WO2019028733A1

WO2019028733A1 - Methods and devices for beam reporting

Info

Publication number: WO2019028733A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/096806
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fang Yuan; Chaonan HE; Gang Wang
Original assignee: Nec Corporation
Priority date: 2017-08-10
Filing date: 2017-08-10
Publication date: 2019-02-14

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, terminal device and apparatus for beam reporting and a method, network device and apparatus for receiving a beam report. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the method for beam reporting may comprise receiving, from a network device, beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting; and transmitting information on a beam quality pattern to the network device, wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds. With embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to reduce the range of differential beam quality values in differential reporting and at the same time, it may provide a compact beam quality reporting solution.

Description

METHODS AND DEVICES FOR BEAM REPORTING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The non-limiting and exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of wireless communication techniques， and more particularly relate to a method， terminal device and apparatus for beam reporting and a method， network device and apparatus for receiving a beam report.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

New radio access system， which is also called as NR system or NR network， is the next generation communication system. In Radio Access Network (RAN) #71 meeting for the third generation Partnership Project (3GPP) working group， study of the NR system was approved. The NR system will consider frequency ranging up to 100Ghz with an object of a single technical framework addressing all usage scenarios， requirements and deployment scenarios defined in Technical Report TR 38.913， which includes requirements such as enhanced mobile broadband， massive machine-type communications， and ultra-reliable and low latency communications.

In 3GPP RAN1 AH#2， it was agreed to study layer 1 Reference Signal Receiving Power (L1-RSRP) reporting of multiple beams， wherein differential L1-RSRPs for multiple beams are reported， a Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) for the multiple beams is used and the reference RSRP is predefined or configurable.

In 3GPP RAN1 89， it was further agreed that for beam management with a beam group， it shall consider reporting the following quantities：

· the max number of groups supported in the specification， M

· the max number of Tx beams per group supported in the specification， N

· the number of groups to report， L

· the number of Tx beams per group in the report， Q.

In other words， the specification can support at most M beam groups， each beam group with at most N Tx beams， but amongst the M beam groups， only L beam groups are required to report their beam qualities and for each beam group to be reported， only Q Tx beams， amongst N Tx beams， are required to report.

For illustration purposes， Figs. 1A and 1B shows schematic diagrams of example multi-beam reporting as agreed in 3GPP RAN1 89. As illustrated in Fig. IA， there are 5 beams (N＝5) between the gNB and user equipment (UE) ， but only the first two strongest beams (Q＝2) . That is to say， the beams to be reported can be determined based on RSRP values of the five beams and the first two strongest beams can be selected as the beams to be reported， as illustrated in Fig. 1B.

Fig. 1C illustrates a RSRP reporting mapping in the LTE system. As illustrated in Fig. 1C， there are totally 98 states for RSRP， i.e.， RSRP_00 to RSRP_97， which are indicated by 7 bits. Thus， in such a case， for the Q beams to be reported， the signaling overhead will be 7*Q if it is to support RSRP states in LTE as illustrated in Fig. 1C.

In US patent No. US8588116B2， there was disclosed a solution of efficient Channel Quality Information (CQI) signaling in multi-beam Multi-input Multi-output (MIMO) systems； in US application publication No. US2009/0060010A1， there was disclosed a solution of differential channel quality reporting； in another US patent No. US8942164B2， there was also disclosed a solution of differential CQI for Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems. In all these solutions， it was proposed to use differential CQI and cut-off threshold to reduce the signal overhead. However， different from the CQI in the LTE system， for the multi-beam case， the RSRP differential value is too dynamic， for example ranging from 5dBm to 85dBm， which means requiring more bits to indicate the differential value and thus it is not efficient if it is to cover the case with the maximum differential value.

In 3GPP technical document R1-1710660， there was proposed an L1-RSRP reporting for beam management， wherein a pre-configured RSRP value is transmitted to UE as a reference RSRP， the reference RSPR will be taken as a threshold， and only those RSRP values above the threshold will be quantized. US patent US9237475B2 also disclosed similar L1-RSRP reporting. For illustration purposes， reference will be made to Figs. 3A and 3B to describe the solution in brief.

As illustrated in Fig. 2A， the solution requires signaling overhead to configure the reference RSRP. Moreover， due to quantizing those RSRP values above the threshold， it requires a default mode when all RSRP values are below the threshold. Meanwhile， a too low RSRP threshold will have no much sense since nearly all RSRP values will be quantized. In addition， it might require a substantial number of bits to indicate the differential RSRP. Fig. 2B illustrates a mapping of RSRP bit to different reference RSRP and resolutions. From Fig. 2B， it can be seen that for example， for four beams， the resolution of [2， 2， 4， 8] and the RSRP reference of -140， the total number of required bits is 21 (＝6+6+5+4) ， and the total number of required bits is 17 (＝5+5+4+3) when the RSRP value is -105. Thus， the signaling overhead is rather high.

In 3GPP technical document R1-1710361， there was disclosed another RSRP reporting for a beam group， wherein the differential RSRP may be configured to be reported in a certain quantization level or resolution. In the solution， it adopts a step-wise differential RSRP calculation：

wherein

indicates the differential RSRP for beam q；

denote a quantization function；

indicates the reconstructed quantized RSRP of beam q-l； D_o indicates quantized RSRP value of beam 0；

denotes the differential RSRP of beam m；and m indicates an iterator， q indicates the beam index， wherein a fixed relationship f_q(x) for successive RSRP is used，

Figs. 3A and 3B illustrate an example of RSRP reporting of four beams according to the solution. As illustrated in Figs. 3A and 3B， for the four beams with RSRP values of -68， -73， -81 and -92 (dBm) . the RSRP differences of those adjacent beams are 5， 8， and 11， and thus the differential RSRP values Dq can be determined as -68， 4， 10 and 10 respectively. Further based on the fixed relationship as given hereinbefore， the reported RSRP value is -68， -72， -82， -92 respectively. However， for those large RSRP differences， for example those larger than 14， the accuracy is rather low since for those differences， Dq will be constantly determined as 18.

In view of the above， there is a need for a new solution of beam reporting in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To this end， in the present disclosure， there is provided a new solution for beam reporting， to mitigate or at least alleviate at least part of the issues in the prior art.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a method for beam reporting. The method may comprise receiving， from a network device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting， and transmitting information on a beam quality pattern to the network device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a method for receiving a beam report. The method may comprise transmitting， to a terminal device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting； and receiving information on a beam quality pattern from the terminal device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device may comprise a transceiver， configured to receive， from a network device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting， and transmit information on a beam quality pattern to the network device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a network device. The network device may comprise a transceiver configured to. transmit， to a terminal device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting； and receive information on a beam quality pattern from the terminal device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device may comprise a processor and a memory. The memory may be coupled with the processor and have program codes therein， which， when executed on the processor， cause the terminal device to perform operations of the first aspect.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a network device. The network device may comprise a processor and a memory. The memory may be coupled with the processor and having program codes therein， which， when executed on the processor， cause the network device to perform operations of the second aspect.

According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a computer-readable storage media with computer program codes embodied thereon， the computer program codes configured to， when executed， cause an apparatus to perform actions in the method according to any embodiment in the first aspect.

According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a computer-readable storage media with computer program codes embodied thereon， the computer program codes configured to， when executed， cause an apparatus to perform actions in the method according to any embodiment in the second aspect.

According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage media according to the seventh aspect.

According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure， there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage media according to the eighth aspect.

With embodiments of the present disclosure， it is possible to reduce the range of differential beam quality values in differential reporting and at the same time， it may provide a compact beam quality reporting solution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present disclosure will become more apparent through detailed explanation on the embodiments as illustrated in the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings， throughout which like reference numbers represent same or similar components and wherein：

Figs. lA to lB schematically illustrate schematic diagrams of example multi-beam reporting as agreed in 3GPP RAN1 89；

Fig. 1C schematically illustrates a RSRP reporting mapping in the LTE system；

Figs. 2A and 2B schematically illustrate a solution of L1-RSRP reporting for beam management and a mapping of RSRP bit to different reference RSRP and resolutions in the prior art；

Figs. 3A and 3B illustrate an example of RSRP reporting of four beams in the prior art；

Fig. 4 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a method for beam reporting according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 5 schematically illustrates example beam RSRP patterns according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Figs. 6A to 6D schematically illustrate example differential RSRP reporting solutions according to embodiments of the present disclosure；

Fig. 7 schematically illustrates pre-filtering of RSRP values according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 8 schematically illustrates a diagram of different kinds of RSRP information in beam reporting according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 9 schematically illustrates a diagram of a multi-stage beam information reporting solution according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 10 schematically illustrates an example table of RSRP threshold number configuration candidates according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 11 schematically illustrates an example table of RSRP threshold configuration candidates according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 12 schematically illustrates a flow chart of a method for receiving a beam report according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 13 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for beam reporting according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 14 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for receiving a beam report according to an embodiment of the present disclosure；

Fig. 15 schematically illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 1510 that may be embodied as or comprised in a network device like gNB， and an apparatus 1520 that may be embodied as or comprised in a terminal device like UE as described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter， the solution as provided in the present disclosure will be described in details through embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be appreciated that these embodiments are presented only to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and implement the present disclosure， not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any manner.

In the accompanying drawings， various embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated in block diagrams， flow charts and other diagrams. Each block in the flowcharts or blocks may represent a module， a program， or a part of code， which contains one or more executable instructions for performing specified logic functions， and in the present disclosure， a dispensable block is illustrated in a dotted line. Besides， although these blocks are illustrated in particular sequences for performing the steps of the methods， as a matter of fact， they may not necessarily be performed strictly according to the illustrated sequence. For example， they might be performed in reverse sequence or simultaneously， which is dependent on natures of respective operations. It should also be noted that block diagrams and/or each block in the flowcharts and a combination of thereof may be implemented by a dedicated hardware-based system for performing specified functions/operations or by a combination of dedicated hardware and computer instructions.

Generally， all terms used in the claims are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the technical field， unless explicitly defined otherwise herein. All references to “a/an/the/said [element， device， component， means， step， etc. ] ” are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of said element， device， component， means， unit， step， etc. ， without excluding a plurality of such devices， components， means， units， steps， etc. ， unless explicitly stated otherwise. Besides， the indefinite article “a/an” as used herein does not exclude a plurality of such steps， units， modules， devices， and objects， and etc.

Additionally， in a context of the present disclosure， user equipment (UE) may refer to a terminal， a Mobile Terminal (MT) ， a subscriber station， a portable subscriber station， Mobile Station (MS) ， or an Access Terminal (AT) ， and some or all of the functions of the UE， the terminal， the MT， the SS， the portable subscriber station， the MS， or the AT may be included. Furthermore， in the context of the present disclosure， the term “BS” may represent， e.g. ， a node B (NodeB or NB) ， an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) ， gNB (next generation Node B) ， a radio header (RH) ， a remote radio head (RRH) ， a relay， or a low power node such as a femto， a pico， and so on.

As mentioned in background， the beam reporting in the existing solution either ignores a certain RSRP region in multi-beam reporting， or the region of differential RSRP is too dynamic to achieve a good differential reporting efficiency. To this end， in the present disclosure， there is proposed a new solution for beam reporting to achieve an efficient beam reporting. Hereinafter， reference will be further made to Figs. 5 to 17 to describe the beam reporting solution as proposed in the present disclosure. It shall be appreciated that the following embodiments are given only for illustration purposes and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

Reference is first made to Fig. 4， which schematically illustrates a flow chart of a method of beam reporting according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 400 can be performed at a terminal device， for example UE， or other like terminal devices.

As illustrated in Fig. 4， first in step 401， the terminal device may receive beam reporting configuration information from a network device. The beam reporting configuration information may indicate the number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting.

The term “the beam quality” used herein refers to information that can reflect the channel quality of beams and it can also be called in another way， such as beam measurement quantity， beam measurement value， CQI of the beam， etc. As an example， the beam quality can be indicated by Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) of a beam. Hereinafter， the RSRP will be taken as an example of the beam quality information； however， the skilled in the art can readily understand that it is given just for illustration purposes and the present disclosure is not limited thereto， and in practice， it is possible to use any other measurements to reflect the beam quality.

In embodiments of the present disclosure， instead of only a single beam quality threshold， multi-level reference beam quality values will be configured to cover the whole beam quality region. Particularly， a plurality of reference RSRPs (i.e.， RSRP thresholds) will be used. Those RSRP thresholds can have any suitable configuration. For example， it could support a small gap or a large gap between thresholds， it also could support equal or unequal gap therebetween. By means of the thresholds， the whole RSRP region will be divided into a plurality of RSRP threshold range.

The beam reporting configuration infonnation can be in any proper form as long as it can indicate the number of RSRP thresholds to be used. For example， it can use integrated configuration information which indicates， in addition to the number of beams， the beams to be reported and possibly other information like information bits. Or alternatively， it can be a separate threshold number indication signaling indicating only the number of RSRP thresholds to be used in the beam reporting.

Next， in step 402， the terminal device may transmit information on a beam quality pattern to the network device. The term “beam quality pattern” used herein is a pattern which indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds. Particularly， the beam quality pattern could indicate threshold ranges which the respective beam are located within. Therefore， different from the existing solution， the information on the beam RSRP pattern can be transmitted to the network device， to provide rough information of the beam quality.

Hereinafter， only for illustration purposes， reference will be made to Fig. 5 to describe example beam patterns according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in Fig. 5 there are 4 reference RSRP values (i.e.， 4 RSRP thresholds) T1 to T4 and two strongest beams to be reported. By means of the four RSRP thresholds， the whole RSRP range can be divided into 5 threshold regions. It can be appreciated that the gap between these thresholds can be small or large， and can be equal or unequal. For the two beams， there are totally 15 different combinations (beam RSRP patterns) ， as illustrated in Fig. 5， each of which corresponds to a possible combination of RSPR value ranges of two beams. In such a case， it requires 4 bits to indicate the 15 different beam RSRP patterns. From Fig. 5， it is rather clear that RSRP values below respective thresholds are not ignored but can be cut-off if required.

In addition， it can also be clear that the beam RSRP pattern is rough information of RSRP， which can inform the network device a rough range of the RSRP values of respective beams. In the present disclosure， the beam quality pattern can also be referred to as Type A information or Type A RSRP information. Based on the Type A information， the network device may perform some operations which only require rough RSRP information， for example control channel link adaption adjustment.

In addition， in the present disclosure， it may further transmit type B information， i.e.， differential beam quality information of the respective beams. Thus， in step 403， the terminal device may further transmit information on differential beam quality of the respective beams， to the network device. Herein， the differential beam quality of the respective beams is a differential value representing a difference of a channel quality value of a beam with respect to another quality value， like a beam quality threshold or a quality value of another beam. Different from Type A information， the differential beam quality information of the respective beams is fine information of RSRP， which indicates exact reported RSRP values to the network device. Based on the Type B information， the network device may also perform some operations which require fine RSRP information， for example data channel link adaption adjustment， etc.

The information on differential beam quality of the respective beams can be transmitted in any suitable form. In an embodiment of the present disclosure， the terminal device may transmit differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds. In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the terminal device transmitting differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam. For illustration purposes， references will be made to Figs. 6A and 6D to describe example differential RSRP reporting solutions.

Fig. 6A schematically illustrates an example differential RSRP reporting solution according to an embodiment of the present disclosure， wherein the information on differential RSRP of the respective beams may comprise differential RSRP of beams relative to corresponding ones of the RSRP thresholds. As illustrated in Fig. 6A the differential RSRP of a beam can be determined with respect to a corresponding RSRP threshold， for example， the lower limit of the threshold range in which the beam is located. As illustrated， the differential RSRP of beam 1， dRSRP1， is determined based on the RSRP value of beam 1 and its corresponding threshold T2， and the differential RSRP of beam 2， dRSRP2， is determined based on the RSRP value of beam 2 and its corresponding threshold T3. It shall be noticed that Fig. 6 is illustrated only for illustration purposes and the present disclosure is not limited thereto； for example， it is also possible to use the upper limit of the threshold range as a corresponding threshold of a beam.

Fig. 6B schematically illustrates another example differential RSRP reporting solution according to an embodiment of the present disclosure， wherein the differential beam quality information of a beam is determined relative to another beam located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam. As illustrated in Fig. 6B， in this case， the Type A information is “0110” ， wherein RSRP values of two beams are located within the same threshold range defined by two adjacent RSRP thresholds T1 and T2. In such a case， in addition to the solution as illustrated in Fig. 6A， the differential RSRP of one beam can also be determined with respect to the RSRP of the other beam. Particularly， in Fig. 6B， the differential RSRP of beam 2， dRSRP 2， is determined based on the RSRP value of beam 2 and its respective threshold T2 while the dRSRP1 is determined based on the RSRP values of beam 1 and the quantified RSRP value of the beam 2. In this way， the differential range is further reduced and thus it may further improve the resolution of the RSRP reporting.

Figs. 6C and 6D further schematically illustrate further example differential RSRP reporting solutions according to embodiments of the present disclosure， wherein the differential beam quality information of a beam is determined relative to another beam immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.

Reference is made to Fig. 6C and as illustrated， there are three beams beam 1 to beam 3， located with the same threshold range and a differential RSRP value of a beam can be determined based on an RSRP value of another beam which is ranked immediately lower than the beam in beam quality ordering. As illustrated in Fig. 6C， the differential RSRP of beam 2， dRSRP2， is determined based on the RSRP value of beam 2 and the quantized RSRP value of beam 3， Q (RSRP3) ； and the differential RSRP of beam 1， dRSRP1， is determined based on the RSRP value RSRP 1 of beam 1 and the quantized RSRP value of beam2， Q (RPRS2) . The values of Q (RSRP3) ， dRSRP2 and dRSRP1 are reported to the network device. In this way， it may reduce the change range of the differential RSRP as well and thus the resolution might be improved for some cases.

Similarly to Fig. 6D， in Fig， 6C， there are three beams， beam 1 to beam 3， located with the same threshold range and the differential beam quality information of a beam is determined relative to another beam immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering； however， the difference lies in that the differential RSRP value of a beam can be determined based on an RSRP value of another beam which is ranked immediately higher than the beam in beam quality ordering. As illustrated in Fig. 6D， the differential RSRP of beam 2 ， dRSRP2， is determined based on the quantized RSRP value of beam 1， Q (RSRP1) and the RSRP value of beam 2； and the differential RSRP of beam 3， dRSRP3， is determined based on the quantized RSRP value of beam2， Q(RPRS2) ， and the RSRP value of beam 3. The values of Q (RSRP1) ， dRSRP2 and dRSRP3 are reported to the network device. In this way， it may also reduce the change range of the differential RSRP and thus the resolution might be improved for some cases.

It shall be appreciated that the RSRP reporting solutions as illustrated in Figs. 6A to 6D are only given for illustration purposes， and the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， it is possible to pre-filter the beam quality values of respective beams to further reduce the differential range. As illustrated in Fig. 7， for the three beams， X3 can be determined as the RSRP value of beam 3， RSRP3； while X2 can be determined as the average value of the RSRP 3 and the RSRP value of beam 2， RSRP 2， and X1 can be determined as the average value of the RSRP3， the RSRP 2 and the RSRP value of beam 1， RSRP1. By means of such pre-filtering， RSRP values of three beams can be filtered to obtain three filtered RSRP values， which have a smaller differential change range than the original RSRP values RSRP1 to RSRP3. Based on the filtered RSRP values， it may further determine differential RSRP values for the three beams， for example using any solution as illustrated in Figs. 6A to 6D.

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure， the terminal device may also transmit the information on beam quality ordering of the beams to the network device as illustrated in step 404. That is to say， in addition to the beam quality pattern and the differential beam quality information， the information on beam quality ordering can be informed to the network as well. In fact， in the present disclosure， it may set a plurality of beam reporting modes， regarding reporting the beam quality pattern and the differential beam quality information， the information on beam quality ordering， which will be described with reference to Figs. 8 and 9.

As illustrated in Fig. 8， the RSRP reporting may include three kinds of RSRP information reporting， i.e.， RSRP index reporting， Type A RSRP information reporting and Type B RSRP reporting. The RSRP index reporting is to provide ordering information of RSRPs only； the Type A RSRP information includes， for example， the beam RSRP pattern information， which provides rough RSRP information of the reported beams； and the Type B RSRP information may include for example the differential RSRP information， which could indicate fine RSRP information of the reported beams.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， the beam reporting may include the following three modes：

Mode 1： RSRP index reporting only

Mode 2： RSRP index reporting and Type A RSRP reporting

Mode 3： RSRP index reporting， Type A RSRP reporting， and Type B RSRP reporting

It can be appreciated that different modes could provide RSRP information at different levels. As illustrated in Fig. 9， in Mode 1， the network device only know the power ordering of the reported beams； in Mode 2， the network device will learn the rough power range of the reported beams； in Mode 3， the network device will be informed of exact quantized value of reported beams. The reporting modes can be selected based on different requirements. In other words， it may support to report different contents in different reporting instances. For example， for beam sweeping for initial random access， or beam switching within the same beam group， it could adopt Mode 1； for the control channel link adaption adjustment， it could adopt Mode 2； while for the data channel link adaption adjustment， it may adopt Mode 3.

In embodiments of the present disclosure， these kinds of RSRP information can be reported by using their respective resources and their respective resources can be indicated by their respective information.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on beam quality ordering of the beams may comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel. The resources can be indicated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling， Media Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) ， or Downlink Control Information (DCI) . For example， the information on RSRP ordering can be transmitted by Uplink Control Information (UCI) ， either by periodically reporting on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) ， or by semi-persistent reporting on PUCCH， or can be transmitted on Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) ， for example， by aperoidically reporting on PUSCH signaling.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern may comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel. The resources can be indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI. For example， the information on a beam RSRP pattern can be transmitted on PUCCH， either by periodic reporting on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) ， or by semi-persistently reporting on PUCCH， or can be transmitted on PUSCH， by for example， aperiodically reporting on PUSCH signaling

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on differential beam quality information of the respective beams may comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and the resources can be indicated by DCI. For example， the differential beam quality information can be transmitted on PUCCH， for example by semi-persistently reporting on PUCCH， or can be transmitted on PUSCH， for example by aperiodically reporting on PUSCH signaling. Or alternatively， the differential beam quality information can be transmitted partly on PUSCH and partly PUCCH to provide more information bits， for example by semi-persistently reporting on PUCCH and aperiodically reporting on PUSCH signaling.

It shall be appreciated that although in 3GPP RAN88b， it was agreed that semi-persistent CSI reporting is not supported for aperiodic CSI-RS it doesn’ t preclude the case in which one CSI report is carried by multiple UL reporting instances. Thus， it is indeed viable to use combined resources to report the differential beam quality information as proposed hereinabove.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the number of beam quality thresholds enables a close-to-one state occupation of information bits for the beam quality pattern. The term “state occupation” used herein means a ratio of the number of patters to the total number of available states provided by the information bits. It can be appreciated that no optimality is lost in Type A and Type B RSRP information decomposition if the state occupation is 1. Thus， it will be preferable if the number of the threshold could enable a close-to-one state occupation.

For illustration purposes， reference will be made to Fig. 10 to describe an example table of RSRP threshold number configuration candidates according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in Fig. 10， there are illustrated 6 different candidates， the first three threshold number candidates are used for two-beam cases and the last three threshold number candidates are used for four-beam cases. The network device can select one candidate from the table and inform it to the terminal device in the beam quality reporting configuration information. Or alternatively， for each number of beams， there can be set a default candidate and the network device may inform the selected candidate only when it is different from the default one.

In addition， it can be seen that for different candidates， it may require different bits， obtain different approximate range and state occupation. For example， for the first candidate， the number of thresholds is 4 and the number of beams is 2. In such a case， the four thresholds can divide the whole RSRP range into five equal threshold ranges and thus the approximate range of RSRP is 98/5； there are 15 different RSRP patterns， it requires 4 RSRP bit to indicate Type A RSRP information and thus the state occupation will be 15/16， which is close to 1. As another example， for the second candidate， the number of thresholds is 10 and the number of beams is 2. In this case， the ten thresholds can divide the whole RSRP range into eleven equal threshold ranges and thus the approximate range of RSRP is 98/11； there are 66 different RSRP patterns， it requires 6 bits and thus the state occupation will be 66/64， which means two patterns are unavailable. However， if the number of the RSRP bits is determined as 7， the state occupation will be 66/128， which is rather undesirable. The third to sixth candidates are similar to the first candidate and could enable close-to-one state occupations.

Fig. 11 further illustrates an example table of threshold configuration candidates according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in Fig. 11，there are illustrated seven different candidates， with the first three candidates for the two-beam cases and the last four candidates for the four-beam cases. The network device can select one candidate from the table and inform it to the terminal device in the beam quality reporting configuration information. Or alternatively， for each number of beams， there can be set a default candidate and the network device may inform the selected candidate only when it is different from the default one.

As an example， for the first candidate， there are four thresholds， which are -44- [8， 16， 32， 24] (i.e.， -52， -60， -76， -108) respectively and the number of beams is 2. Ifthe resolution of respective RSRP threshold ranges is [1， 1， 2， 4， 4] ， it requires three bits to indicate Type B RSRP information since each threshold range will require 3 bit to meet its resolution； if the resolution of respective RSRP threshold range is [2， 2， 4， 8， 8] ， it requires two bits to indicate Type B RSRP information. From Fig. 10， it can be seed that the type A RSRP information requires 4 bits for the four thresholds and two beams， and thus the total RSRP bits for Type A and Type B RSRP information will be 10 (＝4+2*3) and 8 (＝4+2*2) respectively.

As another example， for the fifth candidate as illustrated in Fig. 11， there are two thresholds， which are -44- [32， 64] (i.e.， -76， -108) respectively； if the resolution of respective RSRP threshold range is [2， 2， 2] ， it requires four bits to indicate Type B RSRP information since each threshold range will require 4 bit to meet its resolution； if the resolution of respective RSRP threshold range is [4， 4， 4] ， it requires three bits to indicate Type B RSRP information； and if the resolution of respective RSRP threshold range is [8， 8， 8] ， it requires two bits to indicate Type B RSRP information. Thus， for a case of the resolution [2， 2， 4， 8] and four beams， the total required bits are 17 bits (＝4+ (4+4+3+2) ) while for the solution as recited in background， it requires 21 bits. Thus， it can be seen that the solution as proposed therein could provide more accurate RSRP reporting and at the same time it can reduce the signaling overhead.

From the above description， it can be seen that， with embodiments of the present disclosure， it is possible to reduce the range of differential beam quality values in differential reporting and at the same time， it may provide a compact beam quality reporting solution.

Fig. 12 illustrates schematically illustrates a flow chart of a method 1200 of receiving a beam report according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 1200 can be performed at a network device or network node， for example gNB， or other like network devices.

As illustrated in Fig. 12， first in step 1201， the network device may transmitting， to a terminal device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting.

As described with reference to Fig. 4， multi-level reference beam quality values will be configured to cover the whole beam quality region. Particularly， a plurality of reference RSRPs (i.e.， RSRP thresholds) will be used. Those RSRP thresholds can have any suitable configuration. For example， it could support a small gap or a large gap between thresholds， and it also could support equal or unequal gap therebetween. By means of the thresholds， the whole RSRP region will be divided into a plurality of RSRP threshold range. The beam reporting configuration information can be in any proper form as long as it can indicate the number of RSRP thresholds to be used. For example， it can use integrated configuration information which indicates， in addition to the number of beams， the beams to be reported and possibly other information like information bits； or alternatively， it can be a separate threshold number indication signaling indicating only the number of RSRP thresholds to be used in the beam reporting.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern may include any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and the resources can be indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the number of beam quality thresholds may enable a close-to-one state occupation of information bits for the beam quality pattern.

Then， in step 1202， the network device can receive information on a beam quality pattern from the terminal device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds. As already described with reference to Fig. 4， the beam quality pattern could indicate threshold ranges which the respective beam are located within. Therefore， different from the existing solution， the information on the beam RSRP pattern can be transmitted to the network device， to provide rough information of the beam quality. For detailed explanation， one can refer to Fig. 5 and its corresponding description.

Further in step 1203， the network device may further receive differential beam quality information of the respective beams， from the terminal device.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， the receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams may comprise receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds. For example， it may refer to the embodiments described with reference to Fig. 6A.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams may comprise receiving differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam. For example， the other beam may be located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is defined by two adjacent beam quality thresholds， as describe with reference to Fig. 6B. As another example， the other beam may be immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering， for example as described with reference to Fig. 6C and 6D.

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on differential beam quality information of the respective beams may comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and the resources can be indicated by DCI. For example， the differential beam quality information can be transmitted on PUCCH， for example by semi-persistently reporting on PUCCH， or can be transmitted on PUSCH， for example by aperiodically reporting on PUSCH signaling. Or alternatively， the differential beam quality information can be transmitted partly on PUSCH and partly PUCCH to provide more information bits， for example by semi-persistently reporting on PUCCH and aperiodically reporting on PUSCH signaling

In a still further embodiment of the present disclosure， the differential beam quality information of the respective beams may indicate differential beam quality information based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams. That is to say， the beam quality values of the respective beams may be first filtered and then the differential beam quality values can be determined based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams. In such a case， the network device may first obtain the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams based on the received differential beam quality values， and then obtain the original beam quality values based on the adopted filtering algorithm.

Next， in step 1204， the network device can receive information on beam quality ordering of the beams from the terminal device. As described with reference to Fig. 4， in addition to the beam quality pattern and the differential beam quality information， the information on beam quality ordering can be informed to the network as well. Moreover， in the present disclosure， it may set a plurality of beam reporting modes， and for details， reference can be made to Figs. 8 and 9.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the number of beam quality thresholds enables a close-to-one state occupation of information bits for the beam quality pattern. It can be appreciated that no optimality is lost in Type A and Type B RSRP information decomposition if the state occupation is 1. Thus， it will be preferable if the number of the threshold could enable a close-to-one state occupation.

Hereinabove， embodiments of the method of receiving a beam repot are described in brief hereinbefore with reference to Fig. 12. However， for some details of operations， one may refer to description with reference to Figs. 4 to 11.

Fig. 13 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for beam reporting according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Apparatus 1300 can be implemented at a terminal device such as the UE.

As illustrated in Fig. 13， Apparatus 1300 may include a configuration receiving module 1301 and a pattern transmission module 1302. The configuration receiving module 1301 may be configured to receive， from a network device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting. The pattern transmission module 1302 may be configured to transmit information on a beam quality pattern to the network device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， the apparatus 1300 may further comprise a differential beam quality information (BQI) transmission module 1303. The differential BQI transmission module 1303 may be configured to transmit differential beam quality information of the respective beams， to the network device.

For example， the differential BQI transmission module 1303 may be configured to transmit differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds. As another example， the differential BQI transmission module 1303 may be configured to transmit differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam. In such a case， the other beam may be located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is defined by two adjacent beam quality thresholds. Or alternatively， the other beam is immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.

In addition， the apparatus 1300 may further comprise a BQI filtering module 1304. The BQI filtering module 1304 may be further configured to filter beam quality values of the respective beams， wherein the differential beam quality information of the respective beams is determined based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams.

The apparatus 1300 may further comprise a BQI ordering transmission module 1305. The BQI ordering transmission module 1305 may be configured to transmit information on beam quality ordering of the beams to the network device.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on beam quality ordering of the beams may comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and can be indicated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling， Media Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) ， or Downlink Control Information (DCI) .

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI.

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure， resources for transmitting the differential beam quality information of the respective beams may comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and can be indicated by DCI.

In a still further embodiment of the present disclosure， the number of beam quality thresholds enables a close-to-one state occupation of information bits for the beam quality pattern.

Fig. 14 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus for uplink data scheduling according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Apparatus 1400 can be implemented at a network device such as gNB.

As illustrated in Fig. 14， apparatus 1400 may comprise a configuration transmission module 1401 and a pattern receiving module 1402. The configuration transmission module 1401 may be configured to transmit， to a terminal device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting. The pattern receiving module 1402 may be configured to receive information on a beam quality pattern from the terminal device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， the apparatus 1400 may further comprise a differential BQI receiving module 1403. The differential BQI receiving module 1403 may be configured to receive differential beam quality information of the respective beams， from the terminal device.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure， the differential BQI receiving module 1403 can be configured to receive differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the differential BQI receiving module 1403 can be configured to receive differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam. For example， the other beton may be located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is defined by two adjacent beam quality thresholds. As another beam， the other beam may be immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure， the differential beam quality information of the respective beams indicates differential beam quality information based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams.

In a further embodiment of the present disclosure， the apparatus 1400 may further comprise a BQI ordering receiving module 1404. The BQI ordering receiving module 1404 may be configured to receive information on beam quality ordering of the beams from the terminal device.

The apparatus 1400 may further comprise a BQI ordering transmission module 1405. The BQI ordering transmission module 1405 may be configured to transmit information on beam quality ordering of the beams to the network device.

Hereinbefore， apparatuses 1300 and 1400 are described with reference to Figs. 13 and 14 in brief. It can be noted that the apparatuses 1300 and 1400 may be configured to implement functionalities as described with reference to Figs. 4 to 12. Therefore， for details about the operations of modules in these apparatuses， one may refer to those descriptions made with respect to the respective steps of the methods with reference to Figs. 4 to 12.

It is further noted that components of the apparatuses 1300 and 1400 may be embodied in hardware， software， firmware， and/or any combination thereof. For example， the components of apparatuses 1300 and 1400 may be respectively implemented by a circuit， a processor or any other appropriate selection device.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the aforesaid examples are only for illustration not limitation and the present disclosure is not limited thereto； one can readily conceive many variations， additions， deletions and modifications from the teaching provided herein and all these variations， additions， deletions and modifications fall the protection scope of the present disclosure.

In addition， in some embodiment of the present disclosure， apparatuses 1300 and 1400 may comprise at least one processor. The at least one processor suitable for use with embodiments of the present disclosure may include， by way of example， both general and special purpose processors already known or developed in the future. Apparatuses 1300 and 1400 may further comprise at least one memory. The at least one memory may include， for example， semiconductor memory devices， e.g.， RAM， ROM， EPROM， EEPROM， and flash memory devices. The at least one memory may be used to store program of computer executable instructions. The program can be written in any high-level and/or low-level compliable or interpretable programming languages. In accordance with embodiments， the computer executable instructions may be configured， with the at least one processor， to cause apparatuses 1300 and 1400 to at least perform operations according to the method as discussed with reference to Figs. 4 to 12 respectively.

Fig. 15 further illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 1510 that may be embodied as or comprised in a network device like a base station in a wireless network and an apparatus 1520 that may be embodied as or comprised in a terminal device like UE as described herein.

The apparatus 1510 comprises at least one processor 1511， such as a data processor (DP) and at least one memory (MEM) 1512 coupled to the processor 1511. The apparatus 1510 may further comprise a transmitter TX and receiver RX 1513 coupled to the processor 1511， which may be operable to communicatively connect to the apparatus 1520. The MEM 1512 stores a program (PROG) 1514. The PROG 1514 may include instructions that， when executed on the associated processor 1511， enable the apparatus 1510 to operate in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure， for example the method 1200. A combination of the at least one processor 1511 and the at least one MEM 1512 may form processing means 1515 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The apparatus 1520 comprises at least one processor 1521， such as a DP， and at least one MEM 1522 coupled to the processor 1521. The apparatus 1520 may further comprise a suitable TX/RX 1523 coupled to the processor 1521， which may be operable for wireless communication with the apparatus 1510. The MEM 1522 stores a PROG 1524. The PROG 1524 may include instructions that， when executed on the associated processor 1521， enable the apparatus 1520 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure， for example to perform the method 400. A combination of the at least one processor 1521 and the at least one MEM 1522 may form processing means 1525 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by computer program executable by one or more of the

processors

1511， 1521， software， firmware， hardware or in a combination thereof.

The

MEMs

1512 and 1522 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology， such as semiconductor based memory devices， magnetic memory devices and systems， optical memory devices and systems， fixed memory and removable memory， as non-limiting examples.

The

processors

1511 and 1521 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment， and may include one or more of general purpose computers， special purpose computers， microprocessors， digital signal processors DSPs and processors based on multicore processor architecture， as non-limiting examples.

In addition， the present disclosure may also provide a carrier containing the computer program as mentioned above， wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal， optical signal， radio signal， or computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium can be， for example， an optical compact disk or an electronic memory device like a RAM (random access memory) ， a ROM (read only memory) ， Flash memory， magnetic tape， CD-ROM， DVD， Blue-ray disc and the like.

The techniques described herein may be implemented by various means so that an apparatus implementing one or more functions of a corresponding apparatus described with an embodiment comprises not only prior art means， but also means for implementing the one or more functions of the corresponding apparatus described with the embodiment and it may comprise separate means for each separate function， or means that may be configured to perform two or more functions. For example， these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more apparatuses) ， firmware (one or more apparatuses) ， software (one or more modules) ， or combinations thereof. For a firmware or software， implementation may be made through modules (e.g.， procedures， functions， and so on) that perform the functions described herein.

Exemplary embodiments herein have been described above with reference to block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods and apparatuses. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations， and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations， respectively， can be implemented by various means including computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto a general purpose computer， special purpose computer， or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine， such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart block or blocks.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details， these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any implementation or of what may be claimed， but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments of particular implementations. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely， various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover， although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such， one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination， and the claimed combination may be directed to a sub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that， as the technology advances， the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The above described embodiments are given for describing rather than limiting the disclosure， and it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as those skilled in the art readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims. The protection scope of the disclosure is defined by the accompanying claims.

Claims

A method for beam reporting， comprising：

receiving， from a network device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting； and

transmitting information on a beam quality pattern to the network device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.
The method of Claim 1， further comprising：

transmitting differential beam quality information of the respective beams， to the network device.
The method of Claim 2， wherein the transmitting differential beam quality information of the respective beams further comprises：

transmitting differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds.
The method of claim 2， wherein the transmitting differential beam quality information of the respective beams further comprises：

transmitting differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam.
The method of Claim 4， wherein the other beam is located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is defined by two adjacent beam quality thresholds.
The method of Claim 4， wherein the other beam is immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.
The method of claim 2， further comprising：

filtering beam quality values of the respective beams； and

wherein the differential beam quality information of the respective beams is determined based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams.
The method of any of Claims 2 to 7， further comprising：

transmitting information on beam quality ordering of the beams to the network device.
The method of claim 8， wherein resources for transmitting the information on beam quality ordering of the beams comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling， Media Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) ， or Downlink Control Information (DCI) ； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the differential beam quality information of the respective beams comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by DCI.
The method of any of Claims 1 to 9， wherein the number of beam quality thresholds enables a close-to-one state occupation of information bits for the beam quality pattern.
A method for receiving a beam report， comprising：

transmitting， to a terminal device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting； and

receiving information on a beam quality pattern from the terminal device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.
The method of Claim 11， further comprising：

receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams， from the terminal device.
The method of Claim 12， wherein the receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams further comprises at least one of：

receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds； or

receiving differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam.
The method of Claim 13， wherein the other beam is：

located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is defined by two adjacent beam quality thresholds； or

immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.
The method of claim 12， wherein the differential beam quality information of the respective beams indicates differential beam quality information based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams.
The method of any of Claim 12 to 15， further comprising：

receiving information on beam quality ordering of the beams from the terminal device.
The method of Claim 16， wherein resources for transmitting the information on beam quality ordering of the beams comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling， Media Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) ， or Downlink Control Information (DCI) ； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the differential beam quality information of the respective beams comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by DCI.
The method of any of Claims 11 to 17， wherein the number of beam quality thresholds enables a close-to-one state occupation of information bits for the beam quality pattern.
A terminal device， comprising a transceiver configured to：

receive， from a network device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting； and

transmit information on a beam quality pattern to the network device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.
The terminal device of Claim 19， wherein the transceiver is further configured to：

transmit differential beam quality information of the respective beams， to the network device.
The terminal device of Claim 20， wherein the transmitting differential beam quality information of the respective beams further comprises any one of：

transmitting differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds； or

transmitting differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam.
The terminal device of Claim 21， wherein the other beam is：

located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is formed by two adjacent beam quality thresholds； or

immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.
The terminal device of claim 20， further comprising：

a processor configured to filter beam quality values of the respective beams； and

wherein differential beam quality information of the respective beams is determined based on the filtered beam quality values of the respective beams.
The terminal device of any of Claims 20 to 23， the transceiver is further configured to：

transmit information on beam quality ordering of the beams to the network device.
The terminal device of Claim 24， wherein resources for transmitting the information on beam quality ordering of the beams comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling， Media Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) ， or Downlink Control Information (DCI) ； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the differential beam quality information of the respective beams comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by DCI.
A network device， comprising a transceiver configured to：

transmit， to a terminal device， beam reporting configuration information indicating a number of beam quality thresholds to be used in beam reporting； and

receive information on a beam quality pattern from the terminal device， wherein the beam quality pattern indicates a quality relationship of respective beams with respect to the beam quality thresholds.
The network device of Claim 26， wherein the transceiver is further configured to：

receive differential beam quality information of the respective beams， from the terminal device.
The network device of Claim 27， wherein the receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams further comprises at least one of：

receiving differential beam quality information of the respective beams relative to corresponding ones of the beam quality thresholds； or

receiving differential beam quality information of a beam relative to another beam.
The network device of Claim 28， wherein the other beam is：

located within the same beam quality threshold range as the beam， wherein the beam quality threshold range is defined by two adjacent beam quality thresholds； or

immediately adjacent to the beam in beam quality ordering.
The network device of any of Claims 26 to 29， wherein the differential beam quality information of respective beams indicates differential beam quality information based on the filtered beam quality values of respective beams.
The network device of any of Claims 27 to 30， wherein the transceiver is further configured to：

receive information on beam quality ordering of the beams from the terminal device.
The network device of any of Claim 31， wherein resources for transmitting the information on beam quality ordering of the beams comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling， Media Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) ， or Downlink Control Information (DCI) ； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the information on a beam quality pattern comprise any of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by one or more of MAC-CE or DCI； and/or

wherein resources for transmitting the differential beam quality information of the respective beams comprise uplink data channel or the combination of uplink control channel and uplink data channel， and are indicated by DCI.
The terminal device， comprising

a processor，

a memory coupled with the processor and having program codes therein， which， when executed on the processor， cause the terminal device to perform operations of any of Claims 1 to 10.
The network device， comprising

a processor，

a memory coupled with the processor and having program codes therein， which， when executed on the processor， cause the network device to perform operations of any of Claims 11 to 18.