CN108632876B

CN108632876B - Communication method, terminal equipment and network equipment

Info

Publication number: CN108632876B
Application number: CN201710179723.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 温萍萍; 张翼
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2017-03-23
Filing date: 2017-03-23
Publication date: 2022-06-14
Anticipated expiration: 2037-03-23
Also published as: WO2018172854A1; CN108632876A

Abstract

The embodiment of the disclosure relates to a communication method, a terminal device and a network device. The method implemented at the terminal device comprises: generating a beam-based Power Headroom Report (PHR); and sending the PHR to the network device for use in the resource allocation management. The method implemented at a network device includes: receiving a beam-based PHR from a terminal device for use in an asset allocation management. According to an aspect of the disclosed embodiments, a PHR mechanism adapted to a 5G NR system may be provided, which may report PHR information for one and/or more possible beams/beam pairs to a network device, in order to provide resource allocation flexibility and enable a terminal device to efficiently use multiple possible beams.

Description

Communication method, terminal equipment and network equipment

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to a communication method implemented at a terminal device and a network device, the terminal device and the network device.

Background

Currently, the fifth generation mobile communication (5G) technology is a research focus in the industry. In terms of wireless spectrum, the use of high frequency bands such as millimeter wave (MMW) bands is being actively promoted.

In particular, 5G wireless communication systems are expected to provide high data transmission rates using MMW frequencies. The high frequency of MMW signals results in high path loss, while the small wavelength of these signals also enables a large number of antenna elements to be placed in the same physical area, thereby providing high beamforming gain. Thus, in the physical layer and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, many mechanisms/procedures related to such as Downlink (DL) synchronization, Random Access Channel (RACH), Uplink (UL) power control and Reference Signal (RS) are also designed to support beamforming.

In UL systems Power Headroom Reporting (PHR) is used to provide the eNB with the necessary User Equipment (UE) side power information to facilitate resource management at the eNB such as scheduling, power control, etc. Only the PHR mechanism used on the carrier level is defined in the conventional LTE system. In the 5G New Radio (NR) system, multiple beams are used for data transmission at both the base station and the UE. Therefore, the carrier-level PHR mechanism in the conventional LTE system cannot be used for the 5G NR system supporting beamforming. Thus, how to design the PHR mechanism to support beamforming is a research focus.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide communication methods, network devices, and terminal devices.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a communication method implemented at a terminal device is provided. The method comprises the following steps: generating a beam-based power headroom report; and sending the power headroom report to a network device for use in a resource allocation management.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a communication method implemented at a network device is provided. The method comprises the following steps: receiving a beam-based power headroom report from a terminal device for use in resource allocation management.

In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes: a transceiver; and a controller coupled with the transceiver and operative with the transceiver to cause the device to perform actions including: generating a beam-based power headroom report; and sending the power headroom report to a network device for use in a resource allocation management.

In yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a network device is provided. The network device includes: a transceiver; and a controller coupled with the transceiver and operative with the transceiver to cause the device to perform actions including: receiving a beam-based power headroom report from a terminal device for use in resource allocation management.

According to an aspect of the disclosed embodiments, a PHR mechanism suitable for a 5G NR system may be provided that may report PHR information for one and/or multiple possible beams/beam pairs to a network device, such as an eNB, in order to provide scheduling flexibility and enable a terminal device, such as a UE, to efficiently use multiple possible beams.

It should be understood that the statements herein reciting aspects are not intended to limit the critical or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor are they intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

The above and other features, advantages and aspects of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like or similar reference characters designate like or similar elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication scenario in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example scenario for different transmit and/or receive beams for PUSCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a communication method implemented at a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example process of generating a PHR, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of a communication method implemented at a network device in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an apparatus implemented at a terminal device, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an apparatus implemented at a network device, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure; and

fig. 8 shows a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While certain embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein, but rather are provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the disclosure are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

The term "network device" as used herein refers to a base station or other entity or node in a communication network that has a particular function. A "base station" may represent a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Head (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, or a low power node such as a pico base station, a femto base station, or the like. In the context of the present disclosure, the terms "network device" and "base station" may be used interchangeably for ease of discussion purposes, and refer primarily to an eNB as an example of a network device.

The term "terminal device" as used herein refers to any terminal device or User Equipment (UE) capable of wireless communication with base stations or with each other. As an example, the terminal device may include a sensor having a communication function, a detector, a Mobile Terminal (MT), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station (PSS), a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT), and the above-described devices in a vehicle, and the like. In the context of the present disclosure, the terms "terminal device" and "user equipment" may be used interchangeably for purposes of discussion convenience, and UE is primarily taken as an example of a terminal device.

The terms "include" and variations thereof as used herein are inclusive and open-ended, i.e., "including but not limited to. The term "based on" is "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" means "at least one embodiment"; the term "another embodiment" means "at least one additional embodiment". Relevant definitions for other terms will be given in the following description.

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary communication scenario 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. For convenience of discussion, the eNB will be taken as an example of a network device or a base station, and the UE will be taken as an example of a terminal device. It should be understood, however, that this is done merely for convenience in explaining the concepts of the embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the application scenarios or scope of the present disclosure in any way.

As mentioned previously, in the UL system, the PHR may be provided to the serving eNB using a power headroom reporting procedure. In the example shown in fig. 1, eNB 110 may receive a PHR from UE 120. For example, UE120 may transmit a PHR to eNB 110 via power headroom report procedure 130, thereby providing power headroom information to eNB 110. With this information, eNB 110 may determine a resource allocation scheme for UE 120.

In the conventional LTE system, three types of PHR, i.e., a PHR, an extended PHR, and a dual-connectivity PHR, are defined. Generally, the PHR is used in a single carrier system, and the extended PHR is used in a carrier aggregation system. The extended PHR is further designed based on the following more specific cases: the maximum number of supported carriers is less than 8; the maximum number of carriers supported is greater than 8 and less than 32; and supporting PUCCH in the secondary cell. In a conventional LTE system, since omni-directional antennas are used on the UE side (e.g., UE 120), the PHR only needs to be reported for each carrier, and is relatively simple. The dual connectivity PHR includes power headroom information of cells of the primary cell group and cells of the secondary cell group.

Whereas in 5G systems some new problems for PHR arise due to the supported beam-based power control. In particular, in a 5G NR system, multiple beams may be used for data transmission at both the base station and the UE, and thus for one UE (e.g., UE 120), the beam for data transmission may be selected among multiple possible beams, and thus the eNB (e.g., eNB 110) needs to know the PHR for the multiple possible beams/beam pairs. This is explained in more detail below in connection with fig. 2.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example scenario 200 for different transmit and/or receive beams of PUSCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In a 5G NR system, to benefit from beamforming, an eNB such as eNB 110 and a UE such as UE120, UE 250 need to properly manage beams at both ends of the link. According to the agreed opinion, three beam management procedures including P-1, P-2 and P-3 in downlink and U-1, U-2 and U-3 in uplink are supported in 3GPP to accomplish beam acquisition, beam adjustment and beam recovery. Through the beam management process, one or more beams/beam pairs may be determined for transmission of control channels and data channels. In this case, managing multiple preferred beams/beam pairs for the UE is advantageous to overcome the blocking problem and to provide scheduling flexibility and efficiency. For example, where multiple UEs need to be multiplexed for transmission, their requirements for beams may be inconsistent. For some UEs, a sub-optimal beam may be selected to ensure multiplexing with other UEs. As shown in fig. 2, UE120 needs to be multiplexed with UE 250.

In the example of fig. 2, due to the blockage of

buildings

230 and 240, UE120 may have two

beam paths

210 and 220 as follows. Beam path 210 may include a beam pair of eNB transmit beam 211 and UE receive beam 212, and beam path 220 may include a beam pair of eNB transmit beam 221 and UE receive beam 222. Although the link utilizing beam path 210 has a better channel quality than beam path 220, UE120 still needs to change the PUSCH transmit beam from beam path 210 to beam path 220 in order to be able to multiplex with UE 250. Thus, multiple PHR for multiple beams (e.g., respective PHR for UE120 for beam paths 210 and 220) need to be reported to eNB 110, and eNB 110 may schedule UE120 in

beam path

210 or 220.

Therefore, in order to implement beam-based power control, it is also necessary to support beam-based PHR. Furthermore, since the PHR is used in uplink scheduling to determine the maximum number of allowed resource blocks in consideration of the maximum allowed transmission power of the UE, power headroom of a plurality of possible beams/beam pairs for data transmission should be reported (e.g., a beam/beam pair that may be to be scheduled for one UE, such as

beam paths

210 and 220 of fig. 2).

Therefore, a main idea of the embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide a PHR mechanism at a beam level suitable for a 5G NR system, which can report PHR information for one and/or multiple possible beams/beam pairs to an eNB, thereby providing scheduling flexibility and enabling a UE to efficiently use multiple possible beams. This is explained in more detail below in connection with fig. 3.

Fig. 3 shows a flow diagram of a communication method 300 implemented at a UE in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented, for example, at the UE120 of fig. 1, the UE120 of fig. 2, or the UE 250.

As shown in fig. 3, at 310, a beam-based PHR is generated. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a beam-based PHR refers to a PHR associated therewith generated for a particular beam. As mentioned previously, the PHR of the embodiments of the present disclosure is a beam-level PHR, compared to the carrier-level PHR of the conventional LTE system. At 320, the generated PHR is transmitted to an eNB (e.g., eNB 110 of fig. 1) for use in resource allocation management. For example, in resource scheduling and power control, or in any other suitable process. It should be understood that this application is not intended to limit the use of a PHR in any way.

In one embodiment, the PHR may be reported only for the beam used for the current transmission. In this case, the UE (e.g., UE 120) may determine power headroom information related to a beam used for the current transmission and transmit the power headroom information to the eNB (e.g., eNB 110). In another embodiment, the PHR may be generated for multiple possible beams for data transmission. An example of the PHR reporting process in this case is described below in conjunction with fig. 4.

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of an example process 400 of reporting a PHR in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, at 410, a set of beams for the PHR is determined. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam set may include one or more beams/beam pairs. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam/beam pair refers to at least one of a beam or a beam pair. The inventors have found that a larger set of beams will result in excessive overhead on PHR reporting, whereas a smaller set of beams will bring a limitation on scheduling flexibility, i.e. a limitation on the number of beams/beam pairs that may be scheduled for uplink data transmission.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a set of beams may be determined based on a beam used for transmitting a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) and/or a beam pair used for transmitting and measuring a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). For example, after the beam management U-3 step, i.e. by coarse beam identification and fine adjustment, it may be determined that possible one or more beams/beam pairs are used for transmission of the control channel and the data channel. Whereby a UE, e.g., UE120, may trigger SRS transmissions to transmit and measure on possible beams/beam pairs that will likely be scheduled. Thus, for example, eNB 110 may obtain both channel quality information and PHR with respect to possible beam/beam pairs for uplink data transmission, and eNB 110 may perform scheduling flexibility over possible one or more beam/beam pairs. In one embodiment, the set of beams for PHR may include beams for SRS transmission and measurement. For example, beams in the set of beams for PHR may be made to coincide with beams for SRS transmission and measurement. In one embodiment, the set of beams for the PHR may be further determined based on a preconfigured maximum number of beams for the PHR, whereby excessive PHR overhead may be avoided.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the set of beams may be determined based on the beams used for beam information reporting. In one embodiment, a beam set for PHR may be made consistent with the N selected beams for beam information reporting.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a beam set for the PHR may be determined based on the determined beam set received from the eNB. For example, the set of beams for the PHR may include all beams in the determined set of beams. For example, a beam in the set of beams for the PHR may coincide with a beam in the determined set of beams. In one embodiment, the beam set for PHR may also be further determined based on a preconfigured maximum number of beams for PHR, whereby excessive PHR overhead may be avoided.

In one embodiment, the determined set of beams may be derived by the eNB based on beam information reports from the UE. It should be understood that the determined set of beams may also be derived in any other suitable manner known in the art or developed in the future and is not limited to the specific manner set forth herein.

The determination of the set of beams for the PHR at 410 is described above. Power headroom information related to each beam in the set of beams is then determined at 420. For example, in the example of fig. 2, UE120 may determine power headroom information for beam pairs 211 and 212 and beam pairs 221 and 222 to send to eNB 110 for use in, for example, resource scheduling. For example, the power headroom information may include at least one of: a difference between a nominal UE maximum transmit power and a potential power for one or more beam based uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) transmissions for each activated serving cell; and the difference between the nominal UE maximum transmit power and the potential power for UL-SCH and PUCCH on one or more beams on the primary and secondary cells. It should be appreciated that the power headroom information may be represented using any suitable metric parameter known in the art or developed in the future, as long as the measurement is made for a beam, and is not limited to the examples listed above. In one embodiment, a power headroom difference between different beams in a beam set for PHR may be determined, and in response to the power headroom difference being below a predetermined threshold, a reference power headroom is determined as power headroom information for the different beams. For example, if the power headroom difference between the possible multiple beams/beam pairs is smaller than the granularity (1dB) or multiple granularity of the PHR reporting in the PHR table, for example, one power headroom, i.e. the reference power headroom, may be reported for the possible multiple beams/beam pairs. Whereby PHR reporting signaling can be further reduced.

At 430, beam indication information related to each beam in the set of beams is determined. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam indication information is used to indicate to the eNB which beam/beam pair the PHR is for. In one embodiment, an index corresponding to each beam or beam pair in the beam set may be used as the beam indication information. For example, the index of the corresponding beam/beam pair may be reported together with the PHR value in a PHR MAC Control Element (CE). In another embodiment, one bit may be used to indicate the presence or absence of PHR for each beam/beam pair, in case the eNB already knows the index of possible beam/beam pairs in the beam management. For example, after the uplink beam management procedure U-3, the eNB needs to inform the UE which transmit beam is the best, so the eNB will know the set of possible beams/beam pairs for SRS. For example, in case the eNB further determines possible beams/beam pairs based on beam information reports from the UE, the eNB will also know the set of possible beams/beam pairs for PHR.

In this case, for example, the UE may determine a potential beam set for the PHR and generate beam indication information by indicating whether a beam of the potential beam set exists in the beam set for the PHR with a corresponding bit value. In one embodiment, the UE may determine the potential set of beams based on a beam information report sent to an eNB (e.g., eNB 110 of fig. 1). For example, the UE may determine a beam in the beam information report as a beam in the potential set of beams. In case that the potential beam set is determined, the UE may generate beam indication information by indicating whether a beam of the potential beam set exists in the beam set for the PHR determined at 410 with a corresponding bit value. For example, a beam presence PHR may be indicated by 1, and a potential beam absence PHR may be indicated by 0. Accordingly, the eNB may also determine a potential beam set from a beam information report from the UE, and acquire power headroom information of a specific beam of the UE in the PHR in conjunction with the received beam indication information.

After the power headroom information and the beam indication information are determined at 420 and 430, the power headroom information and the corresponding beam indication information are transmitted to the eNB for use by the eNB in resource allocation management at 440, thereby providing scheduling flexibility and high efficiency.

The beam-based PHR reporting process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described so far. However, the set of beams comprising one or more beams/beam pairs for a UE may vary due to movement and rotation of the UE or due to congestion problems. In this case, the beam set for the PHR will be updated and the reporting of the corresponding PHR will be triggered.

In one embodiment, the UE may periodically generate a beam-based PHR, e.g., at block 310 of fig. 3. This may be achieved by a preconfigured period.

In another embodiment, the UE may generate a beam-based PHR in response to a change in path loss of the beam. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a UE may generate a PHR in response to a change in path loss of a beam exceeding a predetermined threshold. For example, the PHR may be generated only for beams of the beam set for the PHR for which the path loss variation exceeds a predetermined threshold. For example, a PHR may be generated for all beams in a set of beams for the PHR.

In another embodiment, the UE may generate a beam-based PHR in response to the change of the beam. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a UE may generate a PHR in response to the addition of a beam/beam pair in a set of beams. For example, the PHR is generated only for the newly added beam in the set of beams for the PHR. For example, the PHR is generated for all beams in a set of beams for the PHR.

A communication method implemented at a UE in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure has been described thus far. Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a communication method of an embodiment at an eNB. As described in more detail below in conjunction with fig. 5.

Fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of a communication method 500 implemented at an eNB in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented, for example, at the eNB 110 of fig. 1 and 2. As shown in fig. 5, at 510, the eNB may receive a beam-based PHR from a UE. In one embodiment, the eNB may receive power headroom information related to a beam used for a current transmission of the UE. In another embodiment, the eNB may receive power headroom information related to one or more possible beams for transmission by the UE. For example, the eNB may receive power headroom information and beam indication information related to each beam in a set of beams used for transmission by the UE. Then, at 520, resource allocation management is performed using the received PHR. As mentioned previously, this application is not intended to impose any limitations on the use of a PHR, which is not described in detail herein.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, an eNB may determine a set of beams for a PHR of a UE and transmit the set of beams to the UE for generation of the PHR. In one embodiment, the eNB may receive a beam information report from the UE and determine the set of beams based on the beam information report. For example, after the eNB receives a beam information report from the UE for N selected beams (as mentioned earlier), the eNB may further determine a smaller or equal set of beams from the N selected beams and send it to the UE. It should be appreciated that the set of beams may be determined using any other suitable manner known in the art or developed in the future and is not limited to the above.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, at 510 of fig. 5, the eNB may receive a PHR generated by the UE only for a beam of the set of beams for which a change in pathloss exceeds a predetermined threshold in response to the change in pathloss of the beam exceeding the predetermined threshold. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an eNB may receive a PHR generated by a UE for all beams in a set of beams for the PHR in response to a change in path loss of the beam exceeding a predetermined threshold. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the eNB may receive a PHR generated by the UE only for a newly added beam of a beam set for the PHR in response to a change of a beam. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an eNB may receive a PHR generated by a UE for all beams in a beam set for the PHR in response to a change of a beam.

The communication method implemented at the eNB side is described so far, which corresponds to the communication method implemented at the UE side described above with reference to fig. 3 and 4, and the processing details thereof may refer to fig. 3 and 4, which are not described again here.

Corresponding to the method, the embodiment of the disclosure also provides a corresponding device. Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of an apparatus 600 implemented at a UE according to an embodiment of the disclosure. It is to be appreciated that apparatus 600 may be implemented on, for example, eNB 110 shown in fig. 1. Alternatively, apparatus 600 may be the eNB itself.

As shown in fig. 6, the apparatus 600 may include a generating unit 610 and a transmitting unit 620. The generating unit 610 may be configured to generate a beam-based PHR. The transmitting unit 620 may be configured to transmit the PHR to the eNB for use in resource allocation management.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the generating unit 610 may include a generating subunit configured to determine power headroom information related to a beam for a current transmission. In this case, the transmitting unit 620 may be configured to transmit the power headroom information to the eNB.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the generating unit 610 may include a first determining subunit configured to determine a set of beams for the PHR; a second determining subunit configured to determine power headroom information related to each beam of the set of beams; and a third determining subunit configured to determine beam indication information relating to each beam of the set of beams. In this case, the transmitting unit 620 may be configured to transmit the power headroom information and the corresponding beam indication information to the eNB.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, the first determining subunit may further comprise an SRS subunit configured for determining the set of beams based on the beams used for SRS transmission and/or measurement. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the first determining subunit may further include a beam information reporting subunit configured for determining the set of beams based on the beams used for beam information reporting. According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, the first determining subunit may further include: a receiving subunit configured to receive the determined set of beams from the eNB; and a determining subunit configured to determine a set of beams based on the received determined set of beams. In one embodiment, the determined set of beams is determined by the eNB based on a beam information report from the UE. According to a further embodiment of the present disclosure, the first determining subunit may be configured to determine the beam set based on a preconfigured maximum number of beams for the PHR.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second determining subunit may include: a difference determining subunit configured to determine a power headroom difference between different beams in the set of beams; and a reference determination subunit configured to determine one reference power headroom as the power headroom information for the different beam in response to the power headroom difference being below the predetermined threshold.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the third determining subunit may include: an indexing subunit configured to use an index corresponding to each beam or beam pair in the set of beams as the beam indication information. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the third determining subunit may include: a potential determination subunit configured to determine a set of potential beams for the power headroom report; and a generating subunit configured to generate beam indication information by indicating with respective bit values whether a beam of the potential set of beams is present in the set of beams. In one embodiment, the potential determination subunit is further configured to determine the set of potential beams based on the beam information report sent to the eNB.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the generating unit 610 may be further configured to periodically generate the PHR. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the generating unit 610 may be further configured to generate the PHR in response to a change in the path loss of the beam exceeding a predetermined threshold. In one embodiment, the generating unit 610 may generate the PHR only for beams of the beam set for the PHR for which a path loss variation exceeds a predetermined threshold. In another embodiment, the generating unit 610 may generate the PHR for all beams in the beam set for the PHR. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the generating unit 610 may be further configured to generate the PHR in response to the change of the beam. In one embodiment, the output unit 610 may generate the PHR only for the newly added beam of the beam set for the PHR. In another embodiment, the output unit 610 may generate the PHR for all beams in the beam set for the PHR.

Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of an apparatus 700 implemented at an eNB according to an embodiment of the disclosure. It should be understood that apparatus 700 may be implemented on, for example, UE120 shown in fig. 1 and 2 or UE 250 shown in fig. 2. Alternatively, the apparatus 700 may be the UE itself.

As shown in fig. 7, the apparatus 700 may include: a receiving unit 710 configured to receive a beam-based PHR from a UE; and a control unit 720 configured to perform resource allocation management using the PHR.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving unit 710 may be configured to receive power headroom information related to a beam used for a current transmission of the UE. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving unit 710 may be configured to receive power headroom information and beam indication information related to each beam in a beam set for transmission of a UE.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the apparatus 700 may further include: a beam set determination unit configured to determine a beam set for a PHR of a UE; and a first transmitting unit configured to transmit the set of beams to the UE for generation of the PHR. In one embodiment, the beam set determining unit may further include: a receiving subunit configured to receive a beam information report from the UE; and a determining subunit configured to determine the set of beams based on the beam information report.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving unit 710 may be further configured to receive a PHR generated by the UE only for a beam of the beam set for the PHR, whose path loss varies by more than a predetermined threshold, in response to a variation of the path loss of the beam by more than a predetermined threshold. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving unit 710 may be further configured to receive a PHR generated by the UE for all beams in a beam set for the PHR in response to a change in path loss of the beam exceeding a predetermined threshold change. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving unit 710 may be further configured to receive a PHR generated by the UE only for a newly added beam of a beam set for the PHR in response to a change of a beam. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the receiving unit 710 may be further configured to receive a PHR generated by the UE for all beams in a beam set for the PHR in response to the change of the beam.

It should be understood that each unit or sub-unit recited in the

apparatus

600 and 700 corresponds to each action in the

methods

300 and 500 described with reference to fig. 3-5, respectively. Moreover, the operations and features of the

apparatuses

600 and 700 and the units or sub-units included therein all correspond to the operations and features described above in connection with fig. 3 and 5, and have the same effects, and detailed details are not repeated.

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an electronic device 800 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 800 may be used to implement a network device such as an eNB (e.g., eNB 110 of fig. 1) and/or to implement a terminal device such as a UE (e.g., UE120 or UE 250 of fig. 1 and 2).

As shown, the device 800 includes a controller 810. The controller 810 controls the operation and functions of the device 800. For example, in certain embodiments, the controller 810 may perform various operations by way of instructions 830 stored in a memory 820 coupled thereto. The memory 820 may be of any suitable type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, including but not limited to semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems. Although only one memory unit is shown in FIG. 8, there may be multiple physically distinct memory units within device 800.

The controller 810 may be of any suitable type suitable to the local technical environment and may include, but is not limited to, at least one of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microcontroller, a digital signal controller (DSP), and a controller-based multi-core controller architecture. The device 800 may also include a plurality of controllers 810. Controller 810 is coupled to transceiver 840, which transceiver 840 may enable the reception and transmission of information by way of at least one antenna 850 and/or other components. Note that transceiver 840 may be a separate device or may comprise separate devices for transmitting and receiving, respectively.

When the device 800 is acting as a network device, such as an eNB, the controller 810 and the transceiver 840 may operate in cooperation to implement the method 500 described above with reference to fig. 5. When the device 800 is acting as a terminal device, such as a UE, the controller 810 and transceiver 840 may operate in cooperation, for example under the control of instructions 830 in memory 820, to implement the method 300 described above with reference to fig. 3. For example, transceiver 840 may perform operations related to the reception and/or transmission of data/information, while controller 810 performs or triggers processing, computing, and/or other operations on the data. All of the features described above with reference to fig. 1-8 apply to the apparatus 800 and are not described in detail herein.

In general, the various example embodiments of this disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Certain aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While aspects of embodiments of the disclosure have been illustrated or described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods 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. Examples of hardware devices that may be used to implement embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to: field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application Specific Standards (ASSPs), systems on a chip (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), and the like.

By way of example, embodiments of the disclosure may be described in the context of machine-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or divided between program modules as described. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed facility, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Computer program code for implementing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in one or more programming languages. These computer program codes may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, cause the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks to be performed. The program code may execute entirely on the computer, partly on the computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server.

In the context of this disclosure, a machine-readable medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. A machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More detailed examples of a machine-readable storage medium 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 storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

Additionally, while 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 some cases, multitasking or parallel processing may be beneficial. Likewise, while the above discussion contains certain specific implementation details, this should not be construed as limiting the scope of any invention or claims, but rather as describing particular embodiments that may be directed to particular inventions. 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 subcombination.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method implemented at a terminal device, comprising:

generating a beam-based power headroom report, comprising:

determining the set of beams based on a preconfigured maximum number of beams for the power headroom report,

determining power headroom information related to each beam in the set of beams, the determining the power headroom information comprising determining a power headroom difference between different beams in the set of beams and, in response to the power headroom difference being below a predetermined threshold, determining a reference power headroom as the power headroom information for the different beams,

determining beam indication information relating to each beam in the set of beams; and

sending the power headroom report to a network device for use in resource allocation management, the sending the power headroom report comprising sending the power headroom information and the beam indication information to the network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

periodically generating the power headroom report.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

generating the power headroom report in response to a change in path loss of the beam exceeding a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

generating the power headroom report in response to the change in the beam.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second light sources are selected from the group consisting of,

wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises determining power headroom information related to a beam used for a current transmission; and

wherein the sending the power headroom report comprises sending the power headroom information to the network device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the set of beams comprises:

determining the set of beams based on beams used for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) measurements.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the set of beams comprises:

determining the set of beams based on beams used for beam information reporting.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the set of beams further comprises:

receiving the determined set of beams from the network device; and

determining the set of beams based on the received determined set of beams.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determined set of beams is determined by the network device based on beam information reports from the terminal device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the beam indication information comprises:

using an index corresponding to each beam or beam pair in the set of beams as the beam indication information.

11. The method according to any of claims 6-8, wherein said determining the beam indication information comprises:

determining a set of potential beams for the power headroom report; and

generating the beam indication information by indicating whether a beam of the potential beam set is present in the beam set for the power headroom report with a corresponding bit value.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining the set of potential beams comprises:

determining the set of potential beams based on a beam information report sent to the network device.

13. The method of claim 3, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

generating the power headroom report only for beams in the set of beams for the power headroom report for which a path loss variation exceeds the predetermined threshold.

14. The method of claim 3, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

generating the power headroom report for all beams in a set of beams used for the power headroom report.

15. The method of claim 4, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

generating the power headroom report only for newly added beams in the set of beams for the power headroom report.

16. The method of claim 4, wherein the generating the power headroom report comprises:

17. A communication method implemented at a network device, comprising:

receiving a beam-based power headroom report from a terminal device for use in resource allocation management, wherein the power headroom report comprises a set of beams for transmission by the terminal device, and power headroom information and beam indication information related to each beam in the set of beams, the set of beams being determined based on a pre-configured maximum number of beams for the power headroom report, the power headroom report comprising one reference power headroom as the power headroom information for different beams in the set of beams in response to a power headroom difference between the different beams in the set of beams being below a predetermined threshold.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving the power headroom report comprises:

receiving power headroom information related to a beam used for a current transmission of the terminal device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a set of beams for the power headroom report for the terminal device; and

transmitting the set of beams to the terminal device for generation of the power headroom report.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the determining the set of beams comprises:

receiving a beam information report from the terminal device; and

determining the set of beams based on the beam information report.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving the power headroom report comprises:

receiving the power headroom report generated by the terminal device only for beams in the set of beams for the power headroom report for which the path loss variation exceeds a predetermined threshold in response to the variation in the path loss of the beam exceeding the predetermined threshold.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving the power headroom report comprises:

receiving the power headroom report generated by the terminal device for all beams in a set of beams for the power headroom report in response to a change in path loss of the beam exceeding a predetermined threshold change.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving the power headroom report comprises:

receiving the power headroom report generated by the terminal device in response to the change of the beam only for a newly added beam of the set of beams for the power headroom report.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving the power headroom report comprises:

receiving the power headroom report generated by the terminal device for all beams in a set of beams for the power headroom report in response to the change of the beam.

25. A terminal device, comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller coupled with the transceiver and operative with the transceiver to cause the device to perform actions comprising:

generating a beam-based power headroom report, comprising:

sending the power headroom report to a network device for use in a resource allocation management, the sending the power headroom report comprising sending the power headroom information and the beam indication information to the network device.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

periodically generating the power headroom report.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

generating the power headroom report in response to a change in path loss of the terminal device exceeding a predetermined threshold.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

generating the power headroom report in response to the change in the beam.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

determining power headroom information related to a beam for a current transmission; and

and sending the power headroom information to the network equipment.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

31. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

32. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

receiving the determined set of beams from the network device; and

determining the set of beams based on the received determined set of beams.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the determined set of beams is determined by the network device based on beam information reports from the terminal device.

34. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

35. The apparatus of any of claims 30-32, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

determining a set of potential beams for the power headroom report; and

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

37. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

38. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

39. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

40. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

41. A network device, comprising:

a transceiver; and

a controller coupled with and operative with the transceiver to cause the device to perform actions including:

receiving a beam-based power headroom report from a terminal device for use in resource allocation management, wherein the power headroom report comprises a set of beams for transmission by the terminal device, and power headroom information and beam indication information related to each beam in the set of beams, the set of beams being determined based on a preconfigured maximum number of beams for the power headroom report, the power headroom report comprising one reference power headroom as the power headroom information for different beams in the set of beams in response to a power headroom difference between the different beams in the set of beams being below a predetermined threshold.

42. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

43. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

determining a beam set for the power headroom report of the terminal device based on a beam information report from the terminal device; and

transmitting the set of beams to the network device for generation of the power headroom report.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

receiving a beam information report from the terminal device; and

determining the set of beams based on the beam information report.

45. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

receiving the power headroom report generated by the terminal device only for beams in the set of beams for which the path loss change exceeds a predetermined threshold in response to the change in the path loss of the beam exceeding the predetermined threshold.

46. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

47. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising:

48. The apparatus of claim 41, wherein the controller is further configured to operate with the transceiver to cause the apparatus to perform actions comprising: