Measurement reporting with multiple TCI states

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to measurement reporting with multiple TCI states. A method comprises receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

Description

MEASUREMENT REPORTING WITH MULTIPLE TCI STATESFIELD

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for measurement reporting with multiple transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states.BACKGROUND

[0002] A communication network may serve as a facility that enables communications between two or more communication devices or provides communication devices access to a data network. A mobile or wireless communication network is one example of a communication network. A communication device may be provided with a service by an application server. The communication network may operate in accordance with standards such as those provided by Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) or European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). Examples of standards provided by 3GPP are the so-called 3GPP standards for cellular technology generations, such as 3GPP standards for 4G technology, 5G technology, 6G technology etc.SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; determine that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and transmit, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing iinstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: transmit, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; and receive, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; and receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; means for determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and means for transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a terminal device, a firstconfiguration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0011] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0001] FIG. 1A illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0002] FIG. IB illustrates a signaling flow for an LTM procedure in a communication system;

[0003] FIG. 2 illustrates an example format of a measurement report;

[0004] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling flow for measurement reporting with multiple TCI states in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0005] FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate examples of fields indicating measurement values in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0006] FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate examples of fields indicating measurement values in accordance with some further example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0007] FIGS. 6A-6C illustrate examples of fields indicating measurement values in accordance with some yet further example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0008] FIG. 7 illustrates a signaling flow for measurement reporting with multiple TCI states in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0009] FIG. 8A illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0010] FIG. 8B illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0011] FIG. 9A illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some further example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0012] FIG. 9B illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some further example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0013] FIG. 10A illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some yet further example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 10B illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some yet further example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] FIG. 11 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0016] FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0019] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0020] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0021] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”... , etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0022] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0023] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0024] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., butdo not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0025] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0026] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0027] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generationcommunication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0028] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0029] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, awearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mountedequipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0030] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0031] FIG. 1A illustrates an example communication environment 110 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG.1A, the communication environment 110 comprises one or more network devices, such as a network device 120-1, a network device 120-2, and one or more terminal devices such as a terminal device 110. For purpose of discussion, the network device 120-1 and network device 120-2 are collectively or individually referred to as network devices 120.

[0032] In some example embodiments, the network device 120-1 may be a RAN network device of a serving cell 140, for example, a gNB of the serving cell 140 for the terminal device 110. The network device 120-2 may be a RAN network device of a neighbor cell 150, for example, a gNB of the cell 150. In some embodiments, the cell 150 may be a candidate for LTM of the terminal device 110. The terminal device 110, for example, maybe a UE served by the serving cell 140. The cell 150 may be a potential candidate to become a new serving cell for the terminal device 110.

[0033] In some example embodiments, a network device of a serving cell for a terminal device may include one or more distributed units (DUs), e.g., one or more gNB-DUs, and one or more central units (CUs), e.g., one or more gNB-CUs. For example, the network device 120 may include a CU 122-1, a DU 124-1 and a DU 124-2. The network device 120-2 may include a CU 122-2 and a DU 124-3. The CU 122-1 and CU 122-2 are collectively or individually referred to as CUs 122. The DU 124-1, 124-2, 124-3 are collectively or individually referred to as DUs 124. In some example embodiments,

[0034] A DU may be connected to the terminal device 110, and each DU may serve one or more cells. Depending on whether the serving cell and a candidate target cell are associated with the same CU, the LTM procedure may include an intra-CU LTM procedure or an inter-CU LTM procedure. If the candidate target cell(s) and the serving cell are associated with the same CU, the intra-CU LTM procedure is applied. If the candidate target cell(s) and the serving cell are associated with different CUs, the inter-CU LTM procedure is applied.

[0035] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments may be described with the network device 120-1 or the network device 120-2 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0036] In some example embodiments, a communication direction from a network device 120 to the terminal device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a communication direction from the terminal device 110 to a network device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the network device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the terminal device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the terminal device 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the network device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0037] Communications in the communication environment 110 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols, wireless local network communication protocols suchas Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0038] During communication, the terminal device, e.g., UE, may perform measurements on the current cell and other cells and transmit a measurement report to the network. The measurement report may be applied for various purposes such as cell switch, UE configuration, and so on.

[0039] Layer 1 or Layer 2 (L1 / L2) triggered mobility (LTM) is a cell switch procedure, where a UE’s serving cell (primary cell (PCell) or primary secondary cell (PSCell)) is switched by the network by sending an LTM cell switch command. An LTM switch command is currently assumed delivered by medium access control (MAC) signaling using an MAC control element (CE). Hence, radio resource control (RRC) signaling is not used as a Layer 3 (L3) based handover which is one of the current methods for changing between cells. An LTM cell switch decision is based on measurements (for example LI measurements and / or L3 measurements) that are performed and reported (for example LI measurement report) by the UE. Measurements and reporting are based on an LTM candidate cell configuration provided by the network for one or more LTM candidate cells. An LTM candidate cell may be a neighboring cell or a UE’s current serving cell (e.g., SCell).

[0040] LTM measurements on a neighboring candidate cell are performed using synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks (SSBs) transmitted by the candidate cell for which the SSB configuration is provided to the UE. This may also be extended to channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) based measurements.

[0041] Before the cell switch, the network may optionally activate one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) state(s) for one or more candidate cells. Oncea candidate cell TCI state is activated the UE may start tracking the time / frequency synchronization using the reference signals associated with the activated TCI state(s). The UE may also perform early uplink (UL) synchronization before the cell switch if this is requested by the network.

[0042] FIG. IB illustrates a signaling flow 160 for an LTM procedure in a communication system. Without loss of generality, the signaling flow 160 involves a terminal device 110 and a network device 120 (e.g., a gNB) which serves the terminal device 110. As shown in FIG. IB, an LTM procedure may split in four phases, including an LTM preparation phase 103, an early synchronization phase 107, an LTM execution phase 111, and an LTM completion phase 116.

[0043] During the LTM preparation phase 103, at 101, the terminal device 110 is in a radio resource control (RRC) connected (RRC Connected) state. At 102, the terminal device 110 transmits a measurement report to the network device 120 containing the measurement results for neighboring cells. At 103, the network device 120 (e.g., the serving CU of the network node) decides to configure LTM and initiates LTM candidate preparation. The network device 120 performs the LTM candidate preparations by identifying the potential targets based on the measurement report and preparing candidate target cells (or referred to as “target cells” for short). At 105, the network device 120 shares the LTM candidate configuration (which includes target cell configurations) with the terminal device 110. The network device 120 transmits an RRCReconfiguration message to the terminal device 110 including the LTM candidate configurations. At 106, the terminal device 110 stores the LTM candidate configurations and transmits a RRC reconfiguration complete message to the network device 120.

[0044] During the early synchronization phase 107, at 108a, the terminal device 110 performs downlink (DL) synchronization with the candidate cell(s) before receiving the cell switch command. At 108a, the terminal device 110 performs early TA acquisition with the candidate cell(s) as requested by the network before receiving the cell switch command. This is done via contention free random access (CFRA) triggered by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order from the source cell, following which the UE sends a preamble towards the indicated candidate cell. In order to minimize the data interruption of the source cell due to CFRA towards the candidate cell(s), the UE doesn’t receive a random access response from the network for the purpose of TA valueacquisition and the TA value of the candidate cell is indicated in the cell switch command. The UE may not maintain the TA timer for the candidate cell and rely on network implementation to guarantee the TA validity.

[0045] During the LTM execution phase 111, at 110, the terminal device 110 performs LI measurements on the configured candidate cell(s) and transmits a LI measurement report to the network device 120. The LI measurements should be performed as long as RRC reconfiguration (at 105) is applicable. At 112, the network device 120 (e.g., the serving DU) makes an LTM decision on a target cell by considering the LI measurements on the target cell) and requests, at 113, the terminal device 110 to switch to that target cell by transmitting a cell switch command to the terminal device 110. The cell switch command may be transmitted in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). In other words, the network device 120 decides to execute a cell switch to a target cell and transmits a MAC CE triggering cell switch by including the candidate configuration index of the target cell. At 114, the terminal device 110 detaches from the source cell and applies the target configuration corresponding to the target cell that is received previously. At 115, if the terminal device 110 does not have a valid TA of the target cell, the terminal device 110 switches to that target cell through a random access channel (RACH) procedure and starts receiving data from the target cell.

[0046] During the LTM completion phase 116, the terminal device 110 completes (117) the LTM cell switch procedure by sending a RRC Reconfiguration Complete message to target cell. If the terminal device 110 has performed an RA procedure at 115, the terminal device 110 considers that the LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the RA procedure is successfully completed. For RACH-less LTM, the terminal device 110 considers that the LTM cell switch execution is successfully completed when the terminal device 110 determines that the network has successfully received its first UL data.

[0047] The early synchronization phase 107, the LTM execution phase 111, and the LTM completion phase 116 can be performed multiple times for subsequent LTM using the LTM candidate configuration(s) provided in step 105. It is noted that the procedure over the air interface described above is applicable to both intra-gNB-DU LTM and inter-gNB-DU LTM.

[0048] In addition to the cell switch procedure, the UE may also be triggered to reportmeasurements for beam management. The UE may measure reference signals corresponding to beams and report the measurement results for the beams. For UE-initiated / event-driven beam reporting, some events are determined for the beam reporting, including Event-2, Event-1, and Event-7. Event-2 may occur when the quality of at least one new beam (such as its layer 1 reference signal received power (Ll-RSRP)) becomes a certain “threshold value” better than that of the current beam. For example, the network may configure the UE with a certain threshold (e.g., 3 dB). When the UE measures a new beam with an Ll-RSRP that is 3 dB better than the Ll-RSRP of the current beam, then a beam report is triggered. Event- 1 may occur when the quality of the current beam is worse than a certain threshold. Event- 1 may be used to avoid costly procedures like beam failure recovery (BFR). Event-7 may occur when the quality (such as Ll-RSRP) of at least one new beam becomes a threshold value better than the reference signal (RS) derived from the activated TCI state with the Q-th best quality. Q may be a RRC configured value with subjective to UE capability signalling. Event-7 may be used to update the active TCI state list.

[0049] It is now proposed to support event triggered measurement reporting. It is also proposed to support CSI-RS measurements for LTM procedures and enable CSI-RS based beam management.

[0050] Either CSI-RS or SSB could be configured as candidate beam and the measurement reference signal (RS) of the serving cell beam is determined based on the candidate beam to ensure same RS type, i.e. the RS for current beam of serving cell is same as or quasi co-location (QCLed) with the QCL RS of the indicated TCI state. For event -triggered LI LTM measurement reporting, max N is the total number of all beams included into MR MAC CE. For event -triggered LI LTM measurement reporting, it may be the network which controls if the beam(s) not satisfying the event could be reported according to N beams in MR MAC CE. When considering the bema level, the LTM measurement report may include up to N beams in total. In some cases, the report may also include the beams that do not fulfil the criteria.

[0051] Currently the UE may support multiple transmit / receive point (multi-TRP) operation. In the multi-TRP operation, a serving cell can schedule the UE from two TRPs, providing better coverage, reliability and / or data rates for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH), and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH).

[0052] There may be two different operation modes to schedule multi-TRP PDSCH transmissions: single downlink control information (DCI) mode and multi-DCI mode. For both modes, control of uplink and downlink operation may be done by physical layer and MAC layer, within the configuration provided by the RRC layer. In single-DCI (S-DCI) mode, the UE is scheduled by the same DCI for both TRPs and in multi-DCI (M-DCI) mode, the UE is scheduled by independent DCIs from each TRP.

[0053] There may be two different operation modes for multi-TRP PDCCH: PDCCH repetition and Single Frequency Network (SFN) based PDCCH transmission. In both modes, the UE can receive two PDCCH transmissions, one from each TRP, carrying the same DCI. In PDCCH repetition mode, the UE can receive the two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from two linked search spaces each associated with a different control resource set (CORESET). In SFN based PDCCH transmission mode, the UE can receive the two PDCCH transmissions carrying the same DCI from a single search space or CORESET using different transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states.

[0054] For multi-TRP PUSCH repetition, according to indications in a single DCI or in a semi-static configured grant provided over RRC, the UE performs PUSCH transmission of the same contents toward two TRPs with corresponding beam directions associated with different spatial relations. For multi-TRP PUCCH repetition, the UE performs PUCCH transmission of the same contents toward two TRPs with corresponding beam directions associated with different spatial relations.

[0055] For inter-cell multi-TRP operation, for multi-DCI PDSCH transmission, one or more TCI states may be associated with SSB with a PCI different from the serving cell PCI. The activated TCI states may be associated with at most one PCI different from the serving cell PCI at a time.

[0056] For inter-cell and intra-cell multi-DCI multi-TRP operation, up to two TAGs with associated TAG IDs may be configured per serving cell. Each UL / Joint TCI state is associated with a TAG ID and the UE applies the timing advance of the TAG ID associated with the UL or joint TCI state utilized for UL transmission.

[0057] For single-DCI multi-TRP Simultaneous Transmission with Multi-Panel (STxMP) Spatial Domain Multiplexing (SDM) PUSCH transmission, different layers of onePUSCH are separately transmitted towards two TRPs. For single-DCI multi-TRP STxMP SFN PUSCH transmission, same layers of one PUSCH are transmitted towards two TRPs. For multi-DCI based multi-TRP STxMP PUSCH and PUSCH transmission, two PUSCHs are transmitted towards two TRPs. For single-DCI multi-TRP STxMP SFN PUCCH transmission, one PUCCH is transmitted towards two TRPs.

[0058] Based on the above discussion, it is possible that a terminal device, e.g., UE, is configured with multiple TCI states, e.g., for the m-TRP operation or for other purposes. A TCI state may associate one or more reference signals with a corresponding quasicolocation (QCL) type. With multiple TCI states configured, this implies that there may be multiple indicated TCI states with respective RSRP values (RSRP serv 1, RSRP serv 2, and the like) that can be reported. The terminal device may need to determine how to include or encode mTRP related information to the event triggered measurement report, especially when the terminal device is configured to send serving cell or serving beam information in the measurement report.

[0059] FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional format 200 with an RSRP field included in the example measurement report. The serving cell information corresponds to the RSRP field represented as “RSRP serv”, which may include the RSRP measured for associated with the indicated TCI state for the serving cell.

[0060] According to example embodiments of the present disclosure, solutions are proposed for measurement reporting with multiple TCI states. If a terminal device is configured with multiple TCI states, and when a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report, the terminal device may transmit, in the measurement report, information about respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the TCI states. In some example embodiments, the measurement report may include an aggregated measurement value based on the respective measurement values. In some example embodiments, the measurement report may include at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value. In some example embodiments, the measurement report may include a first measurement value of a first reference signal associated with a first TCI state among the plurality of TCI states, and an indication indicative of whether at least one second measurement value following the firstmeasurement value is comprised in the measurement report.

[0061] With the above embodiments, it allows the terminal device 110 report measurement results associated with the multiple TCI states (or serving beams), which may thus facilitate the network operations on coverage, handover, beam switch and so on, using the reported measurement results.

[0062] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0063] FIG. 3 illustrates an example signaling flow 300 of measurement reporting with multiple TCI states according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1A, for example, involving the terminal device 110 and the network device 120.

[0064] In the signaling flow 300, the network device 120 transmits (302) a first configuration of a plurality of TCI states. The terminal device 110 receives (304) the configuration of the plurality of TCI states. A TCI state may associate one or more reference signals with a corresponding quasi-colocation (QCL) type. The plurality of TCI states configured for the terminal device 110 may include a plurality of indicated TCI states.

[0065] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be configured with two or more indicated TCI states for the serving cell. In some examples, the terminal device 110 may be configured with up to two TCI states, referred to as the first indicated TCI state and the second indicated TCI.

[0066] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be configured with the mTRP operation, e.g., to support communication with multiple TRPs. The mTRP operation may include S-DCI or M-DCI mTRP operation. A TCI state is configured and indicated for each of the multiple TRPs. In the scenario of mTRP operation, the indicated TCI state and the TRP may be used interchangeably. For example, the first indicated TCI state refers to the indicated TCI state for the first TRP (or CORESETpoolindex value or other value identifying TRP), and the second indicated TCI state refers to the indicated TCI state for the second TRP (or CORESETpoolindex value or other value identifying TRP). In one example, the CORESET or CORESETs share the same CORESETpoolindex value, and it refers that CORESETs are grouped or are configured as set of CORESETsthat apply the same indicated TCI state (first or second).

[0067] In some other example embodiments, the network device 120 may configure the terminal device 110 with multiple TCI states for other purposes. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in the aspect of the reasons of why the terminal device 110 is configured with multiple TCI states.

[0068] The terminal device 110 determines (306) whether at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report.

[0069] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may also receive, from the network device 120, a configuration (sometimes referred to as “third configuration” herein) for event triggered reporting. The configuration may indicate the at least one condition (or reporting criteria) of the trigger event. In some examples, the terminal device 110 may be configured with the conditions(s) of a plurality of trigger events. The at least one condition may indicate corresponding thresholds for a signal quality or strength measured on one or more reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0070] In some example embodiments, the trigger events may include one or more trigger events for UE initiated beam reporting, and / or one or more trigger events for UE initiated beam management (UEIBM), such as Event-2, Event-1, Event-7 as mentioned above. For the UE initiated beam reporting, the terminal device 110 may be configured to detect whether the RSRP of the current beam falls below a certain threshold, whether the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) of PDSCH and / or PDCCH is below a certain threshold for all DL RSs specified for the current TCI state(s), whether the maximum LI -RSRP is smaller than a threshold, whether the number of beams with LI -RSRP greater than a first threshold is smaller than a second threshold, or whether a new beam has been discovered with Ll-RSRP greater than the current strongest beam and / or whether the current beam is no longer the strongest among the set of monitored beam pair links, and so on. Similarly, for UE-initiated beam management, the terminal device 110 may be configured to detect whether the RSRP of a reference signal is less than a threshold, whether the reference signal received quality (RSRQ) or channel quality indicator (CQI) is less than a threshold, and / or whether the SNR measured is less than a threshold.

[0071] In any of the examples therein the beam may refer to downlink reference signal (such as SSB, CSI-RS or the like). The candidate beam may refer to the serving cell candidate beam in UEIBM. The candidate beam may refer to the candidate cell candidatebeam in for LTM / L3 mobility.

[0072] In some example embodiments, the trigger events may include one or more trigger events for mobility, and / or one or more trigger events for lower layer triggered mobility, such as LI LTMx (e.g. LTM3, LTM5 or similar) event or L3 Ax (e.g. A3, A5 or similar) events.

[0073] It would be appreciated that the trigger events any other events that are currently defined or to be defined in the future, to trigger a measurement report.

[0074] The terminal device 110 may perform event evaluation based on the configuration, to determine that the condition(s) for any trigger event is fulfilled for at least one RS associated with the configured (indicated) TCI states. The terminal device 110 may measure the at least one RS for the event evaluation. The measurement value for reporting the event triggered measurement report may be RSRP, RSRP, CQI, SINR or the like. In some examples provided below, the measurement value of RSRP is used as an example although it would be appreciated that other measurement values are alternatively or additionally applicable for reporting.

[0075] In one example embodiment, the terminal device 110 (e.g., UE) may determine to use one or more ( e.g. two ) indicated TCI states for event evaluation. In one example the terminal device 110 may select the RS corresponding to the indicated TCI state that has higher measurement value when it performs the event evaluation. As a further example, the event evaluation instance (or whole event evaluation duration) may comprise of using the highest (or lowest) measurement value of the RS corresponding to the first or second indicated TCI state for the event evaluation. In some examples, the event criteria considered to be fulfilled if the event evaluation based on the measurement on either RS of first indicated TCI State or second indicated TCI state fulfill the event criteria. In one example, the terminal device 110 may determine whether the event criteria would be fulfilled using the first or the second criteria. In one example, the terminal device 110 may select one of the TCI States for the event evaluation. In one example, if the indicated TCI state (first or second) used for event evaluation changes and the event criteria is fulfilled the evaluation of the reporting event is continued. In one example the indicated TCI state (first or second) is selected for event evaluation per evaluation instance (e.g. in first instance the first TCI state was used, and in another instance the second indicated TCI may be used). The selection may be based on the selecting the TCI state associate withhigher (or lower) measurement results. In some examples the average measurement results value of both TCI states may be used for event evaluation.

[0076] In accordance with a determination that at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied for triggering the measurement report, the terminal device 110 transmits (308) the measurement report to the network device 120, and the network device 120 accordingly receives (310) the measurement report. The network device 120 may thus utilize the measurement results and its associated information to determine further network operation, such as improving the coverage of the terminal device 110, cell handover, beam switch and so on.

[0077] In some example embodiments, the measurement reporting may be configurable. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be configured to report in the event triggered measurement report the measurement results for the RS (e.g., serving RS) associated with the configured TCI states. These may be referred to as serving cell RS for event evaluation that are derived based on the RS included in the indicated TCI state. The terminal device 110 may be configured to include serving cell (e.g. PCell or SCell) information. In the case that the condition(s) of a trigger event is satisfied, the terminal device 110 may determine, based on the configuration, whether the serving cell information (e.g., the measurement results for the indicated TCI state(s)) are to be included in the triggered measurement report.

[0078] In some example embodiments, the serving cell information may be included in the certain location within measurement report. As an example, the serving cell information may be included last in the measurement report (after other information have been included). In one example, the serving cell information may be included in the report after the measurement results for the candidate beam(s) are included. In one example, the serving cell information may be included in the report after the measurement results for the candidate beam(s) that have fulfilled the reporting criteria are included. As an example, the serving cell information may be included in the report after the measurement results for the candidate beam(s) that have (or have not) fulfilled the reporting criteria. In one example, the serving cell information may be included in the report before the measurement results of the candidate beam(s). The serving cell information as described herein, may comprise of one RSRP field (corresponding to the RS associated with one indicated TCI state). As an example, the measurement report may include one serving cellRSRP field if one indicated TCI state is configured. As an example, the measurement report may include one serving cell RSRP field if multiple indicated TCI states are configured (and one RSRP value is reported), or the serving cell information as described herein, may comprise of two (or more) RSRP fields (corresponding to the RSs associated with two (or more) indicated TCI states).

[0079] There are some specific ways to encode the measurement values of the RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states into the measurement report, which will be described in detail below.

[0080] In some example embodiments, the measurement report may include information about respective measurement values of a plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device 120, a configuration (sometimes referred to as “fourth configuration” herein) indicating that the information on the measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states should be included in the measurement report. Such a configuration may be specific to a trigger event, multiple trigger events, or all trigger events for triggering a measurement report. With such configuration, the terminal device 110 may prepare the measurement report to include such information.

[0081] In some embodiments, the information included in the measurement report may include the respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. That is, the measurements for the RSs associated with the indicated TCI states may all be included in the measurement report, e.g., irrespective of the RS used for the evaluation of the condition(s) of the trigger event.

[0082] In some embodiments, the information included in the measurement report may indicate a combination of the measurement values, i.e., an aggregated measurement value of the respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. In this case, for the plurality of TCI states, one measurement result, i.e., the aggregated measurement value is determined and encoded in the measurement report transmitted to the network device 120, to represent the measurements for the plurality of TCI states.

[0083] In some examples, the aggregated measurement value may be a sum measurement value, an average measurement value, a highest measurement value (e.g., higher RSRP), or a lowest measurement value (e.g., a lower RSRP) among the respective measurementvalues of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. In a further example, if only one measurement value is to be reported, the reported “aggregated” measurement value may be associated with one of the plurality of TCI states (e.g., either the first indicated TCI state or second indicated TCI state if two TCI states are indicted). This may be up to the implementation of the terminal device 110 to determine which measurement value is to be included.

[0084] The aggregated measurement value may be included in the field corresponding to serving cell information in the measurement report, e.g., the RSRP field represented as “RSRP serv”. FIG. 4A illustrates an example 400 of such a field to indicate the measurement value, e.g., the RSRP, where the RSRP value may be indicated in the “RSRP serv” field, which is associated with a reserved (R) field. The “RSRP serv” field and the R field may be a part of the measurement report in the example 200 of FIG. 2.

[0085] In some embodiments, the information included in the measurement report may include at least one measurement value selected from the respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0086] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may select the at least one measurement value according to a second configuration which indicates the at least one TCI state for which the at least one measurement value is to be selected for reporting. In this case, the terminal device 110 may be configured to report on which TCI state(s) or all of the TCI states are to be reported. In this case, the terminal device 110 may prepare the measurement report based on such configuration.

[0087] In one example, the second configuration may configure one TCI state to be reported, and thus one measurement value corresponding to that TCI state is to be included. For example, in the case where two indicated TCI states are configured, if only one measurement value is to be reported, it may correspond to either the first indicated TCI state or the second indicated TCI state. This may be configurable. In such case, the reported measurement may be indicated in the measurement report in the “RSRP serv” field shown in FIG. 4A.

[0088] In some embodiments, the information included in the measurement report may include at least one measurement value associated with one or more selected TCI states of the plurality of TCI states that are applied in evaluation of the trigger event. That is, the terminal device 110 may select one or more TCI states that is used for event evaluationfor reporting the measurement value. The terminal device 110 may be configured to report in such a way. It is noted that depending on the actual cases, there may be one or more TCI states whose reference signals are measured to evaluate whether the condition(s) of the trigger event for reporting is satisfied.

[0089] In some embodiments, if more than one measurement value is determined to be included in the measurement reports, the measurement values may be ordered in a specific way. For example, the terminal device 110 may determine or may be configured to include the respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states are in the measurement report, then these measurement values may be included in the measurement report in an order associated with the plurality of TCI states or in a sorting order of the respective measurement values. The order associated with the plurality of TCI states may be determined based on an indication status of the plurality of the TCI states. The indication status may be one of a first indicated TCI state, a second indicated TCI state, and so on. The sorting order of the respective measurement values may be in an ascending order or a descending order of the respective measurement values.

[0090] The measurement report may include a plurality of fields to indicate the respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. Those fields are ordered based on the order associated with the plurality of TCI states or the sorting order of the respective measurement values.

[0091] FIG. 4B illustrates an example 402 of a plurality of fields ordered to indicate the corresponding measurement values, including two “RSRP serv” fields. In this example, the RSRP value for the first indicated TCI state may be included first in the first “RSRP serv” field, and the RSRP value for the second indicated TCI state may be included in the second “RSRP serv” field after the first “RSRP serv” field; or vice versa. The indication status of the two TCI states may be included, for example, in the mTRP configuration or any other suitable configuration. These two “RSRP serv” fields may be a part of the measurement report in the example 200 of FIG. 2.

[0092] Of course if there are more than two indicated TCI states or more than two measurement values determined to be reported, the corresponding number of fields may be included and ordered similarly. It would be appreciated that although not shown, the order based on the sorting result of the measurement values is also applicable.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further may include anindication for a reported measurement value, to indicate whether a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or whether a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied. For example, the octet comprising of the RSRP field may further comprise an indication (R bit) which TCI state(s) (first one or second one or both) was used for event evaluation or event triggering, or an indication that whether the specific TCI state was the TCI state that triggered the measurement report. Such an indication may be included in the measurement report when the exact measurement result for a TCI state is included instead of the processed and aggregated measurement result is included. The terminal device 110 may be configured, e.g., by the network device 120, whether such indication is needed in the measurement report.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the measurement report may include at least one measurement value of at least one RS associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier (ID) of the at least one reported TCI state. Each identifier may be included in association with the reported measurement value, in order to indicate to the network device 120 the corresponding TCI state for which the measurement value is obtained.

[0095] In an examples, the RSRP field in the measurement report for indicating the measurement value (i.e., the RSRP value) may be associated with a field (referred to as an ID field) indicating which the TCI state the reported RSRP value is associated with. The bit length of such an ID field may depend on the number of TCI states that are configured for the terminal device 110. In an example, if there are two TCI states configured for the terminal device 110, the measurement value may be associated with a one-bit field, to indicate whether the reported measurement value is associated with the first or the second indicated TCI state. FIG. 5 A illustrates an example 500 of such a field to indicate the measurement value, e.g., the RSRP, where the RSRP value may be indicated in the “RSRP serv” field, and the identifier of the associated TCI state may be included in the “ID” field. In one example, if the ID field is set to the first value (e.g. ID=0), the reported RSRP value is for the RS of the first indicated TCI State. In one example, if the ID field is set to the second value (e.g. ID=1) the reported RSRP value is for the RS of the second indicated TCI state. The example 500 may be a part of the example 200 of FIG. 2.

[0096] In some embodiments, the measurement report may include respective measurement values of a plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states; and respective identifiers of the plurality of TCI states, each identifier being included in association with a measurement value. That is, the measurement values for all the TCI states may be reported. FIG. 5B illustrates an example 502 of a plurality of fields ordered to indicate the corresponding measurement values, including two “RSRP serv” fields and the respective “ID” fields associated therewith.

[0097] In some embodiments, although the ID field may indicate which one of the indicated TCI states the reported measurement value is, in the measurement report, the respective measurement values may be included in a sorting order of the respective measurement values. As an example, the terminal device 110 may be configured to include the higher or highest measurement value first. As a further example the terminal device 110 may be configured to include the lower or lowest measurement value first. As a yet further example, the terminal device 110 may select which one to include first. If more than two measurement values are to be included, then the second and the following measurement values may be included in either the ascending order or the descending order.

[0098] In some embodiments, the at least one measurement value to be reported in the measurement report is selected, based on a specified or configured criteria, from respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. For example, the terminal device 110 may select or may be configured to select a highest measurement value and / or a lowest measurement value to be reported in the measurement report.

[0099] Alternatively, or in addition, the terminal device 110 may select or may be configured to select one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event. That is, the reported measurement value may correspond to the TCI state which was used for event evaluation. Alternatively, or in addition, the terminal device 110 may select or may be configured to select one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied. That is, the reported measurement value may correspond to the TCI state which was used for event triggering.

[0100] Alternatively, or in addition, the terminal device 110 may select or may beconfigured to select one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is not applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied. That is, the at least one reported measurement value may correspond to the TCI state which was not used for event triggering.

[0101] For those measurement value(s) selected to be reported, the measurement report may also include the ID field to identify the associated TCI state.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further may include an indication for a reported measurement value, to indicate whether a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or whether a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied. For example, the measurement report may include two RSRP value fields corresponding to the reported RSRP values for the first and second TCI states, which are associated with respective ID fields. In one example, the terminal device 110 may be additionally or optionally indicate which TCI state(s) (first one or second one or both) was used for event evaluation. The terminal device 110 may be configured, e.g., by the network device 120, whether such indication is needed in the measurement report.

[0103] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be configured, e.g., by the network device 120, whether such the indication in the measurement report.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the measurement report may include a first measurement value of a first RS associated with a first TCI state among the plurality of TCI states, and an indication indicative of whether at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is included in the measurement report. That is, the first measurement value may be associated with an indication to indicate whether another measurement value will follow in the measurement report. In this case, the terminal device 110 may conditionally include additional measurement value(s) in the measurement report.

[0105] The measurement report may include a field to indicate the first measurement value (e.g., a RSRP field), and an associated field (represented as “A” field) to indicate whether another measurement value will follow.

[0106] In some embodiments, if the indication indicative of no second measurement value following the first measurement value is included in the measurement report (e.g.,the “A” field is set to 0), then the first measurement value may be the one (or the only only) reported measurement value. In such a case, the first measurement value may be selected from the respective measurement values of the RSs associated with the TCI states in any suitable way as described above.

[0107] In some examples if only one measurement value is reported, the first measurement value may include an aggregated measurement value across the respective measurement values of the RSs associated with the TCI states. For example, the first measurement value may include a highest measurement value or a lowest measurement value, an average measurement value among respective measurement values of the plurality of RSs associated with the plurality of TCI states. It may be configurable which type of aggregated measurement value is reported.

[0108] In some examples, if only one measurement value is reported, the first measurement value may include a measurement value associated with a TCI state that is configured to be selected for reporting, e.g., either the first indicated TCI state or the second indicated TCI state. This may be configurable.

[0109] In some examples, if only one measurement value is reported, the first measurement value may include a measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event. That is, the reported measurement value may correspond to the TCI state which was used for event evaluation.

[0110] In some examples, if only one measurement value is reported, the first measurement value may include a measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied. That is, the reported RSRP value may correspond to the TCI state which was used for event triggering.

[0111] In some embodiments, the indication indicative of at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value may be included in the measurement report, e.g., the “A” field is set to 1. In this case, the measurement report may include the first measurement value and one or more second measurement values. The number of measurement values following the first measurement value may be configured or prespecified. In some examples, each second measurement value may also be associated with an indication to indicate whether another second measurement reportwill follow.

[0112] FIG. 6A illustrates an example 600 of such a field to indicate the measurement value, e.g., the RSRP, where the RSRP value may be indicated in the “RSRP serv” field and may further be associated with the “A” field (using the “R” field which may include one bit). In one example, if the “A” field is set to the first value (e.g. A=0), then no following “RSRP serv#!” field will be included in the measurement report. In another example, if the “A” field is set to the second value (e.g. A=l), then a following “RSRP_serv#2” field will be included in the measurement report, to indicate the second RSRP value.

[0113] In some examples, for a second measurement report, at least one identifier (ID) of at least one TCI state may be included in the measurement report to be associated with the second measurement value. As shown in FIG. 6A, the “ID” field associated with the “RSRP_serv#2” field may indicate which TCI state the reported RSRP value is associated with. This may be used to determine whether the RSRP value is reported for the first or second indicated TCI state.

[0114] In some examples, the first measurement value and the at least one second measurement value may be included in the measurement report in a sorting order of the measurement values. In one example, the highest measurement value (e.g., RSRP value) is listed first in the measurement report. In one example, the lowest measurement value may be listed first in the measurement report.

[0115] In some examples, the first measurement value may include an absolute measurement value of a first RS associated, and a following second measurement value may include a differential measurement value between the first measurement value (i.e., the first absolute measurement value of the first RS) and an absolute measurement value of a second RS. For example, the highest RSRP value for one of the indicated TCI states may be reported first with an absolute RSRP value. The RSRP reported for second TCI state is reported with differential RSRP. FIG. 6B illustrates such an example 602, where the second RSRP field is represented as “Diff-RSRP_serv#2” field, to indicate the differential measurement value. As such, fewer bits may be required in the field to indicate the differential measurement value.

[0116] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further may include: a first indication for the first measurement value, to indicate whether the first measurementvalue is an absolute measurement value or a differential measurement value. For the second measurement value, the measurement report may also include a second indication for each of the at least one second measurement value, to identify whether the first measurement value is an absolute measurement value or a differential measurement value. As shown in an example 604 of FIG. 6C, the at least one “R” field may indicate whether the absolute RSRP value or differential RSRP value is reported for a TCI state.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further may include an indication for a reported measurement value, to indicate whether a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or whether a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied. For example, the octet comprising of the RSRP field may further comprise an indication (R bit) which TCI state(s) (first one or second one or both) was used for event evaluation or event triggering, or an indication that whether the specific TCI state was the TCI state that triggered the measurement report. Such an indication may be included in the measurement report when the exact measurement result for a TCI state is included instead of the processed and aggregated measurement result is included.

[0118] Various example embodiments are described above for how to encode the measurement values associated with one or more of the plurality of configured TCI states in the measurement report. In some example embodiments, the example reporting formats herein may be applicable for uplink control information (UCI) reporting, medium access control control element, (MAC CE) based reporting or RRC based reporting. The measurement report may be transmitted from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 in UCI, such as via PUCCH or PUSCH, in MAC CE and / or in a RRC message.

[0119] In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 is not configured with a plurality of TCI states or the mTRP operation, the measurement report may comprise one RSRP field for the serving cell, to indicate the measurement value for the serving cell. An ID field or a field associated with the RSRP value that may indicate TCI state information (the first or second indicated TCI state) may be set to a predefined value (e.g.0) or set to be reserved.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive the configuration (e.g., via the RRC signaling) indicating that if the terminal device 110 isnot configured with the mTRP operation, the measurement report may or may not comprise one RSRP field for the serving cell.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive the configuration (e.g., via the RRC signaling) indicating that the terminal device 110 is configured to include one or two or ‘none’ measurement results for the serving cell (one or two or ‘none’ RSRP fields) in the measurement report.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive the configuration (e.g., via the RRC signaling) indicating that the terminal device 110 is configured to include the measurement results for the serving cell corresponding to the first indicated TCI state or second indicated TCI state or both (one or two or ‘none’ RSRP fields) in the measurement report.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive the configuration (e.g., via the RRC signaling) indicating that the terminal device 110 is configured to include the measurement results for the serving cell corresponding to the first indicated TCI state or second indicated TCI state based on which one of the TCI states was used for event evaluation or for evaluation of the triggering the event.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive the configuration (e.g., via the RRC signaling) indicating that the terminal device 110 is configured to use the first TCI state, or the second TCI state, or both TCI states for event evaluation. The terminal device 110 is configured to include the measurement results for the serving cell corresponding to the configured TCI state for event evaluation (e.g., the first or second or both indicated TCI states).

[0125] FIG. 7 illustrates an example signaling flow 700 of measurement reporting with multiple TCI states according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 700 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 A, for example, involving the terminal device 110 and the network device 120. The signaling flow 700 may be considered as an example of the signaling flow 300.

[0126] In the signaling flow 700, the network device 120 transmits (702) a configuration for the mTRP operation, which may indicate multiple TCI states for multiple TRPs, and transmits (706) a configuration for event triggered reporting. The terminal device 110 receives (704) the configuration for the mTRP operation and receives (708) theconfiguration for event triggered reporting. The configuration for event triggered reporting may include measurement resource configuration identifying one or more RSs to be measured for the event triggered reporting.

[0127] The terminal device 110 performs (710) event evaluation for event triggered reporting based on the configuration for event triggered reporting, to determine that reporting criteria is fulfilled for at least one RS included in the measurement resource configuration.

[0128] The terminal device 110 determines (712) that the serving cell information (e.g., the measurement results for the indicated TCI state(s)) are to be included in the measurement report. Then the terminal device 110 encodes ( 14) the measurement results to the event triggered measurement report and transmits ( 16) the measurement report via MAC CE or UCI to the network device 120. The encoding of the measurement results related to the TCI states may be performed according to some of the example embodiments as described above.

[0129] The network device 120 receives ( 18) the measurement report and may utilize the measurement results and its associated information to determine further network operation, such as improving the coverage of the terminal device 110, cell handover, beam switch and so on.

[0130] FIG. 8A illustrates a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus, which may include the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1.

[0131] At block 810, the first apparatus receives, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states.

[0132] At block 820, the first apparatus determines that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report.

[0133] At block 830, the first apparatus transmits, to the network device, the measurement report comprising information about respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises: the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality ofTCI states; an aggregated measurement value of the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; at least one measurement value selected from the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; or at least one measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the aggregated measurement value comprises a sum measurement value, an average measurement value, a highest measurement value, or a lowest measurement value among the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: selecting the at least one measurement value according to a second configuration, wherein the second configuration indicates the at least one TCI state for which the at least one measurement value is to be selected for reporting.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states are comprised in the measurement report in an order associated with the plurality of TCI states or in a sorting order of the respective measurement values.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises a plurality of fields to indicate the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states, and wherein the plurality of fields are ordered based on the order associated with the plurality of TCI states or the sorting order of the respective measurement values.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the order associated with the plurality of TCI states is determined based on an indication status of the plurality of the TCI states; wherein the indication status is one of: a first indicated TCI state or a second indicated TCI state.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further comprises an indication for each of the respective measurement values, to indicate whether: a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is further caused to perform at least one of the following: receive, from the network device, a third configuration comprising the at least one condition of the trigger event, or receive, from the network device, a fourth configuration indicating the information on the measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states to be comprised in the measurement report.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the trigger event comprises at least one of the following: a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting, a trigger event for UE initiated beam management, a trigger event for mobility, or a trigger event for lower layer triggered mobility.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the plurality of TCI states are configured for a plurality of transmission and reception points, TRPs.

[0144] In some example embodiments, a measurement value of a reference signal comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, a signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, or a reference signal received quality, RSRQ.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, medium access control control element, MAC CE or a Radio Resource Control, RRC, message.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device.

[0147] FIG. 8B shows a flowchart of an example method 802 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 802 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus, which may include the network device 120 in FIG. 1.

[0148] At block 840, the second apparatus transmits, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states.

[0149] At block 850, the second apparatus receives, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising information about respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises: the respectivemeasurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; an aggregated measurement value of the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; at least one measurement value selected from the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; or at least one measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the aggregated measurement value comprises a sum measurement value, an average measurement value, a highest measurement value, or a lowest measurement value among the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is caused to: transmitting, to the terminal device a second configuration indicating at least one TCI state for which the at least one measurement value is to be selected for reporting.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states are comprised in the measurement report in an order associated with the plurality of TCI states or in a sorting order of the respective measurement values.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further comprises an indication for each of the respective measurement values, to indicate whether: a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus is further caused to perform at least one of the following: transmit, to the terminal device, a third configuration comprising the at least one condition of the trigger event, or transmit, to the terminal device, a fourth configuration indicating the information on the measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states to be comprised in the measurement report.

[0156] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means forreceiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; means for determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and means for transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising information about respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus may further comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1.

[0157] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 802 (for example, the network device 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for transmitting, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising information about respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus may further include means for performing the respective operations of the method 802. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the network device 120 in FIG.1.

[0158] FIG. 9A shows a flowchart of an example method 900 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 900 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus, which may include the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1.

[0159] At block 910, the first apparatus receives, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states.

[0160] At block 920, the first apparatus determines that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report.

[0161] At block 930, the first apparatus transmits, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifierof the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0162] In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises: respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; and respective identifiers of the plurality of TCI states, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0163] In some example embodiments, the respective measurement values are comprised in the measurement report in a sorting order of the respective measurement values.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the at least one measurement value to be reported in the measurement report is selected, based on a specified or configured criteria, from respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the at least one measurement value comprises at least one of the following: a highest measurement value, a lowest measurement value, one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied, or one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is not applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0166] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further comprises an indication for each of the at least one measurement value, to indicate whether: a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the method 900 further comprises: receiving, from the network device, a configuration of including the indication in the measurement report.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the trigger event comprises at least one of the following: a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting, a trigger event for UE initiated beam management, a trigger event for mobility, or a trigger event forlower layer triggered mobility.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the plurality of TCI states are configured for a plurality of transmission and reception points, TRPs.

[0170] In some example embodiments, a measurement value of a reference signal comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, a signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, or a reference signal received quality, RSRQ.

[0171] In some example embodiments, the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, a medium access control control element, MAC CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

[0172] F9B shows a flowchart of an example method 902 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 902 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus, which may include the network device 120 in FIG. 1.

[0173] At block 940, the second apparatus transmits, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states.

[0174] At block 950, the second apparatus receives, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the measurement report comprises: respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; and respective identifiers of the plurality of TCI states, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

[0176] In some example embodiments, the respective measurement values are comprised in the measurement report in a sorting order of the respective measurement values.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the at least one measurement value to be reported in the measurement report is selected, based on a specified or configured criteria, from respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

[0178] In some example embodiments, the at least one measurement value comprises at least one of the following: a highest measurement value, a lowest measurement value, one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied, or one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is not applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0179] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further comprises an indication for each of the at least one measurement value, to indicate whether: a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0180] In some example embodiments, the method 902 further comprises: receiving, from the network device, a configuration of comprising the indication in the measurement report.

[0181] In some example embodiments, the trigger event comprises at least one of the following: a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting, a trigger event for UE initiated beam management, a trigger event for mobility, or a trigger event for lower layer triggered mobility.

[0182] In some example embodiments, the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, a medium access control control element, MAC CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

[0183] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; means for determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and means for transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value. In some example embodiments, the first apparatusmay further comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 900. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1.

[0184] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 902 (for example, the network device 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for transmitting, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, and at least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus may further include means for performing the respective operations of the method 902. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the network device 120 in FIG. 1.

[0185] FIG. 10A shows a flowchart of an example method 1000 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus, which may include the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1.

[0186] At block 1010, the first apparatus receives, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states.

[0187] At block 1020, the first apparatus determines that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report.

[0188] At block 1030, the first apparatus transmits, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: a first measurement value of a first reference signal associated with a first TCI state among the plurality of TCI states, and an indication indicative of whether at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in the measurement report.

[0189] In some example embodiments, the indication indicative of no second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in themeasurement report, and wherein the first measurement value comprises one of the following: a highest measurement value, a lowest measurement value, an average measurement value among respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states, a measurement value associated with a TCI state that is configured to be selected for reporting, a measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or a measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0190] In some example embodiments, the indication indicative of at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in the measurement report, and wherein the measurement report further comprises: at least one identifier of at least one TCI state associated with a second measurement value.

[0191] In some example embodiments, the first measurement value and the at least one second measurement value are comprised in the measurement report in a sorting order of the first measurement value and the at least one second measurement value.

[0192] In some example embodiments, the first measurement value comprises an absolute measurement value of a first reference signal, and wherein a second measurement value of the at least one second measurement value comprises at least one differential measurement value between the first measurement value and an absolute measurement value of a second reference signal.

[0193] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further comprises: a first indication for the first measurement value, to indicate whether the first measurement value is an absolute measurement value or a differential measurement value, and a second indication for each of the at least one second measurement value, to indicate whether the first measurement value is an absolute measurement value or a differential measurement value.

[0194] In some example embodiments, the trigger event comprises at least one of the following: a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting, a trigger event for UE initiated beam management, a trigger event for mobility, or a trigger event for lower layer triggered mobility.

[0195] In some example embodiments, the plurality of TCI states are configured for a plurality of transmission and reception points, TRPs.

[0196] In some example embodiments, a measurement value of a reference signal comprises at least one of: a reference signal received power, RSRP, a signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, or a reference signal received quality, RSRQ.

[0197] In some example embodiments, the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, a medium access control control element, MAC CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

[0198] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or is comprised in a terminal device.

[0199] FIG. 10B shows a flowchart of an example method 1002 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1002 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus, which may include the network device 120 in FIG. 1.

[0200] At block 1040, the second apparatus transmits, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states.

[0201] At block 1050, the second apparatus receives, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: a first measurement value of a first reference signal associated with a first TCI state among the plurality of TCI states, and an indication indicative of whether at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in the measurement report.

[0202] In some example embodiments, the indication indicative of no second measurement value following the first measurement is comprised in the measurement report, and wherein the first measurement value comprises one of the following: a highest measurement value, a lowest measurement value, an average measurement value among respective measurement values of the plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states, a measurement value associated with a TCI state that is configured to be selected for reporting, a measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, or a measurement value associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

[0203] In some example embodiments, the indication indicative of at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in the measurement report, and wherein the measurement report further comprises: at least one identifier of at least one TCI state associated with a second measurement value.

[0204] In some example embodiments, the first measurement value and the at least one second measurement value are comprised in the measurement report in a sorting order of the first measurement value and the at least one second measurement value.

[0205] In some example embodiments, the first measurement value comprises an absolute measurement value of a first reference signal, and wherein a second measurement value of the at least one second measurement value comprises at least one differential measurement value between the first measurement value and an absolute measurement value of a second reference signal.

[0206] In some example embodiments, the measurement report further comprises: a first indication for the first measurement value, to indicate whether the first measurement value is an absolute measurement value or a differential measurement value, and a second indication for each of the at least one second measurement value, to indicate whether the first measurement value is an absolute measurement value or a differential measurement value.

[0207] In some example embodiments, the trigger event comprises at least one of the following: a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting, a trigger event for UE initiated beam management, a trigger event for mobility, or a trigger event for lower layer triggered mobility.

[0208] In some example embodiments, the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, a medium access control control element, MAC CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

[0209] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; means for determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; and means for transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising: a first measurement value ofa first reference signal associated with a first TCI state among the plurality of TCI states, and an indication indicative of whether at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in the measurement report. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus may further comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1000. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1.

[0210] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 902 (for example, the second network device 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for transmitting, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising: a first measurement value of a first reference signal associated with a first TCI state among the plurality of TCI states, and an indication indicative of whether at least one second measurement value following the first measurement value is comprised in the measurement report. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus may further include means for performing the respective operations of the method 1002. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the network device 120 in FIG.1.

[0211] FIG. 11 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1100 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1100 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 1100 includes one or more processors 1110, one or more memories 1120 coupled to the processor 1110, and one or more communication modules 1140 coupled to the processor 1110.

[0212] The communication module 1140 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1140 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 1140 may include at least one antenna.

[0213] The processor 1110 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1100 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0214] The memory 1120 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1124, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 1122 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0215] A computer program 1130 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1110. The instructions of the program 1130 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1130 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1124. The processor 1110 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1130 into the RAM 1122.

[0216] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1130 so that the device 1100 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 10B. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0217] In some example embodiments, the program 1130 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1100 (such as in the memory 1120) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1100. The device 1100 may load the program 1130 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1122 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitationof the medium itself (i. e. , tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0218] FIG. 12 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1200 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1200 has the program 1130 stored thereon.

[0219] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0220] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as anon-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computerexecutable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0221] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified inthe flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0222] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0223] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0224] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0225] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific featuresor acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A first apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:receive, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states;determine that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; andtransmit, to the network device, the measurement report comprising:at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, andat least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the measurement report comprises: respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; andrespective identifiers of the plurality of TCI states, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the respective measurement values are comprised in the measurement report in a sorting order of the respective measurement values.

4. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one measurement value to be reported in the measurement report is selected, based on a specified or configured criteria, from respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

5. The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one measurement value comprises at least one of the following:a highest measurement value,47a lowest measurement value,one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event,one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied, orone or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is not applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the measurement report further comprises an indication for each of the at least one measurement value, to indicate whether:a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, ora TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

7. The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to: receive, from the network device, a configuration of including the indication in the measurement report.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the trigger event comprises at least one of the following:a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting,a trigger event for UE initiated beam management,a trigger event for mobility, ora trigger event for lower layer triggered mobility.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the plurality of TCI states are configured for a plurality of transmission and reception points, TRPs.

10. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein a measurement value of a reference signal comprises at least one of:a reference signal received power, RSRP,48a signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR, ora reference signal received quality, RSRQ.

11. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, a medium access control control element, MAC CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

12. A second apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:transmit, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; andreceive, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising:at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, andat least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

13. The second apparatus of claim 12, wherein the measurement report comprises: respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states; andrespective identifiers of the plurality of TCI states, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

14. The second apparatus of claim 13, wherein the respective measurement values are comprised in the measurement report in a sorting order of the respective measurement values.

15. The second apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one measurement value to be reported in the measurement report is selected, based on a specified or configured criteria, from respective measurement values of a plurality of reference signals associated with the plurality of TCI states.

16. The second apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one measurement value49comprises at least one of the following:a highest measurement value,a lowest measurement value,one or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, orone or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied, orone or more measurement values associated with a selected TCI state of the plurality of TCI states that is not applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

17. The second apparatus of any of claims 12 to 16, wherein the measurement report further comprises an indication for each of the at least one measurement value, to indicate whether:a TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in evaluation of the trigger event, ora TCI state associated with the measurement value is applied in determining that the at least one condition of the trigger event is satisfied.

18. The second apparatus of claim 17, wherein the second apparatus is further caused to:receive, from the network device, a configuration of comprising the indication in the measurement report.

19. The second apparatus of any of claims 12 to 18, wherein the trigger event comprises at least one of the following:a trigger event for user equipment, UE, initiated beam reporting,a trigger event for UE initiated beam management,a trigger event for mobility, ora trigger event for lower layer triggered mobility.

20. The second apparatus of any of claims 12 to 19, wherein the measurement report is transmitted in at least one of: uplink control information, UCI, a medium access control control50element, MAC CE, or a radio resource control, RRC, message.

21. A method comprising:receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states;determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; andtransmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising:at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, andat least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

22. A method comprising:transmitting, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; andreceiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising:at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, andat least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

23. A first apparatus comprising:means for receiving, from a network device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states;means for determining that at least one condition of a trigger event is satisfied for triggering a measurement report; andmeans for transmitting, to the network device, the measurement report comprising:at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, andat least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

24. A second apparatus comprising:means for transmiting, to a terminal device, a first configuration of a plurality of transmission configuration indicator, TCI, states; andmeans for receiving, from the terminal device, a measurement report comprising:at least one measurement value of at least one reference signal associated with at least one of the plurality of TCI states, andat least one identifier of the at least one TCI state, each identifier being comprised in association with a measurement value.

25. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 21 or the method of claim 22.

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