CN116095702A

CN116095702A - Beam usage method and related device

Info

Publication number: CN116095702A
Application number: CN202210963817.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 樊波; 张希; 袁世通
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-29
Filing date: 2022-08-11
Publication date: 2023-05-09

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a beam using method, which comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are of the same type; the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first control resource set according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam and/or the second beam. The first communication equipment can correctly apply the wave beam indicated by the network equipment to the channel corresponding to the control resource set, so that the channel corresponding to the control resource set can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct wave beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device determines, through the technical scheme of the present application, that the first beam and the second beam are correctly applied to the corresponding physical downlink control channel, so as to implement multi-station transmission.

Description

Beam usage method and related device

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent office filed at 2021, 10, 29, application number 202111277512.9, chinese patent application entitled "beam usage method and related apparatus", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a beam usage method and a related device.

Background

The fifth generation mobile communication system (5th generation,5G) can transmit data using high frequency communication, i.e., using ultra-high frequency band (> 6 GHz) signals. A major problem with high frequency communications is that the signal energy drops sharply with transmission distance, resulting in a short signal transmission distance. To overcome this problem, the high frequency communication adopts an analog beam technique, and the signal energy is concentrated in a small angle range by weighting the antenna array to form a signal (called an analog beam, abbreviated as a beam) similar to a light beam, thereby increasing the transmission distance.

And adopting wave beams for transmission between the network equipment and the terminal equipment. The network device may indicate to the terminal device a plurality of beams of the same type. For example, a plurality of uplink common beams, a plurality of downlink common beams, or a plurality of uplink and downlink common beams. And how to correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the corresponding channel is a problem to be solved.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a beam using method and a related device, which are used for a first communication device to determine a beam adopted by a first control resource set according to a first rule. The first communication equipment can correctly apply the wave beam indicated by the network equipment to the channel corresponding to the control resource set, so that the channel corresponding to the control resource set can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct wave beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

A first aspect of the present application provides a beam use method, including:

the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; then, the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to the first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam and/or the second beam.

In the above technical solution, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam. For example, the first beam and the second beam are a common beam of the same type. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two downlink common beams or two uplink and downlink common beams. The first communication device may determine a beam employed by the first set of control resources from the first beam and the second beam according to a first rule. The first communication device can correctly apply the wave beam indicated by the network device to the channel corresponding to the control resource set, so that the channel corresponding to the control resource set can transmit by adopting the correct wave beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device determines, through the technical solution of the present application, that the first beam and the second beam are correctly applied to the corresponding physical downlink control channel (physical downlink control channel, PDCCH), so as to implement multi-station transmission.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, each control resource set packet includes at least one control resource set, and the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, including:

if the first control resource set belongs to a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set belongs to a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication equipment determines that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam;

the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups; or the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups.

In the above implementation manner, a specific manner for the first communication device to determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set is provided for the case that the network device configures two control resource set groups for the terminal device, so that the first communication device adopts the correct beam to transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set. For example, for a multi-station transmission scenario, the two control resource set packets respectively correspond to two stations, and through the technical scheme of the application, the first communication device can determine that the control resource sets belonging to the two control resource set packets adopt corresponding beams, so as to realize multi-station transmission.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two control resource sets for the terminal device and the two control resource sets are used for repeated transmission of the control channel, the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, including:

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a wave beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first wave beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam.

In the above implementation manner, a specific manner for the first communication device to determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set is provided for the case that the network device configures two control resource sets for the terminal device and the two control resource sets are used for the repeated transmission of the control channel, so that the first communication device adopts the correct beam to transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set. For example, for a multi-station transmission scenario, the two control resource sets respectively correspond to two stations, and through the technical scheme of the application, the first communication device can determine beams adopted by the two control resource sets respectively, so that multi-station transmission is realized.

If the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a wave beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first wave beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is the control resource set with the earlier configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam.

In the above implementation manner, the network device configures two control resource sets for the terminal device, and the case that the two control resource sets are used for repeated transmission of the control channel provides another specific manner for the first communication device to determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set, so that the first communication device adopts the correct beam to transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set. For example, for a multi-station transmission scenario, the two control resource sets respectively correspond to two stations, and through the technical scheme of the application, the first communication device can determine beams adopted by the two control resource sets respectively, so that multi-station transmission is realized.

In another possible implementation, the two sets of control resources are used for repeated transmission of the control channel to satisfy any one of the following conditions:

the network equipment configures two control resource set groups for the terminal equipment, wherein the two control resource sets belong to different control resource set groups; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the network equipment configures two control resource set groups for the terminal equipment, wherein the index of a control resource set in a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups is smaller than that of a control resource set in a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups; or, the configuration sequence of the control resource sets in the first control resource set group is before the configuration sequence of the control resource sets in the second control resource set group; the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the network equipment configures two control resource set groups for the terminal equipment, wherein the index of a control resource set in a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups is larger than that of a control resource set in a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups; or, the configuration sequence of the control resource sets in the first control resource set group is after the configuration sequence of the control resource sets in the second control resource set group; the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The network device configures only one control resource set group for the terminal device, and the two control resource sets belong to the control resource set group.

The above implementation provides a specific example of some conditions satisfied by the repeated transmission of two control resource sets for a control channel, so that the first communication device can correctly determine the beams adopted by the two control resource sets, thereby improving the communication transmission performance. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device may determine, through the technical solution of the present application, a beam adopted by the two control resource sets, thereby implementing multi-station transmission.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures a control resource set packet for the terminal device, the control resource set packet includes one or more single beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one single beam control resource set in the one or more single beam control resource sets, the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, including:

the first communication equipment determines a beam adopted by a first control resource set as the first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment determines to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the first beam, and if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment determines to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the second beam.

In the above implementation manner, a specific determination manner for determining, by the first communication device, a beam adopted by the first control resource set is provided in the case that the network device configures a control resource set group for the terminal device and the first control resource set is a single beam resource set. Therefore, the first communication equipment can accurately determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set, so that the proper beam can be conveniently selected to transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, the beams employed by different stations are configured in different sets of beams, in other words, the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. If the current beam adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set is preferentially transmitted by adopting the same station. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first set of control resources is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam, and will not be described here.

In another possible implementation, the first set of control resources is not used for repeated transmission of the control channel.

In the above implementation, the first set of control resources is not used for repeated transmission of the control channel with other sets of control resources. And the first communication equipment determines the beam adopted by the first control resource set by combining the first rule so as to conveniently select a proper beam to transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set, thereby improving the communication transmission performance.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures a control resource set packet for the terminal device, where the control resource set packet includes one or more multi-beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one multi-beam control resource set in the one or more multi-beam control resource sets, the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, where the determining includes: the first communication device determines the beam employed by the first set of control resources as a first beam and a second beam.

In this implementation, a control resource set group is configured for the terminal device for the network device, where the first control resource set belongs to one multi-beam control resource set in the control resource set group, and the first control resource set group may directly use the first beam and the second beam. For example, the first beam and the second beam are beams adopted by two stations, and the terminal device and the two stations perform transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the corresponding beams, so as to realize multi-station transmission.

In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the first communication device receiving a first medium access control element (media access control control element, MAC CE) from the second communication device, the first MAC CE comprising an index of a first set of control resources; the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, including:

if the first MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information, and the first beam indication information indicates a first beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set uses a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are validated at any time in any time period, where the first time period is a time interval between a validation time of the beam indicated by the first MAC CE and a validation time of the beam indicated by the second MAC CE, and the second MAC CE is a MAC CE that is received by the first communication device last time after the first MAC CE is received and is used for indicating the beam employed by the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first MAC CE is a first type MAC CE, the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information, and the first beam indication information indicates a second beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set takes a second common beam of two common beams of the same type, which take effect at any time in the first time period; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the first MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, and the first MAC CE includes second beam indication information and third beam indication information, where the second beam indication information indicates the first beam, and the third beam indication information indicates the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set takes two common beams of the same type, which take effect at any time in the first time period.

In this implementation, the first communication device may determine the beam employed by the first set of control resources in conjunction with the received first MAC CE. Therefore, the first communication equipment can accurately determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set, so that the proper beam can be conveniently selected to transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

In another possible implementation, the method further includes: the first communication device determines a type of a first set of control resources, the type of the first set of control resources comprising: a single beam control resource set or a multi-beam control resource set.

In this implementation, the first communication device may determine the type of the first control resource set first, and then determine, with reference to the type of the first control resource set, the beam adopted by the first control resource set correctly.

In another possible implementation, the determining, by the first communication device, a type of the first set of control resources includes:

the first communication equipment determines the type of the first control resource set according to the configuration parameters in the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the method comprises the steps that a first communication device receives first indication information from a second communication device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether a first control resource set is allowed to adopt a plurality of beams or not, or the first indication information is used for indicating the type of the first control resource set, the first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication equipment determines the type of the first control resource set according to the number of the wave beams currently adopted by the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives a third MAC CE from the second communication device, wherein the third MAC CE is used for indicating the type of the first control resource set, or the third MAC CE is used for indicating the number of beams adopted by the first control resource set, and the number of beams comprises one beam or two beams; or, the third MAC CE is configured to instruct the beam adopted by the first control resource set, where the beam adopted by the first control resource set includes the first beam and/or the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first communication device receives a first MAC CE from the second communication device; the first communication device determines a type of the first set of control resources based on the type of the first MAC CE.

Several possible implementations of the first communication device determining the type of the first set of control resources are shown in the above implementations, thereby facilitating implementation of the scheme. For example, the first communication device may determine the type of the first set of control resources by configuration parameters of the first set of control resources, the method being simple and transaction-implemented. Or the first communication device determines the type of the first control resource set by receiving first indication information of the second communication device; alternatively, the first communication device indirectly determines the type of the first set of control resources by the number of beams currently employed by the first set of control resources.

In another possible implementation, the determining, by the first communication device, a type of the first set of control resources according to a type of the first MAC CE includes:

if the first MAC CE is the first type of MAC CE, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set; or if the first MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set is a multi-beam control resource set. Optionally, the first type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a single beam, and the second type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating multiple beams.

The above implementation manner shows a specific process that the first communication device determines the type of the first control resource set according to the type of the first MAC CE, which is beneficial to implementation of the scheme.

In another possible implementation manner, the determining, by the first communication device, a type of the first control resource set according to a number of beams currently adopted by the first control resource set includes:

if the number of the beams currently adopted by the first control resource set is 1, the first communication equipment determines that the type of the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set;

if the number of beams currently adopted by the first control resource set is greater than 1, the first communication device determines that the type of the first control resource set is a multi-beam control resource set.

The above implementation manner shows a specific process that the first communication device determines the type of the first control resource set in combination with the number of beams currently adopted by the first control resource set, which is beneficial to implementation of the scheme.

In another possible implementation, the number of beams currently employed by the single beam resource set is 1, and the number of beams currently employed by the multi-beam resource set is greater than 1.

Some possible ways of distinguishing between the first beam and the second beam are shown in the above implementations for the first communication device to distinguish between two beams of the same type indicated by the network device. For example, in a multi-site transmission scenario, the first beam and the second beam may be beams employed by two different sites. The first beam and the second beam may in particular be represented by any of the ways shown above.

In another possible implementation, the first communication device includes a network device or a terminal device.

In another possible implementation, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, including:

the first communication device receives second indication information from the second communication device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first beam and the second beam, the first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device. In this implementation, the first communication device may determine the first beam and the second beam through second indication information from the second communication device.

A second aspect of the present application provides a beam use method, including:

the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first physical uplink control channel (physical uplink control channel, PUCCH) according to a first rule, where the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam and/or a second beam.

In the above technical solution, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam. For example, the first beam and the second beam are a common beam of the same type. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink common beams or two uplink and downlink common beams. The first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first PUCCH from the first beam and the second beam based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the first PUCCH, and the first PUCCH can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct beam, so that the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device determines, through the technical scheme of the present application, that the first beam and the second beam are correctly applied to the corresponding PUCCH, thereby implementing multi-station transmission.

In a possible implementation manner, if the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH, the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, including:

the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first PUCCH as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first PUCCH as a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment determines to update the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH into the first beam; if the current beam of the first PUCCH and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication device determines to update the current beam of the first PUCCH to the second beam.

In the above implementation manner, for the case that the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH, a specific determining manner in which the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first PUCCH is provided. Therefore, the first communication device can accurately determine the beam adopted by the first PUCCH, so that the first PUCCH can be conveniently transmitted by selecting a proper beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, the beams employed by different stations are configured in different sets of beams, in other words, the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. If the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first PUCCH is preferentially transmitted by adopting the same station. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first PUCCH is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam and will not be described here.

In another possible implementation manner, if the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH, the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, including: the first communication device determines a beam employed by the first PUCCH as a first beam and a second beam.

In this implementation, for the case where the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH, the first PUCCH may directly employ the first beam and the second beam. For example, the first beam and the second beam are beams adopted by two stations, and the terminal device and the two stations perform transmission of the first PUCCH through the corresponding beams, so as to implement multi-station transmission.

In another possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first communication device receiving a fourth MAC CE from the second communication device, the fourth MAC CE including an index of the first PUCCH; the first communication device determining a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, including:

if the fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes fourth beam indication information, where the fourth beam indication information is used to indicate the first beam, the first communication device determines that, at any time in the second period of time, the first PUCCH adopts a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at the any time; the second time period is a time interval between an effective time of the beam indicated by the fourth MAC CE and an effective time of the beam indicated by the fifth MAC CE; the fifth MAC CE is a MAC CE that is received by the first communication device last time after receiving the fourth MAC CE, for indicating a beam employed by the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE and the fourth MAC CE includes fourth beam indication information, where the fourth beam indication information indicates the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH uses a second common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second time period; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the fourth MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes fifth beam indication information and sixth beam indication information, where the fifth beam indication information indicates the first beam and the sixth beam indication information indicates the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH uses two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second period.

In the above implementation manner, the first communication device may determine a specific determination manner of the beam adopted by the first PUCCH in combination with the fourth MAC CE. Therefore, the first communication device can accurately determine the beam adopted by the first PUCCH, so that the first PUCCH can be conveniently transmitted by selecting a proper beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

In another possible implementation manner, before the first communication device determines the beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to the first rule, the method further includes:

The first communication device determines a type of a first PUCCH, where the type of the first PUCCH includes a single beam PUCCH or a multi-beam PUCCH, the number of beams adopted by the single beam PUCCH is 1, and the number of beams adopted by the multi-beam PUCCH is greater than 1.

In another possible implementation, the determining, by the first communication device, the type of the first PUCCH includes:

the first communication device determines the type of the first PUCCH according to the configuration parameters in the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives first indication information from the second communication device; the first indication information is used for indicating whether the first PUCCH is allowed to adopt a plurality of beams or indicating the type of the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device determines the type of the first PUCCH according to the number of beams currently adopted by the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives a sixth MAC CE from the second communication device, wherein the sixth MAC CE is used for indicating the type of the first PUCCH or indicating the number of beams adopted by the first PUCCH, the number of the beams is one beam or two beams, or indicating the beams adopted by the first PUCCH, and the beams adopted by the first PUCCH comprise a first beam and/or a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first communication device receiving a fourth MAC CE from the second communication device; the first communication device determines a type of the first PUCCH according to the type of the fourth MAC CE.

In another possible implementation manner, the determining, by the first communication device, the type of the first PUCCH according to the type of the fourth MAC CE includes:

if the fourth MAC CE is the first type of MAC CE, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH is a single-beam PUCCH; or if the fourth MAC CE is the second type MAC CE, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH. The first type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a single beam, and the second type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a plurality of beams.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device; the first communication device determining a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, including:

if the first PUCCH is associated with the group index of a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam; if the first PUCCH is associated with the group index of the second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication equipment determines that the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a second beam;

In the above implementation manner, for the case that the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, a specific manner for the first communication device to determine the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is provided, so that the first communication device correctly determines the beam adopted by the first PUCCH, thereby improving the communication transmission performance. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device may determine, through the technical solution of the present application, a beam adopted by the plurality of PUCCHs, thereby implementing multi-station transmission.

A third aspect of the present application provides a beam use method, including:

the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; the first communication device receives third indication information from the second communication device, the third indication information being used for indicating any one of the following:

the first shared channel adopts a first wave beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first shared channel adopts a second wave beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first shared channel adopts a first wave beam and a second wave beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first shared channel does not employ the first beam and the second beam.

In the above technical solution, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam. For example, if the first shared channel is a physical downlink shared channel (physical downlink sharing channel, PDSCH), the first beam and the second beam are two downlink common beams or two uplink and downlink common beams. If the first shared channel is a physical uplink shared channel (physical uplink sharing channel, PUSCH), the first beam and the second beam are two uplink common beams or two uplink downlink common beams. The first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first shared channel based on the third indication information, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the first shared channel, and the first shared channel can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved. The second communication device can flexibly instruct the first communication device to transmit the first shared channel by adopting the first beam and/or the second beam through the third instruction information. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device determines, through the technical solution of the present application, that the first beam and the second beam are correctly applied to the first shared channel, so as to implement multi-station transmission.

In one possible implementation, the third indication information is carried in downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI). In this implementation, the second communication device may send the third indication information to the first communication device through DCI, thereby providing a specific carrier for sending the indication information.

In another possible implementation manner, if the value of the third indication information is "00", the third indication information is used to indicate that the first shared channel adopts the first beam; if the value of the third indication information is "01", the third indication information is used for indicating that the first shared channel adopts the second wave beam; if the value of the third indication information is 10, the third indication information is used for indicating the first shared channel to adopt the first wave beam and the second wave beam; if the value of the third indication information is "11", the third indication information is used for indicating that the first shared channel does not adopt the first beam and the second beam.

Some possible values of the third indication information and meanings of the corresponding indication of the values are shown in the above implementation manner, so that implementation of the scheme is facilitated.

A fourth aspect of the present application provides a beam use method, including:

the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; the first communication device determines a beam employed by a first sounding reference signal (sounding reference signal, SRS) resource according to a first rule, the beam employed by the first SRS resource being either a first beam or a second beam.

In the above technical solution, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink common beams or two uplink and downlink common beams. The first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first SRS resource based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the transmission of the corresponding reference signal, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two SRS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, the first communication device determines, according to a first rule, a beam adopted by the first SRS resource, including:

if the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource corresponding to the first SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is the first beam; if the first SRS resource belongs to a corresponding SRS resource in a second SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam;

the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a smaller index in the two SRS resource sets, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a larger index in the two SRS resource sets; or the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a larger index in the two SRS resource sets, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a smaller index in the two SRS resource sets; or the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets; or the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets.

In the implementation manner, for the case that the network device configures two SRS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, a specific manner of determining, by the first communication device, the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is provided, so that the first communication device adopts the correct beam to transmit the first SRS resource, thereby improving the communication transmission performance.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures an SRS resource set for the terminal device, the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource set, and the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first SRS resource according to the first rule, including:

the first communication equipment determines a beam adopted by a first SRS resource as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource into the first beam; if the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource to the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first communication device receiving a first radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) message or a first MAC CE from the second communication device; the first RRC message or the first MAC CE is configured to instruct the first SRS resource to employ one or both of the first beam and the second beam; the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first SRS resource according to the first RRC message or the first MAC CE; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives a second RRC message or a second MAC CE from the second communication device; the first RRC message or the second MAC CE is configured to instruct the first SRS resource to employ the first beam, or employ the second beam, or employ the first beam and the second beam; the first communication device determines a beam employed by the first SRS resource according to the second RRC message or the second MAC CE.

In the above implementation manner, a specific determination manner of determining, by the first communication device, a beam adopted by the first SRS resource is provided for a case that the network device configures one SRS resource set for the terminal device. Therefore, the first communication equipment can accurately determine the beam adopted by the first SRS resource, so that the appropriate beam can be conveniently selected to transmit the first SRS resource, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, the beams employed by different stations are configured in different sets of beams, in other words, the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. If the current adopted wave beam of the first SRS resource and the first wave beam belong to the same wave beam set, the same station is preferentially adopted to transmit the first SRS resource. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first SRS resource is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam, and will not be described here.

A fifth aspect of the present application provides a beam use method, including:

the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first channel state information reference signal (channel state information-reference signal, CSI-RS) resource according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam or a second beam.

In the above technical solution, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink common beams or two uplink and downlink common beams. The first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the transmission of the corresponding reference signal, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two CSI-RS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, the first communication device determines, according to a first rule, a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource, including:

if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource corresponding to the first CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is the first beam; if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to a corresponding CSI-RS resource in a second CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam;

the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a smaller index in the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a larger index in the two CSI-RS resource sets; or the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a larger index in the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a smaller index in the two CSI-RS resource sets; or the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a rear configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets; or the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets.

In the implementation manner, for the case that the network device configures two CSI-RS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, a specific manner of determining the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource by the first communication device is provided, so that the first communication device adopts the correct beam to transmit the first CSI-RS resource, thereby improving the communication transmission performance.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures a CSI-RS resource set for the terminal device, the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource set, and the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource according to a first rule, including:

the first communication equipment determines a beam adopted by a first CSI-RS resource as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource into the first beam; if the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource into the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first communication device receives a first RRC message or a first MAC CE from the second communication device; the first RRC message or the first MAC CE is configured to instruct the first CSI-RS resource to employ one or both of the first beam and the second beam; the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first CSI-RS resource according to the first RRC message or the first MAC CE; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives a second RRC message or a second MAC CE from the second communication device; the first RRC message or the second MAC CE is configured to instruct the first CSI-RS resource to employ a first beam, or employ a second beam, or employ the first beam and the second beam; the first communication device determines a beam employed by the first CSI-RS resource according to the second RRC message or the second MAC CE.

In the above implementation manner, a specific determination manner of determining, by the first communication device, a beam used by the first CSI-RS resource is provided for a case that the network device configures a CSI-RS resource set for the terminal device. Therefore, the first communication equipment can accurately determine the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource, so that the appropriate beam can be conveniently selected to transmit the first CSI-RS resource, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, the beams employed by different stations are configured in different sets of beams, in other words, the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. If the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first CSI-RS resource is preferentially transmitted by adopting the same station. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first CSI-RS resource is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam, and will not be described here.

Based on any one of the first to fifth aspects, the first and second beams are two common beams of the same type indicated by the network device to the terminal device; the first beam and the second beam comprise any one of:

the first beam is the lower index of the two beams and the second beam is the higher index of the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is the beam with smaller corresponding transmission configuration indication (transmission configuration indicator, TCI) field value in the two beams, and the second beam is the beam with larger corresponding TCI field value in the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first beam is the beam with the earlier configuration sequence in the two beams, and the second beam is the beam with the later configuration sequence in the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam belongs to a first beam set, the second beam belongs to a second beam set, the first beam set and the second beam set are two beam sets of the same type, configured by the network equipment for the terminal equipment, the first beam set is a beam set with smaller index in the two beam sets of the same type, and the second beam set is a beam set with larger index in the two beam sets; or the first beam set is a beam set with a front configuration sequence in two beam sets of the same type, and the second beam set is a beam set with a rear configuration sequence in two beam sets; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam belongs to a first beam group, the second beam belongs to a second beam group, the first beam group and the second beam group are two beam groups of the same type activated by the network equipment through the MAC CE, the first beam group is a beam group with smaller index in the two beam groups of the same type, and the second beam group is a beam group with larger index in the two beam groups of the same type; or, the first beam group is the beam group with the earlier activation sequence of two beam groups of the same type in the MAC CE, and the second beam group is the beam group with the later activation sequence of two beam groups of the same type in the MAC CE; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first beam is a beam indicated by a first TCI field in the DCI, and the second beam is a beam indicated by a second TCI field in the DCI; the first TCI field corresponds to a first beam set and the second TCI field corresponds to a second beam set. The first communication device determines a first beam from the first beam group through a field value of a first TCI field and determines a second beam from the second beam group through a field value of a second TCI field; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam corresponding to a first part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI, and the second beam is a beam corresponding to a second part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI; the first partial field value corresponds to a beam group, and the second partial field value corresponds to a second beam group; the first communication device determines a first beam from the first beam set by a first partial field value and a second beam from the second beam set by a second partial field value; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam and the second beam are two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field in the DCI, wherein the first beam is the first beam of the two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field, and the second beam is the second beam of the two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first beam is the beam with the earlier activation sequence in the MAC CE in the two beams of the same type, and the second beam is the beam with the later activation sequence in the MAC CE in the two beams of the same type; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam indicated by first DCI, the second beam is a beam indicated by second DCI, the first DCI is DCI carried by PDCCH corresponding to a first control resource set packet in two control resource set packets configured by network equipment for terminal equipment, the second DCI is DCI carried by PDCCH corresponding to a second control resource set packet in the two control resource set packets, the first control resource set packet is a control resource set packet with smaller packet index in the two control resource set packets, and the second control resource set packet is a control resource set packet with larger packet index in the two control resource set packets; or, the value of one field or the value of a part of bits of one field in the first DCI is a first value, and the value of one field or the value of a part of bits of one field in the second DCI is a second value.

A sixth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising:

the processing module is used for determining a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are beams of the same type; and determining the beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam and/or the second beam.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, each control resource set packet includes at least one control resource set, the processing module is specifically configured to:

if the first control resource set belongs to a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set belongs to a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam;

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two control resource sets for the terminal device, and the two control resource sets are used for repeated transmission of the control channel, the processing module is specifically configured to:

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, determining that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam.

If the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is the control resource set with the earlier configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, determining that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam.

In another possible implementation, the two sets of control resources are used for repeated transmission of the control channel satisfying any one of the following conditions:

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures a control resource set packet for the terminal device, the control resource set packet includes one or more single beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one single beam control resource set in the one or more single beam control resource sets, the processing module is specifically configured to:

Determining a beam adopted by a first control resource set as the first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

determining a beam adopted by the first control resource set as a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, determining to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the first beam, and if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, determining to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the second beam.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures a control resource set packet for the terminal device, the control resource set packet includes one or more multi-beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one multi-beam control resource set in the one or more multi-beam control resource sets, the processing module is specifically configured to:

and determining the beam adopted by the first control resource set as a first beam and a second beam.

In another possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: receiving a first MAC CE from a second communication device, the first MAC CE comprising an index of a first set of control resources; the processing module is specifically used for:

If the first MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information, and the first beam indication information indicates a first beam, determining that the first control resource set uses a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are validated at any time in a first period, where the first period is a time interval between a validation time of the beam indicated by the first MAC CE and a validation time of the beam indicated by the second MAC CE, and the second MAC CE is a MAC CE that is received by the communication device last time after receiving the first MAC CE and is used for indicating the beam used by the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, the first MAC CE comprises first beam indication information, and the first beam indication information indicates a second beam, determining that the first control resource set takes a second common beam of two common beams of the same type, which take effect at any moment, at any moment in a first time period; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, and the first MAC CE includes second beam indication information and third beam indication information, where the second beam indication information indicates the first beam, and the third beam indication information indicates the second beam, it is determined that the first control resource set uses two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the first period.

In another possible implementation, the processing module is further configured to:

determining a type of a first set of control resources, the type of the first set of control resources comprising: a single beam control resource set or a multi-beam control resource set.

In another possible implementation manner, the processing module is specifically configured to:

determining the type of the first control resource set according to the configuration parameters in the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

receiving first indication information from second communication equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the first control resource set is allowed to adopt a plurality of beams or not, or the first indication information is used for indicating the type of the first control resource set, the communication device is terminal equipment, and the second communication equipment is network equipment; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

determining the type of the first control resource set according to the number of the wave beams currently adopted by the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

receiving a third MAC CE from the second communication device, where the third MAC CE is configured to indicate a type of the first control resource set, or the third MAC CE is configured to indicate a number of beams adopted by the first control resource set, where the number of beams includes one beam or two beams; or, the third MAC CE is configured to instruct the beam adopted by the first control resource set, where the beam adopted by the first control resource set includes the first beam and/or the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

Receiving a first MAC CE from a second communication device; the type of the first set of control resources is determined according to the type of the first MAC CE.

if the first MAC CE is the first type of MAC CE, determining that the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set; or if the first MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, determining that the first control resource set is a multi-beam control resource set. The first type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a single beam, and the second type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a plurality of beams.

if the number of the beams currently adopted by the first control resource set is 1, determining that the type of the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set;

if the number of the beams currently adopted by the first control resource set is greater than 1, determining that the type of the first control resource set is a multi-beam control resource set.

In another possible implementation, the communication apparatus includes a network device or a terminal device.

and receiving second indication information from a second communication device, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the first beam and the second beam, the communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device.

A seventh aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising:

the processing module is used for determining a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are beams of the same type; and determining a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the first beam and/or the second beam.

In a possible implementation manner, if the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH, the processing module is specifically configured to:

determining a beam adopted by a first PUCCH as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

determining a beam adopted by the first PUCCH as a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the first beam belong to the same beam set, determining to update the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH into the first beam; if the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the second beam belong to the same beam set, determining to update the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH to the second beam.

In another possible implementation manner, if the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH, the processing module is specifically configured to:

and determining the beam adopted by the first PUCCH as a first beam and a second beam.

In another possible implementation, the transceiver module is further configured to: receiving a fourth MAC CE from the second communication device, the fourth MAC CE including an index of the first PUCCH;

the processing module is specifically used for:

if the fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE and the fourth MAC CE includes fourth beam indication information, where the fourth beam indication information indicates the first beam, determining that the first PUCCH uses a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second time period; the second time period is a time interval between an effective time of the beam indicated by the fourth MAC CE and an effective time of the beam indicated by the fifth MAC CE; the fifth MAC CE is a MAC CE that is received by the communication apparatus last time after receiving the fourth MAC CE, for indicating a beam employed by the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE and the fourth MAC CE includes fourth beam indication information, where the fourth beam indication information indicates the second beam, determining that the first PUCCH uses a second common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second time period; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the fourth MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes fifth beam indication information and sixth beam indication information, where the fifth beam indication information indicates the first beam and the sixth beam indication information indicates the second beam, it is determined that the first PUCCH uses two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second time period.

the method comprises the steps of determining the type of a first PUCCH, wherein the type of the first PUCCH comprises a single-beam PUCCH or a multi-beam PUCCH, the number of beams adopted by the single-beam PUCCH is 1, and the number of beams adopted by the multi-beam PUCCH is larger than 1.

determining the type of the first PUCCH according to the configuration parameters in the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

receiving first indication information from a second communication device; the first indication information is used for indicating whether the first PUCCH is allowed to adopt a plurality of beams or indicating the type of the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

determining the type of the first PUCCH according to the number of the beams currently adopted by the first PUCCH; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

receiving a sixth MAC CE from the second communication device, where the sixth MAC CE is configured to indicate a type of the first PUCCH, or is configured to indicate a number of beams adopted by the first PUCCH, where the number of beams is one beam or two beams, or is configured to indicate a beam adopted by the first PUCCH, and the beam adopted by the first PUCCH includes the first beam and/or the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

Receiving a fourth MAC CE from the second communication device; and determining the type of the first PUCCH according to the type of the fourth MAC CE.

if the fourth MAC CE is the first type of MAC CE, determining that the first PUCCH is a single-beam PUCCH; or if the fourth MAC CE is the second type of MAC CE, determining the first PUCCH as the multi-beam PUCCH; the first type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a single beam, and the second type of MAC CE is a MAC CE for indicating a plurality of beams.

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device; the processing module is specifically used for:

if the first PUCCH is associated with the group index of a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, determining that a beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam; if the first PUCCH is associated with the group index of the second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, determining that the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a second beam;

An eighth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising:

the receiving and transmitting module is used for determining a first beam and a second beam, and the first beam and the second beam are beams of the same type; receiving third indication information from the second communication device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating any one of the following:

the first shared channel does not employ the first beam and the second beam.

In one possible implementation, the third indication information is carried in DCI.

A ninth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising:

the processing module is used for determining a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are beams of the same type; and determining the beam adopted by the first SRS resource according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is the first beam and/or the second beam.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two SRS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, the processing module is specifically configured to:

if the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource corresponding to the first SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets, determining that the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is the first beam; if the first SRS resource belongs to the corresponding SRS resource in the second SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets, determining that the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam;

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures an SRS resource set for the terminal device, the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource set, and the processing module is specifically configured to:

determining a beam adopted by a first SRS resource as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

determining a beam adopted by the first SRS resource as a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the first SRS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first SRS resource into the first beam; if the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource and the second beam belong to the same beam set, updating the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource into the second beam.

second indication information is received from the second communication device, the second indication information being used to indicate the first beam and the second beam.

A tenth aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising:

the processing module is used for determining a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are beams of the same type; and determining a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is the first beam and/or the second beam.

In a possible implementation manner, if the network device configures two CSI-RS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, the processing module is specifically configured to:

if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource corresponding to the first CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, determining that a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam; if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the corresponding CSI-RS resource in the second CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, determining that the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam;

In another possible implementation manner, if the network device configures a CSI-RS resource set for the terminal device, the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource set, and the processing module is specifically configured to:

determining a beam adopted by a first CSI-RS resource as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

Determining a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource as a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource into the first beam; if the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the second beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource into the second beam.

Based on any one of the sixth to tenth aspects, in one possible implementation manner, the first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type indicated by the network device to the terminal device; the first beam and the second beam comprise any one of:

the first beam is the beam with smaller TCI field value corresponding to the two beams, and the second beam is the beam with larger TCI field value corresponding to the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first beam is a beam indicated by a first TCI field in the DCI, and the second beam is a beam indicated by a second TCI field in the DCI; the first TCI field corresponds to a first beam set and the second TCI field corresponds to a second beam set. The communication device determines a first beam from the first beam group through a field value of a first TCI field and determines a second beam from the second beam group through a field value of a second TCI field; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam corresponding to a first part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI, and the second beam is a beam corresponding to a second part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI; the first partial field value corresponds to a beam group, and the second partial field value corresponds to a second beam group; the communication device determines a first beam from the first beam group through a first partial field value and determines a second beam from the second beam group through a second partial field value; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

Some possible ways of distinguishing between the first beam and the second beam are shown in the above implementations for the communication apparatus to distinguish between two beams of the same type indicated by the network device. For example, in a multi-site transmission scenario, the first beam and the second beam may be beams employed by two different sites. The first beam and the second beam may in particular be represented by any of the ways shown above.

An eleventh aspect of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory. The memory has stored therein a computer program or computer instructions for invoking and running the computer program or computer instructions stored in the memory to cause the processor to implement any of the implementations of any of the first to fifth aspects.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises a transceiver, and the processor is configured to control the transceiver to transmit and receive signals.

A twelfth aspect of the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor. The processor is configured to invoke a computer program or computer instructions stored therein, such that the processor implements any of the implementations of any of the first to fifth aspects; alternatively, the processor is configured to perform any implementation manner of any one of the first to fifth aspects.

A thirteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device comprising a processor for performing any one of the implementations of the first to fifth aspects.

A fourteenth aspect of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform an implementation of any of the first to fifth aspects.

A fifteenth aspect of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium comprising computer instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform any one of the implementations of any one of the first to fifth aspects.

A sixteenth aspect of the present application provides a chip device comprising a processor for invoking a computer program or computer instructions in the memory to cause the processor to perform any of the implementations of any of the first to fifth aspects above.

Optionally, the processor is coupled to the memory through an interface.

From the above technical solutions, the embodiments of the present application have the following advantages:

according to the technical scheme, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam, and the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. The first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam and/or the second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set from the first beam and the second beam based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the channel corresponding to the control resource set, the channel corresponding to the control resource set can be conveniently transmitted by adopting the correct beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved. For example, in a multi-station transmission scenario, the first communication device determines, through the technical scheme of the present application, that the first beam and the second beam are correctly applied to the corresponding physical downlink control channel, so as to implement multi-station transmission.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a MAC CE for activating TCI, where the beam usage method according to the embodiment of the present application is applicable;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of a scenario of a beam using method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam use method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam use method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam use method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 11 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the application provides a beam using method and a related device, which are used for a first communication device to determine a beam adopted by a first control resource set according to a first rule. The first communication equipment can correctly apply the wave beam indicated by the network equipment to the channel corresponding to the control resource set, so that the channel corresponding to the control resource set can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct wave beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

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

The technical scheme of the application can be applied to various communication systems. Such as a 5G system, a New Radio (NR) system, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), a universal mobile telecommunications system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), a mobile telecommunications system behind a 5G network (e.g., a 6G mobile telecommunications system), an internet of vehicles (vehicle to everything, V2X) telecommunications system, and the like.

The communication system applicable to the application comprises first communication equipment, wherein the first communication equipment is terminal equipment or network equipment. Optionally, if the first communication device is a terminal device, the communication system further includes a second communication device, and the second communication device is a network device. Where not specifically stated hereinafter, the first communication device may be understood as a terminal device or a network device.

The terminal device and the network device of the present application are described below.

The terminal device may be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and indication information. The terminal device may be a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device with wireless connectivity, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem.

A terminal device, also called User Equipment (UE), mobile Station (MS), mobile Terminal (MT), etc. A terminal device is a device that includes wireless communication functionality (providing voice/data connectivity to a user). For example, a handheld device having a wireless connection function, an in-vehicle device, or the like. Currently, examples of some terminal devices are: a mobile phone, a tablet, a notebook, a palm, a mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in the internet of vehicles, a wireless terminal in the unmanned (self driving), a wireless terminal in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in the smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city, or a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and the like. For example, the wireless terminal in the internet of vehicles may be a vehicle-mounted device, a whole vehicle device, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle, or the like. The wireless terminal in the industrial control can be a camera, a robot and the like. The wireless terminal in the smart home can be a television, an air conditioner, a floor sweeping machine, a sound box, a set top box and the like.

The network device may be a device in a wireless network. For example, the network device may be a device deployed in a radio access network to provide wireless communication functionality for terminal devices. For example, the network device may be a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node, also referred to as access network device, that accesses the terminal device to the wireless network.

Network devices include, but are not limited to: an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home base station (home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB, for example), a baseband unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WIFI) system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), etc., may also be a network device in a 5G mobile communication system. For example, next generation base stations (gNB) in NR systems, transmission reception points (transmission reception point, TRP), TP; or one or a group (including a plurality of antenna panels) of base stations in a 5G mobile communication system; alternatively, the network device may also be a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point. Such as a BBU, or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc.

In some deployments, the gNB may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and DUs. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU). The CU implements part of the functionality of the gNB and the DU implements part of the functionality of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for handling non-real time protocols and services, implementing the functions of the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for handling physical layer protocols and real-time services, and implements functions of a radio link control (radio link control, RLC), MAC, and Physical (PHY) layers. The AAU realizes part of physical layer processing function, radio frequency processing and related functions of the active antenna. The information of the RRC layer may eventually become information of the PHY layer or may be converted from the information of the PHY layer. Under this architecture, higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC layer signaling) may also be considered to be sent by DUs, or by DUs and AAUs. It is understood that the network device may be a device comprising one or more of a CU node, a DU node, an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into network devices in the RAN, or may be divided into network devices in a Core Network (CN), which is not limited in this application.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, two possible communication systems to which the beam usage method provided in the embodiments of the present application is applicable are shown below in conjunction with fig. 1 and fig. 2.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, the communication system includes at least one network device. Such as the network device 111 shown in fig. 1, the communication system further comprises at least one terminal device. Such as terminal device 121 and terminal device 122 shown in fig. 1. Network device 111 may transmit with terminal device 121 and terminal device 122 using beams.

Fig. 2 is another schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, the communication system may include at least two network devices. Such as network device 211, network device 212, and network device 213 shown in fig. 2. The communication system further comprises at least one terminal device. Such as the terminal device 221 shown in fig. 2. The terminal device 221 may be provided with communication services by a plurality of network devices. For example, as shown in fig. 2, network device 211 may transmit with terminal device 221 using beam 1, and network device 212 may transmit with terminal device 221 using beam 2. The network device 213 may transmit with the terminal device 221 using beam 3. That is, one terminal device may be provided with communication services by a plurality of network devices at the same time.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the present application, some technical terms related to the present application are described below.

1. Beam (beam): a beam is a communication resource. The beam may be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other type of beam, and the technique of forming the beam may be a beam forming technique or other means of technique. The beamforming technique may be embodied as a digital beamforming technique, an analog beamforming technique, and a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technique. Different beams may be considered different resources.

The beams may be referred to in the NR protocol as spatial filters (spatial domain filter), spatial filters (spatial filters), spatial parameters (spatial domain parameter), spatial parameters (spatial parameter), spatial settings (spatial domain setting), spatial settings (spatial setting), quasi co-location (QCL) information, QCL hypotheses, or QCL indications, among others. The beam may be indicated by a TCI-state parameter or by a spatial relationship (spatial relationship) parameter. Thus, in this application, beams may be replaced by spatial filters, spatial parameters, spatial settings, QCL information, QCL hypotheses, QCL indications, TCI-states (including uplink TCI-states, downlink TCI-states), spatial relationships, or the like. The terms are also equivalent to each other. The beam may also be replaced with other terms that represent beams and are not limited herein.

The beam used to transmit the signal may be referred to as a transmit beam (transmission beam, tx beam), spatial transmit filter (spatial domain transmission filter), spatial transmit filter (spatial transmission filter), spatial transmit parameter (spatial domain transmission parameter), spatial transmit parameter (spatial transmission parameter), spatial transmit setting (spatial domain transmission setting), or spatial transmit setting (spatial transmission setting). The transmit beam may be indicated by a TCI-state.

The beam used to receive the signal may be referred to as a receive beam (Rx beam), a spatial receive filter (spatial domain reception filter), a spatial receive filter (spatial reception filter), spatial receive parameters (spatial domain reception parameter) or spatial receive parameters (spatial reception parameter), spatial receive settings (spatial domain reception setting), or spatial receive settings (spatial reception setting).

Both the transmit beam and the receive beam may be indicated by any of spatial relationship, TCI-state, SRS resources (indicating the transmit beam using the SRS). Thus, the transmit beam may also be replaced with SRS resources.

The transmit beam may refer to a distribution of signal strengths formed in spatially different directions after signals are transmitted through the antennas, and the receive beam may refer to a distribution of signal strengths of wireless signals received from the antennas in spatially different directions.

Furthermore, the beam may be a wide beam, or a narrow beam, or other type of beam. The technique of forming the beam may be a beamforming technique or other technique. The beamforming technique may specifically be a digital beamforming technique, an analog beamforming technique, a hybrid digital beamforming technique, or a hybrid analog beamforming technique, etc.

The beam generally corresponds to a resource, for example, when the network device measures the beam, the network device measures different beams through different resources, the terminal device feeds back the measured quality of the resource, and the network device knows the quality of the corresponding beam. When data is transmitted, beam information is also indicated by its corresponding resource. For example, the network device indicates information of PDSCH beams of the terminal device through a TCI field in DCI.

In one manner of possible implementation, multiple beams with the same or similar communication characteristics are considered to be one beam. One or more antenna ports may be included in a beam for transmitting data channels, control channels, and sounding signals, etc. One or more antenna ports forming a beam may also be considered as a set of antenna ports.

2. Transmission configuration indication state (transmission configuration indicator state, TCI-state)

The TCI-state is used to indicate the downlink beam. The network device may generate different beams pointing in different directions of transmission. In downlink data transmission, when a network device transmits data to a terminal device using one specific beam, the terminal device needs to be informed of information of a transmission beam used by the terminal device, and thus, the terminal device can receive the data transmitted by the network device using a reception beam corresponding to the transmission beam. In the third generation partnership project release15 (3rd generation partnership project release15,3GPP R15) protocol or the 3gpp r16 protocol, the network device indicates to the terminal device, via the TCI field in the DCI, information about the transmit beam it uses. Specifically, the TCI field size is 3 bits, and may specifically represent 8 different field values (code points). Each value of the TCI field corresponds to an index of TCI-states, which can uniquely identify a TCI-state. One TCI-state comprises several parameters from which the information about the transmit beam can be determined. The TCI-state is configured to each terminal device by the network device, and the structure of the TCI-state is as follows:

Each TCI-state includes an own index TCI-StateId, and two QCL-Info. Each QCL-Info includes a cell (cell) field and BWP-Id, which indicates which bandwidth part (BWP) of which cell the TCI-state is applied to, i.e., different cells or different BWP of the same cell may configure different QCL-Info. The QCL-Info also includes a reference signal (reference signal) for indicating with which reference signal resource a quasi co-ordination is made. In the 3gpp r15 protocol or 3gpp r16 protocol, the beams are generally replaced by other terms. For example, in both data transmission and channel measurement, beams correspond to reference signal resources, one for each reference signal resource. Accordingly, the reference signal resource and the QCL relation are shown here, and the essential meaning is that the QCL relation is formed by which beam. The QCL relationship means that two reference signal resources (or two antenna ports, antenna port and reference signal resource are also in one-to-one correspondence) have some identical spatial parameters, and that the specific spatial parameters are identical depends on the Type of the QCL-Info, i.e. another field QCL-Type of the QCL-Info. qcl-Type can have four values { typeA, typeB, typeC, typeD }. Taking typeD as an example, typeD indicates that two reference signal resources have the same spatial reception parameter information, i.e., two beams have the same reception beam. At most only one of the two QCL-Info's included in the TCI-state is TypeD.

In the following, it is explained in detail with an example how the network device indicates the reception beam information of the data transmission beam to one terminal device via the TCI-state based on the 3gpp r15 protocol or the 3gpp r16 protocol, including the configuration, activation and indication of the TCI-state.

TCI-state configuration: the network device configures a plurality of TCI-states to the terminal device through RRC signaling. These TCI-states each include a QCL-Info of type typeD. The network device may also configure TCI-states that do not include QCL-info of type typeD, although these TCI-states are not indications for the data transmission beam and are not further described herein.

TCI-state activation: after the network device configures multiple TCI-states, 8 of them also need to be activated by MAC-CE. These 8 TCI-states are in one-to-one correspondence with 8 values of the TCI field in the DCI. That is, which 8 TCI-states the 8 values of the TCI field of the DCI correspond to is determined by the MAC CE.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a structure of a MAC CE for activating TCI states according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 3, the fields T0 to T (R-2) x 8+07 correspond to the TCI-states of the indices configured in the first step, respectively, and are 0 to (R-2) x 8+7, respectively, and each field has a size of 1 bit, and the value may be 0 or 1. A value of 1 indicates that the TCI-state is activated and a value of 0 indicates that the TCI-state is not activated. Each MAC CE may theoretically have 8 active fields with a value of 1, with the remainder all being 0. The 8 TCI-states corresponding to the 1-valued fields are 8 TCI-states corresponding to 8 values of the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the minimum value (000) of the TCI field corresponds to the lowest indexed TCI-state activated in the MAC CE, and so on, one-to-one. There are many types of MAC CEs, and there are many other uses of MAC CEs other than those for TCI-state activation. The present application relates only to MAC CEs for TCI-state or TCI-state combination activation. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, the MAC CEs described herein refer to such MAC CEs.

TCI-state indicates: the network device indicates a specific TCI-state through the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the value of the TCI field in the DCI transmitted by the network device to the terminal device is 000, which indicates the TCI-state corresponding to 000 employed for the data transmission beam. The reference signal included in the QCL-Info of type typeD in the TCI-state is CSI-RS with index #1, which indicates that the beam used for data transmission is the same as the received beam corresponding to CSI-RS with index # 1. The reception beam corresponding to CSI-RS with index #1 may be determined through a beam measurement procedure, which is known to the terminal device. Therefore, by the specific value of the TCI field, the terminal device can determine the receiving beam corresponding to the data transmission beam, so as to receive the data by adopting the corresponding receiving beam. It should be noted that, the two descriptions of the TCI-state and the TCI state may be replaced with each other.

3. spatial correlation (for indicating uplink beam)

In the current communication protocol, the transmit beam of the uplink is indicated by a spatial correlation, which functions similarly to TCI-state to tell the terminal device what transmit beam to use for the uplink.

The Spatial relation also needs to be configured first by RRC. The configuration structure is as follows:

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The method comprises the steps of identifying a spatial relation, identifying a cell, target reference signal resources, path loss measurement reference signals, power control parameters and the like. Wherein the target reference signal resource (which may be any of SRS, synchronization signal block and physical broadcast channel block (synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block, SSB), and CSI-RS) is used to indicate the corresponding uplink beam. If the uplink transmission adopts the spatial relation #1, and the spatial relation #1 includes a target reference signal resource #2, the sending beam adopting the uplink transmission is the sending beam or the receiving beam of the target reference signal. For example, when the target reference signal resource is an uplink resource SRS, it means that the transmission beam used for uplink transmission is the transmission beam of the SRS (the transmission beam of the SRS is known). For another example, the target reference signal resource is a downlink resource such as SSB or CSI-RS, and indicates that the transmission beam used for uplink transmission is the reception beam of the SSB or the reception beam of CSI-RS (the reception beam of the SSB or the reception beam of CSI-RS is known).

The network device may configure a plurality of spatial references for the terminal device. One of them is then activated for the corresponding data transmission by the MAC CE. The upstream transmission includes PUCCH, SRS, PUSCH, etc., and a corresponding spatial relation is required. The spatial relation of the PUCCH is indicated by MAC CE signaling. The spatial relation of SRS is also indicated by MAC CE signaling. And a specific SRS is associated during the transmission of the PUSCH, and the transmission is carried out by adopting the spatial relation of the SRS.

4. Antenna panel (Panel)

The Panel refers to an antenna Panel, which may be an antenna Panel of a network device or an antenna Panel of a terminal device. An antenna panel typically has one or more antennas arranged in an array of antennas that are beamformed to form an analog beam. The antenna array may generate analog beams pointing in different directions. That is, multiple analog beams may be formed on each antenna panel, and beam measurements may be used to determine which analog beam is best used by the antenna panel. The terminal device may be provided with a plurality of antenna panels which may be distributed in different positions and oriented in different directions, which may ensure that at least one antenna panel is oriented towards the network device for data transmission with the network device no matter which direction the terminal device is oriented towards. The terminal device may turn on all antenna panels simultaneously for transmission. Alternatively, in order to reduce the power consumption of the terminal device, the terminal device may also use only a single antenna panel for transmission at a time, and other unused antenna panels may be turned off. Whether the antenna panel of the terminal device is in an on or off state generally requires notification to the network device, that is, interaction of state information of the antenna panel is generally required between the terminal device and the network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, if no specific description is made, the antenna panel of the antenna panel average terminal device. The antenna panel may also be represented by an antenna panel index (panel index) or the like. In addition, the antenna panel may be implicitly represented by other means, for example, the antenna panel may be represented by an antenna port (such as CSI-RS port, SRS port, demodulation reference signal (demodulation reference signal, DMRS) port, phase tracking reference signal (phase tracking reference signal, PTRS) port, CRS port, time-frequency tracking reference signal (tracking reference signal, TRS) port, SSB port, etc.) or an antenna port group, may be represented by a resource (such as CSI-RS resource, SRS resource, DMRS resource, PTRS resource, cell reference signal (cell reference signal, CRS) resource, TRS resource, SSB resource, etc.) or a resource group, may be represented by a certain channel (such as PUCCH, PUSCH, physical random access channel (physical random access channel, PRACH), PDSCH, PDCCH, physical broadcast channel (physical broadcast channel, PBCH), etc.), and may be represented by a beam, QCL, TCI-state, splat or a certain index configured in QCL, TCI-state, splat. It can also be characterized by beam group, QCL group, TCI-state group, spatial relationship group, etc. That is, the antenna panel/panel identification described in this application may be replaced with an identification not described above.

5. A common beam.

Currently each channel employs a separate beam indication. For example, the beams of PDCCH and PDSCH are indicated by TCI-state, and the beams of PUCCH and PUSCH are indicated by spatial correlation. Each channel has its own corresponding beam. In this application, a common beam is defined, simultaneously for multiple channels upstream and/or downstream.

Common beam: multiple channels, multiple reference signals, and/or the same beam commonly employed by multiple reference signals. The plurality of channels or channels include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: PDCCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PUSCH, PRACH. The reference signals include, but are not limited to, at least one of the following: SSB, CSI-RS, DMRS, PTRS, TRS, SRS, etc.

For example, the common beam can be specifically classified into the following three types.

Joint (joint) common beam: and simultaneously for transmission of at least one channel or at least one reference signal for both uplink and downlink. For example PDCCH, PDSCH, PUCCH and PUSCH. The joint common beam may also be referred to as an uplink and downlink common beam.

Uplink common beam: simultaneously for transmission of multiple channels upstream and/or simultaneously for transmission of one or more reference signals upstream. For example, PUCCH, PUSCH, and SRS.

Downlink common beam: simultaneously for transmission of multiple channels in the downlink and/or simultaneously for transmission of one or more reference signals in the downlink. Such as PDCCH, PDSCH and CSI-RS.

The common beam mentioned later may refer to any one of them unless otherwise specified.

In this application, the network device may indicate at least two common beams of the same type to the terminal device. For example, the first beam and the second beam hereinafter are two common beams of the same type. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink and downlink common beams, two uplink common beams, or two downlink common beams. The types of the first beam and the second beam should be understood in particular in connection with the particular embodiment.

Form of common beam: the common beam may be a newly defined structure (different from the existing TCI-state and spatial relationship structure). For example, the common beam includes information related to the beam indication including, but not limited to, one or more of the following: common beam Identifier (ID), logical cell ID (cell ID), physical cell ID, bandwidth part ID, reference signal resources for determining beams, QCL type, uplink power control related parameters (e.g., path loss measurement reference signal resources, p0, closed loop index (closed loop index), etc.).

Application range of common beam: the common beam may be cell-level, i.e. one common beam is used for transmission of multiple channels within one cell. The common beam may be BWP-level for transmission of multiple beams within one BWP. The common beam may also be trans-cell, i.e. for transmission of multiple channels of multiple cells. The plurality of cells may be a plurality of cells within one frequency band (band). The plurality of cells may also be cross-band cells. The common beam may be in a control-resource set (CORESET) level, that is, all PDCCHs corresponding to the CORESET, and/or all PDSCHs scheduled by the PDCCHs of the CORESET, and/or all PUSCHs scheduled by the PDCCHs of the CORESET, and/or PUCCH or PUSCH transmitted by feedback information (ACK or NACK) of the PDSCH scheduled by the PDCCH of the CORESET all employ the same common beam.

The common beam is also represented by TCI-state or spatial relationship. For example, the downlink common beam is represented by TCI-state. The upstream common beam is represented by a spatial relationship.

That is, the common beam in the present application may be embodied in a protocol such as TCI-state or spatial correlation, or other parameters for indicating an uplink transmission beam, or other parameters for indicating a downlink transmission beam.

With respect to the common beam, beams defined in the 3GPP R15 protocol and the 3GPP R16 protocol, such as TCI-state, spatial correlation, spatial filter, are called normal beams. The normal beam is used for transmission of a single channel, and is not used for transmission of multiple channels or multiple reference signals at the same time. The network device needs to indicate one common beam for each channel separately for transmission. In the technical scheme of the application, the network equipment can indicate at least two public beams of the same type to the terminal equipment. Since the common beam is the same beam commonly employed by a plurality of channels or a plurality of signals, the respective beams can be indicated for the plurality of channels or the plurality of signals in a unified manner. Therefore, beam indication is efficiently performed, complex indication instructions are avoided, and additional expenditure is saved.

6. Controlling a resource set: the frequency domain resource set used for indicating the PDCCH transmission is a parameter configuration unit for the PDCCH transmission and comprises relevant configuration parameters of the PDCCH.

7. Control resource set grouping: including at least one set of control resources. Each control resource set packet corresponds to a packet index (coresetpoolndex). The configuration parameters of the control resource set include a grouping index, which is used for indicating the grouping of the control resource set corresponding to the control resource set.

8. Search space: and the time-frequency position set is used for indicating the time-domain position set of the PDCCH transmission and the time-frequency positions corresponding to the plurality of PDCCH resources in the search space. For example, the search space defines a PDCCH transmission period, i.e., a period of PDCCH occasions within the search space. One PDCCH may actually be understood as one PDCCH on the time domain while detecting a point or period of detection. For example, taking a time unit as a slot as an example, one PDCCH transmission period includes P slots. Further, the search space indicates an offset value of a starting time slot of a PDCCH transmission period, for example, S, and one PDCCH transmission period corresponds to one time window, the starting time slot number is s+p×n, the ending time slot number is s+p×n (n+1) -1, where n is a positive integer, and P is a positive integer. Further, the search space indicates which consecutive slots within the PDCCH transmission period have PDCCH opportunities on and which symbols of those slots have PDCCH opportunities on.

In this application, the network device indicates to the terminal device at least two beams of the same type. The at least two beams of the same type may be at least two downlink common beams, or at least two uplink and downlink common beams. If the at least two beams of the same type are downlink common beams, the at least two beams of the same type may be used for transmission of PDCCH, PDSCH, and/or CSI-RS. If the at least two beams of the same type are uplink common beams, the at least two beams of the same type may be used for transmission of PUCCH, PUSCH, and/or SRS. If the at least two beams of the same type are uplink and downlink common beams, the at least two beams of the same type may be used for PDCCH, PDSCH, CSI-RS, PUCCH, PUSCH, and/or SRS transmission. The following embodiments describe a scheme in which the first communication device correctly applies the beam indicated by the network device to the corresponding channel transmission or transmission of the reference signal, taking as an example the network device indicating the first beam and the second beam to the terminal device.

The following describes the technical scheme of the present application in connection with specific embodiments.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 4, the beam using method includes:

401. the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam.

The first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device through DCI.

The first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type. In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the first beam and the second beam are two downlink common beams, or the first beam and the second beam are two uplink downlink common beams. The first communication device comprises a terminal device or a network device.

In some embodiments, the first beam and the second beam may be beams employed by the same station. Alternatively, the first beam and the second beam are beams employed by different stations. For example, as shown in fig. 5, in a scenario where a terminal device and multiple stations transmit, station 1 uses a first beam to transmit with the terminal device, and station 2 uses a second beam to transmit with the terminal device.

Some ways of distinguishing the first beam from the second beam are described below. Optionally, the first beam and the second beam include any one of:

1. the first beam is the lower index of the two beams and the second beam is the higher index of the two beams; alternatively, the first beam is the larger of the two beams and the second beam is the smaller of the two beams.

2. The first beam is the beam with smaller TCI field value corresponding to the two beams, and the second beam is the beam with larger TCI field value corresponding to the two beams; alternatively, the first beam is the beam of the two beams with the corresponding larger TCI field value and the second beam is the beam of the two beams with the corresponding smaller TCI field value.

Specifically, the network device indicates the beam to the terminal device through the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the network device transmits two DCIs, where the DCI with a smaller value of the TCI field indicates the first beam and the DCI with a larger value of the TCI field indicates the second beam. That is, the TCI field for indicating the first beam has a smaller value than the TCI field for indicating the second beam; or, the DCI with a larger value of the TCI field indicates the first beam, and the DCI with a smaller value of the TCI field indicates the second beam. I.e. the TCI field for indicating the first beam has a larger value than the TCI field for indicating the second beam.

3. The first beam is the beam with the earlier configuration sequence in the two beams, and the second beam is the beam with the later configuration sequence in the two beams; alternatively, the first beam is a beam arranged in a later order from among the two beams, and the second beam is a beam arranged in a earlier order from among the two beams.

In particular, the configuration order of the beams may be understood as an arrangement order of the beams in a beam list configured by the network device for the terminal device. The beam list comprises a plurality of beams of the same type configured by the network device for the terminal device, and specifically comprises a first beam and a second beam. For example, beam list { beam0, beam2, beam3}. The configuration sequence of beam0 is the foremost, and the configuration sequence of beam3 is the rearmost.

4. The first beam belongs to a first set of beams and the second beam belongs to a second set of beams. The first set of beams and the second set of beams are two sets of beams of the same type configured by the network device for the terminal device.

Optionally, the first beam set is a less indexed beam set of the two beam sets of the same type and the second beam set is a more indexed beam set of the two beam sets of the same type. Alternatively, the first set of beams is the larger index of the two sets of beams of the same type and the second set of beams is the smaller index of the two sets of beams of the same type. Alternatively, the first beam set is a beam set with a earlier arrangement order from the two beam sets of the same type, and the second beam set is a beam set with a later arrangement order from the two beam sets of the same type. Alternatively, the first beam set is a beam set of two beam sets of the same type, which is arranged in a later order, and the second beam set is a beam set of two beam sets of the same type, which is arranged in a earlier order.

5. The first beam belongs to a first beam group and the second beam belongs to a second beam group. The first beam set and the second beam set are two beam sets of the same type activated by the network device for the terminal device through the MAC CE.

Optionally, the first beam group is a beam group with a smaller index of two beam groups of the same type, and the second beam group is a beam group with a larger index of two beam groups of the same type; alternatively, the first beam group is a beam group whose activation order is earlier in the MAC CE among two beam groups of the same type, and the second beam group is a beam group whose activation order is later in the MAC CE among two beam groups of the same type. Alternatively, the first beam group is a beam group whose activation order is later in the MAC CE among two beam groups of the same type, and the second beam group is a beam group whose activation order is earlier in the MAC CE among two beam groups of the same type.

6. The first beam is a beam indicated by the network device through a first TCI field in the DCI and the second beam is a beam indicated by the network device through a second TCI field in the DCI. The first TCI field corresponds to a first beam set and the second TCI field corresponds to a second beam set. The first communication device determines a first beam from the first beam set by the field value of the first TCI field and a second beam from the second beam set by the field value of the second TCI field. Wherein, the second TCI field is not always present, and whether the second TCI field is present in the DCI is determined by the configuration information. For example, in the case where two control resource set packets are configured, the second TCI field does not exist. For another example, where a single control resource set packet is configured and two common beams of the same type are configured to be employed, a second TCI field exists.

Specifically, the DCI includes a plurality of TCI fields, the TCI fields in the DCI are read sequentially, the first read TCI field may be considered as a first TCI field in the DCI, and the second read TCI field may be considered as a second TCI field in the DCI. The beam indicated by the first TCI field in the DCI is a first beam and the beam indicated by the second TCI field in the DCI is a second beam.

Alternatively, the first TCI field and the second TCI field of the DCI may be understood as two different subfields in the same TCI field, or a previous part of bits and a subsequent part of bits of the same TCI field.

7. The first beam is a beam corresponding to a first part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI through the network device, and the second beam is a beam corresponding to a second part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI through the network device. The first partial field value corresponds to a beam group and the second partial field value corresponds to a second beam group. The first communication device determines a first beam from the first beam set by a first partial field value and a second beam from the second beam set by a second partial field value.

Specifically, all field values of one TCI field in the DCI are divided into two parts, including a first part field value and a second part field value. Optionally, the first partial field value is a partial field value with a relatively smaller field value, and the second partial field value is a partial field value with a relatively larger field value. For example, the first partial field values are field values 0 through 3, and the second partial field values are field values 4 through 7. Alternatively, the first partial field value is an even field value and the second partial field value is an odd field value. For example, the first partial field value is even and the second partial field value is odd. Alternatively, the first partial field value is an odd field value and the second partial field value is an even field value. That is, if the TCI field in one DCI takes a value of a first partial field, it indicates that the DCI indicates a first beam. If the TCI field in one DCI takes a second partial field value, it indicates that the DCI indicates a second beam.

8. The first beam and the second beam are two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field in DCI, wherein the first beam is the first beam of the two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field, and the second beam is the second beam of the two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field; alternatively, the first beam is a beam whose activation order in the MAC CE is earlier among the two beams of the same type, and the second beam is a beam whose activation order in the MAC CE is later among the two beams of the same type; alternatively, the first beam is a beam whose activation order in the MAC CE is later among the two beams of the same type, and the second beam is a beam whose activation order in the MAC CE is earlier among the two beams of the same type.

9. The first beam is a beam indicated by the first DCI and the second beam is a beam indicated by the second DCI.

In a possible implementation, the first DCI is used for the network device to indicate the first beam to the terminal device, and the second DCI is used for the network device to indicate the second beam to the terminal device. The value of the first field in the first DCI is used to indicate that the beam indicated by the first DCI is a first beam, and the value of the first field in the second DCI is used to indicate that the beam indicated by the second DCI is a second beam.

The first DCI and the second DCI may be distinguished by one field or a partial bit of one field (e.g., the first bit or the last bit of the TCI field) in the DCI. For example, if the value of the first bit of the TCI field in one DCI is equal to 0, the DCI is the first DCI. If the value of the first bit of the TCI field in one DCI is equal to 1, the DCI is the second DCI. For another example, if the value of one 1-bit field in one DCI is equal to 0, the DCI is the first DCI; if the 1-bit field has a value equal to 1, the DCI is a second DCI. Alternatively, there is one field or a portion of bits of one field in the DCI to indicate whether the DCI indicates a first beam or a second beam. When the value of the one field or a part of the bits of the one field is a first value, for example, when the value is equal to 0, it indicates that the DCI indicates a first beam, that is, the DCI is a first DCI. When the value of the one field or a part of the bits of the one field is a second value, for example, when the value is equal to 1, it indicates that the DCI indicates a second beam, that is, the DCI is a second DCI. For another example, if one field or a part of bits of one field in one DCI is a first value, for example, if the value is equal to 0, the TCI field in the DCI corresponds to a first beam group, and the first communication device determines the first beam from the first beam group through the field value of the TCI field. I.e. the DCI is the first DCI. If one field or a part of bits of one field in one DCI is a second value, for example, if the value is equal to 1, the TCI field in the DCI corresponds to a second beam group, and the first communication device determines the second beam from the second beam group through the field value of the TCI field. I.e. the DCI is a second DCI.

In the above implementation, the first beam set and the second beam set are two beam sets activated by a single MAC CE. Alternatively, the first beam set and the second beam set are two beam sets that are activated by two independent MAC CEs, respectively. The MAC CE includes a field, where when the value of the field is a first value, for example, when the value is 0, it indicates that the beam group indicated by the MAC CE is the first beam group. When the value of the field is a second value, for example, when the value is 1, the beam group indicated by the MAC CE is indicated as a second beam group;

in another possible implementation, the first DCI and the second DCI may be distinguished by a control resource set packet corresponding to the bearer PDCCH. The first DCI is the DCI carried by the PDCCH corresponding to a first control resource set group in two control resource set groups configured by the network equipment for the terminal equipment, and the second DCI is the DCI carried by the PDCCH corresponding to a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups.

Optionally, the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups; or the first control resource group is a control resource group with larger group index in the two control resource group groups, and the second control resource group is a control resource group with smaller group index in the two control resource group groups.

In this application, for a scenario of multi-site transmission, the network device may include multiple sites, that is, the network device is a generic term for the multiple sites; alternatively, the network device is part of the plurality of sites. For example, the network device is one of the plurality of sites, and the application is not limited in detail.

Alternatively, if the first communication device is a terminal device, the first beam and the second beam in 401 may be indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device, which is specifically described in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 below.

402. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first set of control resources according to a first rule.

The beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam and/or a second beam.

Alternatively, the determining, by the first communication device, the beam adopted by the first control resource set according to the first rule may be alternatively described as: the first communication device determines a beam employed by the first PDCCH set according to a first rule. The first PDCCH belongs to a PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set. The technical solution of the present application will be described below by taking, as an example, the first communication device determining, according to the first rule, a beam adopted by the first control resource set.

The above 402 is described below in connection with some possible scenarios.

Case one: if the network device configures two control resource set groups for the terminal device, each control resource set group includes at least one control resource set, the step 402 specifically includes:

if the first control resource set belongs to a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam;

if the first control resource set belongs to a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication device determines that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam.

In other words, based on the first scenario, the first rule specifically includes: if the first control resource set belongs to a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set belongs to a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam.

Two possible implementations of the first control resource set group and the second control resource set group are described below:

Implementation 1: the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups.

Implementation 2: the first control resource group is a control resource group with larger group index in the two control resource group groups, and the second control resource group is a control resource group with smaller group index in the two control resource group groups.

Specifically, the process of configuring two control resource set packets for the terminal device by the network device includes: the network device configures a plurality of control resource sets for the terminal device, wherein a first part of the control resource sets in the plurality of control resource sets correspond to a group index 0, and a second part of the control resource sets correspond to a group index 1. That is, the plurality of control resource sets is divided into two control resource set groups, each control resource set group having a corresponding group index (coresetponindex). That is, control resource sets having the same group index may constitute one control resource set group. In other words, the group indexes corresponding to the control resource sets in the same control resource set group are the same. I.e. the network device implicitly configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device.

For example, the first control resource set packet has a packet index coresetpoolndex=0 and the second control resource set packet has a packet index coresetpoolndex=1. The configuration parameter of each control resource set comprises a grouping index which is used for indicating the grouping of the control resource set to which the control resource set belongs.

If the configuration parameter of the control resource set has no packet index, the packet index corresponding to the control resource set is default to be equal to 0. The control resource set can thus also be considered as belonging to a control resource set group with a group index equal to 0.

Alternatively, for a multi-site transmission scenario, the two control resource set packets may be understood as control resource set packets employed by two sites, respectively. For example, as shown in fig. 5, station 1 corresponds to a first control resource set group, and station 2 corresponds to a second control resource set group. Station 1 employs a first beam and station 2 employs a second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine that the control resource set in the first control resource set group of the station 1 adopts a first beam, and the control resource set in the second control resource set group of the station 2 adopts a second beam.

And a second case: if the network device configures two control resource sets for the terminal device, the two control resource sets are used for the repeated transmission of the control channel PDCCH. Two sets of control resources for PDCCH repetition transmission can be understood as: the PDCCHs corresponding to the two control resource sets are the same PDCCH, or the content of PDCCH transmission corresponding to the two control resource sets is the same. For example, the terminal device may determine that the two control resource sets are used for PDCCH retransmission through an association relationship between the two control resource sets or an association relationship between search spaces corresponding to the two control resource sets. Two possible implementations of 402 described above are described below.

Implementation 1

The above 402 specifically includes:

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam indicated by the network equipment to the terminal equipment; the beam indicated to the terminal equipment by the network equipment comprises a first beam and a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a wave beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first wave beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device; wherein the beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device comprises a first beam and a second beam.

The configuration order of the control resource sets may be understood as an arrangement order of the control resource sets in a control resource set list configured by the network device for the terminal device.

The two control resource sets are used for repeated transmission of the control channel, that is, the control channels corresponding to the two control resource sets transmit the same content (e.g., the same data). Specifically, each of the two sets of control resources may correspond to one or more search spaces. If the association relation exists between the search spaces corresponding to the two control resource sets respectively, the two control resource sets are indicated to be used for the repeated transmission of the control channel.

In other words, implementation 1 based on the second scenario, the first rule specifically includes:

if the first control resource set is the control resource set with smaller index in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam.

Implementation 2

The above 402 specifically includes:

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device; the beam indicated to the terminal equipment by the network equipment comprises a first beam and a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the second control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the second control resource set is a second beam indicated by the network equipment to the terminal equipment; wherein the beam indicated by the network device to the terminal device comprises a first beam and a second beam.

In other words, the first rule specifically includes:

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set is the control resource set with smaller index in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam; if the first control resource set is the control resource set with the earlier configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the beam adopted by the second control resource set is the second beam.

It should be noted that, if the first case and the second case are satisfied, that is, if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, and the two control resource sets are used for the repeated transmission of the control channel, the determination manner provided by the first case and the second case may collide. For example, when the two control resource sets belong to the same control resource set group, the two control resource sets should use the same beam according to the determination manner provided in the case one. However, in the manner of the determination provided in case two, the two sets of control resources should employ a first beam and a second beam, respectively. For another example, when two sets of control resources belong to different groups of sets of control resources, and a set of control resources with a smaller index of the two sets of control resources is located in a group of sets of control resources with a larger index, the set of control resources with the smaller index adopts the second beam as seen in implementation 1 in case one, whereas the set of control resources with the smaller index should adopt the first beam as seen in implementation 1 in case two.

Therefore, the following scheme for the second case further proposes any one of the following provisions, so as to solve the above-mentioned collision problem, so that the first communication device determines the beam adopted by the first control resource set in the determination manner provided by the first case or the second case. In the second case, any one of the following is included:

1. If the network device configures two control resource set groups for the terminal device, the two control resource sets belong to different control resource set groups.

That is, if the network device is configured with two control resource set packets and the two control resource sets are used for repeated transmission of the control channel, the two control resource sets must belong to different control resource set packets. But not belonging to the same control resource set group.

2. If the network device configures two control resource set groups for the terminal device, based on the implementation 1 of the first case and the implementation 1 of the second case, indexes of control resource sets in a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups are smaller than indexes of control resource sets in a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups; alternatively, the configuration order of the control resource sets in the first control resource set group is before the configuration order of the control resource sets in the second control resource set group.

The first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups.

3. If the network device configures two control resource set groups for the terminal device, based on the implementation 1 of the first case and the implementation 2 of the second case, an index of a control resource set in a first control resource set group of the two control resource set groups is greater than an index of a control resource set in a second control resource set group of the two control resource set groups; alternatively, the configuration order of the control resource sets in the first control resource set group follows the configuration order of the control resource sets in the second control resource set group.

4. Two sets of control resources are used for repeated transmission of the control channel to satisfy the condition: the network device configures only one control resource set packet for the terminal device.

That is, if the network device configures only one control resource set packet for the terminal device, two control resource sets can be configured for repeated transmission of the control channel. In other words, if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, the network device cannot configure two control resource sets for repeated transmission of the control channel.

Alternatively, for a multi-site transmission scenario, the two control resource sets may be understood as control resource sets employed by two sites, respectively. For example, as shown in fig. 5, station 1 employs a smaller indexed set of control resources, and station 2 employs a larger indexed set of control resources. By the technical scheme, the first communication equipment can determine the wave beams adopted by the control resource sets of different stations. For example, as shown in fig. 5, in the technical solution of the present application, the first communication device may determine that the control resource set of the station 1 adopts a first beam, and the control resource set of the station 2 adopts a second beam.

In a third aspect, if the network device configures a control resource set packet for the terminal device, where the control resource set packet includes one or more single beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one single beam control resource set in the one or more single beam control resource sets, the step 402 specifically includes any one of the following steps:

1. the first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case three is satisfied, the first communication device may determine, by default, that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set, but directly defaults to determining that the first control resource set adopts the first beam.

2. The first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case three is satisfied, the first communication device may determine, by default, that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first set of control resources, but directly defaults to determining that the first set of control resources adopts the second beam.

3. If the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment determines to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the first beam, and if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment determines to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the second beam.

In this implementation, if the above case three is satisfied, the first communication device determines a beam that the first control resource set adopts after updating in consideration of a beam that the first control resource set currently adopts. If the beam currently employed by the first set of control resources belongs to the same beam set as the first beam (e.g., a beam set configured by the network device for the terminal device), the beam currently employed by the first set of control resources is updated to the first beam. If the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set is updated to the second beam.

For example, the beam set is one of a plurality of beam sets composed of common beams of the same type configured by the network device for the terminal device. Different sets of beams may correspond to different stations. I.e. the beams employed by different stations are arranged in different sets of beams, in other words the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. Therefore, if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set is preferentially transmitted by adopting the same station. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first set of control resources is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam, and will not be described here.

In other words, based on the third scenario, the first rule specifically includes:

if the current beam adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first control resource set into the first beam; if the current beam adopted by the first control resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the current beam adopted by the first control resource set is updated to the second beam.

Alternatively, the conditions for the method shown in the above case three are: the first set of control resources is not used for repeated transmissions of the control channel. That is, the first set of control resources is not used in conjunction with other sets of control resources for repeated transmissions of the control channel.

In a fourth aspect, if the network device configures a control resource set group for the terminal device, where the control resource set group includes one or more multi-beam control resource sets, the first control resource set belongs to one of the one or more multi-beam control resource sets, and the step 402 specifically includes: the first communication device determines the beam employed by the first set of control resources as a first beam and a second beam. That is, the first set of control resources is transmitted using both the first beam and the second beam.

In other words, based on the fourth scenario, the first rule specifically includes: the first set of control resources employs first and second beams.

Case five, the first communication device receives the first MAC CE from the second communication device; the first MAC CE includes an index of a first set of control resources; the above 402 specifically includes:

If the first MAC CE is a first type MAC CE and the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information, where the first beam indication information indicates a first beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set takes a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are validated at any time in the first period. Wherein the first time period is a time interval between an effective time of the beam indicated by the first MAC CE and an effective time of the beam indicated by the second MAC CE. The second MAC CE is a MAC CE that was last received by the first communication device after receiving the first MAC CE to indicate a beam employed by the first set of control resources. Or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first MAC CE is a first type MAC CE and the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information that indicates a second beam, the first communication device determines that the first set of control resources takes a second common beam of two common beams of the same type that are active at any time in the first time period. Or alternatively, the process may be performed,

In case five, if the first MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, the first MAC CE further includes first beam indication information for indicating one beam. If the first communication device receives that the first MAC CE sent by the second communication device is a first type MAC CE, and the first MAC CE includes an index of a first control resource set, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set, that is, determines that the first control resource set adopts a single beam. As to which beam is specifically employed, i.e., whether the first beam or the second beam is employed, the second communication device may be indicated by the first beam indication information. It may be provided that the beam indicated by the first beam indication information must be identical to one of the two currently employed beams, i.e. the first beam and the second beam. For example, the TCI state 1 and the TCI state 2 corresponding to the two currently employed beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam) respectively, and then the TCI state corresponding to the beam indicated by the first beam indication information is either TCI state 1 or TCI state 2. If the beam indicated by the first beam indication information is the same as the first beam currently being employed, the first communication device determines that the first set of control resources will subsequently employ the first beam. If the beam indicated by the first beam indication information is the same as the currently employed second beam, the first communication device determines that the first set of control resources will subsequently employ the second beam.

When the beams corresponding to the first beam and the second beam are changed, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is changed. For example, by the above method, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set adopts the first beam, and after the TCI state corresponding to the first beam changes from the TCI state 1 to the TCI state 3, the first control resource set will adopt the beam corresponding to the TCI state 3, but not the beam corresponding to the TCI state 1. In other words, the first MAC CE indicates a beam, and instead of informing the terminal device of which of the two common beams is to be used subsequently, the first communication device is informed of which of the two common beams is to be used subsequently, by which of the two currently active beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam) is the same. Specifically, if the first MAC CE indicates that one beam is the same as the first one of the two currently active common beams, at any time in the subsequent first period, the terminal device adopts the first one of the two common beams that is active at that time. If the first MAC CE indicates that one beam is the same as the second of the two common beams currently in effect, then at any time in a subsequent first time, the terminal device adopts the second of the two common beams in effect at that time.

If the first MAC CE is a second type of MAC CE, the first MAC CE further includes second and third beam indicating information. The second beam indicating information is used for indicating one beam, and the third beam indicating information is used for indicating one beam. It may be provided that the two beams indicated by the two beam indication information included in the first MAC CE must be identical to the two currently employed beams (i.e. the first beam and the second beam). The first communication device may also ignore the beam indication information in the first MAC CE because in the common beam mode, the beams of the first set of control resources need not be indicated by the MAC CE, but instead directly employ the common beam (i.e., the first beam and the second beam) indicated by the second communication device. In other words, if the second communication apparatus configures the first communication device with a common beam (i.e. is currently in a common beam mode), the first communication device may directly ignore both beams indicated in the received first MAC CE. Alternatively, if the second communication apparatus indicates two beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam) to the first communication device, the first communication device may directly ignore the two beams indicated in the received first MAC CE. Alternatively, it may be provided that the first control resource set directly adopts the two beams indicated by the second beam indication information and the third beam indication information. Here, it is not required that the two beams indicated by the second beam indication information and the third indication information are identical to the two common beams currently in effect.

Based on the third to fifth cases, the embodiment shown in fig. 4 above further includes 402a, as an option. 402a may be performed prior to 402.

402a, the first communication device determines a type of the first set of control resources. The type of the first set of control resources comprises a single beam control resource set or a multi-beam control resource set.

The number of the beams adopted by the single-beam control resource set is 1, and the number of the beams adopted by the multi-beam control resource set is larger than 1. For example, the number of beams employed by the multi-beam control resource set is 2.

Several possible implementations of the first communication device determining the type of the first set of control resources are presented below.

Implementation 1: the first communication device determines a type of the first set of control resources based on the configuration parameters in the first set of control resources.

Specifically, the network device configures a first control resource set for the terminal device, where a configuration parameter of the first control resource set includes information for indicating a type of the first control resource set. The first communication device may determine a type of the first set of control resources via the configuration parameter. For example, the configuration parameters may be used to configure whether the first set of control resources is a single beam control resource set or a multi-beam control resource set.

Implementation 2: the first communication device receives first indication information from the second communication device. The first indication information is used for indicating whether the first control resource set is allowed to adopt a plurality of beams or is used for indicating the type of the first control resource set. The first indication information is contained in configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device.

In implementation 2, the first communication device may be a terminal device, and the second communication device may be a network device.

Specifically, the network device configures a first control resource set for the terminal device, where a configuration parameter of the first control resource set indicates that the first control resource set may use one beam or multiple beams to transmit, and may specifically be determined in combination with indication information of the network device. The network device may indicate, via additional first indication information, whether the first set of control resources is allowed to employ multiple beams. If the first set of control resources is allowed to employ multiple beams, the first set of control resources is indicated as a set of multi-beam control resources. If the first set of control resources is not allowed to employ multiple beams, the first set of control resources is indicated as a single beam set of control resources. The terminal device may determine a type of the first set of control resources through the first indication information. For example, the first indication information may be used to configure whether the first set of control resources employs a single beam or multiple beams. Further, when the first indication information indicates that the first control resource set adopts a single beam, the network device may further indicate to the terminal device whether the first control resource set adopts the first beam or the second beam through the second indication information, where the second indication information may be indicated through RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, or DCI signaling. Alternatively, the first indication information may be directly used to indicate whether the first set of control resources is to be used for the first beam, the second beam, or both the first beam and the second beam.

Implementation 3: the first communication device determines the type of the first set of control resources based on the number of beams currently employed by the first set of control resources.

Specifically, if the number of beams currently adopted by the first control resource set is 1, the first communication device may determine that the type of the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set; the first communication device may determine that the type of the first set of control resources is a multi-beam control resource set if the number of beams currently employed by the first set of control resources is greater than 1.

Implementation 4: the first communication device receives a third MAC CE from the second communication device. The third MAC CE is configured to indicate a type of the first set of control resources, or the third MAC CE is configured to indicate that the first set of control resources employs one or two beams, or the third MAC CE is configured to indicate a beam of the first set of control resources. The beams employed by the first set of control resources include a first beam and/or a second beam. That is, the third MAC CE is configured to instruct the first set of control resources to employ a first beam, or employ a second beam, or both the first beam and the second beam.

The first communication device may be a terminal device and the second communication device may be a network device.

Specifically, the third MAC CE may include one or more 1-bit fields, where each 1-bit field corresponds to a control resource set, and is used to indicate a type of the control resource set or indicate whether the control resource set uses one or two beams. The control resource sets respectively corresponding to the one or more 1-bit fields comprise a first control resource set. The third MAC CE may include one or more 2-bit fields, where each 2-bit field corresponds to a control resource set, and is used to indicate whether the control resource set is used for the first beam, the second beam, or both beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam).

For example, the third MAC CE includes 3 2-bit fields corresponding to 3 control resource sets in a bandwidth part (BWP), and each 2-bit field corresponds to one control resource set, and is used to indicate whether the control resource set is used for the first beam, the second beam, or both the first beam and the second beam. The control resource sets respectively corresponding to the 3 2-bit fields comprise a first control resource set. Specifically, the first 2-bit field corresponds to the control resource set with the smallest index, the second 2-bit field corresponds to the control resource set with the second index row, and so on.

For another example, the third MAC CE includes 12 2-bit fields, corresponding to 12 control resource sets in a cell, and each 2-bit field corresponds to one control resource set, and is used to indicate whether the control resource set is used for the first beam, the second beam, or both beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam). The control resource sets corresponding to the 12 2-bit fields respectively comprise a first control resource set. Specifically, the first 2-bit field corresponds to the control resource set with the smallest index, the second 2-bit field corresponds to the control resource set with the second index row, and so on. Every four 2-bit fields of the 12 2-bit fields are located in the same 8-bit byte (i.e., one row in the third MAC CE), i.e., the 12 2-bit fields occupy 3 8-bit bytes in total. Optionally, the number of 8-bit bytes used to carry the 2-bit field in the third MAC CE may also be adjusted according to the number of control resource sets actually configured in a cell. For example, when the number of control resource sets configured in a cell is less than 4, the third MAC CE corresponding to the cell includes only 1 8-bit byte for carrying the 2-bit field. When the number of the control resource sets configured in one cell is greater than 4 but less than 8, the third MAC CE corresponding to the cell includes 2 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field. When the number of the control resource sets configured in one cell is greater than 8 and not more than 12, the third MAC CE corresponding to the cell only includes 3 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field. When the number of the control resource sets configured in one cell exceeds 12, the third MAC CE corresponding to the cell includes more than 3 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field, and the specific number of bytes is equal to the number of the control resource sets divided by 4 and rounded up. For example, 14 control resource sets are configured in a cell, and the number of 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field included in the third MAC CE corresponding to the cell is equal to 14/4, i.e. equal to 4.

Implementation 5: the first communication device receives a first MAC CE from the second communication device; the first communication device determines a type of the first set of control resources based on the type of the first MAC CE.

The first MAC CE is a first type MAC CE or a second type MAC CE. The first MAC CE includes an index of a first set of control resources.

Specifically, the first communication device may determine the type of the first control resource set through the received first MAC CE. For example, if the first communication device receives that the first MAC CE of the second communication device is a first type of MAC CE, and the first MAC CE includes an index of a first set of control resources, the first communication device determines that the first set of control resources is a single beam control resource set, i.e., determines that the first set of control resources adopts a single beam, e.g., a first beam. If the first communication device receives that the first MAC CE of the second communication device is a second type of MAC CE and the first MAC CE includes an index of a first control resource set, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set is a multi-beam control resource set, that is, determines that the first control resource set adopts two beams, for example, the first control resource set adopts a first beam and a second beam.

By the method, the network device can realize the indication or the switching of the type of the first control resource set by sending the first MAC CE to the terminal device, or realize the indication or the switching of the number of the wave beams adopted by the first control resource set.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 4 further comprises 403, 403 may be performed after 402.

403. And the first communication equipment transmits the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the wave beam adopted by the first control resource set.

Specifically, after determining the beam adopted by the first control resource set, the first communication device may transmit the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the beam.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam, and the terminal device may perform, with the station 1, transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the first beam.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a second beam, and the terminal device may perform, with the station 2, transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the second beam.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the beams adopted by the first control resource set are a first beam and a second beam, the terminal device may perform transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the first beam and the station 1, and the terminal device may perform transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the second beam and the station 2. I.e. repeated transmission of PDCCH corresponding to the first set of control resources.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the technical solution of the present application is described by taking the beam adopted by the first communication device to determine the first control resource set as an example. The determination of the beams employed for the other control resource sets is also similar. For example, as shown in fig. 5, in the multi-station transmission scenario, the terminal device determines that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam, and determines that the beam adopted by the second control resource set is the second beam. The terminal device may perform transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the first control resource set through the first beam and the station 1, and perform transmission of the PDCCH corresponding to the second control resource set through the second beam and the station 2. Thereby enabling multi-site transmission. That is to say, through the technical scheme of the application, the first communication device can correctly apply two beams of the same type indicated by the network device to the corresponding PDCCH, so as to realize multi-station transmission.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam, and the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. The first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam and/or the second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first control resource set from the first beam and the second beam based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the PDCCH corresponding to the control resource set, the PDCCH corresponding to the control resource set can be conveniently transmitted by adopting the correct beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the technical solution of the present application is described by taking the example that the network device indicates two beams of the same type to the terminal device. For the case where the network device indicates a beam to the terminal device, the first communication device may determine that the set of multi-beam control resources does not employ the beam for the set of multi-beam control resources; alternatively, the first communication device may determine to employ the beam as the first beam of the set of multi-beam control resources; alternatively, the first communication device may determine to employ the beam as the second beam of the set of multi-beam control resources.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the network device indicates two beams of the same type, i.e., the first beam and the second beam, to the terminal device. The communication protocol may specify: the first beam and the second beam are not applied to a particular set of control resources. For example, the first beam and the second beam should not have a single beam control resource set. In other words, for a single beam control resource set, the network device may additionally indicate the corresponding beam to the terminal device.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 6, the beam using method includes:

601. The first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam.

The first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type. In the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink common beams, or the first beam and the second beam are two uplink downlink common beams.

The first communication device comprises a terminal device or a network device.

In some embodiments, the first beam and the second beam may be beams employed by the same station; alternatively, the first beam and the second beam are beams employed by different stations.

For some ways of distinguishing the first beam from the second beam, please refer to the related description of the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the description is omitted here.

Alternatively, if the first communication device is a terminal device, the first beam and the second beam in 601 may be indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device, which is specifically described in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 below.

602. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first PUCCH according to a first rule.

The beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam and/or a second beam.

The above 602 is described below in connection with some possible scenarios.

Case a: if the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH, the step 602 specifically includes any one of the following:

1. the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first PUCCH as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case a is satisfied, the first communication device may determine by default that the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the first beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first PUCCH, but directly defaults to determine that the first PUCCH adopts the first beam.

2. The first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first PUCCH as a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case a is satisfied, the first communication device may determine by default that the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the second beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first PUCCH, but directly defaults to determine that the first PUCCH adopts the second beam.

3. If the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment determines to update the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH into the first beam; if the current beam of the first PUCCH and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication device determines to update the current beam of the first PUCCH to the second beam.

In this implementation, if the above case a is satisfied, the first communication device determines a beam that the first PUCCH employs after updating in consideration of a beam that the first PUCCH currently employs. If the beam currently adopted by the first PUCCH and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first PUCCH is updated to be the first beam. If the current beam of the first PUCCH and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the current beam of the first PUCCH is updated to the second beam.

In other words, that is to say based on case a, the first rule described above comprises in particular:

the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the first beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH into the first beam; if the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the current beam adopted by the first PUCCH is updated to the second beam.

Case B: if the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH, the step 602 specifically includes: the first communication device determines a beam employed by the first PUCCH as a first beam and a second beam. That is, the first communication device may determine to transmit the multi-beam PUCCH using the first beam and the second beam.

In other words, that is to say based on case B, the first rule described above specifically comprises: the first PUCCH employs a first beam and a second beam.

Case C: if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, the foregoing 602 specifically includes:

if the first PUCCH is associated with a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups or is associated with a group index of the first control resource set group, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam; if the first PUCCH is associated with a second control resource set packet of the two control resource set packets or with a packet index of the second control resource set packet, the first communication device determines that the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the second beam. For example, the association of the first PUCCH with the packet index of the first control resource set packet includes: the configuration parameter of the first PUCCH includes a packet index of the first control resource set packet.

The first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups. Or the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups;

the configuration process of the network device to configure two control resource set packets for the terminal device may refer to the description of the foregoing reference numeral 402 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, which is not repeated herein.

In other words, that is to say based on the case C, the first rule described above specifically comprises:

if the first PUCCH is associated with a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups or is associated with a group index of the first control resource set group, a beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam; if the first PUCCH is associated with a packet index of a second control resource set packet of the two control resource set packets, the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a second beam.

Alternatively, in a multi-site transmission scenario, the two control resource set packets may be understood as control resource set packets employed by two sites, respectively. For example, as shown in fig. 5, station 1 corresponds to a first control resource set group, and station 2 corresponds to a second control resource set group. Station 1 employs a first beam and station 2 employs a second beam. While if the first PUCCH is associated with the packet index of the first control resource set packet, it can be appreciated that the first PUCCH is a PUCCH between station 1 and the terminal device. Therefore, through the technical scheme of the application, the first communication device can determine that the first PUCCH adopts the first beam. If the first PUCCH is associated with a packet index of the second control resource set packet, it can be appreciated that the first PUCCH is a PUCCH between station 2 and the terminal device. Therefore, through the technical scheme of the application, the first communication device can determine that the first PUCCH adopts the second beam.

Case D: the first communication device receiving a fourth MAC CE from the second communication device; the fourth MAC CE includes an index of the first PUCCH; the step 602 specifically includes:

if the fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes fourth beam indication information, where the fourth beam indication information is used to indicate the first beam, the first communication device determines that, at any time in the second period, the first PUCCH adopts a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at the any time. The second time period is a time interval between an effective time of the beam indicated by the fourth MAC CE and an effective time of the beam indicated by the fifth MAC CE. The fifth MAC CE is a MAC CE that was last received by the first communication device after receiving the fourth MAC CE to indicate a beam employed by the first PUCCH. Or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE and the fourth MAC CE includes fourth beam indication information indicating the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH employs a second common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second time period. Or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the fourth MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes fifth beam indication information and sixth beam indication information, where the fifth beam indication information is used to indicate the first beam, and the sixth beam indication information is used to indicate the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH uses two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the second time period at any time.

Specifically, the fourth MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE further includes fourth beam indication information, where the fourth beam indication information is used to indicate one beam. If the first communication device receives that a fourth MAC CE sent by the second communication device is a first type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes an index of a first PUCCH, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH, that is, determines that the first PUCCH adopts a single beam. As to which beam is specifically employed, i.e., whether the first beam or the second beam is employed, the second communication device may be indicated by the fourth beam indication information. It may be provided that the beam indicated by the fourth beam indication information must be identical to one of the two currently employed beams, i.e. the first beam and the second beam. For example, the TCI state 1 and the TCI state 2 corresponding to the two currently employed beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam) respectively, and then the TCI state corresponding to the beam indicated by the fourth beam indication information is either TCI state 1 or TCI state 2. If the beam indicated by the fourth beam indication information is the same as the first beam currently employed, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH will subsequently employ the first beam. If the beam indicated by the fourth beam indication information is the same as the currently employed second beam, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH will subsequently employ the second beam.

When the beams corresponding to the first beam and the second beam are changed, the beam used for the first PUCCH is changed. For example, by the above method, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH adopts the first beam, and when the TCI state corresponding to the first beam changes from TCI state 1 to TCI state 3, the first PUCCH will adopt the beam corresponding to state 3, instead of the beam corresponding to TCI state 1. In other words, the fourth MAC CE indicates a beam, and instead of informing the first communication device of which of the two common beams is to be used subsequently, the first communication device is informed of which of the two common beams is to be used subsequently, by which of the two currently active beams is the same. Specifically, if the fourth MAC CE indicates that one beam is the same as the first one of the two common beams currently in effect, at any time in the subsequent second period, the terminal device adopts the first one of the two common beams in effect at that time. If the fourth MAC CE indicates that one beam is the same as the second common beam of the two common beams currently in effect, at any time in a subsequent second period, the terminal device adopts the second common beam of the two common beams in effect at the time.

If the fourth MAC CE is the second type of MAC CE, the fourth MAC CE further includes fifth and sixth beam indicating information. The fifth beam indication information is used to indicate one beam, and the sixth beam indication information is used to indicate one beam. It may be provided that the two beams indicated by the two beam indication information included in the fourth MAC CE must be identical to the two currently employed beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam). The first communication device may also ignore the beam indication information in the fourth MAC CE because in the mode of the common beam, the beam of the PUCCH need not be indicated by the MAC CE, but directly adopts the common beam (i.e. the first beam and the second beam) indicated by the network device. In other words, if the second communication device configures the common beam for the first communication device (i.e. is currently in the common beam mode), the terminal device may directly ignore both beams indicated in the received fourth MAC CE. Alternatively, if the second communication device indicates two common beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam) to the first communication device, the first communication device may directly ignore the two beams indicated in the received fourth MAC CE. Alternatively, it may be provided that the first PUCCH directly employs two beams indicated by the fifth beam indication information and the sixth beam indication information. Here, it is not required that the two beams indicated by the fifth beam indication information and the sixth indication information are identical to the two common beams currently in effect.

The embodiment shown in fig. 6 described above may optionally further comprise 602a based on case a, case B or case D described above. 602a may be performed prior to 602.

602a, the first communication device determines a type of a first PUCCH. The type of the first PUCCH includes a single beam PUCCH or a multi-beam PUCCH. The first communication device may be a terminal device.

The number of beams adopted by the single-beam PUCCH is 1, and the number of beams adopted by the multi-beam PUCCH is greater than 1. For example, the number of beams used for the multi-beam PUCCH is 2.

Several possible implementations of the first communication device determining the type of the first PUCCH are described below.

Implementation 1: the first communication device determines the type of the first PUCCH according to the configuration parameters in the first PUCCH.

Specifically, the network device configures a first PUCCH for the terminal device, where a configuration parameter of the first PUCCH includes information for indicating a type of the first PUCCH. The first communication device may determine a type of the first PUCCH through the configuration parameter. For example, the configuration parameter may be used to configure whether the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH or a multi-beam PUCCH.

Implementation 2: the first communication device receives first indication information from the second communication device. The first indication information is used to indicate whether the first PUCCH is allowed to employ a plurality of beams or to indicate a type of the first PUCCH.

For example, the first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a terminal device. The first indication information may be included in configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device.

Specifically, the network device configures a first PUCCH for the terminal device, where the configuration parameter of the first PUCCH indicates that the first PUCCH may be transmitted by using one beam or multiple beams, and may specifically be determined by combining the indication information of the network device. The network device may indicate whether the first PUCCH is allowed to employ a plurality of beams through the first indication information. If the first PUCCH is allowed to employ multiple beams, the first PUCCH is indicated to be a multi-beam PUCCH. If the first PUCCH is not allowed to adopt a plurality of beams, the first PUCCH is indicated to be a single-beam PUCCH. The terminal device may determine a type of the first PUCCH through the first indication information. For example, the first indication information may be used to configure whether the first PUCCH employs a single beam or multiple beams. Further, when the first indication information indicates that the PUCCH adopts a single beam, the network device may further indicate to the terminal device whether to adopt the first beam or the second beam through second indication information, where the second indication information may be indicated through RRC signaling, MAC-CE signaling, or DCI signaling. Alternatively, the first indication information may be used to indicate whether the first PUCCH employs a first beam or a second beam or two beams (i.e., a first beam and a second beam).

Implementation 3: the first communication device determines the type of the first PUCCH according to the number of beams currently adopted by the first PUCCH.

Specifically, if the number of beams currently adopted by the first PUCCH is 1, the first communication device may determine that the type of the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH; the first communication device may determine that the type of the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH if the number of beams currently employed by the first PUCCH is greater than 1.

Implementation 4: the first communication apparatus receives a sixth MAC CE from the second communication device, the sixth MAC CE being used to indicate a type of one or more PUCCHs, or the sixth MAC CE being used to indicate whether one or more PUCCHs employ one or two beams, or the sixth MAC CE being used to indicate whether one or more PUCCHs employ a first beam, a second beam, or two beams (i.e., a first beam and a second beam). The one or more PUCCHs include a first PUCCH.

Specifically, the sixth MAC CE may include one or more 1-bit fields, where each 1-bit field corresponds to a PUCCH, and is used to indicate a type of the PUCCH or indicate whether the PUCCH uses one or two beams. One or more 2-bit fields may be included in the sixth MAC CE, where each 2-bit field corresponds to a PUCCH, and is used to indicate whether the PUCCH uses a first beam, a second beam, or two beams (i.e., a first beam and a second beam).

For example, the sixth MAC CE includes 3 2-bit fields corresponding to 3 PUCCHs within a bandwidth part (BWP), and each 2-bit field corresponds to one PUCCH for indicating whether the PUCCH uses the first beam, the second beam, or both beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam). Specifically, the first 2-bit field corresponds to the PUCCH with the smallest index, the second 2-bit field corresponds to the PUCCH with the second index row, and so on.

For another example, the sixth MAC CE includes 12 2-bit fields, corresponding to 12 PUCCHs in a cell, and each 2-bit field corresponds to one PUCCH, for indicating whether the PUCCH uses the first beam, the second beam, or two beams (i.e., the first beam and the second beam). Specifically, the first 2-bit field corresponds to the PUCCH with the smallest index, the second 2-bit field corresponds to the PUCCH with the second index row, and so on. Every four 2-bit fields of the 12 2-bit fields are located in the same 8-bit byte, i.e. the 12 2-bit fields occupy 3 8-bit bytes in total. Optionally, the number of 8-bit bytes used to carry the 2-bit field in the sixth MAC CE may be adjusted according to the number of PUCCHs actually configured in one cell. For example, when the number of PUCCHs configured in one cell is less than 4, only 1 8-bit byte for carrying the 2-bit field is included in the sixth MAC CE corresponding to the cell. When the number of PUCCHs configured in a cell is greater than 4 but less than 8, the sixth MAC CE corresponding to the cell includes 2 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field. When the number of PUCCHs configured in one cell is greater than 8 and not more than 12, only 3 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field are included in the sixth MAC CE corresponding to the cell. When the number of PUCCHs configured in a cell exceeds 12, the sixth MAC CE corresponding to the cell includes more than 3 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field, where the number of bytes is equal to the number of PUCCHs divided by 4 and rounded up. For example, 14 PUCCHs are configured in a cell, and the number of 8-bit bytes for carrying the 2-bit field included in the sixth MAC CE corresponding to the cell is equal to 14/4 rounded up, that is, equal to 4.

Implementation 5: the first communication device receiving a fourth MAC CE from the second communication device; the first communication device determines a type of the first PUCCH according to the type of the fourth MAC CE.

The fourth MAC CE is a first type MAC CE or a second type MAC CE. The fourth MAC CE includes an index of the first PUCCH.

Specifically, the first communication device may determine the type of the first PUCCH by the type of the received fourth MAC CE. For example, if the first communication device receives that the fourth MAC CE transmitted by the second communication device is a first type of MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes an index of the first PUCCH, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH is a single beam PUCCH, that is, determines that the first PUCCH adopts a single beam, for example, the first beam. If the first communication device receives that a fourth MAC CE sent by the second communication device is a second type MAC CE, and the fourth MAC CE includes an index of the first PUCCH, the first communication device determines that the first PUCCH is a multi-beam PUCCH, that is, determines that the first PUCCH adopts two beams. For example, the first PUCCH employs a first beam and a second beam.

By the method, the network device can realize the indication or the switching of the type of the first PUCCH by sending the fourth MAC CE to the terminal device, or realize the indication or the switching of the number of the beams adopted by the first PUCCH.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 6 further comprises 603, 603 may be performed after 602.

603. The first communication device transmits the first PUCCH through a beam employed by the first PUCCH.

Specifically, after the first communication device determines the beam adopted by the first PUCCH, the first PUCCH may be transmitted through the beam.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a first beam, and the terminal device may perform transmission of the first PUCCH with the station 1 through the first beam.

For example, as shown in fig. 5, the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is a second beam, and the terminal device may perform transmission of the first PUCCH with the station 2 through the second beam.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the technical solution of the present application is described by taking the example that the first communication device determines the beam adopted by the first PUCCH. The determination of the beam employed for the other PUCCHs is also similar. For example, as shown in fig. 5, in the multi-station transmission scenario, the terminal device determines that the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the first beam, and determines that the beam adopted by the second PUCCH is the second beam. The terminal device may transmit the first PUCCH through the first beam and the station 1, and transmit the second PUCCH through the second beam and the station 2. Thereby enabling multi-site transmission. That is, through the technical solution of the present application, the first communication device may correctly apply two beams of the same type indicated by the network device to the corresponding PUCCH, thereby implementing multi-station transmission.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam, and the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. The first communication device determines a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the first beam and/or the second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first PUCCH from the first beam and the second beam based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the first PUCCH, the first PUCCH can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 7, the beam usage method includes:

701. the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam.

The first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. For example, the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device through DCI. The first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type.

For some possible ways of distinguishing the first beam from the second beam, please refer to the related description of 401 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the description is omitted here.

Alternatively, if the first communication device is a terminal device, the first beam and the second beam in 701 may be indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device, which is specifically described in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 below.

702. The second communication device transmits third indication information to the first communication device.

Wherein the third indication information is used for indicating any one of the following: the first shared channel adopts a first wave beam; alternatively, the first shared channel employs a second beam; alternatively, the first shared channel employs a first beam and a second beam; alternatively, the first shared channel does not employ the first beam and the second beam.

Specifically, the first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device. The network device configures two beams of the same type for the terminal device. The network device may flexibly instruct the terminal device to use the first beam and/or the second beam for transmission of the first shared channel. For example, as shown in fig. 5, in the case of multi-station transmission, station 1 uses a first beam to transmit a first shared channel with a terminal device, and station 2 uses a second beam to transmit the first shared channel. It will be appreciated that station 1 and station 2 perform the same repeated transmission of data with the terminal device. The network device may configure the terminal device to employ the first beam and the second beam for transmission of the first shared channel. For example, if the station 1 is configured to transmit the first shared channel with the terminal device using the first beam, the network device may configure the terminal device to transmit the first shared channel using the first beam.

Optionally, if the first shared channel is PDSCH, the first beam and the second beam are two downlink common beams, or two uplink and downlink common beams.

Optionally, if the first shared channel is PUSCH, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink public beams, or are two uplink downlink public beams.

In some embodiments, the third indication information is carried in downlink control information DCI.

Specifically, the third indication information may be a field in the DCI, where four different values of the field may indicate the following four cases respectively: the first shared channel adopts a first wave beam; the first shared channel adopts a second wave beam; the first shared channel adopts a first wave beam and a second wave beam; the first shared channel does not employ the first beam and the second beam.

For example, if the value of the third indication information is "00", the third indication information is used to indicate that the first shared channel adopts the first beam; if the value of the third indication information is "01", the third indication information is used for indicating that the first shared channel adopts the second wave beam; if the value of the third indication information is 10, the third indication information is used for indicating the first shared channel to adopt the first wave beam and the second wave beam; if the value of the third indication information is "11", the third indication information is used for indicating that the first shared channel does not adopt the first beam and the second beam.

It should be noted that the foregoing is merely an example of the value of the third indication information, and is not a limitation of the present application. For example, if the value of the third indication information is "01", the third indication information is used to indicate that the first shared channel adopts the first beam; if the value of the third indication information is '00', the third indication information is used for indicating the first shared channel to adopt the second wave beam; if the value of the third indication information is 10, the third indication information is used for indicating the first shared channel to adopt the first wave beam and the second wave beam; if the value of the third indication information is "11", the third indication information is used for indicating that the first shared channel does not adopt the first beam and the second beam. The specific application is not limited. Second, the bit length of the third indication information may be greater than 2.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 7 further comprises 703, 703 may be performed after 702.

703. The first communication device transmits a first shared channel through a first wave beam; or the first communication device transmits the first shared channel through the second wave beam; alternatively, the first communication device transmits the first shared channel over the first beam and the second beam.

It should be noted that, the embodiment shown in fig. 7 above describes the technical solution of the present application by taking the beam adopted by the first communication device to determine the first shared channel as an example. The determination of the beams employed for the other shared channels is also similar. For example, as shown in fig. 5, in the multi-station transmission scenario, the terminal device determines that the beam adopted by the first shared channel is the first beam, and determines that the beam adopted by the second shared channel is the second beam. The terminal device may transmit the first shared channel with the station 1 via the first beam and transmit the second shared channel with the station 2 via the second beam. Thereby enabling multi-site transmission. That is to say, through the technical solution of the present application, the first communication device may correctly apply two beams of the same type indicated by the network device to the corresponding shared channel, so as to implement multi-station transmission.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam, and the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. The first communication device receives third indication information from the second communication device, the third indication information being used for indicating any one of the following: the first shared channel adopts a first wave beam; alternatively, the first shared channel employs a second beam; alternatively, the first shared channel employs a first beam and a second beam; alternatively, the first shared channel does not employ the first beam and the second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first shared channel based on the third indication information, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the first shared channel, and the first shared channel can conveniently transmit by adopting the correct beam, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 8, the beam using method includes:

801. the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam.

The first beam and the second beam are two common beams of the same type. In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the first beam and the second beam are two uplink common beams, or the first beam and the second beam are two uplink downlink common beams. The first communication device comprises a terminal device or a network device.

Alternatively, if the first communication device is a terminal device, the first beam and the second beam in 801 may be indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device, which is specifically described in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 below.

802. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first SRS resource according to the first rule.

The beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a first beam and/or a second beam.

The above 802 is described below in connection with some possible scenarios.

Case a: if the network device configures two SRS resource sets of the same type for the terminal device, the step 802 specifically includes:

if the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource corresponding to the first SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets of the same type, the first communication equipment determines that the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a first beam; if the first SRS resource belongs to a corresponding SRS resource in a second SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets of the same type, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a smaller index of the two SRS resource sets of the same type, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a larger index of the two SRS resource sets of the same type; or the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets of the same type, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets of the same type.

In another possible implementation manner, the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a larger index of the two SRS resource sets of the same type, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a smaller index of the two SRS resource sets of the same type; or the first SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets of the same type, and the second SRS resource set is an SRS resource set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two SRS resource sets of the same type.

Specifically, the types of SRS resource sets include: codebook (codebook), non-codebook (nocodebook), antenna switch (antenna switch), beam management (beam management).

if the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource corresponding to the first SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets of the same type, the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a first beam; and if the first SRS resource belongs to the corresponding SRS resource in the second SRS resource set in the two SRS resource sets of the same type, the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam.

Case B: if the network device configures an SRS resource set for the terminal device, the first SRS resource belongs to the SRS resource set, and the step 802 specifically includes any one of the following steps:

1. the first communication equipment determines a beam adopted by a first SRS resource as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case B is satisfied, the first communication device may determine, by default, that the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is the first beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource, but directly defaults to determining that the first SRS resource adopts the first beam.

2. The first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case B is satisfied, the first communication device may determine, by default, that the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is the second beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource, but directly defaults to determining that the first SRS resource adopts the second beam.

3. If the current beam adopted by the SRS resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the current beam adopted by the first SRS resource to the first beam; if the current beam and the second beam of the SRS resource set belong to the same beam set, the first communication device updates the current beam of the first SRS resource to the second beam.

In this implementation, if the above case B is satisfied, the first communication device determines a beam that the first SRS resource adopts after updating in consideration of a beam that the first SRS resource currently adopts. If the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource is updated to be the first beam. If the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource is updated to the second beam.

For example, the beam set is one of a plurality of beam sets composed of common beams of the same type configured by the network device for the terminal device. Different sets of beams may correspond to different stations. I.e. the beams employed by different stations are arranged in different sets of beams, in other words the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. Therefore, if the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first SRS resource is preferentially transmitted by adopting the same station. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first SRS resource is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam, and will not be described here.

4. The first communication device receives a first RRC message or a first MAC-CE from the second communication device. The first RRC message or the first MAC CE is to indicate whether the first SRS resource adopts one or both of the first beam and the second beam. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first SRS resource through the first RRC message or the first MAC CE.

If the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE indicates that the first SRS resource employs one of the first beam and the second beam, the first communication device defaults the first SRS resource to employ the first beam or defaults the first SRS resource to employ the second beam. Further, the second communication device may further indicate to the first communication device that the first SRS resource adopts the first beam or adopts the second beam through the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE; alternatively, the second communication device may also indicate to the first communication device that the first SRS resource employs the first beam or the second beam in other RRC messages or MAC-CEs.

5. The first communication device receives a second RRC message or a second MAC-CE from the second communication device. The second RRC message or the second MAC CE is configured to instruct the first SRS resource to employ the first beam, or employ the second beam, or employ the first beam and the second beam. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first SRS resource through the second RRC message or the second MAC CE.

Note that the 5 methods in the above case B may also be not limited to the case B, that is, in a case where the network device configures a plurality of SRS resource sets for the terminal device, the first communication device may also determine the beams of the respective SRS resources by using the above method.

In other words, that is to say based on case B, the first rule described above specifically comprises:

the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the SRS resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first SRS resource to the first beam; if the beam currently adopted by the SRS resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first SRS resource is updated to the second beam, or,

indicating, by the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE, whether the first SRS resource adopts one or both of the first beam and the second beam; if the first RRC message or the first MAC CE indicates that the first SRS resource adopts one of the first beam and the second beam, adopting the first beam by default or adopting the second beam by default by the first SRS resource; if the first RRC message or the first MAC CE indicates that the first SRS resource adopts two of the first beam and the second beam, the first SRS resource adopts the first beam and the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first SRS resource is indicated to use the first beam, the second beam, or both the first beam and the second beam by the second RRC message or the second MAC-CE, and the first SRS resource is indicated to use the beam indicated by the second RRC message or the second MAC CE.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 8 further includes 803, 803 may be performed after 802.

803. The first communication device transmits the first SRS resource through a beam adopted by the first SRS resource.

For example, the first communication device determines that the first SRS resource employs a first beam. If the first communication device is a terminal device, the terminal device sends SRS on the first SRS resource through the first beam. If the first communication device is a network device, the network device receives SRS on the first SRS resource through the first beam.

For example, the first communication device determines that the first SRS resource employs the second beam. And if the first communication equipment is the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment transmits SRS on the first SRS resource through the second beam. If the first communication device is a network device, the network device receives the SRS on the first SRS resource through the second beam.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam, and the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first SRS resource according to the first rule. The beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a first beam and/or a second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first SRS resource based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the transmission of the corresponding reference signal, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

The present application further provides another embodiment, which is similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 8, and the technical solution of this embodiment is described below in connection with steps 8001 to 8003. The method provided by the embodiment comprises the following steps:

8001. the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam.

Alternatively, if the first communication device is a terminal device, the first beam and the second beam in step 8001 may be indicated by the second communication device to the first communication device, which is specifically described with reference to the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

8002. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first CSI-RS resource according to a first rule.

The beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam and/or a second beam.

The above 8002 is described below in connection with some possible scenarios.

Case a: if the network device configures two CSI-RS resource sets in the same CSI-RS resource configuration for the terminal device, 8002 specifically includes:

if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource corresponding to the first CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam; if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to a CSI-RS resource corresponding to a second CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam.

In a possible implementation manner, the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a smaller index of the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a larger index of the two CSI-RS resource sets; or the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a front configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a rear configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets.

In another possible implementation manner, the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a larger index of the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a smaller index of the two CSI-RS resource sets; or the first CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets, and the second CSI-RS resource set is a CSI-RS resource set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two CSI-RS resource sets.

Specifically, the types of the CSI-RS resource sets include: codebook, non-codebook, antenna switching, or beam management.

If the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource corresponding to the first CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam; if the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the corresponding CSI-RS resource in the second CSI-RS resource set in the two CSI-RS resource sets, the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam.

Case B: if the network device configures a CSI-RS resource set for the terminal device, the first CSI-RS resource belongs to the CSI-RS resource set, and 8002 specifically includes any one of the following:

1. the first communication equipment determines a beam adopted by a first CSI-RS resource as a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case B is satisfied, the first communication device may determine, by default, that the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is the first beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource, but directly defaults to determine that the first CSI-RS resource adopts the first beam.

2. The first communication equipment determines that a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

in this implementation, if the above case B is satisfied, the first communication device may determine, by default, that the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is the second beam. That is, the first communication device does not need to consider the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource, but directly defaults to determine that the first CSI-RS resource adopts the second beam.

3. If the current beam adopted by the CSI-RS resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource to the first beam; if the current beam adopted by the CSI-RS resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication equipment updates the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource to the second beam.

In this implementation, if the above case B is satisfied, the first communication device determines a beam that the first CSI-RS resource adopts after updating in consideration of a beam that the first CSI-RS resource currently adopts. If the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is updated to be the first beam. If the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is updated to the second beam.

For example, the beam set is one of a plurality of beam sets composed of common beams of the same type configured by the network device for the terminal device. Different sets of beams may correspond to different stations. I.e. the beams employed by different stations are arranged in different sets of beams, in other words the beams in the same set of beams are the beams employed by the same station. Therefore, if the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first CSI-RS resource is preferentially transmitted by adopting the same station. Accordingly, the beam currently employed by the first CSI-RS resource is updated to the first beam. The same applies to the second beam, and will not be described here.

4. The first communication device receives a first RRC message or a first MAC-CE from the second communication device. The first RRC message or the first MAC CE is to indicate whether the first CSI-RS resource employs one or both of the first beam and the second beam. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first CSI-RS resource through the first RRC message or the first MAC CE.

If the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE indicates that the first CSI-RS resource adopts one of the first beam and the second beam, the first communication device defaults the first CSI-RS resource to adopt the first beam or defaults the first CSI-RS resource to adopt the second beam. Further, the second communication device may further indicate to the first communication device that the first CSI-RS resource adopts the first beam or adopts the second beam through the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE; alternatively, the second communication device may also indicate to the first communication device that the first CSI-RS resource employs the first beam, or the second beam, in other RRC messages or MAC-CEs.

5. The first communication device receives a second RRC message or a second MAC-CE from the second communication device. The second RRC message or the second MAC CE is configured to instruct the first CSI-RS resource to employ the first beam, or employ the second beam, or employ the first beam and the second beam. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first CSI-RS resource through the second RRC message or the second MAC CE.

Note that the 5 methods in the above case B may also be not limited to the case B, that is, in a case where the network device configures a plurality of CSI-RS resource sets for the terminal device, the first communication device may also determine the beam of each CSI-RS resource by using the above method.

the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the current beam adopted by the CSI-RS resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, updating the current beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource to the first beam; if the beam currently adopted by the CSI-RS resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the beam currently adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is updated to the second beam, or,

indicating, by the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE, whether the first CSI-RS resource adopts one or both of the first beam and the second beam; if the first RRC message or the first MAC-CE indicates that the first CSI-RS resource adopts one of the first beam and the second beam, the default first CSI-RS resource adopts the first beam or the default first CSI-RS resource adopts the second beam; if the first RRC message or the first MAC CE indicates that the first CSI-RS resource adopts two of the first beam and the second beam, the first CSI-RS resource adopts the first beam and the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first CSI-RS resource is indicated to be adopted by the first RRC message or the second MAC-CE, the first beam, the second beam or both the first beam and the second beam are indicated by the second RRC message or the second MAC-CE, and the first CSI-RS resource is indicated by the second RRC message or the second MAC-CE.

Optionally, the present embodiment further includes 8003, 8003 may be performed after 8002.

8003. The first communication equipment transmits the first CSI-RS resource through a beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource.

For example, the first communication device determines that the first CSI-RS resource employs a first beam. If the first communication equipment is the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment sends the CSI-RS on the first CSI-RS resource through the first wave beam. If the first communication device is a network device, the network device receives the CSI-RS on the first CSI-RS resource through the first beam.

For example, the first communication device determines that the first CSI-RS resource employs the second beam. If the first communication equipment is the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment sends the CSI-RS on the first CSI-RS resource through the second wave beam. If the first communication device is a network device, the network device receives the CSI-RS on the first CSI-RS resource through the second beam.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam, and the first beam and the second beam are two beams indicated by the network device to the terminal device. The first communication device determines a beam employed by the first CSI-RS resource according to a first rule. The beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource is a first beam and/or a second beam. According to the technical scheme, the first communication device can determine the beam adopted by the first CSI-RS resource based on the first rule, so that the first communication device can correctly apply the beam indicated by the network device to the transmission of the corresponding reference signal, and the communication transmission performance is improved.

The process by which the second communication device indicates the first beam and the second beam to the first communication device is described below in connection with the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of a beam usage method according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 9, the method includes:

901. the second communication device transmits second indication information to the first communication device. Accordingly, the first communication device receives the second indication information from the second communication device.

The second indication information is used to indicate at least two common beams of the same type. Specifically, the technical solution of the present application is described herein by taking the second indication information for indicating the first beam and the second beam as an example. The first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device.

The first beam and the second beam are two downlink common beams, or two uplink and downlink common beams, and the specific first beam and the second beam should be understood in conjunction with the above embodiments. For example, if used for transmission of PDCCH, the first beam and the second beam are two downlink common beams, or two uplink and downlink common beams.

In some embodiments, the first beam and the second beam are beams employed by the same station. Alternatively, the first beam and the second beam are beams adopted by different stations, so as to realize multi-station transmission.

Alternatively, the second indication information may be carried in DCI.

It should be noted that, the network device may indicate the first beam and the second beam through two DCIs respectively; alternatively, the network device may indicate the first beam and the second beam through two TCI fields of the same DCI, respectively; or, the network device may indicate the first beam and the second beam respectively through different field values in the same TCI field in the same DCI; alternatively, the network device indicates the first beam and the second beam by the same TCI field value.

For some ways of distinguishing the first beam from the second beam, please refer to the related description of 401 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the description is omitted here.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 further comprises 902 and 903, 902 and 903 may be performed before 901.

902. The second communication device transmits configuration information to the first communication device. Accordingly, the first communication device receives configuration information from the second communication device.

Wherein the configuration information is used to configure a full set of beams for the first communication device, the full set of beams comprising at least one of: a downlink common beam, an uplink common beam, and an uplink and downlink common beam.

Optionally, the common beam configured by the second communication device for the first communication device may be further subdivided into a plurality of beam sets, and indexes of beams in the plurality of beam sets may be different, so as to distinguish the beam sets to which the beams belong through the indexes of the beams. For example, beams employed by different stations may be configured in different sets of beams and employ different indexes. The first communication device can determine which station the beam corresponds to by the index of the indicated beam.

Alternatively, the configuration information may be carried in RRC signaling.

903. The second communication device transmits fourth indication information to the first communication device. Accordingly, the first communication device receives fourth indication information from the second communication device.

The fourth indication information is for activating a subset of the set of beams configured in the process of 902 described above for the first communication device. The subset includes beams for further indicating the first beam and the second beam to the first communication device via the first indication information of 901 described above.

Optionally, the fourth indication information is carried in a MAC CE, and the beam information included in the subset of the beam set is carried in the MAC CE. For example, each beam activated by the MAC CE corresponds to each field value in the TCI field in the DCI in 901 described above. After the second communication device transmits a DCI to the first communication device, the first communication device may determine which of the activated beams is indicated by the second communication device through the value of the TCI field in the DCI. For example, the configuration information in 902 configures 64 beams, and the MAC CE activates eight beams in the procedure in 903. The eight beams correspond to 8 field values of the TCI field in the DCI, respectively. When the first communication device receives a DCI, if the TCI field in the DCI has a value of #0, it indicates that the first beam of the eight beams activated in the MAC CE is indicated.

Alternatively, one MAC CE may activate only one type of beam, or may activate multiple types of beams. The same type of beam activated by the MAC CE may be divided into multiple beam groups, with different beam groups corresponding to different stations. The first communication device may determine which station the beam corresponds to based on the beam group to which the beam belongs.

Alternatively, multiple beam groups of the same type may be activated by one MAC CE. For example, one MAC CE activates a plurality of beams of the same type, which may be divided into a plurality of beam groups. Multiple beam groups of the same type may also be activated by multiple MAC CEs, respectively. For example, each MAC CE activates only one set of beams of the same type.

It should be noted that, if the subset of the certain beam set activated by the MAC CE in 903 includes only one beam, the first communication device directly uses the beam, and the second communication device does not need to further indicate the beam from the activated beams through the process in 901. Thus, it is understood that in this implementation, the first beam and the second beam in 901 may be directly indicated by the MAC CE, which is not limited in this application.

The method embodiments described above may be implemented alone or in combination. The terminology and related techniques involved in the various embodiments may be referenced to each other. That is, the technical solutions of different embodiments that do not contradict or logically conflict with each other may be combined, and the application is not limited.

Communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application are described below.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 10, the communication apparatus may be used to perform the process performed by the first communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the embodiment shown in fig. 6 to 9, and the embodiment shown in steps 8001 to 8003, and reference is made to the related description in the above method embodiment.

The communication device 1000 comprises a processing module 1001. Optionally, the communication device 1000 further comprises a transceiver module 1002. The transceiver module 1002 may implement a corresponding communication function, and the processing module 1001 is configured to perform data processing. The transceiver module 1002 may also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication module.

Optionally, the communication device 1000 may further include a storage module, where the storage module may be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing module 1001 may read the instructions and/or data in the storage module, so that the communication device implements the foregoing method embodiments.

The communications apparatus module 1000 can be configured to perform the actions performed by the first communications device in the method embodiments above. The communication apparatus 1000 may be a first communication device or a component that may be disposed in the first communication device. The processing module 1001 is configured to perform the operations related to the processing on the first communication device side in the above method embodiment. Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to perform the operations related to the receiving on the first communication device side in the above method embodiment.

Alternatively, the transceiver module 1002 may include a transmitting module and a receiving module. The sending module is configured to perform the sending operation in the method embodiment. The receiving module is configured to perform the receiving operation in the above method embodiment.

It should be noted that the communication apparatus 1000 may include a transmitting module, and not include a receiving module. Alternatively, the communication device 1000 may include a receiving module instead of a transmitting module. Specifically, it may be determined whether or not the above scheme executed by the communication apparatus 1000 includes a transmission operation and a reception operation.

As an example, the communication apparatus 1000 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 4 above.

A processing module 1001, configured to determine a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; and determining the beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is a first beam or a second beam.

Optionally, the processing module 1001 is configured to execute 402a and 403 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4.

As an example, the communication apparatus 1000 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 above.

A processing module 1001, configured to determine a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; and determining a beam adopted by the first PUCCH according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first PUCCH is the first beam or the second beam.

Optionally, the processing module 1001 is configured to execute 603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6.

As an example, the communication apparatus 1000 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 8 above.

A processing module 1001, configured to determine a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; and determining a beam adopted by the first SRS resource according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first SRS resource is a first beam or a second beam.

Optionally, the processing module 1001 is configured to execute 803 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8.

As an example, the communication apparatus 1000 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 above. For example, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to perform 901 in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 described above. Optionally, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to perform 902 and 903 in the embodiment shown in fig. 9 described above.

It should be understood that the specific process of each module performing the corresponding process is described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

The processing module 1002 in the above embodiments may be implemented by at least one processor or processor-related circuitry. Transceiver module 1002 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver related circuitry. The transceiver module 1002 may also be referred to as a communication module or communication interface. The memory module may be implemented by at least one memory.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to fig. 11, the communication apparatus may be used to perform the procedure performed by the first communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and reference is specifically made to the related description in the above method embodiment.

The communication device 1100 comprises a transceiver module 1101. Optionally, the communication device 1100 further comprises a processing module 1102. The transceiver module 1101 may implement a corresponding communication function, and the processing module 1102 is configured to perform data processing. The transceiver module 1101 may also be referred to as a communication interface or communication module.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may further include a storage module, where the storage module may be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing module 1102 may read the instructions and/or data in the storage module, so that the communication device implements the foregoing method embodiments.

The communications apparatus module 1100 can be configured to perform the actions performed by the first communications device in the method embodiments above. The communication apparatus 1100 may be a first communication device or may be a component that is configured to the first communication device. The transceiver module 1101 is configured to perform the operations related to the reception on the first communication device side in the above method embodiment, and the processing module 1102 is configured to perform the operations related to the processing on the first communication device side in the above method embodiment.

Alternatively, the transceiver module 1101 may include a transmitting module and a receiving module. The sending module is configured to perform the sending operation in the method embodiment. The receiving module is configured to perform the receiving operation in the above method embodiment.

It should be noted that, the communication apparatus 1100 may include a transmitting module, and not include a receiving module. Alternatively, the communication device 1100 may include a receiving module instead of a transmitting module. Specifically, it may be determined whether or not the above scheme executed by the communication apparatus 1100 includes a transmission action and a reception action.

As an example, the communication apparatus 1100 is configured to perform the actions performed by the first communication device in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 7 above.

A transceiver module 1101, configured to determine a first beam and a second beam, where the first beam and the second beam are the same type of beam; receiving third indication information from the second communication device, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating any one of the following:

the first shared channel does not employ the first beam and the second beam.

Optionally, the processing module 1102 is configured to execute 703 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

The processing module 1102 in the above embodiments may be implemented by at least one processor or processor-related circuits. The transceiver module 1101 may be implemented by a transceiver or transceiver related circuitry. The transceiver module 1101 may also be referred to as a communication module or communication interface. The memory module may be implemented by at least one memory.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication device 1200. Referring to fig. 12, the communication device 1200 includes a processor 1210, the processor 1210 is coupled to a memory 1220, the memory 1220 is used for storing computer programs or instructions and/or data, and the processor 1210 is used for executing the computer programs or instructions and/or data stored in the memory 1220, so that the method in the above method embodiment is performed.

Optionally, the communication device 1200 includes one or more processors 1210.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 12, the communication device 1200 may further include a memory 1220.

Optionally, the communications apparatus 1200 can include one or more memories 1220.

Alternatively, the memory 1220 may be integrated with the processor 1210 or provided separately.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 12, the communication device 1200 may further include a transceiver 1230, the transceiver 1230 being configured to receive and/or transmit signals. For example, the processor 1210 may be configured to control the transceiver 1230 to receive and/or transmit signals.

As an aspect, the communication apparatus 1200 is configured to implement the operations performed by the first communication device in the above method embodiment.

For example, processor 1210 is configured to perform the processing-related operations performed by the first communication device in the above method embodiment, and transceiver 1230 is configured to perform the transceiving-related operations performed by the first communication device in the above method embodiment.

The present application also provides a communication apparatus 1300, where the communication apparatus 1300 may be a terminal device, a processor of a terminal device, or a chip. The communications apparatus 1300 can be configured to perform the operations performed by the first communications device in the method embodiments described above.

When the communication apparatus 1300 is a terminal device, fig. 13 shows a simplified schematic structure of the terminal device. As shown in fig. 13, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, and a transceiver. The memory may store computer program code, and the transceiver includes a transmitter 1331, a receiver 1332, radio frequency circuitry (not shown), an antenna 1333, and input and output devices (not shown).

The processor is mainly used for processing communication protocols and communication data, controlling the terminal equipment, executing software programs, processing data of the software programs and the like. The memory is mainly used for storing software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for converting a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal and processing the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. An input/output device. For example, touch screens, display screens, keyboards, etc. are mainly used for receiving data input by a user and outputting data to the user. It should be noted that some kinds of terminal apparatuses may not have an input/output device.

When data need to be sent, the processor carries out baseband processing on the data to be sent and then outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit, and the radio frequency circuit carries out radio frequency processing on the baseband signal and then sends the radio frequency signal outwards in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal equipment, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, and the processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data. For ease of illustration, only one memory, processor, and transceiver are shown in fig. 13, and in an actual end device product, one or more processors and one or more memories may be present. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or storage device, etc. The memory may be provided separately from the processor or may be integrated with the processor, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

In the embodiment of the application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit with the transceiving function can be regarded as a transceiving module of the terminal equipment, and the processor with the processing function can be regarded as a processing module of the terminal equipment.

As shown in fig. 13, the terminal device includes a processor 1310, a memory 1320, and a transceiver 1330. Processor 1310 may also be referred to as a processing unit, processing board, processing module, processing device, etc., and transceiver 1330 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver, transceiving device, etc.

Alternatively, the means for implementing the receiving function in the transceiver 1330 may be regarded as a receiving module, and the means for implementing the transmitting function in the transceiver 1330 may be regarded as a transmitting module, i.e. the transceiver 1330 includes a receiver and a transmitter. The transceiver may also be referred to as a transceiver, transceiver module, transceiver circuitry, or the like. The receiver may also be sometimes referred to as a receiver, a receiving module, a receiving circuit, or the like. The transmitter may also sometimes be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting module, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

For example, in one implementation, the processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the transceiving actions on the first communication device side in fig. 4. For example, the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the determining operation 401 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, and may specifically receive first indication information from the second communication device, where the first beam and the second beam are indicated. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing operations of 402 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4. Optionally, the processor 1310 is further configured to perform the processing operations of 402a and 403 in the embodiment shown in fig. 4.

For example, in one implementation, the processor 1310 is configured to perform processing actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 6. The transceiver 1330 is configured to perform transceiving actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 6. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing actions in the embodiment shown in fig. 6. For example, the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the determining operation of 601 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and may specifically receive first indication information from the second communication device, where the first beam and the second beam are indicated. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing operations of 602 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6. Optionally, the processor 1310 is further configured to perform the processing operations of 603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6.

For example, in one implementation, the processor 1310 is configured to perform processing actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 7. The transceiver 1330 is configured to perform transceiving actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing actions in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. For example, the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the determining operations 701 and 702 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and may specifically be to receive first indication information from the second communication device, for indicating the first beam and the second beam. Optionally, the processor 1310 is further configured to perform the processing operations of 703 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

For example, in one implementation, the processor 1310 is configured to perform processing actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 8. The transceiver 1330 is configured to perform transceiving actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment shown in fig. 8. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing actions in the embodiment shown in fig. 8. For example, the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the determining operation of 801 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8, and may specifically receive first indication information from the second communication device, where the first beam and the second beam are indicated. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing operations of 802 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8. Optionally, the processor 1310 is further configured to perform the processing operations of 803 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8.

For example, in one implementation, the processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing actions on the first communication device side in the embodiments shown in steps 8001 to 8003 described above. The transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the transceiving actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment shown in step 8001 to step 8003. For example, the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform the determining operation of 8001 in the embodiment shown in steps 8001 to 8003, and may specifically be configured to receive first instruction information from the second communication device for instructing the first beam and the second beam. The processor 1310 is configured to perform the processing operations of step 8002 in the embodiment shown in steps 8001 to 8003. Optionally, the processor 1310 is further configured to perform the processing operations of 8003 in the embodiment shown in steps 8001 to 8003.

For example, in one implementation, the transceiver 1330 is configured to perform transceiving actions on the first communication device side in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 9. The transceiver 1330 is used to perform 901 in the embodiment shown in fig. 9. Optionally, a transceiver 1330 is used to perform 902 and 903 in the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

It should be understood that fig. 13 is only an example and not a limitation, and the above-described terminal device including the transceiver module and the processing module may not depend on the structure shown in fig. 11 or 12.

When the communications device 1300 is a chip, the chip includes a processor, memory, and a transceiver. Wherein the transceiver may be an input-output circuit or a communication interface; the processor may be an integrated processing module or microprocessor or an integrated circuit on the chip. The sending operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment may be understood as the output of the chip, and the receiving operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment may be understood as the input of the chip.

The present application also provides a communication apparatus 1400, where the communication apparatus 1400 may be a network device or a chip. The communication apparatus 1400 may be configured to perform the operations performed by the first communication device in the method embodiments illustrated in fig. 4, 6, 7 and 8 and may also be configured to perform the operations performed by the second communication device in the method embodiment illustrated in fig. 9.

When the communication apparatus 1400 is a network device, it is a base station, for example. Fig. 14 shows a simplified schematic of a base station architecture. The base station includes 1410, 1420, 1430. Section 1410 is mainly used for baseband processing, control of the base station, etc.; section 1410 is typically a control center of the base station, and may be generally referred to as a processor, for controlling the base station to perform the processing operations on the network device side in the above-described method embodiment. Portions 1420 are mainly used for storing computer program code and data. The 1430 part is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and converting the radio frequency signals and baseband signals; section 1430 may be referred to generally as a transceiver module, transceiver circuitry, or transceiver, among others. The transceiver module of section 1430, which may also be referred to as a transceiver or transceiver, includes an antenna 1433 and radio frequency circuitry (not shown) that is primarily used for radio frequency processing. Alternatively, the means for implementing the receiving function in section 1430 may be regarded as a receiver and the means for implementing the transmitting function may be regarded as a transmitter, i.e. section 1430 includes a receiver 1432 and a transmitter 1431. The receiver may also be referred to as a receiving module, receiver, or receiving circuit, etc., and the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitting module, transmitter, or transmitting circuit, etc.

Portions

1410 and 1420 may include one or more boards, each of which may include one or more processors and one or more memories. The processor is used for reading and executing the program in the memory to realize the baseband processing function and control of the base station. If there are multiple boards, the boards can be interconnected to enhance processing power. As an alternative implementation manner, the multiple boards may share one or more processors, or the multiple boards may share one or more memories, or the multiple boards may share one or more processors at the same time.

For example, in one implementation, the transceiver module of section 1430 is configured to perform the transceiver-related processes performed by the first communication device in the embodiments illustrated in fig. 4, 6, 7, and 8. Section 1410 is configured to perform processes related to the processing performed by the first communication device in the embodiments illustrated in fig. 4, 6, 7, and 8 and in the embodiments illustrated in steps 8001 to 8003 described above. In another implementation, the transceiver module of section 1430 is configured to perform the transceiver-related process performed by the second communication device in the embodiment shown in fig. 9.

It should be understood that fig. 14 is merely an example and not a limitation, and that the network device including the processor, memory, and transceiver described above may not rely on the structure shown in fig. 11 or 12.

When the communication device 1400 is a chip, the chip includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor. Wherein, the transceiver can be an input-output circuit and a communication interface; the processor is an integrated processor, or microprocessor, or integrated circuit on the chip. The sending operation of the network device in the above method embodiment may be understood as the output of the chip, and the receiving operation of the network device in the above method embodiment may be understood as the input of the chip.

The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer instructions for implementing the method performed by the first communication device in the above-described method embodiment.

For example, the computer program, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to implement the method performed by the first communication device in the method embodiments described above.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to implement the method performed by the first communication device in the method embodiments described above.

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication system, which comprises the first communication device and the second communication device in the embodiment.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip device, including a processor, configured to invoke the computer degree or the computer instruction stored in the memory, so that the processor executes the beam using method of the embodiments shown in the foregoing fig. 4, fig. 6 to fig. 9 and the embodiments shown in the foregoing steps 8001 to 8003.

In a possible implementation manner, the input of the chip device corresponds to the receiving operation in the embodiment shown in fig. 4 and fig. 6 to fig. 9, and the output of the chip device corresponds to the transmitting operation in the embodiment shown in fig. 4 and fig. 6 to fig. 9 and the embodiment shown in steps 8001 to 8003.

Optionally, the processor is coupled to the memory through an interface.

Optionally, the chip device further comprises a memory, in which the computer degree or the computer instructions are stored.

The processor mentioned in any of the above may be a general purpose central processing unit, a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the beam using method of the embodiments shown in the above fig. 4, 6 to 9 and the embodiments shown in the above steps 8001 to 8003. The memory mentioned in any of the above may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), etc.

It will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity, explanation and beneficial effects of the relevant content in any of the above-mentioned communication devices may refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and are not repeated here.

In the present application, the terminal device or the network device may include a hardware layer, an operating system layer running above the hardware layer, and an application layer running above the operating system layer. The hardware layer may include a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a memory management module (memory management unit, MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system of the operating system layer may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement business processing through processes (processes), for example, a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or windows operating system, etc. The application layer may include applications such as a browser, address book, word processor, instant messaging software, and the like.

It will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, apparatuses and modules described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules is merely a logical function division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, for example, multiple modules or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, i.e., may be located in one place, or may be distributed over a plurality of network modules. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing module, or each module may exist alone physically, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

The integrated modules, if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, a portion of the technical solution of the present application, or all or part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the procedures of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

The above embodiments are merely for illustrating the technical solution of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the technical scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of beam use, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a first communication device determines a first beam and a second beam, wherein the first beam and the second beam are of the same type;

the first communication device determines a beam adopted by a first control resource set according to a first rule, wherein the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam and/or the second beam.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein if the network device configures two control resource set packets for the terminal device, each control resource set packet including at least one control resource set, the first communication device determining a beam to be employed by the first control resource set according to a first rule, comprising:

if the first control resource set belongs to a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set belongs to a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam;

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if the network device configures two sets of control resources for the terminal device and the two sets of control resources are used for repeated transmission of the control channel, the first communication device determines the beam adopted by the first set of control resources according to a first rule, comprising:

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a smaller index in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a larger index in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a higher configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; and if the first control resource set is a control resource set with a later configuration sequence in the two control resource sets, the first communication equipment determines that the beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the two sets of control resources are used for repeated transmission of control channels satisfying any one of the following conditions:

the network device configures two control resource set groups for the terminal device, wherein the index of a control resource set in a first control resource set group in the two control resource set groups is smaller than the index of a control resource set in a second control resource set group in the two control resource set groups; or the configuration sequence of the control resource sets in the first control resource set group is before the configuration sequence of the control resource sets in the second control resource set group, wherein the first control resource set group is a control resource set group with smaller group index in the two control resource set groups, and the second control resource set group is a control resource set group with larger group index in the two control resource set groups; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the network device configures the terminal device with a control resource set group, the control resource set group includes one or more single beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one of the one or more single beam control resource sets, the first communication device determining a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, including:

the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the first beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device determines that a beam adopted by the first control resource set is the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the first beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication device determines to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the first beam, and if the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set and the second beam belong to the same beam set, the first communication device determines to update the beam currently adopted by the first control resource set to the second beam.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein if the network device configures the terminal device with a control resource set group, the control resource set group includes one or more multi-beam control resource sets, and the first control resource set belongs to one of the one or more multi-beam control resource sets, the first communication device determining a beam adopted by the first control resource set according to a first rule, the method comprising:

the first communication device determines that the beam employed by the first set of control resources is the first beam and the second beam.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the first communication device receiving a first media access control element, MAC CE, from a second communication device, the first MAC CE comprising an index of the first set of control resources;

the first communication device determining a beam adopted by a first control resource set according to a first rule, including:

if the first MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, where the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information, and the first beam indication information indicates the first beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set adopts a first common beam of two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in a first period of time, where the first period of time is a time interval between an effective time of the beam indicated by the first MAC CE and an effective time of the beam indicated by a second MAC CE, and the second MAC CE is a MAC CE that is received by the first communication device last time after receiving the first MAC CE and is used for indicating the beam adopted by the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

If the first MAC CE is a first type MAC CE, where the first MAC CE includes first beam indication information, and the first beam indication information indicates the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set takes a second common beam of two common beams of the same type, where the second common beam takes effect at any time in the first time period; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first MAC CE is a second type MAC CE, and the first MAC CE includes second beam indication information and third beam indication information, where the second beam indication information indicates the first beam, and the third beam indication information indicates the second beam, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set uses two common beams of the same type that are effective at any time in the first time period.

8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, further comprising:

the first communication device determines a type of the first set of control resources, the type of the first set of control resources comprising: a single beam control resource set or a multi-beam control resource set.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first communication device determining the type of the first set of control resources comprises:

the first communication device determines the type of the first control resource set according to the configuration parameters in the first control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives first indication information from a second communication device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the first control resource set is allowed to adopt a plurality of beams or not, or the first indication information is used for indicating the type of the first control resource set, the first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first communication device receives a third MAC CE from the second communication device, where the third MAC CE is configured to indicate a type of the first control resource set, or the third MAC CE is configured to indicate a number of beams adopted by the first control resource set, where the number of beams includes one beam or two beams; or, the third MAC CE is configured to instruct the beam adopted by the first control resource set, where the beam adopted by the first control resource set includes the first beam and/or the second beam; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first communication device receiving a first MAC CE from the second communication device; the first communication device determines a type of the first set of control resources according to a type of the first MAC CE.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first communication device determining the type of the first set of control resources from the type of the second MAC CE comprises:

if the first MAC CE is a first type of MAC CE, the first communication device determines that the first control resource set is a single-beam control resource set; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

if the first MAC CE is a second type of MAC CE, the first communication device determines that the first set of control resources is a set of multi-beam control resources.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the first communication device determining the type of the first set of control resources based on the number of beams currently employed by the first set of control resources comprises:

And if the number of the wave beams currently adopted by the first control resource set is larger than 1, the first communication equipment determines that the type of the first control resource set is a multi-wave beam control resource set.

12. The method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the first beam and the first beam are two beams indicated by a network device to a terminal device; the first beam and the second beam comprise any one of:

the first beam is the less indexed of the two beams and the second beam is the more indexed of the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam with a smaller TCI field value indicated by corresponding transmission configuration in the two beams, and the second beam is a beam with a larger TCI field value in the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam with a higher configuration sequence in the two beams, and the second beam is a beam with a lower configuration sequence in the two beams; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam belongs to a first beam set, the second beam belongs to a second beam set, the first beam set and the second beam set are two beam sets of the same type configured by the network equipment for the terminal equipment, the first beam set is a beam set with smaller index in the two beam sets of the same type, and the second beam set is a beam set with larger index in the two beam sets; or the first beam set is a beam set with a earlier configuration sequence in the two beam sets of the same type, and the second beam set is a beam set with a later configuration sequence in the two beam sets; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first beam belongs to a first beam group, the second beam belongs to a second beam group, the first beam group and the second beam group are two beam groups of the same type activated by the network equipment through the MAC CE, the first beam group is a beam group with smaller index in the two beam groups of the same type, and the second beam group is a beam group with larger index in the two beam groups of the same type; or, the first beam group is a beam group whose activation sequence of the two beam groups of the same type in the MAC CE is earlier, and the second beam group is a beam group whose activation sequence of the two beam groups of the same type in the MAC CE is later; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam indicated by a first TCI field in downlink control information DCI, and the second beam is a beam indicated by a second TCI field in the DCI; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam is a beam corresponding to a first part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI, and the second beam is a beam corresponding to a second part of field values in all field values of the TCI field in the DCI; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

the first beam and the second beam are two beams of the same type indicated by the same TCI field in DCI, the first beam is the beam with the earlier activation sequence in the MAC CE in the two beams of the same type, and the second beam is the beam with the later activation sequence in the MAC CE in the two beams of the same type; or alternatively, the process may be performed,

The first beam is a beam indicated by first DCI, the second beam is a beam indicated by second DCI, the first DCI is DCI carried by a physical downlink control channel PDCCH corresponding to a first control resource set packet in two control resource set packets configured by the network device, the second DCI is DCI carried by a PDCCH corresponding to a second control resource set packet in the two control resource set packets, the first control resource set packet is a control resource set packet with a smaller packet index in the two control resource set packets, and the second control resource set packet is a control resource set packet with a larger packet index in the two control resource set packets; or, the value of the first field in the first DCI is used to indicate that the beam indicated by the first DCI is the first beam, and the value of the first field in the second DCI is used to indicate that the beam indicated by the second DCI is the second beam.

13. The method according to any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the first communication device comprises a network device or a terminal device.

14. The method of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the first communication device determining a first beam and a second beam comprises:

The first communication device receives second indication information from a second communication device;

the second indication information is used for indicating the first beam and the second beam, the first communication device is a terminal device, and the second communication device is a network device.

15. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processing module for performing the processing operations of the method of any of the preceding claims 1 to 14.

16. The communication device according to claim 15, further comprising a transceiver module for performing the transceiving operations of the method according to any of the preceding claims 1 to 14.

17. A communication device, the communication device comprising:

a memory for storing computer instructions;

a processor for executing a computer program or computer instructions stored in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

18. A communication device comprising a processor for executing a computer program or computer instructions in a memory to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14.

19. A communication device comprising a processor for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 14.

20. A computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a communication device, causes the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14.

21. A computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 14.