CN110971361B

CN110971361B - Control channel beam indication method and equipment

Info

Publication number: CN110971361B
Application number: CN201811142529.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 施弘哲; 葛士斌; 毕晓艳
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-09-28
Filing date: 2018-09-28
Publication date: 2022-02-25
Anticipated expiration: 2038-09-28
Also published as: WO2020063334A1; CN110971361A

Abstract

The application discloses a method and equipment for indicating control channel beams. In the method, a communication device receives first DCI sent by a network device, wherein the first DCI comprises indication information used for indicating a first beam; and the network equipment and the communication equipment transmit and receive second DCI according to the first beam. In the method, the communication device can determine the beam for receiving the second DCI according to the received first DCI, and the time delay for determining the beam for receiving the second DCI by the communication device through the DCI signaling is smaller than the time delay for determining the beam for receiving the second DCI according to the RRC signaling and the MAC CE signaling in the conventional method, which is beneficial to improving the transmission efficiency. Further, the conventional indication method has a long time delay, and is not suitable for transmitting the second DCI using the narrow beam in order to ensure the communication quality.

Description

Control channel beam indication method and equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a device for indicating control channel beams.

Background

In the 5th generation (5G) system, a carrier frequency higher than that of Long Term Evolution (LTE) (generally, higher than 6 GHz), such as a frequency band of 28GHz, 38GHz, or 72GHz, etc., is adopted to implement wireless communication with a larger bandwidth and a higher transmission rate. Due to the higher carrier frequency, the transmitted wireless signal experiences more severe fading during the spatial propagation process, and even the wireless signal is difficult to detect at the receiving end. For this reason, in the 5G communication system, a Beamforming (BF) technique is used to obtain a beam with good directivity, so as to increase power in the transmission direction and improve signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) at the receiving end.

Since both the network side device and the terminal device need beamforming, a problem of pairing between the transmit beam and the receive beam is generated, that is, the transmit beam and the receive beam are aligned as much as possible, a beamforming gain is maximized, and communication quality and cell coverage are ensured. For example, the network side device may instruct the terminal device to receive the beam used by the DCI through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling and medium access control layer control element (MAC CE) signaling.

In 5G or future communication systems, a plurality of Downlink Control Information (DCI) may be transmitted to a terminal device in the same time slot. For example, a plurality of Transmission Reception Points (TRPs) may cooperate with each other to perform data transmission with one terminal device. For another example, to save the indication overhead of DCI, DCI may be divided into a primary DCI and a secondary DCI. The main DCI carries complete indication information, and wider wave beams can be selected to meet the coverage requirement; the auxiliary DCI carries indication information with high real-time requirement, and may select a narrow beam, which requires high reception quality.

However, if the conventional beam indication method is adopted to respectively indicate the terminal device to receive a plurality of beams of DCI, the time delay is long, and the requirement that the terminal device receives a plurality of DCI in the above situation may not be met.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and equipment for indicating control channel beams, which are used for indicating a receiving beam of another DCI through one DCI.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for indicating a control channel beam, including:

the communication equipment receives first DCI sent by the network equipment, wherein the first DCI comprises indication information used for indicating a first beam; the communication device receives the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam.

In the above method, the communication device can determine a beam to receive the second DCI from the received first DCI. Because the minimum scheduling time of the DCI signaling is less than the MAC CE signaling and the RRC signaling, and the time for the communication equipment to analyze the DCI signaling is the DCI signaling, the MAC CE signaling and the RRC signaling from small to large, compared with the traditional method for receiving the beam of the second DCI through the common indication of the RRC signaling and the MAC CE signaling, the method and the device for transmitting the DCI signaling are beneficial to reducing time delay and improving transmission efficiency. Further, the conventional indication method has a long time delay, and is not suitable for transmitting the second DCI using the narrow beam in order to ensure the communication quality.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device further receives indication information of the first beam set, and the indication information of the first beam may be used to indicate one beam in the first beam set.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information of the first beam set may be used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the first DCI and the second DCI multiplex one beam set, which may reduce signaling overhead; alternatively, the indication information of the first beam set may be used to indicate a beam set for receiving the second DCI, so that the network device may configure the beam set for the communication device more flexibly; or, the indication information of the first beam set may also be used to indicate a beam set for receiving a first Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), where the first PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI; alternatively, the indication information of the first beam set may also be used to indicate a beam set for receiving the second PDSCH.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information of the first beam set may be sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling or RRC signaling.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information of the first beam set is used for receiving the beam set of the first DCI and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the communication device receives the first DCI according to the first preset beam. In the conventional method, the network device instructs the communication device to receive the beam set of the first DCI through RRC signaling, and then instructs one of the beams in the beam set to transmit the first DCI through MAC CE signaling, so if the network device transmits the indication information of the first beam set through MAC CE signaling, how to instruct the communication device to transmit the beam of the first DCI becomes a problem. In order to solve this problem, a first preset beam may be configured in advance, or the communication device may determine the first preset beam according to a preset rule, so that when the network device does not directly instruct the communication device to receive the beam of the first DCI, the communication device may receive the first DCI according to the first preset beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first preset beam is a beam in the first beam set, which satisfies a preset rule. Further, the first preset beam may be a first beam of the first set of beams.

In one possible implementation, the indication information of the first beam is indicated by a first indication field in the first DCI, where the first indication field is only used for indicating a beam for receiving the second DCI, that is, a new indication field is set in the first DCI to indicate the first beam. Alternatively, the indication information of the first beam may be indicated by a second indication field in the first DCI, where the second indication field is used for indicating a beam for transmitting the first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI and/or a beam for indicating transmission of the second DCI, that is, the second indication field included in the first DCI and used for indicating the first PDSCH is multiplexed.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device receives, within a preset time period after receiving the first DCI, the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam, that is, a validity period is set for the first beam, and in other time periods except the validity period, the communication device may no longer receive the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam.

Further, after the preset time period, the communication device receives second DCI according to a second preset beam. For example, the network device does not transmit the new first DCI for a long time, and if the communication device receives the second DCI according to the beam indicated before the long time, the communication quality may not be high or the second DCI may not be received due to movement of the communication device, so the communication device receives the second DCI using the preset beam, which may be a wide beam, to ensure the communication quality. It will be appreciated that the second predetermined beam may also be said first beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first DCI is a main DCI, and the second DCI is an auxiliary DCI, where the auxiliary DCI only includes an indication field included in a part of the main DCI; or the first DCI is public DCI, and the second DCI is exclusive DCI, wherein the public DCI comprises a public indication domain, and the exclusive DCI comprises an exclusive indication domain; the common DCI and the specific DCI are combined to be used for the communication equipment to complete the scheduling.

In a possible implementation manner, the first DCI is transmitted by a first network device, and the second DCI is transmitted by a second network device, that is, the first network device and the second network device cooperate to transmit data with a communication device.

In a possible implementation manner, before receiving the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam, the communication device may further send capability information of the communication device to the network device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the communication device supports determining a beam for receiving the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI. If the first DCI indicates that the beam for transmitting the second DCI is not supported, the network device may indicate, according to a conventional method, the communication device to transmit the beam for transmitting the second DCI.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for indicating a control channel beam, including:

the network equipment sends first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to the communication equipment, wherein the first DCI comprises indication information used for indicating a first beam; and the network equipment transmits second DCI according to the first beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the network device sends indication information of a first beam set, wherein the indication information of the first beam is used for indicating one beam in the first beam set.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI; or, the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the second DCI; or the indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving a first Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), and the first PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI; or the indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving a second PDSCH, and the second PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the second DCI.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling or RRC signaling.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the method further includes: and the network equipment sends the first DCI according to a first preset beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first preset beam is a beam in the first beam set, which satisfies a preset rule. Further, the first predetermined beam may be a first beam of a first set of beams.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information of the first beam is indicated by a first indication field in the first DCI, where the first indication field is only used for indicating a beam for receiving the second DCI; or, the indication information of the first beam is indicated by a second indication field in the first DCI, where the second indication field is used to indicate a beam for receiving the first information and/or a beam for indicating a beam for receiving the second DCI.

In one possible implementation, the first information includes a first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI.

In one possible implementation, the network device transmitting a second DCI according to the first beam includes: and the network equipment transmits the second DCI according to the first wave beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is transmitted.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: and outside a preset time period, the network equipment sends the second DCI according to a second preset beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first DCI is a main DCI, and the second DCI is an auxiliary DCI, where the auxiliary DCI includes only a part of an indication field included in the main DCI; or the first DCI is a public DCI, and the second DCI is an exclusive DCI, wherein the public DCI comprises a public indication domain, and the exclusive DCI comprises an exclusive indication domain; the common DCI and the dedicated DCI are combined to complete scheduling for the communication device.

In one possible implementation manner, before the network device transmits the second DCI according to the first beam, the method further includes: and the network equipment receives capability information sent by the communication equipment, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the communication equipment supports the beam for determining to receive the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

In one possible implementation, the network device includes a first network device and a second network device; the first DCI is transmitted by a first network device, and the second DCI is transmitted by a second network device.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may include a receiving unit and a processing unit, and is configured to implement the method according to any one of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, which may include a sending unit and a processing unit, and is configured to implement the method according to any one of the second aspects.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which may include a processor and a transceiver, where the processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of the first aspect through the transceiver.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a network device, which may include a processor and a transceiver, where the processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of the second aspect through the transceiver.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, where the device includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to call the program in the memory to execute the method according to any one of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, where the network device includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to call the program in the memory to execute the method according to any one of the second aspects.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, which includes a processor, and when the processor executes a computer program, the method according to any one of the first aspect or the second aspect is implemented.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, configured to support a device to implement the method of any one of the first aspect or the second aspect. In one possible design, the chip further includes a memory unit for storing program instructions and data necessary for the device.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to any one of the first or second aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product containing instructions that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to any one of the first or second aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario of coordinated multiple points according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of CORESET and SS provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for indicating a control channel beam according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a preset time period provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a second schematic diagram of a preset time period provided in the present embodiment;

fig. 6 is a third schematic diagram of a preset time period according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a fourth schematic diagram illustrating a preset time period according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a second schematic structural diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a third schematic structural diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a fourth schematic structural diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, the present application will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In 5G or future communication systems, communication transmission may be performed using a high frequency band. To combat path loss in high frequency scenarios, the network device may use a larger transmit antenna array to obtain gain through beamforming. The beamforming technology may specifically be a digital beamforming technology, an analog beamforming technology, or a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technology.

Beams can be understood as spatial filters or spatial parameters. The beam used for transmitting the signal may be referred to as a transmission beam (Tx beam), and may be a spatial transmit filter (spatial domain transmit filter) or a spatial transmit parameter (spatial domain transmit parameter); the transmission beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength formed in different directions in space after the signal is transmitted through the antenna. The beam used for receiving the signal may be called a reception beam (Rx beam), and may be a spatial domain reception filter (spatial domain reception filter) or a spatial domain reception parameter (spatial domain reception parameter); a receive beam may refer to a distribution of signal strength in spatially different directions when an antenna receives a wireless signal. It should be understood that this application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms to represent the same or similar meanings during the evolution of the communication protocol, or in future protocols. In this application, a "beam" will be described as an example.

In order to meet the requirement of large-scale coverage, not only the network device but also the terminal device can adopt beam forming. This creates a pairing problem between the transmit beam and the receive beam.

The beam pairing relationship is a pairing relationship between the transmit beam and the receive beam, that is, a pairing relationship between the spatial transmit filter and the spatial receive filter. A large beamforming gain can be obtained for transmitting signals between the transmitting beam and the receiving beam having the beam pairing relationship.

The transmitting end can transmit the reference signal in a beam scanning manner, and the receiving end can also receive the reference signal in the beam scanning manner. Specifically, the transmitting end may form beams in different directions in space by using a beam forming technique, and perform polling on the beams in the multiple different directions, that is, transmit the reference signal through the beams in the different directions; the receiving end may also form beams in different directions in space by using a beamforming technique, and perform polling on the beams in the different directions to receive the reference signal through the beams in the different directions.

For example, the network device may send the reference signal through one or more sending beams, and the communication device receives the reference signal through one or more receiving beams, so that the pairing relationship between the sending beams and the receiving beams is traversed, and a result obtained based on the reference signal measurement may be reported to the network device through Channel State Information (CSI). For example, using the reported parameter as a reference signal received power RSRP (reference signal receiving power), the communication device may report, through CSI, resource identifiers (e.g., a channel state information reference signal resource index (CRI) or a synchronization block index (SSB index)) of one or more reference signals with the highest RSRP.

A Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) is used to indicate a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship between a target reference signal and a referenced reference signal, i.e., some parameters representing the target reference signal (see parameters corresponding to different QCL types described below) are the same as those of the referenced reference signal. Where the target reference signal is typically a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), the referenced reference signals may be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and a synchronization signal block (SS/PBCH block, SSB), and a TCI state (TCI state) may be used to indicate the QCI relationship of the target reference signal to one or both of the referenced reference signals, and the associated QCL type. QCL types can be divided into four types:

type a (type a): doppler shift, doppler spread, average delay, delay spread.

Type b (type b): doppler shift, doppler spread.

Type c (type c): doppler shift, average delay.

Type d (type d): the space receives the parameters.

Wherein the spatial reception parameters in type D may include one or more of: angle of arrival (AOA), average AOA, AOA extension, angle of departure (AOD), average AOD, AOD extension, receive antenna spatial correlation parameter, transmit beam, receive beam, and resource identifier. Therefore, when the QCL type is type D, the TCI status may be used to indicate a beam, i.e., beam indication information.

Generally, a beam indicated by a TCI status of one QCL type D is a transmission beam used by a transmitting end. For example, the TRP may indicate, through the TCI status, a transmission beam used by the TRP to transmit a signal, and the terminal device may determine, according to the transmission beam indicated by the received TCI status, a reception beam having a pairing relationship with the transmission beam in combination with a beam pairing relationship obtained by beam scanning, and receive a signal through the reception beam.

However, in the embodiments of the present application, the possibility that the TCI status directly indicates the reception beam used by the receiving end is not excluded. For example, the TRP obtains explicit information of the reception beam used by the receiving end through beam training and reporting, and can send the applicable reception beam indication information to the terminal device by carrying the TCI state or other similar indication means in the beam indication.

In addition, with the rapid development of mobile communication, there are higher requirements in many aspects such as system capacity, instantaneous peak rate, spectrum efficiency, cell edge user throughput, and delay. In order to meet the above requirements, in a 5G or future communication system, a coordinated multiple point (CoMP) transmission technology may be adopted, which can solve the inter-cell interference problem and improve the cell edge user throughput, and can improve the system performance regardless of uplink or downlink. Fig. 1 exemplarily shows an application scenario of coordinated multipoint, wherein TRP _ a and TRP _ B cooperate with each other to perform data transmission with a terminal device, and two TRPs may respectively send DCI to the terminal device through respective Physical Downlink Control Channels (PDCCHs). Since TRP _ a and TRP _ B are located in different directions of the terminal device, and the beams on which the terminal device receives the DCI from these two TRPs are different, the TCI states for indicating the beams on which these two DCI are received are different and need to be indicated separately.

Due to the different distances between the terminal device and the two TRPs, a power difference of 3-6dB may result in receiving radio signals from the two TRPs. To compensate for the performance loss caused by this power difference, one possible design is to transmit DCI with a wider beam for a TRP closer to the power difference, and transmit DCI with a narrower beam for a TRP farther away from the power difference, so as to improve the communication quality.

The method for indicating a beam used for receiving a control signaling may send, to a communication device through an RRC signaling, for example, physical downlink control channel information configuration information (PDCCH-Config) in the RRC signaling, control resource set (core set) index information and Search Space (SS) index information, as shown in fig. 2, the core set index information may include one or more ID indexes of the core set, the search space index information may also include one or more ID indexes of the search space, and the core set index information and the search space index information may be associated with corresponding core set and configuration information of the search space. In the search space configuration information, an ID index of one CORESET is included, and thus, each search space corresponds to one CORESET (different search spaces may correspond to the same or different CORESETs). The configuration information of each CORESET includes a parameter for indicating a TCI state set, which may include one or more TCI states, i.e., beams for indicating reception of a PDCCH, and the DCI is carried on the PDCCH. Then, the network device may activate a beam through the MAC CE signaling, that is, the MAC CE signaling carries indication information of a TCI state, and the terminal device may determine a corresponding PDCCH time-frequency resource according to a CORESET corresponding to the TCI state carried by the MAC-CE signaling and a search space corresponding to the CORESET, and monitor DCI on the PDCCH time-frequency resource using the beam indicated by the TCI state.

The reason "monitoring" is used here is that DCI transmission is not scheduled on all PDCCH time-frequency resources, but the terminal device monitors these time-frequency resources according to the beam indicated by the TCI status. In the embodiments of the present invention, for convenience of description, this behavior may also be described by "receiving" DCI, and the receiving and monitoring may be interchanged in this context without specific description.

However, there is a long time delay with this indication method. Since the terminal device may be mobile, a wide beam transmission DCI is typically used to ensure that the mobile terminal device is still within the coverage of the wide beam before the next MAC CE signaling is issued. Therefore, it is difficult to realize DCI transmission through narrow beams.

Therefore, the embodiments of the present application provide a method and an apparatus for indicating a control channel beam, so as to indicate a receiving beam of another DCI through one DCI, which is beneficial to reducing a delay.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device is a base station for next generation communication, such as a gbb or a small station of 5G, a micro station, a TRP, and may also be a relay station, an access point, and so on.

A communication device may refer to a terminal device, User Equipment (UE), access terminal device, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal device, mobile device, user terminal device, wireless communication device, user agent, or user equipment. The communication device may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), and the like, which are not limited in this embodiment.

The flow of the method for indicating a control channel beam provided in the embodiment of the present application may be as shown in fig. 3, and includes the following steps:

step 301, the network device sends a first DCI to the communication device, where the first DCI includes indication information for indicating a first beam.

The first DCI transmitted by the network device may be a DCI of any format (format), for example, a DCI for scheduling a downlink PDSCH, a DCI for scheduling an uplink PUSCH, and a DCI for slot format (slot format) notification, or a DCI used in future technology evolution, which is not limited in the present invention.

The first DCI in the embodiment of the present invention includes indication information for indicating the first beam, so as to notify the communication device to receive the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam. The first beam may refer to a beam for the network device to transmit the second DCI, or may refer to a beam for the communication device to receive the second DCI, and since a pairing relationship exists between the transmit beam and the receive beam, and the pairing relationship is obtained through beam training, the first beam may also refer to a transceiver beam pair for transmitting and receiving the second DCI.

The first beam indication information may be a TCI status, which is determined by a TCI status sequence number (TCI state ID). The present invention does not exclude the possibility that QCL information such as type _ D or other forms of beam indication information may appear as the first beam indication information in future technical evolution.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first predetermined beam and the second predetermined beam are both described above.

Step 302, the network device sends the second DCI according to the first beam, and the communication device receives the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam.

As described above, the first beam indicated by the network device in step 301 may indicate a beam for the network device to transmit the second DCI, may also indicate a beam for the communication device to receive the second DCI, and may also indicate a beam pair for transmitting the second DCI. If the first beam is a beam for the network device to transmit the second DCI, the communication device determines a receiving beam having a beam pairing relationship with the first beam, and receives the second DCI on the determined receiving beam. If the first beam is a beam for the communication device to receive the second DCI, the communication device receives the second DCI on the first beam, and the network device transmits the second DCI on a transmission beam in a beam pairing relationship with the first beam; if the first beam is directed to a beam pair, the communication device receives a second DCI on a receive beam of the beam pair, and the network device transmits the second DCI on a transmit beam of the beam pair.

In the above method, the communication device may determine a beam for receiving the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam carried by the received first DCI. The DCI signaling belongs to physical layer signaling, the MAC CE signaling belongs to MAC layer signaling, the RRC signaling belongs to RRC layer signaling, the minimum scheduling time unit of the DCI signaling is only one Transmission Time Interval (TTI) and is smaller than the minimum scheduling time units of the MAC CE signaling and the RRC signaling, and the communication equipment sequentially performs physical layer analysis, MAC layer analysis and RRC layer analysis when analyzing the signaling, so that the time delay of analyzing the DCI signaling by the communication equipment is shortest, the time delay of analyzing the MAC CE signaling is the second time, and the time delay of analyzing the RRC signaling is the longest. Therefore, the technical scheme of the method embodiment of the application is beneficial to reducing the time delay of the beam indication signaling and improving the flexibility of controlling the channel beam switching. Due to the fact that transmission time delay is reduced, the second DCI can be transmitted through narrow beams, and the transmission quality of the second DCI is improved.

In some embodiments, the network device may transmit a main DCI (i.e., a first DCI in the embodiment of the present application) and an auxiliary DCI (i.e., a second DCI in the embodiment of the present application) to the communication device, where the network device carries first beam indication information in the main DCI, and is configured to indicate indication information of a transmission beam for transmitting the auxiliary DCI (of course, indication information of a reception beam for receiving the second DCI or indication information of a beam pair is also possible, and for convenience of description, the following takes the transmission beam as an example to illustrate), and the communication device determines, according to the first beam indication information carried in the main DCI, a reception beam having a beam pairing relationship with the transmission beam, and receives the auxiliary DCI on the reception beam. Wherein, the auxiliary DCI includes a part of the indication field included in the main DCI. The requirements of the indication information included in the main DCI on the real-time property may be different, and optionally, part of the indication information with higher real-time property requirements is combined into one auxiliary DCI, so that the network device may schedule the auxiliary DCI with a flexible scheduling frequency, and the main DCI with higher signaling overhead may perform scheduling with a relatively lower scheduling frequency. When the communication device receives the first DCI, the communication device can complete data scheduling or other configuration according to the indication of the DCI; when the communication device receives the second DCI, because the second DCI only includes the partial indication information, it needs to complete data scheduling or other configurations by combining the partial indication information that is not overlapped with the second DCI in the first DCI received before. Therefore, the real-time requirement can be met, and unnecessary signaling overhead can be saved.

In some other embodiments, the first DCI may also be a common DCI, the second DCI is an exclusive DCI, and the example still takes the transmission beam as an example to illustrate, where the common DCI transmitted to the communication device by the network device carries first beam indication information, which is used to indicate indication information of the transmission beam for transmitting the exclusive DCI. The communication equipment determines a receiving beam having a pairing relation with the transmitting beam according to the first beam indication information carried in the common DCI, and receives the dedicated DCI on the receiving beam. The public DCI comprises part of indication information which has low requirement on real-time performance, and the exclusive DCI comprises another part of indication information which needs higher scheduling flexibility. At this time, the communication device needs to acquire complete indication information according to the common DCI and the dedicated DCI, and complete scheduling or other configurations. Specifically, after receiving the common DCI, the communication device waits for the next dedicated DCI; after receiving the dedicated DCI, the communication device obtains the indication information of all DCIs by combining the previously received common DCI, and completes scheduling or other configurations. Compared with the foregoing embodiments of the primary and secondary DCIs, this embodiment may further reduce unnecessary signaling overhead, i.e., the first DCI includes only common indication information.

In the above two implementations, the network device may be one network device; alternatively, the network device may include a first network device and a second network device, the first DCI (primary DCI or common DCI) is transmitted by the first network device, and the second DCI (secondary DCI or dedicated DCI) may be transmitted by the first network device or may be transmitted by the second network device.

When the first DCI and the second DCI are respectively main DCI and auxiliary DCI, or respectively public DCI and special DCI, information carried by the first DCI is often more important, or information of the first DCI is replaced more slowly; and the second DCI may carry some indication information that may require more flexible scheduling. At this time, the first DCI may be transmitted and received through a wide beam, and the second DCI may be transmitted and received through a narrow beam. In order to avoid increasing the monitoring complexity of the communication device by frequently transmitting the first DCI, the time interval between any two first DCIs transmitted by the network device is not less than a preset threshold. Or, the communication device does not expect to continuously receive two first DCIs within a time interval of a preset threshold; in this case, the communication device may discard or not process the next first DCI received within the time interval after receiving the one first DCI.

In some further embodiments, the network device may include a first network device and a second network device, the first DCI being DCI transmitted by the first network device, and the second DCI being DCI transmitted by the second network device. For example, in the coordinated multipoint scenario shown in fig. 1, TRP _ a may be used as the first DCI, the DCI transmitted by TRP _ a to the communication device is the first DCI, TRP _ B may be used as the second network device, and the DCI transmitted by TRP _ B to the communication device is the second DCI. Since the TRP _ a and the TRP _ B cooperate with each other to perform data transmission with the communication device, the TRP _ a may acquire transmission beam information used by the TRP _ B to transmit the second DCI, and therefore, the TRP _ a may carry indication information for indicating the transmission beam used by the TRP _ B to transmit the second DCI in the first DCI. At this time, the first DCI and the second DCI may use the same DCI format, but the first DCI is added with indication information of the first beam.

In one possible implementation, the first DCI and the second DCI may also be transmitted on different carriers. For example, in Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology, each carrier is a serving cell (serving cell), and a communication device may access more than one serving cell, so that more than one DCI may be received.

If the first DCI is a primary DCI (or common DCI) and the second DCI is a secondary DCI (or dedicated DCI), the first DCI may be sent through a primary serving cell (primary serving cell), and the second DCI may be sent through the primary serving cell or a secondary serving cell (secondary serving cell).

If the first DCI and the second DCI are transmitted through the first network device and the second network device respectively, and the first network device and the second network device are on different carriers, in this case, the different carriers may be the same frequency band, that is, only the carrier ID or the serving cell ID is different, and the actually transmitted frequency band is the same.

For another example, the first DCI and the second DCI may be transmitted on different bandwidth parts (BWPs). When multiple BWPs serve one communication device (whether from the same carrier or different carriers), the communication device may also receive more than one DCI. In this case, a possible embodiment is that if the first DCI is a primary DCI (or common DCI) and the second DCI is a secondary DCI (or dedicated DCI), the first DCI may be transmitted through a primary BWP (or initial BWP), and the second DCI may be transmitted through the primary BWP or through other BWPs. When the first DCI and the second DCI are from the primary BWP of two different carriers, the first DCI may be transmitted through the smaller or lowest carrier ID.

Before step 301, the communication device may further receive indication information of a first beam set sent by the network device, and the indication information of the first beam may be used to indicate one beam in the first beam set.

For example, the network device may first transmit the indication information of the first beam set to the communication device through RRC signaling or MAC CE signaling, and the first network device may indicate, through the first DCI, that one beam in the first beam set is used for transmitting the second DCI.

The first set of beams indicated by the network device may include four cases:

in case 1, the beams in the first beam set may be candidate beams for transmitting the first DCI, that is, the first DCI and the second DCI share the first beam set, and the network device may select a beam for transmitting the first DCI and a beam for transmitting the second DCI from the first beam set.

For example, the network device may transmit indication information of a first beam set to the communication device through RRC signaling, and then activate one beam in the first beam set for transmitting the second DCI through an indication of the first beam indication information in the first DCI. In this case, the method for indicating the beam used for transmitting the first DCI is not limited in this application, for example, the network device may indicate, through MAC-CE signaling, to activate one beam in the first beam set for transmitting the first DCI, or the network device and the communication device may also transmit and receive the first DCI according to the first preset beam.

For another example, the network device may send, to the communication device through RRC signaling, indication information indicating the initial beam set (e.g., 64 alternative beams may be included in the initial beam set); then, the network device may send indication information of a first beam set to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, where the first beam set may be a subset of the initial beam set (e.g., 8 beams are selected from the 64 beams as the first beam set through MAC CE signaling); after that, the network device may be configured to instruct to select one beam from the first beam set as a beam for transmitting the second DCI by carrying the indication information in the first DCI. In this case, the network device cannot indicate a beam used for transmitting the first DCI through the MAC CE signaling, and in a possible implementation, the network device may transmit the first DCI using a first preset beam, and correspondingly, the communication device receives the first DCI according to the first preset beam.

The first preset beam may be a preset certain beam, for example, a beam selected in the initial synchronization access is agreed as the first preset beam by the protocol (whether the beam is included in the first beam set or not). In addition, the first preset beam may also be a beam selected from the first beam set according to a preset rule, for example, a first beam in the first beam set is selected as the first preset beam. Generally, the precedence order of each beam in the first beam set is ordered according to the index value of the beam from small to large, and therefore, selecting the first beam in the first beam set may also be understood as selecting the beam with the smallest index value from the first beam set as the first preset beam.

In case 2, the beams in the first beam set may be only candidate beams for transmitting the second DCI, that is, the first beam set is not shared by other DCIs or PDSCHs.

For example, the network device may indicate a first beam set to the communication device through RRC signaling, and then activate one beam of the first beam set for transmitting the second DCI through a first beam indication information indication in the first DCI.

For another example, the network device may transmit indication information indicating the initial beam set to the communication device through the RRC information; then, sending indication information of a first beam set to the communication device through the MAC CE signaling, where the first beam set may be a subset of the initial beam set; then, the network device indicates, through first beam indication information carried in the first DCI, that the first beam is one beam in the first beam set.

In case 2, the method for indicating the beam for transmitting the first DCI is not limited in this application, and the network device may indicate the first DCI through the MAC CE or other signaling, or may transmit the first DCI through the first preset beam.

Case 3, the beam in the first beam set may also be a candidate beam for transmitting the first PDSCH, that is, the second DCI and the first PDSCH share the first beam set; wherein the first PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI. The network device may indicate the beam set used for transmitting the first PDSCH to the communication device through RRC signaling, MAC CE signaling, or other signaling, and in order to save signaling overhead, the network device may select one beam from the beam set used for transmitting the first PDSCH as the beam used for transmitting the second DCI without transmitting another signaling indication.

For example, the network device indicates a first beam set to the communication device through RRC signaling, and then activates one beam in the first beam set for transmitting the second DCI through a first beam indication information indication in the first DCI.

As another example, the network may indicate the initial set of beams to the communication device via RRC; then, indicating a first beam set to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, where the first beam set may be a subset of the initial beam set; and then, the network device indicates, through the first beam indication information carried in the first DCI, to select one beam from the first beam set as a beam for transmitting a second DCI.

In case 3, the present application does not limit the method for indicating a beam for transmitting the first DCI.

Case 4, the beam in the first beam set may also be a candidate beam for transmitting the second PDSCH, that is, the second DCI and the second PDSCH share the first beam set; and the second PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the second DCI. The network device may indicate the beam set for receiving the second PDSCH to the communication device through RRC signaling, MAC CE signaling, or other signaling, which is similar to case 3 and is not described herein again.

In either case, the network device may indicate the first set of beams to the communication device through RRC signaling or MAC CE signaling. For example, when the network device indicates the first beam set to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, in a general case, the network device may first indicate an initial beam set to the communication device through RRC signaling (for example, the initial beam set may include 64 alternative beams), and then indicate the first beam set to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, at this time, the first beam set may be a subset of the initial beam set (for example, 8 beams are further selected from the 64 beams as the first beam set). For another example, the network device may indicate the first set of beams to the communication device through RRC signaling, and at this time, it may not be necessary to indicate information about the first beam or the first set of beams through MAC CE signaling any more.

As mentioned above, the TCI state set (which may correspond to the initial beam set or the first beam set in the above embodiment) indicated in the RRC signaling may be configured corresponding to one or more CORESET, and one CORESET may be associated with one or more search spaces, so that the TCI state set is associated with the one or more CORESET and the one or more search spaces associated therewith. However, the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto, and the TCI state set may also be configured only corresponding to at least one search space or configured only corresponding to at least one CORESET. For example, one TCI state set corresponds to one or more CORESET and all search space configurations, or one TCI state set corresponds to one or more search space and all CORESET configurations.

In this embodiment, the communication device may receive the first DCI and the second DCI using different beams. Since the first DCI and the second DCI may be transmitted on the same time-frequency resource, the communication device is required to monitor the first DCI and the second DCI on the same time-frequency resource by using two different beams simultaneously. This cannot be handled if the communication device does not have the capability to receive wireless signals using two receive beams simultaneously. Furthermore, even if the network device does not transmit the first DCI and the second DCI on the same time-frequency resource, the communication device may not know the scheduling information of the first DCI and the second DCI transmitted by the network device in advance, that is, before receiving and parsing out the content of the DCI, the communication device may not be able to determine on which time-frequency resources the beam receiving the first DCI is used and on which time-frequency resources the beam receiving the second DCI is used. In one implementation, the network device may associate different CORESET and search spaces for the first DCI and the second DCI such that their time domain resources do not overlap. In this way, the communication device may switch different receiving beams on the corresponding PDCCH time-frequency resource according to the indication to monitor the first DCI and the second DCI.

For example, if the first DCI and the second DCI are respectively a primary DCI and a secondary DCI, or respectively a common DCI and a dedicated DCI, the formats of the first DCI and the second DCI are different. When the network device configures one or more search spaces for the communication device, a DCI format may be associated with each search space, and in this case, when the communication device monitors DCI according to a time domain resource associated with a certain search space configuration, it may determine whether the DCI monitored in the search space is the first DCI or the second DCI, so as to monitor the DCI in the search space using a corresponding receive beam.

For another example, in the PDCCH configuration, a new piece of configuration information may be added to indicate the mapping relationship between the first DCI and the second DCI with the CORESET ID and/or the search space ID. In this case, the first DCI and the second DCI may have different formats, and assuming that the format of the first DCI is DCI format1, and the format of the second DCI is DCI format2, the additional configuration information may be a mapping relationship between DCI format1 and core Space ID list 1 and/or Search Space ID list 1, and a mapping relationship between DCI format2 and core Space ID list 2 and/or Search Space ID list 2. Through the mapping relationship, the communication device may receive the first DCI and the second DCI on respective time-frequency resources using different beams according to the respective beam indication information of the first DCI and the second DCI. In the second case, the first DCI and the second DCI are the same DCI format, the DCI format1 and the DCI format2 may be replaced with other information that may characterize the first DCI and the second DCI on the basis of the first case, for example, the first DCI and the second DCI are characterized by using the information of the beam indication methods of the first DCI and the second DCI. Specifically, in the above case 1, the beam for transmitting the first DCI may be indicated by RRC signaling, MAC _ CE signaling and a method of a default rule, and the beam for transmitting the second DCI is indicated by RRC signaling, MAC _ CE signaling and the first DCI, so that the first DCI and the second DCI have different beam indication methods, and thus the DCI format1 in the new configuration information in the foregoing example may be replaced by "control channel beam indication: RRC + MAC _ CE + Default ", DCI format2 may be replaced with" control channel beam indication: RRC + MAC _ CE + DCI "; as in cases 2, 3, and 4, the beam for transmitting the first DCI may be indicated by RRC signaling and MAC _ CE signaling, and the beam for transmitting the second DCI may be indicated by RRC signaling, MAC _ CE signaling, and the first DCI, the DCI _ format1 in the foregoing example may be replaced by "control channel beam indication method: two-level signaling indication ", and DCI _ format2 may be replaced with" control channel beam indication method: three level signaling indication ". It should be understood that the format of the above configuration information is merely an example. For another example, in case 2, case 3, and case 4, the candidate beam sets of the first DCI and the second DCI are not the same, and in this case, the DCI _ format1 and the DCI _ format2 may be replaced with the identifier of the corresponding candidate beam set. By associating the beam indication methods or the identifications of the candidate beam sets representing the first DCI and the second DCI with the corresponding CORESET and the search space list, as configuration information, the method can also help the terminal device to know which receiving beam should be used to monitor the current PDCCH before parsing. It should be understood that all reasonable substitutions conforming to the above principles should be considered as the result of the protection of the present invention.

For another example, the content explicitly configured in the PDCCH configuration may also be implemented by a protocol convention method, that is, the protocol convention specifies a mapping relationship between the first DCI and the second DCI and the CORESET ID and/or the search space ID. For example, when the first DCI is a common DCI and the second DCI is a dedicated DCI, the protocol may stipulate that the first DCI is monitored on PDCCH time-frequency resources associated with the CORESET ID #0 and/or the search space ID #0, and the second DCI is monitored on PDCCH time-frequency resources associated with the CORESET and the search space. In this embodiment, the signaling configuration of the RRC need not be modified.

If the communication device has the capability of receiving the wireless signal by using two receiving beams simultaneously, even if the time-frequency resources configured by the network device for monitoring the first DCI and the second DCI for the communication device are the same, the communication device may also monitor the first DCI and the second DCI by using two beams simultaneously, and at this time, the correlation method between the CORESET and the search space may not be used. Alternatively, the communication device may report the capability to the network device, and the network device determines, based on the capability information, that the first DCI may be used to indicate a transmission beam of the second DCI, and may configure the same time-frequency resource for the first DCI and the second DCI. If the communication device does not notify the network device of the capability, the communication device does not expect to receive two or more beam indication information for indicating that two beams are used for monitoring the time-frequency resource on the same PDCCH.

When the first DCI and the second DCI may be distinguished by different carrier IDs, serving cell IDs, or BWP IDs, the correlation method between CORESET and search space may not be used.

Optionally, when the first beam used for transmitting the second DCI is indicated by the first DCI, the network device may add a new indication field in the first DCI, where the added new indication field is only used for indicating indication information of the first beam used for transmitting the second DCI. For example, if the first beam set includes 8 beams, the added new indication field may include 3 bits, and the combination of the 3 bits may correspond to 8 different values, which respectively correspond to 8 beams in the first beam set.

In addition, the network device may also multiplex a certain indication field included in the existing DCI, that is, the multiplexed indication field may be used to indicate the content originally indicated by the indication field and/or information indicating the first beam for receiving the second DCI. The indication field "TCI status" may be included in the first DCI for indicating a beam for transmitting the first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI, and the network device may multiplex the indication field "TCI status" so that the indication field may be used for indicating a beam for transmitting the first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI and/or for indicating a beam for transmitting the second DCI. For example, if the indication field "TCI" includes 3 bits, including 8 different values, the meaning of each value can be as shown in table 1.

TABLE 1

Dereferencing of TCI status indication field	Means of
		000	Default beam
001	TCIstateID1 indicating Beam 1 where the first PDSCH is sent
		010	TCIstateID2 indicating Beam 2 where the first PDSCH is sent
011	TCIstateID3 indicating Beam 3 where the first PDSCH was sent
		100	TCIstateID4 indicating Beam 4 on which the first PDSCH is sent
101	TCIstateID5 indicating Beam 5 where the first PDSCH was sent
		110	TCIstateID6 indicating Beam 6 on which the second DCI is sent
111	TCIstateID7 indicating Beam 7 where the second DCI is sent

In table 1, "default beam" may mean that the first PDSCH is transmitted through the default beam and/or the second DCI is transmitted through the default beam. Since the number of bits in the TCI status indication field is unchanged, the value of the beam used for indicating transmission of the first PDSCH is reduced, and the network device may reduce the number of beams included in the beam set for transmitting the first PDSCH; the number of the first beam set may also be determined according to the number of values of the beam used to indicate transmission of the second DCI. Or, the number of bits of the TCI status indication field may also be increased, for example, if the number of bits is increased to 4 bits, 16 different values may be included, so that the beam for transmitting the first PDSCH may be selected from a larger number of beams, and the second DCI may be selected from a larger number of beams.

It should be understood that table 1 is only an example, and whether a default beam exists, the number of beams for indicating to transmit the first PDSCH, and the number of beams for indicating to transmit the second DCI may all be adjusted according to requirements, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application.

The indication field in the above embodiments may be used to indicate a beam for transmitting the first PDSCH or a beam for transmitting the second DCI. In some other embodiments, one indication field may also jointly indicate a beam for transmitting the first PDSCH and a beam for transmitting the second DCI. For example, the values and meanings of the indicator field can be as shown in table 2.

TABLE 2

Dereferencing of TCI status indication field	Means of
		000	Default beam
001	A first PDSCH: beam 1; a second DCI: beam 2
		010	A first PDSCH: beam 1; a second DCI: beam 3
011	A first PDSCH: beam 2; a second DCI: beam 3
		100	A first PDSCH: beam 3; a second DCI: beam 3
101	A first PDSCH: beam 4; a second DCI: beam 5
		110	A first PDSCH: beam 4; a second DCI: beam 6
111	A first PDSCH: a beam 5; a second DCI: beam 7

It should be understood that table 2 is only an example, and whether a default beam exists, a combination of a beam for indicating to transmit the first PDSCH and a beam for indicating to transmit the second DCI may be adjusted according to a requirement, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

When the first DCI and the second DCI are transmitted by different network devices, that is, in a coordinated multipoint scenario, formats (formats) of the first DCI and the second DCI may be the same, and if the network device indicates the indication information of the first beam by multiplexing the indication field, the first DCI and the second DCI both include the indication field, but value ranges of the indication field in the first DCI and the second DCI may be different, for example, as illustrated in table 1, two states "110" and "111" of the second DCI are not functional, so an actual value range thereof is "000-101". If the network device indicates the indication information of the first beam by adding a new indication field, the value of the new indication field in the second DCI is a default value, that is, the new indication field is not used for indicating the receiving beam of other DCI.

In one possible implementation, a preset time period may be set for the first beam. The first DCI and the second DCI are both dynamically scheduled and have no fixed transmission period, and if the network device does not transmit the new first DCI for a long time, the communication device may move to a position beyond the coverage of the beam, thereby causing the reception quality of the second DCI to decrease. Therefore, a preset time period may be set for the first beam indicated by the first DCI to define the effective acting time of the first beam indication information, that is, the indication information of the first beam is invalid outside the preset time period. The preset time period is a continuous time period.

When monitoring a second DCI, if the communication equipment determines that the current DCI is in the preset time period, the communication equipment monitors the second DCI according to first beam indication information carried by the first DCI; correspondingly, the network device transmits the second DCI using the first beam within the preset time period. Otherwise, if the current time is determined not to be within the preset time period, the communication equipment monitors a second DCI according to a second preset beam; correspondingly, the network device transmits the second DCI through the second preset beam. It will be appreciated that the second predetermined beam may also be said first beam.

The second preset beam may be a preset beam, for example, a beam selected when the protocol agrees to perform initial synchronization access is used as the second preset beam; it is also possible to select a beam from the first set of beams according to a predetermined rule, for example, to always select a first beam from the first set of beams as a second predetermined beam. Generally, the precedence order of each beam in the first beam set is ordered according to the index value of the beam from small to large, and therefore, selecting a first beam in the first beam set may also be understood as selecting a beam with the smallest index value from the first beam set as the second preset beam.

The effective action range of the preset time period on the first beam is described by taking fig. 4 as an example.

The network device sends the first DCI _ a at time n1, and correspondingly, the communication device receives the first DCI _ a at time n1, where the first DCI _ a carries indication information of a first beam (beam 1). Here, the time instant n1 may refer to a certain time domain symbol, a certain slot (slot), or the like, for example, if the network device transmits the first DCI _ a on a 3 rd Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, the communication device also receives the first DCI _ a on the 3 rd OFDM symbol. Since the two devices are synchronized, in this example, the 3 rd OFDM symbol is in the same slot of the same radio frame from the perspective of the two devices.

However, at time n1, since the communication device has just received the first DCI _ a, the parsing of the first DCI _ a has not been completed, and the content of the first DCI _ a is unknown. After the time period of T1, the communication device completes the analysis of the first DCI _ a, and acquires the indication information of the beam 1 carried by the first DCI. The T1 time segment may be a relative time length in units of OFDM symbols and time slots, for example, 3 time slots, or may also be an absolute time length in units of milliseconds (ms) and microseconds (us), for example, 3 ms.

Between time n1 and time n2, since the communication apparatus has not acquired the indication information of beam 1, the communication apparatus cannot receive the second DCI according to beam 1, and therefore, the network apparatus does not transmit the second DCI using beam 1 either during this period. In this time period, the network device has a second DCI _ a to be transmitted, and then the network device may transmit the second DCI _ a according to the beam indicated by the last first DCI, and the communication device also receives the second DCI _ a according to the beam indicated by the last received first DCI. If the time for transmitting and receiving the second DCI _ a exceeds the effective action range of the beam indicated by the previous first DCI, the network device and the communication device may transmit and receive the second DCI _ a according to the second preset beam.

From the time n2(n1+ T1), the communication apparatus acquires the indication information of the beam 1, and can receive the second DCI according to the indication information of the beam 1. Therefore, the time n2 may be set as the start time of the above-described preset period, that is, from the time n2, the network device transmits the second DCI using beam 1, and the communication device receives the second DCI according to beam 1. Assuming that the length of the preset time period is T2(T2 may be a relative time length in units of OFDM symbols and slots, or an absolute time length in units of milliseconds and microseconds), as shown in fig. 4, the starting time of the preset time period is n2, and the ending time is n3(n2+ T2), that is, the network device and the communication device transmit and receive the second DCI _ B and the second DCI _ C according to beam 1.

After the time n3, that is, after the effective action range of the beam 1 is exceeded, if there is no new first DCI indicating a new first beam, the network device and the communication device receive and transmit a second DCI _ D according to a second preset beam.

Further, although the narrow beam has a large gain and a long propagation distance, the narrow beam is sensitive to movement of the communication device, and in order to ensure the quality of the wireless signal received by the communication device on the second preset beam, the wide beam may be set to the second preset beam, so that the communication device can receive the second DCI while moving within a certain range.

In some embodiments, the T1 time period may include a preparation time for beam switching of the communication device in addition to the time for the communication device to parse the first DCI, in which case, the communication device may parse the content of the first DCI and complete switching of the receiving beam according to the indication information of the first beam in the T1 time period.

The length of the T1 time period may be reported to the network device through the capability information of the communication device, or may be predefined by a protocol.

Similarly, the length of the T2 time period may be predefined by a protocol, may also be indicated by the network device through downlink control signaling (RRC/MAC-CE/DCI), and may also be reported to the network device by the communication device (for example, through capability information), which is not limited in the present invention.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the length of the preset time period (T2) is fixed. In other embodiments, the preset time period may not be a fixed time period.

Taking fig. 5 as an example, the start time of the preset time period of the first beam (beam 1) indicated by the first DCI _ a is still at the time n2(n1+ T1), wherein the time period T1 is similar to the previous embodiment and is not repeated herein. But the length of the T2 period is no longer a fixed length of time, the end time of the preset period T2 may be set as the start time of the preset period of the first beam (beam 2) indicated by the next first DCI (first DCI _ B). For example, the transmission time of the first DCI _ B is time n3, then the preset period start time of the beam 2 indicated by the first DCI _ B is time n4(n3+ T1); in this case, the effective coverage of the beam 1 indicated by the first DCI _ a continues from the time n2 to the time n4, and then enters the effective coverage of the beam 2 indicated by the first DCI _ B, and so on.

In addition, the end time of the preset time period may also be a time when MAC-CE signaling indicating the first beam set is received. For example, as shown in fig. 6, when the communication device receives the first DCI _ a at time n1, the starting time of the preset time period of the beam 1 indicated by the first DCI _ a is time n2(n1+ T1), and the time period T1 is similar to the foregoing embodiment, and is not repeated here. At time n3, the communication device receives MAC CE _2 for updating information in the first beam set, and the communication device acquires the updated information in the first beam set at time n4(n3+ T3), then the end time of the preset time period of the beam 1 is time n4, where the time period T3 is the time when the communication device parses the MAC CE signaling, or the time when the communication device parses the MAC CE signaling plus the time of beam switching. After the time n4 and before the next first DCI transmission/reception, the network device and the communication device transmit/receive a second DCI according to a second preset beam.

Or, the ending time of the preset time period is still the preset time period starting time of the first beam indicated by the next first DCI, and if the communication device receives a new MAC CE signaling within the preset time period, the communication device updates the first beam according to the new first set indicated by the new MAC CE signaling. For example, the first beam set indicated by the MAC CE _1 includes beam 1, beam 2,. and beam 8, the first beam indicated by the first DCI _ a transmitted at the time n1 is the second beam in the first beam set, that is, the first beam is beam 2, then the communication device starts to receive the second DCI according to beam 2 from the time n2(n1+ T1), as shown in fig. 7, and receives the second DCI _ B and the second DCI _ C according to beam 2; after that, the communication device receives the MAC CE _2 at time n3, determines that the updated first beam set includes the beam 9, the beam 10,. and the beam 16 at time n4(n3+ T3), and then the communication device determines that the updated first beam is the beam 10 according to the first DCI _ a and the MAC CE _2, and then the communication device receives the second DCI _ E according to the beam 10. The communication apparatus receives the first DCI _ B at time n5, and the first beam indicated by the first DCI _ B takes effect from time n6(n5+ T1). Therefore, the length of the preset time period is still the time interval from the first DCI to the second DCI, and the actually indicated first beam is updated with the update of the first beam set regardless of whether signaling updates the first beam set in the middle.

In the above embodiment, the MAC-CE signaling is taken as an example of the indication signaling of the first beam set, it should be understood that the signaling for indicating the first beam set may also be replaced by RRC signaling, which is not limited in the present invention.

In addition, in order to deal with the situation that the network device transmits the first DCI and the communication device does not receive the first DCI, the embodiment of the present application further provides a method for calculating the starting time of the preset time period. If the first beam indication information is carried in the first DCI for data scheduling and sent to the communication device, after the network device sends the first DCI, if the communication device successfully parses the data scheduled by the DCI, a positive acknowledgement message (ACK message) is sent to the network device, so that the network device may use the time when the ACK message is received as the start time of the preset time period, and the communication device uses the time when the ACK message is sent as the start time of the preset time period.

The unit of the receiving time, the sending time, or the time of the signaling or the message in the communication protocol in the embodiment of the present invention may be a relative time unit, such as a frame, a subframe, a half frame, a slot, a symbol, or an absolute time unit, such as a second, a millisecond, a microsecond, or the like, which is not limited in the present invention.

By using the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the beam for receiving the second DCI can be indicated through the first DCI, so that the signaling time delay for indicating the beam for sending or receiving the second DCI is reduced, and the second DCI can be transmitted through flexibly switching the narrow beam to improve the communication quality. However, in the case of coordinated multipoint, if the communication quality of the communication device and the first network device and the second network device is in a better state, or the communication quality of the communication device and the communication quality between the communication device and the first network device and the communication quality between the communication device and the second network device are not different, the method provided by the embodiment of the present application may not be adopted; when the communication quality is different from each other, the DCI transmitted by the network device with higher communication quality may indicate the transmission beam of the DCI transmitted by the network device with lower communication quality. For example, the communication device may measure RSRP (or other beam quality measurement parameters such as RSRQ) separately for the first network device and the second network device, and report the measurement results. According to the measurement result reported by the communication device, if it is determined that the RSRP reported by the communication device for measurement of the first network device is better than the RSRP reported for measurement of the second network device, and the difference is greater than the preset threshold, it may be determined that the method is applied to the communication device, that is, the first DCI sent by the first network device indicates a beam for receiving the DCI sent by the second network device. The threshold may be agreed by a protocol, or may be reported to the network device by the communication device (for example, by reporting capability information), or may be obtained by calculating other parameters, which is not limited in the present invention. For another example, the communication device may measure RSRP for the first network device and the second network device, respectively, and if the communication device determines that the RSRP measured for the first network device is better than the RSRP measured for the second network device and the difference is greater than the preset threshold, the communication device notifies the network device so that the network device instructs to send the beam of the second DCI by the above method. The preset threshold may be a protocol convention, or may be issued to the communication device by the network device through a downlink control signaling (RRC, MAC-CE, DCI, or the like).

Considering that some communication devices may not have the capability of determining a beam for receiving the second DCI according to the first DCI, in one possible implementation, the communication device may transmit, to the network device in advance, capability information of the communication device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether or not the beam for receiving the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI is supported, so that the network device determines whether or not the control channel beam indication method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be used to communicate with the communication device. Optionally, the capability information reported by the communication device may be actively reported according to a communication protocol specification, or may be sent to the network device by carrying the capability information in a response to an inquiry request sent by the network device after receiving the inquiry request.

Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which is used to implement the functions of the communication device in the foregoing method embodiments. The communication device may be a terminal device or a device on the terminal side. As shown in fig. 8, the communication device 800 may include a receiving unit 810 and a processing unit 820.

The processing unit 820 is configured to receive, by the receiving unit 810, first DCI sent by a network device, where the first DCI includes indication information for indicating a first beam, and receive a second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 820 is further configured to receive, through the receiving unit 810, indication information of a first beam set, where the indication information of the first beam is used to indicate one beam in the first beam set.

In a possible implementation manner, the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI; or, the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the second DCI; or the indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving a first PDSCH, where the first PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI; or the indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving a second PDSCH, and the second PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the second DCI.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the processing unit 820 is further configured to receive the first DCI according to a first preset beam through the receiving unit 810.

In a possible implementation manner, the first preset beam is a beam in the first beam set, which satisfies a preset rule. Further, the first predetermined beam is a first beam of the first set of beams.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 820 is specifically configured to: receiving, by the receiving unit 810, the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is received.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 820 is further configured to: receiving, by the receiving unit 810, the second DCI according to a second preset beam outside a preset time period.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device includes a first network device and a second network device, where the first DCI is sent by the first network device, and the second DCI is sent by the second network device.

In one possible implementation, the communication device 800 further includes a packet sending unit 830; the processing unit 820 is further configured to: before receiving, by the receiving unit 810, second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam, sending, by a sending unit 830, capability information of the communication device to the network device, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the communication device supports determining a beam for receiving the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI. The receiving unit 810 and the transmitting unit 830 may be separately provided or integrated together as a transceiving unit.

Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a network device, which is used to implement the functions of the network device in the foregoing method embodiments. As shown in fig. 9, the network device 900 may include a transmitting unit 910 and a processing unit 920.

The processing unit 920 is configured to send a first DCI through the sending unit 910, where the first DCI includes indication information for indicating a first beam, and send a second DCI according to the first beam.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 920 is further configured to: indication information of a first beam set is transmitted through the transmitting unit 910, where the indication information of the first beam is used to indicate one beam in the first beam set.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the processing unit 920 is further configured to: the first DCI is transmitted according to a first preset beam through a transmitting unit 910.

In a possible implementation manner, the first preset beam is a beam in the first beam set, which satisfies a preset rule. Further, the first preset beam is a first beam in the first set of beams.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 920 is specifically configured to: transmitting the second DCI through the transmitting unit 910 according to a first beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is transmitted through the transmitting unit 910.

In one possible implementation, the processing unit 920 is further configured to: and transmitting, by the transmitting unit 910, the second DCI according to a second preset beam outside a preset time period.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device 900 further includes a receiving unit 930, and the processing unit 920 is further configured to: before the second DCI is transmitted according to the first beam through the transmitting unit 910, the common receiving unit 930 receives capability information transmitted by the communication device, where the capability information is used to indicate that the communication device supports determining a beam for receiving the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI. The receiving unit 810 and the transmitting unit 830 may be separately provided or integrated together as a transceiving unit.

It should be noted that the division of each unit is only a division of a logic function, and all or part of the actual implementation may be integrated into one physical entity, or may be physically separated. And these units can be implemented entirely in software, invoked by a processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; and part of the units can be realized in the form of calling by a processing element through software, and part of the units can be realized in the form of hardware. The receiving unit and the sending unit can be independently arranged, and can also form a transmitting-receiving unit. In addition, the transceiver unit and the processing unit may be integrated together or may be implemented independently. The processing element described herein may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the method or the units above may be implemented by hardware integrated logic circuits in a processor element or instructions in software. Further, the above transmission unit is a unit that controls transmission, and information can be transmitted by a transmission device such as an antenna and a radio frequency device. Similarly, the receiving unit may also receive information via a receiving device, such as an antenna and a radio frequency device.

Based on the same technical concept, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which is used for implementing the functions of the communication device in the foregoing method embodiment. As shown in fig. 10, the device 1000 includes a processor 1010 and a transceiver 1020.

The processor 1010 is configured to receive, by the transceiver 1020, a first DCI transmitted by a network device, where the first DCI includes indication information for indicating a first beam, and receive a second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam.

In one possible implementation, the processor is further configured to: receiving, by the transceiver 1020, indication information of a first beam set indicating one beam of the first beam set.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the processor 1010 is further configured to: receiving, by the transceiver 1020, a first DCI according to a first preset beam.

In one possible implementation, the processor 1010 is specifically configured to: receiving, by the transceiver 1020, the second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is received by the transceiver.

In one possible implementation, the processor 1010 is further configured to: outside a preset time period, receiving the second DCI through the transceiver 1020 according to a second preset beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first DCI is transmitted by a first network device, and the second DCI is transmitted by a second network device.

In one possible implementation, the processor 1010 is further configured to: before receiving second DCI through the transceiver 1020 according to the indication information of the first beam, transmitting capability information of the communication device to the network device through the transceiver 1020, where the capability information is used to indicate whether the communication device supports a beam that determines to receive second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

Based on the same technical concept, the embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, which is used for implementing the functions of the network device in the foregoing method embodiments. As shown in fig. 11, network device 1100 includes a processor 1110 and a transceiver 1120.

The processor 1110 is configured to transmit first DCI to a communication device through the transceiver 1120, where the first DCI includes indication information indicating a first beam; transmitting, by the transceiver 1120, second DCI according to the first beam.

In one possible implementation, the processor 1110 is further configured to: transmitting, by the transceiver 1120, indication information of a first beam set indicating one beam of the first beam set.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the processor 1110 is further configured to: transmitting, by the transceiver 1120, the first DCI according to a first preset beam.

In a possible implementation manner, when the processor 1110 transmits the second DCI according to the first beam through the transceiver 1120, specifically, is configured to: transmitting, by the transceiver 1120, the second DCI according to the first beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is transmitted.

In one possible implementation, the processor 1110 is further configured to: transmitting, by the transceiver 1120, the second DCI according to a second preset beam outside a preset time period.

In a possible implementation manner, the network device includes a first network device and a second network device, where the first DCI is sent by the first network device, and the second DCI is sent by the second network device. Wherein the structures of the first network device and the second network device are similar to those shown in fig. 11.

In one possible implementation, before transmitting the second DCI according to the first beam through the transceiver 1120, the processor 1110 is further configured to: receiving, by the transceiver 1120, capability information transmitted by the communication device, where the capability information is used to indicate that the communication device supports determining a beam for receiving a second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

Based on the same technical concept, the embodiment of the application provides a communication device, which comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is used for storing programs, and the processor is used for calling the programs in the memory to execute the functions executed by the communication device in the method.

Based on the same technical concept, the embodiment of the present application provides a network device, which includes a processor and a memory, where the memory is used to store a program, and the processor is used to call the program in the memory to execute the function executed by the network device in the method.

Based on the same technical concept, an embodiment of the present application provides an apparatus, which includes a processor, and when the processor executes a computer program, the processor implements a function performed by a communication apparatus in the foregoing method, or implements a function performed by a network apparatus in the foregoing method.

Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a chip for supporting a device to implement a function performed by a communication device in the foregoing method, or for performing a function performed by a network device in the foregoing method. In one possible design, the chip further includes a memory unit for storing program instructions and data necessary for the device.

Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform functions performed by a communication device in the above-mentioned method or functions performed by a network device in the above-mentioned method.

Based on the same technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the functions performed by the communication device in the above method or perform the functions performed by the network device in the above method.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

1. A method for control channel beam indication, comprising:

the communication equipment receives first Downlink Control Information (DCI) sent by network equipment, wherein the first DCI comprises indication information used for indicating a first beam; the time interval between any two first DCIs is not less than a preset threshold value;

the communication equipment receives second DCI according to the indication information of the first wave beam within a preset time period after receiving the first DCI; the first DCI is sent by a first network device, and the second DCI is sent by a second network device;

outside a preset time period, the communication device receives the second DCI according to a second preset beam.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the communication device receives indication information of a first beam set, wherein the indication information of the first beam is used for indicating one beam in the first beam set.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI; or

The indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving the second DCI; or

The indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving a first Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), and the first PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI; or

The indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving a second PDSCH, and the second PDSCH is a PDSCH scheduled by the second DCI.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the indication information of the first set of beams is sent to the communication device by medium access control layer control element, MAC CE, signalling or radio resource control, RRC, signalling.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is transmitted to the communication device through MAC CE signaling, the method further comprising:

the communication device receives the first DCI according to a first preset beam.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first predetermined beam is a beam of the first set of beams that satisfies a predetermined rule.

7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the indication information of the first beam is indicated by a first indication field in the first DCI, the first indication field being used only to indicate a beam for receiving the second DCI; or

The indication information of the first beam is indicated by a second indication field in the first DCI, and the second indication field is used for indicating a beam for receiving the first information and/or used for indicating a beam for receiving the second DCI.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first information comprises a first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI.

9. The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein the first DCI is a primary DCI and the second DCI is a secondary DCI, wherein the secondary DCI includes only a portion of an indication field included in the primary DCI; or

The first DCI is a public DCI, and the second DCI is an exclusive DCI, wherein the public DCI comprises a public indication domain, and the exclusive DCI comprises an exclusive indication domain; the common DCI and the dedicated DCI are combined to complete scheduling for the communication device.

10. The method of any of claims 1-9, wherein prior to the communication device receiving second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam, further comprising:

and the communication equipment sends capability information of the communication equipment to the network equipment, wherein the capability information is used for indicating whether the communication equipment supports the beam for determining to receive the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

11. A method for control channel beam indication, comprising:

the network equipment sends first Downlink Control Information (DCI) to the communication equipment, wherein the first DCI comprises indication information used for indicating a first beam; the time interval between any two first DCIs is not less than a preset threshold value;

the network equipment transmits second DCI according to a first wave beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is transmitted;

outside a preset time period, the network equipment sends the second DCI according to a second preset wave beam;

wherein the network device comprises a first network device and a second network device;

the network device sends a first DCI to a communication device, including:

the first network device sends first DCI to a communication device;

the network device sends a second DCI according to the first beam, and the second DCI comprises:

and the second network equipment transmits second DCI according to the first beam.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

the network device sends indication information of a first beam set, wherein the indication information of the first beam is used for indicating one beam in the first beam set.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI; or

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the indication information of the first set of beams is sent to the communication device by medium access control layer control element, MAC CE, signaling or radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the indication information of the first beam set is used for indicating a beam set for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information of the first beam set is sent to the communication device through medium access control layer control element (MAC CE) signaling, the method further comprising:

and the network equipment sends the first DCI according to a first preset beam.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first predetermined beam is a beam of the first set of beams that satisfies a predetermined rule.

17. The method of any one of claims 11-16, wherein the indication information of the first beam is indicated by a first indication field in the first DCI, the first indication field being used only to indicate a beam for receiving the second DCI; or

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first information comprises a first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI.

19. The method of any of claims 11-18, wherein the first DCI is a primary DCI and the second DCI is a secondary DCI, wherein the secondary DCI includes only a portion of an indication field included in the primary DCI; or

20. The method of any of claims 11-19, prior to the network device transmitting second DCI according to the first beam, further comprising:

and the network equipment receives capability information sent by the communication equipment, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the communication equipment supports the beam for determining to receive the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

21. A communication device, comprising: a transceiver and a processor;

the processor is configured to receive, by the transceiver, first downlink control information DCI sent by a network device, where the first DCI includes indication information for indicating a first beam; the time interval between any two first DCIs is not less than a preset threshold value; receiving, by the transceiver, a second DCI according to the indication information of the first beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is received by the transceiver; the first DCI is sent by a first network device, and the second DCI is sent by a second network device;

and outside a preset time period, receiving the second DCI through the transceiver according to a second preset beam.

22. The device of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to: receiving, by the transceiver, indication information of a first beam set, the indication information of the first beam being used for indicating one beam in the first beam set.

23. The device of claim 22, wherein the indication information for the first set of beams is used to indicate the set of beams for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information for the first set of beams is sent to the communication device via MAC CE signaling, the processor further configured to: receiving, by the transceiver, the first DCI according to a first preset beam.

24. The device of any one of claims 21-23, wherein the processor is further configured to:

before receiving second DCI through the transceiver according to the indication information of the first beam, sending capability information of the communication device to the network device through the transceiver, wherein the capability information is used for indicating whether the communication device supports the beam which is determined to receive the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

25. A network device, comprising: a transceiver and a processor;

the processor is configured to send first downlink control information DCI to a communication device through the transceiver, where the first DCI includes indication information for indicating a first beam; the time interval between any two first DCIs is not less than a preset threshold value; transmitting, by the transceiver, second DCI according to a first beam within a preset time period after the first DCI is transmitted by the transceiver; transmitting, by the transceiver, the second DCI according to a second preset beam outside a preset time period; the network device comprises a first network device and a second network device, the first DCI is sent by the first network device, and the second DCI is sent by the second network device.

26. The device of claim 25, wherein the processor is further configured to: transmitting, by the transceiver, indication information of a first beam set, the indication information of the first beam being used for indicating one beam of the first beam set.

27. The device of claim 26, wherein the indication information for the first set of beams is for indicating a set of beams for receiving the first DCI, and the indication information for the first set of beams is sent to the communication device via medium access control layer control element (MAC CE) signaling, the processor further configured to: transmitting, by the transceiver, the first DCI according to a first preset beam.

28. The device of any one of claims 25-27, wherein the processor is further configured to:

before transmitting second DCI according to the first beam through the transceiver, receiving capability information transmitted by the communication device through the transceiver, wherein the capability information is used for indicating that the communication device supports the beam for determining to receive the second DCI according to the indication information in the first DCI.

29. The apparatus of claim 22 or 26, wherein the indication information of the first beam set is used to indicate a beam set for receiving the first DCI; or

30. The apparatus according to claim 22, 26 or 29, wherein the indication information of the first set of beams is sent to the communication device by medium access control layer control element, MAC CE, signaling or radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

31. The apparatus according to claim 23 or 27, wherein the first predetermined beam is a beam of the first set of beams that satisfies a predetermined rule.

32. The apparatus of any one of claims 21-23, 25-31, wherein the indication information of the first beam is indicated by a first indication field in the first DCI, the first indication field being used only to indicate a beam to receive the second DCI; or

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the first information comprises a first PDSCH scheduled by the first DCI.

34. The apparatus of any of claims 21-23, 25-33, wherein the first DCI is a primary DCI and the second DCI is a secondary DCI, wherein the secondary DCI comprises only a portion of an indication field included in the primary DCI; or