CN115516895A

CN115516895A - Method, apparatus, medium, and product for beam determination of backhaul link

Info

Publication number: CN115516895A
Application number: CN202280003075.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘敏
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-09
Filing date: 2022-08-09
Publication date: 2022-12-23
Also published as: WO2024031806A1; WO2024031314A1

Abstract

The disclosure discloses a method, a device, a medium and a product for determining a beam of a backhaul link, and belongs to the field of communication. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising: a beam for the backhaul link is determined that is the same as a beam for the first channel on the control link. The method can accurately determine the beam of the backhaul link under the condition that a plurality of candidate beams exist on the control link.

Description

Method, apparatus, medium, and product for beam determination of backhaul link

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, a medium, and a product for determining a beam of a backhaul link.

Background

Network Controlled Repeater (NCR) can improve system coverage in a low cost manner. The NCR includes two parts: a Mobile Termination (MT) part and a Forwarding (FWD) part. The MT part may be configured to receive a control command on a control link sent by an access network device, where the control command is used to control a behavior of the FWD part, that is, a behavior on a backhaul link and an access link (access link), such as a beam indication direction, on and off of forwarding, and the like.

Since the backhaul link and the control link are both links between the base station and the NCR, it is generally assumed that the backhaul link and the control link have similar channel characteristics and use the same spatial domain coding, i.e., beams. For the beams of the control link, the base station may indicate separately for each channel/signal or for multiple channels/signals, in either case possibly configuring multiple beams for the NCR's control link. In this scenario, how to determine the beam on the backhaul link is an urgent problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the disclosure provides a method, a device, a medium and a product for determining a beam of a backhaul link.

The technical scheme is as follows:

according to an aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam determination method of a backhaul link, the method including:

the beam of the backhaul link is determined to be the same as the beam of the first channel on the control link.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a beam determination apparatus of a backhaul link, the apparatus including:

a determining module, configured to determine a beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as a beam of the first channel on the control link.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a chip including programmable logic circuits and/or program instructions, when the chip is operated, for implementing the beam determination method of the backhaul link according to the above aspects.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a network control repeater including:

a processor;

a transceiver coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the information indicating method of the various aspects as described above.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a terminal, including:

a processor;

a transceiver coupled to the processor;

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having at least one instruction, at least one program, a set of codes, or a set of instructions stored therein, which is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the beam determination method of the backhaul link according to the above aspects.

According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product (or computer program) comprising computer instructions, the computer instructions being stored in a computer readable storage medium; a processor of the computer device reads computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to cause the computer device to perform the method for beam determination of a backhaul link according to the various aspects described above.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the disclosure can have the following beneficial effects:

in the case where there are multiple candidate beams on the control link, it can be determined that the beam on the backhaul link is the same as the beam of the first channel on the control link, thereby accurately determining the transmit beam and/or the receive beam used on the backhaul link.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on the drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a communication system provided in accordance with an exemplary embodiment;

fig. 2 is a flow chart of a method of beam determination for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a beam determination method of a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 4 is a flow chart of a method of beam determination for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a beam determination method of a backhaul link provided according to an example embodiment;

fig. 6 is a flow chart of a method of beam determination for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 7 is a diagram of a beam determination method for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 8 is a flow chart of a method of beam determination for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a beam determination method of a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method for beam determination of a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 11 is a diagram of a beam determination method for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 12 is a flow chart of a method of beam determination for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 13 is a diagram of a beam determination method for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 14 is a flow chart of a method of beam determination for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 15 is a diagram of a beam determination method for a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 16 is a block diagram of a beam determination apparatus of a backhaul link provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a network controlled relay or terminal provided in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device provided according to an exemplary embodiment.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The following description refers to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals refer to the same or similar elements throughout the different views unless otherwise indicated. The embodiments described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all embodiments consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present application, as detailed in the appended claims. Where in the description of the present disclosure, "/" indicates an alternative meaning, for example, a/B may indicate a or B; "and/or" herein is merely an association relationship describing an associated object, and means that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It is to be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, first information may also be referred to as second information, and similarly, second information may also be referred to as first information, without departing from the scope of the present application. Depending on the context, for example, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at \8230; \8230when" or "when 8230; \8230, when" or "in response to a determination".

To explain the related art of the present disclosure, it is necessary to first understand the concept of beams, which are introduced in 3gpp rel.15, but are not directly embodied in the standard, but appear in the form of Transmission Configuration Indicator state (TCI state) which is used to represent Quasi-Co-located (QCL) source reference signals and channel parameters QCL Type Configuration (QCL Type) that can be obtained therefrom. Different QCL types include different channel characteristics, and two reference signals having a QCL relationship have the same channel characteristics (channel characteristics included in QCL types).

QCL Type A: doppler Shift (Doppler Shift), doppler Spread (Doppler Spread), average Delay (Average Delay), and Delay Spread (Delay Spread).

QCL Type B: doppler Shift, doppler Spread.

QCL Type C: average Delay (Average Delay), doppler Shift (Doppler Shift).

QCL Type D: spatial Rx parameter (Spatial Rx parameter).

QCL Type D is indicated beam information, i.e., spatial reception parameters. In case of assuming beam correspondence (beam correlation), the spatial transmission parameter and the spatial reception parameter of the user equipment are the same.

In rel.15 and rel.16, the beams of the downlink control channel, the downlink data channel, the uplink control channel and the uplink data channel are individually indicated. Considering that in many cases, the beams of these channels are the same, so performing the beam indication separately causes a lot of signaling redundancy, therefore, a concept of unified TCI state (unified TCI state) is introduced in rel.17, which can be effective for both control and data channels, and when a joint TCI state (joint TCI state) is used, unified TCI is effective for both uplink and downlink; however, there are some special cases where the downlink receive beam cannot be considered identical to the uplink transmit beam, such as when Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) or network flexibility is considered. At this time, a concept of independent TCI state (separate TCI state) is introduced, and a downlink transmission beam and an uplink transmission beam are respectively indicated for a user by using an independent beam indication manner, where the TCI state in the unified TCI takes effect either for uplink or downlink.

For joint/independent beam indication in rel.17, one or more TCI states need to be activated by a Media Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). One of the activated TCI states is then indicated for the user using user-specific Downlink Control Information (DCI). If the MAC-CE activates only one TCI state, the activated TCI state is directly used to determine a transmission beam. Meanwhile, a Hybrid Automatic Repeat-reQuest acknowledgement (HARQ-ack) feedback mechanism is designed for DCI signaling of the indication beam. In rel.17, beam indication is only supported with DCI formats 1/2 with and without scheduling information. Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) of DCI format 1/2 without Scheduling information is also required to be scrambled with Configured Scheduling Radio Network Temporary Identity (CS-RNTI) at the time of beam indication. The reference point of the time when the beam is applied is the last symbol of the uplink resource where the user equipment feeds back HARQ-ACK information.

By way of background, semi-static configuration for a control link may be in two ways:

in the mode 1, the beams are respectively indicated for each Channel/signal, that is, the beams do not support unified TCI, for example, for a user of R15/16, and at this time, separate signaling is required to separately indicate the beams used by a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

In the mode 2, when a beam is indicated for multiple channels/signals, that is, a user supporting unified TCI, for example, a user of R17, multiple channels may be indicated by using the same beam, and a single beam is used for both downlink reception and uplink transmission, for example, PUCCH, PUSCH, PDCCH, and PDSCH.

Then, regardless of the method 1 or the method 2, multiple TCIs may be configured for the MT Control link at the time of Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration, and the problem that the backhaul link of the NCR should be the same as which beam on the Control link is solved by the present disclosure.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, which may include: access network equipment 12, terminal 14, and network control relay 16.

Access network equipment 12 may be a base station, which is a device that provides wireless communication functionality for terminals 14. The base stations may include various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations, relay stations, access points, and the like. In systems using different radio access technologies, names of devices having a base station function may be different, for example, in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, the device is called an evolved node b (eNodeB, eNB); in a 5G New Radio (NR) system, it is called a next generation base station (gnnodeb, gNB). The description of "base station" may change as communication technology evolves. For convenience of description in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the above-mentioned apparatuses for providing the terminal 14 with the wireless communication function are collectively referred to as an access network device 12.

The terminals 14 can include various handheld devices, vehicle mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication capabilities, as well as various forms of user equipment, mobile Stations (MSs), terminal equipment (terminal devices), and so forth. For convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices are collectively referred to as a terminal.

Network control repeater 16 may improve system coverage in a low cost manner. The network control repeater consists of two parts, an MT part and a FWD part. The access network equipment sends control commands to the network control repeater through the control link, and the MT part receives the control commands. After the MT part receives the control command, the network control relay uses the control command to control the behavior of the FWD part, i.e. the behavior on the backhaul link and the access link, such as the beam indication direction, the forwarding on and off, and so on. Wherein:

the control link is the link between the access network equipment and the MT part.

The backhaul link is a link between the access network equipment and the FWD portion.

The access link is a link between the FWD part and the terminal, and the forwarding referred to in this disclosure refers to forwarding related to the backhaul link. For example, the terminal sends an uplink signal to the FWD part through the access link, and the FWD part forwards the uplink signal to the access network device through the backhaul link; the access network equipment sends downlink signals to the FWD part through the return link, and the FWD part forwards the downlink signals to the terminal through the access link.

Fig. 2 shows a flowchart of a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

step 202: the beam of the backhaul link is determined to be the same as the beam of the first channel on the control link.

In some embodiments, the first channel comprises at least one of:

·PDCCH；

·PDSCH；

·PUCCH。

in some embodiments, the beam of the PDCCH is determined by a Control Resource Set (CORESET) carrying the PDCCH, and the CORESET is a more flexible time-frequency region for searching the PDCCH designed for the purpose of restricting PDCCH transmission of a terminal within one Control sub-band rather than transmission within the entire system bandwidth. It is understood that when referring to a beam of PDCCH herein, it may be equally considered as a beam of CORESET, and therefore the method may also be understood as determining a beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as the beam of the first CORESET on the control link. The first CORESET carrying the PDCCH comprises at least one of the following components:

CORESET with index 0, i.e. CORESET #0;

CORESET carrying Side Control Information (SCI).

The SCI is information sent by the access network device to the NCR to control the behavior of the NCR, such as beamforming information, switching information, power control information, etc. Based on this information, the NCR can perform forwarding related actions, such as adjusting the beam used for forwarding, turning forwarding on or off at a particular time.

In some embodiments, PDSCH refers to network controlled relay/mobile terminal specific physical downlink shared channel (NCR/repeat/MT-dedicated PDSCH); the PUCCH refers to a network control relay/mobile terminal-specific physical uplink control channel (NCR/repeater/MT-dedicated PUCCH). Also, MT-dedicated may also be denoted as terminal-specific (UE-dedicated), since the MT itself is partially UE-capable. But the UE does not refer to a terminal device but to an MT.

As shown in fig. 3, in the control link, the access network device 12 sends the beam configuration information and/or indication information of PDCCH (CORESET) to the network control relay 16. It is assumed that the network control repeater 16 is configured/instructed to receive the PDCCH as a reception beam on the beam #2 corresponding to the TCI-ID # 2. I.e. the PDCCH on the control link corresponds to beam 2.

The network control relay 16 receives the downlink signal from the access network device 12 in the backhaul link using the beam 2, and further forwards the downlink signal to the terminal 14 through the access link; and/or network control relay 16 forwards the uplink signals to access network device 12 in the backhaul link using beam 2.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, when there are multiple candidate beams on the control link, it can be determined that the beam on the backhaul link is the same as the beam of the first channel on the control link, so as to accurately determine the transmit beam and/or the receive beam used on the backhaul link.

For embodiments in which the first channel comprises a first downlink channel:

fig. 4 shows a flowchart of a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

step 402: the network control relay determines the wave beam of the return link, which is the same as the wave beam of the first downlink channel on the control link;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines a receive beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a receive beam of the first downlink channel on the control link;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines a transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a receive beam of the first downlink channel on the control link.

In some embodiments, the first downlink channel may be a PDCCH or a PDSCH.

In case that the first downlink channel is PDCCH, the beam of PDCCH is determined by CORESET carrying the PDCCH. It is understood that when referring to a beam of PDCCH herein, it may be equally considered as a beam of CORESET, and therefore the method may also be understood as determining a beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as the beam of the first CORESET on the control link. The network control relay determines the beam of the backhaul link to be the same as the beam of the PDCCH on the control link. The first CORESET carrying the PDCCH comprises at least one of the following components:

CORESET with index 0, i.e. CORESET #0;

CORESET carrying SCI.

When the first downlink channel is a PDSCH, the PDSCH refers to an NCR/relay/MT-specific PDSCH. The network control relay determines the beam of the backhaul link to be the same as the beam of the PDSCH on the control link.

Step 404: the network control repeater uses the receiving wave beam of the first downlink channel to forward the downlink signal from the access network equipment to the terminal;

in some embodiments, the access network device sends the downlink signal to the NCR over the backhaul link, and the NCR forwards the downlink signal to the terminal over the access link.

When the first downlink channel is a PDCCH, the NCR determines that a downlink reception beam on the backhaul link is the same as a reception beam for PDCCH reception on the control link. Or the NCR receives the downlink signal using the receive beam of the first CORESET.

In the case where the first downlink channel is the PDSCH, the NCR determines that the downlink reception beam on the backhaul link is the same as the reception beam for PDSCH reception on the control link.

Step 406: the network control repeater forwards the uplink signal from the terminal to the access network device using the same transmission beam as the reception beam of the first downlink channel.

In some embodiments, the terminal sends an uplink signal over the access link to the NCR, which forwards the uplink signal to the access network device over the backhaul link.

Under the condition that the first downlink channel is a PDCCH, the terminal sends an uplink signal to the NCR through the access link, and the NCR forwards the uplink signal to the access network equipment on the backhaul link; or the NCR transmits the uplink signal using the receive beam of the first CORESET.

And when the first downlink channel is the PDSCH, the terminal sends an uplink signal to the NCR through the access link, and the NCR forwards the uplink signal to the access network equipment on the backhaul link.

It should be noted that the execution sequence of the step 404 and the step 406 is not limited.

As shown illustratively in fig. 5, in the control link, the access network device 12 transmits beam configuration information and/or indication information for the MT-specific PDSCH to the network control relay 16. It is assumed that the network control repeater 16 is configured/instructed to receive the MT-specific PDSCH on the control link as a receive beam on beam #2 corresponding to TCI-ID # 2. I.e. the MT-specific PDSCH on the control link corresponds to beam 2.

The network control relay 16 receives the downlink signal from the access network device 12 in the backhaul link by using the beam 2, and further forwards the downlink signal to the terminal 14 through the access link; and/or network control relay 16 forwards the uplink signals to access network device 12 in the backhaul link using beam 2.

Illustratively, in the control link, the access network device 12 sends the beam configuration information of core set #0, which is indicated by TCI-ID #2 corresponding to beam #2, to the network control relay 16, so the network control relay receives the core set #0 on the control link with beam 2 as a receive beam.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, the receiving beam and the transmitting beam used by the network control repeater are the same beam, and both beams are beams of the first downlink channel.

For embodiments in which the first channel comprises a first downlink channel and a first uplink channel:

fig. 6 shows a flowchart of a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

step 602: the network control relay determines the beam of a return link, and the beam is the same as the beam of a first downlink channel and a first uplink channel on a control link;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines a transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a transmit beam of the first uplink channel on the control link.

The first downlink channel may be a PDCCH or a PDSCH.

The downlink receiving beam of the backhaul link is the same as the receiving beam of the first downlink channel.

The first uplink channel may be a PUCCH.

The uplink transmission beam of the backhaul link is the same as the transmission beam of the first uplink channel.

Step 604: the network control repeater uses the receiving wave beam of the first downlink channel to forward the downlink signal from the access network equipment to the terminal;

When the first downlink channel is a PDCCH, the NCR determines that a downlink reception beam on the backhaul link is the same as a reception beam for PDCCH reception on the control link.

In the case where the first downlink channel is the PDSCH, the NCR determines that the downlink reception beam on the backhaul link and the reception beam for PDSCH reception on the control link are the same.

Step 606: and the network control repeater forwards the uplink signal from the terminal to the access network equipment by using the transmission beam of the first uplink channel.

And under the condition that the first uplink channel is the PUCCH, the terminal sends an uplink signal to the NCR through the access link, and the NCR forwards the uplink signal to the access network equipment on the backhaul link.

It should be noted that the execution sequence of the step 604 and the step 606 is not limited.

Exemplarily, as shown in fig. 7, in the control link, the access network device 12 transmits, to the network control relay 16, beam configuration information of core set #0, which is represented by, for example, a beam #2 corresponding to TCI-ID #2, and beam configuration information of PUCCH resource ID =0, which is represented by, for example, a beam #3 corresponding to SRI (SRS resource indicator) -ID #3, so that the network control relay receives the core set #0 on the control link with the beam 2 as a reception beam, and transmits the PUCCH resource ID =0 on the control link with the beam 3 as a transmission beam.

The network control relay 16 receives the downlink signal from the access network device 12 in the backhaul link using the beam 2, and further forwards the downlink signal to the terminal 14 through the access link; and/or network control relay 16 forwards the uplink signals to access network device 12 in the backhaul link using beam 3.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, the receiving beam and the transmitting beam used by the network control repeater are different beams, and are the receiving beam of the first downlink channel and the transmitting beam of the first uplink channel, respectively, so that under the condition that the channels are not reciprocal, both the downlink channel and the uplink channel can obtain a better working effect.

Fig. 8 shows a flowchart of a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

the beam of the first channel is indicated by a unified TCI status;

step 802: the network control relay determines that the beam of the backhaul link is the beam indicated by the unified TCI status;

in some embodiments, the unified TCI state includes at least one of:

joint TCI status (DLORJoint TCI state);

downstream independent TCI state (DLorJoint TCI state);

uplink independent TCI status (UL TCI state).

In some embodiments, the unified TCI state includes a joint TCI state, the network control repeater determines a receive beam of the backhaul link to be the same as the beam indicated by the joint TCI state;

in some embodiments, the unified TCI status includes a joint TCI status, and the network control repeater determines a transmission beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a beam indicated by the joint TCI status;

in some embodiments, the unified TCI state includes a downlink independent TCI state and an uplink independent TCI state, and the network control relay determines a receive beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a beam indicated by the downlink independent TCI state;

in some embodiments, the unified TCI status includes one downlink independent TCI status and one uplink independent TCI status, and the network control repeater determines the transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as the beam indicated by the uplink independent TCI status.

Step 804: the network control repeater uses the wave beam indicated by the unified TCI state to forward the downlink signal from the access network equipment to the terminal;

Step 806: and the network control repeater forwards the uplink signal from the terminal to the access network equipment by using the beam indicated by the unified TCI state.

In some embodiments, the terminal sends uplink signals over the access link to the NCR, which forwards the uplink signals to the access network device over the backhaul link.

It should be noted that the execution sequence of the step 804 and the step 806 is not limited.

Illustratively as shown in fig. 9, in the control link, access network device 12 sends configuration and/or indication information of the unified TCI status to network control relay 16, which unified TCI status is used to indicate beam 2. I.e. the unified TCI status on the control link corresponds to beam 2.

The network control relay 16 receives the downlink signal from the access network device 12 in the backhaul link using the beam 2, and further forwards the downlink signal to the terminal 14 through the access link; and/or network control relay 16 forwards the uplink signal to access network device 12 in the backhaul link using beam 2.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, when there are multiple candidate beams on the control link, it can be determined that the beam on the backhaul link is the same as the beam indicated by the unified TCI status on the control link, so as to accurately determine the transmit beam and/or the receive beam used on the backhaul link.

For embodiments in which the unified TCI state comprises a joint TCI state:

fig. 10 shows a flowchart of a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

step 1002: the network control relay determines that the beam of the backhaul link is the beam indicated by the joint TCI status;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines a receive beam of the backhaul link to be the same as the beam of the joint TCI status indication;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines the transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as the beam associated with the TCI status indication.

In some embodiments, the access network device first configures a list "DLorJoint-TCI State" to the network Control relay using Radio Resource Control (RRC), where the list "DLorJoint-TCI State" includes a plurality of TCI states, and then the access network device indicates a joint TCI State to the network Control relay using the MAC CE and/or the DCI, where the joint TCI State is one of the plurality of TCI states corresponding to the list "DLorJoint-TCI State".

Step 1004: the network control repeater uses the wave beam combined with the TCI state indication to forward the downlink signal from the access network equipment to the terminal;

Step 1006: and the network control repeater forwards the uplink signal from the terminal to the access network equipment by using the beam combined with the TCI state indication.

It should be noted that, the execution order of step 1004 and step 1006 is not limited.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 11, in the control link, access network device 12 sends configuration and/or indication information of the joint TCI status to network control relay 16, which is used to indicate beam 2. I.e., the joint TCI status on the control link corresponds to beam 2.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, the receiving beam and the transmitting beam used by the network control repeater are the same beam and are both beams associated with the TCI status indication, so that the implementation complexity of the scheme can be reduced.

For embodiments in which the unified TCI state includes one downstream independent TCI state and one upstream independent TCI state:

fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

the wave beam of the first channel is indicated through a unified TCI state, wherein the unified TCI state comprises a downlink independent TCI state and an uplink independent TCI state;

step 1202: the network control repeater determines that the beam of the backhaul link is a beam indicated by the downlink independent TCI state and the uplink independent TCI state;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines a receive beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a beam of the downlink independent TCI status indication;

in some embodiments, the network control relay determines a transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a beam of the uplink independent TCI status indication.

Step 1204: the network control repeater uses the wave beam indicated by the downlink independent TCI state to forward the downlink signal from the access network equipment to the terminal;

Step 1206: and the network control repeater forwards the uplink signal from the terminal to the access network equipment by using the beam indicated by the uplink independent TCI state.

In some embodiments, the access network device first uses an RRC configuration list "DLorJoint-TCI State" to the network control relay, where the list "DLorJoint-TCI State" includes a plurality of TCI states, and then the access network device indicates a downlink independent TCI State to the network control relay by using the MAC CE and/or the DCI, where the downlink independent TCI State is one of the plurality of TCI states corresponding to the list "DLorJoint-TCI State".

In some embodiments, the access network device first uses an RRC configuration list "UL TCI state" to the network control relay, where the list "UL TCI state" includes a plurality of TCI states, and then the access network device uses the MAC CE and/or the DCI to indicate an uplink independent TCI state to the network control relay, where the uplink independent TCI state is one of the plurality of TCI states corresponding to the list "UL TCI state".

It should be noted that the execution order of the step 1204 and the step 1206 is not limited.

As shown in fig. 13 as an example, in the control link, access network device 12 sends configuration and/or indication information of a downlink independent TCI state to network control relay 16, and receives configuration and/or indication information of an uplink independent TCI state, where the downlink independent TCI state on the control link corresponds to beam 2, and the uplink independent TCI state corresponds to beam 3.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, the receiving beam and the transmitting beam used by the network control repeater are different beams, and are the receiving beam indicated by the downlink independent TCI status and the transmitting beam indicated by the uplink independent TCI status, respectively, so that the downlink channel and the uplink channel can both obtain better working effects under the condition that the channels are not reciprocal.

Fig. 14 shows a flowchart of a beam determination method for a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network controlled repeater, the method comprising:

step 1402: in a case where the beam of the first channel is instructed to be updated and the update has not been applied, the network control relay performing a step related to determining the beam of the backhaul link;

if the access network device indicates to the network control relay that the beam update of the first channel is the first time, and the completion time of the beam update of the first channel is the second time, the second time is usually later than the first time. The network controlling the relay to perform the steps associated with determining the beam of the backhaul link are at least one of:

determining a beam of the backhaul link as a default beam;

keeping the beam of the backhaul link unchanged for the beam used before the update application;

determine that the beam of the backhaul link always follows the beam of the first channel.

As shown in fig. 15, the network control relay receives DCI without data scheduling for indicating beam update for the first channel at time t 1. The network control relay applies a new beam after feeding back n symbols (t 3) after the last symbol (t 2) of the HARQ feedback for the DCI. The specific value of n is indicated by the access network equipment.

In some embodiments, between the first time instant (t 1) and the second time instant (t 3), the network control relay determines the beam of the backhaul link as a default beam. The default beam is predefined, or pre-configured, or configured or specified by the access network device. For example, the access network device is configured or specified in advance through RRC signaling.

In some embodiments, between the first time instant (t 1) and the second time instant (t 3), the network control relay keeps the beam of the backhaul link unchanged for the beam used before the update application described above. Illustratively, even between the first time (t 1) and the second time (t 3), if the beam of the first channel is changed otherwise, and is already different from the beam used before the update application, the network control relay keeps the beam of the backhaul link unchanged from the beam used before the update application.

In some embodiments, between the first time instant (t 1) and the second time instant (t 3), the network control relay determines that the beam of the backhaul link always follows the beam of the first channel. Illustratively, even between the first time instant (t 1) and the second time instant (t 3), if the beam of the first channel is otherwise changed, already differently from the beam used before the update application described above, the network controlling relay determines that the beam of the backhaul link always follows the beam of the first channel.

Fig. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a beam determination apparatus of a backhaul link according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, where the apparatus includes:

a determining module 1610 is configured to determine a beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as a beam of the first channel on the control link.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the first channel includes at least one of:

a physical downlink control channel PDCCH;

a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH);

and a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

In a possible design of this embodiment, the beam of the PDCCH is determined by a core carrying the PDCCH, and the core carrying the PDCCH includes at least one of the following:

CORESET with index 0;

CORESET carrying SCI.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the first channel includes a first downlink channel;

the device still includes:

a first receiving module, configured to determine a receiving beam of a backhaul link, which is the same as a receiving beam of a first downlink channel on a control link;

a first sending module, configured to determine a sending beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as a receiving beam of the first downlink channel on the control link.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the first channel includes a first downlink channel and a first uplink channel;

the device still includes:

a second receiving module, configured to determine a receiving beam of the backhaul link, where the receiving beam is the same as a receiving beam of the first downlink channel on the control link;

and a second sending module, configured to determine a sending beam of the backhaul link, where the sending beam is the same as the sending beam of the first uplink channel on the control link.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the beam of the first channel is indicated by a TCI status;

determining a beam of a backhaul link, which is the same as a beam of a first channel on a control link, includes:

determining that the beam of the backhaul link is the beam indicated by the unified TCI status.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the unified TCI state is a joint TCI state;

the device still includes:

a third receiving module, configured to determine a receiving beam of the backhaul link, where the receiving beam is the same as a beam indicated by the joint TCI status;

and a third sending module, configured to determine a sending beam of the backhaul link, where the sending beam is the same as a beam indicated by the joint TCI status.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the unified TCI state includes a downlink independent TCI state and an uplink independent TCI state;

the device still includes:

a fourth receiving module, configured to determine a receiving beam of the backhaul link, where the receiving beam is the same as a beam indicated by the downlink independent TCI status;

and a fourth sending module, configured to determine a sending beam of the backhaul link, where the sending beam is the same as a beam indicated by the uplink independent TCI status.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the apparatus further includes:

a fifth determining module, configured to determine a beam of the backhaul link as a default beam if the beam of the first channel is instructed to be updated and the update has not been applied;

or the like, or, alternatively,

a fifth maintaining module, configured to, in a case where the beam of the first channel is indicated to be updated and the update is not yet applied, maintain the beam of the backhaul link unchanged as the beam used before the update is applied;

or the like, or, alternatively,

a sixth determining module for determining that the beam of the backhaul link always follows the beam of the first channel, if the beam of the first channel is instructed to be updated and the update has not been applied.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the default beam is configured by the access network device.

In one possible design of this embodiment, the beam update completion time of the backhaul link and the beam completion time on the control link are the same time.

Fig. 17 shows a schematic structural diagram of a network control relay or terminal 1700 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, where the network control relay or terminal includes: a processor 1701, a receiver 1702, a transmitter 1703, a memory 1704, and a bus 1705.

The processor 1701 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 1701 executes various functional applications and information processing by executing software programs and modules.

The receiver 1702 and the transmitter 1703 may be implemented as one communication component, which may be a communication chip.

The memory 1704 is coupled to the processor 1701 via a bus 1705.

The memory 1704 may be used to store at least one instruction that the processor 1701 is configured to execute to perform various steps in the above-described method embodiments.

Further, memory 1704 may be implemented by any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile storage devices, including, but not limited to: magnetic or optical disk, electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), static Random-Access Memory (SRAM), read-Only Memory (ROM), magnetic Memory, flash Memory, programmable Read-Only Memory (PROM).

In an exemplary embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, e.g., a memory comprising instructions, executable by a processor of a terminal to perform the beam determination method of the backhaul link is also provided. For example, the non-transitory computer readable storage medium may be a ROM, a Random-Access Memory (RAM), a Compact Disc Read Only Memory (CD-ROM), a magnetic tape, a floppy disk, an optical data storage device, and the like.

Fig. 18 is a block diagram illustrating an access network device 1800, which access network device 1800 may be a base station, according to an example embodiment.

The access network device 1800 may include: a processor 1801, a receiver 1802, a transmitter 1803, and memory 1804. The receiver 1802, transmitter 1803, and memory 1804 are each coupled to the processor 1801 via a bus.

The processor 1801 includes one or more processing cores, and the processor 1801 executes software programs and modules to perform the beam determination method of the backhaul link provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. Memory 1804 may be used to store software programs and modules. In particular, memory 1804 may store an operating system 18041, and application program modules 18042 required for at least one function. The receiver 1802 is configured to receive communication data transmitted by other devices, and the transmitter 1803 is configured to transmit communication data to other devices.

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which at least one instruction, at least one program, a set of codes, or a set of instructions is stored, and the at least one instruction, the at least one program, the set of codes, or the set of instructions is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the beam determination method for a backhaul link provided by the above-mentioned various method embodiments.

An exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a computer program product including computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium; a processor of the computer device reads computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, and the processor executes the computer instructions to cause the computer device to perform the beam determination method for the backhaul link as provided by the above-described various method embodiments.

It should be understood that reference herein to "a plurality" means two or more. Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements that have been described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of beam determination for a backhaul link, the method being performed by a network controlled relay, the method comprising:

and determining the beam of the backhaul link, wherein the beam is the same as the beam of the first channel on the control link.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first channel comprises at least one of:

a physical downlink control channel PDCCH;

a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH);

and a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a beam of the PDCCH is determined by a CORESET carrying a control resource set of the PDCCH, and the CORESET carrying the PDCCH comprises at least one of:

CORESET with index 0;

CORESET carrying the side control information SCI.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said first channel comprises a first downlink channel;

the determining that the beam of the backhaul link is the same as the beam of the first channel on the control link includes:

determining a receive beam of the backhaul link that is the same as a receive beam of the first downlink channel on the control link;

determining a transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a receive beam of the first downlink channel on the control link.

5. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first channel comprises a first downlink channel and a first uplink channel;

determining a transmission beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as a transmission beam of the first uplink channel on the control link.

6. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the beam of the first channel is indicated by a unified transmission configuration indication, TCI, status;

determining that a beam of the backhaul link is a beam indicated by the unified TCI status.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the unified TCI state is a joint TCI state;

determining a receive beam of the backhaul link that is the same as a beam of the joint TCI status indication;

determining a transmit beam of the backhaul link to be the same as a beam of the joint TCI status indication.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the unified TCI state comprises a downstream independent TCI state and an upstream independent TCI state;

determining a receiving beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as a beam of the downlink independent TCI status indication;

determining a transmission beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as the beam of the uplink independent TCI status indication.

9. The method of any of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

determining a beam of the backhaul link as a default beam if a beam of the first channel is indicated to be updated and the update has not been applied;

or the like, or a combination thereof,

maintaining the beam of the backhaul link unchanged for a beam used prior to application of the update if the beam of the first channel is indicated to be updated and the update has not been applied;

or the like, or, alternatively,

determining that a beam of the backhaul link always follows a beam of the first channel if the beam of the first channel is indicated to be updated and the update has not been applied.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the default beam is configured by an access network device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein a completion time of the beam update of the backhaul link and a beam completion time on the control link are at a same time.

12. An apparatus for beam determination for a backhaul link, the apparatus comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine a beam of the backhaul link, which is the same as a beam of a first channel on a control link.

13. A network controlled repeater, the network controlled repeater comprising:

a processor;

a transceiver coupled to the processor;

wherein the processor is configured to load and execute executable instructions to implement the beam determination method of the backhaul link according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

14. A terminal, characterized in that the terminal comprises:

a processor;

a transceiver coupled to the processor;

15. A chip comprising programmable logic circuitry and/or program instructions that when executed are operable to implement a method of beam determination for a backhaul link according to any of claims 1 to 11.

16. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein at least one instruction, at least one program, a set of codes, or a set of instructions, which is loaded and executed by a processor to implement the method of beam determination for a backhaul link according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

17. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product comprises computer instructions, the computer instructions being stored in a computer readable storage medium; a processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium, the processor executing the computer instructions to cause the computer device to perform the beam determination method of the backhaul link according to any one of claims 1 to 11.