CN113747484A

CN113747484A - Beam measurement method and device

Info

Publication number: CN113747484A
Application number: CN202010480669.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈雷; 管鹏; 伯琳
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-30
Filing date: 2020-05-30
Publication date: 2021-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-30
Also published as: CN113747484B; WO2021244201A1

Abstract

The application provides a method for measuring beams, which comprises the following steps: a terminal receives measurement configuration information sent by network equipment, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises configuration information of a plurality of resource sets, and each resource set comprises one or more resources; combining and measuring the resources in each resource set through one receiving beam or a plurality of receiving beams generated simultaneously, and selecting one or more resource sets according to the measurement result to report to the network equipment; the application also provides a beam measuring device; the method and the device reduce feedback overhead.

Description

Beam measurement method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for beam measurement.

Background

In the nr (new radio) system, the terminal device and the network device may perform data transmission through beam alignment. In order to improve the coverage of signals, the network device needs to use a beamforming technique to transmit downlink signals. From the beam forming mode of the network equipment, the beams are divided into two types, one type is analog beams, and different beams are formed by adjusting analog weights on an analog domain; the other is a digital beam, and different beams are formed by adjusting the digital weight values in the digital domain.

In some low-frequency systems, the number of digital beams may be much larger than the number of analog beams, and during the beam measurement process, the terminal device needs to feed back the index of the beam to the network device. Since the digital domain can re-identify the weights when receiving signals, the network device only needs to know the index of the analog beam and does not need to know the index of the digital beam. Therefore, the index of the digital beam needs to be reported according to the existing feedback mechanism, and the existing feedback mechanism reports redundant information and has low reporting efficiency because the number of the digital beams is large and the occupied bits are large.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for beam measurement, which reduce feedback overhead by performing combined measurement on a plurality of resources.

In one aspect, a method for beam measurement is disclosed, including: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives measurement configuration information sent by network equipment, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises configuration information of a plurality of resource sets, and each resource set comprises one or more resources; and performing combined measurement on the resources in each resource set, and selecting one or more resource sets according to the measurement result to report to the network equipment.

Correspondingly, the network device sends the measurement configuration information to the terminal device, and receives the one or more resource sets reported by the terminal device.

The one or more resource sets selected for reporting may be resource sets whose measurement results meet quality requirements, for example: the resource set with the best measurement result or the resource set with the measurement result larger than or equal to the set threshold value; an index of the one or more resource sets may be reported.

With the above scheme, the terminal device performs combined measurement on the resources in each resource set through one receive beam or multiple simultaneously generated receive beams.

The resource is a reference signal resource, which may be a downlink reference signal resource or an uplink reference signal resource; for example: CSI-RS (channel state information-reference signal) resources, SRS (sounding reference signal) resources; a collection of resources may also be referred to as a resource group.

In addition, at least one of the resource sets comprises a plurality of resources, or each resource set comprises a plurality of resources; the number of the plurality is 2 or more than 2.

With reference to the foregoing method, each resource set in the resource configuration information corresponds to one resource classification information, which is used to indicate whether the resource set is used for combining measurement or can be used for combining measurement. The terminal device may perform a combining measurement on the set of resources indicating the combining measurement. For example, a plurality of resources in a resource set configured with Combination On ═ a are measured in a combined manner, and a may be other values; if a set has no Combination On or Combination Off configured, the resource set cannot be measured for Combination.

In another scheme, resources in the same set or group may be used for the merged measurement by default, and resources in different sets or groups may not be used for the merged measurement.

In another scheme, the measurement configuration information may also include configuration information of multiple resources, where each resource corresponds to one resource classification information, and the terminal device performs combination measurement on multiple resources having the same resource classification information, and reports a common index of the multiple resources, where an index of one of the resources may be used as the common index. For example: combining and measuring a plurality of resources configured with Combination On ═ a, wherein the measurement result is A; combining and measuring a plurality of resources configured with Combination On ═ b; the measurement result is B; if A is better than B, reporting the common index of a plurality of resources of Combination On ═ a, and taking the index of one resource in the plurality of resources as the common index.

The resource classification information may also be referred to as a merged measurement identifier.

In another example, the resource set with Combination On ═ a may be merged with one or more resources with Combination On ═ a, the resource set with Combination On ═ b may be merged with one or more resources with Combination On ═ b, and the merged measurement may be performed, and the common index between the resource set with the better measurement result and one or more resources may be reported.

Furthermore, an identifier corresponding to the resource classification information can be reported to represent a common index of the corresponding resources for performing the combination measurement; for example: reporting an identifier corresponding to Combination On ═ a to represent a plurality of resources of Combination On ═ a, and reporting an identifier corresponding to Combination On ═ b to represent a plurality of resources of Combination On ═ b; for example: bit 0 indicates a plurality of resources of Combination On ═ a, and bit 1 indicates a plurality of resources of Combination On ═ b.

Further, the measurement configuration information may further include indication information for indicating that a certain resource and/or resource set can be used for combining measurements, and may be included in the resource configuration information of the resource and/or resource set, or may be issued separately by the network device; in this case, if the terminal device detects that the measurement configuration information includes the merged measurement instruction, or receives the merged measurement instruction issued by the network device, the terminal starts the merged measurement, otherwise, the merged measurement is not started.

For example, the measurement configuration information further includes a merged measurement instruction, for example: combining on-1, which is used to instruct the terminal device to start combining measurement; the terminal equipment detects a combined measurement instruction and then starts combined measurement; if the merged measurement indication is not detected, merged measurements are not initiated.

The merged measurement instruction may also be included in the reporting configuration in the measurement configuration information, or may also be issued separately to the terminal device by the network device, for example: the combined measurement instruction is issued to the terminal device by RRC (radio resource Control), MAC-CE (Media Access Control element), DCI (downlink Control information), or the like.

If the network device independently issues the merged measurement instruction to the terminal device, the method is combined, and before the terminal device performs the merged measurement, the method further includes: receiving indication information issued by network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating terminal equipment to start merging measurement; the indication information may be RRC, MAC-CE, or DCI, etc.

With the method, the terminal device may also report the selected combined measurement result of the one or more resource sets to the network device; the merged measurement result may include information of valid measurement resources in the one or more resource sets.

With reference to the foregoing method, the measurement configuration information further includes beam information corresponding to each resource set, for example: the resource configuration information of each resource set also includes beam information corresponding to the resource set.

Further, the measurement configuration information may further include one or more of the following items: the starting time of the combined measurement, the measurement quantity of the combined measurement (such as reference signal receiving quality, signal-to-interference noise ratio, reference signal receiving power, and the like), the feedback quantity, and the like.

In combination with the above method, the merged measurement may be performed by measuring each resource separately, averaging each measurement result, or averaging part of each measurement result, for example, averaging the first N better measurement results, where N may also be configured by the network device, may also be determined by the terminal device itself, or may be agreed in advance by a protocol.

With the above method, the network device may use one or more resource sets reported by the terminal device for the beam indication, for example: and the beam configuration information is sent by the network equipment to the terminal equipment, and comprises the incidence relation between the one or more resource sets and an uplink channel (or signal) or a downlink channel (or signal). The terminal device may receive the associated channel or signal using the receive beam associated with the receive beam corresponding to the one or more resource sets, or the terminal device may transmit the associated channel or signal using the transmit beam associated with the receive beam corresponding to the one or more resource sets.

With reference to the foregoing method, the terminal device receives, by using a receive beam (one or more simultaneously generated receive beams) during beam measurement, a downlink channel associated with the one or more resource sets issued by the network device, or sends, by using one or more transmit beams corresponding to the receive beam during beam measurement, an uplink channel associated with the one or more resource sets to the network device.

According to the method for measuring the wave beams, the resources in the resource set are combined and measured, and the resource set is reported according to the measurement result, so that the feedback overhead is reduced.

In a second aspect, a processor is provided for performing the beam measurement method described above or the methods in its various implementations.

In a third aspect, a terminal device is provided, which includes means for performing the beam measurement method described above or the method in its various implementations. Such as a transceiving module (which may include a transmitting module and a receiving module) for performing the operations of transceiving signals or information in the above scheme; and the processing module is used for executing operations except for transceiving in the scheme, such as combining measurement and the like.

In a fourth aspect, a network device is provided, the terminal device comprising means for performing the beam measurement method described above or the method in its various implementations. Such as a transceiving module (which may include a transmitting module and a receiving module) for performing the operations of transceiving signals or information in the above scheme; and the processing module is used for executing operations except for transceiving in the scheme, such as configuring resources and the like.

In a fifth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a terminal device designed in the above method, or a chip provided in the terminal device. The communication device includes: a processor, coupled to the memory, may be configured to execute the computer program or instructions in the memory to implement the method performed by the terminal device in any of its possible implementations of the above-described scheme. 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.

When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface for transceiving signals, or input/output of computer programs or instructions.

When the communication device is a chip provided in a terminal device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface for transceiving signals, or input/output of a computer program or instructions, where the input corresponds to a received or acquired operation and the output corresponds to a transmitted operation.

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

In a sixth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which may be a network device designed by the method described above, or a chip disposed in the network device. The communication device includes: a processor, coupled to the memory, may be configured to execute the computer program or instructions in the memory to implement the method performed by the network device in the above-described aspects. 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.

When the communication device is a network device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface, for transceiving signals, or for input/output of computer programs or instructions.

When the communication device is a chip provided in a network device, the communication interface may be an input/output interface for transceiving signals, or for inputting and outputting a computer program or instructions.

In a seventh aspect, a computer program is provided, which, when being executed by a processor, is adapted to carry out the beam measurement method described above.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the program product comprising: computer program code which, when run by a communication unit, a processing unit or a transceiver, a processor of a communication apparatus (e.g. a terminal device or a network device), causes the communication device to perform any of its possible embodiments of the beam measurement method described above.

In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instructions for causing a communication apparatus (e.g., a terminal device or a network device) to perform the beam measurement method described above and any of its possible embodiments.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram to which embodiments of the present application are applied.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a digital-analog hybrid transmitter.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating a terminal served by a base station using both digital and analog beam weights according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a beam measurement method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a combination of single-port (left) and dual-port (right) reference signal resources according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a simplified communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 8 is another schematic block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 9 is a schematic block diagram of a processor provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 10 is a schematic block diagram of a processing device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, an LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, a fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) system, or a New Radio (NR) system.

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

The network device in this embodiment may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, may be an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, and may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or the network device may be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network, or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the embodiment of the application, the terminal device or the network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running on the hardware layer, and an application layer running on the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Memory Management Unit (MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes (processes), such as a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a windows operating system. The application layer comprises applications such as a browser, an address list, word processing software, instant messaging software and the like. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present application does not particularly limit the specific structure of the execution main body of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, as long as the communication can be performed according to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application by running the program recorded with the code of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, for example, the execution main body of the method provided by the embodiment of the present application may be a terminal device or a network device, or a functional module capable of calling the program and executing the program in the terminal device or the network device.

In addition, various aspects or features of the present application may be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk (CD), Digital Versatile Disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), card, stick, or key drive, etc.). In addition, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data.

In particular, the embodiments of the present application are applicable to a beam-based multicarrier communication system. FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system architecture to which embodiments of the present application are applied. As shown in fig. 1, the system includes a network device and at least one terminal device (two terminal devices are illustrated in fig. 1). The terminal equipment is connected with the network equipment in a wireless mode. The terminal device and the network device may communicate using beams, including uplink (i.e., terminal device to network device) communication and downlink (network device to terminal device) communication. The terminal equipment may be fixed or mobile.

It should be understood that fig. 1 is only a schematic diagram, and other devices may also be included in the system, such as a core network device, a wireless relay device, a wireless backhaul device (not shown in fig. 1), and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the system.

In the beam measurement, the network device may send measurement configuration information to the terminal device in advance, where the measurement configuration information may include measurement resource configuration information and measurement reporting configuration information. The network device transmits a measurement reference signal to the terminal device based on the measurement configuration information.

The measurement resource configuration information includes the relevant configuration of the measurement resource. For example, measurement resources may be configured as a three-level resource structure: resource setting (Resource setting), Resource set (Resource set), and Resource (Resource). The network device may configure one or more Resource setting for the terminal device, where each Resource setting may include one or more Resource sets, and each Resource set may include one or more resources. Optionally, each Resource may also be a Resource of one or more ports (ports).

The measurement report configuration information includes related information that needs to be reported by the terminal device. Optionally, the measurement report configuration information includes one or more of the following items: reporting amount (report quality), indication information of a calculation method adopted by the reporting amount, and measurement resources associated with the measurement reporting configuration information (e.g., one or more Resource setting and/or Resource set and/or Resource associated with the measurement reporting configuration). Wherein the reported amount may include one or more of the following information: channel measurement reference signal resource identification, interference resource identification, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), signal to interference noise ratio (signal to interference noise ratio, SINR), Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Channel State Information (CSI), Channel Quality Indication (CQI), Precoding Matrix Indication (PMI), Precoding Type Indication (PTI), diversity indication (RI), LI, il, where LI is a layer indication for indicating one data layer index (which may be used to configure the phase tracking reference signal), and i1 is a wideband codebook. The PMI is used to select a codebook for multiple-antenna multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO). The PTI is used to indicate the type of precoding. The RI is used to indicate the rank of the antenna matrix in multi-antenna MIMO. It should be understood that, the above is only exemplary to provide information that may be included in the measurement reporting configuration information, and other information may also be included in the measurement reporting configuration information, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

After receiving the measurement configuration information of the network device, the terminal device may perform measurement based on the measurement configuration information. For example, if the measurement reporting configuration information in the measurement configuration information includes RSRQ and SINR, the terminal device needs to measure the resource indicated by the measurement resource configuration information, and report the measured RSRQ and SINR to the network device.

To facilitate understanding, terms or concepts related to the embodiments of the present application will now be explained in a unified manner.

Beam (beam): a beam is a communication resource. The beam may be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other type of beam. The technique of forming the beam may be a beamforming technique or other technical means. The beamforming technique may be embodied as a digital beamforming technique, an analog beamforming technique, a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technique. Different beams may be considered different resources. The same information or different information may be transmitted through different beams. Alternatively, a plurality of beams having the same or similar communication characteristics may be regarded as one beam. One beam may include one or more antenna ports for transmitting data channels, control channels, sounding signals, and the like, for example, a transmission beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength formed in different spatial directions after signals are transmitted through the antenna, and a reception beam may refer to the distribution of signal strength in different spatial directions of wireless signals received from the antenna. It is to be understood that the one or more antenna ports forming one beam may also be seen as one set of antenna ports. The beam may also be embodied in a spatial filter (spatial filter) within the protocol.

The information of the beam may be identified by index information. Optionally, the index information may be configured to correspond to a resource identifier of the UE, for example, the index information may correspond to an ID or a resource of a configured channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or may correspond to an ID or a resource of a configured uplink Sounding Reference Signal (SRS). Or, alternatively, the index information may also be index information explicitly or implicitly carried by a signal or channel carried by a beam, for example, the index information may be index information indicating the beam by a synchronization signal or a broadcast channel transmitted by the beam.

Or, optionally, the identification of the information of the beam may include an absolute index of the beam, a relative index of the beam, a logical index of the beam, an index of an antenna port corresponding to the beam, an index of an antenna port group corresponding to the beam, a time index of a downlink synchronization signal block, Beam Pair Link (BPL) information, a transmission parameter (Txparameter) corresponding to the beam, a reception parameter (Rx parameter) corresponding to the beam, a transmission weight (weight) corresponding to the beam, a weight matrix (weight vector), a weight vector (weight matrix), a reception weight corresponding to the beam, or an index thereof, a transmission codebook (codebook) corresponding to the beam, a reception codebook corresponding to the beam, or an index thereof.

Fig. 1 shows a network system architecture related to the present application, and the present application is applicable to the beam-based multi-carrier communication system shown in fig. 1, for example, a 5G new air interface NR. The system includes upstream (terminal device to network device) and downstream (access network device to terminal device) communications in the communication system. According to the protocol of long term evolution LTE/NR, in the physical layer, uplink communication includes transmission of an uplink physical channel and an uplink signal. The uplink physical channel includes a random access channel (PRACH), an uplink control channel (PUCCH), an uplink data channel (PUSCH), and the like, and the uplink signal includes a channel sounding signal SRS, an uplink control channel demodulation reference signal (PUCCH-DMRS), an uplink data channel demodulation reference signal PUSCH-DMRS, an uplink phase noise tracking signal (PTRS), and the like. The downlink communication includes transmission of a downlink physical channel and a downlink signal. The downlink physical channel includes a broadcast channel (PBCH), a downlink control channel (PDCCH), a downlink data channel (PDSCH), etc., and the downlink signal includes a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), a downlink control channel demodulation reference signal (PDCCH-DMRS), a downlink data channel demodulation reference signal (PDSCH-DMRS), a phase noise tracking signal (PTRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a cell signal (cell reference signal, CRS) (NR does not exist), a fine synchronization signal (time/frequency feedback channel, TRS) (LTE does not exist), etc.

In NR, a beam indication for transmitting a beam corresponding to a beam used in a downlink channel or a reference signal is implemented by associating a reference resource index in a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state table.

Specifically, the base station configures a TCI state table (corresponding to TCI-states in 38.331) through Radio Resource Control (RRC) high layer signaling, where each TCI state table includes a plurality of TCI states (corresponding to TCI-RS-Set in 38.331). Each TCI state includes a TCI state ID (TCI-RS-SetID), one or two quasi-co-location (QCL) type indicators (QCL-type A/B/C/D), and a reference RS-ID corresponding to each type indicator. QCL types include the following:

QCL-Type A: { Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, delay spread }

QCL-Type B: { Doppler Shift, Doppler spread }

QCL-Type C: { average time delay, Doppler shift }

QCL-Type D: { space receiving parameter }

Wherein QCL-type D represents spatial quasi-parity. When the receiving beam needs to be indicated, the base station indicates one TCI state containing the spatial quasi-co-location information through high-level signaling or control information, the UE reads the reference RS-ID corresponding to the QCL-type D according to the TCI state, and then the UE can receive according to the currently maintained spatial receiving configuration (receiving beam) corresponding to the RS-ID. According to 38.214, if a TCI state contains a spatial quasi-parity indicator (QCL-type D), the reference RS corresponding to the spatial quasi-parity indicator may be an SS/PBCH Block or a periodic or semi-persistent CSI-RS. The beam indication (TCI indication) of different downlink channels is done at different locations:

the beam indication of the PDCCH is associated by RRC configured higher layer signaling TCI-statepdcch with one or more TCI states, one of which is selected by MAC-CE higher layer signaling when the number of associated TCI states is greater than 1.

The beam indication of PDSCH is indicated by the status associated with the TCI field in DCI transmitted by PDCCH. The length of the TCI field contained in the DCI in the NR standard is 3 bits (corresponding to 8 TCI states), when the number M of the TCI states contained in the RRC signaling is less than 8, the activated TCI states are directly mapped into the TCI field, otherwise, the TCI states which participate in the mapping at most are indicated by the high-layer signaling. When the higher layer signaling indicates that the TCI field is not present in the DCI, the UE reuses the beam indication of the control channel for data channel reception.

For uplink transmission, NR does not define a spatial quasi-co-location relationship, and uplink beam indication is directly implemented by reference signal resource identification:

the beam indication of the PUCCH is indicated by an RRC parameter PUCCH-Spatial-relation-info, which may include one or more reference signal resource identifiers, and when multiple reference signal resource identifiers are included, one of the reference signal resource identifiers is selected by MAC-CE higher layer signaling. The beam indication content of the PUCCH may be an uplink or downlink reference signal resource identifier, including an SSB Index, CRI, or SRS Index, indicating that the UE is recommended to use a corresponding beam for receiving/transmitting the downlink/uplink reference signal resource for uplink transmission.

The beam information of the PUSCH is configured by the SRS Index in the DCI. Quasi-co-location (QCL): the co-location relationship is used to indicate that the plurality of resources have one or more same or similar communication characteristics, and for the plurality of resources having the co-location relationship, the same or similar communication configuration may be adopted. For example, if two antenna ports have a co-located relationship, the channel large scale characteristic of one port transmitting one symbol can be inferred from the channel large scale characteristic of the other port transmitting one symbol. The large scale features may include: delay spread, average delay, doppler spread, doppler shift, average gain, reception parameters, terminal device received beam number, transmit/receive channel correlation, received angle of arrival, spatial correlation of receiver antennas, angle of main arrival (AoA), average angle of arrival, AoA spread, and the like. Specifically, the parity indication is used to indicate whether the at least two antenna ports have a parity relationship: the co-located indication is used to indicate whether the csi reference signals sent by the at least two antenna ports are from the same transmission point, or the co-located indication is used to indicate whether the csi reference signals sent by the at least two antenna ports are from the same beam group.

Spatial quasi-parity (spatial QCL): a spatial QCL can be considered as a type of QCL. Two angles can be understood for spatial: from the transmitting end or from the receiving end. From the transmitting end, if two antenna ports are spatially quasi-co-located, it means that the corresponding beam directions of the two antenna ports are spatially identical. From the perspective of the receiving end, if it is said that the two antenna ports are spatially quasi-co-located, it means that the receiving end can receive signals transmitted by the two antenna ports in the same beam direction.

A typical transmitter architecture is depicted in fig. 2. The digital weight is adjusted in the digital domain, and the analog weight is adjusted in the analog domain by the phase shifter.

Therefore, the base station usually has both digital beam weight and analog beam weight, and the digital beam and the analog beam are not mutually exclusive. For example, in the base station architecture of fig. 2, the base station may first digitally weight the signals in the digital domain to form digital beams and then digitally weight the signals in the analog domain to form analog beams. At this time, the signal transmitted by the base station actually includes the weighting effect of the digital beam and the analog beam.

In high frequency systems, high frequency systems may tend to use a smaller number of digital weights and a larger number of analog weights, due to the substantial increase in power consumption and cost associated with increased digital weight implementations. For some low band systems, a larger number of Digital weights may be used, or even a base station architecture with only Digital weights (i.e., all-Digital beamforming architecture, DBF) may be used, due to the relatively affordable power consumption and cost of the Digital channel.

When the beam measurement is performed, the terminal device does not distinguish between the analog beam and the digital beam, the terminal measures a group of reference signal resources and feeds back the reference signal resources whose measurement results meet the quality requirements, as for whether the base station actually uses the digital beam or the analog beam or uses the digital beam plus the analog beam to transmit the reference signal resources, the terminal device does not sense, as shown in fig. 3, the terminal device can only distinguish one resource, and cannot distinguish whether the resource is transmitted by the digital beam or the analog beam.

High frequency systems typically have a large number of analog weights, and a small number of digital weights, so that the beams in a high frequency system are managed to determine an analog beam by beam scanning.

For some low frequency systems that use an analog beam + digital weight architecture, the number of digital beams may be much larger than the number of analog beams. By way of example with the schematic diagram of fig. 3, in fig. 3, there are 5 digital beams at the base station side, which belong to 2 different analog beams, respectively, the terminal device recognizes a combined signal of the digital and analog beams, for example, (digital beam 1+ analog beam 1), different digital and analog beam combinations can only be distinguished by configuring different reference signal resources by the base station, and the terminal side is not perceivable, as shown in table 1:

table 1: resource and digital analog beam correspondence

The terminal device can measure the above 5 resources separately and feed back the resource number (e.g. resource 3) with the best signal quality to the base station, so that the base station can know to combine the signals transmitted by the receiving terminal using the digital beam 3 and the analog beam 1. However, since the digital domain can reconfirm the weight in the signal receiving process, when receiving a signal, the base station only needs to know which analog beam (i.e., analog beam 1) should be used for receiving, and does not need to know the digital beam index, and reports redundant information according to the existing feedback mechanism, which results in low reporting efficiency.

If the base station does not use the digital beam, only uses the analog beam to send different resources, so the index reported by the terminal equipment is the analog beam index, and no redundant information exists. However, the number of analog beams of the low frequency system is small, the beams are wide, and the terminal device may not receive signals if the digital beams are not used for concentrated energy transmission.

The application provides a beam measurement method, which reduces feedback overhead and improves measurement reporting efficiency by performing combined measurement on a plurality of resources.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic flow diagram of a method 200 of beam measurement according to an embodiment of the application. The method comprises the following steps:

101, a base station sends measurement configuration information to a terminal; the method comprises the following steps: measurement resource configuration information, measurement reporting configuration information, and the like.

The measurement resource configuration information comprises a plurality of resource sets for merged measurements, each resource set comprising one or more resources; in this application, a resource set may also be referred to as a resource group, and in the embodiments of the present application, a resource is taken as a reference signal resource, for example, a CSI-RS resource.

In one example, each resource set includes a plurality of resources; or the partial resource set comprises a plurality of resources, the partial resource set only comprises one resource, and the set only comprising one resource is regarded as a single resource; the number of the plurality is 2 or more than 2.

For example: the base station allocates 7 resources to the terminal, the resources 1,2 and 3 are resource sets 1, the resources 4 and 5 are resource sets 2, the resource 7 is resource set 3, and all the three resource sets are used for combining and measuring. Including the set of resources 3 can be seen as a single resource on which measurements can be made.

Optionally, each resource set corresponds to one analog beam, and each resource in one set corresponds to one digital beam. For example, referring to fig. 3, resource set 1 corresponds to analog beam 1, and resources 1,2,3 correspond to digital beams 1,2,3, respectively; the resource set 2 corresponds to the analog beam 2 and the resources 4,5 correspond to the digital beams 4,5, respectively.

In one example, the measurement resource configuration information may include resource classification information indicating which resources and/or resource sets can be subject to a combined measurement, such as: the resource classification information is used to indicate different resource types, including mergeable resources (or resource sets) and non-mergeable resources (or resource sets). The terminal may perform a combination measurement on multiple combinable resources and/or resource sets, and obtain a measurement result.

For example: the base station allocates 5 resources to the terminal, wherein the types of the resources 1,2 and 3 are combinable resources, the types of the resources 4 and 5 are non-combinable resources, and the terminal can perform combination measurement on the resources 1,2 and 3.

In the above example, the base station allocates 7 resources to the terminal, and if the type of the resource set 1 is a mergeable resource set and the resource set 3 (i.e., resource 7) is a mergeable resource, the terminal may perform a merge measurement on the resources 1,2,3, and 7.

In another example, the base station may also indicate which resources to perform the combining measurement by means of the configuration packet. For example, resources within the same group may combine measurements, and resources of different groups may not combine measurements; or by default resources within the same group may combine measurements, resources of different groups may not combine measurements.

The following examples illustrate:

the resource classification information may indicate whether multiple resources and/or resource sets can be consolidated and indicate which resources and/or resource sets can be consolidated therebetween. For example:

the resources and/or resource sets containing the parameter Combination On ═ a } are used for combining measurements, for example: the configuration information of the CSI-RS #1 includes { Combination On ═ a }, which indicates that the CSI-RS #1 can combine the measurement with all the resources and/or resource sets configured with { Combination On ═ a }; a may also be replaced by other parameters, such as: the resources and/or resource sets containing the parameter Combination On b are used for combining measurements.

For example: the base station allocates 5 resources to the terminal, wherein the parameter { Combination On ═ a } of the resources 1,2,3 and the parameter { Combination On ═ b } of the resources 4,5, then the resources 1,2,3 are measured in a combined manner, and the resources 4,5 are measured in a combined manner.

If a resource or set of resources is configured with either { Combination On } or { Combination Off }, this indicates that the resource or set of resources cannot be used for combining measurements.

In another example, the base station may configure the combinable resource sets and/or resources as a new set or packet and inform the terminal (or via protocol conventions) that the resources in the set or packet are combinable for measurement. The terminal can be indicated that the resources in the set or the group are combinable measurement by setting a combination measurement identifier; or the notification message can be independently issued for notification.

One possible solution is as follows:

the base station configures a resource set { CSI-RS #1, CSI-RS #2 … }, and indicates that the resources in the set can combine measurements by protocol agreement or issuing a message, for example: the base station configures a combining measurement identifier (combining on ═ 1) of the set by RRC, which indicates that the resources in the resource set can perform combining measurement, or can perform configuration by other messages, such as DCI, MAC-CE, and the like.

In another embodiment, the base station may also configure a plurality of resources for combining measurements as a multi-port measurement resource, such as: a reference signal resource of a plurality of ports; the respective ports of the reference signal resource should be measured using a combined measurement.

The base station may configure a plurality of multi-ported reference signal resources, each resource comprising a plurality of combinable measured ports.

Further, the measurement configuration information may further include a combined measurement indication, and the combined measurement indication may be included in the measurement reporting configuration information. For example: the measurement reporting quantity configuration comprises a combined measurement instruction; and when the terminal detects the combined measurement indication, the combined measurement is carried out. It can be indicated by 1bit, with 1 indicating to turn on the merge measurement and 0 indicating not to turn on. Or may indicate whether to turn on the measurement indication by whether or not to include the combined measurement indication. For example, the inclusion of the merged measurement indication indicates that merged measurements are turned on, and the exclusion of the merged measurement indication indicates that merged measurements are not turned on. When the terminal detects that the measurement report configuration information contains the combined measurement indication, the terminal performs combined measurement on the resources and/or the resource set indicated by the combined measurement indication.

Further, the measurement configuration information may further include one or more of the following items: the starting time at which the merge measurement takes effect, the resources and/or resource packets (including which packets may be merged) participating in the merge measurement, the measurement volume of the merge measurement, the feedback volume, etc.

In addition, the base station can also independently send indication information to indicate the terminal to start the combined measurement. The indication information may be an RRC message, a MAC-CE, or a DCI.

For example: the base station may use a special DCI format to instruct the terminal to start combining measurement, and when the terminal detects the special DCI format, the base station starts combining measurement, for example:

if the base station configures a combining measurement identifier (e.g., combining on ═ 1) for the combinable resources and/or resource sets, when the terminal detects a DCI format indicating that combining measurement is on, the terminal performs combining measurement on the resources and/or resource sets indicated by the combining measurement identifier.

Optionally, the base station may also use the MAC-CE to instruct the terminal to perform the combining measurement, for example:

and after receiving the MAC-CE for indicating the terminal to perform the combination measurement, the terminal enters a combination measurement mode, and similar to the DCI example, the terminal performs the combination measurement on the resources and/or the resource set indicated by the combination measurement identifier.

Further, the MAC-CE instructs the terminal to perform the combining measurement, and may further instruct which resources to perform the combining measurement. The indication manner may be indicated by a one-to-one mapping manner of the binary string and the resource sets, for example, the 1 st bit in the bit string corresponds to the 1 st resource set (or the resource set with ID of 0). When the bit value of the position is 1, it indicates that the set should be measured by using a combined measurement method.

In another embodiment, if the base station configures multi-port reference signal resources, when the terminal does not enter the combining measurement, it may measure only the first two or one ports, and report the measurement result. When the terminal enters the merged measurement mode (for example, after receiving the indication information indicating the merged measurement), the terminal performs the merged measurement on the plurality of ports.

In addition, in other embodiments, the base station may trigger the terminal to enter the combining measurement in an implicit manner, for example: the terminal is instructed to perform the combining measurement by some special signaling combination, which is exemplified below.

For example, when the base station configures the terminal to perform measurement reporting On a plurality of reference signal resource sets (for example, the reported quantity is RSRP), and each reference signal resource set includes the configuration indication repetition On, the terminal shall report the RSRP and the set index of the set, instead of the resource index in a certain set, in a combined measurement manner.

For example, when the base station configures the terminal to perform measurement reporting on multiple reference signal resource sets (for example, the reported quantity is RSRP), and beam indications (for example, spatial quasi-parity) of reference signals in each reference signal resource set are the same reference signal (and/or when the set configures the beam indications itself), the terminal should use a combined measurement mode to report RSRP and/or a resource set index of the resource set, but not a resource index in a certain set.

For example, when the base station configures the terminal to measure N >1 reference signal resource sets for measurement reporting (for example, the reported quantity is RSRP), the terminal shall report RSRP and/or resource set index of the resource set instead of the resource index in a certain set by using a combined measurement mode.

Further, for the reference signal resource for the combined measurement, the receiving and/or transmitting beam information of each resource may be configured separately, or a common receiving and/or transmitting beam information may be configured for the reference signal resource participating in the combined measurement. Optionally, for the resources or resource sets participating in the combined measurement, receive and/or transmit beam information may be configured for only one of the resources or resource sets, and the terminal should assume that the resources participating in the combined measurement are all transmitted by using the same receive and/or transmit beam as the resource or resource set.

Optionally, for the case that each resource is configured independently, the base station does not configure a common receiving and/or transmitting beam information for the reference signal resource participating in the combining measurement, and when the base station activates the combining measurement through signaling or a configuration mode, the terminal enters the combining measurement mode, and it should be assumed that the resource participating in the combining measurement uses the same receiving and/or transmitting beam. If the beams configured by the base station for these resources are different, the terminal should assume that the reference signal resources participating in the combining measurement are transmitted using the following beams:

with maximum or minimum resource ID or resource set ID

Current downlink control channel beam

Current downlink data channel beam

A transmission beam corresponding to an initially accessed SSB (synchronization signal block), or

Beam corresponding to lowest Control resource set (Control resource set) ID

In addition, the base station may also indicate corresponding transmit and/or receive beams for one or more resources or resource sets when activating the combining measurements. For example, the indication may be made through the aforementioned RRC, MAC-CE, or DCI.

The indication mode of the beam can be indicated by a reference signal. For example, the beam may be indicated by the CSI-RS, which may be used to indicate a transmission beam (or a reception beam corresponding thereto) when the base station transmits the CSI-RS, and/or a reception beam (or a transmission beam corresponding thereto) used by the terminal to receive the CSI-RS. Similarly, the beam indication may also be performed by an SRS, and the SRS may use a transmission beam (or a reception beam corresponding thereto) indicating that a terminal transmits the SRS, or a reception beam (or a transmission beam corresponding thereto) indicating that a base station receives the SRS.

The measurement configuration information may also include an amount of reporting.

Further, the base station may configure and measure a dedicated reporting amount (or referred to as a measurement amount), or may configure a common reporting amount.

Optionally, the base station may configure information such as RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, and SINR, and notify the terminal that these measurement quantities need to be measured in a combined measurement manner.

The base station may also define a new combined measurement quantity, e.g., { RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, or SINR } -SET, that indicates that the terminal should measure RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, or SINR of one resource SET using the combined measurement. The measurement quantity can be defined in the manner of 3GPP 38.215, except that the terminal can use the measurement quantity of any resource in the resource set as the measurement quantity of the resource set, or take each resource in the resource set as a resource to perform overall measurement and report.

Optionally, the measurement configuration information may include a measurement mode of the reported amount. For example, the measurement report configuration information configured by the base station includes:

{ … } measuring resource, reporting amount, channel resource used for reporting, reporting period, and measuring manner of reporting amount, where the measuring manner of reporting amount can indicate whether the reporting amount uses a combined measuring manner or a non-combined measuring manner. The measurement resource includes index information for combining the measured resources or resource sets.

Optionally, the base station may also configure a common report amount, and activate the combined measurement mode by a triggering or indicating mode. For example, when the base station configures the terminal with RSRP as the reported quantity and starts the combined measurement in the triggering manner, the terminal performs the combined measurement on the reported quantity by using the combined measurement manner. For example: the terminal may be instructed to perform the combining measurement through RRC, MAC-CE, DCI, etc.

Optionally, the base station may configure a resource set index for the terminal, and may include the resource set index in the measurement reporting configuration, for example, the reporting amount is configured as a resource set index for special measurement combining, such as CSI-RS resource set index (CRSI), and when the measurement configuration information received by the terminal includes the reporting amount, the combining measurement is started.

102: and the terminal respectively carries out combined measurement on the plurality of resource sets according to the measurement configuration information.

The combining measurement may be performed by one receive beam of the terminal, or by multiple simultaneously generated receive beams.

For example: the measurement resource configuration information comprises 3 resource sets used for combined measurement, and the configured measurement quantity is RSRP, then the combined measurement is respectively carried out on the resources in the 3 resource sets to obtain the measurement results of the 3 RSRP, one or more resource sets are selected according to the measurement results to be reported, and the indexes or the numbers of the resource sets can be reported; for example: reporting the index of the best resource set of the measurement result to the base station; further, the corresponding measurement result can be reported. Or reporting one or more resource sets with the measurement result higher than a preset threshold.

Since the combined measurement is used and the index of the resource set is reported, the feedback overhead is reduced.

In another example, when the base station instructs the terminal to perform the combining measurement, that is, when the terminal receives the combining measurement instruction issued by the base station, the terminal should perform the combining measurement on the resources and/or the resource set used for the combining measurement.

For example, a set of resources for a reference signal includes 4 reference signal resources: { CSI-RS #1, CSI-RS #2, CSI-RS #3, and CSI-RS #4}, when the base station instructs the terminal to perform combined measurement on the set of RSRPs, the terminal should take the four resources of CSI-RS #1, CSI-RS #2, and CSI-RS #3, CSI-RS #4 as an equivalent resource to perform measurement, for example: resource Elements (REs) of 4 resources are combined as a whole to perform RSRP measurement, that is, measurement is performed on the equivalent resource, as shown in a left side a of fig. 5.

If the resource configured by the base station for the terminal is a plurality of multi-port reference signal resources, the terminal performs a combination measurement using the resources of the plurality of ports as one resource, as shown in the right side B of fig. 5.

In another example, the manner of combining the measurements is as follows:

and respectively measuring the RSRP of each resource in the resource set, adding the RSRPs of a plurality of resources in the resource set, and then averaging. Or the terminal may select one or more resources in the set, respectively measure RSRP, and then add and average the results, or add and average RSRP of N resources with the largest measurement result, and the like. N may be configured for the terminal by agreement, or the base station, or determined by the terminal itself.

In another embodiment, the base station may configure a multi-port resource for the terminal and inform the terminal to perform the combining measurement.

For example, the base station configures one resource of N >1 or N >2 ports for the terminal, and when the combined measurement is effective (the effective condition may refer to the above-mentioned embodiment), the terminal should perform the combined measurement on the resources of N ports, such as selecting one or more ports, performing addition and averaging after measuring RSRP, or selecting the maximum RSRP addition and averaging of N ports. N can be configured for the terminal by a protocol convention or a base station or determined by the terminal. When the merged measurement is not in effect, the terminal only measures the first two or the first port; specifically, whether one port (for example, port 1) or two ports (port 1 and port 2) is measured may be configured by the base station, or agreed by a protocol, for example: the first two ports are measured by protocol convention default.

103: the terminal selects one or more resource sets to report according to the measurement result

For example, the base station configures two sets of resources:

CSI-RS resource set#1{CSI-RS resource#1,CSI-RS resource#2}

CSI-RS resource set#2{CSI-RS resource#3,CSI-RS resource#4}

the terminal can select a better report of the measurement result from the two resource sets according to the combined measurement result, and the report content comprises the index and/or the measurement result of the selected resource set.

For example, the terminal measures RSRP for the resource set 1 and the resource set 2, respectively, and determines a reported resource set. If the RSRP measurement result of the resource set 1 is better than that of the resource set 2, the terminal feeds back the index of the resource set 2 through an uplink channel (e.g. PUSCH or PUCCH), and further, the measurement result of the resource set 2 may be reported.

For example, for the scenario of the two resource sets described above, the selected resource set may be indicated by one bit, e.g., bit 0 represents resource set 1 and bit 1 represents resource set 2. The method saves feedback resources and improves reporting efficiency.

The terminal can report the resource information in the resource set besides reporting the reference signal resource set index. The resource information is used for indicating that the reported measurement result is measured by using the reported resource, or the terminal considers that the reported resource in the resource set is an effective measurement resource; for example: the available measurement resources may satisfy one or more of the following conditions or functions: the terminal determines the reported measurement result mainly from the reported resource, or suggests the base station to transmit using the reported resource.

For example, the base station configures 4 resource sets, each set includes 2 reference signal resources, and configures or instructs the terminal to perform combining measurement on each resource set. After the terminal measures, it selects resource set 2 to report, and reports 1 resource (e.g. resource 2) or multiple resources (e.g. resources 2,3) in reference signal set 2 at the same time, which means that the terminal obtains a measurement result according to resource 2 (or resources 2,3), or the terminal recommends the base station to use the beam corresponding to resource 2 (or resources 2,3) to perform signal transmission.

The identifier or index of the resource set reported by the terminal may be associated with the merged measurement indication configured by the base station. For example, the base station has two combining measurement indicators, i.e., Combination On ═ a and Combination On ═ b, and the terminal performs combining measurement On the reference signals including the two combining measurement indicators, respectively, and then obtains 2 measurement results. If the terminal is to report the common index of a plurality of resources corresponding to Combination On ═ a, the common index can be represented by an identifier corresponding to Combination On ═ a. For example: bit 0 represents a plurality of resources (or a Combination of resources and resource sets) of Combination On ═ a. Similarly, if the terminal reports a common index of a plurality of resources corresponding to Combination On b, the common index may be represented by an identifier corresponding to Combination On b, for example, bit 1 represents a plurality of resources (or a Combination of resources and a resource set) of Combination On b.

In another example, if the base station configures multiple multi-port reference signal resources, and instructs the terminal to start combining measurements for each multi-port reference signal resource and report N resources of the multiple resources. The terminal reports the indexes and/or measurement results of the N resources after the terminal measures each reference signal resource, where N may be agreed by a protocol, or configured by the base station for the terminal, or determined by the terminal itself. The N resources may be the best N measurement results among the plurality of resources, and when N is 1, the resource is the multiport reference signal resource with the best measurement result.

Optionally, the terminal may additionally report port selection information, in addition to reporting the resource index, to indicate that the reported measurement result is measured by using the reported port, or the terminal considers that the reported port in the multi-port reference signal resource is an effective measurement port; for example: the active measurement port may satisfy one or more of the following conditions or functions: the terminal determines the reported measurement result mainly from the reported port, or suggests the base station to use the reported port for signal transmission.

For example, the base station configures 4 port reference signal resources for the terminal, and configures or instructs the terminal to perform combining measurement on each 4 port reference signal resource. After the terminal measures, the terminal selects the reference signal resource 3 to report, and simultaneously reports N ═ 2 ports of the reference signal resource 3, which indicates that the terminal uses the measurement results obtained by the two ports, or the terminal recommends that the base station uses the two ports to perform signal transmission.

104, the base station may use the reported resource set for beam indication (not shown in the figure).

For example: and the base station transmits beam configuration information to the terminal, wherein the beam configuration information comprises the association relation between the reported resource set and an uplink channel or a downlink channel. Specifically, the association relationship between the terminal receiving beam corresponding to the resource set reported by the terminal and the transmitting beam of the uplink channel of the terminal, or the association relationship between the terminal receiving beam corresponding to the resource set reported by the terminal and the receiving beam of the downlink channel of the terminal may be used.

If the terminal reports the reference signal resource set 2 to the base station, the base station may configure the resource set 2 into a transmission status indication (TCI), for example:

TCI#1

{ reference Signal: reference Signal resource set 2

Quasi-parity information: quasi-parity of space domain }

The base station may associate the channel or reference signal resource of the terminal to the TCI state, indicating that the terminal should receive the associated channel or signal using the receive beam corresponding to the reference signal resource set 2. The receiving beam corresponding to the reference signal resource set 2 may be a receiving beam used by the terminal to receive and measure the reference signal resource set 2. The association method is not limited in the present application, and the TCI state may be indicated by directly configuring an association relationship or by associating a DCI, a MAC-CE, a DCI, or the like.

Optionally, the base station may associate the reference signal resource set 2 as a beam indication or spatial transmission information to a downlink signal (channel) or an uplink signal (channel), for example, implement the association relationship through QCL indication.

For example, the base station configures an SRS (sounding rs) resource for the terminal, and associates the transmission beam information of the SRS resource with the reference signal resource set 2, the terminal should transmit the associated SRS resource by using the transmission beam corresponding to the reception beam associated with the reference signal resource set 2.

Optionally, the base station may use the index of a certain resource in the resource set to indicate instead of using the index of the resource set, where the resource set where the resource is located is a resource set capable of combining measurements. For example, the base station configures reference signal resource set 2: { CSI-RS #1, CSI-RS #2}, and indicates that the set is a set of reference signal resources that can incorporate measurements. When the base station uses the CSI-RS #1 as a reference signal indicated by a beam of an uplink or downlink signal, the terminal should receive a signal or a channel associated with the CSI-RS #1 using a reception beam that measures the reference signal set 2, or transmit a channel or a signal associated with the CSI-RS #1 using a transmission beam that corresponds to the reception beam that measures the reference signal set 2.

The descriptions in the embodiments of the present application are based on downlink reference signals, which are listed as CSI-RS, and other downlink reference signals are also applicable. In addition, the same mechanism can be used for uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS, etc.). That is, the base station configures one or more SRS resource sets, and after the terminal transmits the SRS resource sets, the base station selects a corresponding resource set according to the measurement result to perform uplink or downlink beam indication.

For example, the base station configures a plurality of SRS resource sets for the terminal, each set includes one or more SRS resources, the terminal transmits the SRS resources using a corresponding transmission beam according to a beam indication configured by the base station, and a beam indication manner is not limited in this application, for example: the SRS resource may be associated with a CSI-RS or an SRS, indicating that the associated SRS resource is transmitted using a transmission beam corresponding to a reception beam for receiving the CSI-RS or using a transmission beam corresponding to the SRS. The base station receives and measures SRS resource sets sent by the terminal, selects one or more resource sets according to the measurement result, and configures the index of the selected resource set to the terminal as the beam indication of an uplink/downlink channel or a reference signal, which indicates that the terminal should use any sending beam in the SRS resource sets to send the associated uplink channel or signal, or use a receiving beam corresponding to any sending beam in the SRS resource sets to receive the associated downlink channel or signal. For further details, reference may be made to the above-described method embodiments, which are not described in detail.

The measurement result in the above embodiment may be a measurement result of one or more of the following measurement amounts: reference signal received power, RSRP, reference signal received quality, RSRQ, signal to interference and noise ratio, SINR, and received signal strength indication, RSSI.

In the above embodiments, the indication or notification issued by the base station to the terminal, or the triggering of the terminal by the base station, may be performed through RRC, DCI, or MAC-CE.

It should also be understood that the example in fig. 3 is merely to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application by those skilled in the art, and is not intended to limit the embodiments of the present application to the particular scenarios illustrated. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the example of fig. 3 that various equivalent modifications or variations can be made, and such modifications or variations also fall within the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It should also be understood that the various aspects of the embodiments of the present application can be combined and used reasonably, and the explanation or illustration of the various terms appearing in the embodiments can be mutually referred to or explained in the various embodiments, which is not limited.

It should also be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

The method of beam measurement according to an embodiment of the present application is described above in detail. An apparatus for beam measurement according to an embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to fig. 6 to 8. It should be understood that the technical features described in the method embodiments are equally applicable to the following apparatus embodiments.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic block diagram of an apparatus 400 for beam measurement according to an embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the specific form of the apparatus 400 may be a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, which is not limited in this embodiment of the application. The apparatus 400 comprises:

a processing module 410, configured to perform operations other than transceiving in the method embodiment, such as performing a combination measurement on a resource set;

the transceiver module 420 may include a sending module and a receiving module, and is configured to execute operations of a transceiving class in the method embodiment, such as receiving measurement configuration information sent by a network device, reporting a selected resource set, and the like.

The functions of the processing module and the transceiver module can refer to the method embodiments.

In an example, the apparatus is a terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, and then the apparatus includes:

a receiving module: the network equipment is used for receiving measurement configuration information sent by network equipment, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises configuration information of a plurality of resource sets, and each resource set comprises one or more resources;

a processing module: for performing a combined measurement on the resources in each resource set by one receive beam, or a plurality of simultaneously generated receive beams;

a sending module: and the network equipment is used for selecting one or more resource sets according to the measurement result and reporting the resource sets to the network equipment.

It should be understood that the apparatus 400 for beam measurement according to the embodiment of the present application may correspond to the method of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, for example, the method in fig. 4. The above and other management operations and/or functions of each module in the apparatus 400 are respectively for implementing corresponding steps of the method of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, so that beneficial effects in the foregoing method embodiment may also be implemented, and for brevity, are not described herein again.

It should also be understood that the various modules in the apparatus 400 may be implemented in software and/or hardware, and are not particularly limited in this regard. In other words, the apparatus 400 is presented in the form of a functional module. As used herein, a "module" may refer to an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that may provide the described functionality. Alternatively, in a simple embodiment, one skilled in the art will recognize that apparatus 400 may take the form shown in FIG. 7. The processing module 410 may be implemented by the processor 501 and the memory 502 shown in fig. 7. The transceiver module 420 may be implemented by the transceiver 503 shown in fig. 7. In particular, the processor is implemented by executing a computer program stored in the memory. Alternatively, when the apparatus 400 is a chip, the functions and/or implementation processes of the transceiver module 420 may also be implemented by pins or circuits. Optionally, the memory is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, and the like, and the storage unit may also be a storage unit located outside the chip in the computer device, such as the memory 502 in fig. 7.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of a terminal device 500 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 7, the terminal device 500 includes: the processor 501 may invoke an interface to perform the transceiving action, where the invoked interface may be a logical interface or a physical interface, which is not limited in this respect. Alternatively, the physical interface may be implemented by a transceiver. Optionally, the apparatus 500 further comprises a transceiver 503.

Optionally, the apparatus 500 further includes a memory 502, and the memory 502 may store the program codes in the above method embodiments for the processor 501 to call.

Specifically, if the apparatus 500 includes a processor 501, a memory 502 and a transceiver 503, the processor 501, the memory 502 and the transceiver 503 communicate with each other via an internal connection path to transmit control and/or data signals. In one possible design, processor 501, memory 502, and transceiver 503 may be implemented by chips. The memory 502 may store program codes, and the processor 501 calls the program codes stored in the memory 502 to realize the corresponding functions of the terminal device.

It should be understood that the apparatus 500 may also be used to perform other steps and/or operations on the terminal device side in the foregoing embodiments, and details are not described herein for brevity.

The transceiver 503 may include a receiver for implementing a receiving function and a transmitter for implementing a transmitting function.

Similarly, the network device in the foregoing method embodiment may also be implemented with reference to fig. 6 and fig. 7. The network equipment also comprises a transceiving unit (transceiver) for realizing transceiving operation in the method embodiment; a processing module (processor) for implementing operations other than transceiving in the method embodiments, e.g., configuring resources, etc. And will not be described in detail.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device, and the communication device can be terminal equipment or a circuit. The communication device may be configured to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in the above-described method embodiments.

When the communication device is a terminal device, fig. 8 shows a simplified structural diagram of the terminal device. For easy understanding and illustration, in fig. 8, the terminal device is exemplified by a mobile phone. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc., are used primarily for receiving data input by a user and for outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal devices may not have input/output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs baseband signals to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit performs radio frequency processing on the baseband signals and sends the radio frequency signals to the outside in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives radio frequency signals through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into baseband signals and outputs the baseband signals to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signals into the data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory and processor are shown in FIG. 8. In an actual end device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be provided independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited in this embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit having the transceiving function may be regarded as a transceiving unit of the terminal device, and the processor having the processing function may be regarded as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal device includes a transceiving unit 1610 and a processing unit 1620. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. A processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, or the like. Alternatively, a device for implementing a receiving function in the transceiving unit 1610 may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a transmitting function in the transceiving unit 1610 may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiving unit 1610 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. A transceiver unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transceiver, transceiving circuitry, or the like. A receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, or the like. A transmitting unit may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be understood that the transceiving unit 1610 is configured to perform the transmitting operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side in the above method embodiments, and the processing unit 1620 is configured to perform other operations besides the transceiving operation on the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

When the communication device is a chip, the chip includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit can be an input/output circuit and a communication interface; the processing unit is a processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip.

In one example, the chip includes: a processor, an interface circuit; the interface circuit is used for receiving code instructions and transmitting the code instructions to the processor; the processor is used for executing the code instructions to realize the beam measurement method. The code instructions may be stored in a memory, and the processor may read directly from the memory, or may read indirectly through other devices.

In another example, the interface circuit is a signal transmission interface circuit between a communication processor and a transceiver, and the interface circuit is used for receiving data or information from a receiver and transmitting the data or information to the processor; the processor is used for processing the data or the information and outputting a processing result; the interface circuit is further configured to transmit the processing result to a transmitter.

In another example, the chip includes: a processor and an interface, the processor being coupled to the memory through the interface, the processor being configured to execute a computer program or code in the memory, the method of beam measurement being performed when the computer program or code is executed.

When the communication device in this embodiment is a terminal device, reference may be made to the device shown in fig. 9. As an example, the device may perform functions similar to processor 502 of FIG. 7. In fig. 9, the apparatus includes a processor 1701, a transmit data processor 1703, and a receive data processor 1705. The transceiver module 420 in the above embodiments may be the transmit data processor 1703 and/or the receive data processor 1705 in fig. 9. Although fig. 9 shows a channel encoder, a channel decoder, a symbol generation module, and a channel estimation module, it is understood that these modules are not limited to the embodiment and are only schematic.

Fig. 10 shows another form of the present embodiment. The processing device 1800 includes modules such as a modulation subsystem, a central processing subsystem, and peripheral subsystems. The communication device in this embodiment may serve as a modulation subsystem therein. In particular, the modulation subsystem may include a processor 1803 and an interface 1804. The interface 1804 performs the functions of the transceiver module 420, or serves as an input/output interface for inputting and outputting signals or computer program instructions. As another variation, the modulation subsystem includes a memory 1806, a processor 1803, and a program stored in the memory 1806 and executable on the processor, and the processor 1803 executes the program to implement the method on the terminal device side in the above method embodiment. It is noted that the memory 1806 may be non-volatile or volatile, and may be located within the modulation subsystem or within the processing device 1800, as long as the memory 1806 is coupled to the processor 1803.

In this embodiment, if the device corresponds to a chip, the transceiver or the transceiver module may be replaced with an input/output interface, the received operation corresponds to input or acquisition, and the transmission operation corresponds to output.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method on the terminal device side in the above-described method embodiments.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions that, when executed, perform the method on the terminal device side in the above-described method embodiments.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed, perform the method on the network device side in the above-described method embodiment.

As another form of the present embodiment, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions that, when executed, perform the method on the network device side in the above-described method embodiments.

The method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a processor, or may be implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip having signal processing capabilities. 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 may be a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Microcontroller (MCU), a programmable logic controller (PLD), or other integrated chip. 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.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps 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.

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 method of beam measurement, comprising:

receiving measurement configuration information sent by a network device, wherein the measurement configuration information comprises configuration information of a plurality of resource sets, and each resource set comprises one or more resources;

and carrying out combined measurement on the resources in each resource set through one receiving beam or a plurality of receiving beams generated simultaneously, and selecting one or more resource sets according to the measurement result to report to the network equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement results corresponding to the one or more resource sets are reported to the network device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information of each resource set comprises a resource classification information indicating that the resource set is used for combining measurements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement configuration information further includes a merged measurement indication for instructing the terminal to start merged measurement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein before performing the combining measurement on the resources in each resource set, further comprising:

and receiving indication information issued by the network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating the terminal to start the combination measurement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information of each resource set further includes beam information corresponding to the resource set.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein before performing the combining measurement on the resources in each resource set, further comprising:

and receiving indication information issued by the network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for the sending wave beam and/or the receiving wave beam corresponding to each resource set.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein beam configuration information issued by a network device is received, and the beam configuration information includes an association relationship between the one or more resource sets and an uplink channel or a downlink channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the terminal device uses the one or more simultaneously generated receive beams to receive downlink channels associated with the one or more resource sets issued by a network device, or uses one or more transmit beams corresponding to the one or more simultaneously generated receive beams to transmit uplink channels associated with the one or more resource sets to the network device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting the valid measurement resources in the one or more sets of resources to the network device.

11. An apparatus for beam measurement comprising a transceiver, a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the apparatus implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 when the computer program is executed by the processor.

12. A chip, comprising: a processor and an interface, the processor being coupled through the interface and a memory, the processor being configured to execute a computer program or code in the memory, the computer program or code, when executed, performing the method of any of claims 1 to 10.

13. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored which, when being executed by a processor, carries out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.