Beam assignment in a communications network

7:

• The method according to claim 1, wherein assigning the further beams to the terminal devices comprises:
• obtaining a quality measure per beam per terminal device at least for a further beam by which the initial set of beams is to be expanded;
• evaluating the criterion for assigning one of the further beams to any of the terminal devices according to the obtained quality measure;
• and
• assigning said one further beam to the terminal device for which the criterion is fulfilled.

15:

• A network node for assigning beams to terminal devices in a communications network, the network node comprising processing circuitry, the processing circuitry being configured to cause the network node to perform:
• determining an initial set of beams for serving the terminal devices, whereby each terminal device is assigned at least one of the beams;
• obtaining an indication that further beams, in addition to those in the initial set of beams, are available for serving the terminal devices;
• and
• evaluating whether to expand the initial set of beams with the further beams or not, whereby the further beams are assigned to the terminal devices according to a criterion, until a resource utilization threshold is reached.

16:

• The network node according to claim 15, wherein:
• the processing circuitry is programmable;
• and
• the network node further comprises:
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processing circuitry, cause the network node to perform:
• the determining, the obtaining, and the evaluating.

17:

• A network node for assigning beams to terminal devices in a communications network, the network node comprising:
• determining circuitry configured to determine an initial set of beams for serving the terminal devices, whereby each terminal device is assigned at least one of the beams;
• obtaining circuitry configured to obtain an indication that further beams, in addition to those in the initial set of beams, are available for serving the terminal devices;
• and
• evaluating circuitry configured to evaluate whether to expand the initial set of beams with the further beams or not, whereby the further beams are assigned to the terminal devices according to a criterion, until a resource utilization threshold is reached.

18:

• A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a computer program for assigning beams to terminal devices in a communications network, the computer program comprising computer code which, when run on processing circuitry of a network node, causes the network node to:
• determine an initial set of beams for serving the terminal devices, whereby each terminal device is assigned at least one of the beams;
• obtain an indication that further beams, in addition to those in the initial set of beams, are available for serving the terminal devices;
• and
• evaluate whether to expand the initial set of beams with the further beams or not, whereby the further beams are assigned to the terminal devices according to a criterion, until a resource utilization threshold is reached.