WO2021032006A1 - Downlink beam indication method, device, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application provides a downlink beam indication method, a device, and a storage medium. The method comprises: a terminal device determines a report opportunity for reporting the current indication information, the current indication information being used for a network device to determine a downlink beam direction for sending a paging message; the terminal device reports the current indication information to the network device at the report opportunity. According to the method, the terminal device has reported the downlink beam direction of the paging message to the network device, and therefore, the network device merely needs to send the paging message in the reported downlink beam direction, such that resource overheads can be reduced.

Description

Downlink beam indication method, equipment and storage medium

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office, the application number is 2019107597711, and the application name is "Downlink Beam Indication Method, Equipment, and Storage Medium" on August 16, 2019. The entire content is incorporated herein by reference. Applying.

Technical field

This application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a downlink beam indication method, device, and storage medium.

Background technique

With the development of communication technology, 5G communication systems have been extensively studied to achieve large-capacity, high-speed transmission requirements.

In the current 5G New Radio (NR) system, in the dormant state (RRC_idle state), the user equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) needs to periodically be at a fixed paging occasion (paging occasion, PO for short) Receive paging messages. Considering downlink beamforming, a PO contains multiple paging monitoring occasions (Paging monitoring occasions, referred to as PMO), and the number of PMOs is the same as the number of synchronization signal blocks (Synchronization Signal Block, referred to as SSB), that is, the number of PMOs is the same as the number of base station beams The numbers are the same. The base station needs to send the same paging message in each beam direction, and the UE selects an appropriate PMO according to its own measurement results to monitor the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and receive the paging message. In the above solution, if the base station needs to repeatedly send paging messages in each beam direction multiple times, serious resource overhead will be caused.

Summary of the invention

This application provides a downlink beam indication method, device and storage medium to reduce resource overhead.

In the first aspect, this application provides a downlink beam indication method, including:

The terminal device determines a reporting time for reporting current indication information, where the current indication information is used by the network device to determine a downlink beam direction for sending a paging message;

The terminal device reports the current indication information to the network device at the reporting time.

In the second aspect, this application provides a downlink beam indication method, including:

The network device receives the current indication information sent by the terminal device at the reporting time;

The network device determines a downlink beam direction for sending a paging message according to the current indication information, and sends the paging message to the terminal device in the downlink beam direction.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method in any one of the first aspect and the second aspect is implemented.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, including:

Processor; and

A memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the method of any one of the first aspect by executing the executable instruction.

In the fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device, including:

Processor; and

A memory for storing executable instructions of the processor;

Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the method of any one of the second aspect by executing the executable instruction.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a program, when the program is executed by a processor, it is used to execute the downlink beam indication method described in any one of the first and second aspects above.

Optionally, the foregoing processor may be a chip.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, including program instructions, and the program instructions are used to implement the downlink beam indication method described in any one of the first aspect and the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, including a processing module and a communication interface, and the processing module can execute the downlink beam indication method described in any one of the first and second aspects.

Further, the chip also includes a storage module (eg, memory), the storage module is used to store instructions, the processing module is used to execute the instructions stored in the storage module, and the execution of the instructions stored in the storage module causes the processing module to execute the first aspect Any one of the downlink beam indication methods.

In the downlink beam indication method, device and storage medium provided by the embodiments of the application, the terminal device determines the reporting timing of the indication information, the indication information is used to report the downlink beam direction for sending paging messages, and the network device can obtain it through the indication information reported by the terminal device For the downlink beam direction corresponding to the terminal device, the network device only needs to send paging messages in the downlink beam direction reported by the terminal device, which avoids the resources caused by the network device in the related art that needs to repeatedly send paging messages in each beam direction. Waste, thereby saving resource overhead.

Description of the drawings

The drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of the specification, show embodiments in accordance with the disclosure, and together with the specification are used to explain the principle of the disclosure.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of this application;

Fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of a downlink beam indication method provided by the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of signaling interaction in an embodiment of the downlink beam indication method provided by the present application;

4 is a schematic diagram of the principle of an embodiment of the method provided by the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the principle of another embodiment of the method provided by the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the principle of another embodiment of the method provided by the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of another embodiment of the downlink beam indication method provided by the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device provided by the present application;

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a network device provided by the present application.

Through the above-mentioned drawings, the specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown, which will be described in more detail below. The drawings and text description are not intended to limit the scope of the concept of the present disclosure in any way, but to explain the concept of the present disclosure for those skilled in the art by referring to specific embodiments.

detailed description

Here, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail, and examples thereof are shown in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, unless otherwise indicated, the same numbers in different drawings indicate the same or similar elements. The implementation manners described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementation manners consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of devices and methods consistent with some aspects of the present disclosure as detailed in the appended claims.

The terms "including" and "having" in the specification and claims of the application and the drawings and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but optionally includes unlisted steps or units, or optionally also includes Other steps or units inherent in these processes, methods, products or equipment.

The terminal device involved in this application may be a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device can communicate with at least one core network via a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN). The terminal device can be a mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone (or called a "cellular" phone) and a computer with a mobile terminal. For example, it can be a portable, pocket-sized, handheld, built-in computer or vehicle-mounted mobile device. Exchange voice and/or data with wireless access network. Terminal equipment can also be called Subscriber Unit, Subscriber Station, Mobile Station, Mobile Station, Remote Station, Access Point, and Remote The terminal (Remote Terminal), access terminal (Access Terminal), user terminal (User Terminal), user agent (User Agent) or user equipment (User Equipment) are not limited here.

In addition, the network equipment involved in this application can be a base station (BTS) in Global System of Mobile Communications (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), or it can be The base station (NodeB, NB) in Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) can also be the one in Long Term Evolution (LTE) or Enhanced Long Term Evolution (eLTE) Evolved base station (evolved NodeB, eNB), or next generation-evolved NodeB (ng-eNB), can also be an access point (AP) or relay station in WLAN, or it can be The gNB in 5G NR is not limited here.

First, introduce the application scenarios involved in this application:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of this application. The technical solution provided by this application is based on the network architecture shown in FIG. 1. The network architecture includes at least one terminal device 10 that communicates with the network device 20 through a wireless interface. For clarity, only one terminal device and one network device are shown in FIG. 1.

In 5G NR, the terminal device can use Discontinuous Reception (DRX) in the sleep state RRC_IDLE and the inactive state RRC_INACTIVE to reduce power consumption. The terminal device listens to a paging occasion (PO) in each DRX cycle. Since NR introduces the operation of beam management, the length of a PO is a beam scanning period, and the network device needs to send the same paging message in all beam directions of the scanning mode. The selection of the beam used to receive the paging message depends on the UE. If the network equipment needs to repeatedly send paging messages in each beam direction, the above solution will cause serious downlink resource overhead.

The technical solution of the present application will be described in detail with specific embodiments below. The following specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be repeated in some embodiments.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of a downlink beam indication method provided by the present application. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the method provided in this embodiment includes:

Step 201: The terminal device determines a reporting time for reporting the current indication information, and the current indication information is used by the network device to determine the downlink beam direction for sending a paging message.

Specifically, in this application, in order to overcome the serious resource overhead caused when the serving network device needs to repeatedly send paging messages in each beam direction, that is, to reduce the downlink resource overhead caused by sending paging messages, you can Consider the direction of the downlink beam that the terminal device informs the network device to send the paging message.

However, in the current 5G NR system, if a terminal device in the idle/inactive state wants to send uplink/downlink data, it needs to enter the connected state through a random access process before sending uplink/downlink data. This data transmission mechanism will increase the RRC signaling overhead and the energy consumption of the terminal equipment, and also cause the data transmission delay. In order to reduce the RRC signaling overhead and UE energy consumption caused by the terminal equipment sending uplink data in the idle/inactive state.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is required to determine the reporting timing, and the instruction information is reported at the reporting timing without entering the connection through the random access process.

Wherein, the downlink beam direction indicated in the current indication information is that the terminal device determines the downlink beam direction with better signal quality according to its own measurement results.

The reporting timing may be determined based on the paging timing, or based on a preset reporting period, or may also be determined based on the transmission timing of the pre-configured resources in the Preconfigured Resources (Preconfigured UL Resources, referred to as PUR) mechanism. In the following embodiments These methods are described in detail.

Step 202: The terminal device reports the current indication information to the network device at the reporting time.

Specifically, after determining the reporting timing, the terminal device reports the current indication information to the network device at the reporting timing, and the network device determines the downlink beam direction for sending the paging message according to the current indication information, and sends the paging message in the downlink beam direction. Call the news.

In the method of this embodiment, the terminal device determines the reporting timing of the indication information. The indication information is used to report the downlink beam direction for sending the paging message. The network device can obtain the downlink beam direction corresponding to the terminal device through the indication information reported by the terminal device. The device only needs to send paging messages in the downlink beam direction reported by the terminal device, which avoids the need for network devices in related technologies to send the same paging message in each beam direction, thereby saving resource overhead.

On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, the following embodiments describe in detail how to determine the reporting time. There are at least the following ways to determine the reporting time:

One way to achieve:

The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to the preset offset between the reporting timing and the first paging timing in the at least one associated paging timing.

Each reporting occasion can be associated with one or more paging occasions PO. The terminal device associated with a PO reports the downlink beam direction with better signal quality at the reporting time corresponding to the PO according to the measurement results of the terminal device itself. The network device only needs to send paging messages in the downlink beam direction reported by the terminal device.

Wherein, the reporting timing can be determined by the preset offset between the first PO in the PO associated with it. Associated POs refer to these associated POs, and the network device can send paging messages in the downlink beam direction determined by the indication information reported by the reporting time. The number of associated POs can be configured by the network device to the UE. The network device only needs to send a paging message according to the downlink beam direction indicated by the last received indication information.

As shown in Figure 4, the terminal device can determine the location of the reporting opportunity through the offset and the associated first paging occasion. The reporting time is before the first paging time.

One reporting opportunity corresponds to a specific uplink time-frequency resource configuration. That is, the terminal device uses the pre-configured uplink time-frequency resource to report the current indication information to the network device at the reporting time.

Another way to achieve:

The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to a preset reporting period of the indication information.

In an optional embodiment, the terminal device obtains the time-frequency resource of any indication information before the current indication information;

The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to the reporting timing of any indication information and the reporting period of the indication information.

Specifically, as shown in Figure 5, a periodic and terminal equipment-level reporting timing is introduced (assuming the reporting period is T). The UE uses the periodic reporting timing, and the periodic reporting includes the corresponding downlink beam direction with better signal quality. Instructions.

In an optional embodiment, in order to reduce signaling overhead, the reporting period may be greater than or equal to the discontinuous reception DRX period.

When determining the reporting timing of the current indication information, the terminal device may determine it according to the reporting timing of the previous indication information and the reporting period, and the interval between two adjacent indication information is the reporting period.

One reporting opportunity corresponds to a specific uplink time-frequency resource configuration. That is, the terminal device uses the pre-configured uplink time-frequency resource to report the current indication information to the network device at the reporting time.

Another way to achieve:

The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to the sending timing of the uplink pre-configured resource PUR.

In an optional embodiment, if the terminal device determines that it does not send uplink data on N-1 consecutive pre-configured resource PURs, the terminal device uses the transmission timing of the Nth PUR as the reporting timing; N is greater than 1. Integer.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, using the pre-configured resource PUR mechanism (that is, pre-configured periodic uplink resources for sending uplink data in the idle state), the terminal device can send indication information through the PUR to indicate the downlink beam direction.

The PUR cycle may be shorter than the DRX cycle. If the indication information is sent in each PUR cycle, the signaling overhead will increase. Therefore, according to the state of the terminal device, for example, the moving speed of the terminal device, it can be determined whether the sending instruction information is sent in each PUR cycle or sent at intervals of a certain number of PUR cycles. For example, when the moving speed of the terminal device is fast, the indication information needs to be sent every PUR cycle. If the moving speed of the terminal device is slow or the terminal device keeps the position unchanged, the indication information can be sent at intervals of a certain number of PUR cycles.

Further, the terminal device determines whether the terminal device has not sent uplink data on N-1 consecutive PURs according to the count value of the timer; the timer is after the terminal device sends uplink data using the PUR When restarted, the timer increases the count value by one when the terminal device does not send uplink data in the PUR, and the initial count value of the counter is zero.

Specifically, a timer can be introduced, and the terminal device restarts the timer after sending the uplink data using the PUR, that is, the count value of the timer is cleared, that is, if the terminal device does not send in N-1 consecutive PUR If the upstream data is passed, the terminal equipment will report the instruction information in the next PUR

As shown in Fig. 6, if N=4, the upstream data (including indication information) is also sent on the first PUR on the left, the timer is restarted again, and the count value of the timer is cleared. If the second PUR on the left also sends uplink data (including indication information), the timer is restarted again, and the count value of the timer is cleared. When the next PUR does not send uplink data, the count value is increased by one; when the next PUR does not send uplink data, the count value is increased by one; when the next PUR does not send uplink data, the count value is increased by one, and the count value is 3. Then, indication information needs to be sent on the next PUR to indicate the direction of the downlink beam.

Further, the terminal device uses the Nth PUR at the reporting occasion to report the current indication information to the network device.

In the embodiment of this application, it is not necessary to send the indication information after entering the connected state through the random access process. It only needs to report the indication information at the reporting time determined according to the PO or the reporting period determined according to the reporting period, or according to the reporting time determined by the PUR. It will not greatly increase the RRC signaling overhead and the energy consumption of the terminal equipment, and at the same time avoid the delay of data transmission.

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of another embodiment of the downlink beam indication method provided by the present application. As shown in Figure 7 and Figure 3, the method provided in this embodiment includes:

Step 701: The network device receives the current indication information sent by the terminal device at the reporting time.

Step 701: The network device determines the downlink beam direction for sending the paging message according to the current indication information, and sends the paging message to the terminal device in the downlink beam direction.

Further, the reporting timing is determined by the terminal device according to a preset offset between the reporting timing and the first paging timing in the associated at least one paging timing; or,

The reporting timing is determined by the terminal device according to the reporting period of the indication information; or,

The reporting timing is determined by the terminal device according to the sending timing of the pre-configured resource PUR.

For the specific implementation process of the method in this embodiment, please refer to the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a terminal device provided by this application. As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal device includes:

A processor 801, and a memory 802 for storing executable instructions of the processor 801.

Optionally, it may further include: a communication interface 803, which is used to implement communication with other devices.

The above components can communicate via one or more buses.

Wherein, the processor 801 is configured to execute by executing the executable instructions:

Determining a reporting time for reporting current indication information, where the current indication information is used by the network device to determine a downlink beam direction for sending a paging message;

At the reporting time, reporting the current indication information to the network device.

Determine the reporting timing according to the preset offset between the reporting timing and the first paging timing in the at least one associated paging timing.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to:

Determine the reporting time according to the reporting period of the indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the reporting period is greater than or equal to the discontinuous reception DRX period.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to:

And report the current indication information to the network device at the reporting time using a pre-configured uplink time-frequency resource.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to:

The reporting timing is determined according to the transmission timing of the uplink pre-configured resource PUR.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to:

If it is determined that the terminal device does not send uplink data on N-1 consecutive uplink pre-configured resources PUR, the sending timing of the Nth PUR is used as the reporting timing; N is an integer greater than 1.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to:

According to the count value of the timer, determine whether the terminal device has not sent uplink data on N-1 consecutive PURs; the timer is restarted by the terminal device after the terminal device uses the PUR to send uplink data The timer adds one to the count value when the terminal device does not send uplink data in one PUR, and the initial count value of the counter is zero.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to:

Report the current indication information to the network device by using the Nth PUR.

The terminal device of this embodiment may be used to execute the corresponding method in the foregoing method embodiment, and for the specific implementation process, refer to the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

Fig. 9 is a structural diagram of an embodiment of a network device provided by this application. As shown in Fig. 9, the network device includes:

The processor 901, and a memory 902 for storing executable instructions of the processor 901.

Optionally, it may further include: a communication interface 903, which is used to implement communication with other devices.

The above components can communicate via one or more buses.

The processor 901 is configured to execute the corresponding method in the foregoing method embodiment by executing the executable instruction. For the specific implementation process, please refer to the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the corresponding method in the foregoing method embodiment is implemented. For the specific implementation process, please refer to the foregoing method implementation. For example, the implementation principles and technical effects are similar, so I won’t repeat them here.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a program, when the program is executed by the processor, it is used to execute the technical solution in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

Optionally, the foregoing processor may be a chip.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, including program instructions, which are used to implement the technical solutions in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip, including: a processing module and a communication interface, and the processing module can execute the technical solution in any of the foregoing method embodiments.

Further, the chip also includes a storage module (such as a memory), the storage module is used to store instructions, the processing module is used to execute the instructions stored in the storage module, and the execution of the instructions stored in the storage module causes the processing module to execute any of the foregoing The technical solution in the method embodiment.

Those skilled in the art will easily think of other embodiments of the present disclosure after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptive changes of the present disclosure, which follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or conventional technical means in the technical field not disclosed in the present disclosure . The description and the embodiments are only regarded as exemplary, and the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure are pointed out by the following claims.

It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structure that has been described above and shown in the drawings, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of the present disclosure is only limited by the appended claims.

Claims (14)

A downlink beam indication method, characterized in that it comprises: The terminal device determines a reporting time for reporting current indication information, where the current indication information is used by the network device to determine a downlink beam direction for sending a paging message; The terminal device reports the current indication information to the network device at the reporting time. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device determining the reporting time for reporting the current indication information comprises: The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to a preset offset between the reporting timing and the first paging timing in the associated at least one paging timing. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device determining the reporting time for reporting the current indication information comprises: The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to the reporting period of the indication information. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The reporting period is greater than or equal to the discontinuous reception DRX period. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the terminal device reporting the current indication information to the network device at the reporting timing comprises: The terminal device uses a pre-configured uplink time-frequency resource at the reporting time to report the current indication information to the network device. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device determining the reporting time for reporting the current indication information comprises: The terminal device determines the reporting timing according to the sending timing of the uplink pre-configured resource PUR. The method according to claim 6, wherein the terminal device determining the reporting timing according to the transmission timing of the uplink pre-configured resource PUR comprises: If it is determined that the terminal device does not send uplink data on N-1 consecutive uplink pre-configured resources PUR, the terminal device uses the transmission timing of the Nth PUR as the reporting timing; N is an integer greater than 1. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: The terminal device determines whether the terminal device has not sent uplink data on N-1 consecutive PURs according to the count value of the timer; the timer is that the terminal device uses the PUR to send uplink data on the terminal device After restarting, the timer increases the count value by one when the terminal device does not send uplink data in one PUR, and the initial count value of the counter is zero. The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the terminal device reporting the current indication information to the network device at the reporting timing comprises: The terminal device uses the Nth PUR to report the current indication information to the network device. A downlink beam indication method, characterized in that it comprises: The network device receives the current indication information sent by the terminal device at the reporting time; The network device determines a downlink beam direction for sending a paging message according to the current indication information, and sends the paging message to the terminal device in the downlink beam direction. The method according to claim 10, wherein the reporting timing is determined by the terminal device according to a preset offset between the reporting timing and the first paging timing in the associated at least one paging timing Of; or, The reporting timing is determined by the terminal device according to the reporting period of the indication information; or, The reporting timing is determined by the terminal device according to the sending timing of the pre-configured resource PUR. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program implements the method of any one of claims 1-9 and 10-11 when executed by a processor. A terminal device, characterized in that it comprises: Processor; and A memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-9 by executing the executable instructions. A network device, characterized by comprising: Processor; and A memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 10-11 by executing the executable instructions.

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