, the first information is used to determine the reference signal(s) with signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal from the L reference signals, including: the first information is used to indicate the index of the L reference signals, the order of the index of the L reference signals being arranged in descending order or ascending order of the signal quality of the L reference signals.

[0046] In some embodiments, the measurement report further includes at least one of: the index of the first reference signal; the signal quality of the first reference signal; the index of the A reference signals; or the signal quality of the A reference signals; where the B reference signals include the A reference signals, and A is a positive integer.

[0047] In some embodiments, the index of the L reference signals includes a reference signal index or a TCI state index of the L reference signals, and the index of the first reference signal includes a reference signal index or a TCI state index of the first reference signal; where the L reference signals include V different reference signals, and the reference signal index is a ordinal position index of the V different reference signals; and / or, the R TCI states include T different TCI states, and the TCI state index is a ordinal position index of the T different TCI states.

[0048] In some embodiments, the transceiver is further configured to receive the first signaling for activating the R TCI states, the first signaling comprising at least one codepoint, one of the at least one codepoint corresponding to at least one of the R TCI states.

[0049] In some embodiments, the communication apparatus can comprise modules, units, or means corresponding to the method / operations / steps / actions described in the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect, which can be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software.

[0050] In some embodiments, the communication apparatus comprises a transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive a measurement report, the measurement report being obtained by measuring B reference signals, B being a positive integer, the B reference signals comprising L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication, TCI, states, R being a positive integer, L being a positive integer, wherein the measurement report comprises first information for determining a size relationship of signal quality of part or all of the L reference signals.

[0051] In some embodiments, the transceiver is further configured to send first signaling for activating the R TCI states, the first signaling comprising at least one codepoint, one of the at least one codepoint corresponding to at least one of the R TCI states.

[0052] In a fifth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or the instructions are executed, cause the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect to be performed (or implemented), or cause the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect to be performed (or implemented).

[0053] In a sixth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which contains a computer program or instructions, when the computer program or the instructions are executed, cause the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect to be performed (or implemented), or cause the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect to be performed (or implemented).

[0054] In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which comprises a processor configured to cause the first aspect and any possible implementation of the first aspect to be performed (or implemented), or cause the second aspect and any possible implementation of the second aspect to be performed (or implemented) by executing computer programs (or computer executable instructions) stored in a memory and / or through a logic circuit.

[0055] In a possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a memory. In a possible implementation, the processor and the memory are integrated together. In another possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication apparatus. The processor can include one or more processors. In some possible implementations, the memory can be used to store part or all of the computer program or instructions necessary for implementing the functions involved in the first aspect described above. In some possible implementations, the memory can be used to store part or all of the computer program or instructions necessary for implementing the functions involved in the second aspect described above.

[0056] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus further includes a communication interface, which is configured to enable the communication apparatus to communicate with other devices, such as transmitting or receiving data and / or signals. For example, the communication interface can be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, an input / output interface, or other types of communication interfaces.

[0057] In an implementation form, the communication apparatus of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the seventh aspect can be a terminal device or a communication module in the terminal device, or a chip or chip system in the terminal device.

[0058] In an implementation form, the communication apparatus of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or the seventh aspect can be a network device or a communication module in the network device, or a chip or chip system in the network device.

[0059] An eighth aspect provides a chip, including a processor, configured to invoke computer programs or computer instructions in a memory, so that the processor executes or implements any of the implementation forms of the first aspect described above, or so that the processor executes or implements any of the implementation forms of the second aspect described above.

[0060] In some implementation forms, the processor is coupled with the memory through an interface.

[0061] A ninth aspect provides a communication system, including a first apparatus configured to execute the first aspect described above and any possible implementation form of the first aspect, and a second apparatus configured to execute the second aspect described above and any possible implementation form of the second aspect.

[0062] The descriptions of the beneficial effects of any one of the second aspect to the ninth aspect can refer to the descriptions of the beneficial effects of the first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0063] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a MAC CE for activating TCI.

[0064] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of TCI state activation signaling.

[0065] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication system.

[0066] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of another communication system.

[0067] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of yet another communication system.

[0068] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a functional split and protocol layer structure of a network element of an open radio access network (O-RAN) system.

[0069] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of rough beam alignment between a base station and a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0070] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a flow of rough beam alignment between a base station and a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0071] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of fine beam adjustment of a base station according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0072] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a flow of fine beam adjustment of a base station according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0073] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of fine beam adjustment of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0074] FIG. 12 is a schematic flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0075] FIG. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0076] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of another communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0077] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a chip system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0078] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of another chip system according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0079] In the present application, the terms and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other if there is no special description and logical conflict. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0080] 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: 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. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b and c can mean: a, or b, or c, or a and b, or a and c, or b and c, or a, b and c. Where a, b and c can be single or multiple.

[0081] In the present application, "first", "second", and various numerical designations (e.g., #1, #2, etc.) indicate a distinction made for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of the present application. For example, to distinguish different messages, etc., rather than to describe a particular order or sequence. It should be understood that the objects thus described can be interchanged as appropriate to describe schemes other than the embodiments of the present application.

[0082] In the present application, "when", "in the case of", and "if" and the like all refer to the objective situation in which the device will make corresponding processing, and are not limited to time, and do not require the device to have a judgment action when implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0083] In the present application, "indicate" or "for indicating" can include direct indication and indirect indication. When describing that certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and it does not mean that A must be carried in the indication information.

[0084] The indication method involved in the embodiments of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the to-be-indicated party to know the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can be sent as a whole, or sent separately in multiple sub-information, and the sending period and / or sending opportunity of these sub-information can be the same or different, and the present application does not limit the sending method.

[0085] The "indication information" in the embodiments of the present application can be explicit indication, i.e., directly indicated by signaling, or obtained by combining other rules or combining other parameters or by derivation according to the parameters indicated by the signaling. It can also be implicit indication, i.e., obtained according to rules or relationships, or according to other parameters, or by derivation. The present application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0086] In this application, "protocol" can refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, such as 5G (5G) protocols. th This application does not limit the scope of protocols such as generation (5G), new radio (NR), and related protocols applied in future communication systems. "Predefined" may include predefined terms, such as protocol definitions. "Preconfiguration" can be achieved by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device; this application does not limit the implementation method.

[0087] In this application, "communication" can also be described as "data transmission," "information transmission," "data processing," etc. "Transmission" includes "sending" and "receiving." For example, transmission can be uplink transmission, such as a terminal device sending a signal to a network device; transmission can also be downlink transmission, such as a network device sending a signal to a terminal device; transmission can also be sidelink transmission, such as a terminal device sending a signal to another terminal device. For example, "transmission" can be air interface level transmission, or it can be signal transmission from a chip input (I) / output (O) port, rather than air interface level transmission.

[0088] In this application, terms such as "message," "information," "signal," or "information element (IE)" can be used interchangeably. There are no restrictions on the name of the message or information, as long as it can achieve the corresponding function.

[0089] "Sending information to XX (device)" can be understood as the destination of the information being that device. This can include sending information directly or indirectly to that device. "Receiving information from XX (device), or receiving information from XX (device)" can be understood as the source of the information being that device. This can include receiving information directly or indirectly from that device. Information may undergo necessary processing between the source and destination, such as format changes, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in this application can be understood in a similar way, and will not be repeated here. Furthermore, "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" or "receiving" can occur between devices, for example, between network devices and terminal devices via an air interface. "Sending" or "receiving" can also occur within a device, for example, between components, modules, chips, software modules, or hardware modules within the device via a bus, wiring, or interface.

[0090] In this application, the words "exemplary", "for example", and the like are used to mean an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design scheme described in this application as "exemplary" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or design schemes. In this application, "of", "corresponding", "corresponding", and "associated" can be used interchangeably, and it should be noted that when their differences are not emphasized, they express the same meaning.

[0091] In this application, the configuration can be signaling configuration, or can be described as configuration signaling. For example, the signaling configuration includes configuration by signaling sent by a network device, which can be a radio resource control (RRC) message, downlink control information (DCI), or a system information block (SIB). For another example, the signaling configuration includes configuration between network devices. Wherein, the network device can include an access network device, a core network device, or a management plane device, etc. Optionally, the signaling configuration can also be configured to a terminal device or a network device by pre-configuration, or configured to a terminal device or a network device by pre-configuration. Here, the pre-configuration is to define or configure the value of the corresponding parameter in advance in the form of a protocol, and store it in the terminal device or the network device when communicating with the terminal device or the network device. The pre-configured message can be modified or updated under the condition that the terminal device or the network device is connected to the network.

[0092] This application will present various aspects, embodiments or features around a system that can include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. Each system can include devices, components, modules, etc. in addition to the illustrated devices, components, modules, etc., and / or can not include all and every device, component, module, etc. discussed in connection with the drawings.

[0093] The service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are used to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that, with the emergence of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0094] In various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial number of each process does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined according to its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application. The terms "include", "contain", "have" and their variants mean "include but not limited to", unless otherwise specifically emphasized.

[0095] In the embodiments of the present application, "less than" and "less than or equal to" can be replaced with each other; "greater than" or "greater than or equal to" can be replaced with each other.

[0096] In order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, first, the concepts that may be involved in the embodiments are exemplarily and simply introduced.

[0097] 1、Beam: Beam is a kind of communication resource.

[0098] Beam can also be referred to as spatial domain filter, spatial filter, spatial domain parameter, spatial parameter, spatial domain setting, spatial setting, quasi-colocation (QCL) information, QCL assumption, or QCL indication, etc.

[0099] Beam can be indicated by transmission configuration indicator state (TCI-state) parameter, or indicated by spatial relation parameter.

[0100] In the embodiments of the present application, beam can be replaced by spatial domain filter, spatial filter, spatial domain parameter, spatial parameter, spatial domain setting, spatial setting, QCL information, QCL assumption, QCL indication, TCI-state (for example, including uplink TCI-state and downlink TCI-state), or spatial relation, etc. The above-mentioned terms are also equivalent to each other. Beam can also be replaced by other terms representing beam, which is not limited herein.

[0101] A beam used for transmitting a signal can be referred to as a transmission beam (Tx beam), a spatial domain transmission filter, a spatial transmission filter, a spatial domain transmission parameter, a spatial transmission parameter, a spatial domain transmission setting, or a spatial transmission setting.

[0102] A downlink transmission beam can be indicated by a TCI-state, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block). The SS / PBCH block can be referred to as a synchronization signal block (SSB) for short.

[0103] In embodiments of the present application, a downlink beam, a CSI-RS, a TCI-state, a downlink / joint TCI state (DLorjointTCI state), an SSB, and a tracking reference signal (TRS) can be replaced with each other.

[0104] A beam for receiving a signal can be referred to as a reception beam (Rx beam), a spatial domain reception filter, a spatial reception filter, a spatial domain reception parameter, a spatial reception parameter, a spatial domain reception setting, or a spatial reception setting. An uplink transmission beam can be indicated by any one of a spatial relationship, an uplink TCI-state, a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource (indicating a transmission beam using the SRS), a CSI-RS, an SSB, or a TRS. In embodiments of the present application, an uplink beam, an uplink (UL) TCI state, a DL or joint TCI state, an SRS, a CSI-RS, an SSB, and a TRS can be replaced with each other.

[0105] A transmission beam can refer to a distribution of signal strength in different directions in space after a signal is transmitted by an antenna, and a reception beam can refer to a distribution of signal strength in different directions in space of a wireless signal received by an antenna.

[0106] In addition, a beam can be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other types of beams, and the technology for forming a beam can be beamforming technology or other technical means. Beamforming technology can be digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, and hybrid digital / analog beamforming technology. Different beams can be considered as different resources.

[0107] By way of example, a beam can correspond to a resource, for example, when performing beam measurement, a network device can measure different beams through different resources. A terminal device can feed back the quality of the measured resources, so that the network device knows the quality of the corresponding beam. When data is transmitted, beam information can also be indicated by its corresponding resource. For example, a network device indicates the information of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam of a terminal device through a TCI (transmission configuration indication) field in DCI.

[0108] In a possible implementation, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be regarded as one beam. One beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, sounding signals, and the like. The one or more antenna ports forming one beam can also be regarded as one antenna port set.

[0109] In the embodiments of the present application, a beam refers to a transmitting beam of a network device if no specific description is made. In beam measurement, each beam of the network device corresponds to one resource, and therefore the beam corresponding to the resource can be uniquely identified by the index of the resource.

[0110] 2. TCI: The TCI can also be referred to as a TCI state.

[0111] In uplink and downlink transmission, the correct beam is used between the network device and the terminal device, so as to achieve correct transmission. In downlink transmission, the network device can indicate the downlink transmitting beam used by the network device to the terminal device. The terminal device can determine a suitable receiving beam according to the downlink transmitting beam, and the receiving beam can be used to receive information from the network device. In uplink transmission, the network device also needs to indicate to the terminal device which uplink transmitting beam is used by the terminal device to send information to the network device. The network device can determine the uplink transmitting beam with better signal quality of the terminal device.

[0112] Both the uplink transmitting beam and the downlink transmitting beam can be indicated by a corresponding TCI state. Specifically, the downlink transmitting beam can be indicated by a downlink TCI state, and the uplink transmitting beam can be indicated by an uplink TCI state.

[0113] The network device can indicate the TCI state to the terminal device through the TCI field in the DCI. Exemplarily, the size of the TCI field can be 3 bits, which can be specifically represented as 8 different field values (codepoints). Each field value of the TCI field can be associated with an index of a TCI state. The index of the TCI state can uniquely identify one TCI state, which can be a downlink TCI state or an uplink TCI state. Each field value of the TCI field can also be associated with two TCI state indexes, which can uniquely identify two TCI states, and the two TCI states can include a downlink TCI state and an uplink TCI state.

[0114] The downlink TCI state can include a plurality of parameters, and the terminal device can determine the relevant information of the downlink transmitting beam through the parameters, so as to determine to use a suitable receiving beam to receive information from the network device. The downlink TCI state can be configured by the network device to each terminal device, and the structure of the downlink TCI state is as shown below:

[0115] Each TCI state can include one own index (tci-StateId) and two quasi-colocation information (QCL-info). Each QCL-Info can include one cell field and a bandwidth part (bwp)-identifier (Id), which respectively represent which bwp of which cell the TCI-state applies to, i.e., different cells or different bwps of the same cell can be configured with different QCL-Info. Each QCL-info can also include a referenceSignal, which indicates which reference signal resource forms a QCL relationship with.

[0116] In R15 / R16 protocol, the term "beam" generally does not appear directly, and the beam is generally replaced by other terms. For example, in data transmission and channel measurement, the beam is corresponding to the reference signal resource, and one beam corresponds to one reference signal resource. Therefore, here it is said that which reference signal resource forms a QCL relationship, which actually means which beam forms a QCL relationship. The QCL relationship means that two reference signal resources (or two antenna ports, where the antenna port and the reference signal resource can be one-to-one) have certain same spatial parameters. Which spatial parameters are the same depends on the type of the QCL-Info, i.e., another field qcl-Type of the QCL-Info. The qcl-Type can have four values {typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD}. Take typeD as an example, typeD can indicate that two reference signal resources have the same spatial reception parameter information, i.e., two beams have the same receiving beam. The two QCL-Info included in the TCI-state can at most have one typeD (or written as typeD).

[0117] Exemplarily, the network device can indicate a certain downlink TCI state for the terminal device through DCI. The terminal device can determine the reference signal resource in the typeD QCL information in the downlink TCI state. The terminal device can take the receiving beam of the reference signal resource as the receiving beam for downlink transmission.

[0118] Exemplarily, the receiving beam of the reference signal resource can be obtained by the terminal device in advance through the beam management process. For example, through the beam management process, the terminal device can determine which receiving beam is the best to receive the reference signal resource, and take the receiving beam as the receiving beam of the reference signal resource.

[0119] The following is a specific example to illustrate how the network device based on R15 / R16 protocol indicates the receiving beam information of the data transmission beam to the terminal device through TCI-state. The above process can include the configuration, activation and indication of TCI-state.

[0120] TCI-state configuration: The network device configures multiple TCI-states to the terminal device through RRC signaling. Each of these TCI-states includes a QCL-Info of type D. The network device can also configure TCI-states that do not include QCL-info of type D, but these TCI-states are not used for the indication of data transmission beams, so they are not further described here.

[0121] TCI-state activation: After the network device configures multiple TCI-states, it can activate 8 of them through MAC CE. These 8 TCI-states are one-to-one corresponding to the 8 field values of the TCI field in the DCI. That is, which 8 TCI-states correspond to the 8 field values of the TCI field in the DCI is determined by the MAC CE.

[0122] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a MAC CE (or referred to as TCI state activation signaling) for activating TCI states. Wherein the fields T0 to T(N-2)x8+7 respectively correspond to the respective TCI-states with indexes 0 to (N-2)x8+7 configured in the first step, each field has a size of 1 bit and the value can be 0 or 1. A value of 1 indicates that the TCI-state is activated, and a value of 0 indicates that the TCI-state is not activated. Each MAC CE can theoretically have 8 activation fields with a value of 1, and the rest are all 0. The 8 fields with a value of 1 correspond to the 8 TCI-states corresponding to the 8 values of the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the minimum value 000 of the TCI field corresponds to the TCI-state with the smallest index activated in the MAC CE, and so on. The MAC-CE has many types, in addition to the MAC-CE for TCI-state activation, there are many MAC-CEs for other purposes. This application only involves MAC-CE for TCI-state / TCI-state combination activation. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the MAC-CE described in this application refers to this type of MAC-CE. However, the structure of this MAC-CE can be the structure shown in Figure 1, or other structures, which are not limited by this application. In addition, the above-mentioned N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. For ease of description, the N that appears later in this application may not be the meaning of the N shown in Figure 1, please refer to the description later. In other words, without special instructions, the N that appears later in this application refers to the specific definition in the following text.

[0123] TCI state indication: The network device can indicate a specific TCI-state through the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the field value of the TCI field in the DCI sent by the network device to the terminal device can be 000. "000" can indicate that the data transmission beam uses the TCI state corresponding to 000. The reference signal contained in the QCL-Info of type typeD in the TCI state can be a CSI-RS with index #1, indicating that the beam used for data transmission is the same as the receiving beam corresponding to the CSI-RS with index #1. The receiving beam corresponding to the CSI-RS with index #1 can be determined through the beam measurement process and is known to the terminal device. Therefore, through the specific value of the TCI field, the terminal device can determine the beam corresponding to the data transmission beam, and thus use the corresponding beam to transmit or receive data.

[0124] In this application, the three descriptions of TCI state, TCI-state and TCI state can be replaced with each other.

[0125] 3、Spatial relation

[0126] Exemplarily, the transmission beam of the uplink transmission can be indicated by a spatial relation. The function of the spatial relation can be similar to the TCI-state, which is used to inform the terminal device to use which transmission beam to perform the uplink transmission.

[0127] Exemplarily, the spatial relation can be configured by RRC signaling. The information of the configured spatial relation can include the identification (id) of the spatial relation, the serving cell id, the target reference signal, the path loss measurement reference signal, or the power control parameter, etc. Among them, the target reference signal (such as SRS, SSB or CSI-RS) can be used to indicate the corresponding uplink beam. Exemplarily, assuming that the uplink transmission uses spatial relation #1, which includes target reference signal #2, it can represent that the transmission beam used for the uplink transmission is the transmission / reception beam of the target reference signal. For example, the target reference signal is SRS, which can represent that the transmission beam used for the uplink transmission is the transmission beam of the SRS (the transmission beam of the SRS is known). For another example, the target reference signal is SSB or CSI-RS, which can represent that the transmission beam used for the uplink transmission is the reception beam of the SSB or CSI-RS (the reception beam of the SSB / CSI-RS is known).

[0128] The network device can configure multiple spatial relations for the terminal device. Then one of them is activated by MAC CE for corresponding data transmission. The uplink transmission can include physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), SRS or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), etc. For example, the spatial relation of the PUCCH can be indicated by MAC-CE signaling. For another example, the spatial relation of the SRS can be indicated by MAC-CE signaling. For another example, the PUSCH can be associated with a specific SRS, and use the spatial relation of the SRS for transmission.

[0129] 4、Unified TCI

[0130] Unified TCI can be a unified beam indication framework. For example, a network device can indicate a terminal device with one beam, which can be used for multiple channels and / or reference signals at the same time, and the beam can also be referred to as a common beam. The common beam can be an uplink common beam, a downlink common beam, or an uplink-downlink common beam, and the terminal device can use the common beam for subsequent transmission.

[0131] The network device can indicate a terminal device with one uplink common beam for transmission of multiple uplink channels and / or uplink reference signals, or indicate the terminal device with one downlink common beam for transmission of multiple downlink channels and / or downlink reference signals, or indicate the terminal device with one uplink-downlink common beam for transmission of multiple uplink channels and / or uplink reference signals and multiple downlink channels and / or downlink reference signals. That is, the uplink-downlink common beam can be used for both uplink transmission and downlink transmission.

[0132] For example, in an embodiment of the present application, a beam can include the above-mentioned common beam.

[0133] In R17 and thereafter, a terminal can be configured with two TCI states: DLorjointTCI and UL TCI. For example, a UE can be configured with joint / DL TCI states (up to 128) and UL TCI states (up to 64) at the same time. For another example, in the configuration of a serving cell configuration (serving cell config) in RRC signaling, a base station can configure a UE to use a TCI mode in a joint mode or a separate mode. In the joint mode, one joint TCI state can be used for uplink and downlink transmission at the same time; in the separate mode, the base station needs to indicate DL TCI state and UL TCI state for uplink and downlink transmission, respectively. In an embodiment of the present application, joint / DL TCI and DLorjointTCI can be replaced with each other.

[0134] When a UE receives MAC-CE indication of TCI state activation signaling, the activation signaling includes the ID of the TCI state, and the UE determines which TCI state is activated by the MAC-CE according to RRC configuration.

[0135] Figure 2 shows a diagram of a structure of TCI state activation signaling. The TCI state activation signaling can be a MAC-CE (or referred to as MAC CE activating TCI states, or referred to as unified TCI state activation / deactivation MAC CE). According to a Pi field (i is a positive integer less than or equal to 8), it can be determined whether each codepoint (codepoint) has one TCI state or multiple TCI states. For example, if Pi is 1, it indicates that the ith TCI codepoint contains one DL TCI state and one UL TCI state; if Pi is 0, it indicates that the ith TCI codepoint contains only one DL / joint TCI state or one UL TCI state. In this way, the UE can determine whether the TCI state ID of the same byte is the ID of the joint / DL TCI state or the ID of the UL TCI state according to the value of the D / L field. For example, 0 is specifically taken as the UL TCI state, and 1 is the joint / DL TCI state. The activated TCI state described hereinafter can be the TCI state corresponding to the TCI state ID indicated in the MAC CE signaling.

[0136] 5、Resource

[0137] In a communication protocol, a reference signal can be configured in the form of a resource. A network device can configure each reference signal in the form of a resource to a terminal device, and one resource is one configuration information unit. The configuration information unit can include parameters related to the reference signal, such as the time-frequency resource position of the reference signal, the number of ports, the time domain type (periodic / semi-static / non-periodic), and the like.

[0138] The resource can be an uplink signal resource or a downlink signal resource. The uplink signal (or referred to as uplink reference signal) includes but is not limited to SRS or demodulation reference signal (DMRS). The downlink signal (or referred to as downlink reference signal) includes but is not limited to: CSI-RS, cell-specific reference signal (CS-RS), user equipment-specific reference signal (US-RS), DMRS, TRS, and SS / PBCH block. Among them, the SS / PBCH block can be referred to as SSB.

[0139] 6、Reference signal

[0140] The reference signal can be a reference signal of a serving cell, for example, the serving cell can be a primary cell (Pcell), a secondary cell (Scell), or a primary secondary cell (PScell). Among them, the Pcell can be referred to as a cell of a primary component carrier (PCC), and the Scell can be referred to as a cell of a secondary component carrier (SCC).

[0141] The reference signal can be a reference signal of a neighboring cell of the serving cell (such as a cell corresponding to an additional physical cell identifier (additional PCI)).

[0142] The reference signal can also be a reference signal associated with a handover candidate cell configuration. The handover candidate cell can also be referred to as a candidate cell or a neighboring cell. The handover candidate cell can be a current serving cell or a non-serving cell, and the physical cell identifier (PCI) of the handover candidate cell is different from that of the current primary cell (PCell).

[0143] The terminal device can be configured with one or more candidate cell configurations, each of which can include a configuration of a reference signal resource. The reference signal can be an SSB or a CSI-RS.

[0144] 7. Reporting of measurement reports: According to the reporting time domain configuration behavior, the network device can configure three measurement report reporting (also referred to as beam reporting, or beam measurement result reporting, or CSI reporting, or traditional CSI reporting based on beam management, or non-event triggered reporting) procedures: periodic reporting, semi-persistent reporting, and aperiodic reporting. Semi-persistent reporting is also referred to as semi-static reporting.

[0145] Periodic reporting: The network device sends reference signal resource configuration information to the terminal device. The reference signal resource configuration information includes periodic reference signal resources. The network device configures the terminal device to periodically measure the reference signal. The terminal device can measure the reference signal based on the reference signal resource configuration information, and periodically report the measurement results. Optionally, the measurement results obtained by the terminal device for the periodic measurement of the reference signal can be carried on the PUCCH resource.

[0146] Semi-persistent reporting: the terminal device measures the reference signal periodically, but reports the measurement result in a semi-persistent manner. In one possible implementation, the network device sends the terminal device reference signal resource configuration information. The reference signal resource configuration information includes periodic reference signal resources. The network device configures the terminal device to measure the reference signal periodically. When the terminal device receives the activation signaling (e.g., MAC CE or DCI) from the network device, the terminal device can continuously report the measurement result. Of course, the network device can also send the terminal device a deactivation instruction, thereby deactivating the semi-persistent reporting process of the terminal device. In another possible implementation, both the measurement of the reference signal and the reporting of the measurement result are semi-persistent. When the terminal device receives the activation signaling from the network device, the terminal device continuously measures the reference signal and reports the measurement result. When the terminal device receives the deactivation instruction from the network device, the terminal device stops reporting the measurement result. In addition, the measurement result can be carried on a PUCCH resource or a PUSCH resource.

[0147] Aperiodic reporting: when the terminal device receives a trigger instruction from the network device, the terminal device measures the reference signal and reports the measurement result. After completing the reporting, the terminal device stops reporting the measurement result. Optionally, the reference signal can be a periodic reference signal, a semi-persistent reference signal, or an aperiodic reference signal. Optionally, the measurement result is carried on a PUSCH resource.

[0148] 8. Reference signal associated with the TCI state: The reference signal associated with the TCI state can be a QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state, or a reference signal associated with the QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state. The QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state is a reference signal of the TCI state whose qcl-Type in QCL-info is type D. The reference signal associated with the QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state: an SSB having a QCL relationship with the QCL type D reference signal. The SSB is an SSB corresponding to a source QCL resource of a QCL chain. That is, the source QCL resource is an SSB resource. The QCL chain is determined according to the QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state. For example, the network device indicates a QCL resource of the TCI state to be a CSI-RS resource. The QCL resource in the TCI state corresponding to the CSI-RS resource is a TRS resource. The TCI state corresponding to the CSI-RS resource can be understood as a TCI state adopted by the network device for transmitting the CSI-RS resource, or a TCI state adopted by the network device for transmitting a CSI-RS corresponding to the CSI-RS. Therefore, the QCL resource in the TCI state indicated by the network device to the terminal device (such as the CSI-RS resource), the QCL resource in the TCI state corresponding to the CSI-RS resource (such as the TRS resource), and the QCL resource in the TCI state corresponding to the TRS resource (such as the SSB resource) form a QCL chain. The source QCL resource of the QCL chain is an SSB resource, and therefore the reference signal associated with the QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state is an SSB corresponding to the SSB resource. An example, the QCL type D reference signal of the TCI state is a TRS, the TRS corresponds to or consists of one or more CSI-RSs, and the reference signal associated with the TCI state can be understood as one of the one or more CSI-RSs, for example, the first or last CSI-RS in the one or more CSI-RSs.

[0149] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, including but not limited to: long term evolution (LTE) system, NR system, etc. fifth generation (5 thThe mobile communication system can be a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) system, an enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) system, an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) system, an ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) system, a satellite communication system, an LTE-machine-to-machine (LTE-M) system, or a system evolved from the 5G system, such as a future mobile communication system, etc.

[0150] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0151] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication system 100 includes a radio access network 110 and a core network 120. Optionally, the communication system 100 can also include an Internet 130. The radio access network 110 can include at least one network device (e.g., 111a and 111b in FIG. 3) and at least one terminal device (e.g., 112a-112j in FIG. 3). The terminal devices are connected to the network devices in a wireless manner. The network devices are connected to the core network 120 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network 120 can include one or more core network devices. The core network devices and the network devices can be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network devices and the logical functions of the network devices can be integrated on the same physical device, or a physical device can integrate the functions of part of the core network devices and the functions of part of the network devices. The terminal devices and the terminal devices, and the network devices and the network devices can be connected to each other in a wired or wireless manner. The terminal devices and the terminal devices, the network devices and the network devices, and the terminal devices and the network devices can communicate with each other in a wireless manner through air interface resources. Exemplarily, the air interface resources can include at least one of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, code resources, and space resources. FIG. 3 is only a schematic diagram, and the communication system 100 can also include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG. 3.

[0152] The network device can also be referred to as an access network device or an access network node. It can be understood that the name of the device with the function of the network device can be different in systems with different wireless access technologies. For the convenience of description, the apparatuses providing wireless communication access functions for terminal devices in the embodiments of the present application are collectively referred to as base stations. In the embodiments of the present application, the network device includes but is not limited to various forms of macro base stations (such as 111a in FIG. 3), micro base stations or indoor stations (such as 111b in FIG. 3), pico base stations, small stations, balloon stations, relay stations, access points, etc. Among them, the micro base station can be referred to as a small station. The network device can include an evolved node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, a network device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP), or a transmission reception point (TRP) or transmit / receive point (TRP or TP), etc., and can also include a next generation base station node (gNB) or transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G system, one or a group of (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of a base station in a 5G system, a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), and can also include a network device, server, wearable device or vehicle-mounted device, etc. in a network in a future mobile communication system and the like after 5G. The network device can also be a module or unit that completes the function of the base station, for example, it can be a centralized unit (CU) or a DU. In addition, the network device can be understood as the general term of all devices (including stations) on the network side, for example, a plurality of stations can be collectively referred to as a network device. The station refers to a transmission node that is actually located at a physical location. In other words, the network device conceptually contains the station.

[0153] In the embodiments of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the network device can be the network device itself, or an apparatus capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system or a chip, which can be installed in the network device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0154] In another possible scenario, a plurality of network devices cooperate to assist a terminal to implement wireless access, and different network devices respectively implement part of functions of a base station. For example, a network device can be a CU, a DU, a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can be included in the same network element, for example, in a BBU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0155] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), the DU, or the RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an O-RAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, the CU-CP, the CU-UP, the DU, and the RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or the CU-CP, the CU-UP), the DU, and the RU in this application can be implemented by means of a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0156] The terminal device can be a device providing voice and / or data connectivity to users; the terminal device can also be a device having wireless connection function. The terminal device can be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water surface (such as ships, etc.); can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons and satellites, etc.). The terminal device can also be called user equipment (UE), access terminal, terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless network device, user agent or user apparatus. In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device includes but is not limited to: cellular phone, mobile phone, wireless data card, wireless modem, pad, laptop computer, notebook computer, palm computer, mobile internet device (MID), computer with wireless transceiver function, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, smart phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, personal digital assistant (PDA), handset with wireless communication function, computing device or other device connected to wireless modem, vehicle-mounted device (such as car, bicycle, electric vehicle, airplane, ship, train, high-speed rail, etc.), wearable device (such as smart watch, smart bracelet, pedometer, smart glasses, etc.), satellite terminal, terminal device in Internet of Things or Internet of Vehicles, and any form of terminal in future network, relay user equipment or terminal in future evolved PLMN, etc.The terminal device can also be a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a light UE, a reduced capability UE (RedCap UE), a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a terminal device in industrial control, a terminal device in self driving, a terminal device in remote medical treatment, a terminal device in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a terminal device in a smart city, a terminal device in a smart home, a haptic terminal device, a smart home device (e.g., a refrigerator, a television, an air conditioner, an electricity meter, etc.), a smart robot, a mechanical arm, a plant device, a wireless terminal in self driving, or a flight device (e.g., a smart robot, a hot air balloon, a drone, an airplane), and the like. The terminal device can also be a vehicle device, such as a transport vehicle with wireless communication function, a communication module, a whole vehicle device, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted chip, an on board unit (OBU), or a telematics box (T-BOX), and the like. The terminal device can also be other devices with terminal functions, for example, the terminal device can also be a device in device to device (D2D) communication that plays a terminal function. The embodiments of the present application are not limited in this regard.

[0157] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device can be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip or a chip system, which can be installed in the terminal device. The chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device is taken as an example of the terminal device. The terminal device can also be referred to as a terminal. The following can take the terminal device as an example of the UE to describe the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0158] The roles of the base station and the terminal can be relative, for example, the helicopter or the drone 112i in FIG. 3 can be configured as a mobile base station, and for those terminals 112j accessing the wireless access network 110 through 112i, the terminal 112i is a base station; but for the base station 111a, 112i is a terminal, that is, 111a communicates with 112i through a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 111a and 112i can also communicate through a base station-to-base station interface protocol, in which case, 112i is also a base station relative to 111a. Therefore, the base station and the terminal can be collectively referred to as a communication device, and 111a and 111b in FIG. 3 can be referred to as a communication device with a base station function, and 112a-112j in FIG. 3 can be referred to as a communication device with a terminal function.

[0159] The network device and the terminal device can communicate through a wireless link. The transmission link from the network device to the terminal device can be referred to as a downlink (DL) or a downlink channel, for transmitting a downlink signal. The transmission link from the terminal device to the network device can be referred to as an uplink (UL) or an uplink channel, for transmitting an uplink signal. The transmission link from the terminal device to the terminal device can be referred to as a sidelink (SL) or a sidelink channel. In the embodiments of the present application, multiple network devices can send information to multiple different terminal devices and receive information from multiple different terminal devices; multiple network devices can also send information to the same terminal device and receive information from the same terminal device, which is not limited in the present application.

[0160] The communication between different devices involved in the embodiments of the present application can mean direct communication between different devices (i.e., without the need for other devices to transfer or forward), or can mean communication between different devices through other devices (i.e., the need for other devices to transfer or forward), or can mean that a functional unit inside a device communicates with other devices through another functional unit. The information between the source and the destination of the information transmission can be processed as necessary, such as format change, digital-to-analog conversion, amplification, or filtering, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be understood similarly, and will not be repeated here.

[0161] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of another communication system. FIG. 4 takes the communication between a terminal device and a network device as an example.

[0162] As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal device 210 can include a processor 211, a memory 212, and a transceiver 213. Exemplarily, the transceiver 213 can include a transmitter 2131, a receiver 2132, and an antenna 2133. The network device 220 can include a processor 221, a memory 222, and a transceiver 223. Exemplarily, the transceiver 223 can include a transmitter 2231, a receiver 2232, and an antenna 2233. The receiver 2132 can be configured to receive information from the network device 220 through the antenna 2133, and the transmitter 2131 can be configured to send information to the network device 220 through the antenna 2133. The transmitter 2231 can be configured to send information to the terminal device 210 through the antenna 2233, and the receiver 2232 can be configured to receive information from the terminal device 210 through the antenna 2233.

[0163] The network device in the embodiments of the present application can include a chip in the network device. For example, the network device can include the processor 221, the memory 222, and the transceiver 223. The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application can include a chip in the terminal device. For example, the terminal device can include the processor 211, the memory 212, and the transceiver 213.

[0164] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of another communication system. FIG. 5 shows an O-RAN system. The O-RAN system in the present application can include other components than those shown in FIG. 5, or can only include part of the components in FIG. 5.

[0165] Referring to FIG. 5, the network device can communicate with the core network device through a backhaul link 310, and communicate with the terminal device through an air interface. Exemplarily, the BBU in the network device can communicate with the core network device through the backhaul link 310. The RU in the network device can communicate with at least one terminal device through an air interface. The BBU can communicate with at least one RU through a front-haul link 330. Wherein, the BBU and the RU can be co-located or not. Exemplarily, the BBU can include at least one CU and at least one DU. The CU and the DU can communicate through at least one mid-haul link 320.

[0166] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of network element function division and protocol layer structure of an O-RAN system. The O-RAN system in the embodiments of the present application can divide the network element function and the protocol layer in part or all of the manners shown in FIG. 6, or in other manners.

[0167] In some examples, the CU can be used to carry logical nodes of an RRC layer, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and other control functions of the access network device. Illustratively, the CU can be connected to network nodes such as a core network through some interfaces, for example, the interfaces can include an E2 interface and the like. Optionally, the CU has part of the functions of the core network.

[0168] Illustratively, the CU (e.g., a PDCP layer or a layer higher than PDCP) is connected to the DU (e.g., a radio link control (RLC) layer or a layer lower than RLC) through some interfaces, for example, the interfaces can be an F1 interface and the like. In some examples, the above-mentioned interface (e.g., the F1 interface) can provide CP and UP functions, for example, interface management, system information management, UE context management, RRC message transmission, and the like. The F1 interface can adopt an F1 application protocol (F1AP).

[0169] In some examples, the CU can be split into a CU-CP and a CU-UP.

[0170] The CU-CP can be used to carry logical nodes of an RRC layer and a PDCP control plane part (PDCP-C) layer, for implementing control plane functions of the CU. The CU-CP can interact with network elements in the core network for implementing control plane functions. Illustratively, the network element in the core network for implementing control plane functions can be an access and mobility function network element, for example, an access and mobility management (AMF) in a 5G system. Illustratively, the AMF network element can be used to be responsible for mobility management in a mobile network, such as location updating of a terminal device, registration of the terminal device to a network, handover of the terminal device, and the like.

[0171] The CU-UP can be used to carry logical nodes of an SDAP layer and a PDCP user plane part (PDCP-U) layer, for implementing user plane functions of the CU. The CU-UP can interact with network elements in the core network for implementing user plane functions. For example, a user plane function (UPF) in a 5G system, which can be used to be responsible for forwarding and receiving data in a terminal device.

[0172] The configuration of the above CU or DU is merely an example, and the CU or DU can be configured to have functions as needed. For example, the CU or the DU can be configured to have more protocol layer functions, or the CU or the DU can be configured to have partial processing functions of the protocol layer. For example, partial functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layer above the RLC layer are arranged in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layer below the RLC layer are arranged in the DU. For another example, the functions of the CU or the DU can be divided according to a service type or other system requirements, for example, according to a delay requirement. For example, functions that require to meet a shorter delay requirement in processing time are arranged in the DU, and functions that do not require to meet the delay requirement are arranged in the CU.

[0173] In some examples, the DU can be used to carry logical nodes of the RLC layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, the higher physical (Higher PHY) layer, and other functions. In some examples, the DU can control at least one RU. For example, the DU can be connected to the RU through some interfaces, which can be a front-haul interface. In some examples, the Higher PHY layer can include part of the PHY layer processing, such as forward error correction (FEC) encoding, decoding, scrambling, modulation, or demodulation, and other processing functions.

[0174] In some examples, the RU can be used to carry logical nodes of the lower physical (Lower PHY) layer and radio frequency (RF) chain processing. In some examples, the RU can be a TRP, an RRH, or other similar functional entity in the third generation partnership project (3 rd generation partnership project,3GPP) In some examples, the Low PHY layer includes part of the PHY processing, such as fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse fast Fourier transformation (IFFT), digital beamforming or filtering, and other processing functions. The RU can communicate with one or more UEs through a wireless link.

[0175] The DU and the RU can or can not be co-located. For example, the DU and the RU can exchange control plane and user plane information via a lower-layer split control / user / synchronization-plane (LLS-C / U / S) interface over a fronthaul link. For example, the O-RAN CUS plane in the DU can communicate with the O-RAN CUS plane in the RU over the LLS-C / U / S interface. Illustratively, the LLS-C / U / S can include a LLS-control (C) interface and a LLS-user (U) interface that provide CP and UP, respectively. In some examples, the CP can refer to real-time control between the DU and the RU. Management information can be exchanged between the DU and the RU over a LLS-management (M) interface of the fronthaul link, and the M plane can refer to non-real-time management operations between the DU and the RU. For example, the O-RAN M plane in the DU can communicate with the O-RAN M plane in the RU over the LLS-M interface. For another example, the O-RAN M plane in the DU or the RU can communicate with a management system over the LLS-M interface.

[0176] The DU and the RU can cooperate with each other to jointly implement the functions of the PHY layer. For example, one DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and the RU can be configured in multiple ways according to design. For example, the DU can be configured to implement baseband functions, and the RU can be configured to implement mid- radio frequency functions. For another example, the DU is configured to implement high-layer functions (e.g., high PHY) in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement low-layer functions (e.g., low PHY) in the PHY layer or implement the low-layer functions and radio frequency functions (e.g., RF chains). The high-layer functions in the PHY layer can include a part of the functions of the PHY layer that are closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the PHY layer can include another part of the functions of the PHY layer that are closer to the mid-radio frequency side.

[0177] The 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system can use high frequency communication, i.e., use ultra-high frequency band (such as 28 GHz) signals to transmit data. One major problem of high frequency communication is that the signal energy sharply decreases with the transmission distance, resulting in a short signal transmission distance. To overcome this problem, high frequency communication uses analog beam technology, which concentrates signal energy in a small angle range by weighting processing of an antenna array, forming a signal similar to a light beam (called an analog beam, simply referred to as a beam), thereby improving the transmission distance. Both network devices and terminal devices need to use beams for transmission. When performing uplink and downlink data transmission, specific beams need to be used.

[0178] Currently, a terminal device and a network device select a proper beam through a beam management procedure and communicate through the selected beam. The beam management procedure can include beam coarse alignment based on SSB first and beam fine adjustment based on CSI-RS. The beam management procedure can be divided into three stages, which are introduced below with the network device being a base station as an example.

[0179] Stage one: beam coarse alignment between the base station and the terminal device. In stage one, the base station beam and the terminal beam can be understood as wide beams.

[0180] In stage one, the base station can perform beam sweeping. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the base station can send SSBs to the terminal device through beams in different directions at different times. At the same time, the terminal device sweeps the receiving beam, that is, the terminal device also receives SSBs from the network device through beams in different directions at different times. The terminal device determines the optimal beam for the base station to send signals and the optimal beam for the terminal device to receive signals according to the received signal strength. The beam for the base station to send signals is referred to as a base station beam, and the beam for the terminal device to receive signals is referred to as a terminal beam.

[0181] Optionally, as shown in FIG. 8, the base station first sends SSB resource configuration information and reporting resource configuration information to the terminal device. In some examples, the SSB resource configuration information and the reporting resource configuration information can be carried in RRC signaling. For example, the SSB resource can be configured by the CSI resource configuration (CSI-ResourceConfig) in the RRC signaling. Each configuration can contain one CSI-SSB resource set (CSI-SSB-ResourceSet), and each set can contain up to 64 SSB resources. For example, the reporting resource can be configured by the CSI reporting configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) in the RRC signaling. The configuration content can include the time-frequency domain resource of the reporting feedback, the content of the reporting, and the like.

[0182] In the case where the base station has established an RRC connection with the terminal device, the base station can configure the SSB resource configuration information and the reporting resource configuration information through RRC signaling. In the case where the base station has not established an RRC connection with the terminal device, the base station can send SSBs to the terminal device through predefined SSB resources. The base station beam can include The terminal beam can include For example, the i-th (i = 0, 1, …, M-1) SSB base station uses beam B m and the terminal uses beam U n where n M+m = mod(i, MN). The "mod" can represent the modulus.

[0183] For example, referring to FIG. 8, it is assumed that the base station beams include beams B0 to B15, that is, M = 16; it is assumed that the terminal beams include beams U0 to U3, that is, N = 4. The base station can transmit SSBs to the terminal device through corresponding SSB resources using beams B0, transmit SSBs to the terminal device using beams B1, and so on, transmit SSBs to the terminal device using beams B15. The terminal device measures the SSBs transmitted by the base station through beams B0 to B15 respectively through beams U0 to U3 respectively, and obtains measurement results. 15 that is, M = 16; it is assumed that the terminal beams include beams U0 to U3, that is, N = 4. The base station can transmit SSBs to the terminal device through corresponding SSB resources using beams B0, transmit SSBs to the terminal device using beams B1, and so on, transmit SSBs to the terminal device using beams B15. The terminal device measures the SSBs transmitted by the base station through beams B0 to B15 respectively through beams U0 to U3 respectively, and obtains measurement results. 15 to the terminal device through beams B0 to B15 respectively. The terminal device measures the SSBs transmitted by the base station through beams B0 to B15 respectively through beams U0 to U3 respectively, and obtains measurement results. 15 to the terminal device through beams B0 to B15 respectively. The terminal device measures the SSBs transmitted by the base station through beams B0 to B15 respectively through beams U0 to U3 respectively, and obtains measurement results.

[0184] The terminal device can determine the base station beam with better or best signal quality through the measurement results. The terminal device feeds back the base station beam with better or best signal quality to the network device.

[0185] Exemplarily, according to before and after the RRC connection establishment of the base station and the terminal device, two cases can be divided.

[0186] Before the RRC connection establishment, the SSB can carry a master information block (MIB). The MIB can indicate a channel resource carrying a SIB1. The base station can indicate a mapping relationship between one SSB and a random access channel occasion (RO) through a SIB1 message. The terminal device can perform random access through a physical random access channel (PRACH) resource corresponding to the optimal base station beam, so that the base station can obtain the optimal base station beam information.

[0187] After the RRC connection establishment, the terminal device can feed back according to a reporting resource configured in RRC signaling.

[0188] Stage two: base station beam fine adjustment.

[0189] The base station can determine a plurality of candidate beams according to the base station beam with better or best signal quality (which can also be referred to as the optimal base station beam) determined in stage one. Each candidate beam can be a narrow beam. The base station can perform scanning through a CSI-RS, and the terminal device can perform receiving through the receiving beam selected in stage one (or referred to as the optimal terminal beam), so as to perform fine adjustment on the base station beam.

[0190] For example, it is assumed that the optimal terminal beam selected by the terminal device in stage one is U1. The candidate beams determined by the base station can include wherein K can be less than M, may be A subset of the set of K beams. For example, assume K = 3.

[0191] Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 9, the plurality of candidate beams can include beams S0 to S2. Assume that the phase one determines beam B3, which can be a wide beam. The base station can determine beams S0 to S2 according to beam B3.

[0192] Exemplarily, as shown in FIG. 10, the base station can send CSI-RS configuration information to the terminal device. The CSI-RS configuration information can be used to configure CSI-RS resources and feedback reporting resources. For example, the CSI-RS resources can be configured by the information element CSI-ResourceConfig in the RRC signaling. For another example, the feedback reporting resources can be configured by the base station through the information element CSI-ReportConfig in the RRC signaling.

[0193] The base station can send CSI-RS in sequence, wherein the jth CSI-RS can use beam S j , wherein j = 0, 1, …, K-1. The terminal device receives using beam U1.

[0194] For example, the base station sends CSI-RS to the terminal device using beam S0 through the corresponding CSI-RS resources, sends CSI-RS to the terminal device using beam S1 through the corresponding CSI-RS resources, and sends CSI-RS to the terminal device using beam S2 through the corresponding CSI-RS resources. The terminal device receives the CSI-RS sent by the base station through different beams through beam U1 to obtain measurement results. The terminal device can determine the candidate beam with better or best signal quality through the measurement results. The terminal device feeds back the candidate beam with better or best signal quality to the network device. For example, assume that the candidate beam with better or best signal quality is beam S1. The base station can use beam S1 as the beam for communication with the terminal device.

[0195] Phase three: terminal device beam fine adjustment.

[0196] The base station can send CSI-RS using the optimal beam obtained in phase two, and the terminal device scans the beam to determine the optimal terminal beam, thereby completing beam alignment. The following is only briefly exemplarily introduced.

[0197] Exemplarily, the base station transmits the CSI-RS to the terminal device by using a beam S1, and the terminal device determines an optimal terminal beam as a beam U1 by using the first stage. The beam U1 is a wide beam. The terminal device determines a plurality of candidate beams by using the beam U1, and the plurality of candidate beams include a beam P1 to a beam P4 as shown in FIG. 11. The terminal device receives the CSI-RS transmitted by the base station by using the beam S1 by using the beam P1 to the beam P4, and obtains measurement results. The terminal device can select one beam from the beam P1 to the beam P4 according to the measurement results, and use the beam as a beam for communicating with the base station.

[0198] The terminal device can also determine more or fewer candidate beams as an example above. The procedure of the third stage is similar to the second stage, and other descriptions can be referred to the description of the second stage.

[0199] The communication system in the embodiments of the present application can implement all the procedures of the first stage to the third stage, or can only implement part of the procedures. For example, only the first stage and the second stage are implemented, and the terminal device can determine the beam by itself without the base station transmitting the CSI-RS.

[0200] Exemplarily, the network device can configure the terminal device to report the measurement results by using one of the following three ways. The three ways can include: periodic reporting, semi-persistent reporting, and aperiodic reporting. The semi-persistent reporting can also be referred to as semi-static reporting. The following will be introduced respectively.

[0201] Periodic reporting: The network device can transmit reference signal resource configuration information to the terminal device. The reference signal resource configuration information can include periodic reference signal resources. The network device can configure the terminal device to periodically measure the reference signal. The terminal device can measure the reference signal based on the reference signal resource configuration information, and periodically report the measurement results. Optionally, the measurement results obtained by the terminal device for the periodic reference signal can be carried on the PUCCH resource.

[0202] Semi-persistent reporting: the terminal device can be configured to measure the reference signal periodically, but the measurement result is reported in a semi-persistent manner. In one possible implementation, the network device sends the terminal device reference signal resource configuration information. The reference signal resource configuration information includes periodic reference signal resources. The network device configures the terminal device to measure the reference signal periodically. When the terminal device receives the activation signaling (e.g., MAC CE or DCI) from the network device, the terminal device can continuously report the measurement result. The network device can also send the terminal device a deactivation instruction to deactivate the semi-persistent reporting process of the terminal device. In another possible implementation, both the measurement of the reference signal and the reporting of the measurement result are semi-persistent. When the terminal device receives the activation signaling from the network device, the terminal device continuously measures the reference signal and reports the measurement result. When the terminal device receives the deactivation instruction from the network device, the terminal device stops reporting the measurement result. In addition, the measurement result can be carried on a PUCCH resource or a PUSCH resource.

[0203] Aperiodic reporting: when the terminal device receives a trigger instruction from the network device, the terminal device measures the reference signal and reports the measurement result. After completing the reporting, the terminal device stops reporting the measurement result. Optionally, the reference signal can be a periodic reference signal, a semi-persistent reference signal, or an aperiodic reference signal. Optionally, the measurement result is carried on a PUSCH resource.

[0204] Therefore, for the measurement result, either periodic reporting or trigger instruction is sent by the network device to trigger the terminal device to perform semi-persistent reporting or aperiodic reporting. Therefore, the reporting occasion is completely determined by the network device.

[0205] In R19, terminal device or event triggered reporting of measurement results is introduced. For example, the terminal device can inform the network device that it needs to report the measurement result. For another example, an event occurs to trigger the terminal device to report the measurement result.

[0206] FIG. 12 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 800 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The optional operations in the method 800 are indicated by dashed lines in FIG. 12. In the method 800, the first information can indicate the quality size relationship of part or all of the activated reference signals, which can effectively assist the network device to update the activated TCI state. The method 800 is described below in conjunction with FIG. 12.

[0207] S840, the terminal device measures B reference signals to obtain a measurement report. Wherein, B can be a positive integer.

[0208] S850, the terminal device sends the measurement report to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the measurement report from the terminal device.

[0209] Exemplarily, the terminal device can measure the B reference signals according to the configuration information to obtain the measurement report. Or, the terminal device measures the B reference signal resources, and the B reference signals are carried on the B reference signal resources. The configuration information can be sent by the network device, or can be predefined or preconfigured. For specific description of the configuration information, please refer to the following.

[0210] The B reference signals can include L reference signals associated with the R activated TCI states, R can be a positive integer, and L can be a positive integer.

[0211] The B reference signals can be reference signals measured by the terminal device. For the meaning of the reference signals, please refer to the explanation in the foregoing, which will not be described here again.

[0212] Exemplarily, the reference signals can be downlink reference signals. In some possible implementations, the method 800 further includes: S830, the network device sends the B reference signals to the terminal device, or the network device sends the B reference signal resources, and the B reference signals are carried on the B reference signal resources. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the B reference signals from the network device, or the terminal device receives the B reference signal resources from the network device, and the B reference signals are carried on the B reference signal resources. Exemplarily, in the process of performing S830, the number of reference signals sent by the network device to the terminal device can be B, or an integer greater than B.

[0213] The measurement report can include measurement results of part or all of the B reference signals. For example, for the meaning of the measurement results, please refer to the foregoing. Exemplarily, the measurement report can be a CSI report.

[0214] The R activated TCI states can also be referred to as R activated TCI states. For the meaning of the activated TCI states, please refer to the foregoing.

[0215] Exemplarily, when the terminal device works in the joint TCI mode, the R TCI states can include any one or more of the following:

[0216] All joint TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling.

[0217] All different joint TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling.

[0218] Exemplarily, when the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, the R TCI states can include any one or more of the following:

[0219] All TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling, e.g., including UL TCI states and DL TCI states.

[0220] All DL TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling.

[0221] All different DL TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling.

[0222] All UL TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling.

[0223] All different UL TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling.

[0224] Optionally, the TCI states are DL / joint TCI states. For example, when the terminal device works in the joint TCI mode, the TCI states are joint TCI states; when the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, the TCI states are DL TCI states.

[0225] The R TCI states can be R TCI states activated by the network device through first signaling (e.g., MAC CE signaling, or referred to as TCI state activation signaling). In some possible implementations, the network device can send the first signaling to the terminal device, and the first signaling can be used to activate the R TCI states. Optionally, the R TCI states are R DL / joint TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling. For example, when the terminal device works in the joint TCI mode, the R TCI states are R joint TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling; when the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, the R TCI states are R DL TCI states activated in the TCI state activation signaling. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first signaling from the network device.

[0226] The first signaling includes K codepoints. K can be a positive integer less than or equal to 8. Each codepoint in the K codepoints corresponds to at least one TCI state in the R TCI states. For example, the K codepoints can be one-to-one corresponding to the R TCI states, i.e., K = R. For another example, one or more codepoints in the K codepoints correspond to one TCI state in the R TCI states.

[0227] For example, one of the K codepoints can correspond to one DL TCI state and one UL TCI state. Alternatively, one of the K codepoints corresponds to a DL TCI state belonging to the R TCI states, i.e., the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint can be the DL TCI state corresponding to the codepoint.

[0228] For example, one of the K codepoints can correspond to one DL / joint TCI state or one UL TCI state. Alternatively, one of the K codepoints corresponds to a DL / joint TCI state belonging to the R TCI states, i.e., the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint can be the DL / joint TCI state corresponding to the codepoint.

[0229] Exemplarily, the structure of the first signaling can refer to FIG. 2. However, the structure of the first signaling is not limited in the present application, and the first signaling can also have other structures.

[0230] The L reference signals can be reference signals associated with the R activated TCI states. The L reference signals can also be understood as reference signals associated with all activated TCI states. For example, the L reference signals can be QCL Type-D reference signals of the R activated TCI states. For another example, the L reference signals can be reference signals associated with the QCL Type-D reference signals of the R activated TCI states.

[0231] The understanding of the reference signals associated with the TCI states can refer to the description in the foregoing, which will not be repeated here.

[0232] The measurement report can include first information. The first information is used to determine the signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals. For example, the first information is used to determine the signal quality size relationship of multiple reference signals in the L reference signals.

[0233] The signal quality size relationship can represent the ordering of the signal qualities of the multiple reference signals, or the comparison relationship between the signal qualities of any two reference signals.

[0234] Exemplarily, the part or all of the L reference signals can include RS#1 to RS#4. For example, the signal quality size relationship of the RS#1 to RS#4 can be: the signal quality is in descending order of RS#2, RS#1, RS#3, and RS#4; or the signal quality is in ascending order of RS#4, RS#3, RS#1, and RS#2. For another example, the signal quality size relationship of the RS#1 to RS#4 can be: the signal quality of RS#2 > the signal quality of RS#1, the signal quality of RS#1 > the signal quality of RS#3, and the signal quality of RS#3 > the signal quality of RS#4.

[0235] In some possible implementations, the network device can determine the signal quality size relationship of the part or all of the L reference signals according to the first information, thereby assisting the network device in updating the activated TCI state. For example, the signal quality of some reference signals is relatively low in the L reference signals, and the network device can determine that the TCI state associated with the reference signals is not the activated TCI state, thereby achieving the updating of the activated TCI state.

[0236] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can indicate the quality size relationship of the part or all of the reference signals associated with the currently activated TCI state through the first information. In this way, the network device can determine the quality of the beam corresponding to the currently activated TCI state according to the first information, thereby determining whether to update the activated TCI state or the updated activated TCI state. Therefore, the above scheme can effectively assist the network device in updating the activated TCI state through the first information.

[0237] In some possible implementations, S840 and / or S850 can be indicated by the network device. For example, the network device can instruct the terminal device to perform the measurement and reporting of the reference signals.

[0238] In some possible implementations, S840 and / or S850 can be actively performed by the terminal device. For example, the terminal device decides to perform the measurement and reporting of the reference signals.

[0239] In some possible implementations, S840 and / or S850 can be triggered by an event. Details are described below.

[0240] Exemplarily, the event can be: there is at least one new beam whose quality is higher than that of the first activated beam and greater than a first threshold. In other words, there is at least one new beam whose quality is higher than that of the first activated beam by the first threshold. The first threshold can be predefined, preconfigured, reported by the terminal device, or configured by the network device.

[0241] In the embodiments of the present application, "less than", "less than or equal to", "not greater than" can be replaced with each other; "greater than", "greater than or equal to", "not less than" can be replaced with each other.

[0242] For ease of description, the above event can be recorded as event 7 or other names (for example, first event). For ease of description, the above event is referred to as event 7 below.

[0243] Exemplarily, the first activated beam can be a beam corresponding to a reference signal with the Nth best signal quality among reference signals associated with the currently activated TCI states, N can be a positive integer. For example, the first activated beam can be a beam corresponding to a reference signal with the Nth best signal quality among L reference signals associated with R TCI states. N can be a positive integer less than or equal to L.

[0244] For example, N can be determined by any one or more of predefinition, pre-configuration, reporting by the terminal device, or configuration by the network device. For example, N can be further configured by the network device according to the reported terminal capability. For example, the terminal device reports one or more candidate values of N, and the network device indicates one of the candidate values. For example, the terminal device reports a maximum value and / or a minimum value of N, and the network device configures N, which needs to be greater than or equal to the minimum value and / or less than or equal to the maximum value. For example, in the case where the network device does not configure N, the protocol specifies a default value of N, for example, N = 1 or 2.

[0245] Exemplarily, the new beam configured by the network device can include at least one of the following:

[0246] One or more beams different from the first activated beam or the beam corresponding to the activated TCI state.

[0247] One or more beams corresponding to one or more reference signals configured by the network device for monitoring the new beam.

[0248] One or more beams corresponding to reference signals associated with the configured TCI state. The one or more beams can be beams other than the first activated beam or the beam corresponding to the activated TCI state.

[0249] The aforementioned beam can be represented by resource, reference signal, reference signal resource index (i.e., the aforementioned four descriptions can be replaced with each other). The beam (e.g., the first activated beam and / or the new beam) in the embodiments of the present application can refer to the resource, reference signal, and reference signal resource corresponding to the beam, and can also be replaced with the resource, reference signal, and reference signal resource corresponding to the beam. For example, the index of the beam can be replaced with the resource index, reference signal index, or reference signal resource index corresponding to the beam.

[0250] Other descriptions of the beam are described above and will not be repeated.

[0251] Exemplarily, the signal quality can include at least one of the following:

[0252] Reference signal received power (RSRP).

[0253] Signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR).

[0254] Layer 1 (L1)-RSRP.

[0255] L1-SINR.

[0256] Synchronization signal (SS)-RSRP.

[0257] CSI-RSRP.

[0258] SS-SINR.

[0259] CSI-SINR.

[0260] In some examples, in the S840 described above, the terminal device can measure the reference signals corresponding to at least one of the first active beam, the new beam, or the active TCI state according to the configuration information, and obtain a measurement result. The terminal device can determine whether to report the measurement result to the network device according to the measurement result. For example, when the measurement result satisfies the condition of the occurrence of an event (for example, event 7), the terminal device reports the measurement result. Illustratively, the B reference signals can include the reference signals corresponding to the new beam and the L reference signals associated with the R active TCI states, and the L reference signals can include the reference signal corresponding to the first active beam.

[0261] In the new beam configured by the network device described above, when there is at least one new beam whose quality is higher than that of the first active beam and greater than a first threshold, event 7 occurs. Further, the terminal device can perform S850 to send a measurement report to the network device. The measurement report can include the reporting content corresponding to event 7. For example, the reporting content can include first information.

[0262] The occurrence of event 7 can be understood as the existence of at least one new beam whose signal quality is higher than that of the first active beam and greater than or equal to the first threshold, or as the existence of at least one new beam whose signal quality is d1 times higher than that of the first active beam and greater than or equal to the first threshold within a first time window.

[0263] The first time window can be determined in any one or more of the following manners: predefined, preconfigured, reported by the terminal device, or configured by the network device. The unit of the time window can be a time slot, a symbol, a subframe, a frame, a millisecond, or a microsecond, etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. d1 can be determined in any one or more of the following manners: predefined, preconfigured, reported by the terminal device, or configured by the network device. d1 can be a positive integer.

[0264] The following continues to introduce examples of the first information.

[0265] Optionally, the first information is used to determine the signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals, including: the first information is used to determine the reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals.

[0266] The first reference signal can be the reference signal ranked in the Mth position in terms of signal quality among the L reference signals, and M is a positive integer less than or equal to L. For example, assuming that L = 4 and M = 3, the L reference signals can be denoted as RS#1 to RS#4. If the L reference signals are in descending order of signal quality as follows: RS#2, RS#1, RS#3, RS#4. Then, the first reference signal can be RS#3.

[0267] wherein, the above M can be predefined, preconfigured, reported by the terminal device, or determined by any one or more of the network device, for example, the network device can further configure M according to the reported terminal capability, for example, the terminal device reports one or more candidate values of M, and the network device indicates one of the candidate values, for example, the terminal device reports the maximum value and / or the minimum value of M, and the network device configures M, M needs to be greater than or equal to the minimum value and / or less than or equal to the maximum value, for example, in the case where the network does not configure M, the protocol specifies the default value of M, for example, M = 1 or 2.

[0268] The above M and the above N can be equal or not equal. In some examples, the above M can be determined according to the above N. For example, M = N + 1. For example, M = N - 1. For example, M = N. When M = N, it can be understood that the first reference signal is the reference signal corresponding to the first activated beam.

[0269] The above scheme can also be understood as: the first information can be used to determine which TCI states associated reference signals in the activated TCI states have signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among all reference signals associated with the activated TCI states.

[0270] In other words, the first information can be used to determine which reference signals in the activated TCI state associated reference signals have signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among all reference signals associated with the activated TCI states.

[0271] In other words, the first information can be used to determine which TCI states associated reference signals in the activated TCI states have signal quality in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits among all reference signals associated with the activated TCI states.

[0272] In other words, the first information can be used to determine which reference signals in the activated TCI state associated reference signals have signal quality in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits among all reference signals associated with the activated TCI states.

[0273] Based on the above scheme, the first information can indicate the reference signals ranked in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits among the activated TCI state associated reference signals, so that the network device can determine the reference signals with better quality, thereby further effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI state.

[0274] Next, two examples of the first information used to determine the reference signals with signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals are introduced, which are respectively denoted as indication example 1 and indication example 2. Wherein, the first information includes X bits, and X is a positive integer.

[0275] Indication example 1: the first bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal in the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. For example, the first bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of one reference signal in the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. For another example, the first bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of multiple reference signals in the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. The multiple reference signals in the L reference signals can be the same reference signal. In other words, the first bit can correspond to one reference signal in the L reference signals, or can correspond to multiple same reference signals in the L reference signals.

[0276] Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0277] Alternative expression 1 of indication example 1: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal in the L reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0278] Alternative expression 2 of indication example 1: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal in the L reference signals is ranked in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0279] Alternative expression 3 of indication example 1: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal in the L reference signals is ranked in the last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0280] Alternative expression 4 of indication example 1: whether there is at least one reference signal in the reported new beam corresponding reference signals whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the first bit.

[0281] In the alternative expressions 1 to 4 of indication example 1, the at least one reference signal can be one reference signal, or can be multiple same reference signals.

[0282] Wherein, the first bit can be one bit in the X bits. The first bit can correspond to at least one reference signal in the L reference signals. The first bit can indicate the signal quality size relationship between the corresponding at least one reference signal and the first reference signal.

[0283] As another description of indication example 1, the first bit can be used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal in the L reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0284] In other words, the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one of the L reference signals is in the last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0285] As an example, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one of the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal corresponding to the first bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the first bit is in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0286] As another example, the value of the first bit is 0, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one of the L reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 0, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal corresponding to the first bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 0, which can represent that the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the first bit is in the last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0287] As an example, the value of the first bit is 0, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one of the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 0, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal corresponding to the first bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 0, which can represent that the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the first bit is in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0288] As another example, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one of the L reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal corresponding to the first bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the first bit is in the last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0289] In this application, "the first M bits" and "not in the last L-M bits" can be replaced with each other, "the first M-1 bits" and "not in the last L-M+1 bits" can be replaced with each other, "the last L-M bits" and "not in the first M bits" can be replaced with each other, "the last L-M+1 bits" and "not in the first M-1 bits" can be replaced with each other. In the foregoing examples, the at least one reference signal can be one reference signal, or a plurality of same reference signals.

[0290] The first M bits or the first M-1 bits. The last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits. The meaning of the value 0 of the first bit can refer to the description above, or other descriptions. For example, replace the value 0 in the description above with the value 1, and replace the value 1 in the description above with the value 0.

[0291] Optionally, the indication example 1 includes examples 1-1 to 1-3, which are introduced below.

[0292] Example 1-1: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. For example, the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0293] Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0294] Alternative expression 1 of example 1-1: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0295] Alternative expression 2 of example 1-1: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0296] Alternative expression 3 of example 1-1: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is in the last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0297] Alternative expression 4 of example 1-1: Whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to the new beam in the reported reference signal corresponding to the new beam, the signal quality of which is greater than the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point corresponding to the first bit.

[0298] Exemplarily, at least one reference signal in alternative expressions 1 to 4 of example 1-1 can be replaced by one reference signal.

[0299] The first codepoint can be one of the K codepoints of the first signaling. The first codepoint can correspond to at least one of the R TCI states (i.e., the activated TCI states). The description of the reference signal associated with the TCI state is described above and will not be repeated here.

[0300] As some examples, the first bit can be mapped to the first codepoint. The following describes the case where X is less than or equal to K (denoted as Case 1) and the case where X is greater than K (denoted as Case 2).

[0301] Case 1: X is less than or equal to K.

[0302] For example, the first bit is the xth bit of the X bits, and the first codepoint is the xth codepoint of the X codepoints of the first signaling. Wherein x is a positive integer less than or equal to X. In other words, the X bits correspond to the X codepoints one by one.

[0303] The above example can also be described as: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint of the X codepoints of the first signaling is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. The following describes several alternative expressions.

[0304] Alternative expression 1: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint of the X codepoints of the first signaling is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0305] Alternative expression 2: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint of the X codepoints of the first signaling is ranked in the top M or top M-1 of the L reference signals.

[0306] Alternative expression 3: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint of the X codepoints of the first signaling is ranked in the bottom L-M or bottom L-M+1 of the L reference signals.

[0307] Alternative expression 4: whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to the new beam whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint corresponding to the xth bit of the X bits. Wherein the xth bit of the X bits corresponds to the xth codepoint of the X codepoints in the first signaling.

[0308] The X codepoints can be part or all of the K codepoints of the first signaling. For example, when the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, the X codepoints can be codepoints corresponding to the DL TCI state included in the TCI activation signaling.

[0309] Examples of case 1 can include: the X codepoints are all codepoints in the K codepoints of the first signaling (denoted as case 1-1), or the X codepoints are part of the K codepoints of the first signaling (denoted as case 1-2). The following will be introduced respectively.

[0310] In case 1-1, the X codepoints can be all codepoints in the K codepoints of the first signaling, and each bit in the X bits can be mapped to a codepoint in the first signaling, that is, the X bits correspond to the K codepoints one by one, that is, X = K. For example, the first signaling includes K = 8 codepoints, then X = K = 8, and for example, the first signaling includes K = 4 codepoints, then X = K = 4.

[0311] The above examples can also be expressed as: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint in the first signaling is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. The following introduces several alternative expressions.

[0312] Alternative expression 1: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint in the first signaling is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0313] Alternative expression 2: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint in the first signaling is ranked in the first M positions or the first M-1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0314] Alternative expression 3: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth codepoint in the first signaling is ranked in the last L-M positions or the last L-M+1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0315] Alternative expression 4: whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to the new beam whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint corresponding to the xth bit in the X bits. Wherein the xth bit in the X bits corresponds to the xth codepoint in the first signaling.

[0316] Exemplarily, in the case that the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, if the x'th codepoint in the X codepoints of the first signaling corresponds to a TCI state which does not contain a DL TCI state, the x'th bit in the X bits is meaningless or reserved, or set to a special value (e.g., 0 or 1). Wherein, x' is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and x' is not equal to x.

[0317] Alternatively, if only X' codepoints in the X codepoints of the first signaling correspond to a DL TCI state, the first X' bits in the X bits are one-to-one mapped to the X' codepoints in the X codepoints. X' is a positive integer less than or equal to X. For example, the first X' bits in the X bits can be one-to-one mapped to the X' codepoints in the X codepoints in the order of the size of the codepoints from small to large (or from large to small). The last X-X' bits in the X bits are meaningless or reserved, or set to a special value, e.g., 0 or 1.

[0318] Case 1-2, the X codepoints are part of the K codepoints in the first signaling, i.e., X < K.

[0319] For example, when the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, the X codepoints can be the codepoints in the TCI activation signaling which contain a DL TCI state, i.e., the value of X is determined according to the number of the codepoints in the TCI activation signaling which contain a DL TCI state. For another example, when the terminal device works in the separate TCI mode, the X codepoints are the codepoints in the TCI activation signaling which contain different DL TCI states, i.e., the value of X is determined according to the number of the codepoints in the TCI activation signaling which contain different DL TCI states.

[0320] Case 2: the case that X > K.

[0321] The first K bits in the X bits can be one-to-one mapped to the K codepoints in the first signaling. The last X-K bits in the X bits are meaningless or reserved, or set to a special value, e.g., 0 or 1. Alternatively, the last K bits in the X bits can be one-to-one mapped to the K codepoints in the first signaling. The first X-K bits in the X bits are meaningless, or set to a special value, e.g., 0 or 1. For example, X = 8, the first K bits in the 8 bits can be one-to-one mapped to the K codepoints in the first signaling, and the last 8-K bits in the 8 bits are meaningless or reserved.

[0322] The first K' bits in the X bits can be one-to-one mapped to the K' codepoints of the first signaling. The last X-K' bits in the X bits are meaningless or reserved, or set to a special value, e.g., 0 or 1. Or, the last K' bits in the X bits can be one-to-one mapped to the K' codepoints of the first signaling. The first X-K' bits in the X bits are meaningless or reserved, or set to a special value, e.g., 0 or 1. The K' codepoints can be the codepoints of the X codepoints of the first signaling that have corresponding DL TCI states, or the K' codepoints can be the codepoints of the X codepoints of the first signaling that have corresponding different DL TCI states. For example, X=8, the first K' bits in the 8 bits can be one-to-one mapped to the K' codepoints of the first signaling, and the last 8-K' bits in the 8 bits are meaningless or reserved. K' can be a positive integer less than or equal to X. K and K' can be the same or different. K' can be a positive integer less than or equal to K.

[0323] As some examples, the first bit is mapped to the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint.

[0324] For example, the first bit is the x-th bit in the X bits, and the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is the x-th TCI state in the R TCI states. Wherein, R=X. Wherein, x is a positive integer less than or equal to X. In other words, the X bits correspond to the X TCI states one-to-one.

[0325] For example, the first bit is the x-th bit in the X bits, and the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is the x-th TCI state in the R TCI states. Wherein, x is a positive integer less than or equal to R, and R is a positive integer less than or equal to X, and the last X-R bits of the X bits are meaningless or reserved. X can be determined by any one or more of network configuration, protocol specification, and terminal capability reporting.

[0326] The above examples can also be expressed as: the x-th bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state in the X TCI states (or, R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. For example, the x-th bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state in the X TCI states (or, R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0327] Alternative expression 1: The xth bit in X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. For example, the xth bit in X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0328] Alternative expression 2: The xth bit in X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is in the top M or top M-1 positions of the L reference signals. For example, the xth bit in X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is in the top M or top M-1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0329] Alternative expression 3: The xth bit in X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is in the bottom L-M or bottom L-M+1 positions of the L reference signals. For example, the xth bit in X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is in the bottom L-M or bottom L-M+1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0330] Alternative expression 4: Whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to a new beam whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth bit in X bits. Wherein the xth bit in X bits corresponds to the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling. For example, whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to a new beam whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth bit in X bits. Wherein the xth bit in X bits corresponds to the xth TCI state in the X TCI states (or R TCI states) corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling. As another example, the first bit is mapped to a reference signal associated with a TCI state corresponding to a first codepoint.

[0331] For example, the first bit is the x-th bit in the X bits, and the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is the x-th reference signal in the L reference signals. Wherein, L = X. Wherein, x is a positive integer less than or equal to X. In other words, the X bits correspond to the X reference signals one by one.

[0332] For example, the first bit is the x-th bit in the X bits, and the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first codepoint is the x-th reference signal in the L reference signals. Wherein, x is a positive integer less than or equal to L, and L is a positive integer less than or equal to X. The last X-L bits of the X bits are meaningless or reserved.

[0333] The above examples can also be expressed as: the x-th bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the x-th reference signal in the X reference signals (or L reference signals) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0334] Alternative expression 1: the x-th bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the x-th reference signal in the X reference signals (or L reference signals) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0335] Alternative expression 2: the x-th bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the x-th reference signal in the X reference signals (or L reference signals) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is in the first M bits or the first M-1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0336] Alternative expression 3: the x-th bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the x-th reference signal in the X reference signals (or L reference signals) associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint of the first signaling is in the last L-M bits or the last L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0337] Alternative expression 4: whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to the new beam whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the x-th bit in the X bits. Wherein, the x-th bit in the X bits corresponds to the x-th reference signal in the L reference signals.

[0338] Example 1-2: The R TCI states include T different TCI states, the first bit is used to indicate whether the at least one reference signal associated with one of the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, T is a positive integer less than or equal to R. Several alternative expressions are introduced below. For example, the first bit is used to indicate whether one reference signal associated with one of the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0339] Alternative expression 1 of example 1-2: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with one of the T different TCI states is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0340] Alternative expression 2 of example 1-2: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with one of the T different TCI states is ranked in the top M positions or the top M-1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0341] Alternative expression 3 of example 1-2: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with one of the T different TCI states is ranked in the last L-M positions or the last L-M+1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0342] Alternative expression 4 of example 1-2: Whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to the new beam in the reported reference signals, the signal quality of which is greater than the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first bit. The TCI state is one of the T different TCI states.

[0343] For example, at least one of the reference signals in the alternative expressions 1 to 4 of example 1-2 can be replaced by one reference signal.

[0344] For example, X can be the number of different TCI states activated by the first signaling. That is, X=T. For example, the above TCI state is only a DL / joint TCI state, so X can be the number of different DL / joint TCI states activated by the first signaling.

[0345] For example, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, the xth bit corresponds to the xth TCI state in the T different TCI states, T=X. In other words, the X bits correspond to the T different TCI states one by one. For example, X can be determined by any one or more of network configuration, protocol specification, and terminal capability reporting, and X can be greater than or equal to T.

[0346] For example, the first bit is an xth bit of the X bits, the xth bit corresponds to an xth TCI state of the T different TCI states, x is less than or equal to T, and the last X-T bits of the X bits are meaningless or reserved. X can be determined by any one or more of network configuration, protocol specification, and terminal capability reporting. For example, X = 8.

[0347] The above example can also be expressed as: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state of the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0348] Alternative expression 1: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state of the T different TCI states is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0349] Alternative expression 2: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state of the T different TCI states is ranked in the top M positions or the top M-1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0350] Alternative expression 3: the xth bit of the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state of the T different TCI states is ranked in the last L-M positions or the last L-M+1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0351] Alternative expression 4: whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to a new beam in the reported reference signals, the signal quality of which is greater than the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the xth bit of the X bits. Wherein the xth bit of the X bits corresponds to a TCI state of the T different TCI states.

[0352] As an example, the value of the xth bit of the X bits is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state of the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the xth bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the xth TCI state corresponding to the xth bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit is 1, which can represent that the signal quality of the reference signal associated with the xth TCI state corresponding to the xth bit is in the top M positions or the top M-1 positions of the L reference signals.

[0353] As another example, a value of 0 of an x-th bit in X bits can indicate that a signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with an x-th TCI state of T different TCI states is less than or equal to a signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, a value of 0 of the x-th bit can indicate that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state corresponding to the x-th bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, a value of 0 of the first bit can indicate that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state corresponding to the x-th bit is in a back L-M bit or a back L-M+1 bit of the L reference signals.

[0354] As another example, a value of 0 of an x-th bit in X bits can indicate that a signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with an x-th TCI state of T different TCI states is less than or equal to a signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, a value of 0 of the x-th bit can indicate that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state corresponding to the x-th bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, a value of 0 of the first bit can indicate that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state corresponding to the x-th bit is in a back L-M bit or a back L-M+1 bit of the L reference signals.

[0355] As another example, a value of 0 of an x-th bit in X bits can indicate that a signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with an x-th TCI state of T different TCI states is less than or equal to a signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, a value of 0 of the x-th bit can indicate that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state corresponding to the x-th bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, a value of 0 of the first bit can indicate that the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with the x-th TCI state corresponding to the x-th bit is in a back L-M bit or a back L-M+1 bit of the L reference signals.

[0356] The above examples can also be expressed as that an x-th bit in X bits is mapped to an x-th different DL / joint TCI state activated by the first signaling (e.g., the different TCI states can be sequentially ordered from front to back or from back to front according to codepoint positions). Alternatively, the X bits are sequentially mapped to the DL / joint TCI states activated by the first signaling from small to large or from large to small according to TCI state indexes.

[0357] For example, assume X=3, the first signaling includes K=4 codepoints. The 4 codepoints can be denoted as codepoint #1 to codepoint #4 in sequence from front to back. Codepoint #1 can correspond to TCI state #1 among the T different TCI states, codepoint #2 can correspond to TCI state #1 among the T different TCI states, codepoint #3 can correspond to TCI state #2 among the T different TCI states, and codepoint #4 can correspond to TCI state #3 among the T different TCI states.

[0358] If the different TCI states are sequentially corresponding to the codepoint positions from front to back, the 1st bit among the X=3 bits corresponds to TCI state #1, the 2nd bit among the X=3 bits corresponds to TCI state #2, and the 3rd bit among the X=3 bits corresponds to TCI state #3. Or in other words, the different TCI states can be sequentially ordered as: TCI state #1, TCI state #2, and TCI state #3.

[0359] If the different TCI states are sequentially corresponding to the codepoint positions from back to front, the 1st bit among the X=3 bits corresponds to TCI state #3, the 2nd bit among the X=3 bits corresponds to TCI state #2, and the 3rd bit among the X=3 bits corresponds to TCI state #1. Or in other words, the different TCI states can be sequentially ordered as: TCI state #3, TCI state #2, and TCI state #1.

[0360] Example 1-3: The L reference signals include V different reference signals, and the first bit is used to indicate whether a reference signal among the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, V being a positive integer less than or equal to L. Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0361] Alternative expression 1 of example 1-3: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of a reference signal among the V different reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0362] Alternative expression 2 of example 1-3: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of a reference signal among the V different reference signals is in the front M bits or the front M-1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0363] Alternative expression 3 of example 1-3: the first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of a reference signal among the V different reference signals is in the rear L-M bits or the rear L-M+1 bits of the L reference signals.

[0364] Example 1-3, alternative expression 4: whether there is at least one reference signal corresponding to the new beam in the reported reference signals whose signal quality is greater than the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the first bit. Wherein the reference signal is one of the V different reference signals.

[0365] For example, X can be the number of different reference signals associated with the TCI state activated by the first signaling. That is, X = V. For example, the TCI state described above is only a DL / joint TCI state, so X can be the number of different reference signals associated with the DL / joint TCI state activated by the first signaling.

[0366] For example, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, which corresponds to the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals, V = X; wherein x is a positive integer less than or equal to X. In other words, the X bits correspond one-to-one to the V different reference signals.

[0367] For example, X can be any one or more of network configuration, protocol specification, or terminal capability reporting, and X can be greater than or equal to V. For example, X = 8.

[0368] For example, the first bit is the xth bit in the X bits, which can correspond to the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals, x less than or equal to V; the last X-V bits of the X bits are meaningless or reserved.

[0369] The above example can also be expressed as: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. Several alternative expressions are introduced below.

[0370] Alternative expression 1: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0371] Alternative expression 2: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals is in the top M or top M-1 of the L reference signals.

[0372] Alternative expression 3: the xth bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the xth reference signal in the V different reference signals is in the bottom L-M or bottom L-M+1 of the L reference signals.

[0373] The first bit of the X bits can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the first reference signal is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the first reference signal is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the first reference signal is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0374] As an example, the value of the xth bit of the X bits can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal of the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the xth bit can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0375] As another example, the value of the xth bit of the X bits can be 0, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal of the V different reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the xth bit can be 0, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit can be 0, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0376] As an example, the value of the xth bit of the X bits can be 0, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal of the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the xth bit can be 0, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit can be 0, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0377] As another example, the value of the xth bit of the X bits can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal of the V different reference signals is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the xth bit can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal. In other words, the value of the first bit can be 1, indicating that the signal quality of the xth reference signal corresponding to the xth bit is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0378] The above example can also be expressed as: the xth bit in the X bits is mapped to the xth different reference signal associated with the TCI state activated by the first signaling (for example, the different reference signals are sequentially ordered from front to back or from back to front according to the codepoint position). Alternatively, the X bits are sequentially mapped to the reference signal indexes associated with the TCI state activated by the first signaling from left to right or from right to left, and the reference signals are sequentially ordered from small to large or from large to small.

[0379] For example, assuming X=3, the first signaling includes K=4 codepoints. The 4 codepoints can be sequentially recorded as codepoint #1 to codepoint #4 from front to back. Codepoint #1 can correspond to reference signal #1 in the V different reference signals, codepoint #2 can correspond to reference signal #1 in the V different reference signals, codepoint #3 can correspond to reference signal #2 in the V different reference signals, and codepoint #4 can correspond to reference signal #3 in the V different reference signals. The reference signal corresponding to the codepoint can be understood as the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the codepoint.

[0380] If the different reference signals are sequentially corresponding according to the codepoint position from front to back, the 1st bit in the X=3 bits corresponds to reference signal #1, the 2nd bit in the X=3 bits corresponds to reference signal #2, and the 2nd bit in the X=3 bits corresponds to reference signal #3. Alternatively, the above different reference signals can be sequentially ordered as: reference signal #1, reference signal #2, and reference signal #3.

[0381] If the different reference signals are sequentially corresponding according to the codepoint position from back to front, the 1st bit in the X=3 bits corresponds to reference signal #3, the 2nd bit in the X=3 bits corresponds to reference signal #2, and the 2nd bit in the X=3 bits corresponds to reference signal #1. Alternatively, the above different reference signals can be sequentially ordered as: reference signal #3, reference signal #2, and reference signal #1.

[0382] Based on the above scheme, the first information can indicate whether part or all of the L reference signals are in the first M reference signals associated with the activated TCI state, thereby effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI state with less overhead.

[0383] The following introduces indication example 2.

[0384] Indication example 2: The first information indicates the indexes of all or part of the TCI states in the activated TCI states, or indicates the indexes of all or part of the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states, according to a certain rule.

[0385] Optionally, indication example 2 includes examples 2-1 to 2-3, which are introduced as follows.

[0386] Example 2-1: The terminal device reports the reference signal indexes, the TCI state indexes, or the codepoint indexes corresponding to the first M or first M-1 reference signals with the best signal quality.

[0387] The following introduces examples of reporting reference signal indexes, TCI state indexes, and codepoint indexes, respectively, which are denoted as Example 2-1-1, Example 2-1-2, and Example 2-1-3.

[0388] Example 2-1-1: The first information is used to indicate a first index, which is a reference signal index of a reference signal in the L reference signals with a signal quality greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0389] In the embodiments of the present application, the reference signal index and the reference signal resource index can be replaced with each other. The reference signal and the reference signal resource can also be replaced with each other.

[0390] For example, the first index can include one or more reference signal indexes. Optionally, the multiple reference signal indexes indicated by the first information are sorted in descending or ascending order according to the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the multiple reference signal indexes.

[0391] As an example, the reference signal index can be an index of the L reference signals.

[0392] Exemplarily, the reference signal index can be taken from 0 to L-1, or 1 to L. In other words, the L reference signals can correspond to L reference signal indexes respectively. Any two of the L reference signal indexes are different. For example, the L reference signals can be mapped to the L reference signal indexes (i.e., 0 to L-1, or 1 to L) in descending (or ascending) order according to the non-zero power CSI-RS resource identification (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId) or SSB index (SSB-index) of the L reference signals. For another example, the L reference signals can be mapped to the L reference signal indexes (i.e., 0 to L-1, or 1 to L) in descending (or ascending) order according to the index of the codepoint to which the L reference signals belong.

[0393] Optionally, the number of bits required for each reference signal index is

[0394] Exemplarily, the reference signal index can be a non-zero power CSI-RS resource identification (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId) or a SSB index (SSB-index) configured by the network device. The number of bits required for each reference signal index can be determined according to the number of reference signals in the reference signal resource set in which the reference signal is located. For example, the reference signal resource set includes Q reference signals, and the number of bits required for each reference signal index is When the reference signal is a CSI-RS, the reference signal index of the reference signal can be a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI); when the reference signal is an SSB, the reference signal index of the reference signal can be an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI).

[0395] Exemplarily, the reference signal index can be an index of a codepoint to which the reference signal belongs. Exemplarily, K=L, and the reference signal index of the reference signal associated with the TCI state of the kth codepoint in the K codepoints of the first signaling can be k. Wherein, k is a positive integer less than or equal to K. Optionally, the number of bits required for each reference signal index is Or (i.e., the reference signal index is fixed to 3 bits).

[0396] As another example, the L reference signals include V different reference signals, and the reference signal index can be a ordinal position index of the V different reference signals. Optionally, the number of bits required for each reference signal index is Or (i.e., the reference signal index is fixed to 3 bits).

[0397] Wherein, the ordinal position index of the V different reference signals can indicate the ordinal position in which the V different reference signals are located. For example, the ordinal position of the 1st reference signal in the V different reference signals is 0 (or 1), and the ordinal position index can be 0 (or 1). For another example, the ordinal position of the 2nd reference signal in the V different reference signals is 1 (or 2), and the ordinal position index can be 1 (or 2). In this way, the ordinal position of the Vth reference signal in the V different reference signals is V-1 (or V), and the ordinal position index can be V-1 (or V). The ordinal position can be understood as the position in the V different reference signals associated with the TCI state activated by the first signaling, and the positions are sequentially sorted from front to back or from back to front according to the codepoint positions.

[0398] Exemplarily, the ordinal position indexes of the V different reference signals can be sequentially ordered according to the codepoint indexes of the codepoints to which the reference signals belong in ascending order. For example, the first codepoint in the first signaling corresponds to reference signal #1, the reference signal index of the reference signal can be 0 (or 1), the second codepoint corresponds to reference signal #2, the reference signal index of the reference signal can be 1 (or 2), the third codepoint and the fourth codepoint correspond to the same reference signal, which is reference signal #3, the reference signal index of the reference signal can be 2 (or 3).

[0399] Based on the above scheme, the reference signal index can be the ordinal position index of the V different reference signals. In this way, the same reference signal can use the same reference signal index, thereby being able to reduce the total number of reference signal indexes. Reducing the total number of reference signal indexes can reduce the number of bits occupied by the reference signal index, thereby reducing the overhead of transmitting the index and the overhead of processing the index.

[0400] Example 2-1-2: The first information is used to indicate a second index, the second index is a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with a reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals.

[0401] For example, the second index can include one or more TCI state indexes. Optionally, the plurality of TCI state indexes indicated by the first information are sequentially ordered in descending order or in ascending order according to the signal quality of the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the plurality of TCI state indexes.

[0402] As an example, the TCI state index can be an index of the R TCI states.

[0403] Exemplarily, the TCI state index can be taken from 0 to R-1, or 1 to R. In other words, the R TCI states can correspond to the R TCI state indexes respectively. Any two of the R TCI state indexes are different. For example, the R TCI states can be sequentially mapped to the R TCI state indexes (i.e., 0 to R-1, or 1 to R) according to the TCI state identifiers (TCI-stateId) of the R TCI states in descending order (or in ascending order). For another example, the R TCI states can be sequentially mapped to the R TCI state indexes (i.e., 0 to R-1, or 1 to R) according to the indexes of the codepoints corresponding to the R TCI states in descending order (or in ascending order).

[0404] Optionally, the number of bits required for each TCI state index is

[0405] Exemplarily, the TCI state index can be a TCI state identification (TCI-stateId) configured by the network device.

[0406] Exemplarily, the TCI state index can be an index of a codepoint corresponding to a TCI state. Exemplarily, K=R, and a TCI state index of a TCI state corresponding to a k-th codepoint in the K codepoints of the first signaling can be k. Wherein, k is a positive integer less than or equal to K.

[0407] As another example, the R TCI states include T different TCI states, and the TCI state index is a ordinal position index of the T different TCI states.

[0408] Wherein, the ordinal position index of the T different TCI states can indicate a ordinal position of the T different TCI states. For example, a ordinal position of a 1st TCI state in the T different TCI states is 0 (or 1), and the ordinal position index can be 0 (or 1). For another example, a ordinal position of a 2nd TCI state in the T different TCI states is 1 (or 2), and the ordinal position index can be 1 (or 2). And so on. A ordinal position of a T-th TCI state in the T different TCI states is T-1 (or T), and the ordinal position index can be T-1 (or T). The ordinal position can be understood as a position in the T different TCI states activated by the first signaling, and the positions are sorted in order from front to back or from back to front according to the codepoint positions.

[0409] Exemplarily, the ordinal position index of the T different TCI states can be sorted in order from small to large according to a codepoint index of a codepoint to which a TCI state belongs. For example, a 1st codepoint in the first signaling corresponds to a TCI state #1, a TCI state index of the TCI state #1 can be 0 (or 1), a 2nd codepoint corresponds to a TCI state #2, a TCI state index of the TCI state #2 can be 1 (or 2), and a 3rd codepoint and a 4th codepoint can correspond to a same TCI state #3, a TCI state index of the TCI state #3 can be 2 (or 3).

[0410] Based on the above scheme, the TCI state index can be the ordinal position index of the T different TCI states. In this way, the same TCI state can use the same TCI state index, thereby reducing the total number of TCI state indexes. Reducing the total number of TCI state indexes can reduce the number of bits occupied by the TCI state index, thereby reducing the overhead of transmitting the index and the overhead of processing the index.

[0411] Example 2-1-3: the first information is used to indicate a third index, the third index is a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to a reference signal of the L reference signals, a signal quality of the reference signal is greater than or equal to a signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0412] For example, the third index can include one or more codepoint indexes. Optionally, the plurality of codepoint indexes indicated by the first information are sorted from high to low or from low to high according to the signal quality of the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the plurality of codepoint indexes.

[0413] The first signaling can include K codepoints. The exemplary meaning of the codepoint index is introduced below.

[0414] In some examples, the codepoint index of each codepoint can be represented by bits. Exemplarily, the 0th to Kth codepoints of the first signaling correspond to codepoint indexes 0 to K in turn. Wherein, are meaningless. Wherein, represents the upward rounding.

[0415] In other examples, the codepoint index of each codepoint can be fixed by 3 bits. Exemplarily, the 0th to Kth codepoints of the first signaling correspond to codepoint indexes 0 to K in turn. Wherein, 8-K to 8 are meaningless.

[0416] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can indicate the reference signals with signal quality in the top M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states through the first information, thereby effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI states with less overhead.

[0417] Example 2-2: the terminal device reports the reference signal indexes, TCI state indexes, or codepoint indexes corresponding to the L-M reference signals with the worst signal quality.

[0418] The examples of reporting the reference signal indexes, TCI state indexes and codepoint indexes are introduced below, respectively denoted as Example 2-2-1, Example 2-2-2 and Example 2-2-3.

[0419] Example 2-2-1: the first information is used to indicate a fourth index, the fourth index is a reference signal index of a reference signal of the L reference signals, a signal quality of the reference signal is less than or equal to a signal quality of the first reference signal.

[0420] For example, the fourth index can include one or more reference signal indexes. Optionally, the plurality of reference signal indexes indicated by the first information are sorted from high to low or from low to high according to the signal quality of the reference signal corresponding to the plurality of reference signal indexes.

[0421] Examples of the reference signal index are described in the foregoing, for example, refer to the description of Example 2-1-1, which will not be repeated here.

[0422] Example 2-2-2: The first information is used to indicate a fifth index, the fifth index is a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with a reference signal whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals.

[0423] For example, the fifth index can include one or more TCI state indexes. Optionally, the multiple TCI state indexes indicated by the first information are sorted from high to low or from low to high according to the signal quality of the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the multiple TCI state indexes.

[0424] Examples of the TCI state index are described in the foregoing, for example, refer to the description of Example 2-1-2, which will not be repeated here.

[0425] Example 2-2-3: The first information is used to indicate a sixth index, the sixth index is a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to a reference signal whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal among the L reference signals.

[0426] For example, the sixth index can include one or more codepoint indexes. Optionally, the multiple codepoint indexes indicated by the first information are sorted from high to low or from low to high according to the signal quality of the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the multiple codepoint indexes.

[0427] Examples of the codepoint index are described in the foregoing, for example, refer to the description of Example 2-1-3, which will not be repeated here.

[0428] Based on the above scheme, the terminal device can indicate the reference signal whose signal quality is in the last L-M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states through the first information, thereby effectively assisting the network device to update the activated TCI states with less overhead.

[0429] Examples of determining to use the manner of Example 2-1 or Example 2-2 are introduced below.

[0430] In the case that M is less than or equal to Q, Example 2-1 can be used. For example, the first information is used to indicate the first index, or the second index, or the third index. Wherein, Q can be an integer greater than or equal to 0.

[0431] In the case that M is greater than or equal to Q, Example 2-2 can be used. For example, the first information is used to indicate the fourth index, or the fifth index, or the sixth index.

[0432] Based on the above scheme, in a case that the number of reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states is small, the terminal device can indicate the reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states by the first information. In a case that the number of reference signals ranked in the first M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states is large, the terminal device can indicate the reference signals ranked in the last L-M positions among the reference signals associated with the activated TCI states by the first information. The terminal device can flexibly select a manner with small transmission overhead to assist the network device to update the activated TCI states.

[0433] Optionally, Q=4.

[0434] Optionally, Q is half of the number of code points in the first signaling. For example, Q=K / 2.

[0435] Optionally, Q is half of the number of different TCI states in the R TCI states, or Q is obtained by rounding half of the number of different TCI states in the R TCI states. For example, Q=T / 2.

[0436] Optionally, Q is half of the number of different reference signals in the L reference signals, or Q is obtained by rounding half of the number of different reference signals in the L reference signals. For example, Q=V / 2.

[0437] Example 2-3: The first information is used to indicate the indexes of the L reference signals, and the indexes of the L reference signals are arranged in order of the signal quality of the L reference signals from high to low or from low to high.

[0438] The indexes of the L reference signals can include reference signal indexes, TCI state indexes or code point indexes of the L reference signals. For example, the TCI state indexes of the L reference signals can be the TCI state indexes of the TCI states associated with the L reference signals. The code point indexes of the L reference signals can be the code point indexes of the code points corresponding to the TCI states associated with the L reference signals.

[0439] Examples of the reference signal indexes, the TCI state indexes and the code point indexes are described above and will not be repeated here.

[0440] As an example, the first information is used to indicate the code point indexes of the L reference signals. The code point indexes can be sorted in order of the signal quality of the reference signals associated with the TCI states corresponding to the code points from high to low (or from low to high). The number of the code point indexes indicated by the first information can be K’. K’ can be equal to K, or fixed to a value, for example, 8.

[0441] For example, when K' = 8, if K < 8, the first information can indicate K' = 8 codepoint indexes. Among the K' = 8 codepoint indexes, K codepoint indexes correspond to the K codepoints in the first signaling, and the other 8-K codepoint indexes are meaningless or reserved.

[0442] As another example, the first information is used to indicate TCI state indexes of the L reference signals. The TCI state indexes can be sorted in descending (or ascending) order according to signal qualities of the reference signals associated with the TCI states. Alternatively, the TCI state indexes can be sorted in descending (or ascending) order.

[0443] Optionally, the number of reference signal indexes indicated by the first information can be determined by the number of different reference signals associated with the R activated TCI states. For example, the number of reference signal indexes indicated by the first information can be V.

[0444] Based on the above scheme, the first information can indicate indexes of the L reference signals sorted according to signal qualities of the L reference signals. The first information can provide the network device with more information about the quality size relationship of the reference signals, thereby better assisting the network device in updating the activated TCI states.

[0445] In some possible implementations, the measurement report further includes at least one of the following: event information of the first event; an index of the first reference signal; signal quality information of the first reference signal; indexes of A reference signals; or, signal quality information of the A reference signals; wherein the B reference signals include the A reference signals, and A is a positive integer.

[0446] The index of the first reference signal includes a reference signal index, a TCI state index, or a codepoint index of the first reference signal.

[0447] The signal quality information of the first reference signal can be a signal quality of the first reference signal, or a difference between the signal quality of the first reference signal and a signal quality of a second reference signal. The second reference signal can be a reference signal with the largest signal quality among the reported A reference signals. The meaning of the signal quality is described above and will not be repeated here.

[0448] The A reference signals can be reference signals corresponding to A new beams configured by the network device. Optionally, at least one of the A reference signals satisfies an event condition (for example, the first event). For example, the A reference signals can belong to reference signals corresponding to new beams.

[0449] The indexes of the A reference signals can be reference signal indexes of the A reference signals.

[0450] The signal quality information of the A reference signals can be the signal quality of the A reference signals, or the signal quality of the second reference signal and the difference between the signal quality of the A-1 reference signals and the signal quality of the second reference signal. The meaning of the signal quality is described above and will not be repeated here.

[0451] The event information of the first event can be an event index of the first event, or an event identifier of the first event.

[0452] In some possible implementations, before S840, the method 800 further includes S820. Details are described below with reference to FIG. 12.

[0453] S820: The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the configuration information from the network device.

[0454] For example, the network device sends the configuration information to the terminal device by using RRC signaling.

[0455] The configuration information can include one or more event-triggered report configurations.

[0456] For example, the event-triggered report configuration can be a CSI report configuration (CSI-ReportConfig), and the CSI-reportConfig can include an indication information (for example, the report configuration type (reportConfigType) is configured as event triggered (EventTriggered)), which is used to indicate that the report configuration is the configuration of event-triggered reporting.

[0457] For another example, the CSI-reportConfig can include event-related information, such as an event index, a threshold corresponding to the event, and the like. This can indicate that the report configuration is the configuration of event-triggered reporting.

[0458] For another example, the event-triggered report configuration can also be a specific event-triggered report configuration, for example, a specific event-triggered report configuration can be L1-EventTriggered-CSI-ReportConfig or UE-initiated (initiated) CSI-reportConfig. The name is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0459] For example, the event-triggered report configuration can include at least one of the following information:

[0460] One or more reference signal resources can be used for channel measurement or interference measurement or beam management. For example, the one or more reference signal resources can be located in one or more reference signal resource sets.

[0461] Cell information can be used to indicate which cell the one or more reference signal resources correspond to, and / or which cell the reference signal resources of a monitoring event (e.g., the reference signal resources corresponding to the current beam and / or the new beam) correspond to. The above-mentioned cell can be a serving cell, e.g., a serving cell index or identity corresponding cell, which can be a primary cell (Pcell), a secondary cell (Scell), or a primary secondary cell (PScell), wherein the Pcell can also be referred to as a PCC cell, the Scell can also be referred to as an SCC cell; or an additional PCI corresponding cell, i.e., a neighboring cell of the serving cell, the additional PCI can be referred to as a non-serving cell PCI; or a candidate cell, e.g., an L1 / L2-triggered mobility candidate cell (LTM candidate cell).

[0462] One or more event information, e.g., one or more event indices, or an event table containing one or more events, e.g., the event can be the aforementioned event 7.

[0463] In some possible implementations, before S840, the method 800 further includes S810. Details are described below in combination with FIG. 12.

[0464] S810, the terminal device sends capability information to the network device. Correspondingly, the network device receives the capability information from the terminal device.

[0465] The capability information can be used to indicate the capability of the terminal device, and the capability information can include one or more of the following:

[0466] Whether the terminal device supports the capability of event-triggered reporting.

[0467] Event information supported by the terminal device.

[0468] In this application, the event-triggered reporting can also be referred to as one or more of event-triggered report, event-triggered CSI report, event-triggered CSI measurement report, event-triggered beam reporting, event-triggered beam measurement report, event-triggered measurement report, event-triggered beam report, event-triggered beam measurement result reporting, event-triggered measurement result reporting, or event-triggered interference measurement reporting, that is, the aforementioned statements can be replaced with each other. Event-triggered can be replaced with UE initiated.

[0469] Regarding the determination of the capability of the terminal device, if the terminal reports the capability information, it indicates that the terminal supports the capability; if the terminal does not report the capability information, it indicates that the terminal does not support the capability. Alternatively, if the terminal reports the capability information, it indicates that the terminal supports the capability; if the terminal reports the non-support capability information, it indicates that the terminal does not support the capability. Alternatively, the terminal device supports certain capability, which must support another type of capability information, that is, the terminal does not report the capability, which also indicates that the terminal device supports such capability. The present application does not make any limitation.

[0470] Hereinafter, the communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail in combination with FIG. 13 to FIG. 16. The description of the apparatus embodiments corresponds to the description of the method embodiments, thus, the content not described in detail can be referred to the foregoing method embodiments, and part of the content will not be described again for the sake of brevity.

[0471] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication apparatus according to the foregoing method examples, for example, each functional module can be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated in one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware, or in the form of software functional module, or in the combination of software and hardware. The division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division, and another division mode can be used in actual implementation. Hereinafter, taking the division of each functional module corresponding to each function as an example for description.

[0472] FIG. 13 is an exemplary block diagram of the communication apparatus 10 provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0473] As shown in FIG. 13, exemplary, the communication apparatus 10 can include a chip system 110, a memory 120, a bus 130, a power management module 140, or a transceiver 150, etc.

[0474] The chip system 110 can be an integrated circuit chip, which has the processing capability of signals. In the implementation process, each step of the foregoing method can be completed by the integrated logic circuit of hardware or the instruction in the form of software in the chip system 110.

[0475] By way of example and not limitation, the chip system 110 can include a circuit or chip responsible for processing of signals, such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core.

[0476] Optionally, a memory (e.g., a cache) can also be provided in the chip system 110 for storing instructions and data. In some embodiments, the memory in the chip system 110 is a cache memory. The memory can hold instructions or data that the chip system 110 has just used or recycled. If the chip system 110 needs to use the instructions or data again, it can be directly called from the memory. This avoids repeated access and reduces the waiting time of the chip system 110, thus improving the efficiency of the system.

[0477] In some embodiments, the chip system 110 can include one or more interfaces. The interfaces can include an inter-integrated circuit (I2C) interface, an inter-integrated circuit sound (I2S) interface, a pulse code modulation (PCM) interface, a universal asynchronous receiver / transmitter (UART) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI), a general-purpose input / output (GPIO) interface, a subscriber identity module (SIM) interface, and / or a universal serial bus (USB) interface, etc.

[0478] The memory 120 can include a random access memory (RAM) and a read-only memory (ROM). The memory 120 can store computer-readable computer-executable code including instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to perform various functions described herein.

[0479] Optionally, the code can include instructions for implementing aspects of the present application, such as, for example, instructions for transmitting a measurement report. The code can be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or other type of memory. In some cases, the code can not be directly executable by the processor 110 but can cause a computer (e.g., when compiled and executed) to perform functions described herein. In some cases, the memory 120 can include a basic I / O system that can control basic hardware or software operations such as interactions with peripheral components or devices.

[0480] By way of example, the chip system 110 performs various functional applications and data processing of the communication apparatus 10 by running instructions stored in the memory 120. For example, when the communication apparatus 10 performs file transmission with other devices (which can also be terminals or access network devices), the chip system 110 of the communication apparatus 10 can invoke computer executable program code stored in the memory 120 to implement the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0481] In addition, the memory 120 can be integrated in the above-mentioned chip system 110 or independent of the chip system 110.

[0482] By way of example, the bus 130 can be a USB for supporting mutual communication between various parts in the communication apparatus 10.

[0483] The power management module 140 is configured to receive charging input from a charger. Optionally, the power management module 140 can supply power to the communication apparatus 10 (e.g., a battery module of the communication apparatus 10) while charging the communication apparatus 10. By way of example and not limitation, the power management module 140 can also supply power to devices other than the communication apparatus 10.

[0484] The transceiver 150 can communicate bi-directionally, via one or more antennas, wired, or wireless links as exemplified by the transceiver 150, which can represent a wireless transceiver and can communicate wirelessly with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 150 can also include a modem to modulate the packets and to provide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and to demodulate packets received from the antennas. In some cases, the transceiver 150 can include a plurality of modems to communicate with a plurality of devices at the same time. The transceiver 150 can also include a transmitter that can be configured to transmit signals and a receiver that can be configured to receive signals.

[0485] In some cases, the wireless device can include a single antenna. However, in some cases the device can have more than one antenna, such as antenna 1 and antenna 2 as shown in FIG. 13, which can be capable of simultaneously transmitting or receiving multiple wireless transmissions. Illustratively, antenna 1 and antenna 2 are used to transmit and receive electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in the communication apparatus 10 can be used to cover a single or multiple communication bands. Different antennas can also be multiplexed to improve the utilization of the antennas. For example: antenna 1 can be multiplexed as a diversity antenna for a wireless local area network. In some other embodiments, the antennas can be used in combination with a tuning switch. The communication apparatus 10 can transmit files to other devices through the wireless communication function.

[0486] In one design, the communication apparatus 10 can correspond to the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[0487] The apparatus 10 can implement the steps or procedures performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments, where the transceiver 150 can be used to perform the transceiving related operations of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, e.g., performing step S850 in the above method embodiments; the chip system 110 can be used to perform the processing related operations of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, e.g., performing step S840 in the above method embodiments.

[0488] In another design, the communication apparatus 10 can correspond to the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0489] The apparatus 20 can implement the steps or procedures performed by the network device in the above method embodiments, where the transceiver 150 can be used to perform the transceiving related operations of the network device in the above method embodiments, e.g., performing step S850 in the above method embodiments; the chip system 110 can be used to perform the processing related operations of the network device in the above method embodiments, e.g., S840.

[0490] In the design where the communication apparatus 20 corresponds to the terminal device, the communication apparatus 10 can include modules such as the short-range communication module 164, the sensor 161, the display 162, or the camera 163 as shown in FIG. 13.

[0491] The short-range communication module 164 can include modules that support short-range communication such as WiFi, Bluetooth, etc.

[0492] Illustratively, the sensor 161 can include a pressure sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a barometric pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a distance sensor, a proximity light sensor, a fingerprint sensor, a temperature sensor, a touch sensor, an ambient light sensor, a bone conduction sensor, etc.

[0493] Exemplarily, the display 162 is configured to display images, videos, etc. The display includes a display panel. The display panel can adopt a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED), an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED), a flex light-emitting diode (FLED), a mini light-emitting diode (LED), a Micro LED, a Micro OLED, a quantum dot light emitting diode (QLED), etc. For example, in the embodiments of the present application, the display can be configured to display interfaces required to be displayed by the communication device 10. Exemplarily, the communication device 10 can realize the display function through a graphics processing unit (GPU), a display, an application processor, etc. The GPU is a microprocessor for image processing, connected to the display and the application processor. The GPU is configured to perform mathematical and geometric calculations for graphics rendering. The chip system 110 can include one or more GPUs, which execute program instructions to generate or change display information.

[0494] Exemplarily, the camera 163 is configured to acquire images, videos, etc.

[0495] It can be understood that the structure shown in FIG. 13 does not constitute a specific limitation on the communication device 10, and the specific structure of the terminal device and / or the access network device can refer to that shown in FIG. 13. In some embodiments, the communication device 10 can also include more or fewer components than those shown in FIG. 13, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or different component arrangements, etc. Alternatively, some components shown in FIG. 13 can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware, and the terminal device and / or the access network device can increase or reduce components on the basis of the structure given in FIG. 13.

[0496] FIG. 14 is a schematic block diagram of the communication device 20 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0497] As shown in FIG. 14, the communication apparatus 20 can include a baseband unit 210, which can communicate with an external device through a cellular RF transceiver 220 (e.g., if the communication apparatus 20 is a terminal device, the baseband unit 210 can communicate with an access network device through the cellular RF transceiver 220; also e.g., if the communication apparatus 20 is an access network device, the baseband unit 210 can communicate with a terminal device and / or a core network device through the cellular RF transceiver 220).

[0498] The baseband unit 210 can include a computer-readable medium / memory. The baseband unit 210 can be responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the baseband unit 304, causes the baseband unit 210 to perform the various functions described supra. The computer-readable medium / memory can also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the baseband unit 210 when executing software.

[0499] The baseband unit 210 further includes a receiving unit 201, a managing unit 202, and a transmitting unit 203. The managing unit 202 includes the one or more sub-units shown in FIG. 14. For example, a measuring sub-unit, wherein the measuring sub-unit can be used for the operation of measuring reference signals in the above-described method embodiments. The units within the managing unit 201 can be stored in the computer-readable medium / memory and / or configured as hardware within the baseband unit 210. Among them, the receiving unit 201 and the transmitting unit 203 can be referred to as a transceiving unit.

[0500] When the communication apparatus 20 is configured to implement the functions of a terminal device in the above-described method embodiments, the receiving unit 201 is configured to perform the receiving steps of the terminal device, the transmitting unit 203 is configured to perform the transmitting steps of the terminal device, and the managing unit 202 is configured to perform the processing steps of the terminal device.

[0501] For example, when the communication apparatus 20 is configured to implement the functions of a terminal device in the above-described method embodiments, the managing unit 201 is configured to measure B reference signals to obtain a measurement report, B being a positive integer, the B reference signals including L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication, TCI, states, R being a positive integer, L being a positive integer, wherein the measurement report includes first information used to determine a size relationship of signal quality of some or all of the L reference signals; and the transmitting unit 203 is configured to transmit the measurement report.

[0502] For example, when the apparatus 20 is configured to perform the method in FIG. 12, the receiving unit 201 can be configured to perform the steps of receiving information in the method; the managing unit 202 can be configured to perform the processing steps in the method; and the transmitting unit 203 can be configured to perform the steps of transmitting information in the method.

[0503] When the communication apparatus 20 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments, the receiving unit 201 is configured to perform the receiving steps of the network device, the sending unit 203 is configured to perform the sending steps of the network device, and the management unit 202 is configured to perform the processing steps of the network device.

[0504] For example, when the communication apparatus 20 is configured to implement the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments, the receiving unit 201 is configured to receive a measurement report, the measurement report is obtained by measuring B reference signals, B is a positive integer, the B reference signals include L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, R is a positive integer, and L is a positive integer, wherein the measurement report includes first information, and the first information is used to determine the size relationship of the signal quality of part or all of the L reference signals.

[0505] For example, when the apparatus 20 is configured to perform the method in FIG. 12, the receiving unit 201 can be configured to perform the steps of receiving information in the method; the management unit 202 can be configured to perform the processing steps in the method; and the sending unit 203 can be configured to perform the steps of sending information in the method.

[0506] For more detailed description of the above receiving unit 201, management unit 202 and sending unit 203, please refer to the related description in the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0507] By way of example and not limitation, the chip system in the present application is shown in FIG. 15, which is a schematic block diagram of a chip system 30 according to an embodiment of the present application. The chip system includes, but is not limited to, a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a modem core.

[0508] As can be seen from FIG. 15, the chip system (or also referred to as a processing system) includes a processor 310, a memory 320, and an input / output interface 330.

[0509] The processor 310 can be a processing circuit in the chip system (including at least one processor, such as the processor 1 and the processor 2 shown in FIG. 15, etc.). The processor 310 can be coupled to the memory 320 to call instructions in the memory 320, so that the chip system can implement the methods and functions of the embodiments of the present application. The input / output interface 330 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system, which outputs the processed information of the chip system or inputs the data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system for processing.

[0510] As an example, the chip system is configured to implement operations performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0511] For example, the processor 310 is configured to implement processing-related operations performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, which can be referred to the foregoing embodiments for details; the input / output interface 330 is configured to implement sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments, which can be referred to the foregoing embodiments for details.

[0512] As an example but not limitation, the chip system in the present application is shown in FIG. 16, which is a schematic block diagram of the chip system 40 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0513] As can be seen from FIG. 16, the chip system (or also can be referred to as a processing system) includes an input / output interface 410 and a logic circuit 420. The input / output interface 410 can be an input / output circuit in the chip system, which outputs information processed by the chip system or inputs data or signaling information to be processed by the chip system, which can be referred to the foregoing embodiments for details, such as the embodiments in FIG. 12; the logic circuit 420 is configured to implement the communication method described above, which can be referred to the foregoing embodiments for details.

[0514] As an example, the chip system is configured to implement operations performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0515] For example, the logic circuit 420 is configured to implement processing-related operations performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments; the input / output interface 410 is configured to implement sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0516] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instructions for implementing the method performed by the device in the above method embodiments.

[0517] For example, the computer program or instructions are executed by a computer, so that the computer can implement the method performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0518] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which contains a computer program or instructions, which are executed by a computer to implement the method performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0519] The embodiments of the present application also provide a communication system, which includes the terminal device and the network device described above.

[0520] The explanations and beneficial effects of the related content in any of the above-provided devices can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0521] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are realized in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0522] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working processes of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0523] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be realized by other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0524] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separated, and the components shown as units can or can not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or can be distributed on a plurality of network units. According to actual needs, part or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of the embodiment.

[0525] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit.

[0526] If the functions are implemented in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application essentially or the parts that contribute to the prior art or parts of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory ROM, a random access memory RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media that can store program codes.

Claims

1. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method comprises: measuring B reference signals to obtain a measurement report, B being a positive integer, the B reference signals comprising L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, R being a positive integer, L being a positive integer, wherein the measurement report comprises first information used to determine a signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals; and sending the measurement report.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information used to determine the signal quality size relationship of part or all of the L reference signals comprises: The first information is used to determine a reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals, wherein the first reference signal is a reference signal ranked in an Mth position in terms of signal quality among the L reference signals, M being a positive integer less than or equal to L.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first information comprises X bits, X being a positive integer, wherein the first information is used to determine a reference signal whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of a first reference signal among the L reference signals, comprising: A first bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal among the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The first bit in the X bits is used to indicate whether the signal quality of at least one reference signal among the L reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, comprising: The first bit is used to indicate whether the signal quality of the at least one reference signal associated with a TCI state corresponding to a first code point is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal; or The R TCI states comprise T different TCI states, the first bit is used to indicate whether the at least one reference signal associated with one TCI state among the T different TCI states is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, T being a positive integer less than or equal to R; or The L reference signals comprise V different reference signals, the first bit is used to indicate whether one reference signal among the V different reference signals is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, V being a positive integer less than or equal to L.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein: The first bit is an xth bit in the X bits, and the first code point is an xth code point in X code points of the first signaling; or The first bit is an xth bit in the X bits, and the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is an xth TCI state among the R TCI states, R=X; or The first bit is an xth bit in the X bits, and the reference signal associated with the TCI state corresponding to the first code point is an xth reference signal among the L reference signals, L=X; or The first bit is an xth bit in the X bits, and the xth bit corresponds to an xth TCI state among the T different TCI states, T=X; or The first bit is an xth bit in the X bits, and the xth bit corresponds to an xth TCI state among the T different TCI states, T=X; or ​ ​ The first bit is an xth bit in the X bits, the xth bit corresponding to an xth reference signal in the V different reference signals, V=X; wherein x is a positive integer less than or equal to X.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first information is used to determine reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including: The first information is used to indicate a first index, the first index being a reference signal index of the reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, or, The first information is used to indicate a second index, the second index being a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with the reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, or, The first information is used to indicate a third index, the third index being a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to the reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first information is used to determine reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including: The first information is used to indicate a fourth index, the fourth index being a reference signal index of the reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, or, The first information is used to indicate a fifth index, the fifth index being a TCI state index of a TCI state associated with the reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, or, The first information is used to indicate a sixth index, the sixth index being a codepoint index of a codepoint corresponding to the reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is less than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal.

8. The method of claim 6 or 7, wherein, in a case where M is less than or equal to Q, the first information is used to indicate the first index, or the second index, or the third index; or, in a case where M is greater than or equal to Q, the first information is used to indicate the fourth index, or the fifth index, or the sixth index; wherein, Q is an integer greater than or equal to 0.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, Q=4, or, Q is half of a number of codepoints in the first signaling, or, Q is half of a number of different TCI states in the R TCI states, or Q is half of a number of different reference signals in the L reference signals. The first information is used to determine reference signals in the L reference signals whose signal quality is greater than or equal to the signal quality of the first reference signal, including:

10. The method of claim 2, wherein, The first information is used to indicate indexes of the L reference signals, the indexes of the L reference signals being arranged in an order from high to low, or from low to high, according to the signal quality of the L reference signals. The measurement report further includes at least one of:

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, an index of the first reference signal; ​ a signal quality of the first reference signal; an index of the A reference signals; or a signal quality of the A reference signals; wherein the B reference signals comprise the A reference signals, A being a positive integer.

12. The method of any one of claims 6-11, wherein the indices of the L reference signals comprise reference signal indices or TCI state indices of the L reference signals, and the index of the first reference signal comprises a reference signal index or a TCI state index of the first reference signal; wherein the L reference signals comprise V different reference signals, and the reference signal indices are ordinal position indices of the V different reference signals; and / or the R TCI states comprise T different TCI states, and the TCI state indices are ordinal position indices of the T different TCI states.

13. The method of claim 5 or 9, wherein, The method further comprises: receiving the first signaling, the first signaling being used to activate the R TCI states, the first signaling comprising at least one codepoint, one codepoint of the at least one codepoint corresponding to at least one TCI state of the R TCI states.

14. A communication method, comprising: comprising: receiving a measurement report, the measurement report being obtained by measuring B reference signals, B being a positive integer, the B reference signals comprising L reference signals associated with R activated transmission configuration indication, TCI, states, R being a positive integer, L being a positive integer, wherein the measurement report comprises first information, the first information being used to determine a signal quality size relationship of some or all of the L reference signals.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, The method further comprises: sending first signaling, the first signaling being used to activate the R TCI states, the first signaling comprising at least one codepoint, one codepoint of the at least one codepoint corresponding to at least one TCI state of the R TCI states.

16. A communications device, characterized by comprising at least one module or at least one unit configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1-15.

17. A communications device, characterized by comprising: a processor configured to cause the method of any one of claims 1-15 to be performed by executing computer programs or instructions.

18. The communication apparatus according to claim 17, wherein The communication apparatus further comprises a memory configured to store the computer programs or the instructions.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium has stored thereon computer programs or instructions which, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1-15 to be performed.

20. A computer program product, characterised in that, comprising computer programs or instructions which, when executed, cause the method of any one of claims 1-15 to be performed.

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