CN115150843A

CN115150843A - Beam management method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115150843A
Application number: CN202110350331.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李波芝; 王翯; 金泽勋
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-03-31
Filing date: 2021-03-31
Publication date: 2022-10-04
Also published as: WO2022211529A1

Abstract

A beam management scheme is provided, and by introducing a beam association unit, user equipment can have more flexible beam management capability, especially the application range and performance of Common Beam Management (CBM) are improved, and a corresponding configuration and signaling reporting method is provided, so that network equipment can efficiently perform beam management resource configuration.

Description

Beam management method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and more particularly, to beam management.

Background

In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or quasi-5G communication systems. Accordingly, the 5G or quasi-5G communication system is also referred to as a "super 4G network" or a "post-LTE system".

The 5G communication system is implemented in a higher frequency (millimeter wave) band, for example, a 60GHz band, to achieve a higher data rate. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase transmission distance, beamforming, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, massive antenna technology are discussed in the 5G communication system.

Further, in the 5G communication system, development of improvement of a system network is ongoing based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Network (RAN), ultra dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multipoint (CoMP), reception side interference cancellation, and the like.

In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and Sliding Window Superposition Coding (SWSC) have been developed as Advanced Coding Modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) as advanced access techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment UE in wireless communication, including: determining a correspondence of a first candidate beam for communication with a first component carrier and a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier; determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier; selecting a second beam for communication with a second component carrier from second candidate beams based on the first beam and the correspondence; the first component carrier is communicated via a first beam and the second component carrier is communicated via a second beam.

In one implementation, wherein the correspondence of the first candidate beam for communication with the first component carrier and the second candidate beam for communication with the second component carrier comprises one of:

each of the first candidate beams has a directional deviation from a corresponding one of the second candidate beams within a predetermined range,

each beam in the first candidate beam is directionally offset from a corresponding beam in the second candidate beam by a predetermined interval,

each of the first candidate beams and a corresponding one of the second candidate beams belong to a predetermined beam group.

In one implementation, the first component carrier is determined by one of:

receiving a configuration signaling from a network side, wherein the configuration signaling comprises information indicating the first component carrier;

determining a component carrier on which a predetermined reference signal is configured as the first component carrier,

sending a request message to a network side, the request message being used for requesting a predetermined component carrier as the first component carrier,

determining a primary component carrier, PCC, as the first component carrier, an

The first component carrier is selected from component carriers.

In one implementation, wherein the beams of the second candidate beams corresponding to the first beam include one or more beams; selecting a second beam from the second candidate beams for communication with a second component carrier based on the first beam and the correspondence if a beam corresponding to the first beam from the second candidate beams includes a plurality of beams comprises: sorting the plurality of beams according to priority, and selecting a predetermined number of beams with highest priority as the second beams; or measuring the reference signal of the second component carrier by using the plurality of beams respectively, and selecting a predetermined number of beams with the best measurement result as the second beams.

In one implementation, the method further includes reporting the supported beam management type to the network side by one of the following methods:

reporting the supported beam management type to a network side through a field in a beam management type reporting format, wherein the bit number of the field is more than 1;

reporting the capability of supporting independent beam management to a network side, and reporting a signaling for informing whether common beam management is supported or not to the network side;

and reporting the independent beam management to a network side under the condition of simultaneously supporting the common beam management and the independent beam management.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, the UE performs the method further comprising: deactivating the association if independent beam management is supported; and determining a second beam for communication with a second component carrier independently of the first beam.

In one implementation, wherein determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier comprises at least one of: by measuring a reference signal of a first component carrier; or by receiving an indication from the network side.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, comprising: communicating with a User Equipment (UE) through a first component carrier and a second component carrier; wherein the UE communicates with a first component carrier via a first beam and communicates with a second component carrier via a second beam, the second beam being determined based on the first beam; respectively and successively reducing the downlink power of the first component carrier and the second component carrier, and simultaneously ensuring that the difference value of the downlink power or the power spectral density of the first component carrier and the second component carrier is maintained within a first preset threshold value until the first component carrier and the second component carrier simultaneously achieve specific sensitivity; or when one component carrier of the first component carrier and the second component carrier is measured, the following steps are carried out: s1, adjusting down the downlink power of the other component carrier in the first component carrier and the second component carrier to ensure that the downlink throughput of the other component carrier is below a first threshold; s2, adjusting the downlink power of the component carrier to a second threshold value and measuring the component carrier; when the measurement result of the one component carrier is obtained, if the downlink throughput of the other component carrier reaches below a third threshold, the measurement result is confirmed to be valid, otherwise, the above steps S1 to S2 are performed again.

In one implementation, the first threshold is 90% peak throughput, the second threshold is 95% peak throughput, and the third threshold is 100% peak throughput or 99% peak throughput.

In one implementation, wherein steps S1 to S2 are performed again, different first thresholds are employed.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam management apparatus including: a beam association unit configured to: determining a correspondence of a first candidate beam for communication with a first component carrier and a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier; a beam management unit configured to: determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier; selecting a second beam from a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier based on the first beam and the correspondence; and a transceiving unit configured to: the first component carrier is communicated via a first beam and the second component carrier is communicated via a second beam.

In one implementation, the first component carrier is determined by one of:

receiving configuration signaling from a network side, wherein the configuration signaling comprises information indicating the first subcarrier;

determining a component carrier in which a predetermined reference signal is configured as the first component carrier,

sending a request message to a network side, wherein the request message is used for requesting that a predetermined subcarrier is used as the first component carrier,

The first component carrier is selected from component carriers.

In one implementation, the method further includes reporting the supported beam management type to the network side by one of the following methods: reporting the supported beam management type to a network side through a field in a beam management type reporting format, wherein the bit number of the field is more than 1; reporting the capability of supporting independent beam management to a network, and reporting a signaling for informing whether the common beam management is supported or not to a network side; and reporting the independent beam management to a network side under the condition of simultaneously supporting the common beam management and the independent beam management.

The beam management device provided according to the embodiment of the present disclosure further includes one or more additional beam management units, wherein if independent beam management is supported, the beam association unit is deactivated and the additional beam management unit is activated; and if independent beam management is not supported, activating the beam association unit and deactivating the additional beam management unit.

In one implementation, wherein determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier comprises: the first beam is determined by measuring a reference signal of a first component carrier and/or by receiving an indication on the network side.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication apparatus including: a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal; and a processor configured to execute control to perform a method according to any of various implementations of the present disclosure.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to this disclosure.

Fig. 3a illustrates an example user equipment, UE, according to the present disclosure.

Fig. 3b illustrates an example base station in accordance with this disclosure.

Fig. 4 and 5 show schematic diagrams of independent beam management and common beam management, respectively.

Fig. 6 illustrates a general block diagram for beam management in carrier aggregation according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic flow diagram of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic flow diagram of a configuration method of RF metric definition for user equipments supporting common beam management according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic flow diagram of another configuration method of RF metric definition for user equipments supporting common beam management according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 shows a simplified block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in fig. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

Wireless network 100 includes a gnnodeb (gNB) 101, a gNB102, and a gNB 103.gNB 101 communicates with gNB102 and gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the internet, a proprietary IP network, or other data network.

Depending on the network type, other well-known terms can be used instead of "gnnodeb" or "gNB", such as "base station" or "access point". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. Also, other well-known terms, such as "mobile station", "subscriber station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal", or "user equipment", can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE", depending on the network type. For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to a remote wireless device that wirelessly accesses the gNB, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or smartphone) or what is commonly considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

gNB102 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs comprises: a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Enterprise (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); the UE116, may be a mobile device (M) such as a cellular phone, wireless laptop, wireless PDA, etc. gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 can communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, wiMAX, or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

The dashed lines illustrate the approximate extent of

coverage areas

120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that coverage areas associated with the gNB, such as

coverage areas

120 and 125, can have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNB and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and artificial obstructions.

As described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB102, and gNB 103 support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

Although fig. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network 100, various changes can be made to fig. 1. For example, wireless network 100 can include any number of gnbs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 can communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each of gnbs 102-103 can communicate directly with network 130 and provide UEs direct wireless broadband access to network 130. Further, the

gnbs

101, 102, and/or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

Fig. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to this disclosure. In the following description, transmit path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB (such as gNB 102), while receive path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE (such as UE 116). However, it should be understood that the receive path 250 can be implemented in the gNB and the transmit path 200 can be implemented in the UE. In some embodiments, receive path 250 is configured to support codebook design and structure for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

The transmit path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210, an N-point Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 220, an add cyclic prefix block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. Receive path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a remove cyclic prefix block 260, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 265, an N-point Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decode and demodulation block 280.

In transmit path 200, a channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding, such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding, and modulates the input bits, such as with Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), to generate a sequence of frequency domain modulation symbols. A serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) the serial modulation symbols into parallel data in order to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the number of IFFT/FFT points used in the gNB102 and the UE 116. N-point IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. Parallel-to-serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) the parallel time-domain output symbols from N-point IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time domain signal. Upconverter 230 modulates (such as upconverts) the output of add cyclic prefix block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission over a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at baseband before being converted to RF frequency.

The RF signal transmitted from the gNB102 reaches the UE116 after passing through the radio channel, and the reverse operation to that at the gNB102 is performed at the UE 116. Downconverter 255 downconverts the received signal to baseband frequency and remove cyclic prefix block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. Serial-to-parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal to parallel time-domain signals. The N-point FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency domain signals. The parallel-to-serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency domain signals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. Channel decode and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

Each of the gnbs 101-103 may implement a transmit path 200 similar to transmitting to UEs 111-116 in the downlink and may implement a receive path 250 similar to receiving from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmit path 200 for transmitting in the uplink to gnbs 101-103 and may implement a receive path 250 for receiving in the downlink from gnbs 101-103.

Each of the components in fig. 2a and 2b can be implemented using hardware only, or using a combination of hardware and software/firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in fig. 2a and 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. For example, FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, where the value of the number of points N may be modified depending on the implementation.

Further, although described as using an FFT and IFFT, this is merely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that the value of the variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) for DFT and IDFT functions, and any integer that is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) for FFT and IFFT functions.

Although fig. 2a and 2b show examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to fig. 2a and 2 b. For example, the various components in fig. 2a and 2b can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added according to particular needs. Also, fig. 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of the types of transmit and receive paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communications in a wireless network.

Fig. 3a illustrates an example UE116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of UE116 shown in fig. 3a is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of fig. 1 can have the same or similar configurations. However, UEs have a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

The UE116 includes an antenna 305, a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver 310, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 315, a microphone 320, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor/controller 340, an input/output (I/O) interface 345, input device(s) 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. Memory 360 includes an Operating System (OS) 361 and one or more applications 362.

RF transceiver 310 receives incoming RF signals from antenna 305 that are transmitted by the gNB of wireless network 100. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts an incoming RF signal to generate an Intermediate Frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuitry 325, where the RX processing circuitry 325 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 325 sends the processed baseband signals to speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or to processor/controller 340 (such as for web browsing data) for further processing.

TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from processor/controller 340. TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuitry 315 and upconverts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal, which is transmitted via antenna 305.

The processor/controller 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and executes the OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control overall operation of the UE 116. For example, processor/controller 340 may be capable of controlling the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by RF transceiver 310, RX processing circuitry 325, and TX processing circuitry 315 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, processor/controller 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

The processor/controller 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems having 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. Processor/controller 340 is capable of moving data into and out of memory 360 as needed to perform a process. In some embodiments, processor/controller 340 is configured to execute applications 362 based on OS 361 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The processor/controller 340 is also coupled to an I/O interface 345, wherein the I/O interface 345 provides the UE116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I/O interface 345 is the communication path between these accessories and processor/controller 340.

The processor/controller 340 is also coupled to input device(s) 350 and a display 355. The operator of the UE116 can input data into the UE116 using the input device(s) 350. Display 355 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and/or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). A memory 360 is coupled to the processor/controller 340. A portion of memory 360 can include Random Access Memory (RAM) while another portion of memory 360 can include flash memory or other Read Only Memory (ROM).

Although fig. 3a shows one example of the UE116, various changes can be made to fig. 3 a. For example, the various components in FIG. 3a can be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor/controller 340 can be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs) and one or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). Also, while fig. 3a shows the UE116 configured as a mobile phone or smart phone, the UE can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

Fig. 3b illustrates an example gNB102 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB102 shown in fig. 3b is for illustration only, and the other gnbs of fig. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, the gNB has a wide variety of configurations, and fig. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of the gNB. Note that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structure as gNB 102.

As shown in fig. 3b, the gNB102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 374, and Receive (RX) processing circuitry 376. In some embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n comprises a 2D antenna array. The gNB102 also includes a controller/processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

The RF transceivers 372a-372n receive incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs or other gnbs, from the antennas 370a-370 n. RF transceivers 372a-372n downconvert incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signal is sent to RX processing circuitry 376, where the RX processing circuitry 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 376 sends the processed baseband signals to the controller/processor 378 for further processing.

TX processing circuitry 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from controller/processor 378. TX processing circuitry 374 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 374 and upconvert the baseband or IF signals into RF signals for transmission via antennas 370a-370 n.

Controller/processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller/processor 378 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, RX processing circuitry 376, and TX processing circuitry 374 according to well-known principles. The controller/processor 378 can also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, controller/processor 378 can perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process, such as by a BIS algorithm, and decode the received signal minus the interfering signal. Controller/processor 378 may support any of a wide variety of other functions in the gNB 102. In some embodiments, controller/processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

Controller/processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in memory 380, such as a base OS. The controller/processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, controller/processor 378 supports communication between entities such as a web RTC. Controller/processor 378 can move data into and out of memory 380 as needed to perform a process.

Controller/processor 378 is also coupled to a backhaul or network interface 382. Backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. Backhaul or network interface 382 can support communication via any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G or new radio access technologies or NR, LTE or LTE-a), the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow the gNB102 to communicate with other gnbs over wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB102 is implemented as an access point, backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB102 to communicate with a larger network (such as the internet) via a wired or wireless local area network or via a wired or wireless connection. Backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication over a wired or wireless connection, such as an ethernet or RF transceiver.

A memory 380 is coupled to the controller/processor 378. A portion of memory 380 can include RAM while another portion of memory 380 can include flash memory or other ROM. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as a BIS algorithm, is stored in memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller/processor 378 to perform a BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interfering signal determined by a BIS algorithm.

As described in more detail below, the transmit and receive paths of gNB102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuitry 374, and/or RX processing circuitry 376) support aggregated communication with FDD and TDD cells.

Although fig. 3b shows one example of a gNB102, various changes may be made to fig. 3 b. For example, the gNB102 can include any number of each of the components shown in fig. 3 a. As a particular example, the access point can include a number of backhauls or network interfaces 382 and the controller/processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, although shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 374 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 376, gNB102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are further described below in conjunction with the appended drawings.

The text and drawings are provided as examples only to assist the reader in understanding the disclosure. They are not intended, nor should they be construed, as limiting the scope of the disclosure in any way. While certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art, based on the disclosure herein, that changes can be made in the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

The 5G communication system employs a New Radio (NR) to support higher data rates and higher frequencies. With the increase of frequency, especially to millimeter wave communication, antenna arrays and beamforming technologies are developed to compensate for high spatial loss caused by high frequency, but with the increase of frequency, problems in beam management are also caused.

Generally, an operator owns spectrum resources of more than one frequency band. In order to efficiently utilize the spectrum and increase the data transmission rate, the carrier aggregation function is widely used. However, the increased number of carriers in carrier aggregation also introduces complexity in beam management. Currently in beam management for carrier aggregation at a user equipment, there are two types of beam management, one is Independent Beam Management (IBM) and one is Common Beam Management (CBM). User equipment supporting Independent Beam Management (IBM) generates respective independent beams for communication with different carriers according to downlink reference signals to which different Component Carriers (CCs) belong; a user equipment supporting Common Beam Management (CBM) manages all beams for communicating with all component carriers according to a downlink reference signal to which one component carrier belongs. Fig. 4 and 5 show schematic diagrams of independent beam management and common beam management, respectively.

The Independent Beam Management (IBM) can support different beams to point to different directions, has the advantage of high flexibility, but also has the defects of complex user equipment architecture, more beam management resource consumption, high user equipment cost, high power consumption and the like; common Beam Management (CBM) can manage all beams pointing to nearly uniform directions with a single beam management resource, is suitable for a co-location deployment scenario, can reduce the complexity of beam management, and also reduces user equipment performance. However, the conventional Common Beam Management (CBM) uses a single rf path to support multiple component carriers, and is only suitable for the carrier aggregation frequency band combination with smaller frequency spacing of the component carriers, such as the frequency band combination between the frequency bands n257 and n258, and is not suitable for the carrier combination frequency band combination with larger frequency spacing of the component carriers, such as the frequency band combination between the frequency bands n260 and n 261.

It can be seen that the beam management of the current carrier aggregation has more defects, and new techniques and methods are needed to improve the flexibility of beam management in carrier aggregation and improve the performance of the device.

One aspect of the present disclosure provides a new beam management scheme applied to carrier aggregation, which can enable a user equipment to have a more flexible beam management capability by introducing a beam association unit, especially improve an application range and performance of a Common Beam Management (CBM), and provide corresponding configuration and signaling reporting methods, so that a network device can efficiently perform beam management resource configuration.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: global system for mobile communications (GSM) systems, code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) systems, general Packet Radio Service (GPRS), long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) systems, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth generation (5, 5 g) systems, or New Radio (NR), etc. In addition, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the application can be applied to future-oriented communication technology.

Fig. 6 illustrates a general block diagram for beam management in carrier aggregation according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 130 and the user equipment 140 shown in fig. 6 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 130 and the user equipment 140 can be used without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

The wireless network 130 includes different component carrier configuration units, and fig. 6 shows a component carrier configuration unit 111 for generating a component carrier 1 and a downlink reference signal thereof, and a component carrier configuration unit 121 for generating a component carrier 2 and a downlink reference signal thereof. Preferably, the frequencies used by the component carrier allocation units 111 and 121 belong to different frequency bands. Although not shown in fig. 6, the wireless network 130 may further include more units for configuring the component carriers and their downlink reference signals. The reference signals may include, for example, one or more of a synchronization broadcast reference signal (e.g., a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). The component carrier configuration units 111 and 121 may be implemented by the same or different base stations (e.g., a nodeb (gNB)) according to different network deployment scenarios.

The user equipment 140 comprises beam generating units (112, 122), a beam associating unit (150) and a beam managing unit (113 and/or 123), etc. When determining a beam for communicating with a certain component carrier, the beam management unit corresponding to the component carrier acquires an optimal beam for the corresponding component carrier by measuring a downlink reference signal and/or by an instruction of a network device, and sends an optimal beam number to the beam generation unit of the corresponding component carrier, and then the beam generation unit generates and transmits a corresponding beam to the network device, thereby completing communication with the corresponding component carrier. Fig. 6 shows a beam generating unit 112 and a beam management unit 113 that communicate with a component carrier configuration unit 111 (component carrier 1 and its downlink reference signal), and a beam generating unit 122 and a beam management unit 123 that communicate with a component carrier configuration unit 121 (component carrier 2 and its downlink reference signal).

When the beam management unit 113 and the beam management unit 123 respectively operate independently, the

beam generation units

112 and 122 are respectively configured to generate mutually independent beams to communicate with the network device 130, so that carrier aggregation in which the user equipment 140 supports Independent Beam Management (IBM) is realized. Carrier aggregation for Independent Beam Management (IBM) can support flexible network deployments, such as non-co-located deployments.

In most network deployment scenarios, such as co-location deployment, carrier aggregation based on Common Beam Management (CBM) can also meet the requirements, and has the advantage of low beam management complexity, and can also avoid or reduce the disadvantages of complex user equipment architecture, high beam management resource consumption, high user equipment cost, high power consumption, and the like in independent beam management. However, the conventional common beam management scheme can only be applied to the carrier aggregation frequency band combination with the smaller frequency interval of the component carriers, such as the frequency band combination between the frequency bands n257 and n258, and cannot be applied to the carrier aggregation frequency band combination with the larger frequency interval of the component carriers, such as the frequency band combination between the frequency bands n260 and n 261.

According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, by introducing the beam association unit 150 in the user equipment 140, it is possible to implement that one beam management unit controls two or more sets of beam generation units and completes communication with two or more component carriers. For the sake of simplicity, the following description will be given by taking an example in which one beam management unit controls two sets of beam generation units to complete communication with two component carriers. It should be understood that this is merely exemplary and is not intended to limit the number of component carriers that can be controlled and managed by one beam management unit to 2, but may be a greater number.

The beam association unit according to the embodiment of the present disclosure implements association of beams between two component carriers, that is, a correspondence relationship is established between the beam of the component carrier 1 and the beam of the component carrier 2, and after the beam corresponding to the component carrier 1 is known, the beam corresponding to the component carrier 2 can be known by querying the beam association unit 150. As shown in fig. 6, the beam generating unit 112 and the beam generating unit 122 are each controlled by the beam managing unit 113. The beam management unit 113 obtains the optimal beam for the corresponding component carrier 1 by measuring the downlink reference signal of the component carrier 1 in the component carrier configuration unit 111 and/or by an instruction of a network device, and then sends the optimal beam number of the corresponding component carrier 1 to the beam generation unit 112; further, the beam management unit 113 inquires of the beam association unit 150 about the beam number of the component carrier 2 associated with the optimum beam number corresponding to the component carrier 1, and transmits the inquired beam number corresponding to the component carrier 2 to the beam generation unit 122. Based on this, the two

beam generating units

112 and 122 generate two beams, respectively, thereby completing communication with the component carrier 1 and the component carrier 2, respectively.

For user equipment supporting only Common Beam Management (CBM) carrier aggregation, beam management may be performed based on only one beam management unit (e.g., 113), omitting additional other beam management units (e.g., 123) (e.g., no other beam management unit is set, or deactivating other beam management units if they are set). The beam management method for Common Beam Management (CBM) carrier aggregation can reduce the resource overhead of beam management, is beneficial to the power saving of user equipment, can apply the Common Beam Management (CBM) carrier aggregation to more inter-frequency-band combinations, and achieves the performance equal to or close to that of Independent Beam Management (IBM) carrier aggregation, namely, can improve the performance of the equipment.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam association unit performs the association by causing the beams of the component carrier 1 and the component carrier 2 associated together to have a specific pattern. In one implementation, the association is such that the directions of the beams of component carrier 1 and the associated beams of component carrier 2 are substantially the same, e.g., the deviation between the directions of the beams is within a certain range, e.g., such a deviation range falls within the range of direction deviations between the beams in a co-sited deployment scenario. Alternatively, the association is such that the directions of the beams of component carrier 1 and the associated beams of component carrier 2 are separated by a predetermined angular range, e.g. the deviation between the directions of the beams has a predetermined separation, e.g. such a predetermined separation between beam directions falls within the range of directional deviations between beams in a non-co-sited deployment scenario. Further alternatively, the association may be such that the beam of component carrier 1 and the associated beam of component carrier 2 belong to a predetermined beam combination, which may be a beam combination better known from previous experience to provide a communication service, for example. According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam association unit 150 may establish an association of one beam with another beam, and optionally, may also establish an association of one beam with two or more beams. When one beam corresponds to two or more beams, the beams are arranged according to a priority order, and the beam management unit preferentially selects one or more associated beams ranked in the top order for the component carrier 2, and optionally, the beam management unit 123 may further perform beam optimization selection to select a beam for communicating with the component carrier 2 from the beams associated with the beam association unit 150. In one implementation, the beam management unit 123 measures the downlink reference signals of the component carrier 2 by using a plurality of beams associated with the beam association unit 150, respectively, and selects one or more beams with the best measurement result for communicating with the component carrier 2. According to the beam optimization method disclosed by the embodiment of the disclosure, measurement of more beams in Independent Beam Management (IBM) carrier aggregation is avoided, so that the time for measurement of user equipment is reduced, and correspondingly, network equipment can be supported to configure less user equipment measurement resources, such as L1-RSRP measurement resources applied to component carrier 2 downlink reference signal measurement.

According to the beam management method of the Common Beam Management (CBM) carrier aggregation of the embodiments of the present disclosure, beams of other component carriers may be managed based on a beam management unit of one component carrier. Wherein, the component carrier 2 is managed based on the component carrier 1, and the corresponding functions of the beam association unit required for managing the component carrier 1 based on the component carrier 2 are different. Therefore, when configuring carrier aggregation for the ue, the network device needs to know which carrier the ue will use as an anchor point for beam management. The present embodiment provides the following several methods for configuring the beam management anchor:

(1) The network equipment sends a beam management anchor point configuration signaling to inform the user equipment which component carrier is used as the anchor point of beam management, after the user equipment receives the signaling, the user equipment manages the beam by using the component carrier of the anchor point, and the beam communicated with other component carriers is obtained by a beam association unit.

(2) The network device may further use a downlink reference signal as an indication of a beam management anchor point, for example, if the network device additionally configures a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) on a certain component carrier and configures only a synchronization reference signal (SSB) on other component carriers, the user equipment performs beam management using the component carrier configured with the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) as the anchor point, and a beam communicated with other component carriers is obtained through the beam association unit. In addition, the anchor component carrier may also be indicated by configuring other types of reference signals other than CSI-RS.

(3) The method may further include that, after configuring a certain frequency band combination, the ue sends a component carrier preferred by the ue to the network device as an anchor point for beam management, and preferably, the network device configures a specific reference signal, e.g., a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), on the component carrier in which the ue applies

(4) In case of not receiving configuration signaling or indication about a beam management anchor point, the user equipment takes a Primary Component Carrier (PCC) as an anchor point for beam management by default, and a beam of a Secondary Component Carrier (SCC) is obtained through a beam association unit.

(5) The user equipment autonomously selects an anchor component carrier.

Correspondingly, for the same carrier aggregation frequency band combination, different beam management configurations can exist according to different beam management anchor carriers. Therefore, for the same carrier aggregation frequency band combination, different radio frequency and wireless resource management index requirements can be made based on different configurations.

For the carrier aggregation frequency band combination, according to different capabilities of the user equipment, the user equipment may report a beam management type (e.g., beammanagement type) supported by the user equipment to the network equipment, where the beam management type that may be currently reported is Independent Beam Management (IBM) or Common Beam Management (CBM), and the user reports one of the two types. According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, there may exist a user equipment supporting only Independent Beam Management (IBM), a user equipment supporting only Common Beam Management (CBM), and a user equipment supporting both Independent Beam Management (IBM) and Common Beam Management (CBM). For a terminal that supports two types of beam management at the same time, because of the limitation that only one type of beam management can be reported currently, the real beam management capability of the user equipment cannot be completely known by the network equipment, so that the flexibility of the network equipment in performing beam management configuration is affected.

In view of this, the present disclosure also provides a method for solving the problem of reporting the beam management capability, where:

(1) Increasing the digit in the report format of the beam management type of the user equipment, so that the user equipment can also report and simultaneously support Independent Beam Management (IBM) and Common Beam Management (CBM);

(2) Or, when the user equipment reports that the user equipment supports Independent Beam Management (IBM), the user equipment may add a signaling reported by the capability to inform the network equipment whether the network equipment supports Common Beam Management (CBM) at the same time, or, vice versa, that is, when the user equipment reports that the user equipment supports Common Beam Management (CBM), the user equipment may add a signaling reported by the capability to inform the network equipment whether the network equipment supports Independent Beam Management (IBM) at the same time;

(3) Alternatively, the Common Beam Management (CBM) is defined as a fallback mode of the Independent Beam Management (IBM), that is, when the ue reports that it supports the Independent Beam Management (IBM), the ue has the capability of supporting the Common Beam Management (CBM) by default.

As can be seen from the above, the present disclosure is applicable to user equipments supporting various beam management types. In addition, the performance requirements, such as Radio Frequency (RF) index, radio Resource Management (RRM) index, etc., may vary according to the beam management capability of the ue.

Currently for a user equipment supporting Independent Beam Management (IBM), when configured for downlink carrier aggregation, the performance index of component carrier 1 is based on the downlink power configuration of fixed component carrier 2, or vice versa, the performance index of component carrier 2 is based on the downlink power configuration of fixed component carrier 1. However, for user equipments supporting Common Beam Management (CBM), the fixed downlink power configuration method is no longer applicable. In view of this, the present disclosure proposes a configuration method defined for a Radio Frequency (RF) index of a user equipment supporting Common Beam Management (CBM), as described below. The following configuration method can be used by the network side to appropriately configure the component carriers so that the user equipment can measure the receiver performance of the component carriers. In some embodiments, the network side may be an associated test meter, such as a network simulator, and the user equipment may be a test UE. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the network side and the user equipment may also be network entities and user terminals in a communication network. A configuration method defined for RF metrics of user equipments supporting common beam management according to the present disclosure will be described in detail below.

In the following description, a description will be given taking an example in which a network side configures two component carriers (component carrier 1 and component carrier 2) for a user equipment. It should be understood that this is merely exemplary for ease of description purposes only and is not intended to be limiting. For example, the network side may configure other numbers of component carriers for the ue.

Configuration of a user equipment's Radio Frequency (RF) metrics definition is typically performed by the UE in a test environment configured by a test meter (e.g., a network simulator). RF receiver testing for many users requires that it be performed at a particular downlink power or power spectral density, such as where the downlink power needs to be configured to achieve just 95% peak throughput for the UE.

In the RF index measurement for CBM, the difference between the downlink power or power spectral density of the two component carriers cannot be too large, otherwise the two component carriers will affect each other, so two progressive methods are proposed here to make the downlink power or power spectral density of the two component carriers approach. Method (1) requires multiple rounds of step-wise power reduction of the component carriers, but has the benefit that the RF index can be measured simultaneously for both component carriers; the method (2) performs fewer rounds of power adjustment on the component carriers, but performs the measurements separately.

Configuration method (1): the network side respectively reduces the downlink power of the two component carriers one by one, and simultaneously ensures that the difference value of the downlink power or Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the two component carriers is maintained within a plurality of dbs (e.g., 10 dB) until the two component carriers simultaneously reach a sensitivity (sensitivity) state, generally, for example, in a scenario where the network side and the user equipment are in wired connection, a reference sensitivity level when the sensitivity state, that is, a peak throughput of 95%, is reached; in addition, in an air interface (OTA) state (for example, in a scenario where the network side and the user equipment are in wireless connection), a sensitivity state is achieved, that is, an Equivalent Isotropic Sensitivity (EIS) of the corresponding component carrier when a peak throughput of 95% is achieved. After the network side completes configuration through the above process, the ue can perform receiver performance measurement for the two component carriers.

By the configuration method (1), after the downlink power of the component carriers is adjusted for a plurality of times by the network side, the user equipment can simultaneously complete the receiver performance measurement of the two component carriers, such as the receiver sensitivity, the receiver spherical coverage and the like.

Configuration method (2): the two component carriers are configured and measured separately. The following description will be given taking the configuration and measurement of the component carrier 1 as an example. The method of configuring and measuring component carrier 2 is similar to the method of configuring and measuring component carrier 1. For example, if the receiver performance measurement is currently performed on component carrier 1, the network side adjusts the downlink power of component carrier 2 downward until the downlink throughput of component carrier 2 reaches below a first threshold (e.g., the peak throughput is less than or equal to 90% (i.e., the first threshold is 90% of the peak throughput), which is merely an example, the first threshold may be other values, for example, the first threshold is some value between less than 95% of the peak throughput and more than 80% of the peak throughput), and then adjusts the downlink power of component carrier 1 to 95% of the peak throughput, where the ue performs the measurement on component carrier 1. When the measurement result on the component carrier 1 is obtained, it is also necessary to confirm the measurement result on the component carrier 1. When confirming the measurement result on the component carrier 1, the status of the component carrier 2 needs to be checked again to ensure that the downlink throughput of the component carrier 2 is below the second threshold (the second threshold is, for example, a certain value less than 100% of the peak throughput, for example, the second threshold is a certain value in the range of 95% -100% of the peak throughput, for example, 99% of the peak throughput, etc.), so that the measured measurement result on the component carrier 1 can be considered to be a usable (valid) measurement result. Otherwise, if the downlink throughput of the component carrier 2 does not satisfy the second threshold (e.g., less than 100% peak throughput) when the measurement result on the component carrier 1 is confirmed, the above steps are repeated until the downlink throughput of the component carrier 2 reaches below the second threshold (e.g., less than 100% peak throughput) when the measurement result on the component carrier 1 is confirmed.

It should be understood that when the downlink throughput of component carrier 2 does not satisfy the second threshold when confirming the measurement result on component carrier 1, and thus the above steps need to be repeated, in addition to the power down adjustment of component carrier 2 may be performed entirely in accordance with the above steps, in one embodiment the downlink power of component carrier 2 may also be adjusted down to another threshold (third threshold) different from the first threshold, the third threshold being greater than the first threshold, or may also be smaller than the first threshold, which may depend, for example, on the difference between the downlink throughput of component carrier 2 and the second threshold when confirming the measurement result on component carrier 1, or may also depend on the difference in downlink power or Power Spectral Density (PSD) between component carrier 2 and component carrier 1 when confirming the measurement result on component carrier 1.

That is, in the configuration method (2), when the component carrier 1 is configured and measured, each down-regulation of the downlink power of the component carrier 2 may be performed according to the same or different threshold values before it can be confirmed that the measurement result on the component carrier 1 is valid.

After confirming that the measurement result for component carrier 1 is valid, other component carriers (e.g., component carrier 2) may be configured and measured. The procedure is similar to that of component carrier 1 and will not be described in detail here.

In the component carrier measurement for CBM, the difference in downlink power or the difference in power spectral density between the respective component carriers (e.g., two component carriers) cannot be excessive. In the configuration method (2), when the final index of the component carrier 1 is sampled, it is necessary to check whether the throughput of the component carrier 2 is lower than a certain threshold (e.g., 100%,99%,95%, etc.), because the fact that the throughput is lower than the certain threshold indirectly ensures that the difference between the power of the carrier and the power or power spectral density of the component carrier to be measured is not large, so that the measurement of the component carrier to be measured is not greatly interfered.

According to the configuration method (2), the measurement results of the component carriers can be measured and confirmed in fewer adjustment rounds, and the user equipment is also required to perform measurement on each component carrier.

On the other hand, according to the Beam management method based on the Common Beam Management (CBM) carrier aggregation architecture of the embodiment of the present disclosure, uplink carrier aggregation Beam consistency (Beam coherence) may also be enhanced, and applied to Beam management of uplink carrier aggregation. Beam coherence (Beam coherence) uplink transmit beams are determined by measuring downlink reference signals of the component carriers to which the beams belong, and in a Beam management method for Common Beam Management (CBM) carrier aggregation, by introducing a Beam correlation unit, the measurement of reference signals of correlated component carriers can be dispensed with (or reduced), thereby achieving Beam coherence (Beam coherence) of other component carriers based on the measurement of downlink reference signals of anchor component carriers.

It should be understood that although fig. 6 illustrates one example of carrier aggregation beam management, various changes can be made to fig. 6. For example, the component carriers in the wireless device 130 may be increased to more than two, and different Component Carrier (CC) cells may be replaced by subcarrier cells, and Band (Band) cells may be replaced. The number of the beam management units, the beam generation units and the beam association units in the user equipment can also be increased to more than two. In implementation, functions of different units may be implemented by the same device entity, which is still a valid embodiment of the present disclosure. Optionally, the elements in the dashed line in fig. 6 may or may not be configured in implementation, which are effective embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic flow diagram of a beam management method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the order of the blocks shown in fig. 7 is not intended to limit the steps performed by the method, but may be performed in other orders that can achieve the technical effects of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 7, the beam management method according to the present disclosure includes the steps of:

step 701: determining a correspondence of a first candidate beam for communication with a first component carrier and a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier;

step 702: determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier;

step 703: selecting a second beam for communication with a second component carrier from second candidate beams based on the first beam and the correspondence.

Upon determining the beams for communicating with the first component carrier and the second component carrier, the ue may communicate with the first component carrier and the second component carrier respectively via the determined beams (step 704).

By carrying out beam management in this way, the flexibility of beam management can be improved, the complexity of a user equipment architecture can be reduced, the resource consumption of beam management can be reduced, and the cost and the power consumption of the user equipment can be reduced. Meanwhile, the complexity of beam management can be reduced, and the performance of the user equipment is improved compared with the conventional common beam management scheme. In addition, the beam management mode can also be suitable for more carrier aggregation frequency band combinations.

Next, a configuration method defined for RF metrics of user equipments supporting common beam management will be described. In the following description of the present disclosure, it is explained by taking an example in which the user equipment is configured with two component carriers (a first component carrier and a second component carrier, or a component carrier 1 and a component carrier 2). However, it should be understood that this is merely for convenience of description, and the method described below may also be applied to a scenario in which the user equipment is configured with other numbers of component carriers.

In common beam management, a network side (e.g., a base station) communicates with a user equipment UE via a first component carrier and a second component carrier. Wherein the UE communicates with a first component carrier via a first beam and communicates with a second component carrier via a second beam, the second beam being determined based on the first beam.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic flow chart of a configuration method for RF metric definition for user equipments supporting common beam management according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the order of the blocks shown in fig. 8 is not intended to limit the execution steps of the method, but may be executed in other orders that can achieve the technical effects of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, the configuration method according to the present disclosure includes the steps of:

step 801: the network side respectively reduces the downlink power of the two component carriers one by one, and simultaneously ensures that the difference value of the downlink power or Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the two component carriers is maintained within a threshold value, which is, for example, several dB, and may be a predefined threshold value;

step 802: the network side determines whether the two component carriers reach a sensitivity state;

step 803: if the determination result in step 802 on the network side is "yes", the ue performs receiver performance measurement for two component carriers. Otherwise, return to step 801.

It should be understood that the above description has been made by taking two component carriers as an example, but this is merely exemplary and is not intended to limit the number of component carriers. The method can also be applied to the case of other numbers of component carriers.

With the configuration method shown in fig. 8, after the downlink power of the component carriers is adjusted several times by the network side, the ue can simultaneously complete the receiver performance measurement of the two component carriers, such as receiver sensitivity, receiver spherical coverage, and the like.

Fig. 9 shows a schematic flow diagram of another configuration method of RF metric definition for user equipments supporting common beam management according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the order of the blocks shown in fig. 9 is not intended to limit the execution steps of the method, but may be executed in other orders that can achieve the technical effects of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 9, when configuring and measuring for component carrier 1, the configuration method according to the present disclosure includes the steps of:

step 901: the network side adjusts the downlink power of the component carrier 2 downward until the downlink throughput of the component carrier 2 reaches below a first threshold, for example, a peak throughput less than or equal to 90%. The first threshold is, for example, a peak throughput of 90%, however, this is merely an example, and the first threshold may also be other values, for example, the first threshold is somewhere between less than 95% and more than 80% of the peak throughput;

step 902: the network side adjusts the downlink power of the component carrier 1 to a first preset value, which is, for example, 95% of peak throughput, but is not limited thereto. Here, the user equipment measures component carrier 1;

step 903: the network side checks the state of the component carrier 2 and determines whether the downlink throughput of the component carrier 2 is below a second threshold. The second threshold is, for example, some value less than 100% peak throughput, e.g., the second threshold is some value in the range of 95% -100% peak throughput, e.g., 99% peak throughput, etc.;

step 904: if the determination result of the network side in step 903 is "yes", the ue confirms the confirmation result of the component carrier 1, and the configuration and measurement process of the component carrier 1 is finished. Otherwise, return to step 901.

The method shown in fig. 9 can be similarly used to continue the configuration and measurement of other component carriers (e.g., component carrier 2), which is not described here again.

Fig. 10 shows a simplified block diagram of a communication device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. It should be understood that for the sake of brevity, only the components directly associated with the present disclosure are shown, and other components that may be required are omitted from the drawings so as not to obscure the gist of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 10, the communication apparatus 1000 includes a transceiving unit 1001, a memory 1002, and a processor 1003.

The transceiving unit 1001 is configured to receive and/or transmit signals.

The processor 1003 is operatively connected to the transceiving unit 1001 and the memory 1002. The processor 1003 may be implemented as one or more processors configured to operate in accordance with any one or more of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 1002 is configured to store computer programs and data. The memory 1002 may include non-transitory memory for storing operations and/or code instructions that may be executed by the processor 1003. The memory 1002 may include processor-readable non-transitory programs and/or instructions therein that, when executed, cause the processor 1003 to perform the steps of any one or more of the methods according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The memory 1002 may also include a random access memory or buffer(s) to store intermediate processing data from the various functions performed by the processor 1003.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the description of the configurations and measurement methods of the present disclosure are illustrative only and are not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure.

For the sake of clarity, not all of the routine features of the embodiments of the beam management and/or configuration and measurement methods and apparatus of the present disclosure are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation of the beam management and/or configuration and measurement methods and apparatus, numerous implementation-specific decisions may be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application-, system-, network-, and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another.

The modules, processing operations, and/or data structures described in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented using various types of operating systems, computing platforms, network devices, computer programs, and/or general purpose machines. Further, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that less general purpose devices, such as hardwired devices, field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or the like, may also be used. Where a method comprising a series of operations and sub-operations is implemented by a processor, computer, or machine, and those operations and sub-operations may be stored as a series of non-transitory code instructions readable by the processor, computer, or machine, they may be stored on a tangible and/or non-transitory medium.

The modules of the methods and apparatus described herein may comprise software, firmware, hardware or any combination(s) of software, firmware or hardware suitable for the purposes described herein.

In the methods described herein, various operations and sub-operations may be performed in various orders, and some of the operations and sub-operations may be optional.

While the foregoing disclosure of the present application has been made by way of non-limiting illustrative embodiments, these embodiments can be modified at will within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and nature of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A method performed by a User Equipment (UE) in wireless communication, comprising:

determining a correspondence of a first candidate beam for communication with a first component carrier and a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier;

determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier;

selecting a second beam from a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier based on the first beam and the correspondence;

the first component carrier is communicated via a first beam and the second component carrier is communicated via a second beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the correspondence of a first candidate beam for communication with a first component carrier and a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier comprises one of:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first component carrier is determined by one of:

receiving configuration signaling from a network side, wherein the configuration signaling comprises information indicating the first component carrier;

The first component carrier is selected from component carriers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein,

the beams of the second candidate beam corresponding to the first beam include one or more beams;

selecting a second beam from the second candidate beams for communication with a second component carrier based on the first beam and the correspondence if a beam corresponding to the first beam from the second candidate beams includes a plurality of beams comprises:

sorting the plurality of beams according to priority, selecting a predetermined number of beams with highest priority as the second beam; or

And measuring the reference signals of the second component carrier by using the plurality of beams respectively, and selecting a preset number of beams with the best measurement result as the second beams.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting the supported beam management type to a network side by one of:

reporting the supported beam management types to a network side through fields in the beam management type reporting format, wherein the bit number of the fields is more than 1;

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier comprises at least one of:

by measuring a reference signal of a first component carrier; or

Determining the first beam by receiving an indication on a network side.

7. A method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, comprising:

communicating with User Equipment (UE) through a first component carrier and a second component carrier; wherein the UE communicates with a first component carrier via a first beam and communicates with a second component carrier via a second beam, the second beam being determined based on the first beam;

successively reducing the downlink power of the first component carrier and the downlink power of the second component carrier respectively, and simultaneously ensuring that the difference value of the downlink power or the power spectral density of the first component carrier and the second component carrier is maintained within a first preset threshold value until the first component carrier and the second component carrier simultaneously reach a specific sensitivity; or

In measuring one of the first component carrier and the second component carrier, performing the following steps: s1, adjusting down the downlink power of the other component carrier in the first component carrier and the second component carrier to ensure that the downlink throughput of the other component carrier is below a first threshold; s2, adjusting the downlink power of the component carrier to a second threshold value and measuring the component carrier; when the measurement result of the one component carrier is obtained, if the downlink throughput of the other component carrier reaches below a third threshold, the measurement result is confirmed to be valid, otherwise, the above steps S1 to S2 are executed again.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first threshold is 90% peak throughput, the second threshold is 95% peak throughput, and the third threshold is 100% peak throughput or 99% peak throughput.

9. A beam management apparatus comprising:

a beam association unit configured to: determining a correspondence of a first candidate beam for communication with a first component carrier and a second candidate beam for communication with a second component carrier;

a beam management unit configured to:

selecting a second beam for communication with a second component carrier from second candidate beams based on the first beam and the correspondence; and

a transceiving unit configured to: the first component carrier is communicated via a first beam and the second component carrier is communicated via a second beam.

10. The beam management device according to claim 9, wherein the correspondence of the first candidate beam for communication with the first component carrier and the second candidate beam for communication with the second component carrier includes one of:

each of the first candidate beams belongs to a predetermined beam group with a corresponding one of the second candidate beams.

11. The beam management device of claim 9 wherein the first component carrier is determined by one of:

The first component carrier is selected from component carriers.

12. The beam management device of claim 9,

sorting the plurality of beams according to priority, and selecting a predetermined number of beams with highest priority as the second beams; or

13. The beam management device of claim 9, further comprising reporting the supported beam management types to a network side by one of:

reporting the capability of supporting independent beam management to a network, and reporting a signaling for informing whether the common beam management is supported or not to a network side;

14. The beam management device of claim 9 wherein determining a first beam of the first candidate beams for communication with a first component carrier comprises:

the first beam is determined by measuring a reference signal of a first component carrier or by receiving an indication from the network side.

15. A communication device, comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal; and

a processor configured to perform control to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8.