Patent Description:
Requirements of the 5th-generation (<NUM>) wireless communication technology include three application scenarios: Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC). Further, requirements of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) include supporting transmission of services, such as Factory Automation, Transport Industry, or Electrical Power Distribution, in a <NUM> system.

Correspondingly, the IIoT system may support transmission of a URLLC service and an eMBB service, and in order to support various services, sometimes, it is needed to configure with a plurality of sets of resources for a terminal device. Compared with a case of only configuring with one set of resources in the past, how to accurately indicate information of the plurality of sets of resources is a problem to be solved at present.

Related technologies are known from R2-<NUM>, R1-<NUM>, R1-<NUM>, <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> and R1-<NUM>.

In view of the above, embodiments of the present application provides a resource indication method, a terminal device and a network device, which can accurately indicate a plurality of sets of resource information. It should be noted that embodiments of the invention are those whose scope is within that of the appended claims, and the implementations disclosed in this disclosure which do not fall under the scope of the appended claims are to be considered as examples for illustration.

In an embodiment of the present application, a resource indication method that is applied to a terminal device is provided, as defiend by claim <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present application, a resource indication method that is applied to a network device is provided, as defined by claim <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device is further provided as defined by claim <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present application, a network device is further provided, as defined by claim <NUM>.

In an embodiment of the present application, a chip is further provided, which includes a processor, configured to invoke and run a computer program from a memory to enable a device having the chip installed therein to implement the above-mentioned resource indication method. This embodiment is not part of the claimed invention.

In an embodiment of the present application, a computer readable storage medium is further provided, which is configured to store a computer program, wherein the computer program enables a computer to implement the above-mentioned resource indication method. This embodiment is not part of the claimed invention.

In an embodiment of the present application, a computer program product is further provided, which includes computer program instructions that enable a computer to implement the above-mentioned resource indication method. This embodiment is not part of the claimed invention.

In an embodiment of the present application, a computer program is further provided, which enables a computer to implement the above-mentioned resource indication method. This embodiment is not part of the claimed invention.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the terminal device can distinguish the PUCCH configurations corresponding to the spatial relation information according to the first indication information, and can clearly indicate the PUCCH configurations corresponding to the spatial relation information when there are a plurality of PUCCH configurations configured, so as to eliminate possible understanding ambiguity between the terminal device and the network device.

Technical solutions according to embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to drawings of the embodiments of the present application.

Technical solutions according to embodiments of the present application may be applied to various communication systems, such as a Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) system, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, an Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE-A) system, a New Radio (NR) system, an evolution system of the NR system, an LTE-based access to unlicensed spectrum (LTE-U) system, an NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) system, a Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) system, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), a 5th-generation (<NUM>) communication system, or another communication system, etc..

Generally, traditional communication systems support a limited quantity of connections, and are easy to implement. However, with the development of communication technology, mobile communication systems will not only support traditional communication, but also support, for example, Device to Device (D2D) communication, Machine to Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) communication, or Vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, etc., and the embodiments of the present application may be applied to these communication systems as well.

Optionally, the communication system in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to a Carrier Aggregation (CA) scenario, a Dual Connectivity (DC) scenario, or a Standalone (SA) scenario.

Various embodiments of the present application are described in combination with the network device and the terminal device. The terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile platform, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent or a user apparatus, etc..

The terminal device may be a STATION (ST) in a WLAN, or a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, a handheld device with a wireless communication function, a computing device, or another processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, or a terminal device in a next generation communication system, e.g., an NR network, or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), etc..

In an embodiment of the present application, a terminal device may be deployed on land including indoor or outdoor, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted terminal device; it may be deployed on water (such as on ships, etc.); or it may be deployed aerially (such as in airplanes, balloons and satellites, etc.).

In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may be a mobile phone, a Pad, a computer with wireless transceiving function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control, a wireless terminal device in self driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medicine, a wireless terminal device in smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation safety, a wireless terminal device in smart city, or a wireless terminal device in smart home, etc..

As an example rather than limitation, in an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. The wearable device may also be referred to as a wearable intelligent device, which is a general term of wearable devices, e.g., glasses, gloves, watches, clothes, or shoes, etc., which are intelligent designed and developed on daily wear by applying wearing technology. The wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on a body, or integrated into the clothes or accessory of a user. The wearable device is not just a hardware device, but realizes powerful functions through software support, as well as a data interaction or a cloud interaction. Generalized wearable intelligent devices include devices, e.g., a smart watch, or smart glasses, etc., that are full-featured, large sized and may realize whole or a part of functions without a smart phone, and devices, such as various smart bracelets, smart jewelry, etc. for monitoring physical signs, which specialize in a kind of application functions, and need to be cooperated with other devices, such a smart phone.

In an embodiment of the present application, the network device may be a device for communicating with a mobile device, and may be an Access Point (AP) in a WLAN, a Base Transceiver Station (BTS) in GSM or CDMA, a NodeB (NB) in WCDMA, an evolutional Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, a relay station or an access point, a vehicle device, a wearable device, a gNB in an NR network, or a network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc..

As an example rather than limitation, in an embodiment of present application, the network device may be of mobility, for example, the network device may be a mobile device. Optionally, the network device may be a satellite or a balloon station. For example, the satellite may be a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite, a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite, a High Elliptical Orbit (HEO) satellite, etc. Optionally, the network device may also be a base station located on land, water, etc..

In an embodiment of the present application, the network device may provide a service for a cell, and the terminal device communicates with the network device through a transmission resource (e.g., a frequency domain resource, or referred to as a spectrum resource) used by the cell, wherein the cell may be a cell corresponding to the network device (e.g., a base station), and the cell may belong to a macro base station, or may belong to a base station corresponding to a Small cell. The Small cell herein may include a Metro cell, a Micro cell, a Pico cell, or a Femto cell, etc. The Small cells are characterized by a small coverage range and a low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

<FIG> schematically illustrates one network device <NUM> and two terminal devices <NUM>. Optionally, the wireless communication system <NUM> may include a plurality of network devices <NUM>, and other numbers of terminal devices may be included within a coverage area of each network device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Optionally, the wireless communication system <NUM> illustrated in <FIG> may further include other network entities such as a Mobility Management Entity (MME), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), etc., which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably herein often. The term "and/or" herein describes an association relationship between associated objects, for example, indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, A and/or B may indicate three cases: A alone, both A and B, and B alone. The symbol "/" herein generally indicates that objects before and after the symbol "/" are in an "or" relationship.

To clearly set forth idea of embodiments of the present application, a process of related resource configuration in the communication system is briefly described at first.

In this technology field, with respect to the Physical Uplink Control Channel configuration (PUCCH-config), the base station may configure one or more corresponding PUCCH-configs for each Bandwidth Part (BWP) of each serving cell, and a corresponding PUCCH resource will be configured in the PUCCH-config.

Specifically, when configuring the PUCCH resource, the base station may configure the PUCCH resource in a way of a PUCCH-resource set or in a way of a PUCCH resource. A corresponding PUCCH-resource set identity (PUCCH-ResourceSetId) and at least one PUCCH resource are configured for each PUCCH-resource set. For each PUCCH resource, a corresponding PUCCH resource ID (PUCCH-ResourceId) and a specific PUCCH resource are configured. The specific PUCCH resource may be configured according to a PUCCH format, and at least a length of the PUCCH resource and a offset parameter of the PUCCH resource relative to a reference point are indicated when the PUCCH format is configured.

Further, when configuring the PUCCH-config, the base station further configures one or more sets of PUCCH spatial relation information, to configure a spatial relation between a Reference Signal (RS) and the PUCCH. Specifically, the PUCCH spatial relation information is used for configuring a spatial setting for PUCCH transmission (such as the RS used) and parameters for PUCCH power control. Each set of PUCCH spatial relation information includes PUCCH spatial relation information ID (SpatialRelationInfoId). When configuring a plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information, it is needed to use MAC CE to activate or indicate to use which set of PUCCH spatial relation information.

Therefore, <FIG> illustrates a PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format, which may indicate an activation status of an element in a PUCCH spatial relation information list.

Specifically, the PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format illustrated in <FIG> may be identified by a MAC subheader with a specific Logical Channel Identity (LCID), and the size of the MAC CE is <NUM> bits, including a serving cell ID field, a BWP ID field, a PUCCH Resource ID field, an Si field and an R field, with the following meanings.

One piece of PUCCH-config information configured by the base station for the UE at present has been described above, and the PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config may be indicated by the PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE as shown in <FIG>.

At present, with the continuous evolution of the next generation wireless communication technology, taking an IIoT system as an example, in order to support various services, it is possible for a base station to configure a plurality of pieces of PUCCH-config information for a BWP. In an actual application, one of the plurality of PUCCH-configs is used in an eMBB service, while another one is used in a URLLC service.

In this case, it is found by the inventors of the present application with a deep study that when one BWP supports or is configured with a plurality of PUCCH-configs, the PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE described above cannot clearly indicate which PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs the activated PUCCH spatial relation belongs to, which will lead to the problem of inconsistent understanding between UE and the base station, and reduce the system performance.

Therefore, an embodiment of the present application provides a resource indication method that is applied to a terminal device. Referring to <FIG>, the method includes the following acts S <NUM>-S <NUM>.

In S <NUM>, a terminal device receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating spatial relation information corresponding to one or more Physical Uplink Control Channel configurations (PUCCH-configs).

In S102, the terminal device determines at least one PUCCH-config, which corresponds to the spatial relation information, from a plurality of PUCCH-configs according to the first indication information.

Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present application further provides a resource indication method that is applied to a network device. Referring to <FIG>, the method includes: the following act S201. In S201, a network device sends first indication information to a terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating spatial relation information corresponding to one or more Physical Uplink Control Channel configurations (PUCCH-configs).

In the embodiment of the present application, spatial relation information, e.g., spatial relation activation or deactivation information, corresponding to a plurality of PUCCH-configs may be respectively indicated by the first indication information, and a PUCCH-config corresponding to an activated PUCCH spatial relation may be distinguished by the terminal device according to the first indication information, thereby avoiding the problem, in a previous indication approach, that it cannot be clearly indicated that the indicated spatial relation information corresponds to which PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs, and eliminating possible ambiguity between the terminal device and the network device.

In an embodiment of the present application, before first indication information is sent by the network device to the terminal device, a plurality of PUCCH-configs is configured by the network device for the terminal device, wherein each PUCCH-config includes at least one set of spatial relation information. After receiving the plurality of PUCCH-configs configured by the network device, the terminal device may perform corresponding PUCCH resource configuration according to the plurality of PUCCH-configs.

In the following brief description, taking the network device being a base station as an example, in an embodiment of the present application, the base station may configure a plurality of sets of PUCCH resources for the UE, and send a plurality of PUCCH-configs corresponding to the plurality of sets of PUCCH resources to the UE, wherein each PUCCH-config may include at least one of the following.

In an embodiment of the present application, after the corresponding PUCCH resource configuration is performed according to the plurality of PUCCH-configs, if first indication information is received by the terminal device, it is needed to determine one or more sets of spatial relation information indicated in the first indication information respectively correspond to which PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs.

Therefore, the first indication information includes a first MAC CE, and the first MAC CE carries one or more sets of spatial relation information respectively corresponding to one or more pieces of PUCCH information. Therefore, the first MAC CE may indicate the spatial relation information corresponding to at least one PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs configured at the terminal device, in other words, the first MAC CE may indicate first spatial relation information corresponding to a first PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs, and/or second spatial relation information corresponding to a second PUCCH-config, and/or third spatial relation information corresponding to a third PUCCH-config, and so on.

In various embodiments of the present application, various MAC CE formats are designed to carry the above-mentioned indication information. In some embodiments, the MAC CE used conforms to a first type of PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format; and in other embodiments, the MAC CE used conforms to a second type of PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format.

According to various MAC CE formats, the terminal device uses different parsing ways to parse the MAC CEs. Generally, PUCCH-config or codebook corresponding to an activated/deactivated spatial relation may be implicitly or explicitly indicated in the MAC CE.

The MAC CE and carried resource indication information according to an embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below through several specific embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

<FIG> schematically illustrates a MAC CE format according to an embodiment of the present application, which contains a plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information (in an S line) corresponding to a plurality of pieces of PUCCH information (identified as a plurality of Pis) respectively, and a plurality of PUCCH resource identities corresponding to the plurality of pieces of PUCCH information respectively.

The MAC CE format used in this embodiment belongs to an improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format. The MAC CE indicates the PUCCH spatial relation information in the S line, and also uses the P field, identified as Pi in <FIG>, to indicate a plurality of pieces of PUCCH information. Compared with a reserved R bit in a conventional MAC CE format, the R bit in the MAC CE format in this embodiment is replaced by a new P field, and different Pi values in the P field may indicate different PUCCH information.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the MAC CE includes a PUCCH config index/id of each PUCCH-config and spatial relation activation or deactivation information corresponding to each PUCCH-config. That is, the PUCCH information refers to the PUCCH config index/id, wherein different PUCCH config indexes/ids correspond to different PUCCH-configs. Herein, if the correspondence between PUCCH config index/id and spatial relation information can be determined, the correspondence between PUCCH-config and the spatial relation information can be determined.

More specifically, referring to <FIG>, different Pi values indicate different PUCCH config indexes/ids. For example, if the value of Pi is <NUM>, the PUCCH-config with PUCCH config index/id of <NUM> (or another numerical value, such as <NUM>) is indicated, and the spatial relation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config is the S line immediately adjacent to the Pi of which the value is <NUM>.

As another example, if the value of Pi is <NUM>, the PUCCH-config with PUCCH config index/id of <NUM> (or another numerical value, such as <NUM>) is indicated, and the spatial relation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config is the S line immediately adjacent to the Pi of which the value is <NUM>.

If the value of the Si in the S line is <NUM>, it is indicated that the PUCCH spatial relation information with the PUCCH spatial relation information ID equal to i+<NUM> is activated; if the value of the Si field is <NUM>, it is indicated that the PUCCH spatial relation information with the PUCCH spatial relation information ID equal to i+<NUM> is deactivated.

In the above way, the MAC CE in this embodiment uses a specified bit (e.g., the P bit) to indicate the first PUCCH config index, and uses the specified line (e.g., the S line) immediately adjacent to the specified bit to indicate the spatial relation activation/deactivation information of the PUCCH-config corresponding to the first PUCCH config index.

The MAC CE format in the embodiment of <FIG> may be considered as an explicit indication, in which the MAC CE identifies various PUCCH config indexes/ids (corresponding to a plurality of PUCCH-configs) by using the P field, and indicates the activated or deactivated PUCCH spatial relation information and PUCCH Resource ID information. The value of the P field may be a preset value (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM>), or other values that may distinguish and identify PUCCH-configs, and the value of Si in the corresponding S line may be <NUM> or <NUM>.

In this embodiment, the length of the MAC CE is related to the number of PUCCH-configs. For example, the length of the MAC CE may be related to the number of PUCCH-configs configured by a terminal, or it may be related to the number of simultaneously activated PUCCH-configs.

In some embodiments, if the number of related PUCCH-configs is determined, the length of the MAC CE may be determined. In some embodiments, the length of MAC CE is constant.

In this embodiment, each P bit represents the PUCCH config id/index of a PUCCH-config. Since the explicit indication is adopted, values of P bits and the corresponding PUCCH spatial relation information are completely carried, there is no special requirement on the placement order of each set of PUCCH spatial relation information, which may be placed randomly or in a certain order. The order that may be taken is, for example, the size order of a plurality of PUCCH config indexes/ids, such as an ascending or descending order.

Furthermore, in the process of indicating different PUCCH-configs, since the Serving Cells and/or BWPs corresponding to different PUCCH-configs may be the same or different, they may be also indicated by the MAC CE.

Specifically, if the Serving Cells and BWPs corresponding to different PUCCH-configs are the same, the serving cell ID and BWP ID may be placed in corresponding fields before a first P field as illustrated in <FIG>; if at least one of corresponding serving cell and the BWP between different PUCCH-configs is different, the corresponding fields may be added before the corresponding P field to place the corresponding serving cell ID and BWP ID, so that the indication information is full.

According to the above embodiments of the present application, based on the improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format, direct or indirect indication of the PUCCH-config can be realized with the redefined P bit, while the corresponding PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation information is indicated by an S line immediately adjacent to the P bit, and the new MAC CE format can carry accurate and full resource indication information.

<FIG> schematically illustrates another MAC CE format according to an embodiment of the present application, which includes a plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information (located in the S line) and a plurality of corresponding PUCCH Resource IDs.

The MAC CE format according to the embodiment of <FIG> also belongs to an improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format. Compared with the embodiment of <FIG>, this embodiment differs mainly in that: <NUM>. the MAC CE format in this embodiment does not contain a P field, but still retains the original reserved bit (such as the R field), and <NUM>. in this embodiment, the PUCCH information is not explicitly indicated, but resource indication is implemented by using an implicit indication.

Specifically, in the MAC CE format according to this embodiment, a plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information are placed in a predetermined order.

In an embodiment, the predetermined order refers to an order of a plurality of PUCCH config indexes/ids corresponding to the plurality of pieces of PUCCH spatial relation information, e.g., an ascending or descending order (that is, from small to large or from large to small).

Since a plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information (corresponding to a plurality of S lines) are placed in an agreed order of a plurality of PUCCH config indexes/ids, the UE can determine the corresponding PUCCH config indexes/ids by itself according to the order of the plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information, and then determine the corresponding PUCCH-config. Therefore, in the case where an explicit indication is not used to indicate PUCCH information, both the base station and UE can accurately parse the indication information, and there is no ambiguity in understanding between the base station and the UE.

Setting of parameter information such as a plurality of PUCCH Resource IDs, a serving cell ID and a BWP ID may be done in a manner similar to that in the embodiment of <FIG>, and will not be repeated here.

In this embodiment, based on the improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format, the new MAC CE format can carry accurate and full resource indication information by specifying the placement order of a plurality of sets of PUCCH spatial relation information placed in a plurality of S lines.

<FIG> schematically illustrates yet another MAC CE format according to an embodiment of the present application, which belongs to an improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format. Compared with the embodiment of <FIG>, this embodiment differs mainly in that the MAC CE format in this embodiment contains a P field, and the P field contains a plurality of bits, each of which is placed with a Pi value.

In this embodiment, the MAC CE uses a plurality of bits in the specified field to indicate spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to each PUCCH-config, or to indicate the presence or absence of spatial relation indication corresponding to each PUCCH-config.

Specifically, each of the plurality of bits of the specified field represents a PUCCH config index/id of each PUCCH-config respectively.

It is assumed that a first bit of the plurality of bits corresponds to a first PUCCH-config, and if a value of the first bit is a first specified value, spatial relation information of the first PUCCH-config is present in the MAC CE.

It is assumed that a second bit of the plurality of bits corresponds to a second PUCCH-config, and if a value of the second bit is a second specified value, spatial relation information of the second PUCCH-config is not present in the MAC CE.

Each bit of the plurality of bits of the specified field respectively represents a PUCCH config index/id of each PUCCH-config. The plurality of PUCCH config indexes/ids may be placed in an agreed order of the plurality of PUCCH config indexes/ids to correspond to each bit. The agreed order refers to an order of the plurality of PUCCH config indexes/ids corresponding to the plurality of pieces of PUCCH spatial relation information, such as an ascending or descending order.

Specifically, referring to <FIG>, the MAC CE in this embodiment uses a plurality of bits in the P field to place a plurality of Pi values, and Pi in different positions represents different PUCCH config indexes/ids, for example, P<NUM> represents PUCCH-config with PUCCH config index/id of <NUM>. Furthermore, the value of Pi indicates whether the PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config presents in the MAC CE. For example, if a value of P<NUM> is <NUM>, the spatial relation information of the PUCCH-config with the PUCCH config index/id of <NUM> does not present, and if a value of P<NUM> is <NUM>, it presents. For another example, if the value of P<NUM> is <NUM>, the spatial relation information of the PUCCH-config with the PUCCH config index/id of <NUM> does not present, and if a value of P<NUM> is <NUM>, it presents. In case of presence, the indication mode may be a mode described in the foregoing embodiments, and the PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config may be indicated by the S line immediately adjacent to the Pi. Accordingly, the embodiment may be considered as an explicit indication of PUCCH information.

Accordingly, it may be configured by the base station that when the Pi value corresponding to the spatial relation activation information in the MAC CE is <NUM>, the corresponding S line presents in the MAC CE, while the Pi value corresponding to the spatial relation deactivation information is <NUM>, the corresponding S line does not present in the MAC CE. Therefore, the length of the MAC CE in this embodiment is variable and may be determined by the attribute of the indication information itself, specifically by the values of various Pis.

In this embodiment, based on the improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format, a plurality of bits in the new P field are used to represent different PUCCH-configs, and some spatial relation information does not present, and the new MAC CE format can carry accurate and full resource indication information.

In this embodiment a still another MAC CE format is provided, which belongs to an improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format. In this embodiment, the MAC CE uses a plurality of bits in the specified field to indicate spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to each PUCCH-config, or whether to use the spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config.

This embodiment and the embodiment of <FIG> are same in that the MAC CE format in this embodiment contains a P field, and the P field contains a plurality of bits, and each of the bits is provided with a Pi value, but this embodiment and the embodiment of <FIG> are different in that the Pi values have different meanings.

It is assumed that a first bit of the plurality of bits corresponds to a first PUCCH-config, and if a value of the first bit is a first specified value, spatial relation information of the first PUCCH-config in the MAC CE is used.

It is assumed that a second bit of the plurality of bits corresponds to a second PUCCH-config, and if a value of the second bit is a second specified value, spatial relation information of the second PUCCH-config in the MAC CE is ignored.

In this embodiment, for a plurality of sets of spatial relation information in the MAC CE, the terminal may determine whether to use one or more sets of corresponding spatial relation information according to the Pi value. The length of MAC CE in this embodiment does not vary with the value of Pi. Accordingly, the embodiment may be considered as an explicit indication of PUCCH information.

<FIG> schematically illustrates a MAC CE format of an embodiment of the present application, which belongs to an improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format. Compared with the previous embodiments, the main difference of this embodiment lies in that the MAC CE in this embodiment uses a reserved bit in the original PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE format to indicate the spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to one PUCCH-config among a plurality of PUCCH-configs, that is, indicates the PUCCH-config information. Herein, the reserved bit may be the R bit.

In the embodiment of the present application, the reserved bit represents a PUCCH config index/id of one PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs, and a specified line (the S line) immediately adjacent to the reserved bit indicates spatial relation activation/deactivation information of a corresponding PUCCH-config.

For example, referring to <FIG>, the P field indicates the PUCCH config index/id, if a value of P is <NUM>, the PUCCH-config with the PUCCH config index/id of <NUM> (or other specified values) is indicated, and the S line immediately adjacent to the P field places the spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config. If a value of P is <NUM>, the PUCCH-config with PUCCH config index/id of <NUM> (or other specified values) is indicated, and an S line immediately adjacent to the P field places the spatial relation activation/deactivation information corresponding to the PUCCH-config. The MAC CE in this embodiment carries the spatial relation activation/deactivation information of one PUCCH-config at a time.

Multiple improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE formats have been described in detail through multiple embodiments above, all of which can carry accurate and full resource indication information.

With regard to the logical channel identity LDID corresponding to the MAC CE, in an embodiment of the present application, a new LCID may be used, or the original LCID corresponding to the existing PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE may be used, both of which can correctly receive and parse the improved PUCCH spatial relation activation/deactivation MAC CE provided in the embodiments of the present application. The two modes are described in detail respectively below.

Generally, a network device sends the LCID (<NUM>) to a terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device may detect the LCID (<NUM>) and receive and decode a MAC CE corresponding to the LCID (<NUM>).

In an embodiment of the present application, if the terminal device meets at least one of the following conditions, it is indicated that the terminal device belongs to the terminal device described in the embodiments of the present application.

Thereby, the terminal device receives and decodes the new MAC CE based on the improved MAC CE format described in the embodiments of the present application, so as to ensure to perform accurate and full parsing on the PUCCH resource indication information carried in the MAC CE.

Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device receives and decodes the new MAC CE based on the improved MAC CE format if the terminal device meets at least one of the above conditions a to i, even the terminal device detects the original LDID (<NUM>).

It should be noted that in other embodiments, it is still possible for a terminal device to perform decoding based on the original MAC CE format in this case.

For an improved MAC CE format proposed in an embodiment of the present application, a corresponding new LCID (non-<NUM>) may be used. The LCID is used for identifying the corresponding MAC CE, and in the embodiment of the present application, the new LCID is used for identifying the improved MAC CE described in any of the above embodiments. Herein, the new LCID may be a redefined LCID, which is different from the original LCID (<NUM>).

Specifically, for a terminal device that meets at least one of the conditions a to i described in the mode <NUM>, the network device may send a new LCID to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device detects the new LCID. Since the new LCID is different from the original LCID, the terminal device may make it clear that the new MAC CE should be received and decoded based on the improved MAC CE format. For example, the reserved R bit in the existing MAC CE format should be understood according to the new meaning defined in the embodiment of the present application, so as to ensure to perform accurate and full parsing on the PUCCH resource indication information carried in the MAC CE.

Based on the two modes described above, in applications, the network device may send a first LCID (e.g., the original LCID) or a second LCID (e.g., the new LCID) to the terminal device. Accordingly, the terminal device may detect the first LCID or the second LCID.

In some embodiments, the terminal device that meets at least one of the conditions a to i described in the mode <NUM> above, may detect the first LCID, in other words, detect according to the first LCID. For the MAC CE corresponding to the first LCID, the terminal device may receive and decode the MAC CE corresponding to the first LCID based on the improved MAC CE format described in the embodiment of the present application, so as to ensure to perform accurate and full parsing on the PUCCH resource indication information carried in the MAC CE.

In some embodiments, the terminal device that meets at least one of the conditions a to i described in the mode <NUM> above, may detect a second LCID, in other words, detect according to the second LCID. For the MAC CE corresponding to the second LCID, the terminal device may receive and decode the MAC CE corresponding to the second LCID according to the improved MAC CE format described in the embodiment of the present application, so as to ensure to perform accurate and full parsing on the PUCCH resource indication information carried in the MAC CE.

In another embodiment, if the terminal device detects the first LCID, it may still receive and decode the MAC CE based on an existing MAC CE format; if the terminal device detects a second LCID, it may receive and decode the MAC CE based on the improved MAC CE format according to the embodiment of the present application.

It should be noted that the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present application does not expect to receive MAC CEs of two formats or two types of LCIDs at the same time. Optionally, at different time or in different situations (for example, a plurality of PUCCH-configs are configured, but one or more PUCCH-configs may be activated at different time), the terminal device may receive one of the MAC CE formats or one of the LCIDs.

With reference to <FIG>, for the foregoing embodiments, the improved MAC CE further carries the PUCCH resource ID corresponding to one or more pieces of PUCCH information respectively. Based on this, an embodiment of the present application further provides a resource indication method, which is used for indicating a PUCCH-config corresponding to spatial relation activation/deactivation information. Specifically, the PUCCH-configs may be uniquely distinguished by configuring a different PUCCH resource ID for each PUCCH-config.

In an embodiment of the present application, when the network device configures a plurality of PUCCH-configs for the terminal device, PUCCH resource IDs configured in different PUCCH-configs are different. Thereby, when the terminal device configures a plurality of sets of PUCCH resources according to a plurality of pieces of PUCCH-config information, PUCCH resource IDs in different PUCCH-configs are also different.

When receiving the MAC CE indicating the activated PUCCH spatial relation information, the terminal device may obtain a PUCCH resource ID corresponding to the PUCCH spatial relation information that the MAC CE carries. Since the PUCCH resource ID in each PUCCH-config is different, the UE may uniquely distinguish one PUCCH-config corresponding to the activated PUCCH spatial relation according to the PUCCH resource ID.

In an embodiment of the present application, in order to uniquely determine a PUCCH-config corresponding to the PUCCH spatial relation activation information, the terminal device does not expect to receive configurations with the same PUCCH resource ID configured by different PUCCH-configs.

The specific arrangements and implementations in the embodiments of the present application have been described from different angles through multiple embodiments. The embodiment of the present application is applicable to a scene where a plurality of PUCCH-configs are used simultaneously under one BWP. If the terminal device is configured with a plurality of PUCCH-configs, one of the PUCCH-configs may be applied to, e.g., an eMBB service and one of the PUCCH-configs may be applied to, e.g., a URLLC service.

In this technology field, one PUCCH-config corresponds to one codebook. In one case, the base station may simultaneously configure at least two hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebooks to support different service types of UE, for example, one codebook supports a URLLC service and one codebook supports an eMBB service. In this case, the base station configures PUCCH spatial relation information and sub-slot configurations for different HARQ-ACK codebooks respectively. Thereby, when indicating the activated PUCCH spatial relation information, it also needs to indicate which codebook the activated PUCCH spatial relation information corresponds to. The embodiment of the present application may be applied to the above scenario, and the corresponding PUCCH-config is indicated by the first indication information, so that the corresponding codebook may be determined, and the problem that which codebook the activated PUCCH spatial relation information corresponds to cannot be clearly indicated can be solved.

Corresponding to the processing method of at least one embodiment above, an embodiment of the present application further provides a terminal device <NUM>, referring to <FIG>, which includes a receiving module <NUM> and a determining module <NUM>.

The receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating spatial relation information corresponding to one or more Physical Uplink Control Channel configurations (PUCCH-configs).

The determining module <NUM> is configured to determine at least one PUCCH-config, which corresponds to the spatial relation information, from a plurality of PUCCH-configs according to the first indication information.

Corresponding to the processing method of at least one embodiment above, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network device <NUM>, referring to <FIG>, which includes a sending module <NUM> configured to send first indication information to a terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating spatial relation information corresponding to one or more Physical Uplink Control Channel configurations (PUCCH-configs).

The terminal device <NUM> in the embodiment of the present embodiment may implement the corresponding functions and processes realized by the terminal device in any method of the embodiments of the present application. The communication device <NUM> in the embodiment of the present application may implement corresponding functions and processes implemented by the network device in any method of embodiments of the present application. For brevity, details are not repeated herein again.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a structure of a communication device <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device <NUM> includes a processor <NUM>, and the processor <NUM> may invoke and run a computer program from a memory to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the communication device <NUM> may further include a memory <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may invoke and run a computer program from the memory <NUM> to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

Herein, the memory <NUM> may be a separate device independent of the processor <NUM>, or may be integrated in the processor <NUM>.

Optionally, the communication device <NUM> may further include a transceiver <NUM>, and the processor <NUM> may control the transceiver <NUM> to communicate with another device. Specifically, information or data may be sent to another device, or information or data sent by another device may be received.

Herein, the transceiver <NUM> may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver <NUM> may further include antennas, a quantity of which may be one or more.

Optionally, the communication device <NUM> may be the network device according to the embodiments of the present application, and the communication device <NUM> may implement corresponding processes implemented by the network device in various methods in the embodiments of the present application, which will not be repeated here for brevity.

Optionally, the communication device <NUM> may be the terminal device according to the embodiments of the present application, and the communication device <NUM> may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the terminal device in various methods in the embodiments of the present application, which will not be repeated here for brevity.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a structure of a chip <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present application. The chip <NUM> includes a processor <NUM>, and the processor <NUM> may invoke and run a computer program from a memory to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the chip <NUM> may further include a memory <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may invoke and run a computer program from the memory <NUM> to implement the method in the embodiment of the present application. Herein, the memory <NUM> may be a separate device independent of the processor <NUM>, or may be integrated in the processor <NUM>.

Optionally, the chip <NUM> may further include an input interface <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may control the input interface <NUM> to communicate with another device or chip. Specifically, the processor <NUM> may acquire information or data sent by another device or chip.

The processor <NUM> may control the output interface <NUM> to communicate with another device or chip. Specifically, the processor <NUM> may output information or data to another device or chip.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to the network device in the embodiments of the present application, and the chip may implement corresponding processes implemented by the network device in the various methods in the embodiments of the present application, which will not be repeated here for brevity.

Optionally, the chip may be applied to the terminal device in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present application, and the chip may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the terminal device in various methods in the embodiments of the present application, which will not be repeated here again for brevity.

It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a system-level chip, a system chip, a chip system, or a system on chip, etc..

The processor above-mentioned may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or other programmable logic devices, a transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, etc. The general-purpose processor above-mentioned may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc..

The above-mentioned memory may be a volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a Random Access Memory (RAM).

It should be understood that, the above-mentioned memories are examples for illustration and should not be construed as limitations. For example, the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a Static RAM (SRAM), a Dynamic RAM (DRAM), a Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), a Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), an Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), a Synch Link DRAM (SLDRAM), a Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM), etc. That is, the memories in the embodiments of the present application are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of a communication system <NUM> according to an embodiment of the present application, which includes a terminal device <NUM> and a network device <NUM>.

The terminal device <NUM> may be configured to implement corresponding functions implemented by the terminal device in the methods in various embodiments of the present application, and the network device <NUM> may be configured to implement corresponding functions implemented by the network device in the methods in various embodiments of the present application. For brevity, details are not repeated herein again.

The above embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When the embodiments are implemented through software, they may be implemented in whole or in part in a form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, a computer, a server, or a data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center through a wired mode (e.g., a coaxial cable, an optical fiber, a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or a wireless mode (e.g., infrared radiation, radio, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer may access or a data storage device such as a server, a data center, or the like that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)) or the like.

Claim 1:
A resource indication method, applied to a terminal device, comprising:
receiving (S101), by a terminal device, first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating spatial relation information corresponding to one or more Physical Uplink Control Channel configurations, PUCCH-configs; and
determining (S102), by the terminal device, at least one PUCCH-config, which corresponds to the spatial relation information, from a plurality of PUCCH-configs according to the first indication information; wherein the method further comprises:
receiving, by the terminal device, a plurality of pieces of PUCCH-config information from a network device, wherein the plurality of pieces of PUCCH-config information are used by the terminal device for configuring a plurality of sets of PUCCH resources;
wherein each piece of the plurality of pieces of PUCCH-config information comprises at least one set of spatial relation information; wherein,
for each PUCCH resource, a corresponding PUCCH resource identity field, PUCCH resource ID field, is configured and PUCCH resource identity fields, configured for different PUCCH-configs in the plurality of PUCCH-configs are different; wherein,
the first indication information comprises a MAC CE, wherein the MAC CE carries more sets of spatial relation information respectively corresponding to more PUCCH resource IDs; and
the terminal device determines more PUCCH-configs respectively corresponding to the more sets of spatial relation information according to a PUCCH resource ID in each PUCCH-config of the plurality of PUCCH-configs and the more PUCCH resource IDs corresponding to the more sets of spatial relation information.