Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application are a communication method and a related apparatus, relating to the technical field of communications, and capable of reducing latency and signalling overhead caused by frequent sending of activation signalling. In the method, a terminal device sends a first report to a network device, the first report comprising information of predicted Y downlink signals, the information of the Y downlink signals corresponding to Y downlink signals, and Y being a positive integer less than or equal to K; and a terminal device receives first information from a network device, the first information being used for indicating first transmission indication information, the first transmission indication information being one of X+M items of transmission indication information, X items of transmission indication information in the X+M pieces of transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals, and the remaining M items of transmission indication information in the X+M items of transmission indication information being activated transmission indication information, wherein X is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and M is a non-negative integer.

Description

Communication methods and related devices

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411598599.3, filed on November 8, 2024, entitled "Communication Method and Related Apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly to a communication method and related apparatus. Background Technology

[0003] In New Radio (NR), the beam scanning process combines beam measurement, beam reporting, and beam determination to select an optimal beam pair between the transmitter and receiver. After determining the optimal transmission beam, the network device can indicate the transmission beam using beam indication information. This beam indication information can be a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status, which can be used to indicate the quasi-colocation relationship between two reference signals.

[0004] Currently, network devices can configure a TCI state list for terminal devices via higher-layer signaling. This TCI state list can include multiple TCI states; for example, the network device can configure up to 64 TCI states for each bandwidth part (BWP) in each cell. The network device can then activate one or more of these TCI states via higher-layer signaling. Furthermore, the network device can indicate a selected TCI state to the terminal device via physical layer signaling.

[0005] In AI-based beam management scenarios, taking spatial beam prediction at the terminal side as an example, the terminal device can report information about the predicted K beams, such as the indices of the optimal top K beams. If the existing TCI indication mechanism is applied, after the terminal device reports the information about the predicted K beams, one or more TCI states activated by the network device (e.g., the number of activated TCI states is M) may not include the K TCI states corresponding to the predicted K beams. The network device can only indicate one of the M activated TCI states through physical layer signaling. If the network device wants to indicate one of the predicted K beams for transmission, it needs to reactivate a set of TCI states including the K TCI states corresponding to the predicted K beams through higher-layer signaling, and then indicate one of them through physical layer signaling. This method will bring additional latency and signaling overhead. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application provides a communication method and related apparatus to reduce latency and signaling overhead caused by frequent transmission of activation signaling.

[0007] Firstly, a communication method is provided that can be applied to the terminal side, such as a terminal device or a communication module in a terminal device, or a circuit or chip in a terminal device that is responsible for communication functions (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). The following description uses the application of this method to a terminal device as an example.

[0008] For example, the method includes: sending a first report, the first report including information on Y predicted downlink signals, the information on the Y downlink signals corresponding to the Y downlink signals, where Y is a positive integer less than or equal to K; and receiving first information, the first information being used to indicate first transmission indication information, the first transmission indication information being one of X+M transmission indication information, X of the X+M transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals, and the remaining M of the X+M transmission indication information being activated transmission indication information, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0009] Where K is the upper limit of the number of downlink signals corresponding to the expected predicted or reported information. In one possible implementation, K can be configured by the network device or predefined by the protocol. The terminal device can dynamically determine the number of downlink signals corresponding to the actual reported predicted information based on the prediction results. The number of downlink signals corresponding to the actual reported predicted information can be less than K, thereby reducing unnecessary reporting overhead.

[0010] The terminal device may report reports periodically or semi-continuously, with one report reported per reporting period. For at least one report reported in at least one reporting period, the first report is one of those at least one reports. Alternatively, the network device may trigger the reporting of at least one report aperiodically, with the first report being one of those at least one reports. Alternatively, the network device may be configured to report at least one periodic report while simultaneously triggering at least one aperiodic report, with the first report being one of at least two reports. Each of the at least one report reported by the terminal device includes information about at least one predicted downlink signal.

[0011] Based on the technical solution of this application, the first transmission indication information received by the terminal device is the first one selected from X+M transmission indication information. The selectable X+M transmission indication information may include activated transmission indication information and inactive transmission indication information, and is no longer limited to selection from only activated transmission indication information. In this way, when there is partial overlap or no overlap between the activated M transmission indication information and Y transmission indication information, the network device does not need to resend activation signaling, which helps to reduce the latency and signaling overhead caused by frequent sending of activation signaling.

[0012] Secondly, a communication method is provided that can be applied to the network side, such as a network device or a communication module in a network device, or a circuit or chip in a network device that is responsible for communication functions (such as a modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a modem core). The following description uses the application of this method to a network device as an example.

[0013] For example, the method includes: receiving a first report, the first report including information on Y predicted downlink signals, the information on the Y downlink signals corresponding to the Y downlink signals, where Y is a positive integer less than or equal to K; and sending first information, the first information being used to indicate first transmission indication information, the first transmission indication information being one of X+M transmission indication information, where X of the X+M transmission indication information corresponds to the Y downlink signals, and the remaining M of the X+M transmission indication information are activated transmission indication information, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0014] It should be understood that the second aspect of this application corresponds to the technical solution of the first aspect of this application, and the beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation are similar, and will not be repeated here.

[0015] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, X of the X+M transmission indication information correspond to Y downlink signals, including: if Y is greater than or equal to X, the X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the X downlink signals in the Y downlink signals; or, if Y is less than X, the Y transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the Y downlink signals.

[0016] In one possible implementation where Y is greater than X, the X downlink signals out of the Y downlink signals are the X downlink signals with the best predicted quality among the Y downlink signals. That is, the X transmission indication information is only used to indicate the X downlink signals with the best quality among the Y downlink signals, which helps reduce indication overhead.

[0017] In one possible implementation where Y is less than X, X equals K and Y is less than K. That is, X transmission indication messages can be used to indicate the best K downlink signals, but the terminal device actually reports fewer than K downlink signals. Only Y of the X transmission indication messages are valid. Therefore, the network device can select the first transmission indication message from Y+M transmission indication messages.

[0018] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first information includes a first code point, which is used to indicate the first transmission indication information. The first code point is one of N+X candidate code points, and X candidate code points among the N+X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information. M candidate code points among the remaining N candidate code points among the N+X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information.

[0019] In this application, the number of selectable candidate code points is N+X, that is, X additional candidate code points can be added on the basis of the N candidate code points in the existing scheme. Among them, the X additional candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information, and the X transmission indication information corresponds to Y downlink signals. In this way, the transmission indication information that the network device can select and indicate can include X transmission indication information corresponding to Y downlink signals, which helps to improve the accuracy of the indicated first transmission indication information.

[0020] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first code point is one of N candidate code points, and X candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information. For the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points, if M is less than or equal to NX, then M candidate code points among the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with M activated transmission indication information. If M is greater than NX, then NX candidate code points among the remaining N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with NX transmission indication information among M activated transmission indication information.

[0021] In this application, the number of candidate code points is N, which means that the number of candidate code points in the existing scheme remains unchanged at N. However, X candidate code points are reserved in advance from the N candidate code points to indicate X transmission indication information corresponding to Y downlink signals. This does not require additional signaling overhead, has no impact on the capabilities of the terminal equipment, and helps to improve the accuracy of the indicated first transmission indication information.

[0022] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first code point is one of X candidate code points, M of the X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information, and the remaining XM candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the XM transmission indication information. Here, X is greater than or equal to N, M is less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, and N is a positive integer.

[0023] In this application, if X is greater than or equal to N, the number of candidate code points can be expanded from N in the existing scheme to X. The XM candidate code points can be regarded as additional candidate code points for indicating XM transmission indication information. This is beneficial to improve the accuracy of the indicated first transmission indication information while minimizing signaling overhead.

[0024] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first report is one of at least one reports, and the first information is also used to determine the first report from the at least one report.

[0025] In this application, the at least one report is at least one report sent by the terminal device to the network device before receiving the first information. To facilitate the terminal device in determining which of the at least one downlink signal in the at least one report corresponds to either additional candidate code points (e.g., X additional candidate code points) or pre-reserved candidate code points (e.g., X pre-reserved candidate code points, or XM pre-reserved candidate code points), it is necessary to associate the first information with one of the at least one reports. In this application, the report associated with the first information in the at least one report is the first report.

[0026] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first information includes a first time interval and / or an identifier of a first report, wherein the time interval between the sending or receiving time of the first report and the sending or receiving time of the first information is the first time interval.

[0027] In this application, the first information may carry content related to the first report, such as the first time interval and / or the identifier of the first report.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can determine that the report in the at least one report whose time interval between the sending time and the receiving time of the first information is the first time interval is the report associated with the first information, i.e., the first report.

[0029] In one possible implementation, the identifier of the first report can uniquely identify the first report, and the terminal device can determine the first report based on the identifier of the first report. In another case, the identifier of the first report cannot uniquely identify the first report. For example, one identifier corresponds to different reports, but different reports correspond to different reporting times. In this case, the terminal device can combine the first time interval and the identifier of the first report to determine the report associated with the first information in the at least one report, i.e., the first report.

[0030] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the sending or receiving time of the first report is prior to the sending or receiving time of the first information, and the first report is the report among the at least one whose sending or receiving time is closest to the sending or receiving time of the first information. That is, the terminal device can determine the first report from the at least one report based on the sending or receiving time of the first information.

[0031] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the information of the predicted Y downlink signals can be the information of the Y downlink signals at the first of the predicted T time points.

[0032] In the spatial prediction scenario, the terminal device sends at least one report to the network device before receiving the first information. Each of these reports corresponds to a specific time point, which can be understood as the current time corresponding to each report, or in other words, each report contains prediction information for one time point. The at least one report includes the first report. These at least one reports correspond to a total of T time points, where T is a positive integer greater than 1. The first report corresponds to the first time point among these T time points; that is, the first report contains prediction information for the first time point.

[0033] In a time-domain prediction scenario, a terminal device predicts downlink signal information for T future moments. In one possible implementation, the prediction information for each of the T moments is reported by a separate report. In this approach, the first report corresponds to the first moment of the T moments. In another possible implementation, the prediction information for all T moments is reported by a single report, meaning one report corresponds to T future moments. In this approach, the first report corresponds to the T moments and includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the predicted T moments. Here, the T moments include the first moment, and the number of downlink signals at least one for the first moment is Y; that is, the first report includes information on Y downlink signals for the first moment of the predicted T moments.

[0034] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, if the first report includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the predicted T time points, the first information is also used to determine the first time point.

[0035] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first information may further include one or more of the following: a first moment, an identifier of the first moment, or a second time interval, wherein the second time interval is the time interval between the first moment and the time when the first information is sent or received.

[0036] In this application, the first information may carry content related to the first moment, thereby determining the first moment based on the first information.

[0037] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first information is used to schedule data information, and the first moment is: the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among T moments; or, the moment closest to the start or end moment of the data information scheduled by the first information among T moments.

[0038] In this application, since the first transmission indication information is related to the transmission resources of data information, defining the first moment as the aforementioned moment is beneficial to ensuring the transmission performance of data information.

[0039] Optionally, the first time can be the time closest to the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect, which is one of the T times corresponding to the first report; or, the first time can be the time closest to the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect, which is one of the T times corresponding to the first report; or, the first time can be the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect.

[0040] Optionally, the first time can be the time closest to the start time of the data information of the first information scheduling among the T times corresponding to the first report, or the first time can be the time closest to the start time of the data information of the first information scheduling among the T times corresponding to the first report, or the first time can be the start time of the data information of the first information scheduling.

[0041] Optionally, the first time can be the time closest to the end time of the data information in the first information scheduling among the T times corresponding to the first report, or the first time can be the time closest to the end time of the data information in the first information scheduling among the T times corresponding to the first report, or the first time can be the end time of the data information in the first information scheduling.

[0042] Optionally, when the T moments are T adjacent time periods, the first moment corresponds to the first time period among the T time periods. The first time period can be the time period in which the first transmission indication information takes effect; or, the first time period can be the time period in which the start time of the data information of the first information scheduling is located; or, the first time period can be the time period in which the end time of the data information of the first information scheduling is located; or, the first time period can be the time period in which the overlap between the T moments corresponding to the first report and the time period occupied by the data information of the first information scheduling (the time period between the start time and the end time) is the largest.

[0043] In conjunction with the first or second aspect, in some implementations, the first information is not used for scheduling data information, and the first moment is: the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report.

[0044] The effective time of the first transmission indication information is located after the time when the first transmission indication information is indicated (i.e., the time when the first information is sent or received), and the distance between the effective time and the time when the first transmission indication information is indicated (i.e., the time when the first information is sent or received) is the third time interval. In one possible implementation, the first time is the time when the first transmission indication information is effective, and the downlink signal corresponding to the transmission indication information indicated at the time when the first transmission indication information is effective is exactly the downlink signal predicted at the current time, which is beneficial to ensuring the performance of scheduling and transmission.

[0045] Thirdly, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to the terminal side, such as a terminal device or a communication module in the terminal device, or a circuit or chip in the terminal device responsible for communication functions. The following description uses the application of this method to a terminal device as an example.

[0046] For example, the method includes: sending a second report, the second report including information on L downlink signals predicted at T time points, the information on the L downlink signals corresponding to L downlink signals; receiving third information, the third information used to indicate second transmission indication information, the second transmission indication information being one of S×X+M transmission indication information, where S×X of the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponds to L downlink signals, and the remaining M transmission indication information are activated transmission indication information, the sum of the number of downlink signal information at the T time points is L, where T is a positive integer greater than 1, each of the T time points corresponds to information on at least one downlink signal, the information on the at least one downlink signal corresponding to at least one downlink signal, the number of the at least one downlink signal being less than or equal to K, X being less than or equal to K, and S being less than or equal to T. max L is less than or equal to T×K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0047] Here, K represents the upper limit of the number of downlink signals corresponding to the expected predicted or reported information. In one possible implementation, K can be configured by the network device or predefined by the protocol. For each moment, the terminal device can dynamically determine the number of downlink signals corresponding to the actually reported predicted information based on the prediction results. The number of downlink signals corresponding to the actually reported predicted information can be less than K, thereby reducing unnecessary reporting overhead. The number of downlink signals corresponding to information at different moments in the actual reported information can be different.

[0048] In a time-domain prediction scenario, where a terminal device predicts downlink signal information for T future moments, one possible implementation involves reporting the prediction information for all T moments in a single report, meaning one report corresponds to T future moments. In this approach, a second report corresponds to the T moments and includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the predicted T moments.

[0049] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can report reports periodically or semi-continuously, with one report reported per reporting period. For at least one report reported in at least one reporting period, a second report is one of those at least one report. Alternatively, the network device can trigger the reporting of at least one report aperiodically, with a second report being one of those at least one report. Or, the network device can be configured to report at least one periodic report while simultaneously triggering at least one aperiodic report, with a second report being one of at least two reports.

[0050] It should be understood that each of the at least one reports submitted by the terminal device includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the predicted at least one time point. The number of at least one time points corresponding to different reports may be the same or different. The terminal device can determine the number of time points reported in each report independently. The number of time points reported in different reports is less than or equal to T. max , among which, T max This is an upper limit on the number of moments expected to be predicted or reported. In other words, the number of at least one moment included in each of the at least one reports is less than or equal to T. max For the second report, T is less than or equal to T. max .

[0051] It should also be understood that the number of at least one downlink signal at different times in a report may be the same or different. The number of at least one downlink signal at different times is less than or equal to K.

[0052] In one possible implementation, the S×X transmission indication information items correspond to L downlink signals according to time. The S×X transmission indication information items can be viewed as S groups of transmission indication information, each group comprising X transmission indication information items, and each group's X transmission indication information items correspond to at least one downlink signal at a given time. If S is greater than T, then T groups of transmission indication information items in the S groups correspond to the L downlink signals at T times. Optionally, the first T groups of transmission indication information items in the S groups correspond to the L downlink signals at T times. If S is less than T, then the S groups of transmission indication information items correspond to at least one downlink signal at S times out of T times. Optionally, the S groups of transmission indication information items correspond to at least one downlink signal at the first S times out of T times.

[0053] Based on the technical solution of this application, the second transmission indication information received by the terminal device is the first one selected from S×X+M transmission indication information. The selectable S×X+M transmission indication information may include both activated and inactive transmission indication information, and is no longer limited to selection from only activated transmission indication information. In this way, if the activated M transmission indication information partially overlaps with or completely does not overlap with the S×X transmission indication information corresponding to T times, the network device does not need to resend activation signaling, which helps to reduce the latency and signaling overhead caused by frequent sending of activation signaling.

[0054] Fourthly, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to the network side, such as a network device or a communication module in a network device, or a circuit or chip in a network device that is responsible for communication functions. The following description uses the application of this method to a network device as an example.

[0055] For example, the method includes: receiving a second report, the second report including information on L downlink signals predicted at T time points, the information on the L downlink signals corresponding to L downlink signals; sending third information, the third information used to indicate second transmission indication information, the second transmission indication information being one of S×X+M transmission indication information, where S×X of the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponds to L downlink signals, and the remaining M transmission indication information are activated transmission indication information, the sum of the number of downlink signal information at the T time points is L, where T is a positive integer greater than 1, each of the T time points corresponds to information on at least one downlink signal, the information on the at least one downlink signal corresponding to at least one downlink signal, the number of the at least one downlink signal being less than or equal to K, X being less than or equal to K, and S being less than or equal to T. max L is less than or equal to T×K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0056] It should be understood that the second aspect of this application corresponds to the technical solution of the first aspect of this application, and the beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation are similar, and will not be repeated here.

[0057] In conjunction with the third or fourth aspect, in some implementations, the S×X transmission indication information out of the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponds to L downlink signals, including: if L is greater than or equal to S×X, the S×X transmission indication information corresponds to the S×X downlink signals out of the L downlink signals; or, if L is less than S×X, the L transmission indication information out of the S×X transmission indication information corresponds to the L downlink signals. These L downlink signals are the L downlink signals corresponding to the predicted L downlink signals at T time points included in the second report.

[0058] In one possible implementation where L is greater than S×X, S = T, and the L downlink signals include T groups of downlink signals. Each group of downlink signals corresponds to one of the T time points. For each group of downlink signals, if the number of downlink signals in the group is greater than X, then the X downlink signals in the group are the X downlink signals with better predicted quality. In other words, the S×X transmission indication information is only used to indicate the X downlink signals with the best quality in each of the corresponding S groups of downlink signals, which helps to reduce indication overhead.

[0059] In another possible implementation where L is greater than S×X, S is greater than T, L = T×X, the L downlink signals include T groups of downlink signals, each group of downlink signals corresponds to one of the T time points, and the S×X transmission indication information includes S groups of transmission indication information. Only T groups of transmission indication information are valid among the S groups of transmission indication information. These T groups of transmission indication information correspond to T groups of downlink signals, with each group of transmission indication information corresponding to one group of downlink signals.

[0060] When L is greater than S×X, in another possible implementation, S is greater than T, and at least one group of downlink signals in the T groups has a number of downlink signals greater than X. In this case, the correspondence between the S×X transmission indication information and the L downlink signals is a combination of the two implementations described above. First, only T groups of transmission indication information are valid among the S groups, and these T groups correspond to T groups of downlink signals, with each group corresponding to one group of downlink signals. Second, for each group of downlink signals, if the number of downlink signals in that group is greater than X, then the X downlink signals in that group are the X downlink signals with the best predicted quality corresponding to that group.

[0061] In one possible implementation where L is less than S×X, S equals T. max X equals K, T is less than T maxOr, at least one downlink signal group in group T has a number of downlink signals less than K. In other words, S×X transmission indication information can be used to indicate T. max The best T corresponding to each time point max ×K downlink signals, but the number L of downlink signal information actually reported by the terminal device is less than T. max ×K, T max If only L of the ×K transmission indication messages are valid, then the network device can select the first transmission indication message from the L+M transmission indication messages.

[0062] In conjunction with the third or fourth aspect, in some implementations, the third information includes a second code point, which is used to indicate the second transmission indication information. The second code point is one of N+S×X candidate code points. Among the N+S×X candidate code points, S×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with S×X transmission indication information. Among the remaining N candidate code points, M candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information. Here, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, and M is less than or equal to N.

[0063] In this application, the number of selectable candidate code points is N+S×X, that is, S×X additional candidate code points can be added on the basis of the existing N candidate code points. Among them, the additional S×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with S×X transmission indication information, and the S×X transmission indication information corresponds to L downlink signals. In this way, the transmission indication information selectable by the network device can include S×X transmission indication information corresponding to L downlink signals, which is beneficial to improving the accuracy of the indicated second transmission indication information.

[0064] In conjunction with the third or fourth aspect, in some implementations, the second report is one of at least one report, and the third information is also used to determine the second report from the at least one report.

[0065] In this application, the at least one report is at least one report sent by the terminal device to the network device before receiving the third information. In order to facilitate the terminal device in determining which of the at least one reports corresponds to the downlink signal at time T of the additional candidate code points (e.g., S×X additional candidate code points), the third information needs to be associated with one of the at least one reports. In this application, the report associated with the third information in the at least one report is the second report.

[0066] In conjunction with the third or fourth aspect, in some implementations, the third information includes a fourth time interval and / or an identifier of the second report, wherein the time interval between the sending or receiving time of the second report and the sending or receiving time of the third information is the fourth time interval.

[0067] In this application, the third information may carry content related to the second report, such as the fourth time interval and / or the identifier of the second report.

[0068] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can determine that the report in the at least one report whose time interval between the sending time and the receiving time of the third information is a fourth time interval is a report associated with the third information, i.e., a second report.

[0069] In one possible implementation, the identifier of the second report can uniquely identify the second report, and the terminal device can determine the second report based on the identifier of the second report. In another case, the identifier of the second report cannot uniquely identify the second report. For example, one identifier corresponds to different reports, but different reports correspond to different reporting times. In this case, the terminal device can combine the fourth time interval and the identifier of the second report to determine the report associated with the third information in the at least one report, that is, the second report.

[0070] In conjunction with the third or fourth aspect, in some implementations, the transmission or reception time of the second report precedes the transmission or reception time of the third information, and the second report is the report whose transmission or reception time is closest to the transmission or reception time of the third information among the at least one report. That is, the terminal device can determine the second report from the at least one report based on the transmission or reception time of the third information.

[0071] Fifthly, a communication apparatus is provided for executing the method in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects. Specifically, the apparatus includes a module for executing the method in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects.

[0072] In one design, the device may include modules that perform the methods / operations / steps / actions described in any of the above aspects. These modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software.

[0073] In another design, the device is a communication chip, which may include input circuitry or interface for transmitting information or data, and output circuitry or interface for receiving information or data.

[0074] In another design, the device is a terminal device or a network device, which may include a transmitter for sending information or data and a receiver for receiving information or data.

[0075] In another design, the device is used to perform the method in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects, and the device may be configured in a terminal device or a network device.

[0076] A sixth aspect provides a communication device comprising at least one processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory, such that the device performs a method in any possible implementation of any of the preceding aspects.

[0077] Optionally, the device further includes a memory for storing instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, which, when executing the instructions stored in the memory, can implement the methods described in the foregoing aspects.

[0078] Optionally, the device may also include a transmitter and a receiver, which may be separate or integrated together and referred to as a transceiver.

[0079] In a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions), which, when the computer program is run, causes a computer to perform a method in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects.

[0080] Eighthly, a computer-readable storage medium is provided that stores a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods in any possible implementation of any of the preceding aspects.

[0081] Ninthly, this application provides a chip system including at least one processor for supporting the implementation of the functions involved in any possible implementation of any of the above aspects, such as receiving or processing data involved in the above methods.

[0082] In one possible design, the chip system also includes a memory for storing program instructions and data, which may be located within or outside the processor.

[0083] Optionally, the chip system may consist of chips or may include chips and other discrete components.

[0084] In a tenth aspect, this application provides a communication system, including a terminal device for implementing the method described in the first aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and a network device for implementing the method described in the second aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0085] In one aspect, this application provides a communication system, including a terminal device for implementing the method described in the third aspect and any possible implementation thereof, and a network device for implementing the method described in the fourth aspect and any possible implementation thereof.

[0086] It should be understood that aspects seven to fourteen of this application correspond to the technical solutions of aspects one to six of this application, and the beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding feasible implementation are similar, and will not be repeated here. Attached Figure Description

[0087] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applicable to the communication method provided in this application;

[0088] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applicable to an embodiment of this application;

[0089] Figures 3 and 4 are schematic diagrams of possible application frameworks in a communication system;

[0090] Figure 5A is a schematic diagram of spatial beam prediction;

[0091] Figure 5B is a schematic diagram of time-domain beam prediction;

[0092] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a TCI indication mechanism;

[0093] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the application of the TCI indication mechanism in a beam prediction scenario;

[0094] Figure 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0095] Figures 9A, 9B, 10, 11A, and 11B are schematic diagrams illustrating the indication of the first transmission indication information provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0096] Figure 12 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0097] Figures 13 and 14 are schematic block diagrams of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0098] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of this application, the following points will be explained first:

[0099] Before introducing the communication method and related apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application, the following points should be made first.

[0100] First, in the embodiments shown below, the terms and English abbreviations, such as Downlink Signal, Transmission Indication Information, Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), etc., are merely exemplary examples given for ease of description and should not constitute any limitation on this application. This application does not preclude the possibility of defining other terms that can achieve the same or similar functions in existing or future protocols.

[0101] Second, in the embodiments shown below, the terms "first," "second," and various numerical designations are merely for descriptive convenience to distinguish identical or similar items with substantially the same function and purpose. For example, "first information" and "second information" are only used to distinguish different information and do not limit their order, nor are they used to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. Those skilled in the art will understand that the terms "first," "second," etc., do not limit the quantity or execution order, and that "first," "second," etc., are not necessarily different.

[0102] Third, "at least one" means one or more, while "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural 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.

[0103] Fourth, in this application, "instruction" can include direct instruction, indirect instruction, explicit instruction, and implicit instruction. When describing a certain instruction information to indicate A, it can be understood that the instruction information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0104] In this application, the information indicated by the instruction information is called the information to be instructed. In specific implementations, there are many ways to indicate the information to be instructed, such as, but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be instructed, such as the information to be instructed itself or its index. It can also indirectly indicate the information to be instructed by indicating other information, where there is a relationship between the other information and the information to be instructed. It can also indicate only a part of the information to be instructed, while the other parts are known or pre-agreed upon. For example, the instruction of specific information can be achieved by using a pre-agreed (e.g., protocol-defined) arrangement of various pieces of information, thereby reducing instruction overhead to some extent. Furthermore, the information to be instructed can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information pieces, and the sending period and / or timing of these sub-information pieces can be the same or different.

[0105] In this application, "corresponding to" can also be replaced with "as", "determined according to xx", or "used to determine". Similarly, "including" can also be replaced with "as" or "is".

[0106] Fifth, in this application, "when," "if," and "if" all refer to the device taking corresponding actions under certain objective circumstances, not to a time limit, nor do they require the device to perform a judgment action, nor do they imply any other limitations. Unless otherwise specified, "if" and "if" are interchangeable, and "when" and "under the circumstances" are interchangeable. "When" is interchangeable with "if" / "if."

[0107] Sixth, in this application, the words "exemplarily" or "for example" are used to indicate that they are examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design that is described as "exemplarily" or "for example" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design options. Specifically, the use of the words "exemplarily" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0108] Seventh, "Sending information / data" only indicates the direction of information / data transmission, including direct transmission via the device's communication interface (such as an air interface). "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the module interface. "Sending" can include indirect transmission by the processing unit through the communication interface, that is, after the processing unit outputs information / data through the module interface, it is transmitted to the device's communication interface and then sent out. "Receiving information / data" only indicates the direction of information / data transmission, including direct reception via the communication interface. "Receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the module interface. "Receiving information / data" can include indirect reception by the processing unit through the communication interface, that is, after the communication interface receives information / data, it is transmitted to the module interface of the processing unit and then input to the processing unit. "Sending information / data to… (such as a terminal device)" can be understood as the destination of the information being the terminal device. It can include sending information / data directly or indirectly to the terminal device. "Receiving information / data from… (such as a terminal device)" can be understood as the source of the information being the terminal device, and can include receiving information / data directly or indirectly from the terminal device. Information / data may undergo necessary processing, such as format changes, between the source and destination, but the destination can understand the valid information / data from the source. Similar statements in this application can be understood in a similar way, and will not be repeated here.

[0109] In other words, sending and receiving can occur between devices, such as between terminal devices and network devices; or they can occur within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules, or hardware modules within a device via a bus, wiring, or interface.

[0110] Eighth, in this application, the solutions in each embodiment can be used in a reasonable combination, and the explanations or descriptions of various terms, similar operations, or steps appearing in the embodiments can be referenced or explained to each other in the various embodiments, without limitation.

[0111] The technical solutions provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) communication systems, long term evolution (LTE) communication systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, satellite communication systems, future communication systems, or integrated systems of multiple systems. The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems.

[0112] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applicable to the communication method provided in this application. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of a possible, non-limiting system architecture. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system 100 includes a radio access network (RAN) 10 and a core network (CN) 20. Optionally, the communication system 100 also includes an Internet 30. The RAN 10 includes at least one RAN node (110a and 110b in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal (120a-120j in Figure 1, collectively referred to as 120). The RAN 10 may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 1). The terminal 120 is wirelessly connected to the RAN node 110. The RAN node 110 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the core network 20. The core network devices in the core network 20 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 10 can be different physical devices, or they can be the same physical device integrating core network logical functions and radio access network logical functions.

[0113] RAN 10 can be a cellular system related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 4G, 5G mobile communication systems, or future-oriented evolution systems. RAN 10 can also be an open access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system. RAN 10 can also be a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0114] RAN node 110, sometimes also referred to as access network equipment, RAN entity, or access node, is part of the communication system and is used to help terminals achieve wireless access. Multiple RAN nodes 110 in communication system 100 can be of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of RAN node 110 and terminal 120 are relative. For example, network element 120i in Figure 1 can be a helicopter or drone, which can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminals 120j accessing RAN 10 through network element 120i, network element 120i is a base station; but for base station 110a, network element 120i is a terminal. RAN node 110 and terminal 120 are sometimes both referred to as communication devices. For example, network elements 110a and 110b in Figure 1 can be understood as communication devices with base station functions, and network elements 120a-120j can be understood as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0115] In one possible scenario, a RAN node can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB), a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. A RAN node can be a macro base station (as shown in Figure 1, 110a), a micro base station or indoor station (as shown in Figure 1, 110b), a relay node or donor node, or a radio controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, a RAN node can also be a server, wearable device, vehicle, or in-vehicle equipment. For example, the access network equipment in vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technology can be a roadside unit (RSU).

[0116] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, with each RAN node performing a portion of the base station's functions. For example, RAN nodes can be central units (CUs), distributed units (DUs), CU-control plane (CPs), CU-user plane (UPs), or radio units (RUs), etc. CUs and DUs can be separate entities or included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). RUs can be included in radio frequency equipment or radio frequency units, such as remote radio units (RRUs), active antenna units (AAUs), or remote radio heads (RRHs).

[0117] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meaning. For example, in an ORAN system, CU can also be called O-CU (open CU), DU can also be called O-DU, CU-CP can also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP can also be called O-CU-UP, and RU can also be called O-RU. For ease of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU, and RU as examples. Any of the units among CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU, and RU in this application can be implemented through software modules, hardware modules, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0118] A terminal can also be called a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminals can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc.

[0119] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal and network device can be hardware devices, or software functions running on dedicated hardware, or software functions running on general-purpose hardware, such as virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., cloud platform), or entities that include dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. This application does not limit the specific form of the terminal and network device.

[0120] Communication between RAN nodes and terminals, between RAN nodes, and between terminals can be conducted using licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both simultaneously. Communication can also be conducted using spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or both simultaneously. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0121] In the embodiments of this application, the functions of the RAN node can be executed by modules (such as chips) within the RAN node, or by a control subsystem that includes RAN node functions. This control subsystem, including RAN node functions, can be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. Similarly, the functions of the terminal can be executed by modules (such as chips or modems) within the terminal, or by a device that includes terminal functions.

[0122] Core network equipment refers to the equipment in the core network that provides service support to terminals. Examples of some core network equipment include: access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, session management function (SMF) network elements, user plane function (UPF) network elements, etc., which will not be listed here.

[0123] In wireless communication networks, such as mobile communication networks, the services supported by the networks are becoming increasingly diverse, thus requiring increasingly diverse demands. For example, networks need to support ultra-high speeds, ultra-low latency, and / or massive connectivity. This characteristic makes network planning, network configuration, and / or resource scheduling increasingly complex. Furthermore, as network functions become more powerful, such as supporting higher spectrum levels, supporting higher-order multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technologies, supporting beamforming, and / or supporting beam management, network energy efficiency has become a hot research topic. These new demands, new scenarios, and new characteristics bring unprecedented challenges to network planning, operation, and efficient operation. To meet these challenges, AI technology can be introduced into wireless communication networks to achieve network intelligence. To support AI technology in wireless networks, AI models may also be introduced into the network.

[0124] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system 200 applicable to embodiments of this application. As shown in Figure 2, the communication system 200 includes a network device 201, an AI module 202, a terminal device 203, and a terminal device 204. The network device 201 is, for example, the RAN node 110a in Figure 1. The functional descriptions and possible configurations of the terminal device and network device are given above in the description of Figure 1, and will not be repeated here. The AI ​​network element 202 is used to perform AI-related operations, such as constructing training datasets or training AI models.

[0125] In one possible implementation, network device 201 can send data related to training the AI ​​model to AI module 202, whereby AI module 202 constructs a training dataset and trains the AI ​​model. For example, the data related to training the AI ​​model may include data reported by the terminal device. AI module 202 can send the results of operations related to the AI ​​model to network device 201, and then forward them to the terminal device via network device 201. For example, the results of operations related to the AI ​​model may include at least one of the following: a trained AI model, model evaluation results, or test results. Exemplarily, a portion of the trained AI model may be deployed on network device 201, and another portion on the terminal device. Alternatively, the trained AI model may be deployed on network device 201, or it may be deployed on the terminal device.

[0126] It should be understood that Figure 2 is only used as an example of the AI ​​module 202 being directly connected to the network device 201. In other scenarios, the AI ​​module 202 can also be connected to a terminal device. Alternatively, the AI ​​module 202 can be connected to both the network device 201 and the terminal device simultaneously. Alternatively, the AI ​​module 202 can also be connected to the network device 201 through a third-party network element. This application embodiment does not limit the connection relationship between the AI ​​module and other network elements.

[0127] It should also be understood that the AI ​​module shown in Figure 2 is set up independently of network device 201. For example, the AI ​​module 202 is set up in a host or cloud server of an over-the-top (OTT) system.

[0128] It should also be understood that the AI ​​module 202 can also be installed as a module in network devices and / or terminal devices, for example, in the RAN node or terminal device shown in Figure 1, or in the core network device.

[0129] It should also be understood that this application does not limit the number of AI modules. For example, when there are multiple AI modules, these modules can be divided based on their functions, such as different AI modules being responsible for different functions.

[0130] It should also be understood that AI modules can be independent devices, or they can be integrated into the same device to achieve different functions. They can also be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., cloud platform). This application does not limit the specific form of the AI ​​modules described above.

[0131] In this application, the AI ​​module can also be described as an AI network element, AI node, AI device, AI apparatus, etc., without limitation.

[0132] It should be noted that Figures 1 and 2 are simplified schematic diagrams for ease of understanding. For example, the communication system may include more or fewer devices than shown in Figures 1 or 2, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in Figures 1 and 2. In practical applications, the communication system may include multiple network devices or multiple terminal devices. This application embodiment does not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the communication system.

[0133] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a possible application framework in a communication system. As shown in Figure 3, network elements in the communication system are connected through interfaces (e.g., NG interfaces, Xn interfaces) or air interfaces. These network elements, such as core network equipment, RAN nodes, terminal equipment, or one or more devices in operation administration and maintenance (OAM), are equipped with one or more AI modules (for clarity, only one AI module is shown for each network element in Figure 3). CUs and / or DUs can also be equipped with one or more AI modules. Optionally, a CU can also be split into CU-CP and CU-UP. One or more AI modules are configured in CU-CP and / or CU-UP.

[0134] AI modules are used to implement corresponding AI functions. AI modules deployed in different network elements can be the same or different. The models of AI modules can achieve different functions depending on the parameter configurations. The models of AI modules can be configured based on one or more of the following parameters: structural parameters (e.g., at least one of the following: number of neural network layers, neural network width, inter-layer connections, neuron weights, neuron activation function, or biases in the activation function), input parameters (e.g., the type and / or dimension of the input parameters), or output parameters (e.g., the type and / or dimension of the output parameters). The biases in the activation function can also be referred to as the biases of the neural network.

[0135] An AI module can have one or more models. A model can infer an output, which includes one or more parameters. The learning, training, or inference processes of different models can be deployed on different nodes or devices, or they can be deployed on the same node or device.

[0136] Figure 4 illustrates another possible application framework in a communication system. As shown in Figure 4, the communication system includes a RAN intelligent controller (RIC). For example, the RIC can be the AI ​​module shown in Figure 3, used to implement AI-related functions. The RIC includes near-real-time RICs (near-RT RICs) and non-real-time RICs (non-RT RICs). Non-real-time RICs primarily process non-real-time information, such as data that is not sensitive to latency, with latency in the order of seconds. Near-real-time RICs primarily process near-real-time information, such as data that is relatively sensitive to latency, with latency in the order of tens of milliseconds.

[0137] Near real-time RICs are used for model training and inference. For example, they are used to train AI models and then use those models for inference. Near real-time RICs can obtain network-side and / or terminal-side information from RAN nodes (e.g., CUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, DUs, and / or RUs) and / or terminal devices, which can be used as training data or inference data. Optionally, near real-time RICs can deliver inference results to RAN nodes and / or terminal devices. Optionally, inference results can be exchanged between CUs and DUs, and / or between DUs and RUs; for example, the near real-time RIC delivers the inference result to the DU, and the DU sends it to the RU.

[0138] Non-real-time RICs can also be used for model training and inference. For example, they can be used to train AI models and then use those models for inference. Non-real-time RICs can obtain network-side and / or terminal-side information from RAN nodes (e.g., CUs, CU-CPs, CU-UPs, DUs, and / or RUs) and / or terminal devices. This information can be used as training data or inference data, and the inference results can be delivered to RAN nodes and / or terminal devices. Optionally, inference results can be exchanged between CUs and DUs, and / or between DUs and RUs; for example, a non-real-time RIC delivers inference results to a DU, which then forwards them to an RU.

[0139] For example, near real-time RICs and non-real-time RICs can also be configured as separate network elements. Alternatively, near real-time RICs and non-real-time RICs can also be part of other devices. For example, near real-time RICs can be set in RAN nodes (e.g., CU, DU), while non-real-time RICs can be set in OAM, cloud servers, core network devices, or other network devices.

[0140] To better understand the methods provided in the embodiments of this application, the relevant technologies and concepts involved in this application are introduced below.

[0141] 1. Machine Learning

[0142] AI refers to the ability to endow machines with human-like intelligence, such as enabling machines to use computer hardware and software to simulate certain intelligent human behaviors. Machine learning (ML) is an important technological approach to achieving AI. In machine learning methods, machines learn (or train) models using training data. This model represents the mapping between inputs and outputs. The learned model can be used for reasoning (or prediction), that is, it can be used to predict the output corresponding to a given input. This output can also be called the reasoning result (or prediction result). The model can also be called an AI model, an ML model, a rule, or other names. An AI model can be considered a specific method for implementing a certain AI function; the AI ​​model represents the mapping relationship or function between the model's input and output. Machine learning can be divided into supervised learning, unsupervised learning, and reinforcement learning.

[0143] Supervised learning, based on collected sample values ​​and labels, uses machine learning algorithms to learn the mapping relationship between sample values ​​and labels, and expresses this learned mapping relationship using a machine learning model. The process of training the machine learning model is the process of learning this mapping relationship. For example, in signal detection, the noisy received signal is the sample, and the corresponding real constellation point is the label. Machine learning aims to learn the mapping relationship between samples and labels through training, that is, to enable the machine learning model to learn a signal detector. During training, the model parameters are optimized by calculating the error between the model's predicted values ​​and the real labels. Once the mapping relationship is learned, it can be used to predict the sample label of each new sample. The mapping relationship learned in supervised learning can include linear mappings and nonlinear mappings. Based on the type of label, the learning task can be divided into classification tasks and regression tasks.

[0144] Unsupervised learning relies solely on collected sample values, using algorithms to discover inherent patterns within the samples. One type of unsupervised learning algorithm uses the samples themselves as supervisory signals; that is, the model learns the mapping relationship from sample to sample, which is called self-supervised learning. During training, model parameters are optimized by calculating the error between the model's predictions and the samples themselves. Self-supervised learning can be used for signal compression and decompression recovery applications; common algorithms include autoencoders and generative adversarial networks.

[0145] Reinforcement learning, unlike supervised learning, is a type of algorithm that learns problem-solving strategies through interaction with the environment. Unlike supervised and unsupervised learning, reinforcement learning problems do not have explicit "correct" action labels. The algorithm needs to interact with the environment to obtain reward signals from the environment, and then adjust its decision actions to obtain a larger reward signal value. For example, in downlink power control, the reinforcement learning model adjusts the downlink transmission power of each user based on the total system throughput feedback from the wireless network, aiming to achieve a higher system throughput. The goal of reinforcement learning is also to learn the mapping relationship between the environment state and the optimal decision action. However, because the label of the "correct action" cannot be obtained in advance, the network cannot be optimized by calculating the error between the action and the "correct action." Reinforcement learning training is achieved through iterative interaction with the environment.

[0146] Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are a specific implementation of machine learning. According to the general approximation theorem, neural networks can theoretically approximate any continuous function, thus enabling them to learn arbitrary mappings. Traditional communication systems rely on extensive expert knowledge to design communication modules, while DNN-based deep learning communication systems can automatically discover hidden pattern structures from large datasets, establish mapping relationships between data, and achieve performance superior to traditional modeling methods.

[0147] DNNs typically have more than one hidden layer, and these hidden layers often directly affect the ability to extract information and fit functions. Increasing the number of hidden layers or widening the width of each layer can improve the function fitting ability of a DNN. The weights in each neuron are the parameters of the DNN network model. The model parameters are optimized through the training process, enabling the DNN network to extract data features and express mapping relationships. DNNs generally use supervised or unsupervised learning strategies to optimize model parameters.

[0148] Based on their construction methods, DNNs can be categorized into feedforward neural networks (FNNs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs), and recurrent neural networks (RNNs). CNNs are specifically designed to process data with a grid-like structure. For example, time-series data (discrete sampling along the time axis) and image data (two-dimensional discrete sampling) can both be considered grid-like data. CNNs do not use all the input information at once; instead, they use a fixed-size window to extract a portion of the information for convolution operations, which significantly reduces the computational cost of model parameters. Furthermore, depending on the type of information extracted by the window (e.g., people and objects in an image represent different types of information), each window can use different convolution kernels, allowing CNNs to better extract features from the input data. RNNs are a type of DNN network that utilizes feedback time-series information. Their input includes the new input value at the current time step and their own output value at the previous time step. RNNs are suitable for acquiring temporally correlated sequence features, and are particularly suitable for applications such as speech recognition and channel coding / decoding.

[0149] It should be understood that the terminal-side model or network-side model in this application may use one or more of the above-mentioned machine learning algorithms to perform model inference and obtain measured values ​​and / or predicted values, such as predicted Top K beams and predicted channel state information (CSI).

[0150] 2. CSI Feedback

[0151] In existing LTE and NR communication systems, network devices need to acquire the Channel State Information (CSI) to determine the resources, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), precoding, and other configurations for scheduling downlink data channels of terminal devices. In Time Division Duplex (TDD) systems, due to the reciprocity of uplink and downlink channels, network devices can obtain the uplink CSI by measuring the uplink reference signal (RS) and then infer a more accurate downlink CSI. For example, the uplink CSI can be used as the downlink CSI. In Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, uplink and downlink reciprocity cannot be guaranteed. The downlink CSI is obtained by the terminal device measuring the downlink reference signal, such as the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or the synchronizing signal / physical broadcast channel block (SSB). Therefore, the terminal device needs to generate a CSI report according to the protocol predefined method or the network device configuration and feed the CSI back to the base station so that it can acquire the downlink CSI.

[0152] In the NR protocol, the downlink CSI configuration and reporting process includes: the network device sending a CSI reporting configuration (CSI-ReportConfig) to the terminal device, indicating the reporting type (reportConfigType), reporting quantity (reportQuantity), etc., where the reporting type can be periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic, and the reporting quantity can include at least one of the following information: rank indicator (RI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), reference signal received power (RSRP), CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), layer indicator (LI), and channel quality indicator (CQI); the network device sending CSI-RS to the terminal device; the terminal device performing channel and interference measurements based on the CSI-RS and obtaining the measurement results; the terminal device determining the configured reporting quantity based on the measurement results and reporting the downlink CSI to the network device, which includes the reporting quantity measured by the terminal device, such as RI, CQI, PMI, and RSRP. If the reporting type in the CSI reporting configuration is periodic, the terminal device reports periodically according to the period indicated by the radio resource control (RRC) signaling, without needing to trigger reporting with each signaling transmission. If the reporting type in the CSI reporting configuration is semi-persistent, the terminal device needs to be triggered by signaling during the initial reporting, and once triggered, it can report periodically according to the specified period. If the reporting type in the CSI reporting configuration is non-periodic, reporting needs to be triggered by downlink control information (DCI). For the semi-persistent reporting type, when the downlink CSI is reported on the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), the reporting is triggered by the media access control element (MAC CE) signaling; when the downlink CSI is reported on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the reporting is triggered by DCI.

[0153] 3. Beam Management

[0154] NR systems employ beamforming technology, which weights the transmitted signal to create narrower beams with more concentrated energy and stronger directionality for each type of channel and signal. At the same transmit power, narrow beams provide farther coverage than wide beams, but their coverage is limited; a single beam cannot cover all users within a cell, nor can it guarantee that every user receives maximum signal energy. Therefore, the protocol introduces beam scanning. Beam scanning refers to transmitting or receiving beams in a preset manner at time intervals to cover a specific spatial area. Currently, the preset method mainly refers to time-division multiplexing, which improves coverage performance by transmitting or receiving narrow beams in different directions at different times to cover a specific spatial area. Based on the weighting strategy used in beamforming, beamforming is divided into two categories: static beams and dynamic beams. Static beams use predefined weights, meaning a fixed beam is formed within the cell; for example, the number, width, and direction of the beams are determined. Then, based on information such as cell coverage, user distribution, and system load, the optimal beam is selected for each type of channel and signal. Dynamic beamforming refers to beamforming where the weights are calculated based on channel quality, and the beamwidth and direction are adjusted dynamically according to factors such as UE location and channel status. Beam scanning is mainly for static beams that use preset weights; dynamic beams, because they use dynamic weights, do not require beam scanning.

[0155] The beam scanning process combines beam measurement, beam reporting, and beam determination to select an optimal beam pair between the base station and the UE. Specifically, beam scanning finds the most suitable transmit and receive beams, aligning their directions to optimize signal gain and improve communication quality. The beam scanning process consists of three steps: P1, P2, and P3.

[0156] P1 process: SSB beam scanning on the network device side and wide beam scanning on the terminal device side. The network device uses beam scanning to transmit SSB beams from different directions in a time-division manner, broadcasting synchronization messages and system messages. The terminal device uses beam scanning to receive signals and confirm the received beam. Simultaneously, the terminal device feeds back the SSB measurement results to the network device, which confirms the transmitted beam. The transmitted and received beams achieve initial alignment. The main purpose of the P1 process is to find an initial beam pair between the network device and the terminal device.

[0157] P2 Process: The network device performs a CSI-RS beam scan, while the terminal device's receive beam remains fixed. The network device scans the area around the SSB beam determined by random access using a narrower CSI-RS beam. The terminal device feeds back the CSI-RS measurement results to the network device via a measurement report, and the network device confirms the optimal transmit beam. The P2 process refines the network device's transmit beam; after the initial beam pair is established, a narrower CSI-RS beam than the SSB beam is selected for beam adjustment to achieve higher signal gain.

[0158] P3 process: The transmit beam is fixed on the network device side, while narrow beam scanning is performed on the terminal device side. The network device side uses a fixed narrow beam for CSI-RS, while the terminal device side uses beam scanning for signal reception to confirm a more accurate receive beam. The transmit and receive beams are then finally aligned. The P3 process is used to refine the receive beam on the terminal device side, enhancing signal quality through further adjustments.

[0159] As can be seen, SSB or CSI-RS is used as the reference signal for beam scanning. Therefore, the beam measurement and reporting process is consistent with the CSI configuration and reporting process. For example, in the P2 process, the network device is configured as CRI-RSRP through the reportQuantity field in the CSI report, instructing the terminal device to report the CRI and the corresponding RSRP.

[0160] 4. Beam

[0161] A beam is a communication resource. A beam can be wide, narrow, or other types. Beamforming technology can be used to form beams or other techniques. Specifically, beamforming technology can be digital beamforming, analog beamforming, or hybrid digital / analog beamforming. Different beams can be considered different resources. The same or different information can be transmitted through different beams. Optionally, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics can be considered as a single beam. A beam can include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, and detection signals, etc.

[0162] 5. Reference Signals and Reference Signal Resources

[0163] Reference signals can be used for channel measurement or channel estimation. Reference signal resources can be used to configure the transmission attributes of reference signals, such as time-frequency resource locations, port mapping relationships, power factors, and scrambling codes, as detailed in existing technologies. Transmitting devices can transmit reference signals based on reference signal resources, and receiving devices can receive reference signals based on reference signal resources.

[0164] The channel measurements involved in this application also include beam measurements, that is, obtaining beam quality information by measuring a reference signal. Parameters used to measure beam quality include RSRP, but are not limited to this. For example, beam quality can also be measured by parameters such as reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), block error rate (BLER), and CQI. In the embodiments of this application, for ease of explanation, unless otherwise specified, the channel measurements involved can be regarded as beam measurements.

[0165] Reference signals may include, for example, CSI-RS, synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), and sounding reference signals (SRSs). Correspondingly, reference signal resources may include CSI-RS resources, SSB resources, SRS resources, tracking reference signals (TRSs), phase-tracking reference signals (PTRSs), and positioning reference signals (PRSs), etc.

[0166] It should be noted that the above-mentioned SSB can also be called the synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / PBCH block), and the corresponding SSB resource can also be called the synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block resource (SS / PBCH block resource), which can be simply referred to as SSB resource.

[0167] To distinguish different reference signal resources, each reference signal resource can correspond to a reference signal resource identifier, such as a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI), or an SRS resource index (SRI). The SSB resource indicator can also be called the SSB index. When reference signal resources are used for beam measurement, one beam corresponds to one reference signal resource, and the beam index can be the index of the reference signal resource corresponding to that beam.

[0168] It should be understood that the reference signals and corresponding reference signal resources listed above are merely illustrative examples and should not constitute any limitation on this application. This application does not preclude the possibility of defining other reference signals in future agreements to achieve the same or similar functions.

[0169] 6. Beam indication information

[0170] After obtaining the optimal transmission beam through beam scanning, it is necessary to indicate the information of the beam used for transmission through beam indication information, including the information of the transmitting beam and / or the receiving beam. Beam indication information can be one or more of the following: beam number (or number, index, identity, ID, etc.), uplink signal resource number, downlink signal resource number, absolute index of the beam, relative index of the beam, logical index of the beam, index of the antenna port corresponding to the beam, index of the antenna port group corresponding to the beam, index of the downlink signal corresponding to the beam, time index of the downlink synchronization signal block corresponding to the beam, beam pair link (BPL) information, transmit parameters (Tx parameter) corresponding to the beam, receive parameters (Rx parameter) corresponding to the beam, transmit weight corresponding to the beam, weight matrix corresponding to the beam, weight vector corresponding to the beam, receive weight corresponding to the beam, index of transmit weight corresponding to the beam, index of weight matrix corresponding to the beam, index of weight vector corresponding to the beam, index of receive weight corresponding to the beam, receive codebook corresponding to the beam, transmit codebook corresponding to the beam, index of receive codebook corresponding to the beam, and index of transmit codebook corresponding to the beam. The downlink signal can be one or more of the following: CSI-RS, synchronization signal, broadcast channel, broadcast signal demodulation signal, synchronous signal / PBCH block (SSB), cell specific reference signal (CS-RS), user equipment specific reference signal (US-RS), downlink control channel demodulation reference signal, downlink data channel demodulation reference signal, and downlink phase noise tracking signal. The uplink signal can be one or more of the following: uplink random access sequence, uplink sounding reference signal (SRS), uplink control channel demodulation reference signal, uplink data channel demodulation reference signal, and uplink phase noise tracking signal.

[0171] Beam indication information can also be represented as TCI or TCI state. A TCI state includes one or more QCL information, each QCL information including an identifier (ID) of a reference signal (or SSB) and a QCL type. For example, a terminal device can determine the beam for receiving a PDSCH based on the TCI state indicated by the network device.

[0172] QCL (Quadrature Communication Characteristics) relationships are used to indicate that multiple resources share one or more identical or similar communication characteristics. For multiple resources with a QCL relationship, identical or similar communication configurations can be used. Antenna ports with a QCL relationship have the same parameters in their corresponding signals; or, the parameters of one antenna port (also called QCL parameters) can be used to determine the parameters of another antenna port with a QCL relationship to that antenna port; or, two antenna ports have the same parameters; or, the parameter difference between two antenna ports is less than a certain threshold. These parameters may include one or more of the following: delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average delay, average gain, and spatial Rx parameters. Spatial Rx parameters may include one or more of the following: angle of arrival (AOA), average AOA, AOA spread, angle of departure (AOD), average departure angle AOD, AOD spread, receive antenna spatial correlation parameters, transmit antenna spatial correlation parameters, transmit beam, receive beam, and resource identifier.

[0173] In the NR protocol, QCL relationships can include the following four types based on different parameters:

[0174] Type A: Doppler frequency shift, Doppler spread, average time delay, time delay spread;

[0175] Type B (Type A): Doppler frequency shift, Doppler spread;

[0176] Type C: Doppler frequency shift, average time delay;

[0177] Type C (type D): Space reception parameters.

[0178] The quasi-correspondence assumption (QCL assumption) refers to the assumption that a QCL relationship exists between two ports. The configuration and indication of the quasi-correspondence assumption can help the receiver perform signal reception and demodulation. For example, the receiver can assume a QCL relationship between port A and port B, meaning that large-scale parameters measured at port A can be used for signal measurement and demodulation at port B. Large-scale parameters can include the parameters of the antenna ports mentioned above.

[0179] TCI states can be used to indicate the QCL relationship between two reference signals. Each TCI state can include the serving cell index, BWP ID, and reference signal resource identifier. For example, the reference signal resource identifier can be any of the following: non-zero power (NZP) CSI-RS reference signal resource identifier (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId), non-zero power CSI-RS reference signal resource set identifier (NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceSetId), or SSB index (SSB-Index). A TCI state can be distinguished by its identifier (TCI-state Id). The serving cell index, BWP ID, and reference signal resource identifier refer to the reference signal resources used during beamforming training, as well as the corresponding serving cell and BWP. During beam training, network devices transmit reference signals using different transmit beams based on different reference signal resources. Therefore, reference signals transmitted via different transmit beams can be associated with different reference signal resources. Similarly, terminal devices receive reference signals using different receive beams based on different reference signal resources. Thus, reference signals received via different receive beams can also be associated with different reference signal resources. Therefore, during beam training, terminal devices can maintain the correspondence between the serving cell index, BWP ID, and reference signal resource identifier with the receive beam, and network devices can maintain the correspondence between the serving cell index, BWP ID, and reference signal resource identifier with the transmit beam. The pairing relationship between receive and transmit beams can be established using the reference signal resource identifier. In subsequent communication, terminal devices can determine the receive beam based on the TCI state indicated by the network device, and the network device can determine the transmit beam based on the same TCI state.

[0180] 7. Air Interface AI

[0181] Currently, AI has been introduced into wireless communication networks and is widely used in many application scenarios of air interface technology, such as CSI feedback, CSI prediction, beam management, and positioning. For example, when applying AI in CSI feedback scenarios, an autoencoder architecture can be used for CSI feedback. This architecture typically includes an AI encoder and an AI decoder. The AI ​​encoder can be deployed on the terminal device, and the AI ​​decoder can be deployed on the network device. Compared to traditional CSI feedback technology, AI model-based CSI feedback, while maintaining the same CSI feedback performance, can reduce air interface feedback overhead and the computational complexity of the terminal device, showing greater application potential. For example, when applying AI in CSI prediction scenarios, the terminal device or network device can use a prediction model to predict the CSI at future times based on historical CSI and feed it back to the network device. The AI ​​model can reside solely in the terminal device or solely in the network device. By accurately predicting the CSI at future times, the problem of inaccurate CSI feedback information caused by channel time-varying characteristics can be solved. For example, when applying AI in beam management scenarios, terminal devices or network devices can efficiently and accurately identify the best beam using AI models. This AI model can reside solely in the terminal device or solely in the network device. For example, when applying AI models in positioning scenarios, triangulation can be used for location. The terminal device obtains the location information of three surrounding network devices and inputs it into the corresponding AI model. Then, based on the distance, direction, and channel information from the terminal device to the three network devices, the location of the terminal device is obtained.

[0182] The following section introduces two use cases for AI-based beam management: spatial beam prediction and temporal beam prediction.

[0183] A use case for spatial beam prediction is shown in Figure 5A. Traditional beam measurement requires scanning all beams in the selectable beam set using the P1-P3 process described above to obtain the optimal beam (maximum RSRP). For systems using massive MIMO antennas, the selectable beam set can be very large (e.g., 1024 beams), and the traditional beam scanning process requires significant measurement overhead. With the introduction of AI, only a portion of the selectable beam set (e.g., set A, the sets in Figure 5A's Examples 1 and 2) can be measured (e.g., set B, the set in Figure 5A's Example 1). Based on the measurements of this portion of the beams, the top K (top-K) optimal beams in the full beam set (set A) can be predicted, thus greatly reducing beam measurement overhead.

[0184] The use case of time-domain beam prediction is shown in Figure 5B. The AI ​​beam prediction model can use beam measurement information from historical moments to predict beam information for future moments (e.g., top-K beam index and RSRP corresponding to each beam in the top-K beams), thereby improving the robustness of beam management in scenarios where the channel changes rapidly and avoiding frequent beam measurements and switching.

[0185] Beam prediction models can be located in terminal devices or network devices.

[0186] 8. TCI Indication Mechanism

[0187] Referring to the schematic diagram of the TCI indication mechanism shown in Figure 6, the existing TCI indication mechanism may include the following process:

[0188] Step 1: The network device can configure the TCI state list for the terminal device via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC messages). For example, the network device can configure the TCI state list for the terminal device via the TCI state addition mode list (tci-StatesToAddModList) in the RRC message. The TCI state list can include multiple TCI states; for example, the network device can configure up to 64 TCI states for each BWP in each cell.

[0189] Step two: The network device can activate one or more TCI states via higher-layer signaling (e.g., MAC CE). The activated TCI states are a subset of the TCI state list configured by the network device in Step one. For example, the network device can activate up to eight TCI states for each BWP in each cell.

[0190] Step 3: The network device can indicate one of the aforementioned active TCI states through the TCI field in the physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI). The TCI field is 3 bits long, meaning it can use 8 codepoints to indicate one of the 8 active TCI states. In other words, the TCI field has 8 candidate codepoints to choose from, and each codepoint can be mapped to an active TCI state.

[0191] For AI-based beam management scenarios, taking the terminal-side spatial beam prediction scenario as an example, the terminal device needs to report information about the predicted top-K beams, such as the indices of the top K beams with the highest predicted RSRP. If the existing TCI indication mechanism is applied to indicate beams, after the terminal device reports the information about the predicted top-K beams, it is possible that one or more TCI states activated in step two above will not include the TCI states corresponding to the predicted top-K beams. Since network devices can only indicate activated TCI states through DCI, if a network device wants to indicate one of the top-K beams for transmission, it can only reactivate a set of TCI states that includes the TCI states corresponding to the predicted top-K beams through MAC CE. Then, the network device can indicate one of the activated TCI state sets through a code point in DCI.

[0192] For example, Figure 7 illustrates the application of the TCI indication mechanism in a beam prediction scenario. Originally, the TCI states activated by the network device via MAC CE included TCI states #1 to #8, while the TCI states corresponding to the predicted top-K beams included TCI states #9 to #12. The already activated TCI states did not include those corresponding to the top-K beams. Therefore, the network device reactivates a set of TCI states via MAC CE, including TCI states #5 to #12, which include TCI states #9 to #12 corresponding to the predicted top-K beams. Then, the network device activates TCI state #11 through DCI indication of the reactivated TCI states. Here, the eight code points in the code point set {000,001,010,011,100,101,110,111} correspond one-to-one with the eight already activated TCI states (TCI states #5 to #12).

[0193] In scenarios where beam changes rapidly, the predicted top-K beams reported by terminal devices also change rapidly. There is a high probability that the TCI state corresponding to the top-K beam is not in the TCI state set activated by MAC CE. The above method requires network devices to frequently reactivate a set of TCI states that includes the predicted top-K beam TCI states through MAC CE, which will bring significant latency and signaling overhead.

[0194] In view of this, this application provides a communication method in which, when the activated transmission indication information (e.g., TCI state) does not include the transmission indication information corresponding to the predicted downlink signal (e.g., beam), the network device can select a transmission indication information from a set including the activated transmission indication information and the transmission indication information corresponding to the predicted downlink signal. This helps to reduce the latency and signaling overhead caused by frequently sending activation signaling.

[0195] The technical solution of this application and how it solves the above-mentioned technical problems are described in detail below through specific embodiments. These specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described again in some embodiments.

[0196] In this application, the downlink signal is a signal known to the terminal equipment, or the downlink signal is a reference signal, such as SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, PTRS, PRS, etc. Alternatively, each downlink signal may correspond to a beam. In other words, the downlink signal can be replaced by any one of the following: a known signal, a reference signal, SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, PTRS, PRS, or a beam. Furthermore, one downlink signal may correspond to one or more measurement resources, or to a set of measurement resources.

[0197] In this application, DCI can also be replaced with PDCCH.

[0198] In this application, "moment" can refer to a time unit, which can be one of the following: second (s), millisecond (ms), microsecond (us), slot, symbol, or at least one continuous symbol. This application does not limit the specific manner in which the time unit is used.

[0199] In this application, "moment" can also be understood as a continuous period of time, and "moment" can also be replaced by "time period".

[0200] Figure 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method 800 provided in an embodiment of this application. The steps of method 800 can be interactively executed by the terminal side and the network side. The terminal side is, for example, a terminal device or a communication module in a terminal device, or a circuit or chip in a terminal device that is responsible for communication functions. The following description uses a terminal device as an example. The network side is, for example, a network device or a communication module in a network device, or a circuit or chip in a network device that is responsible for communication functions. The following description uses a network device as an example.

[0201] Method 800 includes, but is not limited to, S801 and S802. The steps in method 800 are described in detail below.

[0202] S801, the terminal device sends a first report to the network device. The first report includes information on Y predicted downlink signals, where the information on the Y downlink signals corresponds to Y downlink signals, and Y is a positive integer less than or equal to K. Accordingly, the network device receives the at least one report.

[0203] The first report in this application embodiment can be a prediction report, such as a beam prediction report or a CSI prediction report.

[0204] Taking beam prediction as an example, the first report includes information on Y predicted downlink signals. This can be replaced by describing the first report as including information on Y predicted beams. The Y predicted beams can be the Y beams from the top-K predicted beams. The top-K beams refer to the K beams with the best channel quality in a preset beam set, for example, the K beams with the highest RSRP. The Y beams can be the Y beams from the top-K predicted beams that meet preset conditions. For example: the Y beams with the highest RSRP among the K beams, or the Y beams with the highest probability of being the optimal beam among the K beams, or the Y beams with RSRP greater than a preset threshold among the K beams, or the Y beams with a probability of being the optimal beam greater than a preset threshold among the K beams. The information on the Y beams can include one or more of the following: the index of the Y beams, the RSRP of the Y beams, the probability that the Y beams are the optimal beams, and the confidence level of the RSRP of the Y beams.

[0205] Where K is the upper limit of the number of downlink signals corresponding to the information expected to be predicted or reported. K can be configured by the network device, or K can be predefined, such as protocol predefined.

[0206] The terminal equipment can determine the number Y of downlink signals to be reported based on the measured or predicted results of the downlink signals. The measured or predicted results may include one or more of the following: RSRP, CQI, RI, or PMI.

[0207] For example, in a beam prediction scenario, assuming K=4, the terminal device predicts the top-K beams, including beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4. If the RSRP values ​​of beam 1 and beam 2 are relatively high, while the RSRP values ​​of beam 3 and beam 4 are relatively low (e.g., less than a threshold), then the terminal device can report the information of beam 1 and beam 2, i.e., Y=2. If the RSRP values ​​of beam 1 through beam 4 are all relatively high (e.g., greater than a threshold), then the terminal device can report the information of beam 1 through beam 4, i.e., Y=4.

[0208] The following is an example illustrating how information from Y downlink signals corresponds to Y downlink signals:

[0209] For example, if the information of Y downlink signals is the index of Y downlink signals, then the index of Y downlink signals is used to indicate Y downlink signals, and the index of one downlink signal indicates / corresponds to one downlink signal.

[0210] For example, the information of Y downlink signals is the RSRP of Y downlink signals, and one RSRP corresponds to one downlink signal.

[0211] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can report reports periodically or semi-continuously, with one report reported per reporting period. For at least one report reported in at least one reporting period, the first report is one of those at least one reports. Alternatively, the network device can trigger the reporting of at least one report aperiodically, with the first report being one of those at least one reports. Or, the network device can be configured to report at least one periodic report while simultaneously triggering at least one aperiodic report, with the first report being one of at least two reports.

[0212] It should be understood that each of the at least one reports reported by the terminal device includes information on at least one predicted downlink signal. For example, the at least one report includes Report 1 and Report 2, wherein Report 1 includes information on Y1 predicted downlink signals, and Report 2 includes information on Y2 predicted downlink signals, and the information on Y2 downlink signals corresponds to Y2 downlink signals. The values ​​of Y1 and Y2 may be the same or different. Optionally, Y1 and Y2 are both positive integers less than or equal to K.

[0213] S802, the network device sends first information to the terminal device. This first information indicates first transmission indication information, which is one of X+M transmission indication information. X of the X+M transmission indication information correspond to Y downlink signals, and the remaining M transmission indication information are activated transmission indication information. Here, X is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and M is a non-negative integer. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information.

[0214] It should be understood that the Y downlink signals described below are the Y downlink signals corresponding to the information of the predicted Y downlink signals included in the first report, and for ease of description, they are simply referred to as the Y downlink signals.

[0215] In this embodiment of the application, the first transmission indication information is used to indicate or correspond to one of the predicted Y downlink signals. The transmission indication information may include at least one of the following: TCI status, beam information, spatial relationship information, QCL information, reference signal resource set, or reference signal resource.

[0216] In this embodiment, the maximum number of transmission indication information that a network device can activate simultaneously is N, and the number of activated transmission indication information is M, i.e., M is less than or equal to N. There is a one-to-one correspondence between Y downlink signals and Y transmission indication information. This correspondence can be understood as the Y transmission indication information being used to indicate Y downlink signals.

[0217] Among them, the M activated transmission indication information includes part of the transmission indication information in the Y transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals, that is, the M activated transmission indication information partially overlaps with the Y transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals; or, the M activated transmission indication information does not include all the transmission indication information in the Y transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals, that is, the M activated transmission indication information does not overlap with the Y transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals at all.

[0218] For example, the M activated transmission indication information includes transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #8, and the Y transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals includes transmission indication information #9 to transmission indication information #12.

[0219] For example, the M activated transmission indication information includes transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #8, and the Y transmission indication information corresponding to the Y downlink signals includes transmission indication information #7 to transmission indication information #10.

[0220] For example, the first information can be physical layer signaling, such as DCI.

[0221] In this embodiment, the network device selects a first transmission indication information from X+M transmission indication information and sends it to the terminal device. The X+M transmission indication information includes two parts: one part includes the M activated transmission indication information, and the other part includes the remaining X transmission indication information from the X+M transmission indication information, corresponding to Y downlink signals. That is, the X+M transmission indication information selectable by the network device can include both activated and inactive transmission indication information, no longer limited to selecting only one from the activated transmission indication information to send to the terminal device. Thus, if the M activated transmission indication information partially overlaps with or completely does not overlap with the Y transmission indication information, the network device does not need to resend activation signaling, which helps reduce latency and signaling overhead caused by frequent activation signaling.

[0222] It should be understood that the Y transmission indication information in the embodiments of this application are Y transmission indication information that correspond one-to-one with Y downlink signals, and for ease of description, they are simply referred to as Y transmission indication information.

[0223] In one possible implementation, X of the X+M transmission indication information correspond to Y downlink signals, including: if Y is greater than or equal to X, the X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the X downlink signals in the Y downlink signals; or, if Y is less than X, the Y transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the Y downlink signals.

[0224] When Y is greater than X, in one possible implementation, X downlink signals out of the Y downlink signals are the X downlink signals with the best predicted quality among the Y downlink signals. That is, the X transmission indication information is only used to indicate the X downlink signals with the best quality among the Y downlink signals, which can reduce some of the indication overhead.

[0225] For example, Y=3, X=2, Y downlink signals include downlink signal #1, downlink signal #2 and downlink signal #3. Among them, downlink signal #1 has the highest predicted RSRP, downlink signal #2 has the second highest predicted RSRP, and downlink signal #3 has the lowest predicted RSRP. Then, X downlink signals in the Y downlink signals include the two downlink signals with the highest predicted RSRP, namely downlink signal #1 and downlink signal #2.

[0226] When Y is less than X, in one possible implementation, X equals K and Y is less than K. That is, X transmission indication information can be used to indicate the best K downlink signals, but the terminal device actually reports less than K downlink signal information. Only Y of the X transmission indication information are valid. In this case, the network device can select the first transmission indication information from Y+M transmission indication information.

[0227] In the embodiments of this application, M is a non-negative integer, which can include two cases: M is 0 and M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0228] In one possible implementation, the network device does not indicate the activation transmission indication information to the terminal device, in which case M is 0.

[0229] In one possible implementation, the network device may instruct the terminal device to activate M (greater than or equal to 1) transmission indication messages. For example, before S802, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, which is used to activate M (greater than or equal to 1) transmission indication messages. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information.

[0230] For example, the second information is high-level information, such as MAC CE.

[0231] It should be understood that different transmission indication information can be indicated by different code points. In this application, the network device can indicate the first transmission indication information by using the first code point corresponding to the first transmission indication information.

[0232] In one possible implementation, the first information includes a first code point, which is used to indicate first transmission indication information.

[0233] In one possible implementation, the first information includes a first field, which carries a first code point. The first code point indicates first transmission indication information, or in other words, the first code point can be mapped to the first transmission indication information. For example, the first field is a TCI indication field (transmission configuration indication field). The first field can also be described as a first information field; for example, the first information field can be a TCI field, and the TCI field can also be described as a TCI indication field.

[0234] The following describes in detail how a network device selects the first transmission indication information from X+M transmission indication information.

[0235] In the first implementation, the first code point is one of N+X candidate code points available to the network device. X of these N+X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information points. M of the remaining N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information points. Here, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information points that can be activated simultaneously, and X transmission indication information points correspond to Y downlink signals. The correspondence can be found in the description above and will not be repeated here.

[0236] For example, as shown in Figure 9A, N=8, M=8, X=4, and the N+X candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111,1000,1001,1010,1011}. Among the N+X candidate code points, N candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111}, which correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #8); and X candidate code points are {1000,1001,1010,1011}, which correspond one-to-one with the X transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #9 to transmission indication information #12). Assuming the first code point is "1010" among N+X candidate code points, then the transmission indication information #11 is indicated.

[0237] It should be noted that the number M of active transmission indication information on a network device may be less than N, but the number of candidate code points that can be used to indicate active transmission indication information is always N. The remaining NM candidate code points are unused, or in other words, none of the remaining NM candidate code points have corresponding active transmission indication information. This can be understood as the network device not indicating these NM candidate code points, or the terminal device not expecting the network device to indicate these NM candidate code points, or if the network device indicates any of these NM candidate code points, then that code point is ineffective.

[0238] For example, as shown in Figure 9B, N=8, X=4, M=6, the N+X candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111,1000,1001,1010,1011}, and N candidate code points among the N+X candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111}. The M candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101}, which correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #6); the remaining X candidate code points among the N+X candidate code points are {1000,1001,1010,1011}, which correspond one-to-one with the X transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #9 to transmission indication information #12).

[0239] In this implementation, the network device adds X additional candidate code points to the existing N candidate code points. The X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information, and the X transmission indication information corresponds to Y downlink signals. In this way, the transmission indication information that the network device can select can include X transmission indication information corresponding to Y downlink signals, which helps to improve the accuracy of the first transmission indication information.

[0240] In the second implementation method, the first code point mentioned above is one of N candidate code points. X candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information. For the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points, if M is less than or equal to NX, then M candidate code points among the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with M activated transmission indication information. If M is greater than NX, then NX candidate code points among the remaining N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with NX transmission indication information among M activated transmission indication information.

[0241] For example, as shown in Figure 10, N=8, X=4, M=2, N candidate code points are {000,001,010,011,100,101,110,111}, X candidate code points among the N candidate code points are {100,101,110,111}, which correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #9 to transmission indication information #12), NX candidate code points are {000,001,010,011}, and M candidate code points {000,001} among the NX candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #2).

[0242] The second implementation method can keep the number of candidate code points unchanged from the existing scheme, that is, the number of candidate code points is N. However, X candidate code points are reserved in advance from the N candidate code points to indicate X transmission indication information corresponding to Y downlink signals. This does not require additional signaling overhead, has no impact on the capabilities of the terminal equipment, and helps to improve the accuracy of the indicated first transmission indication information.

[0243] In implementation method three, the first code point mentioned above is one of X candidate code points. M of the X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information points. The remaining XM candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the XM transmission indication information points. Here, X is greater than or equal to N, M is less than or equal to N, and N is the maximum number of transmission indication information points that can be activated simultaneously; N is a positive integer. The X transmission indication information points correspond to Y downlink signals; the specific correspondence can be found in the description above and will not be repeated here.

[0244] For example, N=8, X=10, M=6, the M activated transmission indication information includes transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #6, X transmission indication information includes transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #10, X candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111,1000,1001}, M candidate code points among the X candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101}, which correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #6), and the remaining XM candidate code points among the X candidate code points are {0110,0111,1000,1001}, which correspond one-to-one with the XM transmission indication information among the X transmission indication information.

[0245] In one possible scenario, the M activated transmission indication information may partially overlap with the X transmission indication information. For example, in the example above, the overlapping transmission indication information includes transmission indication information #1 to #6, and the non-overlapping transmission indication information includes transmission indication information #7 to #10. In another possible implementation, the XM transmission indication information corresponding to the XM candidate code points out of the X candidate code points includes non-overlapping transmission indication information. This helps improve the accuracy of the indicated transmission indication information. For example, in the example above, the XM transmission indication information corresponding to the remaining XM candidate code points out of the X candidate code points includes non-overlapping transmission indication information #7 to #10.

[0246] In this implementation, when X is greater than or equal to N, the network device can increase the number of candidate code points from N to X, and select the first code point from the X candidate code points. The XM candidate code points can be regarded as additional candidate code points used to indicate XM transmission indication information, in order to improve the accuracy of the indicated first transmission indication information while minimizing signaling overhead.

[0247] It should be understood that before receiving the first information, the terminal device may have already sent at least one report to the network device. This at least one report may include reports submitted at the same time or reports submitted at different times. For example, before receiving the first information, the terminal device may send Report 1, Report 2, and Report 3 to the network device, where Report 1 and Report 2 are sent at the same time, and Report 1 and Report 3 are sent at different times. Exemplarily, the terminal device may report reports periodically or semi-continuously, submitting one report per reporting period. Alternatively, the network device may trigger the submission of at least one report aperiodically. Or, the network device may configure at least one periodic report and simultaneously trigger at least one aperiodic report.

[0248] It should be noted that the at least one report described below refers to at least one report sent by the terminal device to the network device before receiving the first information. The time of sending the at least one report may be the same or different. The same may include being completely the same or partially the same, and different may include being completely different or partially different.

[0249] Each of the at least one reports includes information about at least one predicted downlink signal, and the information about at least one downlink signal included in each report corresponds to at least one downlink signal. Therefore, in order for the terminal device to determine which of the at least one downlink signal in the at least one report corresponds to the additional candidate code points (e.g., X additional candidate code points in implementation one) or the pre-reserved candidate code points (e.g., X pre-reserved candidate code points in implementation two, or XM pre-reserved candidate code points in implementation three), it is necessary to associate the first information with a specific report. In this application, the report associated with the first information in the at least one report is the first report.

[0250] In one possible implementation, the first report is one of at least one reports, and the first information is also used to determine the first report from the at least one reports. That is, the terminal device can determine, based on the first information, a report associated with the first information among the at least one reports as the first report. The following is a detailed description of how the terminal device determines the report associated with the first information.

[0251] In one possible implementation, the first information includes a first time interval and / or an identifier for a first report, wherein the time interval between the sending or receiving time of the first report and the sending or receiving time of the first information is the first time interval. In other words, the report among the at least one reports whose time interval between the sending or receiving time of the first information and the first information is the report associated with the first information, and this associated report is the first report. Different reports correspond to different identifiers, and the identifier of the first report can be used to uniquely identify the first report; therefore, the terminal device can determine the first report based on its identifier. Alternatively, different reports may correspond to the same identifier and different reporting times. For example, for periodic reporting, the identifier of the report can be an identifier configured for periodic reporting; reports from different periods correspond to the same identifier configured for reporting but different reporting times. Therefore, the first report can be determined by combining the first time interval and the identifier of the first report.

[0252] In one possible implementation, the sending or receiving time of the first report is earlier than the sending or receiving time of the first information, and the first report is the report whose sending or receiving time is closest to the sending or receiving time of the first information among the at least one reports. In other words, the report whose sending or receiving time is earlier than the sending or receiving time of the first information among the at least one reports is the report associated with the first information.

[0253] Considering the probability of uplink control information loss (UCI missing), in one possible scenario, a report from the terminal device might not have been successfully transmitted, or the network device might not have successfully received it. In this case, if the report most recent before or after the transmission or reception of the first information is identified as the first report, the report identified by the network device and the report identified by the terminal device might differ. For example, the network device might know that a report was not successfully transmitted or received, while the terminal device might not. To avoid misalignment between the network device and the terminal device's understanding of the most recent report, one possible approach is for the network device to indicate a first time interval and / or the identifier of the first report to identify it. Another possible approach is for the network device to not indicate transmission indication information other than the active transmission indication information, or in other words, for the network device to only indicate the active transmission indication information (i.e., M transmission indication information), or for the network device to only use the code points corresponding to the active transmission indication information.

[0254] In one possible scenario, after receiving a report, the network device may need some processing time to parse the report content and determine the transmission indication information to be used. It could be stipulated that if the sending or receiving time of the first information is before the associated report determined based on the first information, and the first information indicates a transmission indication information other than the already activated transmission indication information (i.e., M transmission indication information), then the indication in the first information is ineffective. Alternatively, it could be stipulated that if the distance between the sending or receiving time of the first information and the associated report determined based on the first information is less than a preset threshold, and the first information indicates a transmission indication information other than the already activated transmission indication information (i.e., M transmission indication information), then the indication in the first information is ineffective.

[0255] In this application embodiment, the prediction of downlink signals can include two use cases: spatial domain prediction and temporal domain prediction. For example, referring to the description of AI-based beam management above, it can be seen that AI-based beam management includes two use cases: spatial domain beam prediction and temporal domain beam prediction.

[0256] For the spatial prediction scenario, referring to the description above, the terminal device sends at least one report to the network device before receiving the first information. Each of these reports corresponds to a time point, which can be understood as the current time point corresponding to each report, or in other words, each report contains prediction information for one time point. The at least one report includes the first report. Assuming that these at least one reports correspond to a total of T time points, where T is a positive integer greater than 1, and the first report corresponds to the first time point among the T time points, meaning the first report contains prediction information for the first time point, then the information of the predicted Y downlink signals described in S801 above can be the information of the Y downlink signals at the first time point among the predicted T time points.

[0257] In the spatial prediction scenario, once the terminal device determines that the report associated with the first information is the first report, since the first report corresponds to the first time moment, the terminal device can determine the time moment associated with the first information as the first time moment. The method by which the terminal device determines the report associated with the first information can be found in the description above, and will not be repeated here.

[0258] In the time-domain prediction scenario, the terminal device predicts downlink signal information for T future time points, where T is a positive integer greater than 1. In one possible implementation, the prediction information for each of the T time points is reported by an independent report. Similar to the spatial domain prediction scenario, the first report corresponds to the first time point among the T time points. Therefore, the predicted Y downlink signal information described in S801 above can be the information of the Y downlink signals at the first time point among the T predicted time points. Once the terminal device determines that the report associated with the first information is the first report, since the first report corresponds to the first time point, the terminal device can determine the time point associated with the first information as the first time point. The method by which the terminal device determines the report associated with the first information can be found in the description above and will not be repeated here.

[0259] For time-domain prediction scenarios, another possible implementation is that prediction information for T time points is reported by a single report, meaning one report corresponds to T future time points. In this approach, the first report corresponds to T time points, where T is a positive integer greater than 1. The first report includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the T predicted time points, where the T time points include the first time point. The number of downlink signals at the first time point is Y, meaning the first report includes information on Y downlink signals at the first time point out of the T predicted time points.

[0260] For a time-domain prediction scenario, in another embodiment, the above-described S801 can be replaced by: the terminal device sending a first report to the network device, the first report including information on Y downlink signals at the first time of the predicted T time points, where the information on the Y downlink signals corresponds to Y downlink signals, Y is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and K is an upper limit on the number of downlink signals expected to be predicted. Accordingly, the network device receives the first report.

[0261] In the second implementation of the time-domain prediction scenario, where a report contains prediction information for T time points, after the terminal device determines that the report associated with the first information is the first report, since the first report corresponds to T time points, the terminal device also needs to associate the first information with a specific time point among the T time points. In this application, the time point associated with the first information among the T time points corresponding to the first report is the first time point. The method by which the terminal device determines the report associated with the first information can be found in the description above and will not be repeated here.

[0262] In one possible implementation, the first information can also be used to determine the first moment. That is, based on determining that the report associated with the first information is the first report, the terminal device can also determine that the first information is associated with the first moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report. The following is a detailed description of how the terminal device determines the moment associated with the first information.

[0263] In one possible implementation, the first information may include information related to the first moment. For example, the first information may also include one or more of the following: the first moment, the identifier of the first moment, or the second time interval, wherein the second time interval is the time interval between the first moment and the time of transmission or reception of the first information. In other words, the moment in T moments where the time interval between the first moment and the time of transmission or reception of the first information is the second time interval is the moment associated with the first information, and the associated moment is the first moment.

[0264] Optionally, when T moments are T adjacent time periods, the first moment is the first time period among the T time periods, and the first information also includes one or more of the following: the start time of the first time period, the end time of the first time period, or the second time interval, wherein the second time interval is the time interval between the start time or end time of the first time period and the sending time or receiving time of the first information.

[0265] In one possible implementation, the first information is used to schedule data information. Since the first transmission indication information is related to the transmission resources of the data information, the first moment can be: the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report (e.g., moment t3 in Figure 11A). In other words, the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report is the moment associated with the first information, and this associated moment is the first moment. This helps to ensure the transmission of data information. The first moment can be the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report, or it can be the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report, but after the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect. It should be understood that the distance between the first moment and the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect may also be 0, that is, the first moment is the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect.

[0266] Alternatively, the first moment can be: the moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report that is closest to the start time of the data information scheduled for the first information (e.g., moment t3 in Figure 11A). In other words, the moment among the T moments that is closest to the start time of the data information scheduled for the first information is the moment associated with the first information, and this associated moment is the first moment. The first moment can be the moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report that is before and closest to the start time of the data information scheduled for the first information, or the first moment can be the moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report that is after and closest to the start time of the data information scheduled for the first information. It should be understood that the distance between the first moment and the start time of the data information scheduled for the first information can also be 0, that is, the first moment is the start time of the data information scheduled for the first information.

[0267] Alternatively, the first moment can be: the moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report that is closest to the end time of the data information scheduled by the first information (e.g., moment t4 in Figure 11A). In other words, the moment among the T moments that is closest to the end time of the data information scheduled by the first information is the moment associated with the first information, and this associated moment is the first moment. The first moment can be the moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report that is before and closest to the end time of the data information scheduled by the first information, or the first moment can be the moment among the T moments corresponding to the first report that is after and closest to the end time of the data information scheduled by the first information. It should be understood that the distance between the first moment and the end time of the data information scheduled by the first information can also be 0, that is, the first moment is the end time of the data information scheduled by the first information.

[0268] Optionally, when the T moments are T adjacent time periods, the first moment corresponds to the first time period among the T time periods. The first time period can be the time period when the first transmission indication information takes effect (e.g., the time period corresponding to moment t2 in Figure 11B); or, the first time period can be the time period when the start time of the data information of the first information scheduling is located (e.g., the time period corresponding to moment t3 in Figure 11B); or, the first time period can be the time period when the end time of the data information of the first information scheduling is located (e.g., the time period corresponding to moment t4 in Figure 11B); or, the first time period can be: the time period with the largest overlap with the time period occupied by the data information of the first information scheduling (the time period between the start time and the end time) among the T moments corresponding to the first report (e.g., the time period corresponding to moment t3 in Figure 11B). In other words, the time period with the largest overlap with the time period occupied by the data information of the first information scheduling among the T moments corresponding to the first report is the time period associated with the first information, and this associated time period corresponds to the first moment.

[0269] In one possible implementation, the first information is not used for scheduling data information, and the first moment is the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report. Specifically, the first moment can be the moment before and closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report; or, the first moment can be the moment after and closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report. It should be understood that the distance between the first moment and the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect may also be 0, meaning the first moment is simply the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect.

[0270] In the above implementation, the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect is after the time when the first transmission indication information is indicated (i.e., the time when the first information is sent or received), and the distance between the time when the first transmission indication information is indicated (i.e., the time when the first information is sent or received) is the third time interval. The third time interval is indicated by the network device or predefined by the protocol. In one possible implementation, the first time is the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect. That is, the network device first determines the Y downlink signals corresponding to the first transmission indication information to be indicated, that is, determines the first time. Then, it can indicate the first transmission indication information a certain period of time in advance (from the first time to the time after the third time interval). In this way, the downlink signal corresponding to the transmission indication information indicated at the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect is exactly the downlink signal predicted at the current time, which can guarantee the performance of scheduling and transmission.

[0271] The following, with reference to Figure 12, introduces another embodiment for the time-domain prediction scenario.

[0272] Figure 12 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method 1200 provided in an embodiment of this application. The steps of method 1200 can be interactively executed by the terminal side and the network side. The terminal side is, for example, a terminal device or a communication module in a terminal device, or a circuit or chip in a terminal device that is responsible for communication functions. The following description uses a terminal device as an example. The network side is, for example, a network device or a communication module in a network device, or a circuit or chip in a network device that is responsible for communication functions. The following description uses a network device as an example.

[0273] Method 1200 includes, but is not limited to, S1201 and S1202. The steps in method 1200 are described in detail below.

[0274] S1201, the terminal device sends a second report to the network device. The second report includes information on L downlink signals predicted at T time points, where the information on the L downlink signals corresponds to the L downlink signals. Accordingly, the network device receives the second report.

[0275] Referring to the description of the second implementation method for time-domain prediction scenarios above (i.e., a report containing prediction information for T time points), the prediction information for T time points is reported by the same report, meaning one report corresponds to T future time points, where T is a positive integer greater than 1. In this method, the second report corresponds to T time points and includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the T time points. The information on at least one downlink signal for each time point corresponds to at least one downlink signal, the number of which is less than or equal to K, and the sum of the number of downlink signals for the T time points is L.

[0276] Here, K represents the upper limit of the number of downlink signals corresponding to the expected predicted or reported information. In one possible implementation, K can be configured by the network device or predefined by the protocol. For each moment, the terminal device can dynamically determine the number of downlink signals corresponding to the actually reported predicted information based on the prediction results. The number of downlink signals corresponding to the actually reported predicted information can be less than K, thereby reducing unnecessary reporting overhead. The number of downlink signals corresponding to information at different moments in the actual reported information can be different.

[0277] The second report in this application embodiment can be a prediction report, such as a beam prediction report or a CSI prediction report.

[0278] Taking beam prediction as an example, the second report includes information on at least one downlink signal at each of the T predicted times. Alternatively, it can be described as the second report including information on at least one beam at each of the T predicted times, wherein at least one beam at each time can be at least one of the top-K predicted beams. For information on the top-K beams and at least one beam, please refer to the description above, which will not be repeated here.

[0279] In one possible implementation, the terminal device can report reports periodically or semi-continuously, with one report reported per reporting period. For at least one report reported in at least one reporting period, a second report is one of those at least one report. Alternatively, the network device can trigger the reporting of at least one report aperiodically, with a second report being one of those at least one report. Or, the network device can be configured to report at least one periodically while simultaneously triggering at least one aperiodic report, with a second report being one of at least two reports.

[0280] It should be understood that each of the at least one reports reported by the terminal device includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of at least one predicted time point. The number of at least one time points corresponding to different reports may be the same or different. For example, the at least one report includes report 1 and report 2, wherein report 1 includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of T1 predicted time points, and report 2 includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of T2 predicted time points. T1 and T2 may be the same or different, but both T1 and T2 are less than or equal to T. max , among which, T max This is the upper limit on the number of times that are expected to be predicted or reported.

[0281] It should also be understood that the number of at least one downlink signal at different times in a report may be the same or different. For example, Report 1 includes information on at least one downlink signal at each of two predicted times, t1 and t2. The number of downlink signals at time t1 is Y1, and the number of downlink signals at time t2 is Y2. Y1 and Y2 may be the same or different, but both Y1 and Y2 are less than or equal to K. The sum of the number of downlink signals at times t1 and t2 is Y1 + Y2.

[0282] The terminal device can determine the number of at least one downlink signal corresponding to each reported moment based on the measurement or prediction results of the downlink signal. The measurement or prediction results may include one or more of the following: RSRP, CQI, RI, or PMI.

[0283] For example, in a time-domain beam prediction scenario, assuming K = 4, T max =3. The three times predicted by the terminal device include time t1, time t2, and time t3. If the top-K beams predicted by the terminal device at time t1 include beam 1, beam 2, beam 3, and beam 4, where beam 1 and beam 2 have larger RSRP values, while beam 3 and beam 4 have smaller RSRP values ​​(e.g., less than a threshold), then at least one beam corresponding to time t1 includes beam 1 and beam 2, and the number of at least one beam corresponding to time t1 is Y1 = 2. If the top-K beams predicted by the terminal device at time t2 include beams 2 to 5, where beam 2 has a larger RSRP value, For example, if the RSRP values ​​of beams 3 to 5 are greater than a threshold, while those of beams 3 to 5 are smaller (e.g., less than a threshold), then at least one beam at time t2 includes beam 2, and the number of at least one beam at time t2 is Y2 = 1. If the terminal device predicts that the top-K beams at time t3 include beams 3 to 6, where the RSRP values ​​of beams 3 and 4 are larger (e.g., greater than a threshold), while the RSRP values ​​of beams 5 and 6 are smaller (e.g., less than a threshold), then at least one beam at time t3 includes beams 3 and 4, and the number of at least one beam at time t3 is Y3 = 2.

[0284] Terminal devices can determine the number of at least one time points to be reported based on the channel change rate. For example, in a time-domain beam prediction scenario, assuming T... max =3. If the channel changes very quickly, the terminal device can determine the number of prediction or reporting times as 3; if the channel changes very slowly, the terminal device can determine the number of prediction or reporting times as 1, thereby reducing some reporting overhead.

[0285] For an explanation of how information corresponds to downlink signals, please refer to the example above illustrating how information corresponds to Y downlink signals; it will not be repeated here.

[0286] S1202, the network device sends third information to the terminal device. This third information indicates the second transmission indication information, which is one of S×X+M transmission indication information. S×X of the S×X+M transmission indication information correspond to L downlink signals, and the remaining M transmission indication information are activated transmission indication information. X is less than or equal to K, and S is less than or equal to T. max L is less than or equal to T max ×K, where M are non-negative integers. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the third information.

[0287] Where T represents the number of times actually reported in the second report, and S can be seen as the number of times corresponding to the reserved transmission indication information.

[0288] It should be understood that the L downlink signals described below refer to the L downlink signals corresponding to the information of the predicted L downlink signals at T time points included in the second report. For ease of description, they are simply referred to as L downlink signals. The sum of the number of downlink signal information at the T time points is L.

[0289] In this embodiment of the application, the second transmission indication information is used to indicate or correspond to one of the L downlink signals at the predicted T time points. The transmission indication information may include at least one of the following: TCI status, beam information, spatial relationship information, QCL information, reference signal resource set, or reference signal resource.

[0290] In this embodiment, the maximum number of transmission indication information that a network device can activate simultaneously is N, and the number of activated transmission indication information is M, i.e., M is less than or equal to N. There is a one-to-one correspondence between L downlink signals and L transmission indication information. This correspondence can be understood as L transmission indication information being used to indicate L downlink signals.

[0291] It should be understood that the L transmission indication information described below refers to the L transmission indication information corresponding to the L downlink signals, and for ease of description, it is simply referred to as the L transmission indication information.

[0292] In one possible implementation, the S×X transmission indication information items correspond to L downlink signals according to time. The S×X transmission indication information items can be viewed as S groups of transmission indication information, each group containing X transmission indication information items, and each group's X transmission indication information items correspond to at least one downlink signal at a given time. For example, the T times in the second report include times t1 and t2, where t1 is before t2. The number of at least one downlink signal at time t1 is Y1, and the number of at least one downlink signal at time t2 is Y2, where L = Y1 + Y2. If S equals T, then the S groups of transmission indication information items correspond to the L downlink signals at the T times, with the first group containing X transmission indication information items corresponding to the Y1 downlink signals at time t1, and the second group containing X transmission indication information items corresponding to the Y2 downlink signals at time t2. If S is greater than T, then the T groups of transmission indication information items in the S groups of transmission indication information items correspond to the L downlink signals at the T times. Optionally, the first T groups of transmission indication information in the S groups correspond to L downlink signals at T time points. For example, the first group of S groups of transmission indication information includes X transmission indication information that corresponds to Y1 downlink signals at time t1, and the second group includes X transmission indication information that corresponds to Y2 downlink signals at time t2. If S is less than T, then the S groups of transmission indication information correspond to at least one downlink signal at one of the S time points out of the T time points. Optionally, the S groups of transmission indication information correspond to at least one downlink signal at the first S time points out of the T time points. For example, assuming S = 1, then the S groups of transmission indication information correspond to Y1 downlink signals at time t1.

[0293] It should be understood that downlink signals at different times may overlap or not overlap at all. Overlap may include complete overlap or partial overlap, and downlink signals that overlap at different times correspond to the same transmission indication information. For example, in the example above, the number of at least one downlink signal at time t1 is Y1 = 4, and the number of at least one downlink signal at time t2 is Y2 = 4. The Y1 downlink signals include downlink signals #1 to #4, which correspond one-to-one with transmission indication information #1 to #4. The Y2 downlink signals include downlink signals #3 to #6, which also correspond one-to-one with transmission indication information #3 to #6. Among them, the overlapping downlink signals include downlink signal #3 and downlink signal #4. Downlink signal #3 corresponds to transmission indication information 3, and downlink signal #4 corresponds to transmission indication information #4.

[0294] Specifically, for each of the T time points, the M activated transmission indication information includes a portion of the S×X transmission indication information corresponding to the L downlink signals at the T time points, meaning that the M activated transmission indication information partially overlaps with the S×X transmission indication information corresponding to the L downlink signals at the T time points; or, the M activated transmission indication information does not include all the transmission indication information among the S×X transmission indication information corresponding to the L downlink signals at the T time points, meaning that the M activated transmission indication information does not overlap at all with the S×X transmission indication information corresponding to the L downlink signals at the T time points.

[0295] For example, the third information can be physical layer signaling, such as DCI.

[0296] In this embodiment, the network device selects a second transmission indication information from S×X+M transmission indication information and sends it to the terminal device. The S×X+M transmission indication information includes two parts: one part includes the M activated transmission indication information, and the other part includes the remaining S×X transmission indication information from the S×X+M transmission indication information. The S×X transmission indication information includes S groups of transmission indication information, each group including X transmission indication information. The X transmission indication information in each group corresponds to at least one downlink signal at a given time in chronological order. That is, for each predicted time, the network device can select S×X+M transmission indication information that includes both activated and inactive transmission indication information, no longer limited to selecting only one from the activated transmission indication information to send to the terminal device. Thus, if the M activated transmission indication information partially overlaps with or completely does not overlap with the S×X transmission indication information corresponding to T time points, the network device does not need to resend activation signaling, which helps reduce latency and signaling overhead caused by frequent activation signaling.

[0297] In one possible implementation, the S×X transmission indication information out of the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponds to L downlink signals, including: if L is greater than or equal to S×X, the S×X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the S×X downlink signals among the L downlink signals; or, if L is less than S×X, the L transmission indication information out of the S×X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the L downlink signals. The L downlink signals are the L downlink signals corresponding to the information of the L downlink signals predicted at T time points included in the second report.

[0298] When L is greater than S×X, in one possible implementation, S=T, and the L downlink signals include T groups of downlink signals. Each group of downlink signals corresponds to one of the T time points. For each group of downlink signals, if the number of downlink signals in the group is greater than X, then the X downlink signals in the group are the X downlink signals with better predicted quality. In other words, the S×X transmission indication information is only used to indicate the X downlink signals with the best quality in each of the corresponding S groups of downlink signals, which can reduce some indication overhead.

[0299] For example, S = T = 2, X = 2, the two predicted times include time t1 and time t2, where the number of at least one downlink signal at time t1 is Y1 = 2, and the number of at least one downlink signal at time t2 is Y2 = 3, then L = Y1 + Y2 = 5, and L is greater than S × X. The two downlink signals at time t1 include downlink signal #1-1 and downlink signal #1-2. The predicted RSRP value of downlink signal #1-1 is R1, and the predicted RSRP value of downlink signal #1-2 is R2. The three downlink signals at time t2 include downlink signal #2-1, downlink signal #2-2, and downlink signal #2-3. The predicted RSRP value of downlink signal #2-1 is R3, the predicted RSRP value of downlink signal #2-2 is R4, and the predicted RSRP value of downlink signal #2-3 is R5. If R1 > R2 > R3 > R4 > R5, then the T×X downlink signals out of the L downlink signals include downlink signal #1-1, downlink signal #1-2, downlink signal #2-1, and downlink signal #2-2.

[0300] In another possible implementation where L is greater than S×X, S is greater than T, L = T×X, the L downlink signals include T groups of downlink signals, each group of downlink signals corresponds to one of the T time points, and the S×X transmission indication information includes S groups of transmission indication information. Only T groups of transmission indication information are valid among the S groups of transmission indication information. These T groups of transmission indication information correspond to T groups of downlink signals, with each group of transmission indication information corresponding to one group of downlink signals.

[0301] When L is greater than S×X, in another possible implementation, S is greater than T, and at least one group of downlink signals in the T groups has a number of downlink signals greater than X. In this case, the correspondence between the S×X transmission indication information and the L downlink signals is a combination of the two implementations described above. First, only T groups of transmission indication information are valid among the S groups, and these T groups correspond to T groups of downlink signals, with each group corresponding to one group of downlink signals. Second, for each group of downlink signals, if the number of downlink signals in that group is greater than X, then the X downlink signals in that group are the X downlink signals with the best predicted quality corresponding to that group.

[0302] In one possible implementation where L is less than S×X, S equals T. max X equals K, T is less than T max Or, at least one downlink signal group in group T has a number of downlink signals less than K. In other words, S×X transmission indication information can be used to indicate T. max The best T corresponding to each time point max ×K downlink signals, but the number L of downlink signal information actually reported by the terminal device is less than T. max If only L of the ×K, S×X transmission indication information are valid, then the network device can select the first transmission indication information from the L+M transmission indication information.

[0303] Specifically, for any one of the T time points, taking the second time point as an example, assuming the number of downlink signals at the second time point is Y2, in one possible implementation, X equals K, and Y2 is less than K. That is, the X transmission indication information corresponding to the Y2 downlink signals at the second time point can be used to indicate the K downlink signals with the best quality at the second time point. However, the terminal device actually reports less than K downlink signal information at the second time point, and only Y2 transmission indication information among the X transmission indication information is valid. Therefore, at the second time point, the network device can select one transmission indication information from Y2+M transmission indication information.

[0304] In the embodiments of this application, M is a non-negative integer, which can include two cases: M is 0 and M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1.

[0305] In one possible implementation, the network device does not indicate the activation transmission indication information to the terminal device, in which case M is 0.

[0306] In one possible implementation, the network device may instruct the terminal device to activate M (greater than or equal to 1) transmission indication messages. For example, before S802, the network device sends second information to the terminal device, which is used to activate M (greater than or equal to 1) transmission indication messages. Accordingly, the terminal device receives the second information.

[0307] For example, the second information is high-level information, such as MAC CE.

[0308] It should be understood that different transmission indication information can be indicated by different code points. In this application, the network device can indicate the second transmission indication information by using the second code point corresponding to the second transmission indication information.

[0309] In one possible implementation, the third information includes a second code point, which is used to indicate the second transmission indication information.

[0310] In one possible implementation, the third information includes a second field, which carries a second code point. The second code point indicates second transmission indication information, or in other words, the second code point can be mapped to second transmission indication information. For example, the second field is a TCI indication field (transmission configuration indication field). The second field can also be described as a second information field; for example, the second information field can be a TCI field, and the TCI field can also be described as a TCI indication field.

[0311] The following describes in detail how a network device selects the second transmission indication information from S×X+M transmission indication information.

[0312] In one implementation method, considering that S×X is usually greater than or equal to N, similar to the implementation method described in method 800 above, in one possible implementation, the second code point is one of the N+S×X candidate code points that the network device can select. The S×X candidate code points among the N+S×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the S×X transmission indication information, and the M candidate code points among the remaining N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information. Here, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, and M is less than or equal to N.

[0313] For example, N=8, X=4, M=6, S=2, N+S×X candidate code points are {(0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111); (1000,1001,1010,1011); (1100,1101,1110,1111)}, N candidate code points from N+S×X candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101,0110,0111}, M candidate code points from N candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101}, and M candidate code points from N candidate code points are {0000,0001,0010,0011,0100,0101}, along with the M activated transmission indication signals. The information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information 6) corresponds one-to-one; among the N+S×X candidate code points, the remaining S×X candidate code points besides the N candidate code points are {(1000,1001,1010,1011); (1100,1101,1110,1111)}, where the first group of candidate code points {1000,1001,1010,1011} corresponds one-to-one with the X candidate code points corresponding to at least one downlink signal in the first of the S time points, and the second group of candidate code points {1100,1101,1110,1111} corresponds one-to-one with the X transmission indication information corresponding to at least one downlink signal in the second of the S time points. Thus, for each time point, the network device can select X transmission indication information corresponding to at least one downlink signal at that time, which helps improve the accuracy of the indicated second transmission indication information.

[0314] In the second implementation, if S×X is less than or equal to N, similar to the second implementation described in method 800 above, in one possible implementation, the second code point is one of N candidate code points selectable by the network device. S×X candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with S×X transmission indication information, and the remaining NS×X candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond to the M activated transmission indication information. This method can maintain the number of candidate code points unchanged compared to existing schemes.

[0315] Among them, the NS×X candidate code points correspond to the M activated transmission indication information, including: if NS×X is greater than or equal to M, then the M candidate code points among the NS×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information; or, if NS×X is less than M, then the NS×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the NS×X transmission indication information among the M activated transmission indication information.

[0316] For example, S=2, X=2, N=8, M=6, N candidate code points are {000,001,010,011,100,101,110,111}, S×X candidate code points among the N candidate code points are {000,001,010,011}, which correspond one-to-one with S×X transmission indication information. The remaining NS×X candidate code points among the N candidate code points are {100,101,110,111}, which correspond one-to-one with NS×X transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #4) among the M activated transmission indication information (e.g., transmission indication information #1 to transmission indication information #6).

[0317] In one possible implementation, the S×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the S×X transmission indication information in chronological order. Specifically, the S×X candidate code points include S groups of candidate code points, each group of which includes X candidate code points. Each group of X candidate code points corresponds one-to-one with X transmission indication information at a given time. Here, the X transmission indication information at a given time refers to the X transmission indication information corresponding to at least one downlink signal at that time.

[0318] For example, there are S time points including time t1 and time t2, where time t1 is earlier than time t2. The S×X candidate code points are {(1000,1001,1010,1011); (1100,1101,1110,1111)}. The first group of candidate code points (1000,1001,1010,1011) corresponds one-to-one with the X transmission indication information at time t1 in chronological order. The second group of candidate code points (1100,1101,1110,1111) corresponds one-to-one with the X transmission indication information at time t2 in chronological order.

[0319] It should be understood that before receiving the third information, the terminal device may have already sent at least one report to the network device. This report may include reports submitted at the same time or at different times. For example, before receiving the third information, the terminal device may send Report 1, Report 2, and Report 3 to the network device, where Report 1 and Report 2 are sent at the same time, and Report 1 and Report 3 are sent at different times. Exemplarily, the terminal device may report reports periodically or semi-continuously, with one report submitted per reporting period. Alternatively, the network device may trigger the submission of at least one report aperiodically. Or, the network device may configure at least one periodic report and simultaneously trigger at least one aperiodic report.

[0320] It should be noted that the at least one report described below refers to at least one report sent by the terminal device to the network device before receiving the third information. The time of sending the at least one report may be the same or different. The same may include being completely the same or partially the same, and different may include being completely different or partially different.

[0321] Each of the at least one reports includes information on at least one downlink signal at each of the at least one predicted time points, and the information on at least one downlink signal at each time point corresponds to at least one downlink signal. Therefore, in order for the terminal device to determine which of the at least one reports corresponds to the downlink signal at at least one time point of the at least one report among the at least one reports, the additional candidate code points added in the above implementation (e.g., the S×X additional candidate code points added in implementation one) or the pre-reserved candidate code points (e.g., the S×X pre-reserved candidate code points in implementation two) in the above implementation one, it is necessary to associate the third information with a specific report. In this application, the report associated with the third information in the at least one report is the second report.

[0322] In one possible implementation, the second report is one of at least one reports, and the third information is also used to determine the second report from the at least one report. That is, the terminal device can determine, based on the third information, a report associated with the third information in the at least one report as the second report. The following is a detailed description of how the terminal device determines the report associated with the third information.

[0323] In one possible implementation, the first information includes a fourth time interval and / or an identifier for the second report, wherein the time interval between the sending or receiving time of the second report and the sending or receiving time of the third information is the fourth time interval. In other words, the report in the at least one report whose time interval between the sending or receiving time of the third information and the third information is the fourth time interval is the report associated with the third information, and this associated report is the second report. Different reports correspond to different identifiers, and the identifier of the second report can be used to uniquely identify the second report; therefore, the terminal device can determine the second report based on its identifier. Alternatively, different reports may correspond to the same identifier but different reporting times. For example, for periodic reporting, the report identifier can be an identifier configured for periodic reporting; reports from different periods correspond to the same identifier configured for reporting but different reporting times. Therefore, the second report can be determined by combining the fourth time interval and the identifier of the second report.

[0324] In one possible implementation, the second report's transmission or reception time precedes the transmission or reception time of the third information, and the second report is the report among the at least one reports whose transmission or reception time is closest to the transmission or reception time of the third information. In other words, the report among the at least one reports whose transmission or reception time precedes the transmission or reception time of the third information, and is closest to the transmission or reception time of the third information, is the report associated with the third information.

[0325] Considering the probability of uplink control information loss (UCI missing), in one possible scenario, a report from the terminal device might not have been successfully transmitted, or the network device might not have successfully received it. In this case, if the report most recent before or closest to the transmission or reception time of the third information is identified as the second report, the report identified by the network device and the report identified by the terminal device might differ. For example, the network device might know that a report was not successfully transmitted or received, while the terminal device might not. To avoid misalignment between the network device and the terminal device's understanding of the most recent report, one possible approach is for the network device to indicate a fourth time interval and / or the identifier of the second report to identify it. Another possible approach is for the network device to not indicate transmission indication information other than the active transmission indication information, or in other words, for the network device to only indicate the active transmission indication information (i.e., M transmission indication information), or for the network device to only use the code points corresponding to the active transmission indication information.

[0326] In one possible scenario, after receiving a report, the network device may need some processing time to parse the report content and determine the transmission indication information to be used. It could be stipulated that if the sending or receiving time of the first information is before the associated report determined based on the first information, and the first information indicates a transmission indication information other than the already activated transmission indication information (i.e., M transmission indication information), then the indication in the first information is ineffective. Alternatively, it could be stipulated that if the distance between the sending or receiving time of the first information and the associated report determined based on the first information is less than a preset threshold, and the first information indicates a transmission indication information other than the already activated transmission indication information (i.e., M transmission indication information), then the indication in the first information is ineffective.

[0327] To avoid the frequent occurrence of network devices indicating transmission indication information that is not already activated, thus requiring additional activation delays and signaling, this application provides another method for a network device to indicate transmission indication information to a terminal device. It is understood that this method can also be implemented in conjunction with method 800 or method 1200.

[0328] In one possible implementation, the maximum number of simultaneously active transmission indication information supported by the terminal device can be increased. For example, if the current protocol specifies a maximum of 8 simultaneously active transmission indication information, the maximum number supported by the terminal device can be extended to greater than 8, such as 16. Then, the network device can indicate a maximum of 16 candidate transmission indication information. This reduces the probability of the network device indicating transmission indication information that is not already active, thereby reducing unnecessary activation latency and signaling. Optionally, the terminal device needs to report the maximum number of simultaneously active transmission indication information it supports.

[0329] In another possible implementation, the network device can determine the active transmission indication information based on historical measurement or prediction results. For example, the active transmission indication information corresponds to the K downlink signals with the best quality in the previous measurement or prediction. Since the K downlink signals with the best quality in two consecutive measurements are likely to overlap, the network device can select one of the active transmission indication information corresponding to the overlapping downlink signals for indication. This can increase the probability of the network device indicating a transmission indication information that is not among the active transmission indication information, thereby reducing unnecessary activation latency and signaling.

[0330] The two implementation methods described above can also be used in combination.

[0331] It should be understood that the sequence number of each process does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0332] The communication method according to the embodiments of this application has been described in detail above with reference to Figures 8 and 12. The communication device according to the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to Figures 13 and 14.

[0333] Figures 13 and 14 are schematic block diagrams of communication devices provided in embodiments of this application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of terminal devices or network devices in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments.

[0334] As shown in Figure 13, the communication device 1300 includes a transceiver module 1310, and optionally, the communication device 1300 includes a processing module 1320. The transceiver module 1310 can also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication module.

[0335] The device 1300 can be used to perform the actions performed by the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments. Alternatively, the device 1300 can be a component (e.g., a chip) configured in the terminal device or network device. The processing module 1320 is used to perform processing-related operations of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments. The transceiver module 1310 is used to perform receiving and transmitting-related operations of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

[0336] Optionally, the transceiver module 1310 may include a sending module and a receiving module. The sending module is used to perform the sending operation in the above method embodiments. The receiving module is used to perform the receiving operation in the above method embodiments.

[0337] It should be noted that device 1300 may include a transmitting module but not a receiving module. Alternatively, device 1300 may include a receiving module but not a transmitting module. Specifically, it depends on whether the above-described scheme executed by device 1300 includes both transmitting and receiving actions.

[0338] Optionally, the device 1300 is used to perform the actions performed by the terminal device or network device in the embodiments shown in FIG8 or FIG12. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the embodiments shown in FIG8 or FIG12, which will not be repeated here.

[0339] Optionally, the device 1300 may further include a storage module, which can be used to store data and / or to store computer programs or instructions. The processing module 1320 can read the computer programs / instructions and / or data in the storage module so that the device 1300 can implement the above-described method embodiments.

[0340] When device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG8, transceiver module 1310 is used to: send a first report, the first report including information of predicted Y downlink signals, the information of Y downlink signals corresponding to Y downlink signals, Y being a positive integer less than or equal to K; and receive first information, the first information being used to indicate first transmission indication information, the first transmission indication information being one of X+M transmission indication information, X of the X+M transmission indication information corresponding to Y downlink signals, and the remaining M of the X+M transmission indication information being activated transmission indication information, wherein X is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0341] When device 1300 is used to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG8, transceiver module 1310 is used to: receive a first report, the first report including information of predicted Y downlink signals, the information of Y downlink signals corresponding to Y downlink signals, Y being a positive integer less than or equal to K; and send first information, the first information being used to indicate first transmission indication information, the first transmission indication information being one of X+M transmission indication information, X of the X+M transmission indication information corresponding to Y downlink signals, and the remaining M of the X+M transmission indication information being activated transmission indication information, wherein X is a positive integer less than or equal to K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0342] Optionally, the X transmission indication information in the X+M transmission indication information corresponds to the Y downlink signals, including: if Y is greater than or equal to X, the X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the X downlink signals in the Y downlink signals; or, if Y is less than X, the Y transmission indication information in the X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the Y downlink signals.

[0343] Optionally, the first information includes a first code point, which is used to indicate the first transmission indication information. The first code point is one of N+X candidate code points. X candidate code points among the N+X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information. M candidate code points among the remaining N candidate code points among the N+X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information.

[0344] Optionally, the first code point is one of N candidate code points. X candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with X transmission indication information. For the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points, if M is less than or equal to NX, then M candidate code points among the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with M activated transmission indication information. If M is greater than NX, then the remaining NX candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with NX transmission indication information among M activated transmission indication information.

[0345] Optionally, the first code point is one of X candidate code points, M of the X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information, and the remaining XM candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the XM transmission indication information. Where X is greater than or equal to N, M is less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, and N is a positive integer.

[0346] Optionally, the first report is one of at least one reports, and the first information is also used to determine the first report from the at least one report.

[0347] Optionally, the first information includes a first time interval and / or an identifier of a first report, wherein the time interval between the sending or receiving time of the first report and the sending or receiving time of the first information is the first time interval.

[0348] Optionally, the sending or receiving time of the first report is earlier than the sending or receiving time of the first information, and the first report is the report whose sending or receiving time is closest to the sending or receiving time of the first information among the at least one reports.

[0349] Optionally, the information of the predicted Y downlink signals can be the information of the Y downlink signals at the first of the T predicted times.

[0350] Optionally, the first report includes information on at least one downlink signal for each of the predicted T time points, and the first information is also used to determine the first time point.

[0351] Optionally, the first information may further include one or more of the following: a first moment, an identifier of the first moment, or a second time interval, wherein the second time interval is the time interval between the first moment and the time when the first information is sent or received.

[0352] Optionally, the first information is used to schedule data information, and the first time is: the time closest to the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect among T time points; or, the time closest to the start time or end time of the data information scheduled by the first information among T time points.

[0353] Optionally, the first information is not used for scheduling data information, and the first moment is: the moment closest to the moment when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T moments corresponding to the first report.

[0354] When device 1300 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG12, transceiver module 1310 is used to: send a second report, the second report including information of L downlink signals predicted at T times, the information of the L downlink signals corresponding to L downlink signals; and receive third information, the third information being used to indicate second transmission indication information, the second transmission indication information being one of S×X+M transmission indication information, S×X of the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponding to L downlink signals, the remaining M transmission indication information being activated transmission indication information, the sum of the number of downlink signals at T times being L, where T is a positive integer greater than 1, each of the T times corresponding to information of at least one downlink signal, the information of the at least one downlink signal corresponding to at least one downlink signal, the number of the at least one downlink signal being less than or equal to K, X being less than or equal to K, and S being less than or equal to T. max L is less than or equal to T×K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0355] When device 1300 is used to implement the function of the network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG12, transceiver module 1310 is used to: receive a second report, the second report including information of L downlink signals predicted at T time points, the information of the L downlink signals corresponding to L downlink signals; and send third information, the third information being used to indicate second transmission indication information, the second transmission indication information being one of S×X+M transmission indication information, S×X of the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponding to L downlink signals, the remaining M transmission indication information being activated transmission indication information, the sum of the number of downlink signal information at T time points being L, where T is a positive integer greater than 1, each of the T time points corresponding to at least one downlink signal, the information of the at least one downlink signal corresponding to at least one downlink signal, the number of the at least one downlink signal being less than or equal to K, X being less than or equal to K, and S being less than or equal to T. max L is less than or equal to T×K, and M is a non-negative integer.

[0356] Optionally, the S×X transmission indication information in the S×X+M transmission indication information corresponds to the L downlink signals, including: if L is greater than or equal to S×X, the S×X transmission indication information corresponds to the S×X downlink signals in the L downlink signals; or, if L is less than S×X, the L transmission indication information in the S×X transmission indication information corresponds to the L downlink signals.

[0357] Optionally, the third information includes a second code point, which is used to indicate the second transmission indication information. The second code point is one of N+S×X candidate code points. Among the N+S×X candidate code points, S×X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with S×X transmission indication information. Among the remaining N candidate code points, M candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M activated transmission indication information. Here, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, and M is less than or equal to N.

[0358] Optionally, the second report is one of at least one reports, and the third information is also used to determine the second report from the at least one report.

[0359] Optionally, the third information includes a fourth time interval and / or an identifier of the second report, wherein the time interval between the sending or receiving time of the second report and the sending or receiving time of the third information is the fourth time interval.

[0360] Optionally, the sending or receiving time of the second report is earlier than the sending or receiving time of the third information, and the second report is the report whose sending or receiving time is closest to the sending or receiving time of the third information among the at least one reports.

[0361] For a more detailed description of each step, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments above, which will not be repeated here.

[0362] It is understood that the division of units in the above-described device is merely a logical functional division. Each function can correspond to a functional unit, or two or more functions can be integrated into one functional unit. In actual implementation, all or some units can be integrated into a single physical entity, or they can be distributed across different physical entities. Furthermore, the aforementioned functional units can be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of both. Whether a function is executed 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 this application.

[0363] Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device 1400 provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 14, the device 1400 includes one or more processors 1410 and an interface circuit 1420. The one or more processors 1410 and the interface circuit 1420 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 1420 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the device 1400 may also include a memory 1430 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1410, or for storing input data required by the processor 1410 to execute instructions, or for storing data generated after the processor 1410 executes instructions. Sometimes, the interface circuit 1420 can also be understood as part of the one or more processors 1410, in which case the device 1400 includes the one or more processors 1410.

[0364] The one or more processors 1410 and memory 1430 can be configured separately or integrated, and this application does not limit this.

[0365] When the device 1400 is used to implement the method shown in FIG8 or FIG12, the one or more processors 1410 are used to implement the functions of the processing module 1320, and the interface circuit 1420 is used to implement the functions of the transceiver module 1310.

[0366] When the aforementioned device 1400 is a chip applied to a terminal device, the chip of the terminal device implements the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The chip of the terminal device receives information from a network device, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules (such as an RF module or antenna) in the terminal device, and then sent to the chip of the terminal device by these modules. The chip of the terminal device sends information to the network device, which can be understood as the information being first sent to other modules (such as an RF module or antenna) in the terminal device, and then sent to the network device by these modules.

[0367] When the aforementioned device 1400 is a chip applied to a network device, the chip of the network device implements the functions of the network device in the above method embodiments. The chip of the network device receives information from the terminal device, which can be understood as the information being first received by other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the network device, and then sent to the chip of the network device by these modules. The chip of the network device sends information to the terminal device, which can be understood as the information being first sent to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the network device, and then sent to the terminal device by these modules.

[0368] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the methods described in the above embodiments. Alternatively, the computer program includes instructions for implementing the methods described in the above embodiments.

[0369] This application also provides a computer program product, including: a computer program or instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the methods described above.

[0370] This application also provides an apparatus, which can be a chip, including at least one processor for supporting the implementation of the methods in the above embodiments, such as receiving or processing data involved in the methods in the above embodiments.

[0371] It should be understood that, in the embodiments of this application, the processor can be a central processing unit, or it can be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0372] In implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by integrated logic circuits in the processor's hardware or by instructions in software. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly manifested as execution by a hardware processor, or as a combination of hardware and software modules within the processor. The software modules can reside in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. This storage medium is located in memory, and the processor executes the instructions in the memory, combining them with its hardware to complete the steps of the above method. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions are omitted here.

[0373] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the modules and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented 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 this application.

[0374] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and modules described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0375] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of modules is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or modules may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0376] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0377] In addition, the functional modules in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing module, or each module can exist physically separately, or two or more modules can be integrated into one module.

[0378] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional modules and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, external hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0379] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Send a first report, the first report including information on Y predicted downlink signals, the information on the Y downlink signals corresponding to Y downlink signals, where Y is a positive integer less than or equal to K; Receive first information, the first information is used to indicate first transmission indication information, the first transmission indication information is one of X+M transmission indication information, X of the X+M transmission indication information corresponds to the Y downlink signals, and the remaining M of the X+M transmission indication information are activated transmission indication information, where X is a positive integer less than or equal to K and M is a non-negative integer.

2. The method as described in claim 1, characterized in that, The X transmission indication information in the X+M transmission indication information corresponds to the Y downlink signals in the first report, including: If Y is greater than or equal to X, the X transmission indication information corresponds one-to-one with the X downlink signals among the Y downlink signals; or, If Y is less than X, then Y of the X transmission indication information correspond one-to-one with the Y downlink signals.

3. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first information includes a first code point, which is used to indicate the first transmission indication information; wherein, The first code point is one of N+X candidate code points. X of the N+X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the X transmission indication information. M of the remaining N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M transmission indication information. Here, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, N is a positive integer, and M is less than or equal to N.

4. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first information includes a first code point, which is used to indicate the first transmission indication information; wherein, The first code point is one of N candidate code points. X candidate code points among the N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the X transmission indication information. M candidate code points among the remaining N N candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M transmission indication information. Here, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, N is a positive integer, M is less than or equal to NX, and X is less than N.

5. The method as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first information includes a first code point, which is used to indicate the first transmission indication information; wherein, The first code point is one of X candidate code points. M of the X candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the M transmission indication information. The remaining XM candidate code points correspond one-to-one with the XM transmission indication information. X is greater than or equal to N, M is less than or equal to N, N is the maximum number of transmission indication information that can be activated simultaneously, and N is a positive integer.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The first report is one of at least one reports, and the first information is also used to determine the first report from the at least one report.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The first information includes a first time interval and / or the identifier of the first report, wherein the time interval between the sending time or receiving time of the first report and the sending time or receiving time of the first information is the first time interval.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, The first report is sent or received at a time earlier than the first information, and the first report is the report whose sending or receiving time is closest to the first information among the at least one reports.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that, The information of the predicted Y downlink signals is the information of the Y downlink signals at the first of the T predicted time points, where T is a positive integer greater than 1.

10. The method as described in claim 9, characterized in that, The first report includes information on at least one downlink signal at each of the predicted T time points, and the first information is also used to determine the first time point.

11. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The first information further includes one or more of the following: the first time moment, the identifier of the first time moment, or the second time interval, wherein the second time interval is the time interval between the first time moment and the time of sending or receiving the first information.

12. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The first information is used for scheduling data information, and the first moment is: The time closest to the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T times; or, The time among the T time points that is closest to the start or end time of the data information scheduled by the first information.

13. The method as described in claim 10, characterized in that, The first information is not used for scheduling data information, and the first time is the time closest to the time when the first transmission indication information takes effect among the T times.

14. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes modules for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes at least one processor coupled to a memory for storing a program or instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 to be performed.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, Used to store a computer program that, when run on a computer, causes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 to be performed.

17. A computer program product, characterized in that, include: A computer program or instruction that, when executed, causes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 13 to be performed.

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