CN111586858A

CN111586858A - Signal transmission method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN111586858A
Application number: CN201910118215.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李铁; 张永平; 张希
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-02-15
Filing date: 2019-02-15
Publication date: 2020-08-25
Anticipated expiration: 2039-02-15
Also published as: CN111586858B; WO2020164454A1

Abstract

The application provides a signal transmission method and a communication device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment determines a beam for transmitting signals, wherein the beam is a beam on a currently activated panel; the terminal equipment receives a downlink signal or a downlink channel through the wave beam; or, the terminal device transmits an uplink signal or an uplink channel through the beam. Therefore, the terminal device can transmit signals by using the beams on the currently activated panel, so that time delay caused by panel activation and panel switching can be avoided, and the system transmission performance can be improved.

Description

Signal transmission method and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to a signal transmission method and a communication apparatus.

Background

In some communication systems, for example, new radio access technology (NR) of a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) communication system, in order to combat path loss in a high frequency scenario, a transmitting end and a receiving end may respectively obtain gains through beamforming. The transmitting end and the receiving end can transmit and receive signals through a predetermined beam pairing relationship.

Since the beams have a certain spatial directivity, the terminal device may be configured with a plurality of antenna panels (antenna panels) in order to satisfy wide area coverage. The beam may be received or transmitted through the antenna panel. When the terminal device needs to switch the beam, it may need to switch the panel first and then switch to the corresponding beam to transmit and receive the signal. However, it may take a certain time for the terminal device to switch the panel. If the terminal device switches the panel after receiving the scheduling signaling, the terminal device may not be ready to switch, and the scheduled resource may arrive. And thus the signal carried on that resource may also be unsuccessfully transmitted.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a signal transmission method and a communication device, which are used for reducing time delay caused by panel switching and are beneficial to improving the transmission performance of a system.

In a first aspect, a signal transmission method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment determines a first beam for receiving a downlink signal or a downlink channel, wherein the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel; the terminal device receives the downlink signal or the downlink channel through the first beam.

It should be understood that the method may be performed by the terminal device, and may also be performed by a chip configured in the terminal device. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device may receive the downlink signal or the downlink channel using the beam on the currently activated panel, which may avoid a large time delay caused by the activation of the panel. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is beneficial for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and receive downlink signals or downlink channels by using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

With reference to the first aspect, in some possible implementation manners of the first aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, a first beam for receiving a downlink signal or a downlink channel includes: the terminal equipment determines a default beam according to the currently activated panel, wherein the default beam is a first beam used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels.

That is, the terminal device may determine the first beam by itself according to the currently activated panel, so that the determined first beam is a beam on the currently activated panel.

In a second aspect, a signal transmission method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment determines a first beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel, wherein the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel; and the terminal equipment transmits the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the first wave beam.

It should be understood that the method provided by the second aspect may be executed by the terminal device, and may also be executed by a chip configured in the terminal device. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device may use the beam on the currently activated panel to transmit the uplink signal or the uplink channel, which may avoid a large time delay caused by the activation of the panel. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal equipment does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation, so that the power saving effect can be achieved.

With reference to the second aspect, in some possible implementation manners of the second aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, a first beam used for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel includes: the terminal device determines a default beam according to the currently activated panel, wherein the default beam is a first beam used for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the default beam refers to a beam on the currently activated one or more panels that meets a preset condition.

In the embodiment of the present application, one or more preset conditions may be predefined so that the terminal device determines a default beam from one or more currently activated panels. The preset condition may be predefined by a protocol, for example. The present application is not limited to the specific content of the preset condition.

Several alternative reference beams are listed below. The parameters L, M and N involved therein satisfy: n is more than or equal to 1, M is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, L is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, and L, M and N are integers.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a receive beam of a first physical downlink control channel used in a first timeslot, where the receive beam of the first physical downlink control channel is a receive beam corresponding to a control resource set with a smallest ID in one or more control resource sets among receive beams on a currently activated panel, and the one or more control resource sets are control resource sets monitored by the terminal device in the first timeslot; the first time slot is one of one or more time slots closest to a reference time slot, one or more control resource sets are configured in each of the one or more time slots, and a receive beam of at least one control resource set in the one or more resource sets configured in each of the one or more time slots is on a currently activated panel.

The first time slot satisfies: condition a) the first time slot contains one or more control resource sets monitored by the terminal device; condition b) that the receive beam for at least one of the one or more sets of control resources in the first time slot is on a currently activated panel; condition c) the first time slot is one of the one or more time slots satisfying the above conditions a) and b) that is closest to the scheduled resource from the reference time slot.

The first PDCCH satisfies: condition a) the receive beam is on the currently activated panel; condition b) the terminal device monitors the PDCCH transmitted in the control resource set with the smallest ID in one or more control resource sets in the first time slot.

It should be noted that the first time slot and the reference time slot may be different time slots or the same time slot. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L beams used for reception of the synchronization signal block M times closest to the reference slot among beams for receiving the synchronization signal block determined by the random access procedure on the currently activated N panels.

In particular, the default beam may refer to at least:

one beam used for receiving the synchronous signal block at the time closest to the reference time slot in the beams for receiving the synchronous signal block determined by the random access process on the currently activated N panels; or

Among the beams for receiving the synchronization signal blocks determined by the random access procedure on the currently activated N panels, the beam used for receiving the synchronization signal block of the time closest to the reference time slot on each panel, that is, N beams in total; or

Alternatively, the default beam refers to a beam used for transmission of the physical uplink control channel that identifies the smallest physical uplink control channel among the physical uplink control channels on the currently activated N panels in the activated uplink bandwidth part (BWP).

The identifier of the physical uplink control channel may refer to, for example, an identifier of a physical uplink control channel resource or an identifier of a physical uplink control channel resource set.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a beam used for transmitting the physical uplink control channel with the minimum identification in the physical uplink control channels on the currently activated N panels.

That is, the beam of the default beam reference may not be the beam used for transmitting the physical uplink control channel in the active uplink BWP.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L beams used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels for M times closest to the reference time slot among beams used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the currently activated N panels.

In particular, the default beam may refer to at least:

among the currently activated beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, one beam used for receiving the downlink signal or downlink channel at the time closest to the reference time slot; or

Among the currently activated beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, the beam used for receiving the downlink signal or downlink channel at the time closest to the reference time slot on each panel is N beams in total; or

Among the currently activated beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, the beams used for receiving the downlink signals or downlink channels for the N times closest to the reference time slot are L (L is greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N) beams in total.

The beam for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel may be determined by an initial access procedure or a random access procedure described below, or may be determined by other manners.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L beams used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels of M times closest to the reference time slot among beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels determined by the initial access procedure on the currently activated N panels.

That is, the beam for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel, to which the default beam listed above can refer, may be determined by the initial access procedure.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L beams used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels of M times closest to the reference time slot among beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels determined by the random access procedure on the currently activated N panels.

That is, the beam for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel, which the default beam listed above can refer to, may be determined by the random access procedure.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a beam used for reception of a first synchronization signal block on the currently activated N panels, the first synchronization signal block being determined by the initial access procedure.

Unlike the above, the initial access procedure is used to determine a first synchronization signal block, whose receive beam can be used as a reference beam for determining a default beam.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L beams used for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel M times closest to the reference slot among the beams used for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel on the currently activated N panels.

Specifically, the default beam reference may refer to at least:

among the currently activated beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, one beam used for transmitting the uplink signal or uplink channel at the time closest to the reference time slot; or

Among the currently activated beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, the beam used for transmitting the uplink signal or uplink channel at the time closest to the reference time slot on each panel is N beams in total; or

Among the currently activated beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, the beams used for transmitting uplink signals or uplink channels for the N times closest to the reference time slot are L (1 ≦ L ≦ N) beams.

The reference time slot may refer to a time slot in which a transmission resource of a signal or channel scheduled or triggered by the network device is located. The reference time slot may be, for example, a time slot in which a physical downlink control channel is located, a time slot in which a physical downlink shared channel is located, or a time slot in which a transmission resource of a downlink reference signal (e.g., a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)) is located. The reference time slot may also be, for example, a time slot in which a physical uplink control channel is located, a time slot in which a physical uplink shared channel is located, or a time slot in which a transmission resource of an uplink reference signal (e.g., Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)) is located.

It should be noted that the beams referred to by the default beams listed above may be receiving beams or transmitting beams. This is not a limitation of the present application. The default beam may be determined with reference to the receive beam or with reference to the transmit beam.

With reference to the first aspect or the second aspect, in some possible implementations, the method further includes: the terminal device receives first indication information from the network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first beam.

That is, the terminal device may determine the first beam according to the indication of the network device.

In a third aspect, a beam indication method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment generates first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first beam; the first beam is a beam used by the terminal equipment for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels, and the first beam is a beam on a panel which is currently activated by the terminal equipment; the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device.

It should be understood that the method provided in the third aspect may be performed by a network device, and may also be performed by a chip configured in the network device. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Based on the above technical solution, the network device indicates the first beam to the terminal device through the first indication information, where the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel of the terminal device. Therefore, the terminal equipment can receive the downlink signal or the downlink channel by using the beam on the currently activated panel, and can avoid larger time delay caused by panel activation. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is beneficial for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and receive downlink signals or downlink channels by using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

In a fourth aspect, a beam indication method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment generates first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first beam; the first beam is a beam used by the terminal device to transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel, and the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel of the terminal device; the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device.

It should be understood that the method provided in the fourth aspect may be performed by a network device, and may also be performed by a chip configured in the network device. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Based on the above technical solution, the network device indicates the first beam to the terminal device through the first indication, where the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel of the terminal device. Therefore, the terminal equipment can use the beam on the currently activated panel to send the uplink signal or the uplink channel, and the large time delay caused by the activation of the panel can be avoided. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal equipment does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation, so that the power saving effect can be achieved.

With reference to the first aspect to the fourth aspect, in some possible implementation manners, the first indication information is carried in one or more of Downlink Control Information (DCI), a Media Access Control (MAC) -Control Element (CE), and a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message.

The network device may employ different signaling to indicate the first beam for different downlink signals or downlink channels. The first indication information is carried in the existing signaling, for example, one or more of the DCI, the MAC-CE, and the RRC message as described above, or may be carried in the newly added signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application.

It should be understood that DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages are merely examples for ease of understanding and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of using other signaling to carry the first indication information, nor does it exclude the possibility of defining other names for the above signaling. In other words, the first indication information may be carried in one or more of physical layer signaling and higher layer signaling.

In a fifth aspect, a signal transmission method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment determines a second beam for sending an uplink signal or an uplink channel, wherein the second beam and a third beam for receiving a scheduling channel are beams on the same panel, and the scheduling channel is used for scheduling or triggering the uplink signal or the uplink channel; and the terminal equipment transmits the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the second beam.

It should be understood that the method provided by the fifth aspect may be executed by the terminal device, and may also be executed by a chip configured in the terminal device. This is not a limitation of the present application.

The scheduling channel may be a channel for scheduling an uplink resource to transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel. For example, the network device may schedule the PUSCH through a scheduling channel, which may be, for example, the PDCCH. The scheduling channel may also be used to trigger transmission of an uplink signal or uplink channel. For example, the network device may trigger the transmission of the aperiodic SRS through a scheduling channel, which may also be, for example, a PDCCH.

It should be understood that the scheduling channel is defined only for ease of understanding and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. In the transmission of a particular uplink signal or uplink channel, the scheduling channel may be a different channel. The application is not limited to the specific channel used as the scheduling channel. Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device may determine the second beam for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel according to the panel on which the third beam used by the receiving scheduling channel is located. Since the terminal device uses the third beam when receiving the scheduling channel, the panel on which the third beam is located is the activated panel, and the second beam is determined on the panel, that is, the second beam is determined on the currently activated panel. Thereby avoiding the large time delay associated with panel activation. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be active for a long time. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect, the determining, by the terminal device, a second beam used for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel includes: and the terminal equipment determines a second wave beam for sending an uplink signal or an uplink channel according to the panel where the third wave beam is located.

That is, the terminal device may determine the second beam by itself according to the currently activated panel, so that the determined first beam is a beam on the currently activated panel.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in some possible implementations of the fifth aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information indicates a second beam used for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel.

That is, the terminal device may determine the second beam according to the indication of the network device.

In a sixth aspect, a beam indicating method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment determines a second wave beam according to a panel where a third wave beam is located, wherein the second wave beam and the third wave beam are wave beams on the same panel, the second wave beam is used for the terminal equipment to send an uplink signal or a wave beam of an uplink channel, the third wave beam is used for the terminal equipment to receive a dispatching channel, and the dispatching channel is used for dispatching or triggering the uplink signal or the uplink channel; the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, wherein the third indication information indicates the second beam.

It should be understood that the method provided by the sixth aspect may be executed by a network device, and may also be executed by a chip configured in the network device. This is not a limitation of the present application.

It should be understood that the scheduling channel is defined only for ease of understanding and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. In the transmission of a particular uplink signal or uplink channel, the scheduling channel may be a different channel. The application is not limited to the specific channel used as the scheduling channel.

Based on the above technical solution, the network device indicates the second beam to the terminal device through the third indication information, where the second beam is a beam on a currently activated panel of the terminal device. Therefore, the panel on which the third beam used by the terminal device is located can be used for determining the second beam used for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel. Since the terminal device uses the third beam when receiving the scheduling channel, the panel on which the third beam is located is the activated panel, and the second beam on the panel is the beam on the currently activated panel. Thereby avoiding the large time delay associated with panel activation. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be active for a long time. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

In a seventh aspect, a panel indication method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment receives a panel activating command from the network equipment at a first time node, wherein the panel activating command is used for activating one or more panels; the terminal device receives and transmits signals at a second time node; and the time interval between the first time node and the second time node is greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time length, the panel switching time length and the time length for correctly receiving the panel activation command.

It should be understood that the method provided in the seventh aspect may be executed by the terminal device, and may also be executed by a chip configured in the terminal device.

Based on the technical scheme, the terminal equipment can activate the panel according to the panel activation command of the network equipment, and the panel switching can be ensured to be completed by the terminal equipment before the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives by limiting the time interval between the second time node and the first time node to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time, the panel switching time and the time for correctly receiving the panel activation command, so that the signal can be transmitted and received by using the beam on the activated panel when the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

In an eighth aspect, a panel indication method is provided. Specifically, the method comprises the following steps: the network equipment sends a panel activation command to the terminal equipment at a first time node, wherein the panel activation command is used for activating one or more panels; the network device receives and transmits signals at a second time node; and the time interval between the first time node and the second time node is greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time length, the panel switching time length and the time length for the terminal equipment to correctly receive the panel activation command.

It should be understood that the method provided by the eighth aspect may be executed by a network device, and may also be executed by a chip configured in the network device.

Based on the technical scheme, the network equipment activates the panel of the terminal equipment through the panel activation command, and can ensure that the terminal equipment completes panel switching before the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives by limiting the time interval between the second time node and the first time node to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time, the panel switching time and the time for correctly receiving the panel activation command, so that the signal can be transmitted and received by using the beam on the activated panel when the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the panel activation command is beam indication information.

That is, the panel activation command may multiplex existing signaling. The beam indicated by the beam indication information has a corresponding relationship with the panel, and the corresponding relationship may be predefined, for example, as defined by a protocol; or the terminal device reports to the network device in advance. This is not a limitation of the present application. When the network device indicates the beam through the beam indication information, the panel which needs to be activated is also indirectly indicated.

The beam indication information may be, for example, the first indication information described in the first to fourth aspects, or the third indication information described in the fifth or sixth aspect.

With reference to the seventh or eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the panel activation command includes an indication of one or more panels that need to be activated.

That is, the network device may also indicate the panel to be activated through existing signaling or additional signaling. The network device may directly indicate an indication of a panel that needs to be activated, or may indicate other identifiers having a corresponding relationship with the panel, such as a reference signal resource. This is not a limitation of the present application.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the panel activation command is configured in one or more of a radio resource control RRC message, a media access control information element MAC-CE, and downlink control information DCI.

That is, existing signaling may be multiplexed to indicate the panel that needs to be activated, so that signaling overhead may be reduced.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in some possible implementation manners of the seventh aspect, the method further includes: the terminal equipment receives a panel switching command, and the panel switching command is used for indicating switching to part or all of one or more panels activated by the panel activating command.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations of the eighth aspect, the method further includes: the network equipment sends a panel switching command, and the panel switching command is used for indicating to switch to a part of or all of one or more panels activated by the panel activation command.

The network device may further notify the terminal device through a panel switch command after activating one or more panels of the terminal device through the panel activation command, so that the terminal device performs panel switching according to the panel switch command after activating the panels.

Alternatively, the panel activation command and the panel switch command may be the same field in the same signaling, i.e., the indication of activation and switch is accomplished through the same field. In this case, the panel that needs to be activated and the panel that needs to be switched, which the network device indicates, may be the same. The terminal device may switch the panel to all of the active panels.

Alternatively, the panel activation command and the panel switch command may be different fields in the same signaling, i.e., the indication of activation and switch is done through different fields. In this case, the panel that needs to be activated and the panel that needs to be switched, which are indicated by the network device, may be the same or different. The terminal device may switch the panel to all or part of the panel that is active.

Alternatively, the panel activation command and the panel switch command may be different signaling. In this case, the panel that needs to be activated and the panel that needs to be switched, which are indicated by the network device, may be the same or different. The terminal device may switch the panel to all or part of the panel that is active.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the panel switching command is beam indication information.

Similar to the panel activation command described above, the panel switch command may multiplex existing signaling. As described above, the beam indicated by the beam indication information has a corresponding relationship with the panel, and when the network device indicates the beam through the beam indication information, the panel that needs to be switched is indirectly indicated.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the panel switching command includes an indication of a panel that needs to be switched.

Similar to the panel activation command described above, the panel switch command may indicate the panel to be switched through existing signaling or additional signaling. The network device may directly indicate an indication of a panel that needs to be activated, or may indicate other identifiers having a corresponding relationship with the panel, such as a reference signal resource. This is not a limitation of the present application.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, a time interval between the first time node and the second time node is greater than or equal to a sum of a duration of panel activation, a duration of panel switching, and a duration of correct reception of the panel activation command by the terminal device and a duration of correct reception of the panel switching command by the terminal device.

It should be noted that, when the panel activation command and the panel switching command are carried in the same signaling, the time when the terminal device correctly receives the panel activation command and the time when the terminal device correctly receives the panel switching command may be coincident, so the time interval between the first time node and the second time node may be simplified to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation duration, the panel switching duration, and the time when the terminal device correctly receives the panel activation command.

When the terminal device can receive the signaling while activating the panel, the time interval between the first time node and the second time node can also be reduced to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation duration, the panel switching duration and the duration of the terminal device correctly receiving the panel activation command.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the panel switching command is carried in one or more of an RRC message, a MAC-CE, and a DCI.

That is, existing signaling may be multiplexed to indicate panels that need to be switched, so that signaling overhead may be reduced.

With reference to the seventh aspect or the eighth aspect, in some possible implementations, the terminal device sends and receives signals at the second time node, including:

the terminal device transceives signals through the beams on the activated panel at the second time node.

The time interval between the second time node and the first time node is limited to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time length of panel activation, the time length of panel switching and the time length of correctly receiving the panel activation command, or the time interval between the second time node and the first time node is limited to be greater than or equal to the sum of the time length of panel activation, the time length of panel switching, the time length of correctly receiving the panel activation command and the time length of correctly receiving the panel switching command. Accordingly, a sufficient time is reserved for the terminal device to perform panel switching before the transmission resource of a signal or channel arrives, so that the terminal device can complete panel switching before the transmission resource of a signal or channel arrives, upon which a signal is transceived using a beam on an activated panel.

A ninth aspect provides a communication apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of the first, second, fifth or seventh aspects and possible implementations of the first, second, fifth or seventh aspects.

In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided that includes a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory and is operable to execute the instructions in the memory to implement the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first, second, fifth or seventh aspect and the first, second, fifth or seventh aspect. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a communication interface, the processor being coupled to the communication interface.

In one implementation, the communication device is a terminal device. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

In another implementation, the communication device is a chip configured in the terminal equipment. When the communication device is a chip configured in a terminal device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface.

Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transmit-receive circuit. Alternatively, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a communications apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of the possible implementations of the third, fourth, sixth or eighth aspect, and the third, fourth, sixth or eighth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided that includes a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory and is operable to execute the instructions in the memory to implement the method of any one of the possible implementations of the third, fourth, sixth or eighth aspect described above and the third, fourth, sixth or eighth aspect. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a memory. Optionally, the communication device further comprises a communication interface, the processor being coupled to the communication interface.

In one implementation, the communication device is a network device. When the communication device is a network device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

In another implementation, the communication device is a chip configured in the network device. When the communication device is a chip configured in a network device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface.

In a thirteenth aspect, a processor is provided, including: input circuit, output circuit and processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that the processor performs the method in any one of the possible implementations of the first to eighth aspects and the first to eighth aspects.

In a specific implementation process, the processor may be a chip, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a flip-flop, various logic circuits, and the like. The input signal received by the input circuit may be received and input by, for example and without limitation, a receiver, the signal output by the output circuit may be output to and transmitted by a transmitter, for example and without limitation, and the input circuit and the output circuit may be the same circuit that functions as the input circuit and the output circuit, respectively, at different times. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation manner of the processor and various circuits.

In a fourteenth aspect, a processing apparatus is provided that includes a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to read instructions stored in the memory, and may receive a signal through the receiver and transmit a signal through the transmitter to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to eighth aspects and the first to eighth aspects.

Optionally, the number of the processors is one or more, and the number of the memories is one or more.

Alternatively, the memory may be integral to the processor or provided separately from the processor.

In a specific implementation process, the memory may be a non-transient memory, such as a Read Only Memory (ROM), which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately disposed on different chips.

It will be appreciated that the associated data interaction process, for example, sending the indication information, may be a process of outputting the indication information from the processor, and receiving the capability information may be a process of receiving the input capability information from the processor. In particular, the data output by the processor may be output to a transmitter and the input data received by the processor may be from a receiver. The transmitter and receiver may be collectively referred to as a transceiver, among others.

The processing device in the above fourteenth aspect may be a chip, the processor may be implemented by hardware or may be implemented by software, and when implemented by hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like; when implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory, which may be integrated with the processor, located external to the processor, or stand-alone.

In a fifteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising: a computer program (which may also be referred to as code, or instructions), which when executed, causes a computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to eighth aspects and of the first to eighth aspects described above.

In a sixteenth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided, which stores a computer program (which may also be referred to as code or instructions) that, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible implementations of the first to eighth aspects and the first to eighth aspects.

In a seventeenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the foregoing network device and terminal device.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a communication system suitable for use with embodiments of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating configuring a TCI state list through an RRC message, activating a TCI state by a MAC-CE, and indicating a selected TCI state by DCI according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a TCI state list configured by an RRC message and a MAC-CE activated TC state according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 and fig. 6 are schematic diagrams of a first slot and a first PDCCH provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of determining a reference beam provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method according to still another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a first time node and a second time node provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a global System for Mobile communications (GSM) System, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) System, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) System, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a Long term evolution (Long term evolution, LTE) System, a LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) System, a LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication System, a future fifth Generation (5th Generation, 5G) communication System, or a new Radio Access Technology (NR).

For the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system suitable for the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 1. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system suitable for use in the method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving of the embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system 100 may include at least one network device, such as the network device 110 shown in fig. 1; the communication system 100 may also include at least one terminal device, such as the terminal device 120 shown in fig. 1. Network device 110 and terminal device 120 may communicate via a wireless link. Each communication device, such as network device 110 or terminal device 120, may be configured with multiple antennas, which may include at least one transmit antenna for transmitting signals and at least one receive antenna for receiving signals. Additionally, each communication device can additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, each of which can comprise a plurality of components associated with signal transmission and reception (e.g., processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulators, demultiplexers, antennas, etc.), as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. Thus, network device 110 and terminal device 120 may communicate via multiple antenna techniques.

It should be understood that the network device in the wireless communication system may be any device having a wireless transceiving function. Such devices include, but are not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), Radio Network Controller (RNC), Node B (NB), Base Station Controller (BSC), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Home Base Station (e.g., Home evolved Node B, or Home Node B, HNB), BaseBand Unit (BBU), Access Point (AP) in wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay Node, wireless backhaul Node, Transmission Point (TP), or transmission and reception Point (BBU), etc., and may also be 5G, e.g., NR, gbb in the system, or transmission Point (TRP or TP), one or a group of Base stations in the 5G system may include multiple antennas, or antenna panels, and may also be a network panel, such as a Base band Node (NB), or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include a Radio Unit (RU). A CU implements part of the function of a gNB, and a DU implements part of the function of the gNB, for example, the CU implements the function of a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, and the DU implements the function of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer and a Physical (PHY) layer. Since the information of the RRC layer eventually becomes or is converted from the information of the PHY layer, the higher layer signaling, such as the RRC layer signaling, may also be considered to be transmitted by the DU or the DU + CU under this architecture. It is to be understood that the network device may be a CU node, or a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in a Radio Access Network (RAN), or may be divided into network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

It should also be understood that terminal equipment in the wireless communication system may also be referred to as User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user equipment. The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (pad), a computer with a wireless transceiving function, a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal device, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in telemedicine (remote), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and the like. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios.

To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, reference will first be made to the following brief description of the subject matter involved in the present application.

1. 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 domain transmit filter (spatial domain transmit filter) or spatial transmit parameters (spatial Tx parameters); the beam used for receiving the signal may be referred to as a reception beam (Rx beam), and may be a spatial domain reception filter (spatial domain reception filter) or spatial reception parameters (spatial Rx parameters).

The technique of forming the beam may be a beamforming technique or other technique. For example, the beamforming technology may specifically be a digital beamforming technology, an analog beamforming technology, or a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technology. The transmission beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength formed in different spatial directions after the signal is transmitted through the antenna, and the reception beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength of the wireless signal received from the antenna in different spatial directions.

In the NR protocol, the beam may be, for example, a spatial filter (spatial filter). It should be understood that this application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in future protocols to mean the same or similar meanings.

2. Antenna panel: panel (panel) for short. Each antenna panel may be configured with one or more receive beams and one or more transmit beams. Thus, an antenna panel may also be understood as a beam group. A communication device, such as a terminal device or a network device, may receive signals via a receive beam on an antenna panel or may transmit signals via a transmit beam on the antenna panel.

In the embodiment of the present application, for the terminal device, the panel may be distinguished by the resource of the uplink reference signal, for example. The uplink reference signal may be, for example, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). By way of example and not limitation, one antenna panel may correspond to one SRS resource set (resource set) Identity (ID). That is, one SRS resource set ID may be used to indicate one panel.

For network devices, the network devices may be distinguished by a panel ID. For example, the panel ID may be indicated by transmitting a configuration indication (TCI).

3. Quasi-co-location (QCL): or quasi-parity. The signals corresponding to the antenna ports having the QCL relationship have the same parameters, or the parameters of one antenna port may be used to determine the parameters of another antenna port having the QCL relationship with the antenna port, or two antenna ports have the same parameters, or the parameter difference between the two antenna ports is smaller than a certain threshold.

An antenna port (antenna port) may also be referred to as a port for short, and refers to a transmitting antenna identified by a receiving end device, or a transmitting antenna that can be distinguished in space. One antenna port may be configured for each virtual antenna, each virtual antenna may be a weighted combination of multiple physical antennas, and each antenna port may correspond to one reference signal port.

The parameters may include one or more of: delay spread (delay spread), Doppler spread (Doppler spread), Doppler shift (Doppler shift), average delay (average delay), average gain, and spatial reception parameters. The spatial receiving parameters may include, for example: angle of arrival (AOA), average AOA, AOA extension, angle of departure (AOD), average angle of departure (AOD), AOD extension, receive antenna spatial correlation parameter, transmit beam, receive beam, and resource identifier.

The above-mentioned angle may be a decomposition value of different dimensions, or a combination of decomposition values of different dimensions. The antenna ports are antenna ports with different antenna port numbers, and/or antenna ports with the same antenna port number for transmitting or receiving information in different time and/or frequency and/or code domain resources, and/or antenna ports with different antenna port numbers for transmitting or receiving information in different time and/or frequency and/or code domain resources. The resource identification may be used to indicate an identification on the resource. The resource identifier may include, for example, a CSI-RS resource identifier, an SRS resource identifier, a resource identifier of a synchronization signal/synchronization signal block, a resource identifier of a preamble sequence transmitted on a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

In the NR protocol, QCL relationships can be classified into the following four types based on different parameters:

type a (type a): doppler frequency shift, Doppler spread, average time delay and time delay spread;

type b (type b): doppler shift, doppler spread;

type c (type c): doppler shift, average delay; and

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

The QCL referred to in the embodiments of the present application is a QCL of type D. Hereinafter, without being particularly illustrated, the QCL may be understood as a QCL of type D, i.e., a QCL defined based on spatial reception parameters.

When the QCL relationship refers to a QCL relationship of type D: the QCL relationship between the port of the downlink signal and the port of the downlink signal, or between the port of the uplink signal and the port of the uplink signal, may be that the two signals have the same AOA or AOD for indicating that the two signals have the same receive beam or transmit beam. For another example, for QCL relationship between downlink signals and uplink signals or between ports of uplink signals and downlink signals, AOAs and AODs of two signals may have a corresponding relationship, or AODs and AOAs of two signals may have a corresponding relationship, that is, an uplink transmit beam may be determined according to a downlink receive beam or a downlink receive beam may be determined according to an uplink transmit beam by using beam reciprocity.

Signals transmitted on ports having spatial QCL relationships may also have corresponding beams comprising at least one of: the same receive beam, the same transmit beam, a transmit beam corresponding to the receive beam (corresponding to a reciprocal scene), a receive beam corresponding to the transmit beam (corresponding to a reciprocal scene).

A signal transmitted on a port having a spatial QCL relationship may also be understood as a signal received or transmitted using the same spatial filter. The spatial filter may be at least one of: precoding, weight of antenna port, phase deflection of antenna port, and amplitude gain of antenna port.

Signals transmitted on ports having spatial QCL relationships may also be understood as having corresponding Beam Pair Links (BPLs) including at least one of: the same downlink BPL, the same uplink BPL, the uplink BPL corresponding to the downlink BPL, and the downlink BPL corresponding to the uplink BPL.

Accordingly, the spatial reception parameter (i.e., QCL of type D) may be understood as a parameter for indicating direction information of a reception beam.

4. The beam pairing relationship, i.e., the pairing relationship between the transmit beam and the receive beam, may also be referred to as the 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.

In one implementation, the transmitting end may transmit the reference signal in a beam scanning manner, and the receiving end may also receive the reference signal in a beam scanning manner. Specifically, the transmitting end may form beams with different directivities in space by means of beam forming, and may poll on a plurality of beams with different directivities to transmit the reference signal through the beams with different directivities, so that the power of the reference signal transmitting the reference signal in the direction in which the transmitting beam is directed may be maximized. The receiving end can also form beams with different directivities in space in a beam forming mode, and can poll on a plurality of beams with different directivities to receive the reference signal through the beams with different directivities, so that the power of the reference signal received by the receiving end can be maximized in the direction pointed by the received beam.

By traversing each transmitting beam and each receiving beam, the receiving end can perform channel measurement based on the received reference signal, and report the measured result to the transmitting end through the CSI. For example, the receiving end may report a part of reference signal resource with larger Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP) to the transmitting end, for example, report an identifier of the reference signal resource, so that the transmitting end receives and transmits signals by using a beam pairing relationship with better channel quality when transmitting data or signaling.

5. Reference signal and reference signal resource: the reference signal may be used for channel measurement, channel estimation, beam quality monitoring, or the like. The reference signal resource may be used to configure transmission attributes of the reference signal, such as time-frequency resource location, port mapping relationship, power factor, scrambling code, and the like, and refer to the prior art specifically. The transmitting end device may transmit the reference signal based on the reference signal resource, and the receiving end device may receive the reference signal based on the reference signal resource.

The reference signal involved in the embodiments of the present application may include, for example, a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). Correspondingly, the reference signal resource may include a CSI-RS resource (CSI-RS resource), an SSB resource, and an SRS resource (SRS resource).

To distinguish between different reference signal resources, each reference signal resource may correspond to an identification of one reference signal resource. For example, a CSI-RS resource identifier (CRI), an SSB resource identifier (SSBRI), and an SRS Resource Index (SRI).

It should be noted that the SSB resource may also be understood as a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (SS/PBCH block) resource. In the embodiments of the present application, for convenience of distinction and explanation, the SSB resource and the SS/pbcch lock resource may refer to the same meaning, and the SSB resource and the SS/PBCH block resource may refer to the same meaning, unless otherwise specified. Furthermore, SSB may also refer to SSB resources in some cases. Accordingly, the SSB resource identity may also be referred to as an SSB identity (SSB index).

It should be understood that the above listed reference signals and corresponding reference signal resources are only exemplary and should not constitute any limitation to the present application, which does not exclude the possibility of defining other reference signals in future protocols to achieve the same or similar functions.

In the configuration signaling of the reference signal resource, different time domain behaviors may be indicated by different time domain behavior (time domain bearer) parameters. By way of example and not limitation, time-domain behaviors may include periodic (periodic), semi-persistent (SP), and Aperiodic (AP), for example.

For example, based on different time domain behaviors, the CSI-RS may include: periodic CSI-RS, aperiodic CSI-RS and semi-persistent CSI-RS. Based on different time domain behaviors, the SRS may also include: periodic SRS, aperiodic SRS, and semi-persistent SRS.

6. Transport Configuration Indication (TCI) status: may be used to indicate the QCL relationship between the two reference signals. The TCI status may be used for the terminal device to determine a downlink signal or a receive beam of a downlink channel.

A reference signal resource identification may be included in each TCI state. The reference signal resource identifier may be at least one of the following: non-zero power (NZP) channel state information (CSI-RS) resource identification (NZP-CSI-RS-resource id) or SSB Index (SSB-Index).

It should be noted that the reference signal resource identifier in each TCI state indicates the reference signal resource used in the beam training process. In the beam training process, the network device may transmit the reference signal through different transmission beams based on different reference signal resources, so that the reference signal transmitted through different transmission beams may be associated with different reference signal resources; the terminal device may receive the reference signal through different reception beams based on different reference signal resources, and thus the reference signal received through different reception beams may also be associated with different reference signal resources. Therefore, in the beam training process, the terminal device may maintain the corresponding relationship between the reference signal resource identifier and the received beam, and the network device may maintain the corresponding relationship between the reference signal resource identifier and the transmitted beam. By referring to the signal resource identification, the pairing relationship between the receiving beam and the transmitting beam can be established.

During the communication process thereafter, the terminal device may determine a receive beam based on the TCI status indicated by the network device, and the network device may determine a transmit beam based on the same TCI status.

It should be understood that the information contained in the TCI states listed herein is merely an example and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. For example, the TCI state may further include an index (servececellindex) of a serving cell, a bandwidth part (BWP) Identifier (ID), and the like. Since the embodiments of the present application do not relate to serving cells and BWPs, they will not be described in detail here.

7. Spatial Relationship (SR): also known as uplink TCI (UL TCI). Similar to the TCI introduced above, the spatial relationship may be used for the terminal device to determine the transmit beam of the uplink signal or uplink channel.

Each spatial relationship may include a reference signal resource identification. The reference signal resource identifier may be, for example, any one of the following items: an SSB Index (SSB-Index), a non-zero power CSI-RS reference signal resource identification (NZP-CSI-RS-resource id), and an SRS resource identification (SRS-resource id).

The reference signal resource identifier refers to a reference signal resource used in a beam training process. One spatial relationship is used to determine one transmit beam. The terminal device may maintain a correspondence between the reference signal resource identifier and the transmission beam in the beam training process, and the network device may maintain a correspondence between the reference signal resource identifier and the reception beam in the beam training process. By referring to the signal resource identification, the pairing relationship between the transmitting beam and the receiving beam can be established.

In the communication process thereafter, the terminal device may determine a transmit beam based on the spatial relationship indicated by the network device, and the network device may determine a receive beam based on the same spatial relationship.

In addition, each spatial relationship may also include power control information. The power control information may include, for example, at least one of: the desired received power, the path loss reference signal and the path loss compensation parameter alpha. The terminal device can determine what transmission power to use to transmit the uplink signal based on the power control information.

It should be understood that the information included in the spatial relationship recited herein is merely an example, and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. For example, the spatial relationship may further include an index (ServeCellIndex) of the serving cell, a bandwidth part (BWP) Identifier (ID), and the like. Since the embodiments of the present application do not relate to serving cells and BWPs, they will not be described in detail here.

When the network device schedules resources for the terminal device through the scheduling signaling for transmitting signals, the receiving beam or the transmitting beam of the terminal device may be indicated through the scheduling signaling. The terminal device may determine whether a panel switch is required according to the receive beam or the transmit beam indicated in the scheduling signaling. However, it takes 2-3 milliseconds (ms) for the terminal device to switch the panel. The panel to be switched by the terminal equipment is likely to be in a deactivated state and needs to be activated and then switched. And the time it takes to activate the panel may be much longer than the time to switch the panel. Since the network device is not aware of the status of the panel of the terminal device, the interval between the time the network device sends the scheduling signaling and the time of the scheduled resource may not be sufficient for the terminal device to complete panel activation and switching. If the resource scheduled by the network device arrives before the panel switch of the terminal device is completed, the signal transmitted on the resource cannot be received or transmitted in time.

Specifically, if the resource is used for uplink transmission, the terminal device cannot use the transmission beam on the panel to transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel because the terminal device has not yet finished panel switching. Therefore, the scheduled resources may be wasted, and uplink transmission may need to schedule more resources due to insufficient resources, resulting in a larger transmission delay.

If the resource is used for downlink transmission, the terminal device cannot receive downlink signals or downlink channels using the receive beam on the panel because the terminal device has not yet finished panel switching. Therefore, the downlink signal or the downlink channel transmitted on the scheduled resource may not be completely received, and successful reception of the downlink signal or the downlink channel may need to be achieved through retransmission and the like, which results in a large transmission delay and a low resource utilization rate.

In view of the above, the present application provides a signal transmission method to avoid a delay caused by panel activation, thereby improving the transmission performance of the system.

Note that, in some cases, panel activation and panel switching are collectively referred to as panel switching, and a delay time of panel activation and a delay time of panel switching are referred to as a delay time of panel switching. This application does not preclude such understanding. The embodiments shown below illustrate panel activation and panel switching as two separate concepts for ease of understanding only. And should not be construed as limiting the application in any way.

Before describing the method provided by the embodiments of the present application, the following description is made.

First, in the embodiments of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. If the information indicated by a certain piece of information (such as configuration information described below) is referred to as information to be indicated, in a specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, for example, but not limited to, the information to be indicated may be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or an index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein an association relationship exists between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other part of the information to be indicated is known or predetermined. For example, the indication of the specific information may be implemented by means of a predetermined arrangement order of the respective information (e.g., protocol specification), thereby reducing the indication overhead to some extent.

Second, in the embodiments shown below, terms and acronyms such as Downlink Control Information (DCI), a media access control element (MAC-CE), Radio Resource Control (RRC), a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a control resource set (core set), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/physical broadcast channel), a synchronization signal block (pbcb), a Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI), etc. are given as an example for convenience of description, and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. This application is not intended to exclude the possibility that other terms may be defined in existing or future protocols to carry out the same or similar functions.

Third, the first, second and various numerical numbers in the embodiments shown below are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, different indication information, different beams, different panels, etc. are distinguished.

Fourth, in the embodiments illustrated below, "pre-acquisition" may include signaling by the network device or pre-defined, e.g., protocol definition. The "predefined" may be implemented by saving a corresponding code, table, or other means that can be used to indicate the relevant information in advance in the device (for example, including the terminal device and the network device), and the present application is not limited to a specific implementation manner thereof.

Fifth, the term "store" referred to in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a store in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be provided separately or integrated in the encoder or decoder, the processor, or the communication device. The one or more memories may also be provided separately, with a portion of the one or more memories being integrated into the decoder, the processor, or the communication device. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium and is not intended to be limiting of the present application.

Sixth, the "protocol" referred to in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a standard protocol in the communication field, and may include, for example, an LTE protocol, an NR protocol, and a related protocol applied in a future communication system, which is not limited in the present application.

Seventh, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, and c, may represent: a, or b, or c, or a and b, or a and c, or b and c, or a, b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

Eighth, the arrival of the resource of the signal or the channel mentioned in the embodiment of the present application may specifically refer to a time when the signal or the channel starts to be transmitted, or a time when the signal or the channel starts to be received.

The signal transmission method and apparatus provided in the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the technical solution of the present application can be applied to a wireless communication system, for example, the communication system 100 shown in fig. 1. Two communication devices in a wireless communication system may have a wireless communication connection relationship therebetween, and one of the two communication devices may correspond to the terminal equipment 120 shown in fig. 1, for example, may be the terminal equipment shown in fig. 1, or may be a chip configured in the terminal equipment; the other of the two communication apparatuses may correspond to the network device 110 shown in fig. 1, and for example, may be the network device shown in fig. 1, or may be a chip configured in the network device.

Hereinafter, without loss of generality, the signal transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail by taking an interaction process between a terminal device and a network device as an example. For the convenience of understanding, the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in the following and the above behavioral examples, respectively.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method 200 provided by the embodiment of the present application, which is shown from the perspective of device interaction. Specifically, fig. 2 specifically shows a transmission method of a downlink signal or a downlink channel. As shown, the method 200 shown in fig. 2 may include steps 210 through 240. The method 200 is described in detail below with reference to the figures.

In step 210, the terminal device determines a first beam for receiving a downlink signal or a downlink channel, where the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel.

For the sake of distinction and understanding, the first beam determined by the terminal device for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel is hereinafter referred to as the first reception beam. The first receive beam may be a beam on a currently activated panel.

The first receiving beam may be one beam or a plurality of beams. The number of beams comprised by the first receive beam is not limited in this application. In addition, the currently activated panel specifically refers to a panel currently activated by the terminal device. The currently activated panel may be one panel or a plurality of panels. The present application is not limited to the number of currently activated panels. When the first receiving beam includes a plurality of beams, the plurality of beams may be beams on one currently activated panel, or beams on a plurality of currently activated panels.

Wherein, the currently activated panel may refer to a panel that is currently powered on. In contrast, a deactivated panel may refer to a powered down panel. To switch a panel, it is first necessary to ensure that the panel is activated, or powered up.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first receive beam may be indicated by the network device through signaling, or may be determined by the terminal device itself. The specific process of determining the first receiving beam by the terminal device is described in detail below with reference to these two different ways.

In one possible implementation manner, the terminal device determines the first receiving beam according to the first indication information sent by the network device. Optionally, the method further comprises step 220: the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first receiving beam. Accordingly, in step 220, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device.

The network device may indicate the first receive beam to the terminal device in an implicit or explicit manner. The first indication information may be a newly added field of an existing signaling, may multiplex an existing field in an existing signaling, and may be carried by the newly added signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Optionally, the first indication information is carried in one or more items of DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC message.

That is, the network device may indicate the first reception beam through one of DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages, or may indicate the first reception beam through a combination of two or three of DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

When the network device indicates the first receiving beam through the combination of two or three items in the DCI, the MAC-CE and the RRC messages, the first receiving beam indicated by the first indication information can be ensured on the panel which is activated by the terminal device as long as the beam determined by at least one item in the combination of two or three items in the DCI, the MAC-CE and the RRC messages is ensured on the panel which is activated by the terminal device.

Optionally, step 210 specifically includes: and the terminal equipment determines a first receiving beam for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel according to the first indication information.

A detailed description will be given below of a specific method for the network device to indicate the first receiving beam through the first indication information and for the terminal device to determine the first receiving beam according to the first indication information, in conjunction with the transmission of a specific downlink signal or downlink channel. It should be understood that the signaling shown below is only an example and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. The application does not exclude the possibility of using other signalling to indicate the first receive beam.

As previously described, in the illustrated embodiment of the present application, the QCL types indicated in the TCI status and spatial relationship are both Type D types. That is, both the TCI state and the spatial relationship are used to determine the spatial relationship. For example, the terminal device may determine a receive beam according to the TCI status; the terminal device may determine the transmit beam based on the spatial relationship.

As an optional embodiment, the downlink channel is a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), and the first indication information is carried in DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

Specifically, the DCI may be, for example, a DCI for scheduling a PDSCH, or a DCI for other purposes, which is not limited in the present application. A Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI) may be included in the DCI, and the TCI may indicate a selected TCI state that may be used to determine one or more receive beams. In this embodiment, the one or more receive beams determined by the selected TCI status indicated by the TCI are the first receive beam and may be used to receive the PDSCH. And the first receive beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

In one possible design, the network device may schedule the PDSCH for the terminal device through DCI (may be referred to as DCI format 1_1) of format 1_1(format 1_ 1). When the offset between the time when the terminal device receives the DCI format 1_1 and the time when the PDSCH resource arrives is greater than or equal to the predetermined threshold, the terminal device may determine the first receiving beam based on the first indication information. The DCI format 1_1 and the first indication information may be the same signaling or different signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application.

The selected TCI state may be one of one or more TCI states previously activated by the network device through the MAC-CE. For example, the network device may activate up to 8 TCI states for each bandwidth part (BWP) in each cell. The ID of the TCI state indicated in the DCI may be, for example, a relative ID in one or more TCI states activated by the MAC-CE. For example, the network device may activate up to 8 TCI states through the MAC-CE, and the network device may indicate the selected TCI state through 3 bits in the DCI. Bit overhead may be reduced relative to directly indicating the selected TCI state from the TCI state list. Hereinafter, for the sake of brevity, the same or similar cases will not be illustrated.

It will be appreciated that each activated TCI state may be used to determine one or more receive beams. Further optionally, the network device may determine the activated TCI status according to the currently activated panel of the terminal device. The receive beams determined by the one or more activated TCI states may be beams on the panel that the terminal device is currently activated. Alternatively, the receive beam determined by any active TCI state may be the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

The one or more TCI states activated by the MAC-CE may be TCI states in a TCI state list previously configured by the network device for the terminal device through an RRC message. For example, the network device may configure the TCI status list for the terminal device by a TCI status add mode list (TCI-StatesToAddModList) in the RRC message. One or more TCI states may be included in the TCI state list. For example, the network device may configure up to 64 TCI states for each BWP in each cell. The TCI state or states activated by the MAC-CE may be understood as a subset of the list of TCI states.

Since the network device can configure each TCI state in the TCI state list through the RRC message. E.g., reference signal resource identification, QCL type, etc., in each TCI state. When the terminal device determines the selected TCI state, it may determine a beam to be received according to the TCI state configured in the RRC message.

It will be appreciated that each TCI state in the list of TCI states may be used to determine one or more receive beams. Further optionally, the network device may determine the TCI status in the TCI status list according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device. The receive beam determined by each TCI state in the list of TCI states may be a beam on the panel that the terminal device has currently activated. Alternatively, the receive beam determined by any one of the TCI states in the TCI state list may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first receiving beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that the beam determined by at least one of the TCI state list configured by the RRC message, the TCI state activated by the MAC-CE, and the TCI state indicated by the DCI is on the activated panel of the terminal device, the first receiving beam used by the terminal device to receive the PDSCH can be ensured on the activated panel.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of configuring a TCI state list through an RRC message, a MAC-CE activated TCI state, and a DCI indicating a selected TCI state.

As shown, each Reference Signal (RS) resource identifier (RS 0-0 to RS 0-63 and RS1-0 to RS1-63 shown in the figure) may correspond to a TCI state, and may determine one or more beams. The panels shown in fig. 3 distinguish different beams by different reference signal resources. All beams corresponding to the TCI states in the TCI state list configured by the RRC message may be all or partially beams on the active panel. The TCI states activated by the MAC-CE are a subset of the TCI state list configured by the RRC message. The beams determined by the activated TCI state may also all be beams on the activated panel. The beam ultimately determined by the TCI status indicated by the TCI in the DCI is the beam on the active panel.

It should be understood that the reference signal resource identifier, the TCI status identifier, etc. in the drawings are examples for easy understanding, and should not limit the present application in any way. It should be noted that, when the TCI state list configured in the RRC message only includes one TCI state, the terminal device may determine the first receive beam directly according to the TCI state configured in the RRC message. Without requiring the network device to activate a partial TCI status in the TCI status list through the MAC-CE and indicate the selected TCI status through the DCI. In this case, the first indication information may be carried only in the RRC message.

When the TCI state list configured in the RRC message only includes n (1 < n ≦ 8) TCI states, the terminal device may directly determine the activated TCI state according to the TCI state configured in the RRC message, and further determine the selected TCI state according to the DCI. Without requiring the network device to activate a partial TCI state in the TCI state list through the MAC-CE. In this case, the first indication information may be carried in DCI and RRC messages.

When the MAC-CE activates only one TCI state, the terminal device may determine the first receive beam according to the TCI state in which the MAC-CE is activated. Without requiring the network device to indicate the selected TCI status through DCI. In this case, the above-mentioned first indication information may be carried in MAC-CE and RRC messages.

It should be understood that the particular case listed above is only one possible implementation and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. In case that only one or eight TCI states are configured in the RRC message or only one TCI state is activated in the MAC-CE, the network device may still indicate the first receive beam sequentially through the RRC message, the MAC-CE and the DCI.

As an optional embodiment, the downlink channel is a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE and RRC message.

In particular, the MAC-CE may be configured to activate a TCI state, which is used to determine one or more receive beams. The one or more receive beams determined by the TCI state of MAC-CE activation are the first receive beam and may be used to receive PDCCH. And the first receiving beam is a beam on a panel which is currently activated by the terminal equipment.

The TCI state activated by the MAC-CE may be a TCI state in a TCI state list previously configured by the network device for the terminal device through an RRC message. Since the above embodiments have described the procedure of configuring the TCI status list through the RRC message in detail, for brevity, no further description is given here.

Further optionally, the network device may determine the TCI status in the TCI status list according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device. The receive beam determined by each TCI state in the list of TCI states may be a beam on the panel that the terminal device has currently activated. Alternatively, the receive beam determined by any one of the TCI states in the TCI state list may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first receiving beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that at least one determined beam of the TCI state list configured by the RRC message and the TCI state activated by the MAC-CE is on the activated panel of the terminal device, the first receiving beam used by the terminal device for receiving the PDCCH is on the activated panel.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of configuring a TCI state list through an RRC message and MAC-CE activating the TCI state.

As shown, each reference signal resource identifier may correspond to a TCI status, i.e., one or more beams may be determined. The panels shown in fig. 4 distinguish different beams by different reference signal resource identifications. All beams corresponding to the TCI states in the TCI state list configured by the network device through the RRC message may be all or partially beams on the active panel. The TCI states activated by the network device through the MAC-CE are a subset of the TCI state list configured by the RRC message. In this embodiment, the beam determined by the active TCI state is the beam on the active panel.

It should be understood that the reference signal resource identifier, the TCI status identifier, etc. in the drawings are examples for easy understanding, and should not limit the present application in any way.

It should be noted that, when only one TCI status is included in the TCI status list, the TCI status included in the TCI status list is used to determine the TCI status of the first receive beam. In this case, the network device may directly indicate the first reception beam through the RRC message without activating one TCI state in the TCI state list through the MAC-CE. That is, the first indication information may be carried only in the RRC message.

As an optional embodiment, the downlink signal is an aperiodic CSI-RS, and the first indication information is carried in DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

Specifically, the DCI may be a DCI for triggering aperiodic CSI-RS transmission, or may be a DCI used for other purposes. This is not a limitation of the present application.

An indication of a selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set (NZP-CSI-RS resource set) may be included in the DCI, the selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set including one or more NZP-CSI-RS resources (NZP-CSI-RS resources). Since each NZP-CSI-RS resource corresponds to one TCI state, each NZP-CSI-RS resource may be used to determine one or more receive beams. Accordingly, the selected set of NZP-CSI-RS resources indicated in the DCI may be used to determine one or more receive beams. In this embodiment, the receiving beam determined by the selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set indicated by the DCI is the first receiving beam and may be used to receive the aperiodic CSI-RS. And the first receive beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

The corresponding relationship between the NZP-CSI-RS resource and the TCI status may be configured in advance, for example, as defined by a protocol, or the network device may be configured in advance through signaling.

In one possible design, the network device may trigger transmission of the aperiodic CSI-RS through the DCI. When the offset between the time when the terminal device receives the DCI and the time when the aperiodic CSI-RS triggered by receiving the DCI is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the terminal device may determine a first receiving beam based on the first indication information. The DCI for triggering the aperiodic CSI-RS may be the same DCI as the DCI carrying the first indication information, or may be different DCI. This is not a limitation of the present application.

The selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set may be one of one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets previously activated by the network device through the MAC-CE. The ID of the NZP-CSI-RS resource set indicated in the DCI may be, for example, a relative ID in one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets of the MAC-CE activation. Thereby bit overhead in DCI can be reduced.

It can be appreciated that each activated set of NZP-CSI-RS resources can be used to determine one or more receive beams. Further optionally, the network device may determine the activated NZP-CSI-RS resource set according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device. The receive beams determined by the one or more activated sets of NZP-CSI-RS resources may be beams on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated. Alternatively, the receive beams determined by any one of the activated NZP-CSI-RS resource sets may be beams on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated.

The activated one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets may be a subset of the one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets previously configured by the network device for the terminal device through an RRC message. The network device may configure one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets for the terminal device through an RRC message in advance, and may configure a corresponding TCI state in each NZP-CSI-RS resource set. Therefore, after determining the selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set, the terminal device may determine a receiving beam according to the TCI status corresponding to the NZP-CSI-RS resource set configured in the RRC message.

In one possible design, the network device may configure a CSI-aperiodic trigger state list (CSI-AperiodicTriggerStateList) for the terminal device through an RRC message. One or more sets of NZP-CSI-RS resources may be included in the CSI-aperiodic trigger state list. Each set of NZP-CSI-RS resources may include one or more NZP-CSI-RS resources, each of which may correspond to one TCI state. The network device may also configure, through the RRC message, a TCI state corresponding to each NZP-CSI-RS resource in the CSI-aperiodic trigger state list. Thus, the CSI-aperiodic trigger state list configured by the network device may be used to determine one or more receive beams.

Further optionally, the network device may determine, according to the currently activated panel of the terminal device, a set of NZP-CSI-RS resources configured for the terminal device. The reception beam determined by each NZP-CSI-RS resource set of the one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets configured by the RRC message may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated. Alternatively, the reception beam determined by any one NZP-CSI-RS resource set configured by the RRC message may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first receiving beam for the terminal device, as long as at least one determined beam in the CSI-aperiodic trigger state list configured by the RRC message, the MAC-CE activated NZP-CSI-RS resource set, and the DCI indicated NZP-CSI-RS resource set is ensured to be on the activated panel of the terminal device, the first receiving beam used by the terminal device to receive the aperiodic CSI-RS can be ensured to be on the activated panel.

Since the procedure of RRC message configuration TCI state, MAC-CE activation TCI state and DCI indication selected TCI state has been schematically explained above in connection with fig. 3. In this embodiment, the process of configuring the corresponding relationship between the NZP-CSI-RS resource set and the TCI state by the network device through the RRC message, and activating the NZP-CSI-RS resource set by the MAC-CE and indicating the NZP-CSI-RS resource set by the DCI is similar to that described above, and for brevity, the description of the drawings is omitted here.

It should be noted that, when the NZP-CSI-RS resource sets configured in the RRC message only include one NZP-CSI-RS resource set, the terminal device may determine the first receiving beam directly according to the NZP-CSI-RS resource set configured in the RRC message, without indicating the selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set through the MAC-CE and the DCI. In this case, the first indication information may be carried only in the RRC message.

When the activated NZP-CSI-RS resource sets in the MAC-CE include only one NZP-CSI-RS resource set, the terminal device may determine the first reception beam directly from the NZP-CSI-RS activated in the MAC-CE without indicating the selected NZP-CSI-RS resource set through DCI. In this case, the first indication information may be carried in MAC-CE and RRC messages.

As an optional embodiment, the downlink signal is a semi-persistent (SP) CSI-RS, and the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE and RRC messages.

In particular, an indication of the TCI status may be included in the MAC-CE. The indication of the TCI status may be, for example, an Identifier (ID) of the TCI status. The TCI status indicated in the MAC-CE may be used to determine one or more receive beams. In this embodiment, the one or more receive beams determined by the TCI status indicated by the MAC-CE are the first receive beam and may be used to receive the semi-persistent CSI-RS. And the first receive beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

In one possible design, a network device may activate transmission of semi-persistent CSI-RS through a MAC-CE. When the offset between the time when the terminal device receives the MAC-CE and the time when the semi-persistent CSI-RS activated by the MAC-CE is received is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the terminal device may determine a first receiving beam based on the first indication information. The MAC-CE activating the transmission of the semi-persistent CSI-RS and the MAC-CE carrying the first indication information may be the same signaling or different signaling, which is not limited in this application.

Further, the network device may configure one or more TCI states through RRC messages. The TCI states indicated in the MAC-CE described above may be a subset of one or more TCI states of the RRC message configuration. After the terminal device determines the TCI status for determining the first receive beam, the first receive beam may be determined based on the TCI status configured by the RRC message.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first receiving beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that the beam determined by at least one of the TCI state configured by the RRC message and the TCI state indicated in the MAC-CE is on the activated panel of the terminal device, the first receiving beam used by the terminal device for receiving the semi-persistent CSI-RS is on the activated panel.

As an optional embodiment, the downlink signal is a periodic CSI-RS, and the first indication information is carried in an RRC message.

Specifically, the RRC message may configure one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets and a TCI state corresponding to each NZP-CSI-RS resource set for the terminal device. Since each TCI state may be used to determine one or more receive beams, the one or more sets of NZP-CSI-RS resources configured by the RRC message may be used to determine one or more receive beams. In this embodiment, the one or more reception beams determined by the one or more NZP-CSI-RS resource sets configured by the RRC message are first reception beams and may be used for receiving the periodic CSI-RS. And the first receive beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

In the above, the specific method that the network device indicates the first receiving beam through the first indication information and the terminal device determines the first receiving beam according to the first indication information is described in detail with reference to the transmission of the downlink signal or the downlink channel. However, it should be understood that the above listed embodiments are only examples, and the present application is not limited to the types of the downlink signals and the downlink channels, nor is the present application limited to the specific method for scheduling or triggering transmission of the downlink signals or the downlink channels.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device may determine the first receiving beam by itself. Optionally, step 210 specifically includes: and the terminal equipment determines a default beam according to the currently activated panel and takes the default beam as a first receiving beam for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a beam on the currently activated panel or panels that satisfies a preset condition.

That is, the terminal device may find a beam satisfying a preset condition from one or more currently activated panels as a default beam. The preset condition may be predefined, such as a protocol definition, for example. The network device and the terminal device may determine the default beam according to a predefined preset condition and a currently activated panel of the terminal device.

The default beam refers to a beam that satisfies a preset condition on one or more currently activated panels, and specifically, the default beam may have the same spatial receiving parameters as the beam that satisfies the preset condition on the one or more currently activated panels. The parameters specifically included in the spatial receiving parameter may refer to the above lists, and are not described herein again for brevity.

Hereinafter, for convenience of distinction and explanation, a beam to which the default beam is referred will be referred to as a reference beam. The reference beam is the beam on the currently activated panel that satisfies the predetermined condition. The default beam may be a reference beam or a beam determined from the reference beam. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a receive beam of a first PDCCH used in the first time slot, the receive beam of the first PDCCH is a receive beam corresponding to a control resource set with a smallest identification ID in one or more control resource sets among receive beams on a currently activated panel, and the one or more control resource sets are control resource sets monitored by the terminal device in the first time slot; the first time slot is one of one or more time slots closest to a reference time slot, one or more control resource sets are configured in each of the one or more time slots, and a receive beam of at least one control resource set in the one or more resource sets configured in each of the one or more time slots is on a currently activated panel. .

In other words, the preset conditions satisfied by the reference beam include: within the first slot and is a beam for receiving the first PDCCH.

The reference time slot may refer to a time slot in which a transmission resource of a signal or channel scheduled or triggered by the network device is located. In this embodiment, the reference time slot may be, for example, a time slot in which a physical downlink control channel is located, a time slot in which a physical downlink shared channel is located, a time slot in which a transmission resource of a downlink reference signal (e.g., a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)) is located, or the like. Hereinafter, the description of the same or similar cases will be omitted for the sake of brevity.

In this embodiment, the first time slot and the reference time slot may be different time slots or the same time slot. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Specifically, the first time slot satisfies: condition a) the first time slot contains one or more control resource sets detected by the terminal device; condition b) that the receive beam for at least one of the one or more sets of control resources in the first time slot is on a currently activated panel; condition c) the first time slot is one of the one or more time slots satisfying the above conditions a) and b) that is closest to the scheduled resource from the reference time slot.

The first PDCCH satisfies: condition a) the receive beam is on the currently activated panel; condition b) one or more PDCCH (physical downlink control channels) which are monitored by the terminal equipment in the first time slot and control the transmission of the resource set with the smallest ID in the resource set.

After the first time slot is determined, the first PDCCH may be determined, and a receive beam of the first PDCCH may be determined.

For ease of understanding, the first slot and the first PDCCH are described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 5 and fig. 6 are schematic diagrams of a first slot and a first PDCCH provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Turning first to fig. 5, 4 slots are shown, including slot 0, slot 1, slot 2, and slot 3. Wherein, the slot 0 is configured with a control resource set #1, the slot 1 is configured with a control resource set #2, the slot 2 is not configured with a control resource set, and the slot 3 is configured with resources for transmitting signals or channels. In downlink transmission, the resource may be a resource scheduled by the network device for transmitting a downlink signal or a downlink channel.

Wherein the receive beam for the control resource set #1 in slot 0 is on panel 0 and the receive beam for the control resource set #2 in slot 1 is on panel 1.

If the panel 0 and the panel 1 are both activated by the terminal device, the time slot 1 shown in fig. 5 is the first time slot because the time slot 1 is closest to the resource scheduled by the network device for transmitting the signal or the channel. The PDCCH transmitted in the control resource set #2 in the slot 1 is the first PDCCH. The terminal device may determine a beam on the panel 1 that receives the first PDCCH as a reference beam, and may further determine a default beam from the reference beam and determine the default beam as the first reception beam.

When the terminal device determines the default beam with reference to the reception beam of the first PDCCH, the beam used to receive the first PDCCH may be used as the default beam, or the default beam may be determined according to the spatial reception parameters of the beam used to receive the first PDCCH. The specific method for the terminal device to determine the default beam according to the reference beam may refer to the prior art, and a detailed description of the specific method is omitted here for brevity.

If panel 1 is inactive and panel 0 is active, then slot 1 may be excluded. At this time, if the time slot 0 is closest to the resource for transmitting the signal or the channel scheduled by the network device, the time slot 0 shown in fig. 5 is the first time slot; the PDCCH transmitted in the control resource set #1 in this slot 0 is the first PDCCH. The terminal device may determine a beam on panel 0 that receives the first PDCCH as a reference beam, and may further determine a default beam from the reference beam and determine the default beam as the first receive beam.

Turning to fig. 6, 4 slots are shown, including slot 0, slot 1, slot 2, and slot 3. Wherein, the slot 0 is configured with a control resource set #1, the slot 1 is configured with a control resource set #2 and a control resource set #3, the slot 2 is not configured with a control resource set, and the slot 3 is configured with resources for transmitting signals or channels. In downlink transmission, the resource may be a resource scheduled by the network device for transmitting a downlink signal or a downlink channel.

Wherein the receive beam for controlling resource set #1 in slot 0 is on panel 0, the receive beam for controlling resource set #2 in slot 1 is on panel 1, and the receive beam for controlling resource #3 is on panel 0.

If the panel 0 and the panel 1 are both activated by the terminal device, the time slot 1 shown in fig. 6 is the first time slot because the time slot 1 is closest to the resource scheduled by the network device for transmitting the signal or the channel. In the time slot 1, if the ID of the control resource set #2 is smaller than the ID of the control resource set #3, the PCCCH transmitted by the control resource set #2 is the first PDCCH.

The terminal device may determine a beam on the panel 1 that receives the first PDCCH as a reference beam, and may further determine a default beam from the reference beam and determine the default beam as the first reception beam.

If panel 1 is not activated and panel 0 is activated, slot 1 shown in fig. 6 is the first slot since slot 1 is closest to the resources scheduled by the network device for transmitting signals or channels. In the time slot 1, since the receive beam of the control resource set #2 is on the inactive panel 1 and the receive beam of the control resource #3 is on the active panel 0, the PDCCH transmitted in the control resource set #3 is the first PDCCH.

The terminal device may determine a beam on panel 0 that receives the first PDCCH as a reference beam, and may further determine a default beam from the reference beam and determine the default beam as the first receive beam.

It should be understood that the above description illustrates the first slot and the first PDCCH only for the convenience of understanding in conjunction with the drawings. This should not be construed as limiting the application in any way. The specific method for determining the receiving beam of the first PDCCH by the terminal device is not limited in the present application.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L (1 ≦ L ≦ N, and L is an integer) beams used for reception of M (1 ≦ M ≦ N and M is an integer) times of the synchronization signal blocks closest to the reference slot among the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and an integer) beams for reception of the synchronization signal blocks determined by the random access procedure on the panel.

Wherein, L can be 1, N, M.

Specifically, the default beam may refer to at least one of i, ii, and iii listed below.

i) And one beam used for receiving the synchronous signal block of the time closest to the reference time slot in the N beams for receiving the synchronous signal block determined by the random access procedure on the currently activated N panels. In this case, L is 1, and M is 1.

ii), the currently activated N beams used for the reception of the synchronization signal block of the primary synchronization signal block closest to the reference slot on each of the N panels determined by the random access procedure, i.e., N beams in total. In this case, L is N, and M is N.

iii) the currently activated N beams for receiving the synchronization signal block determined by the random access procedure on the N panels, i.e., L beams in total, the N times closest to the reference slot. In this case, L is 1. ltoreq. N, and M is N.

It should be understood that the three examples of the beams to which the default beam listed above may be referenced are merely examples and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. For example, in iii, the N times closest to the reference slot may be replaced with the M (1 ≦ M ≦ N) times closest to the reference slot. For the sake of brevity, this is not listed here.

For ease of understanding, the reference beams are described in detail below in conjunction with fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of determining a reference beam according to an embodiment of the present application. For ease of understanding, it is assumed that each panel may fire a receive beam at a time. As shown, the number of currently activated panels N is 4, and the N activated panels include panel 0, panel 1, panel 2, and panel 3. One beam for receiving the synchronization signal block determined by the random access procedure on each activated panel. As can be determined by the random access procedure, at t₀To t₅At these six time instants, there are a total of 4 beams on the 4 activated panels for receiving the synchronization signal block. The time intervals of the beams on the 4 panels from the resource for transmitting signals or channels are sequentially from small to large: t is t₅Beams, t, on the time panel 1 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₄Beams, t, on the time panel 0 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₃On the time panel 2At the beam, t, of the received synchronization signal block₂Beams, t, on the time panel 3 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₁Beams, t, on the time panel 0 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₀The beams on the time plane 1 for receiving the synchronization signal blocks.

If the default beam refers to the beam described in i) above, the reference beam is the beam used for receiving the latest synchronization signal block in the 4 panels and is t determined by the random access procedure₅The beams on the time plane 1 for receiving the synchronization signal blocks. The default beam may refer to t determined by the random access procedure₅The beams on the time plane 1 for receiving the synchronization signal blocks.

If the default beam refers to the beam described in ii) above, the default beam of each of the 4 panels refers to the reference beam on the respective panel. The reference beams on each panel are the beams that were determined by the random access procedure and were each used to receive the synchronization signal block the last time. The beams used for the last reception of the synchronization signal block determined by the random access procedure on each of the 4 panels are: t is t₁Beams, t, on the time panel 0 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₅Beams, t, on the time panel 1 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₂Beams, t, on the time panel 2 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₃The beams on the time plane 3 for receiving the synchronization signal blocks. The default beam on each of the 4 panels may refer to the 4 beams described above, respectively.

If the default beam refers to the beam described in iii) above, the reference beam is the beam used for the last 4 receptions of the sync signal blocks determined by the random access procedure in the 4 panels. The beams used for receiving the last 4 synchronization signal blocks determined by the random access procedure in the 4 panels are respectively: t is t₅Beams, t, on the time panel 1 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₄Beams, t, on the time panel 1 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₃Beams, t, on the time panel 3 for receiving blocks of synchronization signals₂The beams on the time plane 2 for receiving the synchronization signal blocks. The default beam may refer to the above-mentioned 3 beams。

It should be understood that fig. 7 is merely an example for ease of understanding and should not constitute any limitation on the present application. The number of the currently activated panels of the terminal equipment, the number of the beams on each panel and the sequence of the synchronous signal blocks received by each panel are not limited.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L beams used for reception of the synchronization signal block M times closest to the reference slot among the beams for receiving the synchronization signal block determined by the initial access procedure on the currently activated N panels.

i) One beam used for receiving the primary synchronization signal block closest to the reference time slot among the N beams determined by the random access process on the currently activated N panels and used for receiving the synchronization signal block; or

ii) the currently activated N beams for receiving the synchronization signal block determined by the random access procedure on the N panels, wherein the beam used for receiving the synchronization signal block at the time closest to the reference time slot on each panel is N beams; or

iii) the currently activated N beams for receiving the synchronization signal block determined by the random access procedure on the N panels, i.e., L beams in total, the N times closest to the reference slot.

The relationship between L, M and N and the method for determining the reference beam have been described in detail above with reference to fig. 7, and the method for determining the reference beam in this embodiment is the same as that described above, and therefore, for brevity, will not be described again here.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L (1 ≦ L ≦ N, and L is an integer) beams used for the reception of the most recent M (1 ≦ M ≦ N, and M is an integer) secondary synchronization signal block among the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and an integer) beams used for reception of the synchronization signal block.

That is, when the default beam refers to L beams used for M times of reception of the synchronization signal block closest to the reference slot among beams currently activated for receiving the synchronization signal block on the N panels, the beam for receiving the synchronization signal block is not necessarily determined by the random access procedure or the initial access procedure, and may be determined by other means. This embodiment is not limited to this.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a beam used for transmission of a physical uplink control channel with a smallest ID among currently activated N on-panel physical uplink control channels in the activated uplink BWP.

Specifically, the beam of the default beam reference may satisfy: 1) on the currently activated N panels; 2) for transmitting the physical uplink control channel with the smallest ID in the active uplink BWP.

Specifically, the ID of the physical uplink control channel may be an ID of a physical uplink control channel resource (PUCCH resource) or an ID of a physical uplink control channel resource set (PUCCH resource set). Correspondingly, the physical uplink control channel with the smallest ID may refer to the physical uplink control channel resource with the smallest ID, or a set of physical uplink control channel resources with the smallest ID.

Taking the ID of the physical uplink control channel as the ID of the physical uplink control channel resource as an example, the terminal device may determine the physical uplink control channel resource with the smallest ID according to the ID of the physical uplink control channel resource configured for the activated uplink BWP. When a transmission beam of the physical uplink control channel transmitted on the physical uplink control channel resource with the minimum ID is a beam on a currently activated panel, the transmission beam may be determined as a reference beam; when the transmission beam of the physical uplink control channel resource with the minimum ID is not the beam on the currently activated panel, the searching may be continued in the order of the IDs from small to large until the transmission beam of the physical uplink control channel transmitted on the physical uplink control channel resource is found to be the beam position on the currently activated panel. Optionally, the default beam refers to a beam used for transmitting the physical uplink control channel with the smallest ID among the physical uplink control channels on the currently activated N panels.

That is, the beam referred to by the default beam is not limited to only the beam used for transmitting the physical uplink control channel in the active uplink BWP, but may be the beam used for transmitting the physical uplink control channel in the inactive uplink BWP.

Optionally, the default beam refers to the beams used for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel on the currently activated N (N is greater than or equal to 1 and is an integer) panels, and M (1 is greater than or equal to M and less than or equal to N, and M is an integer) times of the beams used for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel closest to the reference time slot (1 is greater than or equal to L and less than or equal to N, and L is an integer).

i) And one of the beams used for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel on the currently activated N panels, which is closest to the reference time slot. In this case, L is 1, and M is 1.

ii), the currently activated beams for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel on the N panels, wherein the beam used for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel on the closest time to the reference time slot on each panel is N beams. In this case, L is N, and M is N.

iii) the beams used for receiving the downlink signals or the downlink channels for the N times closest to the reference time slot among the beams used for receiving the downlink signals or the downlink channels on the currently activated N panels, that is, L beams in total. In this case, L is 1. ltoreq. N, and M is N.

The beams described in i, ii and iii listed above are reference beams determined in three different ways, respectively. Since the beams described in i, ii, and iii are described in detail in conjunction with fig. 7, the reference beam described in this embodiment is similar to the reference beam, and is not repeated here for brevity.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L (1 ≦ L ≦ N, and L is an integer) beams used for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel for M (1 ≦ M ≦ N, and M is an integer) times closest to the reference time slot among the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and an integer) beams for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel determined by the initial access procedure on the panel.

i) And one beam used for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel at the time closest to the reference time slot among the beams for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel determined by the initial access process on the currently activated N panels. In this case, L is 1, and M is 1.

ii), among the beams for receiving the downlink signals or the downlink channels determined by the initial access procedure on the currently activated N panels, the beam used for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel at the time closest to the reference time slot on each panel, that is, N beams in total. In this case, L is N, and M is N.

iii) among the beams for receiving the downlink signals or the downlink channels determined by the initial access procedure on the currently activated N panels, the beams used for receiving the downlink signals or the downlink channels for the N times closest to the reference time slot, that is, L beams in total. In this case, L is 1. ltoreq. N, and M is N.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L (1 ≦ L ≦ N, and L is an integer) beams used for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel for M (1 ≦ M ≦ N, and M is an integer) times closest to the reference time slot among the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and an integer) beams for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel determined by the random access procedure on the panel.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a reception beam of a first synchronization signal block on the currently activated N panels, the first synchronization signal block being determined by the initial access procedure.

Optionally, the default beam refers to the beams used for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel on the currently activated N (N is greater than or equal to 1 and is an integer) panels, and M (1 is greater than or equal to M and less than or equal to N, and M is an integer) times of uplink signal or uplink channel transmission which is closest to the reference time slot uses L (1 is greater than or equal to L and less than or equal to N, and L is an integer) beams.

It should be noted that the reference beams listed above may be receiving beams or transmitting beams. This is not a limitation of the present application. The default beam may be determined with reference to the receive beam or with reference to the transmit beam.

It should be further noted that the scheme that the terminal device determines the first receiving beam according to the default beam may be applicable to a scenario in which the network device does not indicate a beam, for example, the network device does not send the first indication information to indicate the first receiving beam, the scenario may specifically be indicated by a higher layer parameter, for example, indicated by the higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI, and if the higher layer parameter tci-PresentInDCI is set to disable (disabled), it is considered that the network device does not indicate a beam to the terminal device; the scenario may also be determined by a DCI format, for example, if the DCI for scheduling the PDSCH is DCI format 1_1, it is considered that the network device may indicate a beam to the terminal device; if the DCI for scheduling the PDSCH is DCI format 1_0, it is assumed that the network device does not instruct the terminal device with the beam. The scheme that the terminal device determines the first receiving beam according to the default beam may also be applicable to a scenario in which an offset between time when the network device sends the scheduling signaling and time when the scheduled downlink signal or the transmission resource of the downlink channel is smaller than a predetermined threshold.

It should also be understood that a number of different ways of determining the reference beam are listed above in connection with different preset conditions. This should not be construed as limiting the application in any way. The specific manner of determining the reference beam by the terminal device is not limited in the present application. Further, reference beams satisfying different preset conditions are listed above. This should not be construed as limiting the application in any way. It is intended to fall within the scope of the present application as long as the reference beam is the beam on the currently activated panel.

In step 230, the terminal device receives a downlink signal or a downlink channel through the first receive beam. Accordingly, the network device transmits the downlink signal or the downlink channel through the transmission beam corresponding to the first reception beam.

As described above, the terminal device may determine the first receiving beam according to the first indication information sent by the network device, or may determine the first receiving beam by itself. Due to the beam pairing relationship, the network device also needs to transmit a downlink signal or a downlink channel using the transmission beam corresponding to the first reception beam. Therefore, whether or not the first indication information is transmitted by the network device to indicate the first receive beam, the network device needs to know the currently activated panel of the terminal device in order to determine the transmit beam corresponding to the first receive beam.

Optionally, the method further includes step 240, the terminal device sends second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the currently activated panel. Accordingly, the network device receives the second indication information, which is used for indicating the currently activated panel of the terminal device.

Specifically, the terminal device may report the ID of the currently activated panel to the network device, or may also report information associated with the currently activated panel to the network device. For example, the information associated with the panel may be a reference signal resource identification, such as an ID of a CSI-RS resource or an ID of a set of CSI-RS resources; alternatively, the information associated with the panel may be a TCI status, such as an ID of the TCI status. For the sake of brevity, this is not to be enumerated here. The specific information carried in the second indication information is not limited in the present application.

In addition, since a specific procedure for the terminal device to receive the downlink signal or the downlink channel through the first reception beam may be the same as that of the prior art, a detailed description of the specific procedure is omitted here for the sake of brevity.

The specific process of the signal transmission method for downlink transmission according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 2 to 7. The following describes in detail a specific process of the signal transmission method for uplink transmission according to the embodiment of the present application with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method 300 according to another embodiment of the present application. Specifically, fig. 8 specifically shows a transmission method of an uplink signal or an uplink channel. As shown, the method 300 shown in fig. 8 may include steps 310 through 340. The method 300 is described in detail below with reference to the figures.

In step 310, the terminal device determines a first beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel, where the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel.

For the sake of distinction and understanding, the first beam determined by the terminal device for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel is hereinafter referred to as a first transmission beam. The first transmit beam may be a beam on the currently activated panel.

The first transmission beam may be one beam or a plurality of beams. The number of beams comprised by the first transmit beam is not limited by the present application. In addition, the currently activated panel specifically refers to a panel currently activated by the terminal device. The currently activated panel may be one panel or a plurality of panels. The present application is not limited to the number of currently activated panels. When the first transmit beam includes a plurality of beams, the plurality of beams may be beams on one currently activated panel, or beams on a plurality of currently activated panels.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first transmission beam may be indicated by the network device through signaling, or may be determined by the terminal device itself. The specific process of determining the first transmission beam by the terminal device is described in detail below with reference to these two different modes, respectively.

In one possible implementation manner, the terminal device determines the first transmission beam according to the first indication information transmitted by the network device. Optionally, the method further comprises step 320: the terminal equipment receives first indication information from the network equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first transmission beam. Accordingly, in step 320, the network device transmits first indication information to the terminal device, the first indication information indicating the first transmission beam.

The network device may indicate the first transmit beam to the terminal device in an implicit or explicit manner. The first indication information may be a newly added field of an existing signaling, may multiplex an existing field in an existing signaling, and may be carried by the newly added signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application.

Optionally, step 310 specifically includes: and the terminal equipment determines a first receiving beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel according to the first indication information.

A detailed description will be given below of a specific method for the network device to indicate the first transmission beam through the first indication information and the terminal device to determine the first transmission beam according to the first indication information, in conjunction with the transmission of a specific downlink signal or downlink channel. It should be understood that the signaling shown below is only an example and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. The application does not exclude the possibility of using other signalling to indicate the first transmit beam.

As an optional embodiment, the uplink channel is a PUSCH, and the first indication information is carried in DCI and an RRC message.

Specifically, the DCI may include an SRS resource indicator (SRS resource indicator) for indicating a selected SRS resource, where the SRS resource corresponds to a transmission beam. The transmission beam corresponding to the SRS resource may be determined by the network device through the correspondence between the spatial relationship and the SRS resource configured by the RRC message in advance. In other words, the DCI indirectly indicates the selected transmission beam through the SRS resource indication field. The selected transmit beam is a first transmit beam.

In this embodiment, the transmission beam determined by the SRS resource indicated in the DCI is the first transmission beam and may be used to transmit the PUSCH. And the first transmit beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

In one possible design, the network device may schedule the PUSCH for the terminal device through DCI (may be referred to as DCI format 0_1) of format 0_1(format 0_ 1). When the time when the terminal device receives the DCI format 0_1 and the time when the resource of the PUSCH arrives are greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam based on the first indication information. The DCI format 0_1 and the first indication information may be the same signaling or different signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application.

It can be understood that, in the correspondence between the SRS resources configured by the network device through the RRC message and the spatial relationships, each spatial relationship can be used to determine one transmission beam. In other words, each SRS resource may correspond to one transmit beam. That is, the network device may configure one or more transmit beams through RRC messages. Further optionally, the network device may determine, according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device, a correspondence between the SRS resource configured by the RRC message and the spatial relationship. In the mapping relationship between the SRS resources configured by the RRC message and the spatial relationship, the transmission beam determined by each SRS resource may be a beam on a panel currently activated by the terminal device. Or, in the correspondence between the SRS resources configured by the RRC message and the spatial relationship, the transmission beam determined by any SRS resource may be a beam on a panel currently activated by the terminal device.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first transmission beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that the beam determined by at least one of the spatial relationship corresponding to the SRS configured in the RRC message and the spatial relationship indicated by the DCI is on the activated panel of the terminal device, it is ensured that the first transmission beam used by the terminal device to transmit the PUSCH is on the activated panel.

It should be noted that, when only one correspondence between the SRS resource and the spatial relationship is configured in the RRC message, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam directly according to the correspondence configured in the RRC message. Without the network device indicating one SRS resource through the DCI to determine the corresponding transmission beam. In this case, the first indication information may be an RRC message.

As an optional embodiment, the uplink channel is a PUSCH, and the first indication information is carried in DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

Specifically, the DCI may be, for example, DCI for scheduling PUSCH or DCI for other purposes. This is not a limitation of the present application. The DCI may include a spatial relationship indication. The spatial relationship indication may be, for example, an ID of the spatial relationship. The spatial relationship indication is used to indicate a selected spatial relationship, so the spatial relationship indicated in the DCI is used to determine one or more transmit beams. In this embodiment, the one or more transmission beams determined by the spatial relationship indicated by the DCI are the first transmission beams and may be used to transmit the PUSCH. And the first transmit beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

The selected spatial relationship may be one of one or more spatial relationships that the network device previously activated via the MAC-CE. The ID of the spatial relationship indicated in the DCI may be, for example, a relative ID in one or more spatial relationships activated by the MAC-CE. Thereby bit overhead in DCI can be reduced.

It will be appreciated that each of the activated spatial relationships may be used to determine one or more transmit beams. Further optionally, the network device may determine the activated spatial relationship according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device. The transmit beam determined by the one or more active spatial relationships may be a beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active. Alternatively, the transmit beam determined by any one of the active spatial relationships may be the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

The one or more spatial relationships activated by the MAC-CE may be spatial relationships in a spatial relationship list previously configured by the network device for the terminal device through an RRC message. The one or more spatial relationships activated by the MAC-CE may be understood as a subset of a list of spatial relationships.

It will be appreciated that each spatial relationship in the list of spatial relationships may be used to determine one or more beams. Further optionally, the network device may determine the spatial relationship in the spatial relationship list according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device. The transmit beam determined by each spatial relationship in the list of spatial relationships may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated. Alternatively, the transmit beam determined by any one of the spatial relationships in the list of spatial relationships may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first transmission beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that the beam determined by at least one of the spatial relationship configured by the RRC message, the spatial relationship activated by the MAC-CE, and the spatial relationship indicated by the DCI is on the panel activated by the terminal device, the first transmission beam used by the terminal device to transmit the PUSCH is on the activated panel.

It should be noted that, when the spatial relationship list configured in the RRC message only includes one spatial relationship, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam directly according to the spatial relationship configured in the RRC message. Without requiring the network device to activate a partial spatial relationship in the spatial relationship list through the MAC-CE and indicate the selected spatial relationship through the DCI. In this case, the first indication information may be carried only in the RRC message.

When the spatial relationship list configured in the RRC message only includes a small number of spatial relationships, for example, the number of spatial relationships is less than or equal to the number of spatial relationships activated by the MAC-CE, the terminal device may directly determine the activated spatial relationship according to the spatial relationship configured in the RRC message, and further determine the selected spatial relationship according to the DCI. Without requiring the network device to activate a partial spatial relationship in the spatial relationship list through the MAC-CE. In this case, the first indication information may be carried in DCI and RRC messages.

When the MAC-CE activates only one spatial relationship, the terminal device may determine the first transmit beam according to the spatial relationship in which the MAC-CE activates. Without requiring the network device to indicate the selected spatial relationship through the DCI. In this case, the above-mentioned first indication information may be carried in MAC-CE and RRC messages.

It should be understood that the particular case listed above is only one possible implementation and should not constitute any limitation to the present application. In the case where only one or eight spatial relationships are configured in the RRC message or only one spatial relationship is activated in the MAC-CE, the network device may still indicate the first transmit beam sequentially through the RRC message, the MAC-CE, and the DCI.

As an optional embodiment, the uplink channel is a PUCCH, and the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE and RRC messages.

Specifically, the MAC-CE is used to activate a spatial relationship. The spatial relationship activated by the MAC-CE is used to determine the transmit beam. In this embodiment, the transmission beam determined by the spatial relationship activated by the MAC-CE is the first transmission beam and may be used to transmit the PUCCH. And the first transmit beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

Optionally, the method further comprises: the terminal device receives an RRC message, wherein the RRC message is used for configuring a spatial relationship list, and the spatial relationship list comprises one or more spatial relationships. Correspondingly, the network device sends an RRC message, where the RRC message is used to configure a spatial relationship list, and the spatial relationship list includes one or more spatial relationships.

The spatial relationship activated by the MAC-CE may be a spatial relationship in a spatial relationship list configured in advance by the network device for the terminal device through an RRC message. Further optionally, the network device may determine the spatial relationship in the spatial relationship list according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device. The transmit beam determined by each spatial relationship in the list of spatial relationships may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated. Alternatively, the transmit beam determined by any one of the spatial relationships in the list of spatial relationships may be a beam on a panel that the terminal device has currently activated.

The specific method for configuring the spatial relationship list for the terminal device by the network device through the RRC message is similar to the specific method for configuring the TCI state list for the terminal device by the network device through the RRC message. For brevity, no further description is provided herein.

It should be noted that, when only one spatial relationship is included in the spatial relationship list, the spatial relationship included in the spatial relationship list is used to determine the spatial relationship of the first transmitting beam. In this case, the network device may indicate the first transmission beam directly through the RRC message without activating one of the spatial relationships in the spatial relationship list through the MAC-CE. That is, the first indication information may be carried only in the RRC message.

As an optional embodiment, the uplink signal is an aperiodic SRS, and the first indication information is carried in DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

Specifically, the DCI may be a DCI for triggering transmission of an aperiodic SRS, or may be a DCI used for another purpose. This is not a limitation of the present application. The DCI indicates a selected SRS resource set (SRS resource set) including one or more SRS resources. Since each SRS resource corresponds to one spatial relationship, each SRS resource is used to determine one transmit beam. Thus, the selected set of SRS resources indicated in the DCI may be used to determine one or more transmit beams. In this embodiment, one or more transmission beams determined by the SRS resource set indicated by the DCI are the first transmission beam and may be used to transmit the aperiodic SRS. And the first transmit beam is the transmit beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently activated.

In one possible design, the network device may trigger transmission of the aperiodic SRS through the DCI. When the offset between the time when the terminal device receives the DCI and the time when the aperiodic SRS triggered by the DCI arrives at the resource is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam based on the first indication information. The DCI for triggering the aperiodic SRS to be transmitted and the DCI carrying the first indication information may be the same DCI or different DCIs. This is not a limitation of the present application.

The selected SRS resource set may be one of one or more SRS resource sets previously activated by the network device through the MAC-CE. The IDs of the SRS resource sets indicated in the DCI may be, for example, relative IDs in one or more SRS resource sets activated by the MAC-CE. Thereby bit overhead in DCI can be reduced.

Further optionally, the network device may determine the SRS resource set activated by the MAC-CE according to the currently activated panel of the terminal device. In the SRS resource sets activated by the MAC-CE, the transmission beam determined by the spatial relationship corresponding to each SRS resource set may be a beam on a panel currently activated by the terminal device. Or, the transmission beam determined by the spatial relationship corresponding to any SRS resource set in the SRS resource sets activated by the MAC-CE may be a beam on a panel currently activated by the terminal device.

The set of SRS resources activated by the MAC-CE may be a subset of one or more sets of SRS resources previously configured by the network device through the RRC message. It can be appreciated that each of the one or more SRS resource sets of the RRC message configuration can be utilized to determine one or more transmit beams.

Further optionally, the network device may determine, according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device, the SRS resource set configured by the RRC message. In the SRS resource sets configured by the RRC message, the transmission beam determined by the spatial relationship corresponding to each SRS resource set may be a beam on a panel currently activated by the terminal device. Or, the transmission beam determined by the spatial relationship corresponding to any SRS resource set configured by the RRC message may be a beam on a panel currently activated by the terminal device.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the network device determines and indicates the first transmission beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that the beam determined by at least one of the spatial relationship configured by the RRC message and the spatial relationship activated by the MAC-CE is on the panel activated by the terminal device, the first transmission beam used by the terminal device for transmitting the PUCCH is on the activated panel.

It should be noted that, when the SRS resource sets configured in the RRC message only include one SRS resource set, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam directly according to the SRS resource set configured in the RRC message, without indicating the selected SRS resource set through the MAC-CE and the DCI. In this case, the first indication information may be carried only in the RRC message.

When the set of SRS resources activated in the MAC-CE includes only one set of SRS resources, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam directly from the SRS activated in the MAC-CE without indicating the selected set of SRS resources through the DCI. In this case, the first indication information may be carried in MAC-CE and RRC messages.

As an optional embodiment, the uplink signal is a Semi Persistent (SP) SRS, and the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE, or the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE and the RRC message.

Specifically, the MAC-CE is configured to activate a SRS resource set, where the activated SRS resource set includes one or more SRS resources. Since each SRS resource corresponds to one spatial relationship, each SRS resource is used to determine one transmit beam. Thus, the set of SRS resources activated in the MAC-CE may be used to determine one or more transmit beams for transmitting the semi-persistent SRS.

The spatial relationship corresponding to the SRS resource in the MAC-CE may be configured by the MAC-CE, or may be configured by the network device through an RRC message.

When the MAC-CE is configured with the correspondence between the SRS resource and the spatial relationship, the terminal device may preferentially determine the spatial relationship corresponding to the activated SRS resource set according to the correspondence between the SRS resource configured in the MAC-CE and the spatial relationship, and further determine the first transmission beam. In this case, the above-mentioned first indication information is carried only in the MAC-CE.

When the MAC-CE does not configure the correspondence between the SRS resource and the spatial relationship, the terminal device may determine the spatial relationship corresponding to the activated SRS resource set according to the correspondence between the SRS resource configured in the RRC message and the spatial relationship, and further determine the first transmission beam. In this case, the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE and RRC messages.

When the first indication information is carried in the MAC-CE and RRC messages, when the network device determines and indicates the first transmission beam for the terminal device, as long as it is ensured that at least one determined beam of the spatial relationship corresponding to the SRS resource configured by the RRC message and the spatial relationship corresponding to the SRS resource activated by the MAC-CE is on the activated panel of the terminal device, it is ensured that the first transmission beam used by the terminal device to transmit the semi-persistent SRS is on the activated panel.

As an embodiment, the uplink signal is a periodic SRS, and the first indication information is carried in an RRC message.

Specifically, one or more SRS resource sets are configured in the RRC message, and each SRS resource set includes one or more SRS resources. Since each SRS resource corresponds to one spatial relationship, each SRS resource is used to determine one transmit beam. Thus, the set of one or more SRS resources configured by the RRC message may be used to determine one or more transmit beams. In this embodiment, one or more transmission beams determined by the SRS resource set configured by the RRC message are the first transmission beam and may be used to transmit the periodic SRS. And the first transmit beam is the beam on the panel that the terminal device is currently active.

In the above, the specific method that the network device indicates the first transmission beam through the first indication information and the terminal device determines the first transmission beam according to the first indication information is described in detail in connection with the transmission of the uplink signal or the uplink channel. However, it should be understood that the above listed embodiments are only examples, and the present application is not limited to the types of uplink signals and uplink channels, nor is the present application limited to the specific method for scheduling or triggering transmission of uplink signals or uplink channels.

In another possible implementation, the terminal device may determine the first transmit beam itself. Optionally, step 310 specifically includes: and the terminal equipment determines a default beam according to the currently activated panel and takes the default beam as a first transmitting beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel.

Optionally, the default beam refers to a receive beam of a first PDCCH used in the first time slot, where the receive beam of the first PDCCH is a receive beam corresponding to a control resource set with a smallest identification ID in one or more control resource sets among receive beams on a currently activated panel, and the one or more control resource sets are control resource sets monitored by the terminal device in the first time slot; the first time slot is a closest time slot to a reference time slot in one or more time slots, each of the one or more time slots is configured with one or more control resource sets, and a receiving beam of at least one control resource set in the one or more resource sets configured in each of the one or more time slots is on a currently activated panel.

Optionally, the default beam refers to L (1 ≦ L ≦ N, and L is an integer) beams used for reception of the synchronization signal block M (1 ≦ M ≦ N, and M is an integer) times closest to the reference slot among the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and an integer) beams used for reception of the synchronization signal block on the panel.

Optionally, the default beam refers to the beam for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels determined by the initial access procedure on the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and integer) panels.

Optionally, the default beam refers to the beam for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels determined by the random access procedure on the currently activated N (N ≧ 1 and an integer) panels.

Optionally, the default beam refers to the currently activated receiving beam of the first synchronization signal block on N (N ≧ 1 and integer) panels, the first synchronization signal block being determined by the initial access procedure.

The reference time slot may refer to a time slot in which a transmission resource of a signal or channel scheduled or triggered by the network device is located. The reference time slot may also be, for example, a time slot in which a physical uplink control channel is located, or a time slot in which a physical uplink shared channel is located, or a time slot in which a transmission resource of an uplink reference signal (e.g., Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)) is located, and so on.

In step 330, the terminal device transmits an uplink signal or an uplink channel through the first transmission beam. Accordingly, the network device receives the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the reception beam corresponding to the first transmission beam.

As described above, the terminal device may determine the first transmission beam according to the first indication information sent by the network device, or may determine the first transmission beam by itself. Due to the beam pairing relationship, the network device also receives the uplink signal or the uplink channel using the reception beam corresponding to the first transmission beam. Therefore, whether or not the first indication information is transmitted by the network device to indicate the first transmit beam, the network device needs to know the currently activated panel of the terminal device in order to determine the receive beam corresponding to the first transmit beam.

Optionally, the method further includes step 340, the terminal device sends second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate the currently activated panel. Accordingly, the network device receives the second indication information, which is used for indicating the currently activated panel of the terminal device.

Specifically, the terminal device may report the ID of the currently activated panel to the network device, or may also report information associated with the currently activated panel to the network device. For example, the information associated with the panel may be a reference signal resource identification, such as an ID of an SRS resource or an ID of a set of SRS resources; alternatively, the information associated with the panel may be a spatial relationship, such as an ID of the spatial relationship. For the sake of brevity, this is not to be enumerated here. The specific information carried in the second indication information is not limited in the present application.

In addition, since a specific procedure for the terminal device to transmit the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the first transmission beam may be the same as that of the prior art, a detailed description of the specific procedure is omitted here for the sake of brevity.

The signal transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 2 to 8. In fact, the signal transmission method provided above is not limited to the terminal device determining the beam, and the signal transmission method provided above can also be used for the network device determining the beam. For example, the network device may determine a transmit beam for transmitting a downlink signal or a downlink channel according to the currently activated panel; alternatively, the network device may determine a receive beam for receiving an uplink signal or an uplink channel according to the currently activated panel.

In addition to the signal transmission method provided above, the present application also provides a signal transmission method, which can avoid a large time delay of panel activation, and is beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. A signal transmission method according to another embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of a signal transmission method 400 provided by an embodiment of the present application, shown from the perspective of device interaction. Specifically, fig. 9 shows a transmission method of an uplink signal or an uplink channel. As shown, the method 400 shown in fig. 9 may include steps 410 through 440. The method 400 is described in detail below with reference to the figures.

In step 410, the terminal device determines a second beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel. The second beam and a third beam for receiving a scheduling channel are beams on the same panel, and the scheduling channel is used for scheduling an uplink signal or an uplink channel, or the scheduling channel is used for triggering the transmission of the uplink signal or the uplink channel.

To facilitate distinction from the first beam described above. In this embodiment, a transmission beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel determined by the terminal device is denoted as a second beam, and a reception beam for receiving the scheduling channel by the terminal device is denoted as a third beam.

The scheduling channel may be used to schedule uplink resources to transmit uplink signals or uplink channels. For example, the network device may schedule the PUSCH through a scheduling channel, which may be, for example, the PDCCH. The scheduling channel may also be used to trigger transmission of an uplink signal or uplink channel. For example, the network device may trigger the transmission of the aperiodic SRS through a scheduling channel, which may also be, for example, a PDCCH.

In the embodiment of the present application, the second beam and the third beam are beams on the same panel. Since the scheduling channel arrives before the transmission resource of the uplink signal or the uplink channel, the time when the terminal device receives the scheduling channel is earlier than the time when the uplink signal or the uplink channel is transmitted. The third beam used by the terminal device for receiving the scheduling channel is necessarily the beam on the panel that is activated when the scheduling channel is received, and therefore the second beam on the same panel as the third beam is also necessarily the beam on the activated panel. Therefore, in order to avoid the delay caused by the activation of the panel, the terminal device may maintain the activated state of the panel after receiving the scheduling channel, and when the transmission resource for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel arrives, the uplink signal or the uplink channel may be directly transmitted through the second beam on the activated panel. In other words, the beam determined by the terminal device to transmit the uplink signal or the uplink channel is a beam on the currently activated panel.

In this embodiment of the present application, the second beam may be indicated by the network device through signaling, or may be determined by the terminal device itself. The specific process of determining the second beam by the terminal device is described in detail below with reference to these two different ways, respectively.

In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device determines the second beam according to third indication information sent by the network device. Optionally, the method further comprises step 420: the terminal device receives third indication information from the network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the second beam. Accordingly, in step 420, the network device transmits third indication information to the terminal device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the second beam.

The specific method for the network device to indicate the second beam to the terminal device through the third indication information may be the same as the specific method for the network device to indicate the first transmission beam to the terminal device through the first indication information in the above method 300, and for brevity, details are not repeated here.

When the network device indicates the first transmission beam through the combination of two or three items of DCI, MAC-CE and RRC messages, the first transmission beam indicated by the first indication information can be ensured on the panel which is activated by the terminal device as long as the beam determined by at least one item of the combination of two or three items of DCI, MAC-CE and RRC messages is ensured on the panel which is activated by the terminal device.

In another possible implementation manner, the terminal device determines, according to the panel where the third beam is located, a second beam for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel.

That is, the terminal device may select, as the second beam, a transmission beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel from a panel on which the third beam is located.

In step 430, the terminal device transmits an uplink signal or an uplink channel through the second beam. Accordingly, the network device receives the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the receiving beam corresponding to the second beam.

The uplink signal or the uplink channel may be an uplink signal or an uplink channel transmitted on a transmission resource scheduled by the network device through the scheduling channel.

As described above, the terminal device may determine the second beam according to the third indication information sent by the network device, or may determine the second beam by itself. Due to the beam pairing relationship, the network device also receives the uplink signal or the uplink channel using the reception beam corresponding to the second beam. Therefore, whether or not the third indication information is transmitted by the network device to indicate the second beam, the network device needs to know the currently activated panel of the terminal device in order to determine the reception beam corresponding to the second beam.

Optionally, the method further includes step 440, the terminal device sends fourth indication information, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate the currently activated panel. Accordingly, the network device receives the fourth indication information, which is used for indicating the currently activated panel of the terminal device.

Step 440 is the same as the specific process of the terminal device sending the second indication information in step 340 of method 300, and for brevity, will not be described again here.

In addition, a specific procedure for the terminal device to transmit the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the second beam may be the same as that of the prior art, and a detailed description of the specific procedure is omitted here for brevity.

Based on the above technical solution, the terminal device may determine the second beam for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel according to the panel on which the third beam used by the receiving scheduling channel is located. Since the terminal device uses the third beam when receiving the scheduling channel, the panel on which the third beam is located is the activated panel, and the second beam is determined on the panel, that is, the second beam is determined on the currently activated panel. Thereby avoiding the large time delay associated with panel activation. Even if the terminal equipment needs to perform panel switching or beam switching, the time delay caused by the terminal equipment is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is advantageous for the terminal device to complete panel switching or beam switching before the scheduled resource arrives, and transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel using the selected beam. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be active for a long time. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

In order to avoid missing the resource scheduled by the network device due to the large time delay of activating the panel or switching the panel by the terminal device, the application also provides a panel switching method.

Fig. 10 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a panel indication method 500 provided by yet another embodiment of the present application, shown from the perspective of device interaction. As shown, the method 500 may include steps 510 through 530. The method 500 is described in detail below with reference to the figures.

In step 510, the network device sends a panel activation command to the end device at a first time node, the panel activation command for activating one or more panels. Accordingly, the terminal device receives a panel activation command from the network device at the first time node, the panel activation command for activating one or more panels.

Specifically, the panel activation command may be multiplexing of existing signaling or may be newly added signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application. The network device may indicate the panel through a panel activation command, such as an ID of the panel or other information that may be used to uniquely indicate one panel, such as a beam having a correspondence with the panel, etc.

In one possible implementation, the panel activation command is beam indication information.

In this implementation, the panels have a correspondence with the beams. The beam indicated by the beam indication information may be used to determine the panel that needs to be activated. The network device may obtain the correspondence between the panel and the beam of the terminal device in advance. For example, the terminal device may report to the network device, or may be predefined, which is not limited in this application.

The network device can indicate the beam through the beam indication information and implicitly indicate the panel required to be activated according to the corresponding relation between the panel and the beam. The beam indication information may be, for example, the first indication information listed in method 200 or method 300 above; alternatively, the third indication listed in the method 400 above; alternatively, information for indicating a beam may be newly added. This is not a limitation of the present application.

The terminal device can know the corresponding relation between the panel configured by the terminal device and each beam, so that the panel needing to be activated can be determined according to the corresponding relation between the panel and the beam after receiving the beam indication information sent by the network device.

The corresponding relationship between the panel and the beam may be that one panel corresponds to one beam, or that one panel corresponds to a plurality of beams, which is not limited in this application. Since the panel activated by the network device through the panel activation command may be one or more, the beam indicated in the beam indication information may also be one or more. This is not a limitation of the present application.

In another possible implementation, the panel activation command includes an indication of one or more panels that need to be activated.

Various possibilities of indication of the panel have been enumerated in the above embodiments, for example, the indication of the panel may be an ID of an SRS resource, an ID of a set of SRS resources, an ID of an NZP-CSI-RS resource, an ID of a set of NZP-CSI-RS resources, an ID of a spatial relationship, an ID of a TCI status, and the like. It should be understood that this should not constitute any limitation to the present application. The present application is not limited to the specific form of the indication of the panel. When the protocol definition indicates a panel by some information, the network device may indicate one or more panels that need to be activated based on the correspondence of the information to the panel.

Optionally, the panel activation command is configured in one or more of DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

As previously described, the panel activation command may be beam indication information. As described in the above embodiments, the beam indication information may be carried in one or more of DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages, and thus the panel activation command may also be carried in one or more of DCI, MAC-CE, and RRC messages.

The panel activation command may also be a separate signaling. The independent signaling may be, for example, multiplexing an existing DCI, MAC-CE, or RRC message, or may be a new signaling. This is not a limitation of the present application.

In step 520, the terminal device transmits and receives signals at the second time node. Accordingly, the network device transmits and receives signals at the second time node.

Specifically, the terminal device may receive the downlink signal or the downlink channel at the second time node. Accordingly, the network device may transmit a downlink signal or a downlink channel at the second time node. The terminal device may also transmit an uplink signal or an uplink channel at the second time node. Accordingly, the terminal device may also receive the uplink signal or the uplink channel at the second time node.

The signal or channel transceived by the terminal device at the second time node may be a signal or channel that the network device schedules or triggers transmission through a scheduling channel, which may be, for example, the scheduling channel described in method 400 above; the signal or channel transceived by the terminal device at the second time node may also be a signal or channel transmitted by the terminal device in a manner of dynamic grant-free transmission, and so on. The signal or channel transmitted or received by the second time node is not limited in this application.

And the time interval between the second time node and the first time node is greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time length, the panel switching time length and the time length for correctly receiving the panel activation command.

For ease of understanding, fig. 11 shows an example of the first time node and the second time node. As shown, the terminal device correctly receives the panel activation command at a first time node, and a second time node is a starting position of arrival of a resource for transmitting a signal or channel. In order to complete the panel switch before the transmission resource of the signal or channel arrives, the time interval between the first time node and the second time node may be limited to be greater than or equal to the sum of the duration of the panel activation, the duration of the panel switch, and the duration of the correct reception of the panel activation command. Thereby, the terminal equipment can be ensured to transmit and receive signals by using the beams on the activated panel when the transmission resources of the signals or the channels arrive.

It should be understood that activating one or more panels of the terminal device by the panel activation command and limiting the time interval between the second time node and the first time node to be greater than or equal to the sum of the duration of panel activation, the duration of panel switching, and the duration of correct reception of the panel activation command only ensures that the terminal device can transceive signals using beams on the panel activated by the panel activation command when the transmission resource of the signal or channel arrives, but does not represent that the terminal device must transceive signals using beams on the panel activated by the panel activation command. The panel activation command may also be the panel that is activated for the next or next transmission of a signal or channel.

Optionally, the method further comprises step 530: the network device sends a panel switching command to the terminal device, the panel switching command being used to instruct switching to the panel activated by the panel activation command. Accordingly, the terminal device receives a panel switch command from the network device, the panel switch command being for instructing switching to the panel activated by the panel activation command.

The terminal device may activate one or more panels indicated by the panel activation command after receiving the panel activation command in step 510, and may switch the panel to the one or more panels activated by the panel activation command after receiving the panel switching command in step 530.

In this embodiment of the present application, optionally, the panel activation command and the panel switch command may be in the same field in the same signaling, that is, the indication of activation and switch is completed through the same field. In this case, the panel that needs to be activated and the panel that needs to be switched, which the network device indicates, may be the same. The terminal device may switch the panel to all of the active panels.

Alternatively, the panel activation command and the panel switch command may be different signaling. In this case, the panel that needs to be activated and the panel that needs to be switched, which are indicated by the network device, may be the same or different. The terminal device may switch the panel to all or part of the panel that is active. When the panel activation command and the panel switch command are different signaling, the panel switch command may be signaling transmitted after the panel activation command. In one implementation, the panel switch command is beam indication information.

In this implementation, the panels have a correspondence with the beams. The beam indicated by the beam indication information may be used to determine the panel that needs to be switched. The network device may obtain the correspondence between the panel and the beam of the terminal device in advance. For example, the terminal device may report to the network device, or may be predefined, which is not limited in this application.

The network device may indicate the beam through the beam indication information and implicitly indicate the panel to be switched according to the corresponding relationship between the panel and the beam. The beam indication information may be, for example, the first indication information listed in method 200 or method 300 above; alternatively, the third indication listed in the method 400 above; alternatively, information for indicating a beam may be newly added. This is not a limitation of the present application.

The terminal equipment can know the corresponding relation between the panel configured by the terminal equipment and each beam, so that the panel needing to be switched can be determined according to the corresponding relation between the panel and the beam after receiving the beam indication information sent by the network equipment.

The corresponding relationship between the panel and the beam may be that one panel corresponds to one beam, or that one panel corresponds to a plurality of beams, which is not limited in this application. Since the panel to be switched by the network device through the panel switching command may be one or more, the beam indicated in the beam indication information may also be one or more. This is not a limitation of the present application.

In another implementation, the panel switch command includes an indication of a panel that needs to be switched.

Many possibilities for indication of panels have been enumerated above in step 510 and are not enumerated here for the sake of brevity. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the particular form of the indication of the panel. When the protocol definition indicates a panel by some information, the network device may indicate one or more panels that need to be switched based on the correspondence of the information to the panel.

Optionally, the time interval between the first time node and the second time node is greater than or equal to the sum of the duration of panel activation, the duration of panel switching, and the duration of correct receiving of the panel activation command by the terminal device and the duration of correct receiving of the panel switching command by the terminal device.

That is, when the network device indicates the panel requiring activation and the panel requiring switching through different signaling, the time interval between the first time node and the second time node may be further limited to be greater than or equal to the sum of the duration of panel activation, the duration of panel switching, the duration of correct panel activation command reception by the terminal device, and the duration of correct panel switching command reception by the terminal device.

It should be noted that, when the terminal device is capable of receiving the signaling while activating the panel, the time interval between the first time node and the second time node can be reduced to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation duration, the panel switching duration, and the duration of the terminal device correctly receiving the panel activation command.

In addition, when the panel activation command and the panel switching command are carried in the same signaling, the time for the terminal device to correctly receive the panel activation command and the time for the terminal device to correctly receive the panel switching command may be coincident, so the time interval between the first time node and the second time node may also be simplified to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation duration, the panel switching duration, and the duration for the terminal device to correctly receive the panel activation command.

It should be understood that fig. 10 is merely schematic for ease of understanding and should not be construed as limiting the present application in any way. When the panel activation command and the panel switch command are the same signaling, the panel switch command and the panel activation command in the figure may coincide. In addition, the scheduling channel shown in the figure is only an example, and may not exist in the actual transmission process. In addition, the present application does not limit the order of the panel activation command, the panel switch command, and the transmission of the scheduling channel.

Optionally, step 520 specifically includes: the terminal device transmits and receives signals through the beam on the activated panel at the second time node. Accordingly, the network device transceives signals through the beam corresponding to the beam on the panel activated by the terminal device at the second time node.

Specifically, the terminal device may determine a beam for transceiving a signal in advance. In this embodiment, the beam is a beam on the panel that is activated by the panel activation command in the first time node. The method by which the terminal device determines the beam may be, for example, the method described in method 200, method 300, or method 400 above. The network device may transmit and receive signals through beams corresponding to the beams of the terminal device according to a predetermined beam pairing relationship.

Fig. 11 shows an example of the terminal device transceiving signals through beams on the activated panel at the second time node. As shown in the figure, the terminal device activates and switches to the panel 1 after receiving the panel activation command at the first time node. At the second time node, the terminal device transceives signals through the beam on the panel 1.

In this embodiment, the time interval between the second time node and the first time node is limited to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time, the panel switching time and the time for correctly receiving the panel activation command, or the time interval between the second time node and the first time node is limited to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation time, the panel switching time, the time for correctly receiving the panel activation command and the time for correctly receiving the panel switching command. Accordingly, a sufficient time is reserved for the terminal device to perform panel switching before the transmission resource of a signal or channel arrives, so that the terminal device can complete panel switching before the transmission resource of a signal or channel arrives, upon which a signal is transceived using a beam on an activated panel.

Based on the technical scheme, the terminal device can activate the panel according to the panel activation command of the network device, and by limiting the time interval between the second time node and the first time node to be greater than or equal to the sum of the panel activation duration, the panel switching duration and the duration of correctly receiving the panel activation command, sufficient time is reserved for the terminal device to perform panel switching before the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives, so that the terminal device can be ensured to complete panel switching before the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives, and thus, the beam on the activated panel can be used for receiving and transmitting the signal when the transmission resource of the signal or the channel arrives. Thereby being beneficial to improving the transmission performance of the system. In addition, the terminal device does not need to activate all the panels in order to avoid time delay caused by panel activation. In this way, all panels of the terminal device do not need to be in an active state for a long time, and therefore, the power saving effect can be achieved.

The method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above with reference to fig. 2 to 11. Hereinafter, the apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail with reference to fig. 12 to 14.

Fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the communication device 1000 may include a transceiving unit 1100 and a processing unit 1200.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the terminal device in the above method embodiment, and may be, for example, the terminal device or a chip configured in the terminal device.

Specifically, the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to a terminal device in the method 200, the method 300, the method 400, or the method 500 according to an embodiment of the present application, and the communication apparatus 1000 may include a unit for performing the method performed by the terminal device in the method 200 in fig. 2, the method 300 in fig. 8, the method 400 in fig. 9, or the method 500 in fig. 10. Also, the units and other operations and/or functions described above in the communication device 1000 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows of the method 200 in fig. 2, the method 300 in fig. 8, the method 400 in fig. 9, or the method 500 in fig. 10.

When the communication device 1000 is used to execute the method 200 in fig. 2, the transceiver unit 1100 may be used to execute the steps 220 to 240 in the method 200, and the processing unit 1200 may be used to execute the step 210 in the method 200. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

When the communication device 1000 is used to execute the method 300 in fig. 8, the transceiver unit 1100 may be used to execute steps 320 to 240 in the method 300, and the processing unit 1200 may be used to execute step 310 in the method 300. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

When the communication device 1000 is used to execute the method 400 in fig. 9, the transceiver unit 1100 may be used to execute steps 420 to 440 in the method 400, and the processing unit 1200 may be used to execute step 410 in the method 400. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

When the communication device 1000 is used to execute the method 500 in fig. 10, the transceiver unit 1100 may be used to execute the steps 520 to 530 in the method 500, and the processing unit 1200 may, for example, activate the panel after the step 510 and may switch the panel after the step 530. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

It is further understood that when the communication apparatus 1000 is a terminal device, the transceiver unit 1100 in the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the transceiver 2020 in the terminal device 2000 shown in fig. 13, and the processing unit 1200 in the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the processor 2010 in the terminal device 2000 shown in fig. 13.

It should also be understood that when the communication device 1000 is a chip configured in a terminal device, the transceiver unit 1100 in the communication device 1000 may be an input/output interface.

In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the network device in the above method embodiment, and may be, for example, a network device or a chip configured in a network device.

In particular, the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the network device in the method 200, the method 300, the method 400 or the method 500 according to the embodiment of the present application, and the communication apparatus 1000 may include a unit for performing the method performed by the network device in the method 200 in fig. 2, the method 300 in fig. 8, the method 400 in fig. 9 or the method 500 in fig. 10. Also, the units and other operations and/or functions described above in the communication device 1000 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows of the method 200 in fig. 2, the method 300 in fig. 8, the method 400 in fig. 9, or the method 500 in fig. 10.

When the communication apparatus 1000 is configured to perform the method 500 in fig. 10, the transceiver unit 1100 may be configured to perform steps 510 to 530 in the method 500, and the processing unit 1200 may be configured to determine one or more panels of the terminal device that need to be activated before step 510. It should be understood that the specific processes of the units for executing the corresponding steps are already described in detail in the above method embodiments, and therefore, for brevity, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

It should also be understood that when the communication apparatus 1000 is a network device, the transceiving unit in the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the transceiver 3200 in the network device 3000 shown in fig. 14, and the processing unit 1200 in the communication apparatus 1000 may correspond to the processor 3100 in the network device 3000 shown in fig. 14.

It should also be understood that when the communication device 1000 is a chip configured in a network device, the transceiver unit 1100 in the communication device 1000 may be an input/output interface.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device 2000 according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device 2000 can be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the terminal device in the above method embodiment. As shown, the terminal device 2000 includes a processor 2010 and a transceiver 2020. Optionally, the terminal device 2000 further comprises a memory 2030. The processor 2010, the transceiver 2002 and the memory 2030 may be in communication with each other via the interconnection path to transfer control and/or data signals, the memory 2030 may be used for storing a computer program, and the processor 2010 may be used for retrieving and executing the computer program from the memory 2030 to control the transceiver 2020 to transmit and receive signals. Optionally, the terminal device 2000 may further include an antenna 2040, configured to transmit uplink data or uplink control signaling output by the transceiver 2020 by using a wireless signal.

The processor 2010 and the memory 2030 may be combined into a processing device, and the processor 2010 is configured to execute the program codes stored in the memory 2030 to achieve the above functions. In particular, the memory 2030 may be integrated with the processor 2010 or may be separate from the processor 2010. The processor 2010 may correspond to the processing unit in fig. 12.

The transceiver 2020 may correspond to the transceiver in fig. 12, and may also be referred to as a transceiver. The transceiver 2020 may include a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit) and a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). Wherein the receiver is used for receiving signals, and the transmitter is used for transmitting signals.

It should be understood that the terminal device 2000 shown in fig. 13 can implement various processes involving the terminal device in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2, 8 to 10. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the terminal device 2000 are respectively to implement the corresponding flows in the above-described method embodiments. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the above method embodiments, and a detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

The processor 2010 may be configured to perform the actions described in the preceding method embodiments that are implemented within the terminal device, and the transceiver 2020 may be configured to perform the actions described in the preceding method embodiments that the terminal device transmits to or receives from the network device. Please refer to the description of the previous embodiment of the method, which is not repeated herein.

Optionally, the terminal device 2000 may further include a power supply 2050 for supplying power to various devices or circuits in the terminal device.

In addition, in order to further improve the functions of the terminal device, the terminal device 2000 may further include one or more of an input unit 2060, a display unit 2070, an audio circuit 2080, a camera 2090, a sensor 2100, and the like, and the audio circuit may further include a speaker 2082, a microphone 2084, and the like.

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided in the embodiment of the present application, which may be a schematic structural diagram of a base station, for example. The base station 3000 can be applied to the system shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment. As shown, the base station 3000 may include one or more radio frequency units, such as a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 3100 and one or more baseband units (BBUs) (which may also be referred to as Distributed Units (DUs)) 3200. The RRU 3100 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, and corresponds to the transceiver unit 1200 in fig. 12. Alternatively, the transceiving unit 3100 may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuit, or transceiver, etc., which may comprise at least one antenna 3101 and a radio frequency unit 3102. Alternatively, the transceiving unit 3100 may include a receiving unit and a transmitting unit, the receiving unit may correspond to a receiver (or receiver, receiving circuit), and the transmitting unit may correspond to a transmitter (or transmitter, transmitting circuit). The RRU 3100 part is mainly used for transceiving and converting radio frequency signals to baseband signals, for example, for sending indication information to a terminal device. The BBU 3200 section is mainly used for performing baseband processing, controlling a base station, and the like. The RRU 3100 and the BBU 3200 may be physically disposed together or may be physically disposed separately, i.e. distributed base stations.

The BBU 3200, which is a control center of the base station and may also be referred to as a processing unit, may correspond to the processing unit 1100 in fig. 12, and is mainly used for performing baseband processing functions, such as channel coding, multiplexing, modulation, spreading, and the like. For example, the BBU (processing unit) may be configured to control the base station to perform an operation procedure related to the network device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, to generate the foregoing indication information.

In an example, the BBU 3200 may be formed by one or more boards, and the boards may collectively support a radio access network of a single access system (e.g., an LTE network), or may respectively support radio access networks of different access systems (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The BBU 3200 also includes a memory 3201 and a processor 3202. The memory 3201 is used to store necessary instructions and data. The processor 3202 is used for controlling the base station to perform necessary actions, for example, for controlling the base station to execute the operation flow related to the network device in the above method embodiment. The memory 3201 and processor 3202 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

It should be understood that the base station 3000 shown in fig. 14 can implement various processes involving network devices in the method embodiments shown in fig. 2, 8 to 10. The operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the base station 3000 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above-described method embodiments. Reference may be made specifically to the description of the above method embodiments, and a detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

BBU 3200 as described above can be used to perform actions described in previous method embodiments as being implemented internally by a network device, while RRU 3100 can be used to perform actions described in previous method embodiments as being sent by or received from a terminal device by a network device. Please refer to the description of the previous embodiment of the method, which is not repeated herein.

The embodiment of the application also provides a processing device, which comprises a processor and an interface; the processor is configured to perform the method of any of the above method embodiments.

It should be understood that the processing means may be a chip. For example, the processing device may be a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit (DSP), a Microcontroller (MCU), a programmable logic controller (PLD), or other integrated chips.

In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor. To avoid repetition, it is not described in detail here.

It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capability. In implementation, the steps of the above method embodiments may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor described above may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components. The various methods, steps, and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented or performed. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor.

It will be appreciated that the memory in the embodiments of the subject application can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, Synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, 8 to 10.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer readable medium storing program code, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method in the embodiment shown in fig. 2, 8 to 10.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the present application further provides a system, which includes the foregoing one or more terminal devices and one or more network devices.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The network device in the foregoing device embodiments completely corresponds to the terminal device and the network device or the terminal device in the method embodiments, and the corresponding module or unit executes the corresponding steps, for example, the communication unit (transceiver) executes the steps of receiving or transmitting in the method embodiments, and other steps besides transmitting and receiving may be executed by the processing unit (processor). The functions of the specific elements may be referred to in the respective method embodiments. The number of the processors may be one or more.

As used in this specification, the terms "component," "module," "system," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, either hardware, firmware, a combination of hardware and software, or software in execution. For example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application running on a computing device and the computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside within a process and/or thread of execution and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between 2 or more computers. In addition, these components can execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon. The components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from two components interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the internet with other systems by way of the signal).

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

In the above embodiments, the functions of the functional units may be fully or partially implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions (programs). The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part when the computer program instructions (programs) are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application or portions thereof that substantially contribute to the prior art may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium and including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A signal transmission method, comprising:

the terminal equipment determines a first beam for receiving a downlink signal or a downlink channel, wherein the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel;

and the terminal equipment receives the downlink signal or the downlink channel through the first wave beam.

2. A signal transmission method, comprising:

the terminal equipment determines a first beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel, wherein the first beam is a beam on a currently activated panel;

and the terminal equipment transmits the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the first wave beam.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

the terminal device receives first indication information from a network device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the first beam.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device determining a first beam for receiving a downlink signal or a downlink channel comprises:

and the terminal equipment determines a default beam according to the currently activated panel, wherein the default beam is the first beam for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the terminal device determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel comprises:

and the terminal equipment determines a default beam according to the currently activated panel, wherein the default beam is the first beam used for sending the uplink signal or the uplink channel.

6. The method of claim 5 or 6, wherein the default beam refers to a beam on the currently activated one or more panels that satisfies a preset condition.

7. The method of any of claims 4 to 6, wherein the default beam reference:

a receiving beam of a first physical downlink control channel used in a first time slot, where the receiving beam of the first physical downlink control channel is a receiving beam corresponding to a control resource set with a smallest identification ID in one or more control resource sets among receiving beams on a currently activated panel, and the one or more control resource sets are control resource sets monitored by the terminal device in the first time slot; the first time slot is one of one or more time slots which is closest to a reference time slot, each of the one or more time slots is configured with one or more control resource sets, and a receiving beam of at least one control resource set in the one or more resource sets configured in each of the one or more time slots is on a currently activated panel; or

Among the beams for receiving the synchronization signal blocks determined by the random access procedure on the currently activated N panels, the L beams used for receiving the synchronization signal blocks for M times closest to the reference time slot; or

In the activated upstream bandwidth part BWP, the beam used for transmitting the physical upstream control channel with the smallest ID among the currently activated N on-panel physical upstream control channels; or

The beam used for transmitting the physical uplink control channel with the minimum ID in the currently activated physical uplink control channels on the N panels; or

Among the currently activated beams used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels on the N panels, receiving the downlink signals or downlink channels for M times nearest to the reference time slot by using L beams; or

Among the beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels determined by the initial access process on the currently activated N panels, the L beams used for receiving the downlink signals or downlink channels for M times closest to the reference time slot; or

Among the beams for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels determined by the random access process on the currently activated N panels, the L beams used for receiving the downlink signals or downlink channels for M times closest to the reference time slot; or

Among the beams for receiving the synchronization signal blocks on the currently activated N panels, the L beams used for receiving the synchronization signal blocks for M times nearest to the reference time slot; or

Receiving beams of a first synchronization signal block on currently activated N panels, the first synchronization signal block being determined by an initial access procedure; or

Among the beams used for transmitting uplink signals or uplink channels on the currently activated N panels, transmitting the uplink signals or uplink channels for M times nearest to the reference time slot by using L beams;

wherein N is more than or equal to 1, M is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, L is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to N, and L, M and N are integers.

8. A method for beam indication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment generates first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first beam, the first beam is used for receiving downlink signals or downlink channels by terminal equipment, and the first beam is a beam on a panel which is activated currently by the terminal equipment;

and the network equipment sends the first indication information to the terminal equipment.

9. A method for beam indication, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that network equipment generates first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating a first beam, the first beam is used for sending an uplink signal or an uplink channel by terminal equipment, and the first beam is a beam on a panel which is activated currently by the terminal equipment;

10. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the processing unit is used for determining a first beam for receiving a downlink signal or a downlink channel, wherein the first beam is a beam on a panel which is currently activated by the terminal equipment;

a transceiver unit, configured to receive the downlink signal or the downlink channel through the first beam.

11. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the processing unit is used for determining a first beam for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel, wherein the first beam is a beam on a panel which is currently activated by the terminal equipment;

a transceiver unit, configured to transmit the uplink signal or the uplink channel through the first beam.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein the transceiver unit is further configured to receive first indication information from a network device, the first indication information indicating the first beam.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to determine a default beam according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device, where the default beam is the first beam for receiving the downlink signal or the downlink channel.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to determine a default beam according to a currently activated panel of the terminal device, where the default beam is the first beam for transmitting the uplink signal or the uplink channel.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, wherein the default beam refers to a beam on one or more panels on which the terminal device has currently been activated that satisfies a preset condition.

16. The apparatus of any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein the default beam reference:

Among the beams used for transmitting uplink signals or uplink channels on the currently activated N panels, the L beams used for transmitting the uplink signals or uplink channels M times closest to the reference time slot;

17. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to generate first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first beam, where the first beam is a beam used by a terminal device to receive a downlink signal or a downlink channel, and the first beam is a beam on a panel that is currently activated by the terminal device;

and the transceiving unit is used for sending the first indication information to the terminal equipment.

18. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to generate first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first beam, where the first beam is a beam used by a terminal device to send an uplink signal or an uplink channel, and the first beam is a beam on a panel that is currently activated by the terminal device;

19. A communications apparatus comprising at least one processor configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-9.

20. A computer-readable medium, comprising a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 9.