WO2022082790A1

WO2022082790A1 - Beam indication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022082790A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/123439
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李铁; 张永平; 张希
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-10-23
Filing date: 2020-10-23
Publication date: 2022-04-28

Abstract

Disclosed in the embodiments of the present application are a beam indication method and apparatus. In the method, a terminal device receives first indication information and second indication information from a network device, the first indication information being used to indicate a number N of beam sets, and the second indication information being used to indicate the number of a beam set where a beam used for the transmission of a signal or channel is located; and the terminal device thus can transmit the signal or channel according to the beams in the beam set identified by the number. The beam used for the transmission of the signal or channel does not need to be learnt by interpreting multi-level signaling, reducing the overhead of the terminal device. The terminal device does not need to interpret the multi-level signaling to learn the beam used for the transmission of the signal or channel, reducing the overhead of a system.

Description

Method and device for beam indication

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a beam indication method and apparatus.

Background technique

In the future communication system, such as the 5th generation (5G) system, in order to meet the requirements of the three scenarios, compared with the long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) system, the low frequency frequency band is used, and the high frequency frequency band is added. Above 6GHz. The introduction of high frequency can achieve larger bandwidth and higher transmission rate. Due to the high frequency, the signal will be severely fading during the spatial propagation process. Therefore, the future communication system will use beamforming technology to obtain good directional gain, so as to improve the directional power in the transmitting direction, improve the signal-to-interference noise ratio at the receiving end, and then Improve system performance.

Currently, the beam management framework includes beam training, beam measurement, and reporting. Among them, the terminal device can find the beam pair that communicates with the base station through the beam training process.

For example, the terminal device determines the beam pair to communicate with the base station through the base station's explicit indication or implicit indication. However, the display method is based on radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) + media access control-control element (madia access control-control element, MAC-CE) + downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) for three levels Indication, that is, separate instructions for each terminal device, separate instructions for each signal and channel, and separate instructions for downlink (down link, DL)/uplink (up link, DL), which will lead to a large system overhead. In addition, although the implicit method can save signaling overhead, more scenarios fall back to the initial access beam, so that the reference beam cannot be well matched, resulting in system performance degradation.

Therefore, in beam management, the beam indication method is still a current research hotspot.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a beam indication method and apparatus, which can reduce system overhead.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a beam indication method. In this method, the terminal device receives the first indication information and the second indication information from the network device, the first indication information is used to indicate the N beam sets, and the second indication information is used to indicate where the beams used for signal or channel transmission are located. The number of the beam set; thus the terminal device transmits the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

It can be seen that the terminal device can directly learn the beam used for signal or channel transmission by receiving the N beam sets indicated by the first indication information and the number indicated by the second indication information, without interpreting the multi-level signaling to learn the signal or channel. The beam used for channel transmission can reduce the overhead of terminal equipment.

In an implementation manner, the N beam sets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink, and N is a positive integer.

In an implementation manner, at least one beam set in the N beam sets includes multiple beam subsets, and each beam subset in the multiple beam subsets includes at least one beam; each beam subset includes at least one beam. relationship between them.

In one implementation, the plurality of beam subsets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink.

In an implementation manner, after the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device further receives third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the N measuring the beams in the beam set; thus the terminal device measures the beams in the N beam sets to obtain a first measurement result; and reports the first measurement result to the network device, the first measurement result used to determine the second indication information.

In another implementation manner, after the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device further receives fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the N The beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the beam sets are measured; the M is greater than or equal to 1; so that the terminal device measures the beams in the M beam subsets of the at least one beam set in the N beam sets The beam is measured to obtain a second measurement result; the second measurement result is reported to the network device, and the second measurement result is used to determine the second indication information.

It can be seen that, in the above two implementation manners, the terminal device can determine the beam to be measured by receiving the third indication information without tracking and measuring all the beams, which can reduce the power and power consumption of the terminal device. In addition, the first measurement result can be used to determine the second indication information, which can also reduce the overhead of the system.

In an implementation manner, the beams in the beam set identified by the number are used for transmission of at least one signal or channel, or used for transmission of at least one signal or channel of at least one carrier. That is to say, the beam indicated by the second indication information can be used to transmit at least one signal or channel, instead of only one signal or channel can be transmitted by one beam, thereby helping to reduce system overhead.

In an implementation manner, at least one second indication information is included in the group downlink control information DCI; each second indication information in the at least one second indication information is the same or different.

In an implementation manner, the second indication information is included in the medium access control-control element MAC-CE or the downlink control information DCI.

In an implementation manner, after the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device further determines, from the N beam sets, the beam where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located according to the third measurement result. The third measurement result is obtained by measuring each beam in the beam subset before the terminal device obtains the first indication information. That is to say, the terminal device determines the beam for signal or channel transmission from the N beam sets by itself according to the previous measurement result, thereby reducing the overhead of the system.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a beam indication method. The beam indication method in this aspect corresponds to the beam indication method described in the first aspect, and the beam indication method in this aspect is described from the network device side. In this method, the network device determines first indication information and second indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets, and the second indication information is used to indicate where the beams used for signal or channel transmission are located. the number of the beam set; send the first indication information and the second indication information to the terminal device; and then transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

It can be seen that the network device directly indicates to the terminal device the beam used for signal or channel transmission by indicating the N beam sets and the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located. Compared with the indication mode, the structure of the indication signaling is simple, and the overhead of the system can be reduced.

In an implementation manner, the N beam sets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink; the N is a positive integer.

In an implementation manner, after the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the network device further sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the N measuring the beams in the beam set; then receiving the first measurement result from the terminal device; the first measurement result is the measurement result of the beams in the N beam sets; and determining the first measurement result according to the first measurement result 2. Instruction information.

In another implementation manner, after the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the network device further sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the N Perform measurement on beams in M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the beam set, where M is greater than or equal to 1; and then receive a second measurement result from the terminal device, where the second measurement result is the N Measurement results of beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the beam sets; and determining second indication information according to the second measurement results.

It can be seen that in this manner, the network device can instruct the terminal device to measure each beam in the N beam sets, or the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets to the terminal device by means of indication information. , so that the terminal device does not need to measure all the beams, and further helps to reduce the overhead of the system. In addition, the network device can also determine the beam used to indicate signal or channel transmission through the measurement result.

It can be seen that the network equipment can indicate to multiple terminal equipments the beams used by each terminal equipment to transmit signals or channels by means of group DCI, which can reduce the system overhead compared with the current method of separately indicating to each terminal equipment.

In a third aspect, the present application further provides a communication device. The communication device has part or all of the functions of the terminal device described in the first aspect above, or the communication device has part or all of the functions of the network device described in the second aspect above. For example, the functions of the communication apparatus may have the functions of some or all of the embodiments of the terminal device in this application, and may also have the functions of independently implementing any one of the embodiments of this application. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or can be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

In a possible design, the structure of the communication device may include a processing unit and a communication unit, and the processing unit is configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions in the above method. The communication unit is used to support communication between the communication device and other communication devices. The communication device may also include a storage unit for coupling with the processing unit and the communication unit, which stores program instructions and data necessary for the communication device.

In an implementation manner, the communication device includes:

a communication unit, configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

a communication unit, further configured to receive second indication information from the network device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

A processing unit, configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In addition, in this aspect, for other optional implementations of the communication apparatus, reference may be made to the relevant content of the above-mentioned first aspect, which will not be described in detail here.

In an implementation manner, the communication device includes:

a communication unit, configured to send first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The communication unit is further configured to send second indication information to the terminal device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The processing unit is configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In addition, in this aspect, for other optional implementations of the communication device, reference may be made to the relevant content of the second aspect above, which will not be described in detail here.

As an example, the communication unit may be a transceiver or a communication interface, the storage unit may be a memory, and the processing unit may be a processor.

In an implementation manner, the communication device includes:

a transceiver, configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

a transceiver, further configured to receive second indication information from the network device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The processor is configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In another implementation manner, the communication device includes:

a transceiver, configured to send first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The transceiver is further configured to send second indication information to the terminal device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The processor is further configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In implementation, the processor may be used to perform, for example, but not limited to, baseband related processing, and the transceiver may be used to perform, for example, but not limited to, radio frequency transceiving. The above-mentioned devices may be respectively arranged on chips that are independent of each other, or at least part or all of them may be arranged on the same chip. For example, processors can be further divided into analog baseband processors and digital baseband processors. Among them, the analog baseband processor can be integrated with the transceiver on the same chip, and the digital baseband processor can be set on a separate chip. With the continuous development of integrated circuit technology, more and more devices can be integrated on the same chip. For example, a digital baseband processor can be integrated with a variety of application processors (such as but not limited to graphics processors, multimedia processors, etc.) on the same chip. Such a chip may be called a System on Chip. Whether each device is independently arranged on different chips or integrated on one or more chips often depends on the needs of product design. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the implementation form of the foregoing device.

In a fourth aspect, the present application further provides a processor for executing the above-mentioned various methods. In the process of executing these methods, the process of sending and receiving the above-mentioned information in the above-mentioned methods can be understood as the process of outputting the above-mentioned information by the processor and the process of receiving the above-mentioned information input by the processor. When outputting the above-mentioned information, the processor outputs the above-mentioned information to the transceiver for transmission by the transceiver. After the above-mentioned information is output by the processor, other processing may be required before reaching the transceiver. Similarly, when the processor receives the above-mentioned information input, the transceiver receives the above-mentioned information and inputs it into the processor. Furthermore, after the transceiver receives the above-mentioned information, the above-mentioned information may need to perform other processing before being input to the processor.

Based on the above principles, for example, receiving the first indication information mentioned in the foregoing method may be understood as the processor receiving the inputted first indication information.

For the operations of transmitting, sending and receiving involved in the processor, if there is no special description, or if it does not contradict its actual function or internal logic in the relevant description, it can be more generally understood as the processor output and Receive, input, etc. operations, rather than transmit, transmit, and receive operations directly performed by radio frequency circuits and antennas.

In the implementation process, the above-mentioned processor may be a processor specially used to execute these methods, or may be a processor that executes computer instructions in a memory to execute these methods, such as a general-purpose processor. The above-mentioned memory can be a non-transitory (non-transitory) memory, such as a read-only memory (Read Only Memory, ROM), which can be integrated with the processor on the same chip, or can be set on different chips respectively. The embodiment does not limit the type of the memory and the setting manner of the memory and the processor.

In a fifth aspect, the present application further provides a communication system, the system includes at least one network device and at least one terminal device according to the above aspects. In another possible design, the system may further include other devices that interact with the network device or the terminal device in the solution provided in this application.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions, and when the instructions are executed by a communication device, the method described in the first aspect above is implemented.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions, and when the instructions are executed by a communication device, the method described in the second aspect above is implemented.

In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method described in the first aspect above.

In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method of the second aspect above.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, the chip system includes a processor and an interface, the interface is used to obtain a program or an instruction, and the processor is used to call the program or instruction to implement or support a terminal to implement the first The functions involved in one aspect, for example, determine or process at least one of the data and information involved in the methods described above. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data of the terminal. The chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a chip system, the chip system includes a processor and an interface, the interface is used to obtain a program or an instruction, and the processor is used to call the program or instruction to implement or support terminal implementation The functions involved in the first aspect, for example, determine or process at least one of the data and information involved in the above method. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data of the terminal. The chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a downlink beam training process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

3 is a schematic diagram of an uplink beam training process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of beam indication signaling provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a beam indication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a multiple beam coverage provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a beam set division provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of another beam indication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a beam provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

First, in order to better understand the beam indication method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, a communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable is described.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, the Global System for Mobile Communications, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) frequency division duplex system, the LTE time division duplex system, the Universal Mobile Communication System, the 4th Generation (4th-Generation, 4G) system, and the With the continuous development of communication technologies, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application may also be used in subsequently evolved communication systems, such as a fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5th-Generation, 5G) system, and the like.

Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication system may include, but is not limited to, a network device and a terminal device. The number and form of devices shown in FIG. 1 are used as examples and do not constitute limitations to the embodiments of the present application. In practical applications, two or more network devices and two or more terminal devices may be included. The communication system shown in FIG. 1 is described by taking a network device and a terminal device as an example, and the network device can provide services for the terminal device. Among them, the network device in Fig. 1 is taken as an example of a base station, and the terminal device is taken as an example of a mobile phone.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network device may be a device with a wireless transceiver function or a chip that can be provided in the device, and the network device includes but is not limited to: an evolved node B (evolved node B, eNB), a radio network controller ( radio network controller, RNC), node B (Node B, NB), network equipment controller (base station controller, BSC), network equipment transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home network equipment (for example, home evolved Node B , or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), access point (AP), wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, WIFI) system Transmission point (transmission and reception point, TRP or transmission point, TP), etc., can also be equipment used in 4G, 5G or even 6G systems, such as gNB in NR system, or transmission point (TRP or TP), 4G One or a group (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of the network equipment in the system, or, it can also be a network node that constitutes a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU), or a picocell (Picocell), or a femtocell (Femtocell), or a roadside unit (RSU) in an intelligent driving scenario.

In this embodiment of the present application, terminal equipment may include, but is not limited to: user equipment (user equipment, UE), access terminal equipment, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal equipment, mobile equipment, User terminal equipment, user agent or user equipment, etc. For another example, the terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with a wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, industrial control Wireless terminals in (industrial control), wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical, wireless terminals in smart grid, and transportation safety wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, wireless terminals in the aforementioned V2X Internet of Vehicles, or RSUs of the wireless terminal type, etc.

In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some functions of the gNB, and the DU implements some functions of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, and implementing functions of radio resource control (RRC) and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layers. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services, and implementing the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer, and physical (PHY) layer. AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing and related functions of active antennas. Since the information of the RRC layer will eventually become the information of the PHY layer, or be transformed from the information of the PHY layer, therefore, in this architecture, the higher-layer signaling, such as the RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU. , or, sent by DU and AAU. It can be understood that the network device may be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into network devices in an access network (radio access network, RAN), and the CU can also be divided into network devices in a core network (core network, CN), which is not limited in this application.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments disclosed in the present application, the following two points are described.

(1) The scenarios in the embodiments disclosed in this application are described by taking the scenario of an NR network in a wireless communication network as an example. It should be noted that the solutions in the embodiments disclosed in this application can also be applied to other wireless communication networks. can also be replaced with the names of corresponding functions in other wireless communication networks.

(2) The embodiments disclosed in the present application will present various aspects, embodiments or features of the present application around a system including a plurality of devices, components, modules, and the like. It is to be understood and appreciated that the various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and/or may not include all of the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in connection with the figures. In addition, combinations of these schemes can also be used.

Next, the related concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly introduced.

1. Beam management

5G and future communication systems introduce high-frequency frequency bands (usually considered to be above 6G), such as 28GHz, 39GHz or 60GHz frequency bands, to meet the needs of larger bandwidth and higher transmission rates. Due to the high frequency, the signal will experience severe fading during space propagation. Therefore, 5G and future communication systems use beamforming (BF) technology to obtain good directional gain to improve the directional power in the transmitting direction and improve the signal-to-interference plus Noise Radio (SINR) at the receiving end. thereby improving system performance.

The content of beam management includes beam training, beam measurement and reporting, and beam indication of each signal or channel.

Among them, beam training includes the scanning process of transmitting and receiving beams on both sides of the base station and the terminal, and the purpose is to find beam pairs, including a transmitting beam and a receiving beam. Therefore, the direction of the transmitting beam and the direction of the receiving beam are aligned, and the gain of the received signal is improved. For downlink transmission, the beam training process includes a P-1 process, a P-2 process, and a P-3 process. Among them, as shown in Fig. 2, the P-1 process is coarse alignment, and the base station and the terminal obtain one or more suitable beam pairs through coarse beam scanning. The P-2 process is to fine-tune the transmitting beam of the base station, and the terminal uses the initial receiving beam obtained by the P-1 process to train the fine transmitting beam of the base station. The process of P-3 is to fine-tune the terminal's receiving beam, and the base station sends it fixedly based on the fine-transmission beam obtained by P-2, and trains the terminal's fine-receiving beam. For uplink transmission, the beam training process includes U-1 process, U-2 process, and U-3 process. Among them, as shown in Fig. 3, the U-1 process is coarse alignment, and the base station and the terminal obtain one or more suitable beam pairs through coarse beam scanning. The U-2 process is to fine-tune the receiving beam of the base station, and the terminal trains the fine receiving beam of the base station through the initial beam transmission obtained by the U-1 process. The U-3 process is to fine-tune the transmitting beam of the terminal, and the base station transmits it fixedly based on the fine receiving beam obtained by U-2, and trains the fine transmitting beam of the terminal.

For the above beam training process, the terminal needs to measure or report the measurement reference signal configured by the base station. For example, the Rel-15 version of 5G introduced the measurement of layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP) to measure beam quality. The Rel-16 version of 5G introduces the measurement of layer 1 signal interference noise ratio (L1-SINR) to measure beam quality. Compared with L1-RSRP, L1-SINR can further consider the influence of interference on beam quality.

The beam pair for uplink transmission or the beam pair for downlink transmission obtained in the above beam training process may be implicitly represented by a Quasi Co-Location (QCL) relationship. There is a QCL relationship between two antenna ports, which means that the channel large-scale parameters of one antenna port can be derived from the channel large-scale parameters obtained by the other antenna port. Alternatively, if the two antenna ports have a QCL relationship, then the large-scale characteristics of the channel that transmits a signal at one port can be inferred from the large-scale characteristics of the channel that transmits a signal at the other port, also referred to simply as having a QCL relationship between the two signals . Signals corresponding to antenna ports with a QCL relationship have the same parameters, alternatively, the parameters of one antenna port can be used to determine the parameters of another antenna port with a QCL relationship to that antenna port, or both antenna ports have the same parameters , or the parameter difference between the two antenna ports is less than a certain threshold.

The above beam training process can associate reference signals to form a TCI information table (contains transmission configuration indicator). When the base station schedules the terminal to send data information (including: reference signal, control channel, data channel, etc.), the base station will notify the terminal of the activated TCI state (TCI state) through downlink signaling, so that the terminal can infer which receiving beam to use for take over. During the whole communication process, if the terminal moves or the beam measurement event is reported, the relevant TCI-state information table will be updated.

2. Beam indication method

The uplink and downlink signals or channels can be indicated in an explicit manner or an implicit manner, and beam indication is performed through the QCL relationship. Explicit mode means that signaling configures a beam to be used for a certain channel or signal, and implicit mode is to predefine certain rules through constraints or protocols to specify the beam of a certain signal or channel.

2.1. Explicitly indicate the beam of the signal or channel, for example, as shown in Table 1

Physical downlink share channel (PDSCH): As shown in Table 1 or Figure 4, PDSCH adopts radio resource control (RRC), media access control-control element (madia access control-control element, MAC-CE), downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI) three-level signaling to determine the beam indication information. High-layer RRC signaling configures a beam resource pool, activates a beam subset containing multiple beams through MAC-CE signaling, and finally triggers a beam of the beam subset through DCI to indicate the PDSCH beam. For example, the PDSCH beam is notified to the terminal through the TCI state activated in the DCI.

Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH): As shown in Table 1 or Figure 4, PDCCH uses RRC+MAC-CE secondary signaling to determine beam indication information. The upper layer RRC signaling configures a beam resource pool, and activates one of the beams through the MAC-CE signaling to indicate the PDCCH beam.

Channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS): As shown in Table 1, for periodic CSI-RS, beams are configured through RRC; for semi-persistent CSI-RS, a beam resource pool is configured through RRC , MAC-CE signaling activates one of the beams; for aperiodic CSI-RS, configure a beam resource pool through RRC, MAC-CE can update the beam resource pool or activate one of the beam subsets, and trigger one of the beams through DCI , to indicate the beam of aperiodic CSI-RS.

Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH): As shown in Table 1 or Figure 4, a high-level RRC signaling is used to configure a beam resource pool, and one of the beams is activated through MAC-CE signaling to indicate the PUCCH beam.

Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH): As shown in Table 1 or Figure 4, the beam of the PUSCH is indicated by the beam of the SRS indicated by the SRI associated with the PUSCH;

Sounding reference signal (SRS): As shown in Table 1 or Figure 4, for periodic SRS, the SRS beam is configured through RRC; for semi-persistent SRS, a beam resource pool is configured through RRC, and MAC-CE indicates one of them Beam as the beam of SRS; for aperiodic SRS, configure a beam resource pool through RRC, MAC-CE can update the beam resource pool or activate one of the beam subsets, and indicate a beam as the beam of aperiodic SRS through DCI triggering .

Table 1 Beam indication information is determined in an explicit manner

2.2. Implicitly indicating the beam of a signal or channel, for example:

PDSCH: In a case, there is a QCL relationship between PDSCH and a synchronization signal block (Synchronization Signal block, SSB) that carries system information. In another case, before the terminal receives the beam resource pool initially configured by RRC, and before the MAC-CE activates one of the beam subsets, the terminal assumes that there is a QCL relationship between the PDSCH and the SSB used for initial access. The types of the QCL relationship include Type A (Type-A) and Type D (Type-D). In another case, if the TCI field of the PDSCH in the DCI is not enabled, there is a QCL relationship between the PDSCH and the scheduled PDCCH, where the types of the QCL relationship include Type A (Type-A) and Type B (Type-B). ), Type C (Type-C), or Type D (Type-D). In another case, if the TCI field of the PDSCH in the DCI is not enabled, when the scheduling offset of the PDSCH is less than the scheduling threshold, the PDSCH has a QCL relationship with a PDCCH, and the PDCCH is the active part of the frequency band (band width part, BWP) of the serving cell. The PDCCH with the smallest control resource set identity (CORESET ID) in the nearest time slot monitored by the PDCCH. The type of the QCL relationship is Type-A, Type-B, Type-C, or Type-D; if it is a multi-site scenario, the associated CORESET needs to be restricted to the same site. In another case, in a multi-site scenario, if the RRC configuration of the PDSCH includes at least one configuration with two TCI indications, when the scheduling offset of the current PDSCH is less than the scheduling threshold, the PDSCH uses the configuration with the smallest ID and two TCI indications. . In another case, in the cross-carrier scheduling scenario, when the TCI field of the PDSCH in the DCI is enabled and the scheduling offset of the PDSCH is less than the scheduling threshold, the QCL of the PDSCH is assumed to refer to the scheduled carrier, and the ID of the TCI activated by the PDSCH is the smallest. the TCI state.

The scheduling threshold refers to a scheduling duration, and the scheduling duration includes the DCI decoding and parsing duration and processing durations such as beam search, preparation, and handover.

PDCCH: A case, for a normal PDCCH, there is a QCL relationship with the SSB that carries system information. In another case, for a CORESET other than ID#0, if no TCI-state is configured, or multiple TCI-states are configured in the initial RRC, and the MAC-CE is not activated, it has a QCL relationship with the initially accessed SSB. In another case, for a CORESET other than ID#0, if (during cell handover (HO) or secondary cell (Scell) addition) RRC is configured with multiple TCI-states and MAC-CE is not activated, then Has a QCL relationship with the SSB for random access initiated by this procedure. In another case, for the CORESET of ID #0, if no TCI-state is configured, or multiple TCI-states are configured in the initial RRC, and the MAC-CE is not activated, it has a QCL relationship with the initially accessed SSB.

CSI-RS: No default beam is defined for periodic, semi-persistent CSI-RS. For aperiodic CSI-RS beams, if the scheduling offset is less than the scheduling threshold, if there are other channels or signals indicating the beam on the same symbol, the beams of other channels or signals are used, and if not, it has a QCL with a PDCCH relationship, the PDCCH is the PDCCH with the smallest CORESET ID on the slot with the nearest PDCCH monitoring where the serving cell activates the BWP.

The undefined default beam means that if the beam does not pass the explicit indication and the protocol does not specify the beam receiving behavior of the terminal, the terminal can determine the beam by itself.

PUCCH: In one case, if the primary cell (pathloss reference signal, PL-RS) is not configured, the uplink beam is not configured, and the default beam is configured, the reference primary cell (PCell) activates BWP and the CORESET with the smallest ID beam.

PUSCH: In a case, when the PUSCH is scheduled by DCI 0_0, the beam refers to the carrier component (CC) to activate the beam of the PUCCH with the smallest CORESET ID dedicated to the BWP. In another case, when the PUSCH is scheduled by DCI 0_0 and the default beam function is enabled, if the PUCCH is not configured in the activated uplink BWP in the connected state, the beam refers to the CORESET beam with the smallest ID in the CC activated BWP. In another case, when the PUSCH is scheduled by DCI 0_0 and the default beam function is enabled, if the PUCCH is not configured in the activated uplink BWP in the connected state or the configured PUCCH has no beam reference, the beam refers to the CC to activate the BWP with the smallest ID in the BWP. CORESET beam.

The embodiment of the present application provides a beam indication method 100. In this method, the network device indicates to the terminal device N beam sets and the label of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located, so that the terminal device knows the signal or channel transmission. beam used. Compared with the display mode of the current multi-level signaling, the signaling structure of the indicating mode is simple, and the signaling overhead of the system can be reduced.

In addition, the network device can also instruct the terminal device to measure each beam in the N beam sets, or instruct the terminal device to measure the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets, thereby The terminal equipment only measures the beams indicated by the network equipment, and does not need to measure all the beams. Compared with the current method of measuring all beams, this method can reduce the overhead of beam tracking, measurement and maintenance, and also save the power consumption of terminal equipment. Specifically, the embodiments of the present application take the beam indication method 200 as an example for description.

The embodiments of the present application and related implementations thereof will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a beam indication method 100 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The beam indication method 100 is described from the perspective of interaction between a network device and a terminal device. The beam indication method 100 includes but is not limited to the following steps:

S101. A network device sends first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

S102, the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

S103. The terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device;

S104, the terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device;

S105, the terminal device transmits the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the serial number;

S106. The network device transmits the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the serial number.

In this embodiment of the present application, the execution order of S105 and S106 is not limited, that is, S106 may also precede S105.

In S101, N beam sets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink; N is a positive integer. That is, the network device divides the beams in the beam pool into N beam sets based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink, so that the beams included in each beam set belong to In the same category as above, when a network device or a terminal device uses or indicates a beam, it can quickly find the required beam in the corresponding beam set, which can reduce the system overhead.

In an implementation manner, the network device divides the beams into N beam sets based on the coverage of each beam in the beam pool. For example, the beam pool includes 12 beam pairs, and the 12 beam pairs include 3 wide beams (SSB#0-SSB#2) and 9 narrow beams (CSI-RS#0-CSI-RS#8), as shown in the figure 6, SSB#0 and CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2 have the same coverage, SSB#1 and CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4, CSI-RS#5 The coverage is the same, and the coverage of SSB#2 is the same as that of CSI-RS#6, CSI-RS#7, and CSI-RS#8. Therefore, the network equipment divides the 12 beam pairs into 3 according to the coverage shown in Figure 6. Beam sets, marked as beam set 0 (beam-set#0), beam set 1 (beam-set#1), and beam set 2 (beam-set#2), as shown in Figure 7, beam-set#0 includes SSB#0, CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, beam-set#1 includes SSB#1, CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4, CSI-RS#5, beam-set#2 includes SSB#2, CSI-RS#6, CSI-RS#7, and CSI-RS#8.

In an implementation manner, the network device divides the beams into N beam sets based on the channel types transmitted by each beam in the beam pool. For example, the beam pool includes SSB#0, SSB#1, SSB#2, CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4, CSI-RS#2 RS#5, the network device determines that SSB#0, SSB#1, and SSB#2 are used to transmit control signals, and determines CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4 and CSI-RS#5 are used to transmit the channel scheduled by the network device, such as PUSCH, then the network device determines SSB#0, SSB#1, and SSB#2 as beam-set#0, and the CSI-RS #0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4, and CSI-RS#5 are determined as beam-set#0.

In another implementation manner, the network device divides the beams into N beam sets based on the channel type transmitted by each beam in the beam pool. For example, the beam pool includes SSB#0, SSB#1, SSB#2, CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4, CSI-RS#2 RS#5, SSB#0, CSI-RS#4, CSI-RS#5 transmit PUSCH, SSB#1, CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1 transmit PDCCH, SSB#2, CSI-RS#2, CSI-RS#3 transmits PDSCH, then the network device divides the above 9 beams into beam-set#0, beam-set#1, beam-set#2 based on the channel type of beam transmission, and beam-set#0 includes SSB #0, CSI-RS#4, CSI-RS#5, beam-set#1 includes SSB#1, CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, beam-set#2 includes SSB#2, CSI-RS #2. CSI-RS#3.

In another implementation manner, the network device divides each beam in the beam pool into N beam sets based on uplink and/or downlink. For example, the network device divides the beams in the beam pool into two beam sets based on the uplink and downlink of signal/channel transmission, that is, the beam transmitting the uplink is one beam set, and the beam transmitting the downlink is one beam set set of beams. For another example, the network device divides the beams in the beam pool into N beam sets according to the uplink of the beam transmission. For another example, the network device divides the beams in the beam pool into N beam sets according to the downlink of the beam transmission.

In another implementation manner, the network device divides the beams in the beam pool into N beam sets based on any two or three of the foregoing implementation manners. For example, the network device divides each beam into N beam sets according to the coverage of each beam in the beam pool and the channel type transmitted by each beam. For another example, the network device divides each beam into N beam sets according to the coverage of each beam in the beam pool, the channel type transmitted by each beam, and the uplink and downlink of wave speed transmission.

In an implementation manner, each of the N beam sets includes at least one beam subset, each beam subset includes at least one beam, and each beam subset has an associated relationship. The association between each beam subset refers to an association between beams determined according to the coverage of the beams. For example, beam set 1 includes beam subset A and beam subset B, beam subset A includes SSB#0, beam subset B includes CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, SSB# The coverage of 0 is the same as that of CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, and CSI-RS#2, that is, SSB#0 is the same as CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, and CSI-RS#2. relationship between them.

Optionally, the multiple beam subsets are also determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink. For a specific determination method, refer to the above-mentioned method for determining beam sets, which will not be repeated. At this time, the association relationship in each beam subset refers to the coverage relationship between beam subsets, or the channel type relationship transmitted between beam subsets, or the association between uplink and downlink transmission between beam subsets relation.

The content of the second indication information in S102 is determined by the network device according to the optimal beam. The network device determines the optimal beam among the multiple beams, then determines the beam set where the optimal beam is located, and then determines the number of the beam set where the optimal beam is located as the content of the second indication information. That is to say, the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located is the number of the wave speed set where the optimal beam is located.

The optimal beam is determined by the network device based on the layer 1 signal interference noise ratio (L1-SINR) of the beam, or, based on the beam-based layer 1 reference signal receive power (layer 1 reference signal receive power) , L1-RSRP), an implementation manner is that the network device determines the beam with the largest value of L1-SINR or L1-RSRP in each beam as the optimal beam. Network equipment and terminal equipment use optimal beams to transmit signals or channels to obtain the best communication quality. Specifically, how the network determines the optimal beam is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It can be seen that in this embodiment of the present application, the network device indicates to the terminal device the N beam sets and the label of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located, so that the terminal device knows the beam used for signal or channel transmission. Compared with the display mode of the current multi-level signaling, the signaling structure of the indicating mode is simple, and the signaling overhead of the system can be reduced.

This embodiment of the present application further provides a beam indication method 200, which is also described from the perspective of interaction between a network device and a terminal device. FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a beam indication method 200. The beam indication method 200 includes but is not limited to the following steps:

S201. The network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

S202, the terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device;

S203, the terminal device transmits a signal or a channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the serial number;

S204. The network device transmits a signal or a channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the serial number.

In an implementation manner, the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device, indicating to the terminal device N beam sets divided according to a preset rule, so that the terminal device learns the N beam sets.

In an implementation manner, before sending the second indication information, the network device also sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to instruct to measure the beams in the N beam sets. Therefore, the terminal device receives the third indication information from the network device, and measures each beam in the N beam sets to obtain a first measurement result including the measurement results of each beam, and then sends the first measurement result to the network device. report. Therefore, the network device can obtain the measurement result of each beam in the N beam sets by receiving the first measurement result, and determine the optimal beam in the N beam sets according to the first measurement result. Further, the network device determines the number of the beam set indicated in the second indication information according to the number of the beam set where the optimal beam is located.

For example, the network device divides the beams into three beam sets as shown in FIG. 7 , and the third indication information is used to instruct the beams in beam-set#0, beam-set#1, and beam-set#2 to be measured, Therefore, the terminal device measures all beams in beam-set#0, beam-set#1, and beam-set#2, obtains the first measurement result, and reports the first measurement result to the network device.

In another implementation manner, before the network device sends the second indication information, a part of the beam sets among the N beam sets has been determined to be a better beam set according to the previous measurement results, and a part of the beam sets from the better beam set is also determined. A better beam subset is determined, and the network device only indicates to the terminal device the beams in a part of the beam subset, so that the terminal device can track and maintain the beams in the part of the beam subset.

That is, the network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct to measure the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets, where M is greater than or equal to 1 . Therefore, the terminal device receives the fourth indication information from the network device, and measures the beams in the M beam subsets indicated by the fourth indication information to obtain a second measurement result including the measurement results of the beams in the M beam subsets, and then The second measurement result is reported to the network device. Therefore, the network device obtains the measurement results of the beams in the M beam subsets by receiving the second measurement results, so as to determine the optimal beams from the M beam subsets according to the second measurement results, and determine the second indication information according to the optimal beams. The number of the indicated beam set.

In an implementation manner, the fourth indication information is used to instruct to measure the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets, which can be understood as: the fourth indication information is used to instruct the N beams to be measured. Measurements are made on at least one beam in the set of beams in the set. For example, as shown in FIG. 7 , the network device divides beams into beam-set#0, beam-set#1, and beam-set#2, and the network device determines the fourth indication information to indicate that beam-set#0, beam-set#0, beam-set#2 - Beams in set#1 are measured.

In another implementation manner, the fourth indication information is used to instruct to perform measurement on the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets. For example, as shown in Figure 7, the network device divides the beam into beam-set#0, beam-set#1, and beam-set#2, and determines SSB#1, CSI-RS# in beam-set#1 3. SSB#1 and CSI-RS#7 in CSI-RS#4 and beam-set#2 are better beams, then the network device indicates the SSB# in beam-set#1 to the terminal device through the fourth indication information 1. SSB#1 and CSI-RS#7 in CSI-RS#3, CSI-RS#4 and beam-set#2, so that the terminal device compares SSB#1, CSI-RS# in beam-set#1 3. SSB#1 and CSI-RS#7 in CSI-RS#4 and beam-set#2 are measured respectively to obtain a second measurement result including the beam, and the second measurement result is reported to the network device, the network The device determines that the optimal beam is SSB#1 and CSI-RS#7 in beam-set#2, that is, it determines that the second indication information includes the number of beam-set#2 and the number of CSI-RS#7, so that the terminal By receiving the second indication information, the device determines that the beams for signal or channel transmission are SSB#1 and CSI-RS#7 in beam-set#2.

In another implementation manner, the terminal device can only track and measure the beam indicated by the network device, and when the network device determines the beam set where the optimal beam is located according to the measurement result of the indicated beam, the terminal device can continue to Beams in other subsets of the beam set are measured to determine which beam is ultimately employed. This method does not require the terminal equipment to track and measure all beams, which can save the power and power consumption of the terminal equipment.

For example, the network device divides the beam into three beam sets as shown in Figure 7, and the network device instructs the terminal device to measure the beams in beam-set#0 and beam-set#, then the terminal device measures beam-set#0 SSB#0 in SSB#0 and SSB#2 in beam-set#1 are measured to obtain the measurement results of SSB#0 and SSB#2, and the measurement results are reported to the network device, so that the network device is based on the SSB#0 and SSB#2. The measurement results of SSB#2 determine the optimal beam. If the network device determines that the optimal beam is the beam in beam-set#0, it can tell the terminal device to use the beam in beam-set#0 to transmit signals or channels, and which one of beam-set#0 the terminal device uses specifically Beam, the terminal equipment can continue to measure CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2, and determine according to the measurement results of CSI-RS#0, CSI-RS#1, CSI-RS#2 The beam in which a signal or channel is transmitted.

In another implementation manner, after the terminal device measures the beams in the M beam subsets indicated by the fourth indication information to obtain the second measurement result, it also measures the currently accessed beam, and compares the second measurement result with the current beam. The measurement results of the accessed beams are compared, and the optimal beam is determined from the beams in the M beam subsets and the currently accessed beams. In addition, the determined optimal beam is also reported to the network device, so that the network device aligns the beam for signal or channel transmission with the beam used by the terminal device.

For example, as shown in Figure 9, the terminal device currently accesses SSB#1 in beam-set#1, the fourth indication information indicates SSB#0 in beam-set#0, and the terminal device is connected to SSB#1 and SSB#0 are measured respectively, and according to the measurement results of SSB#1 and SSB#0, it is determined that the beam quality of SSB#0 is better than that of SSB#1, that is, the beam quality indicated by the fourth indication information is better than the current access. The beam quality of the beam, so the terminal equipment determines that the optimal beam for signal or channel transmission is SSB#0, and sends the optimal beam SSB#0 to the newspaper network equipment, and subsequent terminal equipment uses SSB#0 to transmit signals or channels, network equipment Signals or channels are transmitted using beams aligned with SSB#0.

In another implementation manner, the network device directly determines the optimal beam from the N beam sets according to the previous measurement results, and determines the location of the beam used for the signal or channel transmission indicated in the second indication information according to the optimal beam. The number of the beam set.

In another implementation manner, after receiving the first indication information from the network device, the terminal device determines, according to the third measurement result, the beam subset in which the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located from the N beam sets, that is, The optimal beam is determined according to the third measurement result. Wherein, the third measurement result is measured by the terminal device on each beam in the subset before obtaining the first indication information, that is, the third measurement result is the measurement result of each beam obtained by the terminal device before, It is not the measurement result obtained by measuring the beam indicated by the network device. In this manner, the terminal device can determine the optimal beam among the N beam sets by itself according to the previous measurement results, and report the optimal beam to the network device, so that the network device aligns with the optimal beam.

The following describes the manner in which the network device sends the second indication information in S201 and S202 and the manner in which the terminal device receives the second indication information.

In an implementation manner, the network device sends group downlink control information DCI to at least one terminal device, and the group of DCI includes at least one second indication information, that is, at least one second indication information is included in the group downlink control information DCI, and at least one of the second indication information is included in the group downlink control information DCI. Each second indication information in one second indication information is the same or different. That is to say, different fields in the group DCI are different second indication information, and each second indication information indicates the number of the beam set in which the signal or channel transmission of a terminal equipment is located, and the indicated terminal equipment The numbers of the beam sets in which the beams used for signal or channel transmission are located are the same or different. In this way, the optimal beam can be indicated to multiple terminal devices at the same time, which can save the signaling overhead of the system.

For example, the set division of beams is shown in Figure 7, and the network device indicates the number of the beam set where the optimal beam is located to UE#0, UE#1, and UE#2 shown in Figure 6 through the group DCI, and the group DCI includes fields Information #0, field information #1, field information #2, field information #0 is second indication information #0, and second indication information #0 is used to indicate the beam where the beam used for signal or channel transmission of UE #0 is located The number of the set is the number of beam-set #2, the field information #1 is the second indication information #1, and the second indication information #1 is used to indicate the beam set where the beam used for the signal or channel transmission of UE #1 is located. The number is beam-set#1, the field information #2 is the second indication information #2, and the second indication information #2 is used to indicate the beam set where the beam used for the signal or channel transmission of UE#2 is located and the number is beam- set#0. Therefore, UE#0, UE#1, and UE#2 receive the group DCI, and interpret the field information containing the identification of the terminal equipment in the group DCI, and obtain the beam set where the beams used by the respective signal or channel transmission of the terminal equipment are located. so that UE#0 uses the beam in beam-set#2 to transmit the signal or channel, UE#1 uses the beam in beam-set#1 to transmit the signal or channel, and UE#2 uses the beam in beam-set#0 A transmission signal or channel.

In another implementation manner, the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device through the medium access control-control element MAC-CE or the downlink control information DCI, that is, the second indication information is included in the medium access control-control element MAC-CE CE or downlink control information DCI. That is to say, the network device respectively indicates the optimal beam to each terminal device through the medium access control-control element MAC-CE or the downlink control information DCI. Therefore, the terminal device determines the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located by receiving the medium access control-control element MAC-CE or downlink control information DCI, and then determines the beam used for signal or channel transmission.

In an implementation manner, the beam in the beam set identified by the number indicated by the second indication information is used for transmission of at least one signal or channel, or used for transmission of at least one signal or channel of at least one carrier. That is to say, the beams in the beam set identified by the number can be used for transmission of at least one signal or channel, that is, at least one signal or channel can be indicated by only one second indication information, without adding other signaling indications other signals or channels. The existing display method is that each signal or channel is indicated separately, so this method can save the signaling overhead of the system. In addition, the beams in the beam set identified by the number indicated by the second indication information can also be used for transmission of at least one signal or channel of at least one carrier, and this manner can also reduce signaling overhead.

For example, the beam set number indicated by the second indication information is the number of beam-set#2, and the number of beam-set#2 is used for transmission of the downlink shared channel PDSCH and the downlink control channel PDCCH, so that the terminal device can receive the second Indicates that the PDSCH and PDCCH are transmitted using the beams of the beam set in beam-set#2.

In another implementation manner, the beam in the beam set identified by the number indicated by the second indication information is used for transmission of one signal or channel, or used for transmission of at least one signal or channel of one carrier. That is, the beam indicated by the second indication information is only used for transmitting one signal or channel, or is only used for transmitting at least one signal or channel of one carrier.

For S203, in an implementation manner, after receiving the second indication information, the terminal device determines the specific beam for signal or channel transmission in the beam set in the numbered identifier according to the implementation capability of the terminal device, and the determined beam is Beams pre-aligned with network equipment. However, at present, the beam used by the terminal device to transmit the signal or the channel is determined by the network device, and this method is determined by the terminal device itself, which can save the system overhead.

It can be seen that in this embodiment of the present application, the network device sends the second indication information to the terminal device for indicating the number of the beam set where the signal or channel transmission beam is located, so that the terminal device can learn the signal or channel transmission through the number of the beam set beam. Compared with the current display indication method, the indication signaling method has a simple structure and can reduce the signaling overhead of the system.

In addition, the network device may also send third indication information to the terminal device for instructing to measure the beams in the N beam sets, or send the third indication information for instructing the M beam subsets that are less than one beam set in the N beam sets Therefore, the terminal device can determine the beam to be measured according to the third indication information or the fourth indication information, and then only measure and track part of the beam. Compared with the current method of measuring all beams, this method can reduce the overhead of beam tracking, measurement and maintenance, and also save the power consumption of terminal equipment.

In order to realize the functions in the methods provided by the above embodiments of the present application, the network device or the terminal device may include a hardware structure and/or a software module, and implement the above functions in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module . Whether one of the above functions is performed in the form of a hardware structure, a software module, or a hardware structure plus a software module depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

As shown in FIG. 10 , an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus 1000 . The communication apparatus 1000 may be a component of a network device (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.), or a component of a terminal device (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.). The communication apparatus 1000 may also be other communication units, which are used to implement the methods in the method embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus 1000 may include: a processing unit 1001 . Optionally, the transceiver unit 1002 and the storage unit 1003 may also be included.

In a possible design, one or more units as in FIG. 10 may be implemented by one or more processors, or by one or more processors and memory; or by one or more processors and a transceiver; or implemented by one or more processors, a memory, and a transceiver, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The processor, memory, and transceiver can be set independently or integrated.

The communication apparatus 1000 has the function of implementing the terminal device described in the embodiment of the present application. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1000 has the function of implementing the network device described in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the communication apparatus 1000 includes modules or units or means (means) corresponding to the first device performing the steps involved in the terminal device described in the embodiments of the present application, and the functions or units or means (means) may be implemented by software, or It can be realized by hardware, can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware, and can also be realized by a combination of software and hardware. For details, further reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the foregoing corresponding method embodiments.

In one possible design, a communication device 1000 may include:

The communication unit 1001 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets; the communication unit 1001 is further configured to receive second indication information from the network device; the The second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located; the processing unit 1002 is used to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In an implementation manner, after receiving the first indication information from the network device, the communication unit 1001 is further configured to receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the N Measure the beams in the N beam sets; the processing unit 1002 is configured to measure the beams in the N beam sets to obtain a first measurement result; the communication unit 1001 is further configured to report the data to the network device The first measurement result is used to determine the second indication information.

In an implementation manner, after receiving the first indication information from the network device, the communication unit 1001 is further configured to receive fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the N Measure the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the beam sets; the M is greater than or equal to 1, and the M is less than or equal to N; the processing unit 1002 is configured to measure the beams in the N beam sets The beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set are measured to obtain a second measurement result; the communication unit 1001 is further configured to report the second measurement result to the network device, and the second measurement result is used for Determine the second indication information.

In an implementation manner, the beams in the beam set identified by the number are used for transmission of at least one signal or channel, or used for transmission of at least one signal or channel of at least one carrier.

In an implementation manner, after the communication unit 1001 receives the first indication information from the network device, the processing unit 1002 is further configured to determine, from the N beam sets, the signal or channel transmission location according to the third measurement result. The beam subset in which the adopted beam is located, and the third measurement result is obtained by the terminal device measuring each beam in the beam subset before obtaining the first indication information.

In yet another possible design, a communication device 1000 may include:

A communication unit 1001, configured to send first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The communication unit 1001 is further configured to send second indication information to the terminal device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The processing unit 1002 is further configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In an implementation manner, after the communication unit 1001 sends the first indication information to the terminal device, it is further configured to send third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the N beams The communication unit 1001 is further configured to receive the first measurement result from the terminal device; the first measurement result is the measurement result of the beams in the N beam sets; the processing unit 1002 is used for determining second indication information according to the first measurement result.

In an implementation manner, after sending the first indication information to the terminal device, the communication unit 1001 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the N beams Measurement is performed on beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the set; the communication unit 1001 is further configured to receive a second measurement result from the terminal device; the second measurement result is one of the N beam sets in the set. measurement results of beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set; the processing unit 1002 is further configured to determine second indication information according to the second measurement results.

The embodiments of the present application and the method embodiments shown in the above beam indication method 100 and beam indication method 200 are based on the same concept, and bring about the same technical effects. For specific principles, please refer to the implementation shown in the above beam indication method 100 and beam indication method 200 The description of the example will not be repeated here.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device. The communication apparatus 1100 may be a terminal device or a network device, a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the terminal device to implement the above method, or a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the network device to implement the above method. device, etc. The apparatus can be used to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments, and for details, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments.

The communication device 1100 may include one or more processors 1101 . The processor 1101 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor or the like. For example, it may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit can be used to control communication devices (such as base stations, baseband chips, terminals, terminal chips, DU or CU, etc.), execute software programs, process software program data.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 1100 may include one or more memories 1102, and instructions 1104 may be stored thereon, and the instructions may be executed on the processor 1101, so that the communication apparatus 1100 executes the above method methods described in the examples. Optionally, the memory 1102 may also store data. The processor 1101 and the memory 1102 can be provided separately or integrated together.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 1100 may further include a transceiver 1105 and an antenna 1106 . The transceiver 1105 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, or a transceiver circuit, etc., for implementing a transceiver function. The transceiver 1105 may include a receiver and a transmitter, the receiver may be called a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., for implementing a receiving function; the transmitter may be called a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., for implementing a transmitting function.

The communication apparatus 1100 is a terminal device: the transceiver 1105 is configured to execute S103 and S104 in the beam indicating method 100, and execute S202 in the beam indicating method 200; the processor 1101 is configured to execute S105 in the beam indicating method 100, using S203 in the beam indication method 200 is performed.

The communication device 1100 is a network device: the transceiver 1105 is configured to execute S101 and S102 in the beam indicating method 100, and execute S201 in the beam indicating method 200; the processor 1101 is configured to execute S106 in the beam indicating method 100, using S204 in the beam indication method 200 is performed.

In another possible design, the processor 1101 may include a transceiver for implementing the functions of receiving and transmitting. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface, or an interface circuit. Transceiver circuits, interfaces or interface circuits used to implement receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The above-mentioned transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit can be used for reading and writing code/data, or the above-mentioned transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit can be used for signal transmission or transmission.

In another possible design, optionally, the processor 1101 may store an instruction 1103, and the instruction 1103 runs on the processor 1101, so that the communication apparatus 1100 can execute the method described in the above method embodiments. The instructions 1103 may be hardened in the processor 1101, in which case the processor 1101 may be implemented by hardware.

In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1100 may include a circuit, and the circuit may implement the function of sending or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments. The processors and transceivers described in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in integrated circuits (ICs), analog ICs, radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), mixed-signal ICs, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), printed circuits board (printed circuit board, PCB), electronic equipment, etc. The processor and transceiver can also be fabricated using various IC process technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), nMetal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS), P-type Metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (Bipolar Junction Transistor, BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

The communication apparatus described in the above embodiments may be the first device, but the scope of the communication apparatus described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication apparatus may not be limited by FIG. 11 . The communication apparatus may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication means may be:

(1) Independent integrated circuit IC, or chip, or, chip system or subsystem;

(2) A set with one or more ICs, optionally, the IC set may also include a storage component for storing data and instructions;

(3) ASIC, such as modem (MSM);

(4) Modules that can be embedded in other equipment;

(5) Receivers, terminals, smart terminals, cellular phones, wireless devices, handsets, mobile units, vehicle-mounted devices, network devices, cloud devices, artificial intelligence devices, etc.;

(6) Others, etc.

For the case that the communication device may be a chip or a chip system, reference may be made to the schematic structural diagram of the chip shown in FIG. 12 . The chip 1200 shown in FIG. 12 includes a processor 1201 , an interface 1202 and a memory 1203 . The number of processors 1201 may be one or more, and the number of interfaces 1202 may be multiple.

In a design, for the case where the chip is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the embodiment of the present application:

The interface 1202 is configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The interface 1202 is further configured to receive second indication information from the network device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The processor 1201 is configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

In another design, for the case where the chip is used to implement the function of the network device in the embodiment of the present application:

The interface 1202 is configured to send first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The interface 1202 is further configured to send second indication information to the terminal device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The processor 1201 transmits the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.

The communication apparatus 1100 and the chip 1200 in the embodiments of the present application may also execute the implementation manners described in the foregoing communication apparatus 1000 .

Those skilled in the art can also understand that various illustrative logical blocks (illustrative logical blocks) and steps (steps) listed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and overall system design requirements. Those skilled in the art may use various methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be construed as exceeding the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It can be understood that, in some scenarios, some optional features in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented independently of other features, such as the solution currently based on them, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding The effect can also be combined with other features according to requirements in some scenarios. Correspondingly, the communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application can also implement these features or functions correspondingly, which will not be repeated here.

Those skilled in the art can also understand that various illustrative logical blocks (illustrative logical blocks) and steps (steps) listed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and overall system design requirements.

It should be understood that the processor in this embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip, which has a signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method embodiments may be completed by a hardware integrated logic circuit in a processor or an instruction in the form of software. The above-mentioned processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other possible Programming logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components.

It can be understood that the memory in this embodiment of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically programmable Erase programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM), which acts as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM) ) and direct memory bus random access memory (direct rambus RAM, DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but not be limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The present application further provides a computer-readable medium for storing computer software instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the communication device, the functions of any of the foregoing method embodiments are implemented.

The present application also provides a computer program product for storing computer software instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the communication device, the functions of any of the foregoing method embodiments are implemented.

The above-mentioned embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be downloaded from a website site, computer, server, or data center Transmission to another website site, computer, server, or data center by wire (eg, coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line, DSL) or wireless (eg, infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. that includes an integration of one or more available media. The available media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, high-density digital video discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (eg, solid state disks, SSD)) etc.

The above are only specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited to this. should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A beam indication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The terminal device receives first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The terminal device receives the second indication information from the network device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The terminal device transmits the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the N beam sets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink; and N is a positive integer.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one beam set in the N beam sets includes multiple beam subsets, and each beam subset in the multiple beam subsets includes at least one beam subset beam;

There is an associated relationship between each of the beam subsets.
The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of beam subsets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel class, uplink and/or downlink.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein after the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the terminal device, third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct beams in the N beam sets to be measured;

The terminal device measures the beams in the N beam sets to obtain a first measurement result;

The terminal device reports the first measurement result to the network device, where the first measurement result is used to determine second indication information.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein after the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the terminal device, fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets to be measured; Said M is greater than or equal to 1;

The terminal device measures beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets, to obtain a second measurement result;

The terminal device reports the second measurement result to the network device, where the second measurement result is used to determine second indication information.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the beam in the beam set identified by the number is used for transmission of at least one signal or channel, or is used for at least one signal of at least one carrier or channel transmission.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein at least one second indication information is included in the group downlink control information DCI; and each second indication information in the at least one second indication information is the same or not the same.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the second indication information is included in a medium access control-control element MAC-CE or downlink control information DCI.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein after the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the method further comprises:

The terminal device determines, from the N beam sets, the beam subset in which the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located according to a third measurement result, where the third measurement result is that the terminal device obtains the first The indication information is obtained by measuring each beam in the beam subset before.
A beam indication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The network device sends second indication information to the terminal device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

The network device transmits the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the N beam sets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink; and N is a positive integer.
The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein at least one beam set in the N beam sets includes multiple beam subsets, and each beam subset in the multiple beam subsets includes at least one beam subset Beams; each of the beam subsets has an associated relationship.
The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of beam subsets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel class, uplink and/or downlink.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein after the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the method further comprises:

sending, by the network device, third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information is used to instruct the beams in the N beam sets to be measured;

receiving, by the network device, a first measurement result from the terminal device; the first measurement result is a measurement result of beams in the N beam sets;

The network device determines second indication information according to the first measurement result.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein after the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the method further comprises:

sending, by the network device, fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to instruct beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets to be measured;

The network device receives a second measurement result from the terminal device, where the second measurement result is a measurement result of a beam in M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets, the M beam set greater than or equal to 1;

The network device determines second indication information according to the second measurement result.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the beams in the beam set identified by the number are used for transmission of at least one signal or channel, or are used for at least one signal of at least one carrier or channel transmission.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein at least one second indication information is included in the group downlink control information DCI; and each second indication information in the at least one second indication information is the same or not the same.
The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the second indication information is included in a medium access control-control element MAC-CE or downlink control information DCI.
A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises:

a communication unit, configured to receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate N beam sets;

The communication unit is further configured to receive second indication information from the network device; the second indication information is used to indicate the number of the beam set where the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located;

A processing unit, configured to transmit the signal or channel according to the beam in the beam set identified by the number.
The method according to claim 20, wherein the N beam sets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel type, uplink and/or downlink; and N is a positive integer.
The communication apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, wherein at least one beam set in the N beam sets includes multiple beam subsets, and each beam subset in the multiple beam subsets includes at least one beam subset. One beam; each beam subset has an associated relationship.
The communication apparatus of claim 22, wherein the plurality of beam subsets are determined based on at least one of coverage, channel class, uplink and/or downlink.
The communication device according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the communication device further comprises a processing unit, and after the communication unit receives the first indication information from the network device,

The communication unit is further configured to receive third indication information from the network device, where the third indication information is used to instruct to measure the beams in the N beam sets;

the processing unit, configured to measure the beams in the N beam sets to obtain a first measurement result;

The communication unit is further configured to report the first measurement result to the network device, where the first measurement result is used to determine second indication information.
The communication device according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the communication device further comprises a processing unit, and after the communication unit receives the first indication information from the network device,

The communication unit is further configured to receive fourth indication information from the network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate a beam in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets Measure; the M is greater than or equal to 1;

the processing unit, configured to measure the beams in the M beam subsets of at least one beam set in the N beam sets, to obtain a second measurement result;

The communication unit is further configured to report the second measurement result to the network device, where the second measurement result is used to determine second indication information.
The communication device according to any one of claims 20 to 25, wherein the beams in the beam set identified by the number are used for transmission of at least one signal or channel.
The communication device according to any one of claims 20 to 25, wherein at least one second indication information is included in group downlink control information DCI; and each second indication information in the at least one second indication information same or not same.
The communication device according to any one of claims 20 to 25, wherein the second indication information is included in a medium access control-control element MAC-CE or downlink control information DCI.
The communication device according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the communication device further comprises a processing unit, the processing unit is configured to determine from the N beam sets according to the third measurement result The beam subset in which the beam used for signal or channel transmission is located, and the third measurement result is obtained by the terminal device measuring each beam in the beam subset before obtaining the first indication information.
A computer-readable storage medium for storing instructions that, when executed, enable the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10 to be implemented, or enable any one of claims 11 to 19 The method described in item is implemented.