CN119895760A

CN119895760A - Transmission reception point adaptation

Info

Publication number: CN119895760A
Application number: CN202280098970.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: M·德盖尔; 郑迺铮
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2022-08-12
Filing date: 2022-08-12
Publication date: 2025-04-25
Also published as: WO2024031665A1; EP4569687A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to Transmission Reception Point (TRP) adaptation for network energy efficiency. The terminal device receives a configuration from the network device, the configuration configured to configure the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to the one or more TRPs. The terminal device starts or restarts a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs. The terminal device determines that the TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer. In this way, upon expiration of a timer corresponding to the TRP, the terminal device may determine or assume the state of the TRP without receiving an indication from the network, thereby enabling dynamic TRP adaptation without increasing downlink control overhead.

Description

Transmission reception point adaptation

Technical Field

Various example embodiments relate to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to methods, apparatus, devices, and computer-readable storage media for transmission-reception point (TRP) adaptation.

Background

In the field of communications, radio access networks generally consume the largest part of the total energy consumption in the network, and adaptation techniques for transmission and/or reception in the time domain, frequency domain, spatial domain, and power domain are important for energy saving.

In Rel-18, it is also agreed to utilize spatial domain techniques, such as dynamic TRP adaptation, to achieve network power saving. Thus, the enabling of dynamic TRP adaptation requires further investigation.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for dynamic TRP adaptation to achieve network energy efficiency.

In a first aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to at least receive a configuration from the network device for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, initiate or restart a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with a corresponding TRP of the one or more TPRs, and determine that the TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

In a second aspect, a network device is provided. The network device includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the network device to at least determine a configuration for the terminal device, configure one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission reception points TRPs, the timers in the one or more timers configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of the timers indicating that the TRPs are muted, and send the configuration to the terminal device.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, at the terminal device, a configuration from the network device, the configuration for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission-reception points, TRPs, starting or restarting a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs, and determining that the TRPs are muted based on expiration of the timer.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes determining, at the network device, a configuration for the terminal device, the configuration for configuring one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission-reception points, TRPs, the timers in the one or more timers configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of a timer indicating that the TRPs are muted, and sending the configuration to the terminal device.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for receiving, at a terminal device, a configuration from a network device, the configuration for configuring one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, means for starting or restarting a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs, and means for determining that the TRPs are muted based on expiration of the timers.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for determining a configuration for a terminal device, the configuration for configuring one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, the timers in the one or more timers configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of a timer indicating that the TRPs are muted, and means for sending the configuration to the terminal device.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any one of the third to fourth aspects above.

In an eighth aspect, a computer program is provided that comprises instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least receive a configuration from a network device configured to configure one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, for a terminal device, start or restart a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with a corresponding TRP of the one or more TPRs, and determine that the TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to determine a configuration for a terminal device, configure one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, the timers in the one or more timers configured to start or restart based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of a timer indicating that the TRPs are muted, and send the configuration to the terminal device.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a terminal device comprising receiving circuitry configured to receive a configuration from a network device, the configuration being for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, starting circuitry configured to start or restart a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs, and determining circuitry configured to determine that a TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a network device comprising determining circuitry configured to determine a configuration for a terminal device, configured to configure one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, the timers in the one or more timers being configured to start or restart based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of a timer indicating that the TRPs are muted, and transmitting circuitry configured to transmit the configuration to the terminal device.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

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

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a process for enabling dynamic TRP adaptation in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates another example of a process for enabling dynamic TRP adaptation in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure, and

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various other ways besides those 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 skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

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

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "having," "containing," and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, "at least one of the following" list of two or more elements > "and" < at least one of the list of two or more elements > "and similar expressions (where the list of two or more elements are connected by" and "or") refer to at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) A pure hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(B) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (if applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(Ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s) with software that work together to cause a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions), and

(C) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but software may not exist when operation is not required.

The definition of circuitry is applicable to all uses of that term in the present application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuits or processors (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or processor portion and its accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and the like. Furthermore, communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol now known or later developed. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there will of course also be future types of communication technologies and systems that can be used to embody the present disclosure. It should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from the network. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or Access Point (AP), e.g., a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Header (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, a low power node (such as femto, pico), etc.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, notebook computer embedded devices (LEEs), laptop computer mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or automated processing chain environment), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment", and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term "TRP" refers to a transmission reception point with an antenna array (with one or more antenna elements) on the network side at a particular geographic location that can be used to send and receive signals to/from terminal devices. In embodiments of the present disclosure, TRP may refer to a macrocell, microcell, RRH, repeater, femto node, pico node, etc. Although some embodiments of the present disclosure are described, for example, with reference to two TRPs, these embodiments are for illustrative purposes only and to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure without placing any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the present disclosure described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

As described above, the enabling of dynamic TRP adaptation requires further investigation. In particular, when one or more TRPs of a terminal device are dynamically muted/deactivated/disabled and/or unmuted/(re-activated/enabled), the terminal device may need to operate with the accordingly muted or unmuted TRPs to save network costs. However, no such mechanism has been proposed for this purpose.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for enabling dynamic TRP adaptation is provided. In this solution, the terminal device receives a configuration from the network device, the configuration being for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to the one or more TRPs. The terminal device starts or restarts a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs. The terminal device determines that the TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

In this way, as the timer corresponding to the TRP expires, the terminal device may assume or treat the TRP as muted without receiving an indication from the network, thereby enabling dynamic TRP adaptation without increasing the downlink control overhead. The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted, however, that these embodiments are illustrated by way of example only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application in any way.

Reference is first made to fig. 1, which illustrates an example communication system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, system 100 includes two network devices, such as network device 111 and network device 112. Network devices 111 and 112 may each have a respective group of antenna ports. In other words, network devices 111 and 112 may be associated with or function as two respective TRPs, and thus, in this disclosure, they may sometimes also be referred to as TRP 111 and TRP 112.

Network devices 111 and 112 may each operate using different or the same frequency bands in both DL and UL. In a communication system, "UL" refers to a communication link in a direction from a terminal device to a network device, and "DL" refers to a communication link in a direction from a network device to a terminal device.

The system 100 also includes one or more terminal devices, such as terminal device 120. Depending on the location of the terminal device in the cells of network devices 111 and 112, terminal device 120 can connect, e.g., wirelessly, with either or both of network devices 111 or 112 and communicate therewith in UL and DL. The terminal device 120 may be configured to communicate with the network via one or more TRPs (e.g., two TRPs). The two TRPs may be located in the same cell (intra-cell TRP) or in different cells (inter-cell TRP).

It should be understood that in fig. 1, the number of network devices and terminal devices is for illustration purposes only and is not meant to be limiting in any way. The system 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Communication in communication system 100 may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol(s), including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), and fifth generation (5G) cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. In addition, the communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technology including, but not limited to, code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Duplex (FDD), time Division Duplex (TDD), multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and/or any other technology currently known or to be developed in the future.

Referring now to fig. 2, an example of a process 200 for enabling dynamic TRP adaptation is shown in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. For purposes of illustration, network device 111 and terminal device 120 may participate in process 200.

In process 200, a network device (e.g., network device 111 that is not operating as a TRP) determines 201 a configuration 205 for terminal device 120. The configuration 205 is used to configure one or more timers corresponding to one or more TRPs for the terminal device 120. Each timer may correspond explicitly or implicitly to a respective TRP of terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, the timer may be associated with a TRP identifier that is used to identify or represent the TRP. The identifier may be an identity of a TRP, such as a TRP ID. Alternatively or additionally, the identifier may be a set of Reference Signals (RSs). Alternatively or additionally, the identifier may be a control resource set (CORESET) pool index. Alternatively or additionally, the identifier may be a Physical Cell Index (PCI). Thus, the timer may be configured according to TRP, RS set, CORESET pool index, or PCI.

The network device sends 202 the configuration 205 to the terminal device 120. Terminal device 120 receives 210 configuration 205. Based on the configuration 205 and the different conditions, the terminal device 120 may determine whether to start, restart (if timers are running), or stop one or more timers.

As shown in fig. 2, the terminal device 120 starts or restarts 215 a timer based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with the corresponding TRP. In other words, the terminal device 120 may determine whether the timer is to be (re) started by considering the transmission (s)/reception(s) associated with the TRP corresponding to the timer.

In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 receives a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) from the TRP indicating UL grant or DL allocation, the terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer. In some embodiments, when terminal device 120 receives a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to the CORESET pool index corresponding to the timer, terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer. In other words, if the terminal device 120 receives a PDCCH associated with a certain CORESET pool index, the terminal device 120 may determine or assume that the TRP represented or identified by a certain CORESET pool index is not muted and that the corresponding timer should start to count.

Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120 receives a PDCCH transmitted using a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) state and the TCI state includes quasi co-location (QCL) information related to Reference Signals (RSs) belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to TRPs, the terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer. In other words, if the terminal device 120 receives a PDCCH associated with a certain RS set, the terminal device 120 may assume that the TRP represented or identified by the RS set is not muted. Thus, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the corresponding timer for timing.

In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 receives a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) from a TRP, the terminal device 120 may determine that a timer corresponding to the TRP is to be started or restarted. In some embodiments, when terminal device 120 receives a media access control packet data unit (MAC PDU) transmitted using a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH, and the SPS PDSCH is activated by a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to a particular CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP, terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer.

Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120 receives a MAC PDU transmitted using SPS PDSCH related to SPS configuration and SPS configuration is associated with CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer. Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120 receives a MAC PDU transmitted using the SPS PDSCH and the SPS PDSCH is transmitted using a TCI state including QCL information related to a specific subset of RSs belonging to RSs corresponding to the TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer. The RS may be a source RS.

Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120 receives a PDSCH scheduled by a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to some CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer. Alternatively or in addition to downlink reception from the TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the corresponding timer based on some uplink transmission to the TRP. In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer based on UL channels or signals, or transmission of MAC PDUs to TRPs. Examples of UL channels or signals may include PUSCH, physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), or Sounding Reference Signal (SRS).

In some embodiments, when the terminal device 120 transmits an UL channel or signal or MAC PDU to a TRP using resources associated with a CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to the TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer for a round of time counting. Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120 transmits an UL channel or signal using a TCI state including QCL information related to RSs belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer. Alternatively or additionally, when the terminal device 120 transmits an UL channel or signal scheduled by a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to the CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer.

In other cases, if the terminal device 120 does not receive or transmit any of the above channels or signals, the terminal device 120 may keep the timer running until the timer expires. In other words, the timer is configured to time a period in which certain transmission or reception is not performed between the terminal device 120 and the TRP corresponding to the timer. In some embodiments, the expiration period of the timer may be contained in configuration 205, or may be otherwise configured by the network device. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may determine an expiration period of the timer.

When the timer expires, i.e. the terminal device 120 does not receive PDCCH or PDSCH from the TRP or does not transmit PUSCH (or even PUCCH/SRS) to the TRP within an expiration period in which the timer has run, the terminal device 120 determines 220 that the TRP corresponding to the timer is muted. In other words, if the period in which some transmissions or receptions are not performed is longer than the expiration period of the timer, the terminal device 120 may determine 220 that the corresponding TRP is muted. In this way, as the timer configured for each TRP expires, the terminal device 120 may assume or treat the TRP as muted without the need to receive a DL indication from the network device 111. Therefore, DL control overhead can be reduced.

However, in some embodiments, terminal device 120 may still receive a DL indication from network device 111 for muting or unmuting TRP(s). In this case, based on the indication from network device 111 to unmute the TRP, terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer corresponding to the TRP to begin timing.

Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration from the network device 111. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may start or restart the timer based on a time period after expiration of the timer. In other words, the terminal device 120 may treat the TRP as muted only for a certain period of time. After this period of time, the terminal device 120 may restart the timer to make a new round of timing.

In some embodiments, based on determining that the timer corresponding to the TRP expires, the terminal device 120 may perform actions accordingly, e.g., for energy-saving purposes.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may stop the timer corresponding to the mute TRP without further maintenance of the timer. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may stop monitoring the DL channel or the predetermined transmission of the signal from the TRP. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may stop monitoring all transmissions of DL channels or signals from the TRP. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may stop transmitting the predetermined UL channel or signal to the TRP or stop transmitting all UL channels and signals to the TRP. The terminal device 120 may determine or be instructed to continue to monitor for a certain transmission from the muted TRP or to send certain specific signals or channels to the TRP.

Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may flush a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffer corresponding to the TRP. Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may suspend or clear grants, resources, and/or configurations corresponding to the TRP. Alternatively or additionally, based on determining that the TRP is muted, the terminal device 120 may assume that a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) is to be transmitted from the TRP. Alternatively, the terminal device 120 may assume that SSBs will not be sent from TRPs. Alternatively or additionally, based on determining that the TRP is muted, terminal device 120 may continue to measure Channel State Information (CSI) corresponding to the CSI configuration. Alternatively, the terminal device 120 may stop measuring CSI corresponding to the CSI configuration.

Alternatively or additionally, the terminal device 120 may send an indication to the network device indicating that the TRP is considered as muted by the terminal device 120. The terminal device 120 may send a report or message on PUCCH or PUSCH via Uplink Control Information (UCI) or MAC CE to indicate that it considers TRP to be muted. The indication may indicate that the terminal device did not receive PDCCH or PDSCH from the TRP or did not transmit PUSCH (or even PUCCH/SRS) to the TRP for the entire period of timer run. The indication may allow further agreement of understanding between the terminal device 120 and the network device 111 under assumptions about TRP muting.

In some embodiments, carrier aggregation is performed. The terminal device 120 may be configured with multiple cells and each cell may be configured with one or more TRPs that are allowed to be muted or disabled. The cell may be a serving cell or a non-serving cell. In this case, a timer corresponding to TRP may be configured for each cell or each cell group. Further, the timer configured for the TRP in the cell may be configured for a bandwidth part (BWP) of the cell. In addition, in the inter-cell multi-TRP scenario, a timer may also be configured for each PCI.

In some embodiments, for a (serving) cell or BWP configured with multiple TRPs (e.g., via CORESETPoolIndex configuration), when a timer corresponding to the multiple TRPs expires, the terminal device 120 may determine or consider the multiple TRPs to be muted, thereby determining that the cell is muted or deactivated.

Fig. 3 illustrates another example of a process 300 for enabling dynamic TRP adaptation in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that process 300 may be considered a more specific example of process 200. It should be appreciated that the process 300 may be applied to the communication system 100 of fig. 1 and any other similar communication scenario.

As shown in fig. 3, at block 310, terminal device 120 may receive 310 a configuration for configuring one or more timers corresponding to one or more TRPs for terminal device 120. At block 315, the terminal device 120 may determine whether to perform one or more transmissions or receptions using a TRP of the one or more TRPs of the terminal device 120.

The one or more transmissions or receptions may be a predetermined transmission or reception. As described above, the one or more transmissions or receptions may include reception of PDSCH or PDCCH from TRP, or transmission of UL channel or signal, or MAC PDU to TRP.

For example, based on receiving PDSCH or PDCCH from/to TRP, or transmitting PUSCH, terminal device 120 may start or restart a timer corresponding to TRP at block 320. Otherwise, at block 325, the terminal device 120 may determine whether the timer has expired.

Based on determining that the timer expires, the terminal device 120 may determine 330 that the corresponding TRP is muted and perform an action accordingly to enable dynamic TRP adaptation. For example, the terminal device 120 may stop the timer. As another example, the terminal device 120 may flush the HARQ buffer corresponding to the mute TRP. As another example, the terminal device 120 may cease monitoring for transmission of some or all DL channels and signals from unmuted TRPs.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 120 with reference to fig. 1.

At block 410, terminal device 120 receives a configuration from network device 111 for configuring one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission-reception points TRP for terminal device 120. At block 420, the terminal device 120 starts or restarts a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs. At block 430, the terminal device 120 determines that the TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, the TRP is identified by an identifier that includes at least one of an identity of the TRP, a reference signal set, a CORESET pool index, or a physical cell index PCI.

In some embodiments, the one or more transmissions or receptions associated with the TRP include at least one of reception of a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or a physical downlink control channel PDCCH transmitted from the TRP, wherein the PDCCH indicates an uplink UL grant, or a downlink DL allocation, or transmission of a UL channel or signal, or a MAC PDU to the TRP.

In some embodiments, the reception of the PDCCH is one of reception of a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to a pool index of control resource sets CORESET corresponding to TRPs, or reception of a PDCCH transmitted using a transmission configuration indicator TCI state, the TCI state including quasi co-sited QCL information related to a reference signal RS, the RS belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to TRPs.

In some embodiments, reception of the PDSCH is one of reception of a media access control packet data unit, MAC PDU, transmitted using a semi-persistent scheduling, SPS PDSCH, activated by a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to a CORESET pool index corresponding to TRP, reception of a MAC PDU transmitted using an SPS PDSCH, associated with an SPS configuration associated with a CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to TRP, reception of a MAC PDU transmitted using an SPS PDSCH, transmitted using a TCI state including QCL information related to RSs belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to TRP, or reception of a PDSCH scheduled by a PDCCH, transmitted on CORESET belonging to a CORESET pool index corresponding to TRP.

In some embodiments, transmission of the UL channel or signal, or MAC PDU to the TRP is one of transmission of the UL channel or signal or MAC PDU using a resource associated with a CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to the TRP, transmission of the UL channel or signal using a TCI state including QCL information related to an RS belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to the TRP, or transmission of the UL channel or signal scheduled by a PDCCH sent on CORESET belonging to a CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP. In some implementations, the terminal device 120 can also start or restart the timer based on at least one of an indication from the network device 111 to unmute the TRP, a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration, or a period of time after expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may also perform at least one of stopping the timer, stopping monitoring a predetermined transmission of a DL channel or signal from the TRP, or stopping monitoring all transmissions of a DL channel or signal from the TRP, stopping sending a predetermined UL channel or signal to the TRP, or stopping sending all UL channels and signals to the TRP, flushing a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, buffer corresponding to the TRP, or suspending or clearing one or more of grants, resources, or configurations corresponding to the TRP, based on determining that the timer is muted.

In some embodiments, one or more TRPs are configured in a serving cell or group of serving cells of terminal device 120. In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may also send an indication to network device 111 indicating that the TRP is considered mute by terminal device 120. In some embodiments, the one or more timers include a plurality of timers in the serving cell of the terminal device 120, and the terminal device 120 may further determine that the serving cell is muted based on expiration of the plurality of timers. In some embodiments, terminal device 120 may also perform at least one of assuming that synchronization signal block SSB is to be transmitted from TRP or measuring channel state information CSI corresponding to CSI configuration based on determining that TRP is muted.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the network device 111 with reference to fig. 1.

At block 510, network device 111 determines a configuration for terminal device 120 to configure one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission-reception points, TRPs, for terminal device 120, the timers in the one or more timers configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of a timer indicating that the TRPs are muted. At block 520, network device 111 sends the configuration to terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, the TRP is identified by an identifier that includes at least one of an identity of the TRP, a reference signal set, a CORESET pool index, or a physical cell index PCI. In some embodiments, the one or more transmissions or receptions associated with the TRP include at least one of reception of a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or a physical downlink control channel PDCCH transmitted from the TRP, wherein the PDCCH indicates an uplink UL grant, or a downlink DL allocation, or transmission of a UL channel or signal, or a MAC PDU to the TRP.

In some embodiments, transmission of the UL channel or signal, or MAC PDU to the TRP is one of transmission of the UL channel or signal or MAC PDU using a resource associated with a CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to the TRP, transmission of the UL channel or signal using a TCI state including QCL information related to an RS belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to the TRP, or transmission of the UL channel or signal scheduled by a PDCCH sent on CORESET belonging to a CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP.

In some embodiments, the timer is configured to start or restart further based on at least one of an indication from network device 111 to unmute the TRP, a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration, or a period of time after expiration of the timer. In some embodiments, one or more TRPs are configured in a serving cell or group of serving cells of terminal device 120. In some embodiments, network device 111 may also receive an indication from terminal device 120 indicating that the TRP is considered mute by terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., terminal device 120) capable of performing any one of the methods 400 may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some embodiments, the apparatus includes means for receiving a configuration from a network device, the configuration for configuring one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, for a terminal device, means for starting or restarting a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs, and means for determining that a TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, one or more TRPs are configured in a serving cell or group of serving cells of terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, the means for starting or restarting the timer may include means for starting or restarting the timer further based on at least one of an indication from the network device to unmute the TRP, a radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration, or a time period after expiration of the timer.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for performing at least one of stopping the timer, stopping monitoring a predetermined transmission of a DL channel or signal from the TRP, or stopping monitoring all transmissions of a DL channel or signal from the TRP, stopping sending a predetermined UL channel or signal to the TRP, or stopping sending all UL channels and signals to the TRP, flushing a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, buffer corresponding to the TRP, or suspending or clearing one or more of grants, resources, or configurations corresponding to the TRP, based on determining that the timer is muted.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include means for sending an indication to the network device indicating that the TRP is considered mute by the terminal device. In some embodiments, the one or more timers comprise a plurality of timers in a serving cell of the terminal device, and the apparatus may further comprise means for determining that the serving cell is muted based on expiration of the plurality of timers.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further include means for performing at least one of assuming that a synchronization signal block, SSB, is to be transmitted from the TRP, or measuring channel state information, CSI, corresponding to the CSI configuration, based on determining that the TRP is muted.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps of some embodiments of the method 400. In some embodiments, the component includes at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the above-described operation of the apparatus.

In some embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., network device 111) capable of performing any one of the methods 500 may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some embodiments, the apparatus includes means for determining a configuration for a terminal device, the configuration for configuring one or more timers for the terminal device corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, the timers in the one or more timers configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs in the one or more TPRs and expiration of a timer indicating that the TRPs are muted, and means for sending the configuration to the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for receiving an indication from the terminal device indicating that the TRP is considered mute by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps of some embodiments of the method 500. In some embodiments, the component includes at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the above-described operation of the apparatus.

Fig. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as terminal device 120, network device 111, or network device 112 shown in fig. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processors 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processors 610.

The communication module 640 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 640 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required for communication with other network elements.

The processor 610 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact Disks (CD), digital Video Disks (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memory that does not persist during power outages.

The computer program 630 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. Program 630 may be stored in ROM 624. Processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 630 into RAM 622.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by program 630 such that device 600 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure discussed with reference to fig. 2-5. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 600 (such as in memory 620) or other storage device that device 600 may access. Device 600 may load program 630 from a computer readable medium into RAM 622 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 7 shows an example of a computer readable medium 700 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has stored thereon the program 630.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using 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 the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these 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 comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in a program module, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the method 400 or 500 described above with reference to fig. 2-5. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

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

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is 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 a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, rather than signals), and not on the durability of data storage (e.g., RAM and ROM).

Furthermore, although operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed 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 some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the 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 can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the 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

1. A terminal device, comprising:

at least one processor, and

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

receiving a configuration from a network device, the configuration being for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points TRP;

starting or restarting a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs, and

Based on expiration of the timer, it is determined that the TRP is muted.

2. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the TRP is identified by an identifier comprising at least one of:

the identity of the TRP is determined,

A set of reference signals is provided which,

Control resource set CORESET pool index, or

Physical cell index PCI.

3. The terminal device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the one or more transmissions or receptions associated with the TRP comprise at least one of:

Reception of a physical downlink shared channel PDSCH or a physical downlink control channel PDCCH transmitted from the TRP, wherein the PDCCH indicates an uplink UL grant, or a downlink DL allocation, or

Transmission of UL channels or signals, or MAC PDUs, to the TRP.

4. A terminal device according to claim 3, wherein the reception of the PDCCH is one of:

reception of PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to the pool index of control resource set CORESET corresponding to said TRP, or

Reception of a PDCCH transmitted using a transmission configuration indicator TCI state, the TCI state comprising quasi co-sited QCL information related to a reference signal RS, the RS belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to the TRP.

5. The terminal device of claim 3 or 4, wherein the reception of the PDSCH is one of:

the reception of a media access control packet data unit, MAC PDU, transmitted using a semi-persistent scheduling, SPS, PDSCH, activated by a PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to a CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP,

Reception of a MAC PDU transmitted using an SPS PDSCH, the SPS PDSCH being associated with an SPS configuration, the SPS configuration being associated with a CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to the TRP,

Reception of a MAC PDU transmitted using SPS PDSCH transmitted using a TCI state including QCL information related to RSs belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to the TRPs, or

Reception of PDSCH scheduled by PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP.

6. The terminal device according to any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the transmission of the UL channel or signal, or MAC PDU, to the TRP is one of:

transmission of UL channels or signals or MAC PDUs using resources associated with a CORESET pool index or PCI corresponding to the TRP,

Transmission of UL channels or signals using a TCI state comprising QCL information related to RSs belonging to a subset of RSs corresponding to the TRP, or

Transmission of UL channels or signals scheduled by PDCCH transmitted on CORESET belonging to CORESET pool index corresponding to the TRP.

7. The terminal device of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the terminal device is caused to start or restart the timer further based on at least one of:

an indication from the network device to un-mute the TRP,

Radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration, or

A time period after expiration of the timer.

8. The terminal device of any of claims 1-7, wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of the following based on determining that the timer is muted:

The timer is stopped and the timer is set to a predetermined time,

Stopping monitoring a predetermined transmission of a DL channel or signal from said TRP, or stopping monitoring all transmissions of a DL channel or signal from said TRP,

Stopping transmission of a predetermined UL channel or signal to the TRP, or stopping transmission of all UL channels and signals to the TRP,

Flushing a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) buffer corresponding to the TRP, or

One or more of grants, resources, or configurations corresponding to the TRP are suspended or cleared.

9. The terminal device according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the one or more TRPs are configured in a serving cell or group of serving cells of the terminal device.

10. The terminal device of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

an indication is sent to the network device indicating that the TRP is considered as muted by the terminal device.

11. The terminal device of any of claims 1-10, wherein the one or more timers comprise a plurality of timers in a serving cell of the terminal device, and wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

based on expiration of the plurality of timers, it is determined that the serving cell is muted.

12. The terminal device of any of claims 1-11, wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of the following based on determining that the TRP is muted:

assuming that a synchronization signal block SSB is to be transmitted from the TRP, or

Channel state information, CSI, corresponding to the CSI configuration is measured.

13. The terminal device of any of claims 1-11, wherein the terminal device is further caused to perform at least one of the following based on determining that the TRP is muted:

assuming that a synchronization signal block SSB will not be sent from the TRP, or

And stopping measuring Channel State Information (CSI) corresponding to the CSI configuration.

14. A network device, comprising:

at least one processor, and

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

Determining a configuration for a terminal device, the configuration for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission-reception points TRPs, the timers of the one or more timers being configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with the corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs and expiration of the timers indicating that the TRPs are muted, and

And sending the configuration to the terminal equipment.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the TRP is identified by an identifier comprising at least one of:

the identity of the TRP is determined,

A set of reference signals is provided which,

Control resource set CORESET pool index, or

Physical cell index PCI.

16. The network device of claim 14 or 15, wherein the one or more transmissions or receptions associated with the TRP comprise at least one of:

Transmission of UL channels or signals, or MAC PDUs, to the TRP.

17. The network device of claim 16, wherein the reception of the PDCCH is one of:

18. The network device of claim 16 or 17, wherein the reception of the PDSCH is one of:

19. The network device of claim 16 or 18, wherein the transmission of the UL channel or signal, or MAC PDU, to the TRP is one of:

20. The network device of any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the timer is configured to start or restart further based on at least one of:

an indication from the network device to un-mute the TRP,

Radio resource control, RRC, reconfiguration, or

A time period after expiration of the timer.

21. The network device of any of claims 14 to 20, wherein the one or more TRPs are configured in a serving cell or group of serving cells of the terminal device.

22. The network device of any of claims 14 to 21, wherein the network device is further caused to:

an indication is received from the terminal device indicating that the TRP is considered as muted by the terminal device.

23. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device, a configuration from a network device, the configuration for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs;

At the terminal device, starting or restarting a timer of the one or more timers based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs, and

At the terminal device, the TRP is determined to be muted based on expiration of the timer.

24. A method, comprising:

At a network, determining a configuration for a terminal device, the configuration for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission-reception points, TRPs, the timers of the one or more timers being configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs and expiration of the timers indicating that the TRPs are muted, and

The configuration is sent to the terminal device at the network device.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

Means for receiving, at a terminal device, a configuration from a network device, the configuration for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs;

Means for starting or restarting a timer of the one or more timers at the terminal device based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs, and

Means for determining, at the terminal device, that the TRP is muted based on expiration of the timer.

26. An apparatus, comprising:

Means for determining a configuration for a terminal device at a network, the configuration for configuring the terminal device with one or more timers corresponding to one or more transmission reception points, TRPs, the timers of the one or more timers being configured to be started or restarted based on one or more transmissions or receptions associated with corresponding TRPs of the one or more TPRs and expiration of the timers indicating that the TRPs are muted, and

Means for sending the configuration to the terminal device at the network device.

27. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 23 or 24.