WO2025166598A1

WO2025166598A1 - Devices and methods for communication

Info

Publication number: WO2025166598A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/076481
Authority: WO
Inventors: Peng Guan; Yukai GAO; Gang Wang
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2024-02-06
Filing date: 2024-02-06
Publication date: 2025-08-14
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-06

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting. In a solution, a terminal device receives, from a network device, configuration information of a UE-initiated beam reporting; and perform measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam; transmit, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category.

Description

DEVICES AND METHODS FOR COMMUNICATION

FIELDS

Example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of communication techniques and in particular, to devices and methods for user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting.

BACKGROUND

In order to meet the increasing wireless data traffic demand, a plurality of schemes have been proposed and implemented, where the multiple input multiple output (MIMO) technology is considered as one powerful scheme to achieve high data throughputs in the communication system. In a case of MIMO, the terminal and the network device may communicate with each other via multiple beams. In order to enable a reasonable beam management, a beam reporting procedure is introduced. Specifically, the terminal device measures the beams and transmits a beam report to the network device.

Legacy beam reporting is based on a periodic/semi-persistent network (NW) -configured beam reporting, or an aperiodic NW-triggered beam reporting, which results in significant uplink (UL) reporting overhead and downlink (DL) control signaling overhead. In view of this, in release 19 of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) , a technology of UE-initiated/beam management (also referred to as event-driven beam management) is expected to be further discussed in order to reduce uplink reporting overhead and downlink control signaling overhead.

SUMMARY

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for UE-initiated beam reporting.

In a first aspect, there is provided a terminal device comprising: a processor configured to cause the terminal device to: receive, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and perform measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam; transmit, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In a second aspect, there is provided a network device comprising: a processor configured to cause the network device to: transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and receive, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In a third aspect, there is provided a communication method performed by a terminal device. The method comprises: receiving, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and performing measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam; transmitting, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a communication method performed by a network device. The method comprises: transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and receiving, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the third, or fourth aspect.

Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some example embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent, wherein:

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

FIG. 1B illustrates an example block of beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure;

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling flow of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling flow of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 4A to 4D illustrate example blocks of medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals 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 can 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 have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

As used herein, the term ‘terminal device’ refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but not limited to, user equipment (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, devices on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, devices for Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) , Space borne vehicles or Air borne vehicles in Non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including Satellites and High Altitude Platforms (HAPs) encompassing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) , eXtended Reality (XR) devices including different types of realities such as Augmented Reality (AR) , Mixed Reality (MR) and Virtual Reality (VR) , the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone which is an aircraft without any human pilot, devices on high speed train (HST) , or image capture devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like. The ‘terminal device’ can further have ‘multicast/broadcast’ feature, to support public safety and mission critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4/IPv6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, radio services, software delivery over wireless, group communications and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or multiple Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) as known as Multi-SIM. The term “terminal device” can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device.

The term “network device” refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , an IAB node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , and the like.

The terminal device or the network device may have Artificial intelligence (AI) or Machine learning capability. It generally includes a model which has been trained from numerous collected data for a specific function, and can be used to predict some information.

The terminal or the network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g., FR1 (e.g., 450 MHz to 6000 MHz) , FR2 (e.g., 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz) , frequency band larger than 100A GHz as well as Tera Hertz (THz) . It can further work on licensed/unlicensed/shared spectrum. The terminal device may have more than one connection with the network devices under Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC) application scenario. The terminal device or the network device can work on full duplex, flexible duplex and cross division duplex modes.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in test equipment, e.g., signal generator, signal analyzer, spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, test terminal device, test network device, channel emulator. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be connected with a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other one may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs) . In some embodiments, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In some embodiments, the first RAT device is eNB and the second RAT device is gNB. Information related with different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device or the second network device. In some embodiments, first information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the first network device and second information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device. In some embodiments, information related with configuration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related with reconfiguration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device.

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. The term ‘includes’ and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean ‘includes, but is not limited to. ’ The term ‘based on’ is to be read as ‘at least in part based on. ’ The term ‘one embodiment’ and ‘an embodiment’ are to be read as ‘at least one embodiment. ’ The term ‘another embodiment’ is to be read as ‘at least one other embodiment. ’ The terms ‘first, ’ ‘second, ’ and the like may refer to different or same objects. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

In some examples, values, procedures, or apparatus are referred to as ‘best, ’ ‘lowest, ’ ‘highest, ’ ‘minimum, ’ ‘maximum, ’ or the like. It will be appreciated that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among many used functional alternatives can be made, and such selections need not be better, smaller, higher, or otherwise preferable to other selections.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, 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.

As discussed above, a beam reporting procedure is introduced in order to enable a reasonable beam management.

In legacy beam management procedure, the network may configure/activate frequent periodic or semi-persistent beam reporting (e.g., N best beams and corresponding N layer 1 (L1) -reference signal receiving power (RSRP) s) . Alternatively, the network may trigger frequent aperiodic beam reporting to timely acquire the best/preferred beam for data/control transmissions. However, the legacy beam management procedure results in large UL reporting overhead and control signaling overhead. At the same time, if less frequent beam reporting is configured, the network could not always acquire ‘best/preferred’ beam (s) as the beam reporting by the user equipment (UE) may be outdated, which leads to the performance degradation.

Given that UE has better and more-timely knowledge of beam quality changes, UE-initiated beam reporting procedure may lead to more timely beam reports yet with reduced reporting overhead. During a UE-initiated beam reporting procedure, if the UE determines that e.g., current beam (s) quality becomes poor, the UE may trigger beam reporting without the network needing to configure or trigger frequent reporting. Therefore, the UE-initiated beam reporting procedure would enable a timely beam reporting.

As used herein, the measurement results/measurement information, includes but not is not limited to, L1-RSRP, RSRP, L1-signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , SINR, L1-received signal strength indication (RSSI) , RSSI, L1-reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) , RSRQ, and so on. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As used herein, a beam may be associated with a reference signal (RS) (e.g., synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block, SSB, channel status information (CSI) -RS, sounding reference signal, SRS) , an RS resource, RS resource identity (ID) , (channel/interference) measurement RS/resource, quasi co-location (QCL) RS, source RS, reference RS, type of QCL (e.g., type A/B/C/D) , (source/reference) RS of a type of QCL, transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, spatial Rx parameter, UL Tx spatial filter, path loss (reference) RS, power control related parameter, spatial relation, spatial relation information. In view this, any of the above terms may be replaced by any other of the above terms. In summary, a beam refers to a resource that enables a spatially directional communication, and thus may be identified by other suitable parameter in other embodiments. In present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As used herein, a resource may be replaced by a recourse group, a resource set, resource setting, resource configuration, port, port group. In present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

It is noted that when the term “a set of” is used, it may mean one or more elements/items, which may be replaced by terms of “at least one” , “a group of” or “a list of” . For example, “a set of Xs” means “at least one X” or “one or more Xs” .

Below table illustrates IEs or parameters used in this disclosure.

Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

Example Environment

FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication environment 100A in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100A, a plurality of communication devices, including a terminal device 110 and a network device 120, can communicate with each other.

Further, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) is supported in the communication environment 100A, such that the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 may communicate with each other via different beams to enable a directional communication.

In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the terminal device 110 operating as a UE and the network device 120 operating as a base station. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 is a terminal device and the network device 120 is a network device, a link from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 is 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 a receiver) . In UL, the terminal device 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the network device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 may communicate with each other via a channel such as a wireless communication channel on an air interface (e.g., Uu interface) . The wireless communication channel may comprise a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , a physical random-access channel (PRACH) , a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) . Of course, any other suitable channels are also feasible.

The communications in the communication environment 100A may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , New Radio (NR) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) , Machine Type Communication (MTC) and the like. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, 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, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or the sixth generation (6G) networks.

In FIG. 1A, beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure (also may be referred to as “link failure recovery (LFR) ” , “link recovery (LR) ” , “radio link monitoring (RLM) ” and “candidate beam measurement” sometimes) may be supported.

Reference is now made to FIG. 1B, illustrates an example block 100B of BFR procedure. In the BFR procedure, the terminal device 110 monitors the serving beam quality, and if the quality falls to a certain condition, the terminal device 110 may notify the network device 120 about the information of beam failure and/or a new beam may be used for subsequent transmissions, the network device 120 then responds to the terminal device 110 that this information is received.

Generally speaking, a BFR procedure mainly contains a beam failure detection (BFD) , new beam identification, beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) , and response to BFRQ.

At the beginning, an RRC signalling may be used to configure related information, where IE RadioLinkMonitoringConfig may carry configurations about how to detect beam failure, such as, BFD RS, and beam failure threshold, timer-related information, counter-related information and so on. In addition, IE BeamFailureRecoveryConfig may carry configurations about candidate beam information and BFRQ, such as, candidate beam detection (CBD) RS, and candidate beam threshold, association between CBD RS and PRACH, or PUCCH scheduling request (SR) used for BFRQ, and dedicated search space/control resource set (CORESET) to monitor the response from the network device 120.

The MAC layer of the terminal device 110 may be responsible to receive an indication from UE physical layer, maintain counter and timer to decide whether to declare beam failure and trigger related physical layer procedure.

The physical layer of the terminal device 110 may be responsible to measure all configured BFD RS and CBD RS, send beam failure instance indication to UE MAC layer, transmit BFRQ and monitor the response from the network device 120.

In the present disclosure, in a case of UE-initiated beam reporting, if an instance-based mechanism is used for triggering the beam report, the terminal device 110 may follow a similar procedure with the BFR procedure.

Example Processes

Reference is made to FIG. 2, which illustrates a signaling flow 200 of a UE-initiated beam reporting in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling flow 200 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1A, for example, by using the terminal device 110 and the network device 120.

It is to be understood that the operations at the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 should be coordinated. In other words, the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 should have common understanding about configurations, parameters and so on. Such common understanding may be implemented by any suitable interactions between the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 or both the network device 120 and the terminal device 110 applying the same rule/policy. In the following, although some operations are described from a perspective of the terminal device 110, it is to be understood that the corresponding operations should be performed by the network device 120. Similarly, although some operations are described from a perspective of the network device 120, it is to be understood that the corresponding operations should be performed by the terminal device 110. Merely for brevity, some of the same or similar contents are omitted here.

In addition, in the following description, some interactions are performed among the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 (such as, exchanging configuration (s) and so on) . It is to be understood that the interactions may be implemented either in one single signaling/message/configuration or multiple signaling/messages/configurations, including system information, RRC message, downlink control information (DCI) message, uplink control information (UCI) message, MAC CE and so on. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As used herein, a beam report may refer to L1-RSRP report, L1-SINR report or other beam report with proper quality information. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard. Further, the configured resources for beam management may refer to the configured resources for L1-RSRP report or L1-SINR report.

In operation, the terminal device 110 receives 220 configuration information of a UE-initiated beam reporting from the network device 120.

In some embodiment, the configuration information may comprise: an indication indicating at least one category to be reported by the terminal device, an indication indicating at least one cell identify of at least one cell within which the UE-initiated beam reporting is to be performed, an indication of report type which is set to be event-triggered beam report or UE-initiated beam report, an indication indicating at least one event that triggers the beam report or at least one instance that triggers the beam report. Further, each event or instance may be associated with at least one of the following: a signal strength, an interference strength, an uplink transmission or power control parameter, or an operation mode being the same as or different from a currently-applied operation mode.

After receiving the configuration information, the terminal device 110 is configured to perform the UE-initiated beam reporting. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 performs measurements 230 on at least one resources associated with at least one beam.

Then, the terminal device 110 transmits a beam report based on measurement results on the at least one resources, where the beam report indicates at least one of the following:

● first information about at least one first beam with a first category,

● second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, or

● third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category.

In some embodiments, the first beam with the first category may be a recommended beam, and the second beam with the second category may be a restricted beam.

In some embodiments, the first beam with the first category may be a recommended beam associated with a currently applied beam, and the second beam with the second category may be a restricted beam associated with a currently applied beam.

In some embodiments, the currently applied beam may be one of the following:

● The beam used for PDCCH transmission,

● The beam used for PDSCH transmission,

● The beam associated with the unified TCI state indicated/applied,

● The beam associated with the activated TCI states,

● The beam associated with the configured TCI states, or

● The beam associated with the indicated TCI states.

In this way, the terminal device 110 may provide beam-related information to the network device 120 in time, such that the network device 120 may make a proper beam management for the terminal device 110 and the communication performance may be ensured accordingly.

According to the present disclosure, the UE-initiated beam report may be comprised in any suitable signaling. Specifically, in some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may be comprised in one or more of the following: a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , uplink control information (UCI) , or a radio resource control (RRC) signalling.

In some embodiments, the uplink communication may comprise more than one signalling/message (such as, a combination of more than one signalling/message) . In some embodiments, the first device 110 may transmit a notification signalling/message of the UE-initiated beam report and a signalling/message carrying the UE-initiated beam report.

In one example, the first device 110 may transmit a UCI (i.e., the notification signalling/message of the UE-initiated beam report) and a MAC CE carrying UE-initiated beam report.

In another example, the first device 110 may transmit a scheduling request (i.e., the notification signalling/message of the UE-initiated beam report) and a MAC CE carrying UE-initiated beam report.

In a further example, the first device 110 may transmit an L1 signalling (i.e., the notification signalling/message of the UE-initiated beam report) and a UCI carrying UE-initiated beam report.

In a further example, the first device 110 may transmit a scheduling request (i.e., the notification signalling/message of UE-initiated beam report) and a PUCCH carrying UE-initiated beam report.

Different from NW-configured/triggered beam reporting, the measurement resources for UE-initiated beam report may be more diversity. The resources which may be used by the terminal device 110 for obtaining measurement results of beam will be discussed as below.

In some embodiment, the at least one resources associated with at least one beam may comprise at least one of the following: a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) resource, a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) resource, a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource, a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource, a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) resource, or a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) resource.

In summary, the measurement results may be derived based on various signals and/or channels. The signals and/or channels may be, in addition to or different from, the configured resources for beam management.

In some example embodiments, the measurement results may be derived based on a TCL state, including a release (Rel) -15/16 TCI state, a Rel-17/18 unified TCI state, a DL or joint TCI state, a UL TCI state, a spatial relation, an RS associated with the TCI state (such as, QCL reference RS configured in the TCI states, QCL type D RS) and the likes.

Alternatively, or in addition, the measurement results may be derived based on an SS/PBCH block (SSB) , where the SSB may be from a serving cell, a neighbor cell or a cell with a different physical cell identifier (PCI) , and further the SSB may be either a cell-defined SSB or a non-cell-defined SSB.

Alternatively, or in addition, the measurement results may be derived based on a CSI-RS, including a CSI-RS for beam management (e.g., configured for L1-RSRP/SINR report) , a CSI-RS for channel acquisition (e.g., configured for rank indication (RI) /precoding matrix indicator (PMI) /channel quality indicator (CQI) report) , a CSI-RS for mobility, a CSI-RS from other cell, a CSI-RS for tracking, a CSI-RS for candidate beams for beam failure recovery, a CSI-RS for radio link monitoring or for beam failure detection, or a CSI-RS associated with SSB from other cell.

Alternatively, or in addition, the measurement results may be derived based on an SRS, including an SRS for beam management, an SRS for antenna switching, an SRS for codebook (CB) /non-codebook (NCB) PUSCH transmission, or an SRS for positioning.

Alternatively, or in addition, the measurement results may be derived based on a positioning reference signal (PRS) , a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) , a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) and so on.

After determining proper measurements resources, a UE-initiated beam report may be triggered according to the reporting criteria. In some embodiments, the reporting criteria to trigger UE-initiated beam report may be based on at least one of: the beam quality and operation modes, where the beam quality may comprise signal strength and interference strength and the operation modes may comprise intra-cell and inter-cell operations.

In some embodiments, the criteria may be represented to be an event (s) or an instance (s) . In some embodiments, the term “event” may further refer to an entry condition and a leaving condition which are based on the criteria. Furthermore, an event ID may be assigned for each configured event. If more than one events are configured for the UE-initiated beam report, a priority based on event ID may be used.

The term “instance” may refer to a further counter and/or timer. Additionally, an instance indication may be needed from a first entity for measurement/transmission/reception (e.g., UE physical layer) to a second entity for management of the counter/timer (e.g., UE higher layer, MAC entity) .

In this way, different events/instances used for triggering the UE-initiated beam report may be used for different purposes/scenarios.

In the following description, for the purpose of illustration, “event” may be used herein by way of example to show a detailed description. It should be understood that all the discussion made to the “event” may be applicable to the “instance” . For brevity, the same or similar contents are omitted herein.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality, such as, L1-RSRP, L1-SINR, L1-RSSI, L3-RSRP, L3-SINR, L3-RSSI and so on. Such example events are discussed as below.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality may be: Event 1, a first beam may become better than a first threshold, where the 1^st beam may be a recommended beam.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality may be: Event 2, a second beam may become worse than a second threshold where the second beam may be a restricted beam and/or the second beam may be a currently applied beam.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality may be: Event 2A, the second beam may become an offset worse than the last measurement/report, which suggests that the beam gradually becomes unusable.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality may be: Event 3, a third beam may become a first offset better than a 4-th beam where the third beam may be a recommended beam and the 4-th beam may be a currently applied beam.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality may be: Event 4, a currently applied beam may become worse than a third threshold.

It should be noted that Event 4 may be a bit similar to the beam failure detection. In some embodiments, the third threshold may be associated with the BFD threshold. In one example, the third threshold is higher or lower than the BFD threshold. In another example, the third threshold is equal to the BFD threshold.

In some embodiments, the currently applied beam may be associated with the beams monitored in the BFD procedure. Alternatively, in some other embodiments, the currently applied beam is a beam different from the beams monitored in the BFD procedure.

In some embodiments, the events may be associated with signal strength or beam quality may be: Event 5, a 5-th beam may become worse than a 4-th threshold and a6-th beam may become better than a 5-th threshold where the 5^th beam may be a currently applied beam and the 6-th beam may be a recommended beam.

In addition to the signal strength or beam quality, the event also may be associ-ated with interference strength, such events may be discussed as below.

In some embodiments, the event associated with interference strength may be: Event 7, a 7-th beam may cause interference strength lower than a first interference thresh-old, where the 7-th beam may be a recommended beam.

In some embodiments, the event associated with interference strength may be: Event 8: an 8-th beam may cause interference strength higher than a second interference threshold, where the 8-th beam may be a restricted beam.

Alternatively, or in addition, the event also may be associated with UL transmis-sion or power control as discussed below.

In some embodiments, the event associated with UL transmission or power con-trol may be: Event 9, a 9th beam Tx power may be higher than a first Tx power threshold, where the 9-th beam may be a restricted beam for UL.

In some embodiments, the event associated with UL transmission or power con-trol may be: Event 10, a 10-th beam Tx power may be lower than a second Tx power threshold, where the 10-th beam may be a recommended beam for UL.

In some embodiments, the event associated with UL transmission or power con-trol may be: Event 11, an 11-th beam pathloss may be offset lower than a 12-th beam pathloss, where the 11-th beam may be a recommended beam for UL.

In some embodiments, the event associated with UL transmission or power con-trol may be: Event 12, a 13-th beam Tx power backoff may be offset lower than a 14-th beam Tx power backoff where the 13-th beam may be a recommended beam for UL.

Alternatively, or in addition, the event also may be associated with inter-cell operation mode.

In some embodiments, the event associated with inter-cell operation mode may be: Event 21, a first beam in a first cell may become worse than a first threshold in a first cell where the first beam in the first cell may be a restricted beam in the first cell.

In some embodiments, the event associated with inter-cell operation mode may be: Event 22, a second beam in a second cell may become better than a second threshold in a second cell, where the second beam in the second cell may be a recommended beam in the second cell.

In some embodiments, the event associated with inter-cell operation mode may be: Event 23, a second beam in a second cell may become offset better than a first beam in a first cell, where the second beam in the second cell may be a recommended beam for the second cell and the first beam in the first cell may be a currently applied beam for the first cell.

In some embodiments, the event associated with inter-cell operation mode may be: Event 24, a first beam in a first cell may become worse than threshold 1 and a second beam in a second cell may become better than threshold 2, where the second beam in the second cell may be a recommended beam for the second cell and the first beam in the first cell may be a currently applied beam for the first cell.

In addition to the inter-cell operation mode, the event also may be associated with other operation modes, as discussed below.

In some embodiments, the event associated with operation mode may be: Event 25, a first beam may become worse than a first threshold in a first mode, where the first beam may be a restricted beam for the first mode and the first mode may be different from the current mode.

In some embodiments, the event associated with operation mode may be: Event 26, a second beam may become better than a second threshold in a first mode where the second beam may be a recommended beam for the first mode.

In some embodiments, the event associated with operation mode may be: Event 27, a second beam may become offset better than a first beam in a first mode, where the second beam may be a recommended beam for the first mode and the first beam may be a currently applied beam.

In some embodiments, the event associated with operation mode may be: Event 28, a first beam in a first mode may become worse than threshold #1 and a second beam in a first mode may become better than threshold #2, where the second beam in the second mode may be recommended and the first beam in the first mode may be a currently applied beam.

In some embodiments, the event associated with operation mode may be: Event 29, a first beam in a first mode may become worse than threshold #1 and a first beam in a second mode may become better than threshold #2, where the second mode may be recommended.

Additionally, in some embodiment, for the purpose of illustration, the operation mode also may be one of the following: a currently-applied operation mode, a single transmission reception point (TRP) operation mode, a multi-TRP operation mode, a network energy saving (NES) operation mode, a multi-user equipment (UE) panel operation mode, a user equipment (UE) power saving operation mode, a reduced capability (RedCap) operation mode, a discontinuous reception/transmission (DTX/DRX) operation mode, or an artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) operation mode.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the operation mode may be enabled, disabled, switched, selected by an explicit singalling from the network device 120 to the first device or an explicit singalling from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120.

The operation mode may be enabled/disabled/switched/selected implicitly when a condition is met, the condition can be pre-defined, configured by NW, or reported by UE.

In some embodiments, if an event of the at least one event is associated with an operation mode different from a currently-applied operation mode, a potential offset may be applied to a measurement result according to the operation mode when detecting the event.

For example, if an event of the at least one event is associated with an operation mode different from a currently-applied operation mode, the measurement results may be derived based on various signals and potential assumptions e.g., potential offset values in a different mode. The operation modes may comprise the following:

● normal mode, including default, single TRP, etc.,

● MTRP mode, including intra and inter-cell multi-TRP, DL multi-TRP, UL multi-TRP, respectively or jointly,

● multi-UE-panel mode, including simultaneous transmission across multi-panels (STxMP) ,

● NES, e.g., the recommend/restricted beam is for NES mode,

● UE power saving mode, e.g., the recommend/restricted beam is for power saving,

● UE reduced cap mode, e.g., the recommend/restricted beam is for reduced cap UE,

● DRX mode, DTX/DRX model, e.g., the recommend/restricted beam is for DRX,

● AI/ML mode, AI/ML model training, model inference, model monitoring, fallback.

In some embodiments, if the NES mode is activated/enabled by CSI sub configurations, the recommended/restricted beam may be for a CSI sub configuration.

In some embodiments, an event/instance may be defined by an entry condition and a leaving condition, i.e., the inequality of entry condition and inequality of leaving condition can be used for different events/instances.

In the following embodiments, operators of >, <, >=, <= may be used for the inequalities, depending on the metrics of criteria. Additionally, operators of + or –may be used for the offset values. Further, for those values are not logarithm (e.g., for those linear values) , may convert them to logarithm values.

In some embodiments, for events defined based on comparison with a threshold (for example, Event 1) , entry condition may be Measurement value > threshold value, and leaving condition may be Measurement value < threshold value.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, for events defined based on comparison with another measurement and an offset (for example, Event 3) , entry condition may be: Measurement value of one beam >= Measurement value of the other beam + offset, leaving condition may be Measurement value of one beam <= Measurement value of the other beam + offset.

Additionally, one or more hysteresis may be considered, which may be event-specific, measurement-specific, cell-specific, and so on. Further, the one or more hysteresis may be configured by the network device 120, reported/suggested by the terminal device 110, or pre-defined. For example, for Event 1, the hysteresis may be considered as below: Measurement value -hysteresis > threshold value.

Additionally, one or more other/additional offset values may be considered, which may be event-specific, measurement-specific, cell-specific, and so on. Further, one or many other/additional offset values may be configured by the network device 120, reported/suggested by the terminal device 110, or pre-defined. For example, for Event 1, the additional offset value may be considered as below: Measurement value + event-specific offset 1> threshold value.

Additionally, one or more hysteresis and/or other/additional offset values may be considered on both sides of an inequality. For example, for Event 9, the hysteresis and/or other/additional offset value may be considered as below: Measurement value of one beam in cell 1 + cell-specific offset 1 > Measurement value of the other beam in cell 2+ offset + cell-specific offset 2.

In the following, the procedure about how to trigger the UE-initiated beam report will be discussed.

In some embodiments, an event of the at least one event may be defined by an entry condition and a leaving condition. Herein, in accordance with a determination that the entry condition applicable for the event is met, the terminal device 110 may perform the following: storing measurement result in variables; and initiating reporting the beam report if a first reporting condition is met. In accordance with a determination that the leaving condition applicable for the event is met, the terminal device may perform the following: initiating reporting the beam report if a second reporting condition is met, or stopping reporting the beam report.

In some embodiments, if the type of report is configured as ueInitiatedBeamReport, a UE-initiated beam reporting may be considered as configured. More details about the configurations will be discussed as below.

In some embodiments, in the RRC signalling, parameter reportType may be set to eventTriggered, or ueInitiatedBeamReport. Additionally, the RRC signalling may further comprises parameters ReportConfig, measObject, measId.

Further, the RRC signalling may configure the criteria for triggering of UE-initiated beam reporting event, such as, configures the event (s) as discussed above by indicating eventId, TimeToTrigger, reportOnLeave and so on.

Further, the RRC signalling may configure the cell (s) for UE-initiated beam report, including cells for measurement and/or cells for report, such as, configures cellsUEInitiatedBeamReportList.

Further, the RRC signalling may configure resources for measurement, and may configure resources for report.

Additionally, the UE variables numberOfReportsSent, VarMeasConfigUEInitiatedBeamReport, VarMeasReportList are maintained accordingly.

In some embodiments, if the entry condition is applicable for this event (i.e., the event corresponding with the eventId of the corresponding reportConfig within VarMeasConfigUEInitiatedBeamReport, is fulfilled) , for one or more applicable cells for all measurements after layer 3 filtering taken during timeToTrigger defined for this event within the VarMeasConfigUEInitiatedBeamReport, while the VarMeasReportList does not include a measurement reporting entry for this measId (a first cell triggers the event) , the terminal device 110 may perform the following:

● including a measurement reporting entry within the VarMeasReportList for this measId; ● setting the numberOfReportsSent defined within the VarMeasReportList for this measId to 0;

● including the concerned cell (s) in the cellsTriggeredList defined within the VarMeasReportList for this measId.

Then, the terminal device 110 may initiate the UE-initiated beam reporting procedure.

In some embodiments, if the leaving condition applicable for this event is fulfilled, for one or more of the cells included in the cellsTriggeredList defined within the VarMeasReportList for this measId for all measurements after layer 3 filtering taken during timeToTrigger defined within the VarMeasConfig for this event, , the terminal device 110 may remove the concerned cell (s) in the cellsTriggeredList defined within the VarMeasReportList for this measId. Further, if reportOnLeave is set to true for the corresponding reporting configuration, the terminal device 110 may initiate the UE-initiated beam reporting procedure.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may initiate reporting the beam report in response to a number of times detecting the instance is larger than or equal to a threshold number. That is, a number of consecutive instance occurrences may trigger the UE-initiated beam report.

In operation, the higher layer of the terminal device 110 may initialize an instance counter to be 0, Additionally, in some embodiments, different instance counters may be used for different instances.

In the following, for an assessment duration, the terminal device 110 may assess sets of beams. The sets of beams may correspond to the various signals that can be used to derive measurement results as discussed above. Further, the length of duration may be determined based on at least one of the following:

● a periodicity of resources used for measurement;

● a periodicity of different operation modes, e.g., duration of DRX;

● a pre-defined, NW configured, or UE suggested max or min value of periodicity.

Then, based on assessment in the assessment duration, the physical layer of the terminal device 110 may generate a first indication to a higher layer of the terminal device 110 to indicate that one or many beams may satisfy conditions defined for various instances.

As for a higher layer of the terminal device 110, the higher layer may start a first timer when receives the first indication from the physical layer for the first time. Further, while the first timer is running, a higher layer of the terminal device 110 may perform the following:

● when the UE higher layer receives the first indication from the physical layer, increasing the first counter by 1 and restart the first timer;

● when the UE higher layer receives no indication from the physical layer, maintaining the first counter or set the first counter to 0;

● if the first counter is larger or equal to a first threshold (e.g., a max value) , initiating the UE-initiated beam reporting procedure.

Further, when the first timer expires, the corresponding counter may be set to 0.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may start the above procedure conditionally, for example, when a physical layer problem is detected, such as beam failure or radio link failure, or when UE decides to initiate a beam report. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may start the above procedure if a first time an instance occurred, or the entry condition of an event is satisfied.

In addition, in order to enable the event-triggered beam reporting, some RRC configurations are needed, In some embodiments, at least one of the below RRC configurations are required,

● configurations about a counter for UE-initiated beam report to monitoring the sets of beams;

● configurations about at least a timer for UE-initiated beam report for monitoring the sets of beams;

● configurations about at least a threshold value for the counter for initiate beam report; ● configurations about time related configurations about an assessment duration;

● configurations about DL/UL resources/report configurations for UE to perform monitoring;

● configurations about a performance monitoring method/metric and a corresponding performance monitoring instance/event condition for UE-initiated beam report;

● configurations about UL resource for UE-initiated beam report or to send request for the UL resource.

● configurations about parameters or the UL resource, such as, parameters for transmit power, priority, retransmission, backoff and so on.

UE-initiated beam reporting procedure may comprise procedures to transmit the beam report after the determination of what is to be sent, and thus there is a need to determine the UL resources for the beam reporting. In the following, how to determine the UL resources will be discussed.

In some embodiments, in accordance with a determination that there is an available uplink resource for the beam report, the terminal device may transmit the beam report on the available uplink resource. In accordance with a determination that there is no available uplink resource for the beam report, the terminal device may transmit a message for requesting uplink resources for the beam report. The message may be one of the following: a scheduling request (SR) with a scheduling request identity defined for the UE-initiated beam reporting, a buffer state report, a message A of a 2-step random access, or a message 1 or message 3 of a 4-step random access.

Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling flow 300 of communication in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The signaling flow 300 is especially suitable if MAC CE is used for the UE-initiated beam report.

In operation, if uplink-shared channel (UL-SCH) resources may be available for a new transmission and if the UL-SCH resources may accommodate the beam report, the multiplexing and assembly procedure may be instructed to generate the beam report. Otherwise, if UL-SCH resources are not available or may not accommodate the report, a request for UL resource may be triggered, where the request may be SR, buffer state report, or Message A, Message 1 and Message 3.

In some embodiment, if the beam report is transmitted via MAC CE, the UL-SCH resources may accommodate the beam report and its subheader as a result of Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) .

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may expect that the network device 120 responds to the UE-initiated beam report, e.g., the network device 120 sends commands including, TCI state update activation/deactivation/indication command. Further, UE may expect the response to be received within x1 time units after transmitting the report.

Alternatively, the terminal device 110 may apply the beam report (e.g., recommended/restricted beam) right after the report, or apply the beam report after x time units since transmitting the report, or apply the beam report after y time units after receiving the configuration of the report.

In addition, the terminal device 110 may treat the HARQ ACK of UL-SCH as a response if MAC CE is successfully received by the network device 120. In some embodiment, the HARQ ACK of UL-SCH may be a PDCCH reception with a DCI format scheduling a PUSCH transmission with a same HARQ process number as for the transmission of the first PUSCH (the UL-SCH) and having a toggled new data indicator (NDI) field value.

In some embodiments, the UL-SCH resources may be configured granted or dynamically granted.

In some embodiments, the request for UL resources may be carried out by a scheduling report (SR) , which is configured dedicatedly for the UE-initiated beam report, where “dedicatedly” means that a specific scheduling request ID is defined for the UE-initiated beam report.

In some embodiments, the request for UL resources may further be carried by a buffer state report, which may contain the information on the payload size or format required for the UE-initiated beam report. The request for UL resources may further be carried by Message A, Message 1 and Message 3 during RA procedure.

In the following, details about the transmission of the beam report will be discussed.

In some embodiments, various UL channels (e.g., PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH) and various signalling (e.g., UCI, MAC CE, RRC) may be used to carry the UE-initiated beam report. The network device 120 may provide configurations of which UL channels/signalling is used, the terminal device 110 may also provide requests/recommendations, or the UL channels/signalling may be pre-defined.

Additionally, the size of signalling may be fixed or variable. In the following, although the example may assume MAC CE, the same principle applies if using UCI or RRC is applied. The restricted/recommended beam (s) may be determined based on the event (s) /instance (s) , for example:

● depending on how to determine the restricted/recommended beam (s) , they can be simply a beam with bad quality/good quality, or they can be;

● the restricted beam may be associated with a specific beam, e.g., the current beam, which means that to ensure current beam performance, do not transmit with the restricted beam;

● the recommended beam may be associated with a specific beam too, e.g., the current beam, which means that, to ensure the performance, replace the current beam with the recommended beam;

● the restricted/recommended beam (s) may be paired;

● the restricted/recommended beam (s) and the specific beam (e.g., current beam) may be paired.

In some embodiments, either or both recommended beam indication and/or restricted beam indication may be included in one UE-initiated beam report. The network device 120 may provide configurations of which is used, the terminal device 110 may also provide requests/recommendations, or it may be pre-defined.

In some embodiments, if only the recommended beam (s) is to be reported, at least a field of recommended beam indication is included in UE-initiated beam report.

In some embodiments, if only the restricted beam (s) is to be reported, at least a field of restricted beam indication is included in UE-initiated beam report.

In some embodiments, if either the recommended beam (s) or the restricted beam (s) is to be reported, at least a field of beam indication is included in UE-initiated beam report, and a field of whether the recommended beam (s) or the restricted beam (s) is reported can also be included the report.

In some embodiments, if both the recommended beam (s) and the restricted beam (s) are to be reported, at least a field of recommended beam indication and a field of restricted beam indication are included in UE-initiated beam report, and a field of whether recommended beam (s) or the restricted beam (s) is reported for the corresponding field of beam indication can also be included the report.

In the following, more details about the UE-initiated beam report will be discussed.

First, embodiments where the UE-initiated beam report includes information about the at least one first beam (i.e., recommended beam indication) will be discussed.

In some embodiments, the beam report further indicates at least one of the following:

● a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report,

● a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report,

● a field indicating a number of the at least one first beams,

● a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one first beam,

● a field indicating type information associated with the at least one first beam.

In addition to the above general information about the at least one first beams, the beam report may indicate more information about each first beam, which will be discussed as below.

In some embodiments, for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information may comprise at least two of the following:

● a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam,

● a field indicating type information of the first beam,

● a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam,

● a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value,

● a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies,

● a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies,

● a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam,

● a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam,

● a field indicating type information of the associated beam,

● a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or

● a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

As discussed above, the first information may comprise a field indicating type information of the first beam. In some embodiments, the type information may be one of the following:

● a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state or a TCI state ID,

● a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) ,

● a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) ,

● a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) ,

● a sounding reference signal (SRS) ,

● an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) ,

● a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) ,

● a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) , or

● a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) .

As discussed above, the first information may comprise a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, and a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value. In some embodiments, the metric type may be one of the following: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) , an interference plus noise ratio (SINR) , a received signal strength indication (RSSI) , a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) , an inference strength, a pathloss, a power headroom, a transmission power, a receiving power.

As discussed above, the first information may comprise a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies. In some embodiments, the associated channel may be one of the following:

● downlink channels including any or both of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) ,

● a downlink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state,

● uplink channels including any or both of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) ,

● an uplink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state,

● a PDSCH scheduled by a specific downlink control information (DCI) format,

● a PDCCH associated with a specific control resource set (CORSET) , a specific CORESETPoolIndex a specific search space or a specific search space set,

● a physical random access channel (PRACH) ,

● a PRACH with a specific random access (RA) type, or

● a PUSCH scheduled by a specific DCI format.

As discussed above, the first information may comprise a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies. In some embodiments, the associated signal may be one of the following:

● a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) ,

● a CSI-RS with a specific resource identity, a specific resource set ID or a specific resource type or usage,

● a sounding reference signal (SRS) , or

● an SRS with a specific resource identity a specific resource set ID or a specific resource type or usage.

As discussed above, the first information may comprise a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam and a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam. In some embodiments, the associated beam of the first beam may be one of the following:

● the second beam,

● a currently-applied beam,

● a beam quasi co-located (QLCed) with the first beam, or

● a beam supporting to be applied simultaneously with the first beam.

As discussed above, the first information may comprise a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam. In some embodiments, the operation mode may be one of the following:

● a currently-applied operation mode,

● a single transmission reception point (TRP) operation mode,

● a multi-TRP operation mode,

● a network energy saving (NES) operation mode,

● a multi-user equipment (UE) panel operation mode,

● a user equipment (UE) power saving operation mode,

● a reduced capability (RedCap) operation mode,

● a discontinuous reception/transmission (DTX/DRX) operation mode, or

● an artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) operation mode.

In order to better understand the above embodiments, more embodiments are discussed as below.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise at least one of the following:

● a field to indicate the cause of this UE-initiated report, such as, this field may use the event ID that triggers this report;

● a field to indicate the number of recommended beams;

● a field to indicate the number of cells.

In some embodiments, the number of recommended beams may be per cell, or the total number of recommended beams for multiple cells.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a first field of a recommended beam indication, where the first field provides an indication of a recommended beam, e.g., ID, index, and so on. Additionally, the number for the first fields in the UE-initiated beam report depends on the number of recommended beams, and the bit length of each first field may be the same. In some embodiments, if MAC CE is used, 8-bit (or an octet, OCT) may be for one recommended beam indication.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a second field of a type of information used as a recommended beam indication, where the second field may indicate the type of information of the recommended beam indicated in the first field.

Additionally, the number for the second fields in the UE-initiated beam report may depend on the number of recommended beams, or depend on the number of types. Alternatively, the number for the second fields in one UE-initiated beam report may be only one, i.e., all recommended beams in the UE-initiated beam report belong to the same type.

In some embodiments, the length of each second field may be N = ceil (log2 (the number of types) ) bits. The possible values and corresponding types as discussed as following.

In some embodiments, if the second field is configured with a first value, it means that the information included in the first field is the TCI state ID (e.g., contained in the 7 rightmost bits of the field) . In addition, or alternatively, more types may be considered, for example, Rel-15/16 TCI state ID, Rel-17/18 unified TCI state ID, DL or joint TCI state ID, UL TCI state ID (e.g., contained in the 6 rightmost bits of the field) , Spatial relation ID (e.g., contained in the 6 rightmost bits of the field) .

In some embodiments, if the second field is configured with a second value, it means that the information included in the first field is the SSB ID (e.g., contained in the 6 rightmost bits of the field) . In addition, or alternatively, more types can be considered, for example, SSB index (contained in the 6 rightmost bits) and STC index (e.g., contained in the two leftmost bits) .

In some embodiments, if the second field is configured with a third value, it means that the information included in the first field is the CSI-RS index, e.g., comprising all 8 bits and referring to an NZP-CSI-RS-ResourceId. In addition, or alternatively, more types can be considered, for example CSI-RS resource set index and CSI-RS resource index, CSI-RS for mobility.

In some embodiments, if the second field is configured with a fourth value, it means that the information included in the first field is the SRI (e.g., contained in the 4 rightmost bits and referring to an SRS-ResourceID) . In addition, or alternatively, more types can be considered, for example SRS resource set index and SRS resource index.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a third field of a beam quality, where the third field provides an indication of the beam quality of the corresponding recommended beam, e.g., RSRP, SINR, etc. Further, the number for the third fields in one UE-initiated beam report may depend on the number of recommended beams, and the bit length of each 3^rd field may be the same. If MAC CE is used, 8-bit (or an OCT) is for one beam quality.

It should be noted that for all metrics (type) mentioned above, the third field may indicate the value of beam quality including L1-value, L3-value, higher layer filtered value, differential value, and so on.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a fourth field of a type of metric used as a beam quality, and this field determines the type of metric used as beam quality beam, indicated with the value of the third field of beam quality. Further, the length of the field is N = ceil (log2 (number of types) ) bits, and the possible values and corresponding types are discussed as below.

In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a first value, it means that the third field is a value of RSRP. (e.g., contained in the 7 rightmost bits of the field) . In addition, or alternatively, more types can be considered, for example, L1-RSRP, L3-RSRP, higher layer filtered RSRP, differential RSRP (e.g., contained in the 4 rightmost bits of the field) .

In some embodiments, if UCI is used for beam report, the N rightmost bits described for a MAC CE field may be represented by the N most significant bits (MSB) or N least significant bits (LSB) for a UCI field.

In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a second value, it means that the third field is a value of SINR. (e.g., contained in the 7 rightmost bits of the field) . In addition, or alternatively, more types can be considered, for example, L1-SINR, L3-SINR, higher layer filtered SINR, differential SINR (e.g., contained in the 4 rightmost bits of the field) .

In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a third value, it means that the third field is a value of RSRQ. In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a fourth value, it means that the third field is a value of RSSI. In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a fifth value, it means that the third field is a value of inference strength.

In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a sixth value, it means that the third field is a value of calculated pathloss. In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with a seventh value, it means that the third field is a value of PHR. In some embodiments, if the fourth field is configured with an eighth value, it means that the third field is a value of Tx power.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a fifth field of associated channels/signals that the recommended beam applies. Further, the length of the field is N = ceil (log2 (number of associated channels/signals ) ) bits. The possible values and corresponding channels/signals are discussed as below.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a first value, the recommended beam applies to DL channels. In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a second value, the recommended beam applies to UL channels.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a third value, the recommended beam applies to PDSCH. In addition, or alternatively, more types may be considered, for example, PDSCH scheduled by DCI format 1_0, 1_1, 1_2, SPS PDSCH, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a fourth value, the recommended beam applies to PDCCH. Additionally, if the fifth field is configured with a fourth value, the recommended beam applies to PDCCH associated with the following: CORESET 0, CORESET with index not 0, CORESETs associated with a specific CORESET index or a specific CORESET pool index, CORESETs associated with a specific search space/search space set (Asearch space set can be a CSS set or a USS set, Type0/0A/0B/1/1A/2/2A/3) , respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a fifth value, the recommended beam applies to PRACH. Furter, the PRACH may be transmitted in a CBRA, or CFRA procedure. Further, the PRACH may be the following: a PRACH trigger by beam failure recovery, a PRACH trigger by radio link failure, a PRACH trigger by PDCCH order, a PRACH for UL timing, a PRACH for UL sync, a PRACH for same/different TRP, a PRACH for same/different cell, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a fifth value, the recommended beam applies to PUCCH. Additionally, the PUCCH may be PUCCH format 1/2/3/4, PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK/NACK, SR, CSI, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a sixth value, the recommended beam applies to PUSCH. Additionally, the PUSCH may be STxMP PUSCH, PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_0, 0_1, 0_2, configured grant PUSCH, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a seventh value, the recommended beam applies to CSI-RS resources. Additionally, the CSI-RS resources may be CSI-RS resources with a specific resource ID/resource set ID, periodic/semi-persistent/aperiodic CSI-RS, CSI-RS for beam management, CSI-RS for channel acquisition, CSI-RS for mobility, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with an eighth value, the recommended beam applies to SRS resources. Additionally, the SRS resources may be SRS resources with a specific resource ID/resource set ID, periodic/semi-persistent/aperiodic SRS, SRS for beam management, SRS for antenna switching, SRS for CB/NCB PUSCH transmission, etc., respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a ninth value, the recommend beam applied as a default beam. Usually, the default beam is SSB/PRACH beam used initial access or random access, or beams of CORESET with lowest ID, or beams corresponding to the lowest codepoint of TCI field in DCI, or beams corresponding to the lowest TCI state ID. These beams are usually wide beam without high beamforming gain. The terminal device 110 could recommend a better beam as a default beam. Further, the default beam may be used in initial access, in random access, before a threshold to receive/transmit PDSCH, PDCCH, CSI-RS, PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, SRS and the likes, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the fifth field is configured with a tenth value, the recommended beam applies to applies to DL (or UL) channels configured to follow unified TCI state or configured not to follow unified TCI state.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a sixth field of associated beams of the recommended beam, where the sixth field may indicate which beam (s) is recommended to be replaced by the recommended beam. For example, recommend that beam 3 is used to replace beam 1.

The number for the sixth fields in one UE-initiated beam report depends on the number of recommended beams. The associated beam and the corresponding recommended beam may be QCLed or may be received with the same spatial Rx parameter. The associated beam and the corresponding recommended beam may be transmitted/received simultaneously.

The bit length of each sixth field may be the same. If MAC CE is used, 8-bit (or an OCT) may be for one associated beam indication.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise seventh field of type of information used as an associated beam indication as in the sixth field.

In some embodiments, the length of each seventh field is N = ceil (log2 (number of types) ) bits; the possible values and corresponding types are discussed as below.

In some embodiments, if the seventh field is configured with a first value, it means that the information included in the sixth field is the TCI state ID.

In some embodiments, if the seventh field is configured with a second value, it means that the information included in the sixth field is the SSB ID.

In some embodiments, if the seventh field is configured with a third value, it means that the information included in the sixth field is the CSI-RS index.

In some embodiments, if the seventh field is configured with a fourth value, it means that the information included in the sixth field is the SRI.

More types may refer to the detailed description for second field of type of information used as a recommended beam indication. For brevity, the same or similar contents are omitted here.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise an eighth field of associated cells, where the eighth field determines the target cell, and multiple cell information may be needed, such as,

● cell information associated with the recommended beam, i.e., 1st field of recommended beam indication;

● cell information associated with the applied channels/signals, i.e., 5th field of associated channels/signals;

● cell information associated with the associated beam, i.e., 6th field of associated beams of the recommended beam.

It should be understood that one or more of above mentioned cell information may point to the same cell, or different cells. Further, if only one cell information is provided, same cell assumed.

Further, the cell information may include the possible types: Cell ID, component carrier (CC) /bandwidth part (BWP) ID, cell group ID, cell configuration ID, cell information type ID, PCI and so on.

In some embodiments, the UE-initiated beam report may comprise a ninth field of associated operation mode of the recommended beam, where the ninth field may indicate which mode the recommended beam may apply. Further, the terminal device 110 may recommend different beam (s) to use for different operation modes.

In some embodiments, the length of each ninth field is N = ceil (log2 (number of operation modes) ) bits, and the possible values and corresponding modes are discussed as below.

In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a first value, it means that the corresponding mode is a default/normal mode, or no change from current mode.

In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a second value, it means that the corresponding mode is Multi-TRP mode, including intra and inter cell Multi-TRP, DL Multi-TRP, UL Multi-TRP, respectively or jointly.

In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a third value, it means that the corresponding mode is an NES mode. In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a fourth value, it means that the corresponding mode is a UE power saving mode. In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a fifth value, it means that the corresponding mode is UE RedCap mode. In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a sixth value, it means that the corresponding mode is a DRX mode or DTX/DRX mode.

In some embodiments, if the ninth field is configured with a seventh value, it means that the corresponding mode is AI/ML mode, including such as, AI/ML model training, model inference, model monitoring, or fallback mode and so on.

In addition to the above, one or many of the following fields may be carried in the beam report: associated frequency-related information: frequency resources where these recommendations can apply, associated time-related information: Time resources where these recommendations can apply, and multiplexing mode information. Further, in some embodiments, such information may be the same for one UE-initiated beam report, and thus only 1 field is needed. Alternatively, in some embodiments, such information may be provided per each recommended beam, per each cell, or per each event.

In some embodiment, the above information may be firstly indicated via RRC while the MAC CE further selects from these configuration.

Additionally, the UE-initiated beam report may be carried in the MAC CE. Reference is now made to FIG. 4A, which illustrates an example block 400A of MAC CE. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the MAC CE comprises a field of Event ID indicating the cause of this report, where more than one event ID may be indicated.

In above discussions are mainly about embodiments where the UE-initiated beam report includes information about the at least one first beam (i.e., recommended beam indication) . In this way, the network device 120 may obtain information about the recommended beam timely and make subsequent beam decision more properly.

As discussed above, in addition or alternatively, the UE-initiated beam report also may include information about the at least one second beam (i.e., restricted beam indication) . In the following, embodiments where the UE-initiated beam report includes information about the at least one second beam will be discussed.

● a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report,

● a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report,

● a field indicating a number of the at least one second beams,

● a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one second beam,

● a field indicating type information associated with the at least one second beam.

Similar with the fist information, in addition to the above general information about the at least one second beams, the beam report may indicate more information about each second beam.

In some embodiments, for a second beam of the at least one second beam, the second information comprises at least two of the following:

● a field indicating a second identity associated with the second beam,

● a field indicating type information of the second beam,

● a field indicating a quality value associated with the second beam,

● a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value,

● a field indicating an associated channel to which the second beam applies,

● a field indicating an associated signal to which the second beam applies,

● a field indicating an associated beam of the second beam,

● a field indicating type information of the associated beam,

● a field indicating a cell identity associated with the second beam, or

● a field indicating an operation mode associated with the second beam.

In some embodiments, the associated beam of the second beam (which may be indicated by the second information) may be one of the following:

● the first beam,

● the currently-applied beam,

● a beam QLCed with the second beam, or

● a beam not supporting to be applied simultaneously with the second beam.

Further, the details about the identity associated with the beam, the type information, the quality value, the metric type, the associated channel, the associated signal, the cell identity, the operation mode and other related information have been fully discussed when discussing the first information. Merely for brevity, the same or similar contents are omitted here.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4B, which illustrates an example block 400B of MAC CE. In the example of FIG. 4B, one or more restricted beams may be indicated.

In some embodiments, if either the recommended beam (s) or the restricted beam (s) is to be report, at least a field of beam indication is included in UE-initiated beam report, and a field of whether recommended beam (s) or the restricted beam (s) is reported may also be included the report. Accordingly, if both the recommended beam (s) and the restricted beam (s) are to be report, at least a field of recommended beam indication and a field of restricted beam indication may be included in UE-initiated beam report, and a field of whether recommended beam (s) or the restricted beam (s) is reported for the corresponding field of beam indication can also be included the report.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4C, which illustrates an example block 400C of MAC CE. In the example of FIG. 4C, one or more recommended beams and one or more restricted beams may be indicated.

In the example of FIG. 4C, parameter Ci/Cj is used to indicate whether beam i/beam j is a recommend beam or a restricted beam, where the index i here is for i-th reported recommended beam, and the index j here is for j-th reported restricted beam.

Alternatively, the recommended beam indication (s) is mapped to first N beam indication fields, the restricted beam indication (s) is mapped to N+1 to N+M beam indication fields, or vice versa.

In addition, the recommended beam (s) and the restricted beam (s) may be one to one (or one/many to one/many) paired, and the pairing information may be explicitly reported or implicitly indicated, e.g., by the same ID or ordering position.

In addition, the recommended beam (s) , the restricted beam (s) and the associated beam is one to one to one (or one/many to one/many to one/many) paired, the pairing information can be explicitly reported or implicitly indicated, e.g., by the same ID or ordering position.

As discussed above, the UE-initiated beam report also may comprise third information about at least one beam pair, where each pair comprises a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category.

In the following, embodiments where the UE-initiated beam report includes information about the at least one beam pair will be discussed.

In some embodiments, the beam report may further indicate at least one of the following:

● a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report,

● a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report,

● a field indicating a number of the at least one beam pairs,

● a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one beam pair, or

● a field indicating type information associated with the at least one beam pair.

If a beam pair is indicated, it needs to distinguish which one is the recommended beam and which one is the restricted beam.

In some embodiments, a pre-defined rule may be pre-defined. Specifically, the prior beam is a first beam and the subsequent beam is a second beam, or the prior beam is a second beam and the subsequent beam is a first beam. In this way, no additional signalling overhead is needed.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, the beam report comprises at least one of the following:

● a filed indicating whether the prior beam is a first beam or a second beam, or

● a field indicating whether the subsequent beam is a first beam or a second beam.

In this way, the UE-initiated beam report may include information about restricted and recommended beam indication.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4D, which illustrates an example block 400C of MAC CE. In the example of FIG. 4D, one or more beam pairs may be indicated.

In the example of FIG. 4D, the number of pairs of the recommended beam (s) and the restricted beam (s) is indicated. Further, parameter Bk indicates whether the first beam of the k-th bean pair is the recommended beam indication, and parameter Dk indicates whether the second beam of the k-th beam pair has the restricted beam indication.

Optionally, in order to ensure the network device 120 may make proper and reasonable configuration for the terminal device 110, the terminal device 110 may provide capability-related information to the network device 120. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the terminal device 110 transmits 210 the capability-related information to the network device 120. The capability-related information, includes but is not limited to:

● whether the terminal device supports the UE-initiated beam reporting,

● at least one event used for triggering a UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device,

● at least one resource type applicable to the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device,

● at least one beam category to be reported in the beam report and supported by the terminal device,

● a maximum number of beams reported in the beam report supported by the terminal device,

● whether the terminal device supports to report beam quality information in the beam report,

● a maximum number of beam qualities in the beam report supported by the terminal device,

● at least one metric supporting being used as beam quality and supported by the terminal device,

● whether the terminal device supports to report associated cell of the first beam or the second beam,

● whether the terminal device supports to report associated channel of the first beam or the second beam,

● whether the terminal device supports to report associated signal of the first beam or the second beam,

● whether the terminal device supports to report associated beam of the first beam or the second beam,

● whether the terminal device supports to report type information of the associated beam,

● whether the terminal device supports to report operation mode information associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting, or

● at least one operation mode associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device.

In summary, the network configurations, the signalling format, procedures may be based on UE capability reporting. The UE capability information may comprise one or more of the following:

● whether the terminal device supports UE-initiated/event driven beam report;

● the type (s) of criterions/events that the terminal device 110 supports can support and the number of type (s) ;

● the type (s) (and the number of type (s) ) of resources can be used to measure for UE-initiated/event driven beam report that the terminal device 110 can support;

● whether the terminal device 110 supports UE-initiated/event driven beam report for the first category of beams (restricted beam) and/or for the second category of beams (recommended beam) ;

● the number of (restricted/recommended/paired) beam indications that the terminal device 110 can support in a UE-initiated/event driven beam report;

● the type (s) (and the number of type (s) ) of information can be used as a (restricted/recommended) beam indication that the terminal device 110 can support;

● whether to report beam quality indications in a UE-initiated/event driven beam report; ● the number of beam quality indications that the terminal device 110 can support in a UE-initiated/event driven beam report;

● the type (s) (and the number of type (s) ) of metric can be used as a beam quality indication that the terminal device 110 can support;

● whether to report the associated channels/signals that the restricted/recommended beam applies;

● the associated channels/signals that the restricted/recommended applies that the terminal device 110 can support in a UE-initiated/event driven beam report;

● whether to report the associated beams with the restricted/recommended beam;

● whether to report type of information used as associated beam indications with the restricted/recommended beam;

● whether to report, and the number of associated cells information that UE can support;

● whether to report, and the number of operation mode that the terminal device 110 can support.

It is to be understood that the above illustrated capability-related information is given for illustrative purpose only. It should be understood that any suitable capability-related information associated with the embodiments discussed herein may be communicated during this stage. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

Example Methods

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method 500 implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 110 in FIG. 1A.

At block 510, the terminal device receives, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting.

At block 520, the terminal device performs measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam.

At block 530, the terminal device transmits, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category.

In some embodiments, for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In some example embodiments, the beam report further indicates at least one of the following: a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report, a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report, a field indicating a number of the at least one first beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one second beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one beam pairs, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one beam pair, or a field indicating type information associated with the at least one beam pair.

In some example embodiments, for a second beam of the at least one second beam, the second information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a second identity associated with the second beam, a field indicating type information of the second beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the second beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the second beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the second beam applies, a field indicating an associated beam of the second beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the second beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the second beam.

In some example embodiments, the type information is one of the following: a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) , a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) , a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) , a sounding reference signal (SRS) , an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) , a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) , a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) , or a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) .

In some example embodiments, the metric type is one of the following: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) an interference plus noise ratio (SINR) a received signal strength indication (RSSI) a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) an inference strength, a pathloss, a power headroom, a transmission power, a receiving power.

In some example embodiments, the associated channel is one of the following: downlink channels including any or both of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , a downlink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state, uplink channels including any or both of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , an uplink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state, a PDSCH scheduled by a specific downlink control information (DCI) format, a PDCCH associated with a specific control resource set (CORSET) , a specific search space or a specific search space set, a physical random access channel (PRACH) , a PRACH with a specific random access (RA) type, or a PUSCH scheduled by a specific DCI format.

In some example embodiments, the associated signal is one of the following: a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) , a CSI-RS with a specific resource identity or a specific resource type, a sounding reference signal (SRS) , or an SRS with a specific resource identity or a specific resource type.

In some example embodiments, the associated beam of the first beam is one of the following: the second beam, a currently-applied beam, a beam quasi co-located (QLCed) with the first beam, or a beam supporting to be applied simultaneously with the first beam, and the associated beam of the second beam is one of the following: the first beam, the currently-applied beam, a beam QLCed with the second beam, or a beam not supporting to be applied simultaneously with the second beam.

In some example embodiments, the operation mode is one of the following: a currently-applied operation mode, a single transmission reception point (TRP) operation mode, a multi-TRP operation mode, a network energy saving (NES) operation mode, a multi-user equipment (UE) panel operation mode, a user equipment (UE) power saving operation mode, a reduced capability (RedCap) operation mode, a discontinuous reception/transmission (DTX/DRX) operation mode, or an artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) operation mode.

In some example embodiments, for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, based on a pre-defined rule, the prior beam is a first beam and the subsequent beam is a second beam, or the prior beam is a second beam and the subsequent beam is a first beam, or wherein for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, the beam report comprises at least one of the following: a filed indicating whether the prior beam is a first beam or a second beam, or a field indicating whether the subsequent beam is a first beam or a second beam.

In some example embodiments, the at least one resources associated with at least one beam comprises at least one of the following: a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) resource, a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) resource, a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource, a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) resource, or a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) resource.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprising: an indication indicating at least one category to be reported by the terminal device, an indication indicating at least one cell identify of at least one cell within which the UE-initiated beam reporting is to be performed, an indication of report type which is set to be event-triggered beam report or UE-initiated beam report, an indication indicating at least one event that triggers the beam report or at least one instance that triggers the beam report, each event or instance is associated with at least one of the following: a signal strength, an interference strength, an uplink transmission or power control parameter, or an operation mode being the same as or different from a currently-applied operation mode.

In some example embodiments, if an event of the at least one event is associated with an operation mode different from a currently-applied operation mode, a potential offset is applied to a measurement result according to the operation mode when detecting the event.

In some example embodiments, an event of the at least one event is defined by an entry condition and a leaving condition, and wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a determination that the entry condition applicable for the event is met, perform the following: storing measurement result in variables; and initiating reporting the beam report if a first reporting condition is met; in accordance with a determination that the leaving condition applicable for the event is met, perform the following: initiating reporting the beam report if a second reporting condition is met, or stopping reporting the beam report.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may initiate reporting the beam report in response to a number of times of detecting the instance is larger than or equal to a threshold number.

In some example embodiments, in accordance with a determination that there is an available uplink resource for the beam report, the terminal device may transmit the beam report on the available uplink resource; and in accordance with a determination that there is no available uplink resource for the beam report, transmit a message for requesting uplink resources for the beam report, wherein the message is one of the following: a scheduling request (SR) with a scheduling request identity defined for the UE-initiated beam reporting, a buffer state report, a message A of a 2-step random access, or a message 1 or message 3 of a 4-step random access.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device may transmit, to the network device, capability-related information comprising at least one of the following: whether the terminal device supports the UE-initiated beam reporting, at least one event used for triggering a UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one resource type applicable to the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one beam category to be reported in the beam report and supported by the terminal device, a maximum number of beams reported in the beam report supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report beam quality information in the beam report, a maximum number of beam qualities in the beam report supported by the terminal device, at least one metric supporting being used as beam quality and supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report associated cell of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated channel of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated signal of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated beam of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report type information of the associated beam, whether the terminal device supports to report operation mode information associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting, or at least one operation mode associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device.

In some example embodiments, the first beam with the first category is a recommended beam, and the second beam with the second category is a restricted beam.

In some example embodiments, the first beam with the first category is a recommended beam associated with a currently applied beam, and the second beam with the second category is a restricted beam associated with a currently applied beam.

In some example embodiments, the beam report is comprised in one of the following: a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , uplink control information (UCI) , or a radio resource control (RRC) signalling.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a communication method 600 implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the network device 120 in FIG. 1A.

At block 610, the network device transmits, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting.

At block 620, the network device receives, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, and third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category.

In some example embodiments, the beam report further indicates at least one of the following: a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report. a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report, a field indicating a number of the at least one first beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one second beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one beam pairs, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one beam pair, or a field indicating type information associated with the at least one beam pair.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information comprising: an indication indicating at least one category to be reported by the terminal device, an indication indicating at least one cell identify of at least one cell within which the UE-initiated beam reporting is to be performed, an indication indicating at least one event that triggers the beam report or at least one instance that triggers the beam report, each event or instance is associated with at least one of the following: a signal strength, an interference strength, an uplink transmission or power control parameter, or an operation mode being the same as or different from a currently-applied operation mode.

In some example embodiments, the network device may receive a message for requesting uplink resource for the beam report from the terminal device, wherein the message is one of the following: a scheduling request (SR) with a scheduling request identity defined for the UE-initiated beam reporting, a buffer state report, a message A of a 2-step random access, or a message 1 or message 3 of a 4-step random access.

In some example embodiments, the network device may receive, from the terminal device, capability-related information comprising at least one of the following: whether the terminal device supports the UE-initiated beam reporting, at least one event used for triggering a UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one resource type applicable to the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one beam category to be reported in the beam report and supported by the terminal device, a maximum number of beams reported in the beam report supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report beam quality information in the beam report, a maximum number of beam qualities in the beam report supported by the terminal device, at least one metric supporting being used as beam quality and supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report associated cell of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated channel of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated signal of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated beam of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report type information of the associated beam, whether the terminal device supports to report operation mode information associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting, or at least one operation mode associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device.

Example Devices and Apparatuses

FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 can be considered as a further example implementation of any of the devices as shown in FIG. 1A. Accordingly, the device 700 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120.

As shown, the device 700 includes a processor 710, a memory 720 coupled to the processor 710, a suitable transceiver 740 coupled to the processor 710, and a communication interface coupled to the transceiver 740. The memory 720 stores at least a part of a program 730. The transceiver 740 may be for bidirectional communications or a unidirectional communication based on requirements. The transceiver 740 may include at least one of a transmitter 742 and a receiver 744. The transmitter 742 and the receiver 744 may be functional modules or physical entities. The transceiver 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2/Xn interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs/gNBs, S1/NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) /SGW/UPF and the eNB/gNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a terminal device.

The program 730 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 710, enable the device 700 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 710 of the device 700, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 710 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 710 and memory 720 may form processing means 750 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 720 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 720 is shown in the device 700, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 700. The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 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.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a terminal device comprising a circuitry is provided. The circuitry is configured to: receive, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and perform measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam; transmit, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the circuitry may be configured to perform any method implemented by the terminal device as discussed above.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a network device comprising a circuitry is provided. The circuitry is configured to: transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and receive, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the circuitry may be configured to perform any method implemented by the network device as discussed above.

The term “circuitry” used herein may refer to hardware circuits and/or combinations of hardware circuits and software. For example, the circuitry may be a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuits with software/firmware. As a further example, the circuitry may be any portions of hardware processors with software including digital signal processor (s) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a terminal device or a network device, to perform various functions. In a still further example, the circuitry may be hardware circuits and or processors, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software/firmware for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. As used herein, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (s) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor (s) and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a terminal apparatus is provided. The terminal apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and means for performing measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam; means for transmitting, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam. In some embodiments, the first apparatus may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus may further comprise means for performing other operations in some example embodiments 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.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a network apparatus is provided. The network apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and means for receiving, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam. In some embodiments, the second apparatus may comprise performing the respective operations of the method 600. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus may further comprise means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In summary, embodiments of the present disclosure provide the following aspects.

In an aspect, it is proposed a terminal device comprising: a processor configured to cause the terminal device to: receive, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and perform measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam; transmit, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In some embodiments, the beam report further indicates at least one of the following: a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report, a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report, a field indicating a number of the at least one first beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one second beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one beam pairs, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one beam pair, or a field indicating type information associated with the at least one beam pair.

In some embodiments, for a second beam of the at least one second beam, the second information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a second identity associated with the second beam, a field indicating type information of the second beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the second beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the s quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the second beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the second beam applies, a field indicating an associated beam of the second beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the second beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the second beam.

In some embodiments, the type information is one of the following: a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) , a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) , a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) , a sounding reference signal (SRS) , an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) , a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) , a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) , or a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) .

In some embodiments, the metric type is one of the following: a reference signal receiving power (RSRP) an interference plus noise ratio (SINR) a received signal strength indication (RSSI) a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) an inference strength, a pathloss, a power headroom, a transmission power, a receiving power.

In some embodiments, the associated channel is one of the following: downlink channels including any or both of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , a downlink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state, uplink channels including any or both of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) , an uplink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state, a PDSCH scheduled by a specific downlink control information (DCI) format, a PDCCH associated with a specific control resource set (CORSET) , a specific search space or a specific search space set, a physical random access channel (PRACH) , a PRACH with a specific random access (RA) type, or a PUSCH scheduled by a specific DCI format.

In some embodiments, the associated signal is one of the following: a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) , a CSI-RS with a specific resource identity or a specific resource type, a sounding reference signal (SRS) , or an SRS with a specific resource identity or a specific resource type.

In some embodiments, the associated beam of the first beam is one of the following: the second beam, a currently-applied beam, a beam quasi co-located (QLCed) with the first beam, or a beam supporting to be applied simultaneously with the first beam, and the associated beam of the second beam is one of the following: the first beam, the currently-applied beam, a beam QLCed with the second beam, or a beam not supporting to be applied simultaneously with the second beam.

In some embodiments, the operation mode is one of the following: a currently-applied operation mode, a single transmission reception point (TRP) operation mode, a multi-TRP operation mode, a network energy saving (NES) operation mode, a multi-user equipment (UE) panel operation mode, a user equipment (UE) power saving operation mode, a reduced capability (RedCap) operation mode, a discontinuous reception/transmission (DTX/DRX) operation mode, or an artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) operation mode.

In some embodiments, for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, based on a pre-defined rule, the prior beam is a first beam and the subsequent beam is a second beam, or the prior beam is a second beam and the subsequent beam is a first beam, or wherein for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, the beam report comprises at least one of the following: a filed indicating whether the prior beam is a first beam or a second beam, or a field indicating whether the subsequent beam is a first beam or a second beam.

In some embodiments, the at least one resources associated with at least one beam comprises at least one of the following: a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state, a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) resource, a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) resource, a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource, a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) resource, or a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) resource.

In some embodiments, the configuration information comprising: an indication indicating at least one category to be reported by the terminal device, an indication indicating at least one cell identify of at least one cell within which the UE-initiated beam reporting is to be performed, an indication of report type which is set to be event-triggered beam report or UE-initiated beam report, an indication indicating at least one event that triggers the beam report or at least one instance that triggers the beam report, each event or instance is associated with at least one of the following: a signal strength, an interference strength, an uplink transmission or power control parameter, or an operation mode being the same as or different from a currently-applied operation mode.

In some embodiments, if an event of the at least one event is associated with an operation mode different from a currently-applied operation mode, a potential offset is applied to a measurement result according to the operation mode when detecting the event.

In some embodiments, an event of the at least one event is defined by an entry condition and a leaving condition, and wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a determination that the entry condition applicable for the event is met, perform the following: storing measurement result in variables; and initiating reporting the beam report if a first reporting condition is met; in accordance with a determination that the leaving condition applicable for the event is met, perform the following: initiating reporting the beam report if a second reporting condition is met, or stopping reporting the beam report.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to: initiate reporting the beam report in response to a number of times of detecting the instance is larger than or equal to a threshold number.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to: in accordance with a determination that there is an available uplink resource for the beam report, transmit the beam report on the available uplink resource; and in accordance with a determination that there is no available uplink resource for the beam report, transmit a message for requesting uplink resources for the beam report, wherein the message is one of the following: a scheduling request (SR) with a scheduling request identity defined for the UE-initiated beam reporting, a buffer state report, a message A of a 2-step random access, or a message 1 or message 3 of a 4-step random access.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to: transmit, to the network device, capability-related information comprising at least one of the following: whether the terminal device supports the UE-initiated beam reporting, at least one event used for triggering a UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one resource type applicable to the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one beam category to be reported in the beam report and supported by the terminal device, a maximum number of beams reported in the beam report supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report beam quality information in the beam report, a maximum number of beam qualities in the beam report supported by the terminal device, at least one metric supporting being used as beam quality and supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report associated cell of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated channel of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated signal of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated beam of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report type information of the associated beam, whether the terminal device supports to report operation mode information associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting, or at least one operation mode associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the first beam with the first category is a recommended beam, and the second beam with the second category is a restricted beam.

In some embodiments, the first beam with the first category is a recommended beam associated with a currently applied beam, and the second beam with the second category is a restricted beam associated with a currently applied beam.

In some embodiments, the beam report is comprised in one of the following: a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) , uplink control information (UCI) , or a radio resource control (RRC) signalling.

In an aspect, it is proposed a network device comprising: a processor configured to cause the network device to: transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and receive, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following: first information about at least one first beam with a first category, second information about at least one second beam with a second category different from the first category, third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category, wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam, a field indicating type information of the first beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies, a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam, a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.

In some embodiments, the beam report further indicates at least one of the following: a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report. a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report, a field indicating a number of the at least one first beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one first beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one second beams, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating type information associated with the at least one second beam, a field indicating a number of the at least one beam pairs, a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one beam pair, or a field indicating type information associated with the at least one beam pair.

In some embodiments, for a second beam of the at least one second beam, the second information comprises at least two of the following: a field indicating a second identity associated with the second beam, a field indicating type information of the second beam, a field indicating a quality value associated with the second beam, a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value, a field indicating an associated channel to which the second beam applies, a field indicating an associated signal to which the second beam applies, a field indicating an associated beam of the second beam, a field indicating type information of the associated beam, a field indicating a cell identity associated with the second beam, or a field indicating an operation mode associated with the second beam.

In some embodiments, the configuration information comprising: an indication indicating at least one category to be reported by the terminal device, an indication indicating at least one cell identify of at least one cell within which the UE-initiated beam reporting is to be performed, an indication indicating at least one event that triggers the beam report or at least one instance that triggers the beam report, each event or instance is associated with at least one of the following: a signal strength, an interference strength, an uplink transmission or power control parameter, or an operation mode being the same as or different from a currently-applied operation mode.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the network device to: receive a message for requesting uplink resource for the beam report from the terminal device, wherein the message is one of the following: a scheduling request (SR) with a scheduling request identity defined for the UE-initiated beam reporting, a buffer state report, a message A of a 2-step random access, or a message 1 or message 3 of a 4-step random access.

In some embodiments, the processor is further configured to cause the network device to: receive, from the terminal device, capability-related information comprising at least one of the following: whether the terminal device supports the UE-initiated beam reporting, at least one event used for triggering a UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one resource type applicable to the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device, at least one beam category to be reported in the beam report and supported by the terminal device, a maximum number of beams reported in the beam report supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report beam quality information in the beam report, a maximum number of beam qualities in the beam report supported by the terminal device, at least one metric supporting being used as beam quality and supported by the terminal device, whether the terminal device supports to report associated cell of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated channel of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated signal of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report associated beam of the first beam or the second beam, whether the terminal device supports to report type information of the associated beam, whether the terminal device supports to report operation mode information associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting, or at least one operation mode associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device.

In an aspect, a terminal device comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the device to perform the method implemented by the terminal device discussed above.

In an aspect, a network device comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the device to perform the method implemented by the network device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the terminal device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the network device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer program comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the terminal device discussed above.

In an aspect, a computer program comprising instructions, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method implemented by the network device discussed above.

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 representation, it will be appreciated that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods 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.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the process or method as described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. 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. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine 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 machine 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. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in language 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:

a processor configured to cause the terminal device to:

receive, from a network device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and

perform measurements on at least one resources associated with at least one beam;

transmit, based on measurement results on the at least one resources, a beam report indicating at least one of the following:

first information about at least one first beam with a first category,

second information about at least one second beam with a second cate-gory different from the first category, or

third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category,

wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following:

a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam,

a field indicating type information of the first beam,

a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam,

a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value,

a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies,

a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies,

a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam,

a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam,

a field indicating type information of the associated beam,

a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or

a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the beam report further indicates at least one of the following:

a field indicating at least one beam category reported in the beam report,

a field indicating a cause that triggers the beam report,

a field indicating a number of the at least one first beams,

a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one first beam,

a field indicating type information associated with the at least one first beam,

a field indicating a number of the at least one second beams,

a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one second beam,

a field indicating type information associated with the at least one second beam,

a field indicating a number of the at least one beam pairs,

a field indicating a number of cells associated with the at least one beam pair, or

a field indicating type information associated with the at least one beam pair.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein for a second beam of the at least one second beam, the second information comprises at least two of the following:

a field indicating a second identity associated with the second beam,

a field indicating type information of the second beam,

a field indicating a quality value associated with the second beam,

a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value,

a field indicating an associated channel to which the second beam applies,

a field indicating an associated signal to which the second beam applies,

a field indicating an associated beam of the second beam,

a field indicating type information of the associated beam,

a field indicating a cell identity associated with the second beam, or

a field indicating an operation mode associated with the second beam.
The terminal device of claim any of claims 2 or 3, wherein the type information is one of the following:

a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state,

a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) ,

a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) ,

a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) ,

a sounding reference signal (SRS) ,

an SSB resource indicator (SSBRI) ,

a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) ,

a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) , or

a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) .
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein the metric type is one of the following:

a reference signal receiving power (RSRP)

an interference plus noise ratio (SINR)

a received signal strength indication (RSSI)

a reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ)

an inference strength,

a pathloss,

a power headroom,

a transmission power,

a receiving power.
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein the associated channel is one of the following:

downlink channels including any or both of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) ,

a downlink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state,

uplink channels including any or both of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) ,

an uplink channel configured to follow a unified TCI state or configured not to follow a unified TCI state,

a PDSCH scheduled by a specific downlink control information (DCI) format,

a PDCCH associated with a specific control resource set (CORSET) , a specific search space or a specific search space set,

a physical random access channel (PRACH) ,

a PRACH with a specific random access (RA) type, or

a PUSCH scheduled by a specific DCI format.
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein the associated signal is one of the following:

a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) ,

a CSI-RS with a specific resource identity or a specific resource type,

a sounding reference signal (SRS) , or

an SRS with a specific resource identity or a specific resource type.
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein,

the associated beam of the first beam is one of the following:

the second beam,

a currently-applied beam,

a beam quasi co-located (QLCed) with the first beam, or

a beam supporting to be applied simultaneously with the first beam, and the associated beam of the second beam is one of the following:

the first beam,

the currently-applied beam,

a beam QLCed with the second beam, or

a beam not supporting to be applied simultaneously with the second beam.
The terminal device of claim 3, wherein the operation mode is one of the following:

a currently-applied operation mode,

a single transmission reception point (TRP) operation mode,

a multi-TRP operation mode,

a network energy saving (NES) operation mode,

a multi-user equipment (UE) panel operation mode,

a user equipment (UE) power saving operation mode,

a reduced capability (RedCap) operation mode,

a discontinuous reception/transmission (DTX/DRX) operation mode, or

an artificial intelligence (AI) /machine learning (ML) operation mode.
The terminal device of claim 2, wherein for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, based on a pre-defined rule, the prior beam is a first beam and the subsequent beam is a second beam, or the prior beam is a second beam and the subsequent beam is a first beam,

or wherein for a beam pair of at least one beam pair, the beam report comprises at least one of the following:

a filed indicating whether the prior beam is a first beam or a second beam, or

a field indicating whether the subsequent beam is a first beam or a second beam.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the at least one resources associated with at least one beam comprises at least one of the following:

a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state,

a synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block (SSB) resource,

a channel status information (CSI) -reference signal (RS) resource,

a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource

a positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource,

a phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS) resource, or

a demodulation reference signals (DMRS) resource.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprising:

an indication indicating at least one category to be reported by the terminal device,

an indication indicating at least one cell identify of at least one cell within which the UE-initiated beam reporting is to be performed,

an indication of report type which is set to be event-triggered beam report or UE-initi-ated beam report,

an indication indicating at least one event that triggers the beam report or at least one instance that triggers the beam report, each event or instance is associated with at least one of the following:

a signal strength,

an interference strength,

an uplink transmission or power control parameter, or

an operation mode being the same as or different from a currently-applied oper-ation mode.
The terminal device of claim 12, wherein if an event of the at least one event is associated with an operation mode different from a currently-applied operation mode, a poten-tial offset is applied to a measurement result according to the operation mode when detecting the event.
The terminal device of claim 12, wherein an event of the at least one event is defined by an entry condition and a leaving condition, and wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to:

in accordance with a determination that the entry condition applicable for the event is met, perform the following:

storing measurement result in variables; and

initiating reporting the beam report if a first reporting condition is met;

in accordance with a determination that the leaving condition applicable for the event is met, perform the following:

initiating reporting the beam report if a second reporting condition is met, or

stopping reporting the beam report.
The terminal device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to:

initiate reporting the beam report in response to a number of times of detecting the in-stance is larger than or equal to a threshold number.
The terminal device of claims 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to:

in accordance with a determination that there is an available uplink resource for the beam report, transmit the beam report on the available uplink resource; and

in accordance with a determination that there is no available uplink resource for the beam report, transmit a message for requesting uplink resources for the beam report, wherein the message is one of the following:

a scheduling request (SR) with a scheduling request identity defined for the UE-initiated beam reporting,

a buffer state report,

a message A of a 2-step random access, or

a message 1 or message 3 of a 4-step random access.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the terminal device to:

transmit, to the network device, capability-related information comprising at least one of the following:

whether the terminal device supports the UE-initiated beam reporting,

at least one event used for triggering a UE-initiated beam reporting and sup-ported by the terminal device,

at least one resource type applicable to the UE-initiated beam reporting and sup-ported by the terminal device,

at least one beam category to be reported in the beam report and supported by the terminal device,

a maximum number of beams reported in the beam report supported by the ter-minal device,

whether the terminal device supports to report beam quality information in the beam report,

a maximum number of beam qualities in the beam report supported by the ter-minal device,

at least one metric supporting being used as beam quality and supported by the terminal device,

whether the terminal device supports to report associated cell of the first beam or the second beam,

whether the terminal device supports to report associated channel of the first beam or the second beam,

whether the terminal device supports to report associated signal of the first beam or the second beam,

whether the terminal device supports to report associated beam of the first beam or the second beam,

whether the terminal device supports to report type information of the associated beam,

whether the terminal device supports to report operation mode information as-sociated with the UE-initiated beam reporting, or

at least one operation mode associated with the UE-initiated beam reporting and supported by the terminal device.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein,

the first beam with the first category is a recommended beam, and the second beam with the second category is a restricted beam.
The terminal device of claim 18, wherein,

the first beam with the first category is a recommended beam associated with a currently applied beam, and

the second beam with the second category is a restricted beam associated with a cur-rently applied beam.
A network device comprising:

a processor configured to cause the network device to:

transmit, to a terminal device, configuration information of a user equipment (UE) -initiated beam reporting; and

receive, from the terminal device, a beam report indicating at least one of the following:

first information about at least one first beam with a first category,

second information about at least one second beam with a second cate-gory different from the first category, or

third information about at least one beam pair, each pair comprising a first beam with the first category and a second beam with the second category,

wherein for a first beam of the at least one first beam, the first information comprises at least two of the following:

a field indicating a first identity associated with the first beam,

a field indicating type information of the first beam,

a field indicating a quality value associated with the first beam,

a field indicating a metric type associated with the quality value,

a field indicating an associated channel to which the first beam applies,

a field indicating an associated signal to which the first beam applies,

a field indicating the first beam applies as a default beam,

a field indicating an associated beam of the first beam,

a field indicating type information of the associated beam,

a field indicating a cell identity associated with the first beam, or

a field indicating an operation mode associated with the first beam.