Beam selection

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to beam selection A method comprises obtaining, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and determining, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

Description

BEAM SELECTIONCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority from, and the benefit of, India Patent Application No.202541030099, filed March 28, 2025, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.FIELD

[0002] 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 beam selection.BACKGROUND

[0003] 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. 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

[0004] 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 to: obtain, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and determine, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

[0005] 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 instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: receive, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and determine that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: obtaining, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and determining, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and determining that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for obtaining, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and means for determining, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for receiving, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and means for determining that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0010] 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.

[0011] 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.

[0012] 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

[0013] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, where:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process for beam selection in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example process for enhanced beam management in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure ;

[0017] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example process for enhanced beam management based on AI / ML in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example process of beam shape rotation based on UE rotation in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 6A and 6B illustrate schematic diagrams of example beam shapes before and after UE rotation in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of a comparison between beam shapes of one UE without or with a UE+User pattern being considered in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process for beam selection after UE rotation in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 9 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process for beam selection based on a UE-side model and the UE+User pattern in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 10 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process for beam selection based on a NW-side model and the UE+User pattern in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure

[0024] FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 13 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0027] FIG. 14 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0028] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] 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.

[0032] 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.

[0033] 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.

[0034] 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.

[0035] 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., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0036] 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.

[0037] 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.

[0038] 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-loT) 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 generation communication 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.

[0039] 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 (I AB) 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.

[0040] 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, a wearable 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-mounted equipment (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.

[0041] 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.

[0042] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, including a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120, can communicate with each other. In the example of FIG. 1, the first apparatus 110 may be or comprised in a terminal device (e.g., UE) and the second apparatus 120 may be or comprised in a network device (e.g., base station) serving the terminal device. Alternatively, the first apparatus 110 may be or comprised in a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 may be or comprised in a further terminal device.

[0043] It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the communication environment 100. It is noted that the second apparatus 120 may be another device than a network device and the first apparatus 110 may be another device than a terminal device.

[0044] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a UE and the second apparatus 120 operating as a base station. 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.

[0045] In some example embodiments, a transmission direction from the second apparatus 120 at a network device to the first apparatus 110 at a terminal device is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a transmission direction from the first apparatus 110 at a terminal device to the second apparatus 120 at a network device is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0046] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols, wireless local network communication protocols such as 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.

[0047] Currently, various mechanisms have been proposed for beam selection. For example, in a beam management (BM) process, the gNodeB (gNB) may configure UEs to measure a set of Reference Signals (RSs) such as Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) and Channel State Information (CSI) RSs. The gNB may transmit downlink (DL) transmit (TX) beams using unique RSs, and UE may measure the reference signal received power (RSRP) of each beam with receiver (RX) beams and report the strongest set of RS identifiers and corresponding RSRP measurements to the gNB. The current CSI reporting may be configured in a periodic / semi-persistent fashion with a high periodicity in order to get a full and accurate picture of the UE conditions and optimize e.g., beam switching. This procedure is also referred to as an initial beam-pair establishment procedure (P1).

[0048] Then, a TX beam refinement procedure (P2) may find the best CSI-RS beams by transmitting CSI-RS beams, which are more directional and provide higher received signal strength than SSB beams. In a RX beam refinement procedure (P3), the gNB may transmit the same TX beam over different time instances, and the UE may measure the TX beam with different RX beams to determine the best RX beam for data transmission. Thus, the best transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) beam pair may be determined for a connected UE. The P1, P2, and P3 procedures are also depicted in FIG. 3 and will be further discussed in the following.

[0049] In some examples, artificial Intelligence (Al) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms may replace the sequential beam scanning by recommending a reduced set of beams likely to contain the best beam index of the full beam scan. This is beneficial because the large number of beams included in TX and RX codebooks may lead to a large number of measurements to be performed for determining the best TX and RX beam pair.

[0050] BM is one of the different pilot use cases for applying the AI / ML model in the NR radio interface. The different pilot use cases may identify a common AI / ML framework, including functional requirements of AI / ML architecture, which could be used in subsequent releases and will pave the way for the design of native AI / ML 6G networks. The motivation behind the AI / ML-based BM stems from the increasing demand for efficient beam prediction schemes in wireless communication systems. The Release-18 Study Item (SI) objectives were focused to demonstrate the effectiveness of AI / ML-based BM models in reducing the measurement overhead (tightly related to the UE power consumption) while maintaining comparable end-to-end performance to conventional BM procedures.

[0051] The Release 18 BM use case is further studied for spatial-domain and time-domain beamprediction. The scope of spatial-domain beam prediction (BM-Case1) is to predict the best DL TX beam or DL TX / RX beam pairs in different spatial locations. Conversely, time-domain beam predictions (BM-Case2) aim to predict the best DL TX beam or DL TX / RX beam pairs to use for future time instants. It has been shown that AI / ML algorithms enable predicting the serving beam for different UE locations and time instances, thus avoid measuring the actual beam quality and saving those resources for data transmission and for the UE to increase the length of Discontinuous Reception (DRX). The AI / ML models discussed in BM-Case1 and BM-Case2 may be trained and deployed at UE (UE-sided models). The UE-sided models in an AI / ML-based beam management framework are also depicted in FIG. 4 and will be further discussed in the following. In addition to AI / ML model training and inference, there may be a mandatory principle for AI / ML enabled BM, which is to ensure that the performance of AI / ML model remains at a satisfactory level with respect to non-AI / ML BM operations.

[0052] In the current progress of 3GPP development in Rel-19 of the AI / ML techniques for beam management, there is an issue related to whether the Rx beam to be used for receiving the predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam is known or unknown. This issue happens because the prediction of SSB / CSI-RS beam may not rely on measurements of all the SSB / CSI-RS beams from gNB. On the contrary, the UE AIML model may only measure a part of SSB / CSI-RS beams and predict the best possible SSB / CSI-RS beam from all the SSB / CSI-RS beams from gNB. The Rx beam corresponding to the predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam needs to be found out before using the predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam to increase performance. Thus, an applying delay related to Rx beam selection may be caused.

[0053] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for beam selection. In a method, a first apparatus obtains, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device at a terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device. The first apparatus further determines a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device based on the pattern.

[0054] With this solution, the pattern specific to the terminal device (e.g., UE) and the user of the terminal device can be used for beam selection at the terminal device. For example, the UE Rx beam may be selected based on the pattern and the selection of UE Rx beam can be applied to enhance the BM process and / or AI / ML based BM. Further description of the enhancement and example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0055] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process 200 for beam selection according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the process 200. As shown in FIG. 2, the process 200 involves the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0056] In the process 200, the first apparatus 110 obtains 210, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device. The first apparatus 110 further determines 212, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device based on the pattern.

[0057] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may be or comprised in the terminal device. The second device may be or comprised in a network device. In this case, the solution of the present disclosure can apply in a UE-gNB beam selection scenario. For example, the first beam may be a UE Rx beam and the second beam may be a gNB Tx beam, or the first beam may be a UE Tx beam and the second beam may be a gNB Rx beam. Alternatively, the second device may be or comprised in a further terminal device. In this case, the solution of the present disclosure can apply in a UE-UE beam selection scenario. For example, the first beam may be a UE Rx beam and the second beam may be a UE Tx beam, or the first beam may be a UE Tx beam and the second beam may be a UE Rx beam.

[0058] In the present disclosure, the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device may be also referred to as a UE+user pattern or unique pattern. The unique pattern means that User A may have a unique pattern for UE1 and a unique pattern for UE2, and User A and User B may have respective unique patterns for the same UE1. In some cases, for a combination of a specific UE and a specific user, there may be one or more unique patterns. For example, there may be one unique pattern when the User A first buys the UE1 and uses the UE1 very carefully, and there may be another unique pattern for the UE1 and User A after the User A has used the UE1 for years.

[0059] In some embodiments, the beam shape comprised in the unique pattern may be associated with an antenna design of the terminal device, a formfactor of the terminal device, surrounding of the terminal device, and / or a hand size of the user. For example, human hands near the antenna array generating the beams may impact the beam shape of the UE.

[0060] In some embodiments, the habit of the user using the terminal device may also affect the beam shape of the terminal device. In some embodiments, the habit of the user using the terminal device may comprise a position of the user holding the terminal device. For example, a specific user may hold a specific smart phone at specific locations due to the holding habit and hand size. The fingers near the antenna array may affect the beam shape. Alternatively or in addition, the habit of the user using the terminal device may comprise a decoration of the terminal device. A specific user may decorate the smart phone according to a specific preference. For example, a user may prefer to use a shockproof case for the smart phone or not, or prefer to add stickers to the smart phone. The decoration of the terminal device may also affect the beam shape. For example, metal materials in the shockproof case may affect the beam shape.

[0061] Thus, one or more unique “user + UE (mobile phone)” pattern can be found based on theuser habit of holding the UE, the size of human hands, the position of holding the mobile phone. The combination of “user + UE (mobile phone)” may result in a unique pattern in the world for this person using this specific UE. For example, all the Rx beam shapes may be therefore impacted by the pattern.

[0062] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may obtain the pattern statistically, e.g., based on historical data related to the pattern. Alternatively or in addition, the first apparatus 110 may obtain the pattern by using an AI / ML model. The AI / ML model may learn this unique “user + UE (mobile phone)” pattern based on training data related to user behaviors and measurements of the UE beam shape, the new unique 3D FR2 beams of UE based on “user + UE (mobile phone)” pattern can be established. In some embodiments, the AI / ML model may predict the pattern based on a first real-time state of the terminal device and a second real-time state of the user using the terminal device. As an example, whether the UE is in charge may be input to the trained AI / ML model to predict the pattern. As another example, whether the user is making a phone call or playing games may be input to the trained AI / ML model to predict the pattern, e.g., to predict the hand positions.

[0063] Based on the unique pattern, the first apparatus 110 can determine 212, the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device. As discussed above, the solution of the present disclosure can enhance the BM process and / or AI / ML based BM. Details are described with reference to FIG. 3 to 4 in the following.

[0064] FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example process 300 for enhanced beam management in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 illustrates the P1, P2 and P3 procedure as discussed above. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the UE+User pattern 310 may be used for determining the UE RX beam, which can act as an alternative or addition to the P3 procedure. For example, assuming that the gNB Tx beams may not change frequently, if the patten indicates that the UE beam shape does not change much, a previously selected Rx beam may be selected without the P3 procedure. Moreover, if the pattern can predict a change of the beam shape, e.g., a rotation of the beam shape due to a rotation of the UE, this information can be used for selecting UE Rx beam without the P3 procedure, thereby avoiding the delay of the P3 procedure. Details will be described in the following.

[0065] Although not shown, the UE+User pattern 310 may be also used to reduce the beam search / sweeping time for the first time to find Tx and Rx beam pair to establish the connection between UE and gNB, i.e., in the P1 procedure. For example, the UE may use this pattern to select one or more wider Rx beams to find the SSB first, and avoid using overlapping beams during the beam sweeping and beam search.

[0066] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example process for enhanced beam management based on AI / ML in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 4, a gNB 401 and a UE 402 are involved. The UE 402 may be anexample of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 2 and the gNB 401 may be an example of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 2.

[0067] FIG. 4 illustrates a process 400 for the UE-sided AI / ML model. In the process 400, at 411 , the gNB 401 transmits set A and set B to the UE 402. The set A may refer to a set of beams for measurement and the set B may refer to a set beams to be predicted by the AI / ML model. Details of the set A and set B are omitted herein. At 412, the UE 402 performs AI / ML model training. At 413, the gNB 401 transmits set B to the UE 402. At 414, the UE 402 starts AI / ML model inference. At 415, the UE 402 transmits top-k predicted beams to the gNB 401. At 416, the gNB 401 transmits beam indication to the UE 402. Additionally, after 412, the UE 402 may perform at 417 AI / ML model performance monitoring.

[0068] Particularly, the AI / ML model may only predict the DL Tx beam and not the Tx-Rx beam pair. The UE Rx beam corresponding to the best predicted DL Tx beam(s) may need to be further determined. The solution of the present disclosure can apply to enhance the AI / ML based BM by determining the UE Rx beam based on the pattern as an alternative or addition to the P3 procedure. For example, in the process 400, at 491, the UE 402 may perform UE Rx beam selection based on the UE+User pattern as an alternative or addition to the P3 procedure.

[0069] The solution of the present disclosure can achieve more significant effects when the UE is in motion or it is rotating. The reason may be as follows. When a UE rotates or its orientation changes, potentially the optimal RX beam will not be optimal any longer. The degree of rotation influences this change, with the new best RX beam potentially residing within the same Multi-Transmit (MT) panel or could belong to another MT panel. Therefore, a P3 procedure is required to identify the new optimal RX beam corresponding to the UE's altered orientation. The rotation and / or movement means that the predicted / indicated DL Tx beam may change frequently and thus requiring more frequent P3 procedures to determine corresponding Rx beam of the indicated Tx beam. Moreover, as the number of RX beams increases, the UE requires more measurement processing and this may lead to increased reporting latency. Therefore, if the unique pattern is used for UE Rx beam selection without a P3 procedure, the latency can be reduced significantly.

[0070] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example process 500 for beam shape rotation based on UE rotation in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the beam shape of the UE rotates as the UE rotates. Note that, although the beam shape is shown in 2D, a spherical coverage is achieved by the UE beams.

[0071] FIG. 6A and 6B illustrate schematic diagrams of example beam shapes before and after UE rotation respectively in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 6A and 6B, there is TRP1 sending SSB / CSI-RS beams to the UE in the same direction before and after the UE rotates, i.e., the direction of those SSB / CSI-RS beams may notchange before and after the UE rotates. However, the UE’s beams may change their orientation according to the UE rotation. As shown in the FIG. 6A and 6B, take the UE with 3 antenna arrays for example, each antenna array may generate 9 beams. That is, one antenna array can generate certain beams which only cover a certain part of the 3D sphere around such UE. As shown in FIG. 6A and 6B, all of 3 x 9 beam shapes rotate as the UE rotates.

[0072] After determination, e.g., AIML prediction of the SSB / CSI-RS beam from gNB, the UE needs to search all Rx beams to pair the predicted SSB / CSI-RS by one of Rx beam generated by one of UE’s antenna arrays. The gNB may further transmit the TCI states to the UE to tell the UE if the predicted SSB or CSI-RS beam will be used or not, then the UE needs to act accordingly.

[0073] If the UE has 2 antenna arrays (not shown), and each antenna array can generate 9 Rx beams (9x2 Rx beams in total), the beam pairing procedure may include switching to another antenna array and finding out the new best beam generated by the new antenna array to pair to the predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam from gNB. Thus, searching the best Rx beam to pair with the predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam may cause the applying delay.

[0074] In some cases, the UE may be aware of its own physical orientation before the beam search. Then, after the AI / ML prediction of the SSB / CSI-RS (i.e., the UE knows the direction of the predicted SSB / CSI-RS from gNB), the UE may only use those Rx beams pointing to the direction of the predicted SSB / CSI-RS to pair with the predicted SSB / CSI-RS. The UE may not need to consider the other Rx beams during the pairing process at all, thus the time for applying the pairing of the Rx beam and SSB / CSI-RS pair can be saved. This process may be called UE-orientation-aware beam search. Such method can be defined as a new UE capability. The UE can use it to facilitate and speed up the beam search procedure. There can be other cases that if UE is aware of its own physical orientation all the time, and then the delay of beam searching can be reduced.

[0075] The UE-orientation-aware beam search can also be considered as an extension of enhancement of beam management. Particularly, the UE-orientation-aware beam search and the UE+User pattern can be combined to achieve more efficient beam selection.

[0076] Referring back to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine a set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam from based on a rotation of the terminal device, and determine, from the set of candidate beams, the first beam based on the pattern. The set of candidate beams may be determined based on the UE-orientation-aware beam search or any other suitable ways refining the beam set. For example, an AI / ML model may be used for determining the set of candidate beams.

[0077] When combined with the UE-orientation-aware beam search, in some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may first obtain a previously paired beam of the terminal device paired with the second beam before the rotation. The first apparatus 110 may further determine a number of beams to beshifted from the previously paired beam based on the rotation and at least one beam coverage angle of the terminal device, and then determine the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam after the rotation based on the number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam.

[0078] For example, if the UE has 3 antenna arrays, and each of one antenna array generates 9 beams, as shown in FIG. 6A and 6B, each beam covers 120 / 9 = 13.3 degrees in Theta plane of a coordination system. If the rotation of UE is 90 degrees in Theta, then 90 / 13.3= 6.76 means that the number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam is 6.76 approximately.

[0079] If the previously paired Rx beam ID “2” (from left to right) on antenna array 1 (on the top left corner of the UE, antenna array 2 on the top right corner, the rest is antenna array 3) was used to receive the Tx beam CSI-RS #1 from gNB, then the beam ID after the UE rotation to receive the same Tx beam CSI-RS #1 from gNB may be determined as the beam ID 6 or ID 5 from the antenna array 3. The beams with beam ID 6 and beam ID 5 may be determined as the set of candidate beams to be fine-tuned. This procedure can be extended to both Psi and Phi angles in the coordination system. Assuming that the SSB / CSI-RS beam from the gNB may not change frequently, this beam-shifting procedure may only take time in nanoseconds, thereby reducing the milliseconds taken for P3 procedure.

[0080] Based on the set of candidate beams, the first apparatus 110 may fine-tune the set of candidate beams based on the UE+User pattern. The beam shape of all of the UE Rx beams may change based on the UE rotation and / or the pattern.

[0081] FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of a comparison between beam shapes of one UE without / with the UE+User pattern being considered in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in the FIG. 7, with the UE+User pattern, e.g., human hand and formfactor impacts, being considered, in the dominant beam range the beam shape of each of 3x9 beams generated by 3 antenna arrays may change accordingly.

[0082] Thus, simply using the one of the Rx beam to point to the exact direction of SSB / CSI-RS beam may not work. Therefore, fine-tuning of the Rx beam among the candidate Rx beams able to point to predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam is very important. For example, the AI / ML model can learn this unique “user + UE (mobile phone)” pattern, and then new unique 3D FR2 beams of the UE based on the “user + UE (mobile phone)” pattern can be established based on the antenna array design inside of the phone. The above-mentioned UE-orientation-aware beam search methods still can be used. For example, after the UE rotates, the UE-orientation-aware beam search methods can be used to quickly find out the another Rx beam to pair with the Tx beam (SSB / CSI-RS) from the gNB.

[0083] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine the first beam (e.g., target UE Rx beam) from the set of candidate beams without a beam measurement of the set of candidate beams. For example, the P3 procedure may be skipped for determining the target UE Rx beam and / or the setof candidate beams for the target UE Rx beam.

[0084] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may obtain at least one of the rotation or an orientation of the terminal device. For example, the UE may use sensors to detect the rotation of the UE, and then the UE can quickly switch to another antenna array and find the best Rx beam to pair with the predicted SSB / CSI-RS beam from gNB. In some embodiments, the UE may be aware of its orientation all the time.

[0085] For example, the UE may be equipped with a variety of sensors. The sensors can enable the UE to interact the real-time situation in the field. There may be three basic sensors, i.e. , accelerometer, gyroscope sensor, magnetometer sensor. Any other suitable sensor may be also used. Examples of the sensors comprise G-sensor (Gravity Sensor), Proximity Sensor, Ambient Light Sensor, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, GPS Sensor, NFC (Near-Field Communication) Sensor, Hall Sensor, LiDAR, etc. Those sensors can detect the UE rotation when the user is using it in the field, for example, rotating the screen, lifting the UE, putting the UE down, and so on.

[0086] Referring back to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may further transmit 214, from the terminal device and to the second device, first capability information indicating support of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device. The UEAssistancelnformation message used for the indication of UE assistance information (UAI) to the network may be used for carrying the first capability information. This message can be used in this scenario since it enables the UE to provide information for the network with good enough time granularity.

[0087] On the other side, the second apparatus 120 may receive 216 the first capability information indicating support of beam selection based on the pattern at the terminal device. In some embodiments, based on receiving the first capability information, the second apparatus 120 may determine 218, that the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern. Alternatively or in addition, any other suitable indication may be received by the second device and used for determining 218, that the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0088] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may further receive, from the second device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

[0089] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may further transmit, from the terminal device and to the second device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device. The second capability information may be also carried by the UEAssistancelnformation message.

[0090] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may further use one or more sensors in theterminal device to obtain data related to self blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device. Sensors such as proximity and LiDAR may be used to detect self-blockage and nearby blockages. As self-blockage or any other blockage close to the UE may reduce the L1-RSRP by 10-15 dB, sensor information can be utilized to map RX beams which are pointing towards the blockages.

[0091] In some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may detect the self-blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device based on the sensor data obtained by one or more sensors in the terminal device, and determine one or more beams of the terminal device associated with the selfblockage or nearby blockage. The first apparatus 110 may further determines the first beam (e.g., target UE Rx beam) from candidate beams excluding the one or more beams associated with the selfblockage or nearby blockage.

[0092] For example, the UE may avoid measuring the RX beams associated with the blockages unless the sensors indicate the disappearance of the self-blockage or nearby blockage. This can reduce the measurement delay by excluding a subset of RX beams which are subjected to blockage.

[0093] With reference to above figures, the solution of beam selection according to the embodiments of the present disclosure is described. With the solution, the applying delay of Rx beam to pair with the predicted Tx beam (SSB / CSI-RS beams) can be reduced by using known 3D FR2 beams of UE when UE is rotating. The unique pattern generated by the AI / ML model can be combined with the above-mentioned UE-orientation-aware beam search methods, when UE rotates, to quickly find out another Rx beam to pair the Tx beam (SSB / CSI-RS) from gNB. Example processes of the solution will be described with FIG. 8 to 10 in the following.

[0094] FIG. 8 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process 800 for beam selection after UE rotation in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example process of FIG. 8, a multi-panel UE 801 and a gNB 802 are involved in the process 800. The multipanel UE 801 may be an example of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 2 and the gNB 802 may be an example of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 2.

[0095] In the process 800, at 811, the gNB 802 sends SSB / CSI-RS beams to the multi-pane UE 801 and the multi-pane UE 801 starts to act after the sending is done. At 812, the multi-panel UE 801 does Rx beam search or sweeping to find the best Rx beam to align with the SSB / CSI-RS beam. At 813, the multi-panel UE 801 detects UE rotation angles based on sensors and sends it to a beam management unit. Note that the management unit calculates the delta of beam numbers based on the rotation angle and each Rx beam coverage angle. Then at 814, the multi-panel UE 801 shifts the Rx beam based on the delta of beam number and uses the new Rx beam to align with the same Tx beam. At 815, the multi-panel UE 801 may need to fine-tune Tx beam around the new beam ID. The multipanel UE 801 may further transmit the related values to the gNB 802. Then at 816, the gNB 802 knows the Rx beams with the reported U E_orie ntation related values.

[0096] FIG. 9 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process 900 for beam selection based on a UE-side model and the UE+User pattern in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example process of FIG. 9, the multi-panel UE 801 and the gNB 802 are involved in the process 900.

[0097] At 901, the multi-panel UE 801 establishes a connection to the gNB 802. At 902, the gNB 802 transmits a UE capability enquiry to the multi-panel UE 801. At 903, the multi-panel UE 801 sends UE capability information with UE_orientation_aware_capability to the gNB 802, which provides support of new UE capabilities related to this feature. At 904, the gNB 802 transmits a RRC configuration for beam prediction(BP) to the multi-panel UE 801. The RRC configuration includes a CSLReprotConfig for beam prediction, and optionally includes enabling information indicating that the UE_orientation_aware_capability is enabled. The network includes this information for the UE to know that the UE orientation aware capability is enabled by the network. If this feature is not configured by the gNB 802, the UE may not send UE assistance information including the capability information.

[0098] At 905, the multi-panel UE 801 may transmit a RRCRecondigurationComplete message to the gNB 802. At 906, the multi-panel UE 801 may use the sensors to evaluate the rotation of the multipanel UE 801, in other words, the UE may determine its orientation. The UE orientation calculation may be based on a variety of sensors, such as the three basic sensors ACCELEROMETER, GYROSCOPE, MAGNETOMETER. The UE orientation may change due to the UE movement. If the calculated UE orientation is different, then the process may proceed to 907, otherwise it may wait at 906 and repeat the step.

[0099] At 907, the multi-panel UE 801 performs beam prediction with Rx beam prediction based on Rx beam information form sensors. The prediction may be based on the UE-orientation-aware beam search and the UE+User pattern as discussed above. Also, the P3 procedure may be skipped.

[0100] At 908, the multi-panel UE 801 sends L1-RSRP reports to the gNB 802. With the report, at 909, the gNB 802 may know the Rx beam with the reported UE orientation related values. This implicitly reduces the measurement delay for both L1 and L3 measurements by reducing the P3 procedure. Then the process may return to 906 and repeat the further operations.

[0101] FIG. 10 illustrates a signaling flow of an example process 1000 for beam selection based on a NW-side model and the UE+User pattern in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In the example process of FIG. 10, the multi-panel UE 801 and the gNB 802 are involved in the process 1000.

[0102] At 1001, the multi-panel UE 801 may establish a connection to the gNB 802. At 1002, the gNB 802 may transmit UE capability enquiry to the multi-panel UE 801. At 1003, the multi-panel UE 801 sends UE capability information with UE_orientation_aware_capability to the gNB 802, which provides support of new UE capabilities related to this feature. At 1004, the gNB 802 transmits a RRCconfiguration for beam prediction (BP) to the multi-panel UE 801, which includes a CSLReprotConfig for beam prediction, and optionally includes enabling information for the UE_orientation_aware_capability.

[0103] At 1005, the multi-panel UE 801 transmits a RRCRecondigurationComplete to the gNB 802. At 1006, the multi-panel UE 801 uses the sensors to evaluate the rotation of the multi-panel UE 801 and the AI / ML model learns the (UE+User) pattern to facilitate the procedure. The AI / ML model may learn the (UE+User) pattern in the background for as long as user keep using or own this UE. The 3D FR2 beams of UE may be therefore adjusted based on the (UE+User) pattern to facilitate the procedure.

[0104] At 1007, the multi-panel UE 801 maintains the indicated DL Tx beam and determines the corresponding Rx beam using the sensors. The P3 procedure may be skipped. At 1008, the multipanel UE 801 sends L1-RSRP reports to the gNB 802. With the report, at 1009, the gNB 802 may know that the UE capability is used and it successfully avoids the beam failure. The gNB 802 may also know Rx beams with the reported UE orientation related values.

[0105] Referring to the FIG. 8 to 10, the processes with / without the AIML-based BM may be considered as part of the enhancement of BM to avoid beam failure and to reduce the beam recovery. The P3 procedure can be skipped or this capability can be introduced into BM to reduce the beam failure and beam search / recovery.

[0106] FIG. 11 shows a flowchart of an example method 1100 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1100 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 2.

[0107] At block 1110, the first apparatus 110 obtains a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device.

[0108] At block 1120, the first apparatus 110 determines a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device based on the pattern.

[0109] In some example embodiments, the beam shape is associated with at least one of: an antenna design of the terminal device, a formfactor of the terminal device, surrounding of the terminal device, or a hand size of the user.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the habit affects the beam shape of the terminal device.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the habit of the user using the terminal device comprises at least one of: a position of the user holding the terminal device, or a decoration of the terminal device.

[0112] In some example embodiments, obtaining the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device comprises: obtaining the pattern by using an artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI / ML) model.

[0113] In some example embodiments, the AI / ML model predicts the pattern based on a first realtime state of the terminal device and a second real-time state of the user using the terminal device.

[0114] In some example embodiments, determining, based on the pattern, the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device comprises: determining a set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam based on a rotation of the terminal device; and determining, from the set of candidate beams, the first beam based on the pattern.

[0115] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is caused to determine the first beam from the set of candidate beams without a beam measurement of the set of candidate beams.

[0116] In some example embodiments, determining the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam based on the rotation of the terminal device comprises: obtaining a previously paired beam of the terminal device paired with the second beam before the rotation; determining a number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam based on the rotation and at least one beam coverage angle of the terminal device; and determining the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam after the rotation based on the number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: obtaining at least one of the rotation or an orientation of the terminal device.

[0118] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: transmitting, from the terminal device and to the second device, first capability information indicating support of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: transmitting, from the terminal device and to the second device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the method 1100 further comprises: receiving, from the second device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is further caused to use one or more sensors in the terminal device to obtain data related to at least one of: an orientation of the terminal device, a rotation of the terminal device, self blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device.

[0122] In some example embodiments, determining, based on the pattern, the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device comprises: detecting selfblockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device based on sensor data obtained by one or more sensors in the terminal device; determining one or more beams of the terminal device associated with the self-blockage or nearby blockage; and determining the first beam from candidate beams excluding the one or more beams associated with the self-blockage or nearby blockage.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or comprised in the terminal device, and the second device is or comprised in a network device or a further terminal device.

[0124] FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of an example method 1200 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1200 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 2.

[0125] At block 1210, the second apparatus 120 receives capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device.

[0126] At block 1220, the second apparatus 120 determines that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the beam shape of the terminal device is associated with at least one of: an antenna design of the terminal device, a formfactor of the terminal device, surrounding of the terminal device, or a hand size of the user.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the habit affects the beam shape of the terminal device.

[0129] In some example embodiments, the habit of the user using the terminal device comprises at least one of: a position of the user holding the terminal device, or a decoration of the terminal device.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: receiving, at the second device and from the terminal device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the method 1200 further comprises: transmitting, from the second device and to the terminal device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus is or comprised in a network device or a further terminal device.

[0133] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1100 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 2) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1100. 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 110 may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 2.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for obtaining, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; andmeans for determining, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the beam shape is associated with at least one of: an antenna design of the terminal device, a formfactor of the terminal device, surrounding of the terminal device, or a hand size of the user.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the habit affects the beam shape of the terminal device.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the habit of the user using the terminal device comprises at least one of: a position of the user holding the terminal device, or a decoration of the terminal device.

[0138] In some example embodiments, means for obtaining the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device comprises: obtaining the pattern by using an artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI / ML) model.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the AI / ML model predicts the pattern based on a first realtime state of the terminal device and a second real-time state of the user using the terminal device.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the means for determining, based on the pattern, the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device comprises: means for determining a set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam based on a rotation of the terminal device; and determining, from the set of candidate beams, the first beam based on the pattern.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is caused to determine the first beam from the set of candidate beams without a beam measurement of the set of candidate beams.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the means for determining the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam based on the rotation of the terminal device comprises: means for obtaining a previously paired beam of the terminal device paired with the second beam before the rotation; means for determining a number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam based on the rotation and at least one beam coverage angle of the terminal device; and means for determining the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam after the rotation based on the number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining at least one of the rotation or an orientation of the terminal device.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, from the terminal device and to the second device, first capability information indicating support of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the userof the terminal device.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, from the terminal device and to the second device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is further caused to use one or more sensors in the terminal device to obtain data related to at least one of: an orientation of the terminal device, a rotation of the terminal device, self blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the means for determining, based on the pattern, the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device comprises: means for detecting self-blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device based on sensor data obtained by one or more sensors in the terminal device; means for determining one or more beams of the terminal device associated with the self-blockage or nearby blockage; and means for determining the first beam from candidate beams excluding the one or more beams associated with the self-blockage or nearby blockage.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is or comprised in the terminal device, and the second device is or comprised in a network device or a further terminal device.

[0150] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 1200 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 2) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 1200. 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 second apparatus 120 in FIG. 2.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for receiving, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and means for determining that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the beam shape of the terminal device is associated with at least one of: an antenna design of the terminal device, a formfactor of the terminal device, surrounding of the terminal device, or a hand size of the user.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the habit affects the beam shape of the terminal device.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the habit of the user using the terminal device comprises at least one of: a position of the user holding the terminal device, or a decoration of the terminal device.

[0155] I n some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, at the second device and from the terminal device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, from the second device and to the terminal device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus is or comprised in a network device or a further terminal device.

[0158] FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1300 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1300 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 1300 includes one or more processors 1310, one or more memories 1320 coupled to the processor 1310, and one or more communication modules 1340 coupled to the processor 1310.

[0159] The communication module 1340 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1340 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 1340 may include at least one antenna.

[0160] The processor 1310 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 1300 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.

[0161] The memory 1320 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) 1324, 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) 1322 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0162] A computer program 1330 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1310. The instructions of the program 1330 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1330 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1324. The processor 1310 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1330 into the RAM 1322.

[0163] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1330 so that the device 1300 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 12. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the program 1330 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1300 (such as in the memory 1320) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1300. The device 1300 may load the program 1330 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1322 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 limitation of the medium itself (i.e. , tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0165] FIG. 14 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1400 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1400 has the program 1330 stored thereon.

[0166] 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.

[0167] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable 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. Machineexecutable 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.

[0168] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in anycombination 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 in the 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.

[0169] 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.

[0170] 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.

[0171] 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 subcombination.

[0172] 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 features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaims or any of the below embodiments.

[0173] Embodiment 17. A second apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: receive, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and determine that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

[0174] Embodiment 18. The second apparatus of embodiment 17, wherein the beam shape of the terminal device is associated with at least one of: an antenna design of the terminal device, a formfactor of the terminal device, surrounding of the terminal device, or a hand size of the user.

[0175] Embodiment 19. The second apparatus of embodiment 17 or 18, wherein the habit affects the beam shape of the terminal device.

[0176] Embodiment 20. The second apparatus of embodiment 19, wherein the habit of the user using the terminal device comprises at least one of: a position of the user holding the terminal device, or a decoration of the terminal device.

[0177] Embodiment 21. The second apparatus of any of embodiments 17 to 20, wherein the second apparatus is further caused to: receive, at the second device and from the terminal device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device.

[0178] Embodiment 22. The second apparatus of any of embodiments 17 to 21, wherein the second apparatus is further caused to: transmit, from the second device and to the terminal device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

[0179] Embodiment 23. The second apparatus of any of embodiments 17 to 22, wherein the second apparatus is or comprised in a network device or a further terminal device.

[0180] Embodiment 26. A first apparatus comprising: means for obtaining, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and means for determining, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

[0181] Embodiment 27. A second apparatus comprising: means for receiving, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; and means fordetermining that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the seconddevice is determined based on the pattern.

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 to:obtain, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; anddetermine, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the beam shape is associated with at least one of: an antenna design of the terminal device,a formfactor of the terminal device,surrounding of the terminal device, ora hand size of the user.

3. The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the habit affects the beam shape of the terminal device.

4. The first apparatus of claim 3, wherein the habit of the user using the terminal device comprises at least one of:a position of the user holding the terminal device, ora decoration of the terminal device.

5. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein obtaining the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device comprises:obtaining the pattern by using an artificial intelligence or machine learning (AI / ML) model.

6. The first apparatus claim 5, wherein the AI / ML model predicts the pattern based on a first real-time state of the terminal device and a second real-time state of the user using the terminal device.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein determining, based on the pattern, thefirst beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device comprises: determining a set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam based on a rotation of the terminal device; anddetermining, from the set of candidate beams, the first beam based on the pattern.

8. The first apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to determine the first beam from the set of candidate beams without a beam measurement of the set of candidate beams.

9. The first apparatus of claim 7 or 8, wherein determining the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam based on the rotation of the terminal device comprises:obtaining a previously paired beam of the terminal device paired with the second beam before the rotation;determining a number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam based on the rotation and at least one beam coverage angle of the terminal device; anddetermining the set of candidate beams to be paired with the second beam after the rotation based on the number of beams to be shifted from the previously paired beam.

10. The first apparatus of any of claims 7 to 9, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to:obtain at least one of the rotation or an orientation of the terminal device.

11. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to:transmit, from the terminal device and to the second device, first capability information indicating support of beam selection based on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device.

12. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 11 , wherein the first apparatus is further caused to:transmit, from the terminal device and to the second device, second capability information indicating support of beam selection based on an orientation of the terminal device.

13. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to:receive, from the second device, enabling information indicating enabling of beam selectionbased on the pattern specific to the terminal device and the user of the terminal device at the terminal device.

14. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to use one or more sensors in the terminal device to obtain data related to at least one of:an orientation of the terminal device, a rotation of the terminal device, self blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device.

15. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 14, wherein determining, based on the pattern, the first beam of the terminal device to be paired with the second beam of the second device comprises:detecting self-blockage or nearby blockage of the terminal device based on sensor data obtained by one or more sensors in the terminal device;determining one or more beams of the terminal device associated with the self-blockage or nearby blockage; anddetermining the first beam from candidate beams excluding the one or more beams associated with the self-blockage or nearby blockage.

16. The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 15, wherein the first apparatus is or comprised in the terminal device, and the second device is or comprised in a network device or a further terminal device.

17. 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 to:receive, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; anddetermine that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

18. A method comprising:obtaining, at a terminal device, a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shapeof the terminal device; anddetermining, based on the pattern, a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of a second device.

19. A method comprising:receiving, at a second device and from a terminal device, capability information indicating support of beam selection based on a pattern specific to the terminal device and a user of the terminal device, the pattern comprising a habit of the user using the terminal device and a beam shape of the terminal device; anddetermining that a first beam of the terminal device to be paired with a second beam of the second device is determined based on the pattern.

20. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 18 or the method of claim 19.

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