GB2624039A - Devices, methods and apparatuses for beam management - Google Patents

Abstract

A terminal device determines or obtains 210 its capability information, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Then, the terminal device transmits 220 the capability information to a network device. The capability information may further comprise one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator, CQI, or a threshold level of power headroom, PH, for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. The terminal device may be further caused to transmit, to the network device, a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information, DCI, state or transmission configuration indication, TCI state to enable multiple DCIs, m-DCI, operation, wherein the configuration change request asks the network device to configure the terminal device with one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

Description

DEVICES, METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR BEAM MANAGEMENT

FIELD

100011 Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communication, and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for beam management.

BACKGROUND

[0002] In the communication technology, there is a constant evolution ongoing in order to provide efficient and reliable solutions for utilizing wireless communication networks. Currently efforts have been made to develop 5th generation (5G) or 5G advance wireless system. Recently, it is discussing an introduction of common beam management and unified beam management.

[0003] Beam management may enable a beam alignment to ensure the transmitter and receiver beams to be accurately aligned, so as to establish a reliable communication link in a wireless communication system, such as the 56 system. In release 18 (Re1-18), user equipment (UE) beam alignment to multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs) was proposed to further improve system performance. However, the overhead of beam alignment would be increasing greatly due to the supporting of multiple TRPs when the current solution of beam alignment is used. New solution needs to be considered to save overhead of beam alignment.

SUMMARY

[0004] In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for beam alignment.

[0005] In a first aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and the one or more processors are configured to cause the terminal device to obtain capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmit, to a network device, the capability information [0006] In a second aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises one or more transceivers; one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and the one or more processors are configured to cause the network device to receive, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmit one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0007] In a third aspect, there is provided a method implemented at a terminal device. The method comprises obtaining capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmitting, to a network device, the capability information.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method implemented at a network device.

The method comprises receiving, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and transmitting one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus of a terminal deviceS The apparatus comprises means for obtaining capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and means for transmitting, to a network device, the capability information.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus of a network deviceS The apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and means for transmitting one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device may comprise at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to obtain capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmit, to a network device, the capability information.

[0012] Tn an eighth aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device may comprise at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to receive, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and transmit one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0013] In a ninth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to third or fourth aspect.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to: obtain capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmit, to a network device, the capability information.

[0015] In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmit one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0016] In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises obtaining circuitry configured to obtain capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmitting circuitry configured to transmit, to a network device, the capability information [0017] In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises receiving circuitry configured to receive, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); and transmitting circuitry configured to transmit one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0018] It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where: 100201 Fig. 1 illustrates an example network environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented; [0021] Fig. 2 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure; [0022] Fig. 3A to 3C illustrate example schematic diagrams of performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for a secondary link by a 4-layer terminal device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure; [0023] Fig. 4 illustrates an example time domain diagram of performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH at 4-layer terminal device according to some other embodiments of the

present disclosure;

[0024] Fig. 5A to 5C illustrate example schematic diagrams of performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for a primary link at a 4-layer terminal device in 2-layer single-TCI use case according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure; [0025] Fig. 6 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented at a network device according to example embodiments of the present disclosure; [0026] Fig. 7 illustrates an example process for a static implementation of beam alignment utilizing PDCCH; [0027] Fig. 8 illustrates an example process for a dynamic implementation of beam alignment utilizing PDCCH; [0028] Fig. 9 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure; and [0029] Fig. 10 illustrates an example block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0030] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure.

The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0032] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0033] References in the present disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment,-"an example embodiment," and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described [0034] It may be understood that although the terms "first" and "second" etc may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms.

These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term -and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms [0035] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an-and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes" and/or "including", when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/ or to combinations thereof [0036] As used in this application, the term circuitry may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) with software/firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and (c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s) that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation [0037] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0038] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as long term evolution (LIE), LTE-advanced (LIE-A), wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA), narrow band Internet of things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the third generation (30), the fourth generation (40), 4.50, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or beyond. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems.

Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system [0039] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom.

The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

[0040] The term 'terminal device" refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS), or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VolP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (1-1MD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "LTE" may be used interchangeably.

100411 Beam management may enable a beam alignment to ensure the transmitter and receiver beams to be accurately aligned, so as to establish a reliable communication link in a wireless communication system, such as the 50 system. In release 18 (Rel-18), user equipment (UE) beam alignment to multiple active TCI states was proposed to further To improve system performance.

100421 As used herein, the term "beam alignment" refers to determining reference signal received power (RSRP) or signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of all beams and selecting the beam with highest RSRP or SINR value to receive the beam. Beam alignment may ensure the transmitter and receiver beams are accurately aligned to establish a reliable communication link in millimeter-wave (mm-wave) systems. Typically, "beam alignment" refers to determining beam with highest RSRP or SINR value at the network side and "beam refinement" refers to determining beam with highest RSRP or STNR value at UE side. It is to be understood that the term "beam alignment" herein refers to UE beam refinement.

[0043] In fact, beam alignment implementation at the HE side is not a part of the current 3GPP specifications (Release 17) since it is TJE implementation behavior. In Release 17 3GPP specification, the dedicated specified reference signal for UE beam alignment may comprise aperiodic channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) with repetition "ON". The scheduling of this CSI-RS may be fully controlled by the network device such as gNB and the network device will in principle have to send the CSI-RS with repetition "ON" regularly for all connected UEs to ensure correct aligned narrow (high gain) beams at the UEs. However, the overhead of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition -ON" could be quite large, so the repetition feature is not mandatory. Therefore, the network device may not allocate aperiodic CSI-RS to the terminal device with repetition "ON" when needed, due to, for example, load and/or resource overhead.

[0044] A frequency range 2 (FR2) 4-layer connection may be configured by a network with a single transmission configuration indication (TCI) state or with 2 individual TCI states (not quasi co-location (QCL) type D), depending on selected beam configuration at the network device Since two different links must be monitored and maintained to ensure optimal performance, the resource overhead for UEs supporting 4-layer DL and/or uplink (lit) may be doubled when using 2 TO states [0045] For facilitating the understanding of the present disclosure, the required resource allocation of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" for 4-layer UE beam alignment will be explained below for the cases of dual TCI state and single TCI state configuration: Dual TCI state configuration: the network device configures two TCI states for a primary link and a secondary link, and the terminal device may be configured with single downlink information (s-DCI) or multiple DCI (m-DCI), depending on the transmit receive point (TRP)'s cooperation. Each TCI state may be allocated a set of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON", which in theory will result in a doubling of the resource overhead.

Single TCI state configuration: the network device configures a single TCI state for the primary link and the secondary link. Only a single TCI state must be allocated with aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON", so in theory the same as for a 2-Layer connection. However, the terminal device will have to maintain two aligned beams, so it will require an increased periodicity of the aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON", which might also lead to double the resource overhead [0046] The scheduling of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" doubles with 4-layer DL MIMO operation which will in turn reduce physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling occasions hence limit achievable throughput. For UP beam alignment, the gNB must interrupt DL data scheduling which reduces maximum achievable throughput.

[0047] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for beam management, especially beam alignment based on PDCCH. In other words, the beam alignment may be performed based on PDCCH reception at the terminal device, instead of depending on aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition -ON.-Particularly, in this solution, a terminal device determines or obtains its capability information, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). Then the terminal device transmits the capability information to a network device and may then perform beam alignment based on PDCCH.

[0048] As such, in embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal device may refine its beam based on the PDCCH, without requiring scheduling of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition 'ON" and thus DL scheduling interruption can be avoided. In turn, resource overhead dedicated to beam alignment may be minimized, thereby increasing maximum achievable throughput.

[0049] As used herein, the term "UP beam alignment", etc., may refer to the beam alignment at the terminal side, which may also be called as beam refinement. The UP beam alignment may involve determining reference signal received power (RSRP) or signal to interference plus noise ratio (STNR) of all beams and selecting the beam with highest RSRP or SINR value to perform for example downlink reception. Typically, "beam alignment" may refer to determining beam with highest RSRP or SINR value at the network device side; however in the present disclosure, we focus on "UE beam refinement-, which means the process for determining or selecting a beam with highest RSRP or SINR value at the terminal device side.

[0050] As used herein, the term "TCI state" may refer to transmission configuration indicator state which may be used by a network station to indicate beam or a link to the terminal device. A TCI state may define a quasi co location (QCL) source and QCL type for a target reference signal and hence indicates a transmission configuration which includes QCL-relationships between the DL RSs in one RS set. Particularly, a TCT state may include, for example, a TCI state ID, QCL information, etc. [0051] The QCL information may include, for example, QLC type 1 and QLC type 2 (optional). The QCL information may contain for example one or more of a serving cell index a bandwidth part (BWP) ID, a downlink reference signal SS/PBCH block (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CST-RS). QCL information may also contain information on an uplink reference signal, such as sounding reference signals (SRS). According to the information in the TCI state, the terminal device may acquire beam related information. In multi-TRP transmission, the terminal device can be configured with multiple TCI states for parallel transmissions between the TRPs and the terminal device [0052] As used herein, the term "beam" may refer to a communication resource. Different beams may be considered as different resources. A beam may also be represented as a spatial filter. A technology for forming a beam may be a beamforming technology or another technology. The beamforming technology may be specifically a digital beamforming technology, analog beamforming technology, or a hybrid digital/analog beamforming technology. A communication device (including the terminal device and the network device) may communicate with another communication device through one or more beams. One beam may include one or more antenna ports and be configured for a data channel, a control channel, or the like. One or more antenna ports forming one beam may also be considered as an antenna port set. Abeam may be configured with a set of resource, or a set of resource for measurement, and a beam may be represented by for example a reference signal and/or related resource for the reference signal. A beam may also represent by a reference cell identifier or resource identifier.

[0053] Example embodiments of the present disclosure for beam alignment will be described below with reference to Figs. 1-10.

[0054] Fig. 1 illustrates an example network environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The environment 100, which may be a part of a communication network, comprises terminal devices and network devices.

[0055] As illustrated in Fig. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a first device (hereinafter may also be referred to as user equipment 110 or UE 110). The communication network 100 may further comprise a second device 120 (which may be referred to as gNB 120, or network device 120) and a third device 130. The second device 120 may manage a cell JUL The third device 130 is a special network device that provides connections between the first device 110 and the second device 120 in the coverage of cell 101. The first device 110 and the second device 120 may communicate data and control information to each other via a link referred to as a primary link directly. The first device 110 and the second device 120 may also communicate data and control information via the third device 130. A link from the network device to the terminal device is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the second device 120 to the third device 130 to the first device 110 referred to as secondary link.

[0056] In some embodiment, the second device 120 may be replaced by some object which can reflect signal from the first device 110. For example, the object may be a building [0057] Tt is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The system 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more terminal devices may be located in the environment 100.

[0058] Communications in the network environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, the third generation (30), the fourth generation (40), the fifth generation (50), the sixth generation (60) or beyond, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), time division multiplexing (TDM),frequency division multiplexing (F DM), code division multiplexing (CDM), Bluetooth, ZigBee, and machine type communication (MTC), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC), carrier aggregation (CA), dual connection (DC), and new radio unlicensed (NR-U) technologies.

[0059] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal device 110 obtains capability information of the terminal device and the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. The terminal device 110 transmits the obtained capability information to the network device 120. Then, the terminal device 100 may perform the beam alignment/refinement based on the reception of PDCCH.

[0060] Fig. 2 illustrates an example flowchart of a method 200 implemented at a terminal device 110 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 200 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 110 with reference to Fig. 1. It is to be understood that method 200 may further include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some shown blocks, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0061] At block 210, the terminal device 110 determines or obtains its capability information, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device 110 supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) [0062] In an example, the capability of beam alignment utilizing PDCCH may require to be reported by the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 in a capability reporting. By means of the capability reporting, the terminal device 110 will inform a network device 120 its capability information, i.e., it supports using PDCCH for beam alignment [0063] In embodiments of the present disclosure, a panel at the terminal device will be split to support two or more different independent beams. Some of these beams may be used for PDCCH receiving and decoding and others may be used for beam alignment at the terminal device Thus, in some scenario, antenna gain of PDCCH receiving might be affected [0064] In order to further make sure the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH will not have a substantial impact on the regular PDDCH reception, an operation condition such as a threshold e.g. a CQI level and/or a PH level, may be defined to guarantee a successful reception of PDCCH even with broad beam (lower gain than narrow beam). The operation condition may be reported to the network device 120. Thus, in some embodiments, the capability information may further comprise one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator (CQI) or a threshold level of power headroom (PH) for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

[0065] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may first ensure, based on the threshold (such as the CQL level, and/or the PH level), that it is able to receive and decode the PDCCH before performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH, to avoid a substantial reduction of the antenna gain due to beam configuration. Thus, the terminal device 110 may only enter the beam alignment operation when the signal conditions are at an acceptable level.

[0066] The CQI level may, for example, be directly related to a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the received signal. The SNR may need to be higher than or equal to the lowest power in antenna gain when the terminal device is configured for PDCCH split panel operation. The PH level may, for example, be directly related to the addition power amplifier (PA) power available to compensate for the reduced antenna gain in PDCCH split panel operation.

[0067] In some embodiments, the above operation condition, such as the CQI level and/or the PH level, may be alternatively pre-defined by the communication protocol. Additionally, the operation condition may be pre-configured by the network device. In addition, it is also possible for the terminal device to repot the operation condition to the network device, which will be further decided by the network device.

[0068] At block 220, the terminal device 110 transmits the capability information to a network device 120. In other words, by such capability information, the terminal device 110 may inform the network device 120 that it can support beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. Then, the terminal device may perform beam alignment based on the PDCCH.

[0069] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may additionally or alternatively transmit a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information (DCI) state or transmission configuration indication (TCI) state to the network device 120 to enable an m-DCI operation. In other words, the terminal device 110 may request the network device to change the configuration for DCI state and/or TCI state, so as to operate in m-DC1 mode. In the m-DC1 operation, independent m-DCIs may be used to schedule different PDSCHs transmitted from m TRPs to indicate transmission resources for the PDSCH. In such a case, it is possible to split the panel at the terminal device for the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

[0070] In some example, however, the terminal device 110 may not be able to enter PDCCH split panel operation if the terminal device 110 is configured with s-DCI in an m-TCI scenario, as the PDCCH is only transmitted for the primary link connection. In such a case, the terminal device 110 may request an m-DCI configuration to enable UE beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

[0071] In some embodiments, the configuration change request may ask the network device 120 to configure the terminal device 110 with one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, 15 PDSCH [0072] In an example, the terminal device 110 may request the change in TCI configuration (typically a common TCI) to ensure PDCCH and PDSCH share the same gNB beam for refining the UE beam accurately.

[0073] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device 120, a threshold adjustment instruction indicating to adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH. Based on the threshold adjustment instruction, the terminal device 110 may adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH to activate or deactivate the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

[0074] In an example, the terminal device 110 may inform the network device 120 of the required CQI/PH threshold level to enable beam alignment The network device 120 may configure the CQI/PH threshold level used at the terminal device 110 to enable the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. The network device 120 may enable or disable the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH implicitly by configuring a CQI/PH threshold level. For example, a high CQI value may be configured so that the terminal device has no chance to perform the beam alignment based on the PDCCH.

[0075] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may trigger beam alignment utilizing PDCCH based on determining one or both of a level of current CQI is above the threshold level of CQI; or a level of current PH is above the threshold level of PH.

[0076] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for one or both of a primary link connection or the secondary link connection. For example, UE beam alignment utilizing PDCCH can also be used for the primary link (i.e. 2-Layers) alone as well as for the 4-layers (with 1 or 2 active TCIs) [0077] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, for a primary link connection, a PDCCH message using a first set of downlink, DL, layers with a static broad beam, then scan for a better primary link or a secondary link connection using a dynamic narrow beam in different angular directions, to measure signal qualities of the PDDCH, and next perform a beam alignment for one or both of the primary link or the secondary link based on the measured signal qualities.

[0078] As an example, the terminal device 110 may achieve UE receiver (Rx) beam alignment on the primary link and/or secondary link by using: * a first set of UE Rx DL layers to receive and decode the PDCCH with a broad HE beam (i.e. single active element of an 1xN array) for the primary link connection, and * a second set of HE Rx DL layers to scan for a better primary link or a secondary link connection or a change in the primary link with a narrow beam (i.e. N-1 active elements of the IxN array) simultaneously, by measuring and storing RSRP level of the PDCCH for different steered narrow beams.

[0079] For illustrative purposes, Fig. 3A to 3C illustrate schematic diagrams of performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for a secondary link by a 4-layer terminal device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. A single split panel configuration allocated with a single TCI state is used to implement beam alignment.

[0080] Fig. 3A illustrates a terminal device 110 connected and beam-aligned to a network device 120 using the best primary link. The communication environment supports a secondary link arriving from different angular directions at the terminal device 110. However, the terminal device 110 might not be aware that this second link exists, unless the network device 120 is scheduling sufficient aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" for the terminal device 110 to scan the full angular space of the panel (i.e. all supported narrow beams). This will increase the number of allocated aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" and thereby also the resource overhead. However, the secondary beam may be detected based on the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH as proposed herein, which will be detailed hereinafter.

[0081] Fig. 3B illustrates that the terminal device 110 is configured to use a single element (broad) beam for a first set of DL layers to receive and decode the PDCCH message. The terminal device 110 may configure the remaining elements of the panel with a second set of DL layers with a narrow beam in a preselected angular direction. The terminal device 110 may keep using the static single element broad beam to receive and decode the PDCCH, while performing narrow beam detection or scanning in different angular directions at the same time.

100821 In this way, it may enable the terminal device 110 to gradually monitor the full angular space for the panel to locate and maintain possible alternative links for 4-Layer operation and also maintain its primary link Based on the monitoring, it may detect the secondary link and align the primary link.

100831 The main advantage of the proposed method lies in that the beam alignment may be achieved without any use of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON." Therefore, resource overhead dedicated to beam alignment may be reduced or even minimized, hence increasing maximum achievable throughput by increasing the PDSCH scheduling opportunities.

100841 Figure 3C illustrates the outcome of the proposed the beam alignment operation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the terminal device 110 may find the secondary link and meanwhile be fully aligned to the primary and secondary links utilizing a split panel configuration.

100851 In additional, Fig. 4 illustrates an example of time domain for 4-layer terminal device performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. The terminal device 110 may comprise a terminal device with 4 reception layers. In Fig. 4, the 4-layer terminal device is configured with two TC1 states in m-DCI operation, and the CORESET#1 and CORESET#2 (i.e., PDCCH) occupy for example one symbol per slot respectively. As such, one alternative narrow beam can be measured per each symbol used for PDCCH. Hence, the terminal device 110 may measure two narrow beams per slot to find the optimum steering. As illustrated in Fig. 4, the direction of beams for receiving PDSCH beams may be adjusted according to monitoring of links to enable a better PDSCH reception.

100861 It is to be appreciated that the procedure of beam alignment utilizing PDCCH is not only applicable to 4-layer DL MI1\40 use case but is also advantageous in 2-layer single-TCI use case to enable UE to refine its beam without needing CSI-RS repetition "ON". Next, reference will be made to Fig SA to Fig. SC, which illustrate example schematic diagrams of performing beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for a primary link at a 4-layer terminal device in 2-layer single-TCI use case according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0087] Fig. 5A illustrates that a terminal device 110 connected and beam aligned to a network device 120 using the best primary link and environment only supports that primary link. The terminal device 110 will need to realign its beam for optimal performance when the terminal device 110 rotates. However, without the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH as proposed herein, the terminal device 110 would have to be dependent on the network device 120 scheduling sufficient aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" at the right time for the terminal device 110 to scan the full angular space of the panel (all supported narrow beams).

This will increase the number of allocated aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" and thereby also the overhead. Especially since the network device 120 will not know that the terminal device 110 is rotating and will might not be allocated aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON" with a proper interval/timing.

[0088] Fig. 5B illustrates that the terminal device 110 has been rotated, and the terminal device 110 needs to realign its beam. The terminal device 110 is configured to use a single element (board) beam for a first set of DL layers to receive and decode the PDCCH message.

[0089] In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may configure the remaining elements of the panel with a second set of DL layers with a narrow beam in a preselected angular direction. The terminal device 110 may keep using the static single element broad beam to receive and decode the PDCCH, while at the same time configuring a dynamic narrow beam in different angular directions. This may enable the terminal device 110 to gradually monitor the full angular space for the panel to locate and maintain its primary link. This may be achieved without any use of aperiodic CSI-RS with repetition "ON".

[0090] Fig. 5C illustrates that the terminal device 110 after the beam alignment operation, wherein the terminal device is fully aligned to the primary link utilizing the full panel. Thus, the terminal device 110 may split a panel to support two different independent beams, each beam supporting 2 DL layers. In addition, another optimal implementation could be a fixed wireless access (FWA), customer premise equipment (CPE) or network controlled repeater (NCR) with 2 parallel panels next to each other's, covering the same angular space.

[0091] In some embodiments, the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH may be enabled /disabled by an activation/deactivation indication For example, the terminal device 110 may receive an activation indication for activating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH and activate the beam alignment operation in response to reception of the activation indication Additionally or alternatively, the terminal device 110 may receive a de-activation indication for deactivating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH and de-activate the beam alignment operation accordingly.

100921 Fig. 6 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented at a network device 120 according to example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 120 with reference to Fig. 1. It is to be understood that method 600 may further include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some shown blocks, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0093] At block 610, the network device 120 receives capability information from a terminal device 110. The capability information indicates the terminal device 110 supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0094] In some embodiments, the capability information may further comprise one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator (CQI) or a threshold level of power headroom (PH) for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. For example, the terminal device 110 may inform the network device 120 of the used threshold levels for CQI and PH. The network device 120 may use this information to ensure common TCI configuration for certain channel conditions.

[0095] At block 620, the network device 120 transmits one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device 110 respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication (TCI) states.

[0096] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may receive a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information (DCI) state or TCI state from the terminal device 110 to enable the m-DCI operation [0097] In some embodiments, the configuration change request may ask the network device 120 to configure the terminal device 110 with one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, 30 PDSCH.

[0098] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a threshold adjustment instruction to the terminal device 110. The threshold adjustment instruction indicates the terminal device to adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH.

[0099] In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit an activation indication for activating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a de-activation indication for deactivating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

100100] Hereinabove, the operations at the network device UO are described in brief with reference to Fig. 6. However, it is to be appreciated that operations at the network device 120 may correspond to those operations at the terminal device 110, thus detailed operations will not be elaborated herein and references may be made to Fig. 1 to 5 for more details.

[00101] Fig. 7 illustrates an example process for a static implementation of beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. For the purpose of discussion, the process 700 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The process 700 may involve the terminal device 110, the network device 120 as illustrated in Fig. 1. It would be appreciated that although the process 700 has been described in the communication environment 100 of Fig. 1, this process may be likewise applied to other communication scenarios with similar issues.

[00102] In the process 700, a terminal device 110 may send at 705 its UE capability report 702, to the network device 120. By means of its UE capability report 702, the terminal device 110 may inform the network device 120 of the capability information. The capability information may indicate that the terminal device can support the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. Additionally, the capability information may further include the selected threshold levels of CQI and PH for enabling beam alignment.

[00103] After receiving at 710 the UE capability report 702, the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 may establish 704 a radio resource control (RRC) connection (at 715 and at 720). Then, the network device 120 may send at 725 CSI-RS 706 to the terminal device for channel measurement. Upon receiving at 730 the CSI-RS 706, the terminal device 110 may derive at 735 CQI, PH and TCI state configuration. The terminal device 110 may determine at 740 if it can enable beam alignment using PDCCH.

[00104] Based on determining at 740 that it can enable beam alignment using PDCCH, the terminal device 110 may configure at 745 the active panel(s) for PDCCH beam alignment.

The network device 120 transmits one or more PDCCH at 708 in s-DCI or m-DCI mode, to the terminal device 110. After receiving at 755 the one or more PDCCH at 708 from the network device 120, the terminal device 110 may perform at 760 PDCCH beam alignment on the active panel(s) Then the terminal device 110 may reconfigure at 765 the active panel(s) for PDSCH reception. The network device 120 sends at 770 PDSCH 712, and then the terminal device 110 may receive at 780 the PDSCH 712 with aligned narrow beams independent on the number of configured DL layers.

1001051 Fig. 8 illustrates an example process for a dynamic implementation of beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. For the purpose of discussion, the process 800 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The process 800 may involve the terminal device 110, the network device 120 as illustrated in Fig. 1. It would be appreciated that although the process 800 has been described in the communication environment 100 of Fig. 1, this process may be likewise applied to other communication scenarios with similar issues.

1001061 In the process 800, a terminal device 110 may send at 805 its UE capability report 802 to the network device 120. The UE capability report 802 may include the information that the UE supports beam alignment utilizing PDCCH. After receiving at 810 the UE capability report 802, the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 may establish an RRC connected 804 (at 815, at 820). Then, the network device 120 may send at 825 CSI-RS 806 to the terminal device 110 for channel measurement. Upon receiving at 830 the CST-RS 806, the terminal device 110 may derive at 835 CQ1, PH and TCI state configuration. The terminal device 110 may determine at 840 if it can enable beam alignment using PDCCH.

1001071 Based on determining at 840 that it cannot enable beam alignment using PDCCH, for example due to the fact that it is in s-DCI mode. The terminal device 110 may then send at 845 a DCI state and/or TO state configuration change request 808, to ensure one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state is with common configuration, which results in m-DCI operation. After receiving at 850 the request 808 from the terminal device 110, the network device 120 may send at 855 an instruction 812 to the terminal device 110. The instruction 812 may instruct the terminal device 110 to adjust the used threshold levels for CQI and PH to configure the conditions under which the HE may use PDCCH symbols to refine its beam. The instruction 812 may be used if the network device 120 choose to ignore the DCI state and/or TCI state configuration change request 808 in an attempt enable the terminal device 110 to utilize beam alignment using PDCCH even if the network device 120 didn't change the DCI state and/or TCI state, by lowering the threshold levels.

[00108] The terminal device 110 may configure at 865 active panel(s) for PDCCH beam alignment. The network device 120 sends at 870 one or more PDCCH 814 in an s-DCI or m-DCI mode After receiving at 875 the one or more PDCCH 814 from the network device 120, the terminal device 110 may perform at 880 PDCCH beam alignment on the active panel(s). Then the terminal device 110 may reconfigure at 885 the active panel(s) for PDSCH reception. The network device 120 sends at 890 PDSCH 816, and then the terminal device may receive at 896 the PDSCH 816 with aligned narrow beams in dependent on the number of configured DL layers.

1001091 It is to be appreciated that the processes 700 and 800 are illustrated only for illustrative purposes and the present disclosure is not limited thereto 1001101 In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of operations of the method 200 (for example, the first device 110) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 200. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

1001111 In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for obtaining capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, and means for transmitting, to a network device, the capability information.

1001121 In some example embodiments, the capability information may further comprise one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator, CQI, or a threshold level of power headroom, PH, for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

1001131 In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for transmitting, to the network device, a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information, DCI, state or transmission configuration indication, TCI state to enable multiple DCIs, m-DCI, operation.

1001141 Tn some example embodiments, the configuration change request may ask the network device to configure the terminal device with one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

1001151 In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for receiving, from the network device, a threshold adjustment instruction indicating to adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQ1 or the threshold level of PH; and means for adjusting, based on the threshold adjustment instruction, one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH to activate or deactivate the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH [00116] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for triggering beam alignment utilizing PDCCH based on determining one or both of: a level of current CQI is above the threshold level of CQI; or a level of current PH is above the threshold level of PH.

[00117] Tn some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for performing the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for one or both of a primary link connection or the secondary link connection.

[00118] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for perform the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH by: receiving, for a primary link connection, a PDCCH message using a first set of downlink, DL, layers with a broad beam; scanning for a better primary link and/or a secondary link connection using a dynamic narrow beam in different angular directions, to measure signal qualities of the PDDCH; and performing a beam alignment for one or both of the primary link or the secondary link based on the measured signal qualities.

[00119] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for receiving an activation indication for activating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

[00120] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise: means for receiving a de-activation indication for deactivating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

[00121] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may comprise a terminal device with 4 reception layers.

[00122] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 200. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[00123] In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the second device 120) may comprise means for performing the respective 30 steps of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

1001241 In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and means for transmitting one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication, TCI states.

1001251 In some embodiments, the capability information may further comprise one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator, CQI, or a threshold level of power headroom, PH, for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

1001261 In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for receiving, from the terminal device, a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information, DCI, state or TCI state to enable multiple DCIs, m-DCI, operation [00127] In some embodiments, the configuration change request may request the network device to configure the terminal device with one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state 15 with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.

[00128] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting, to the terminal device, a threshold adjustment instruction indicating to adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH.

[00129] In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting an activation indication for activating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

1001301 In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting a de-activation indication for deactivating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.

1001311 In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 600. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[00132] Fig. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the terminal device 110, the network device 120 as shown in Fig. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, and one or more communication module 940 such as transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) coupled to the processor 910. The device 900 may further include one or more memories 920 coupled to the processor 910. The device 900 may further include one or more memory 920 storing instructions coupled to the one or more processors 910.

1001331 The communication module 940 may be for bidirectional communications. The communication module 940 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.

[00134] The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

1001351 The communication module 940 may include for example a communication interface. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. The communication interface may be hardware or software based interface. For example, the communication interface may be one or more transceivers. The one or more transceivers may be coupled to one or more antennas or antenna ports to wirelessly transmit and/or receive communication signals. The antennas or antenna ports may be the same or different types. The one or more transceivers allow the communication device to communicate with other devices that may be wired and/or wireless. The transceiver may support one or more radio technologies. For example, the one or more transceivers may include a cellular subsystem, a WLAN subsystem, and/or a BluetoothTM subsystem. In some examples, the one or more transceivers may include processors, controllers, radios, sockets, plugs, buffers, and like circuits/devices used for connecting to and communication on networks.

1001361 The memory 920 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1024, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 1022 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[00137] A computer program 930 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 910. The program 1030 may be stored in the ROM 924. The processor 910 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 930 into the RAM 922.

[00138] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 930 so that the device 900 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to Figs. 2 to 8. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware [00139] In some embodiments, the program 930 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 900 (such as in the memory 920) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 900. The device 900 may load the program 930 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 922 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. Fig. 10 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1000 in form of CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has the program 930 stored thereon.

[00140] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[00141] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the method 200 or 600 as described above with reference to Figs. 2-8. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[00142] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in fo any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

1001431 In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[00144] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[00145] Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[00146] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims (25)

1. WHAT IS CLAIMED IS: 1. A terminal device, comprising: one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and the one or more processors are configured to cause the terminal device to: obtain capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and transmit, to a network device, the capability information.
2. 2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the capability information further comprises one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator, CQI, or a threshold level of power headroom, PH, for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.
3. 3. The terminal device according to claim I or 2, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: transmit, to the network device, a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information, DCI, state or transmission configuration indication, TCI state to enable multiple DCIs, m-DCI, operation
4. 4. The terminal device according to claim 3, wherein the configuration change request asks the network device to configure the terminal device with one PDCCH per TCI state and each TCI state with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.
5. 5. The terminal device according to any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: receive, from the network device, a threshold adjustment instruction indicating to adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH; and adjust, based on the threshold adjustment instruction, one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH to activate or deactivate the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.
6. 6. The terminal device according to any of claims 2 to 5, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: trigger beam alignment utilizing PDCCH based on determining one or both of: a level of current CQI is above the threshold level of CQI; or a level of current PH is above the threshold level of PH.
7. 7. The terminal device according to any of claims Ito 6, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: perform the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH for one or both of a primary link connection or the secondary link connection.
8. 8. The terminal device according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH by: receiving, for a primary link connection, a PDCCH message using a first set of downlink, DL, layers with a broad beam; scanning for a better primary link and/or a secondary link connection using a dynamic narrow beam in different angular directions, to measure signal qualities of the PDDCH; and performing a beam alignment for one or both of the primary link or the secondary link based on the measured signal qualities.
9. 9. The terminal device according to any one of proceeding claims, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: receive an activation indication for activating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.
10. 10. The terminal device according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the terminal device is further caused to: receive a de-activation indication for deactivating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.
11. 11. The terminal device according to any of claims Ito 10, wherein the terminal device comprises a terminal device with 4 reception layers
12. 12. A network device, comprising: one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and the one or more processors are configured to cause the network device to: receive, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and transmit one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication, TCI states.
13. 13. The network device according to claim 12, wherein the capability information ft) further comprises one or both of a threshold level of channel quality indicator, CQI, or a threshold level of power headroom, PH, for triggering the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.
14. 14. The network device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the network device is further configured to: receive, from the terminal device, a configuration change request for configuration change of one or both of downlink control information, DCI, state or TCI state to enable multiple DCIs, m-DCI, operation.
15. 15. The network device according to claim 14, wherein the configuration change 20 request asks the network device to configure the terminal device with one PDCCH per TO state and each TCI state with a common beam configuration for PDCCH and physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH.
16. 16. The network device according to any of claim 13 to 15, wherein the network device is further configured to: transmit, to the terminal device, a threshold adjustment instruction indicating to adjust one or both of the threshold level of CQI or the threshold level of PH.
17. 17. The network device according to any of claims 12 to 16, wherein the network device is further caused to: transmit an activation indication for activating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH.
18. 18. The network device according to any of claims 12 to 17, wherein the network device is further caused to: transmit a dc-activation indication for deactivating the beam alignment utilizing PDCCH
19. 19. A method at a terminal device, comprising: obtaining capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and transmitting, to a network device, the capability information.
20. 20. A method at a network device, comprising: receiving, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and transmitting one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication, TO states.
21. 21. An apparatus of terminal device, comprising: means for obtaining capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and means for transmitting, to a network device, the capability information.
22. 22. An apparatus of network device, comprising: means for receiving, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and means for transmitting one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication, TCI states.
23. 23. A terminal device, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to: obtain capability information of the terminal device, wherein the capability information indicates that the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and transmit, to a network device, the capability information.
24. 24. A network device, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to: receive, from a terminal device, capability information, wherein the capability information indicates the terminal device supports beam alignment utilizing physical downlink control channel, PDCCH; and transmit one or more PDCCH messages to the terminal device respectively using one or more transmission configuration indication, TC1 states.
25. 25. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 19 or 20.