WO2024164134A1

WO2024164134A1 - Transmission configuration indicator state update

Info

Publication number: WO2024164134A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/074731
Authority: WO
Inventors: Matha DEGHEL; Youngsoo Yuk; Naizheng ZHENG
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-02-07
Filing date: 2023-02-07
Publication date: 2024-08-15
Anticipated expiration: 2025-08-07
Also published as: EP4662817A1; KR20250144437A; CN120660307A; MX2025009121A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state update considering the spatial adaptation. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; receiving, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and applying at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

Description

TRANSMISSION CONFIGURATION INDICATOR STATE UPDATE

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state update considering the spatial adaptation.

BACKGROUND

Network energy saving has been discussed in 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) , which is of great importance for environmental sustainability, to reduce environmental impact, and for operational cost savings.

As 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) is becoming pervasive across industries and geographical areas, handling more advanced services and applications requiring very high data rates, networks are being denser, use more antennas, larger bandwidths and more frequency bands.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of TCI state update considering the spatial adaptation.

In a first aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the terminal device to: receive, from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; receive, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and apply at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

In a second aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the network device to: transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; and transmit, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; receiving, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and applying at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises transmitting, from a network device to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; and transmitting, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; means for receiving, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the apparatus; and means for applying at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the apparatus; and means for transmitting, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a terminal device, comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device at least to: receive, from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; receive, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and apply at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a network device, comprising at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device at least to: transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; and transmit, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to carry out the method according to the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will also be apparent from the following description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows a signaling chart illustrating a process of TCI state update according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGs. 3A and 3B show examples of TCI state update according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method of TCI state update according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method of TCI state update according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals may represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

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

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

FIG. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a terminal device 110. Hereinafter the terminal device 110 may also be referred to as a UE.

The communication network 100 may further comprise a network device 120. Hereinafter the network device 120 may also be referred to as a gNB. The terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120.

It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

In some example embodiments, links from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 may be referred to as a downlink (DL) , while links from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 may be referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the network device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the terminal device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver) . In UL, the terminal device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and the network device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , includes, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, includes but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) , Time Division Duplex (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

As described above, as networks are being denser, energy consumption has become a key part of the operation cost. Most of the energy consumption comes from the radio access network and in particular from the Active Antenna Unit (AAU) . The power consumption of a radio access can be split into two parts, i.e., the dynamic part which is only consumed when data transmission/reception is ongoing, and the static part which is consumed all the time to maintain the necessary operation of the radio access devices, even when the data transmission/reception is not on-going.

In 5G New Radio (NR) , TCI state may be used to establish the Quasi co-location (QCL) relation between the source reference signal (RS) resource and the target RS resource, where two resources may be considered to be quasi co-located if properties of the channel over which a symbol on one antenna port is conveyed, can be inferred from the channel over which a symbol on the other antenna port is conveyed.

The TCI state or spatial relation information update/indication for DL and UL channels may rely on different operations with different capabilities, e.g., in terms of how flexible and how fast the indication or update could be done. The TCI state is a container that comprises QCL source reference signal (s) from which spatial source characteristics may be provided to assist UE to set the receive beam of the UE for the DL reception. Similarly, the spatial relation may carry a reference signal that can be used as a spatial source to indicate UE how to set the transmit beam of the UE for the UL transmission.

There are QCL types defined in the 5G NR. For frequency range 1 (FR1) , the QCL type A-C can be applied, and for frequency range 2 (FR2) , the QCL type A-D are applicable. Also, in FR2, the network can indicate a transmit beam change for Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) by switching the TCI state. For an aperiodic Sounding Reference Signal (A-SRS) , MAC CE based spatial relation update may be per resource level.

The operations of TCI state/spatial relation information signaling are briefly described below for DL and UL channels/signal. For the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) , a number of spatial relation information can be configured via Radio Resource Control (RRC) . Selection and activation of one spatial relation may be done via Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) .

Furthermore, RRC may configure up to 128 TCI states for PDSCH, and the MAC-CE may be used to activate max 8 TCI states. Downlink Control Information (DCI) has a 3-bit field for selecting a certain TCI state from the 8 activated TCI state for PDSCH beam indication. For PDCCH, each Control Resource Set (CORESET) may be configured K TCI states from which MAC-CE signalling indicates which TCI state is used.

Moreover, A unified TCI framework has been specified, which means that TCI states so far providing QCL assumptions for the reception of DL signals and channels may be used also to provide spatial sources for the transmission of UL signals and channels.

The unified TCI framework defines the concept of indicated TCI state. The indicated TCI state can be joint DL and UL TCI state or separate DL and separate UL TCI states. The indicated TCI state may provide QCL source (DL) and spatial source (UL) for the set of downlink signals and channels and for the set of uplink signals and channels, respectively. There can be one indicated joint DL and UL or one indicated DL and one indicate UL TCI state for the UE.

The unified TCI framework may comprise the following functionalities in high level. For example, a common TCI state (which may also be called as the indicated TCI) for a set of signals and channels at a time. The TCI state may be a joint DL/UL TCI state or separate DL TCI state and separate UL TCI state, respectively. The set (or pool) of joint and/or separate TCI states may be configured by RRC. The MAC may activate a number (e.g., 8) of joint and/or separate TCI states. Before the indication, the first activated TCI state may be the current indicated TCI state. The DCI may indicate one of the activated TCI states to be the indicated TCI state, which may also be considered as a common TCI state.

For the DCI-based TCI state indication, DCI format 1_1/1_2 with and without DL assignment may be used to carry the TCI state indication. This indication may be confirmed by UE using Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) Acknowledgment (ACK) . For the application time of the beam indication, the first slot may be at least X ms or Y symbols after the last symbol of the acknowledgment of the joint or separate DL/UL beam indication. The TCI field codepoint may be configured for both joint DL/UL or separate DL and UL cases. The TCI field codepoint for joint DL/UL case may refer to TCI state for both DL and UL, while the TCI field codepoint for the separate DL and UL case may refer to a pair of DL TCI state and UL TCI state, a DL TCI state and an UL TCI state.

Now the dynamic spatial adaptation is to be further studied and developed, which may refer to enhancements on Channel State Information (CSI) and beam management related procedures including measurement, report and signalling to enable efficient adaptation of spatial elements.

Such dynamic spatial adaptation may have impact on the beam management related procedures, and specifically on TCI state update/indication procedures. For example, the beam pattern may become wider due to logical antenna port muting with reduced rotating beams, which may impact QCL information and thus indicated or applicable TCI states.

Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure propose a mechanism of TCI update/indication by considering spatial adaptation. In this solution, the terminal device receives a configuration of two or more TCT state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna spatial pattern deployed at the network device. The terminal device also receives an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device. The terminal device applies at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device. In this way, flexible, quick and efficient TCI state update/indication procedures considering dynamic spatial adaptation may be applied.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which shows a signaling chart 200 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves the terminal device 110 and the network device 120. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 200.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network device 120 transmits (202) to the terminal device 110, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets. Each of the two or more TCI state sets may correspond to at least one antenna pattern and/or at least one spatial pattern and/or at least one antenna setting deployed at the network device 120. In some embodiments, the at least one antenna pattern and/or at least one spatial pattern and/or at least one antenna setting deployed at the network device 120 may also be referred to as the spatial adaptation.

It is to be understood that the two or more TCI state sets used hereinafter may also be referred to as two or more TCI state subsets within one or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, a set (or subset) of TCI states may correspond to active TCI states in MAC CE. In some other example embodiments, a set of TCI states may correspond to configured TCI states via RRC. That is, the network device 120 may indicate the configuration information of two or more TCI state sets to the terminal device via MAC CE or RRC.

For example, in a case where the terminal device 110 closes to the network device, or the traffic/cell load is low, the capacity by utilizing the higher number of antennas is not fully exploited. From the network energy saving perspective, the network device 120 may swich-off parts of the transceivers for better energy efficiency, without much of the service impact to the terminal device 110. In this situation, the network device 120 may have the freedom to decide on which transceivers to be muted based different deployments, where practically there can be different antenna/spatial muting patterns deployed at the network device.

Multiple antenna/spatial patterns are shown in FIG. 3A. As shown, in antenna panels 301-306, each may have a region within which the antenna/spatial elements are muted. For example, in the antenna panel 301, the antenna/spatial elements within the region 311 are muted. With different antenna/spatial elements are muted, there are different antenna/spatial patterns deployed at the network device 120.

Optionally or alternatively, the at least one antenna/spatial pattern or the at least one antenna/spatial setting used hereinafter may also be associated with one or more other parameters. For example, the at least one antenna/spatial pattern or the at least one antenna/spatial setting may also be represented by, or corresponding to, or replaced by at least one of one or more antenna muting patterns, one or more numbers or sets of active antenna/spatial elements or muted antenna/spatial elements, one or more numbers or sets of active or antenna ports or muted antenna ports, one or more report configurations or report settings, one or more codebook configurations, one or more spatial configurations, one or more CSI-RS resources or resource sets, respective values of one or more parameters for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set, configurations for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set, one or more energy or power levels, or one or more energy saving levels.

As described above, each of the two or more TCI state sets may correspond to at least one antenna pattern and/or at least one spatial pattern and/or at least one antenna setting deployed at the network device 120.

As an option, the terminal device 110 may be aware of the association between the two or more TCI state sets and the corresponding antenna/spatial patterns or settings. For example, the network device 120 may transmit, to the terminal device, an indication/configuration indicating each of the two or more TCI state sets may correspond to at least one antenna pattern and/or at least one spatial pattern and/or at least one antenna setting deployed at the network device 120, for example, via System Information Block (SIB) , RRC, MAC CE, and/or DCI. That is, a correspondence between each of the two or more TCI state sets and at least one antenna/spatial patterns or settings is visible to the terminal device 110.

As another option, the terminal device 110 may not be aware of the correspondences, which means that a correspondence between each of the two or more TCI state sets and at least one antenna/spatial patterns or settings is invisible to the terminal device 110.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 2, the network device 120 may also transmit (204) to the terminal device 110, an indication associated with which one of two or more TCI state sets is applicable or ‘active’ . Thus, the terminal device 110 may determine (206) the applicable TCI state set from the two or more TCI state sets based on the indication.

For example, the network device 120 may transmit the indication associated with which one of two or more TCI state sets is applicable via MAC CE. Alternatively, the network device 120 may transmit the indication associated with which one of two or more TCI state sets is applicable via DCI.

In some example embodiments, the indication may indicate which one of two or more TCI state sets is applicable explicitly. For example, since each of the two or more TCI state sets may be configured with an identifier, the indication may indicate the identifier of a TCI state set that is applicable.

For the case where the network device 120 updates or indicates one or more TCI state (s) in MAC CE, the terminal device may be indicated via same or different MAC CE or via DCI, by using a new or an existing or reserved bit (s) or field (s) , which set these one or more TCI states correspond to or belong to.

For example, for activated TCI states (via MAC CE) for DL and/or UL channels or signals, such as PDSCH, PDCCH, Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) , Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) , Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) , CSI-RS, Tracking Reference Signal (TRS) , etc., there would be two sets of such activated TCI states (e.g., each corresponding to an antenna pattern) . When updating one of these TCI state sets, the network device 120 may indicate which set the indicated TCI states in MAC CE correspond to. Based on this indication or a separate indication, the terminal device 110 may be informed which TCI state set is applicable.

For the case where the network device 120 updates or indicates one or more TCI states indicated in DCI, the terminal device may be indicated in the same DCI or different DCI or in MAC CE, by using new or existing or reserved bit (s) or field (s) , which set these one or more TCI states belong to. For example, for activated TCI states (via MAC CE) for DL and/or UL channels or signals, such as PDSCH, PDCCH, PUSCH, PUCCH, SRS CSI-RS, TRS, etc., there would be two sets of such activated TCI states (e.g., each corresponding to an antenna pattern) . When indicating e.g., a TCI state in DCI, the network device 120 may indicate which set the indicated TCI state belongs to. Then the terminal device 110 may understand from which set to fetch this TCI state. Based on this indication or a separate indication, the UE may be informed which TCI state set is applicable.

That is, the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one TCI state to be applied in subsequent communication with the network device 120 from the applicable TCI state set based on the MAC CE or the DCI. Based on the MAC CE or the DCI, a value of the at least one TCI state may be fetched by the terminal device 110. It is to be understood that the terminal device 110 may understand which one of two or more TCI state sets is applicable and at least one TCI state to be applied from the applicable TCI state set via a same or a separate indication.

In some other example embodiments, the indication may indicate which one of two or more TCI state sets is applicable implicitly. For example, in a case where the terminal device 110 is aware of the association between the two or more TCI state sets and the corresponding antenna/spatial patterns or settings, the indication may indicate an (applicable) antenna/spatial pattern or setting, where this indication may be explicit or implicit and carried using at least one of RRC, MAC CE, or DCI. Then the terminal device 110 may consider a TCI state set corresponding to the indicated/applicable antenna/spatial pattern or setting. In some embodiments, after the terminal device 110 is indicated an antenna pattern, the terminal device 110 may consider that the set of TCI states is applicable immediately after this pattern is indicated or after a configured period of time after this setting is indicated.

Hence, when the network device 120 updates or indicates one or more TCI states via MAC CE, the terminal device 110 may understand that the one or more TCI states correspond to the applicable TCI state set. Similarly, when the network device 120 indicates TCI state (s) in DCI, the terminal device 110 understands that the TCI state set, from which the one or more TCI states are selected, is the applicable TCI state set.

Furthermore, the two or more TCI state sets described above may be configured or may correspond or may be defined per one or more UL/DL channels or signals. Specifically, as an example, the antenna/spatial adaptation may only be applicable/valid for some, or all terminal device dedicated channels and signals such as PDSCH, PDCCH, CSI-RS, TRS. Thus, the operations and indications proposed above may only be applicable to channels/signals for which the adaptation would be applicable.

Furthermore, if the new indicated/applicable antenna/spatial pattern doesn’t impact a reference signal that is provided as source reference signal in the information provided by a TCI state, then this TCI state may still be applicable. The impact on a reference signal may be in terms of change of corresponding number/set of ports or number of (active or muted) antenna/spatial elements.

In other words, a change of TCI state may only applicable (based on the define association/correspondence) to a channel (s) or signal (s) for which the TCI states comprises source RS that is impacted by the (new) indicated/applicable antenna/spatial pattern.

Consequently, the terminal device 110 may determine that there are e.g., two applicable sets of active TCI states, where each set may correspond to or be valid for certain UL/DL signals and channels. The applicability or association of channels/signals to antenna/spatial adaptation or to specific antenna/spatial patterns may be configured or indicated to the terminal devices.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 may determine one and more antenna muting patterns (for example as shown in FIG. 3A) based on the applicable TCI state set. If the terminal device 110 is indicated an applicable TCI state set with a given antenna/spatial pattern, for example, if the antenna/spatial pattern is associated with the antenna muting patterns, the terminal device 110 may apply the transmission and/or reception for channels and signals with certain antenna muting pattern based on indication from the associated TCI indication that received.

An example of TCI state indication or update may be further described with reference to FIG. 3B. As shown in FIG. 3B, at block 321, the terminal device 110 may be configured with a pool of TCI states and to maintain at least two active TCI state sets each corresponding to one or more antenna/spatial patterns, which may be configured via RRC. For example, TCI state sets 331 and 332 are configured and each may have up to 8 activated TCI states/codepoints.

Then the terminal device 110 may receive MAC CE to indicate one or more TCI state sets of the at least two active TCI state sets may be activated/updated/indicated. Then the terminal device may determine, at block 322, which is applicable TCI state set based on the indication of an identifier of a TCI state set or an applicable antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device 120.

If the network device 120 updates an ( ‘indicated’ ) TCI state via DCI or a TCI state in MAC CE considering one set of TCI states, the terminal device 110 may fetch, at block 323, this TCI state value from the applicable TCI state set of active TCI states.

Based on the solution of the present disclosure, flexible, quick and efficient TCI state update/indication procedures may be applied by considering dynamic spatial adaptation. Furthermore, this solution may allow to (quickly and efficiently) adapt and determine the active/indicated TCI states to the applicable antenna/spatial (muting) pattern.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 400 of TCI state update according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented at the terminal device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 410, the terminal device 110 receives, from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.

At 420, the terminal device 110 receives, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

At 430, the terminal device 110 applies at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further obtain a configuration indicating at least one of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to one or more of the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.

In some example embodiments, the at least one antenna/spatial pattern is associated with at least one of at least one of one or more antenna muting patterns, one or more numbers or sets of active antenna/spatial elements or muted antenna/spatial elements, one or more numbers or sets of active or antenna ports or muted antenna ports, one or more report configurations or report settings, one or more codebook configurations, one or more spatial configurations, one or more CSI-RS resources or resource sets, respective values of one or more parameters for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set, configurations for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set, one or more energy or power levels, or one or more energy saving levels.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further determine, based on the indication, the applicable TCI state set from the two or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable comprises at least one of an identifier of an applicable TCI state set, or an applicable antenna/spatial pattern of the network device.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further receive, via RRC signaling, the configuration information of the two or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further receive, from the network device, at least one of a DCI or a MAC CE and determine, based on the at least one of DCI or MAC CE, the at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further fetch, based on the at least one of DCI or MAC CE, a value of the at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further receive the at least one of DCI or a MAC CE along with the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable.

In some example embodiments, the at least one TCI state is indicated via the at least one of DCI or MAC CE by using at least one of a new field, an existing field, or a reserved field.

In some example embodiments, each of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to information comprising at least one of one or more uplink channels or signals, or one or more downlink channels or signals, and the terminal device may further obtain a configuration indicating an association between the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device and the information.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may further determine at least one at least one antenna/spatial pattern corresponding to the applicable TCI state set; and perform a transmission or reception for channels and signals with the at least one at least one antenna/spatial pattern.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 of TCI state update according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 510, the network device 120 transmits, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.

At 520, the network device 120 transmits, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the network device may further transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to one or more of the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.

In some example embodiments, the network device may further transmit, via RRC signaling, the configuration information of the two or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, the network device may further transmit, to the terminal device, at least one of a DCI or a MAC CE indicating at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set to be applied.

In some example embodiments, the network device may further transmit, the at least one of DCI or a MAC CE along with the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable.

In some example embodiments, each of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to information comprising at least one of: one or more uplink channels or signals, or one or more downlink channels or signals, and the network device may further transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating an association between the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device and the information.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 400 (for example, implemented at the terminal device 110) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; means for receiving, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the apparatus; and means for applying at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for obtaining a configuration indicating at least one of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to one or more of the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for determining, based on the indication, the applicable TCI state set from the two or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for receiving, via RRC signaling, the configuration information of the two or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for receiving, from the network device, at least one of a DCI or a MAC CE and means for determining, based on the at least one of DCI or MAC CE, the at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for fetching, based on the at least one of DCI or MAC CE, a value of the at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for receiving the at least one of DCI or a MAC CE along with the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable.

In some example embodiments, each of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to information comprising at least one of one or more uplink channels or signals, or one or more downlink channels or signals, and the apparatus may further comprise means for obtaining a configuration indicating an association between the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device and the information.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 500 (for example, implemented at the network device 120) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more TCI state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the apparatus; and means for transmitting, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to one or more of the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting, via RRC signaling, the configuration information of the two or more TCI state sets.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting, to the terminal device, at least one of a DCI or a MAC CE indicating at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set to be applied.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting, the at least one of DCI or a MAC CE along with the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable.

In some example embodiments, each of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to information comprising at least one of: one or more uplink channels or signals, or one or more downlink channels or signals, and the apparatus may further comprise means for transmitting, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating an association between the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device and the information.

FIG. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

The communication module 640 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 624, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of the program 630 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 630 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 630 so that the device 600 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 5. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 622 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 7 shows an example of the computer readable medium 700 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 700 has the program 630 stored thereon.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

A terminal device comprising:

one or more transceivers; and

one or more processors communicatively coupled to one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the terminal device to:

receive, from a network device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device;

receive, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and

apply at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to obtain a configuration indicating at least one of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to one or more of the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein the at least one antenna/spatial pattern is associated with at least one of

one or more antenna muting patterns,

one or more numbers or sets of active antenna/spatial elements or muted antenna/spatial elements,

one or more numbers or sets of active or antenna ports or muted antenna ports,

one or more report configurations or report settings,

one or more codebook configurations,

one or more spatial configurations,

one or more Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources or resource sets,

respective values of one or more parameters for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set,

configurations for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set,

one or more energy or power levels, or

one or more energy saving levels.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to determine, based on the indication, the applicable TCI state set from the two or more TCI state sets.
The terminal device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable comprises at least one of:

an identifier of an applicable TCI state set, or

an applicable antenna/spatial pattern of the network device.
The terminal device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the terminal device is caused to receive, via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, the configuration information of the two or more TCI state sets.
The terminal device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the terminal device is caused to

receive, from the network device, at least one of a downlink control information, DCI, or a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE; and

determine, based on the at least one of DCI or MAC CE, the at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set.
The terminal device of claim 7, wherein the terminal device is caused to fetch, based on the at least one of DCI or MAC CE, a value of the at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set.
The terminal device of claim 7 or 8, wherein the terminal device is caused to receive the at least one of DCI or a MAC CE along with the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable.
The terminal device of any of claims 7-9, wherein the at least one TCI state is indicated via the at least one of DCI or MAC CE by using at least one of:

a new field,

an existing field, or

a reserved field.
The terminal device of any one of preceding claims, wherein each of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to information comprising at least one of:

one or more uplink channels or signals, or

one or more downlink channels or signals, and wherein the terminal device is caused to obtain a configuration indicating an association between the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device and the information.
The terminal device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the terminal device is caused to:

determine at least one at least one antenna/spatial pattern corresponding to the applicable TCI state set; and

perform a transmission or reception for channels and signals with the at least one at least one antenna/spatial pattern.
A network device comprising:

one or more transceivers; and

one or more processors communicatively coupled to one or more transceivers, wherein the one or more processors are configured to cause the network device to:

transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; and

transmit, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.
The network device of claim 13, wherein the network device is caused to transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating at least one of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to one or more of the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device.
The network device of claim 13 or 14, wherein the antenna/spatial pattern is associated with at least one of

one or more antenna muting patterns,

one or more numbers or sets of active antenna/spatial elements or muted antenna/spatial elements,

one or more numbers or sets of active or antenna ports or muted antenna ports,

one or more report configurations or report settings,

one or more codebook configurations,

one or more spatial configurations,

one or more Channel State Information-Reference Signal (CSI-RS) resources or resource sets,

respective values of one or more parameters for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set,

configurations for a CSI-RS resource or a CSI-RS resource set,

one or more energy or power levels, or

one or more energy saving levels.
The network device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable comprises at least one of:

an identifier of an applicable TCI state set, or

an applicable antenna/spatial pattern of the network device.
The network device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the network device is caused to transmit, via radio resource control, RRC, signaling, the configuration information of the two or more TCI state sets.
The network device of any one of preceding claims, wherein the network device is caused to transmit, to the terminal device, at least one of a downlink control information, DCI, or a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE indicating at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set to be applied.
The network device of claim 18, wherein the network device is caused to transmit, the at least one of DCI or a MAC CE along with the indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable.
The network device of claim 18 or 19, wherein the at least one TCI state is indicated via the at least one of DCI or MAC CE by using at least one of:

a new field,

an existing field, or

a reserved field.
The network device of any one of preceding claims, wherein each of the two or more TCI state sets corresponds to information comprising at least one of:

one or more uplink channels or signals, or

one or more downlink channels or signals, and wherein the network device is caused to transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration indicating an association between the at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device and the information.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device;

receiving, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and

applying at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.
A method comprising:

transmitting, from a network device to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; and

transmitting, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.
An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device;

means for receiving, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the apparatus; and

means for applying at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.
An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the apparatus; and

means for transmitting, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.
A terminal device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device at least to:

receive, at the terminal device and from a network device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device;

receive, from the network device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device; and

apply at least one TCI state from the applicable TCI state set in subsequent communication with the network device.
A network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device at least to:

transmit, from the network device to a terminal device, configuration information of two or more Transmission Configuration Indicator, TCI, state sets each corresponding to at least one antenna/spatial pattern deployed at the network device; and

transmit, to the terminal device, an indication associated with which one of the two or more TCI state sets is applicable for the terminal device.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 22 or the method of claim 23.