Antenna beam management for multi-connection communications

Abstract

Antenna beam scanning according to the present disclosure involves different communication devices within the interference range of each other, using different communication resources, to send beam scanning signals. This enables the receiver to distinguish beam scanning signals received from different transmitters, and antenna beam alignment can be facilitated in multi-connection scenarios. For example, in the control signaling between the base station and the user equipment (UE), the beam index can be used to identify the antenna beam for antenna beam management. Other aspects of beam tracking and antenna beam management are also disclosed.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Non-Provisional Application No. 15 / 403,638, filed on January 11, 2017, entitled “ANTENNA BEAM MANAGEMENT FOR MULTI-CONNECTION COMMUNICATIONS,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, and more particularly to management of antenna beams in multi-connection communications. Background Art

[0004] Some wireless communication systems, such as the proposed 5G new radio (NR) system, support high frequency (HF) communications using highly directional narrow antenna beams. Determining the antenna beam direction to establish communication and then maintain communication using the narrow antenna beam can be a challenge, especially in multi-connection scenarios where a user equipment (UE) has connections to multiple base stations or a base station has connections with multiple UEs. Summary of the invention

[0005] Antenna beam alignment in a multi-connection scenario can be more effective if a communication device receiving an antenna beam scanning signal can distinguish beam scanning signals received from different transmitters. For example, different communication devices can use different communication resources to send beam scanning signals, and a receiving device can distinguish beam scanning signals received from different communication devices based on different communication resources.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method involves determining a first communication resource for a first communication device to send a first beam scanning signal. The first communication resource is different from a second communication resource for a second communication device within an interference range of the first communication device to send a second beam scanning signal. The method also involves using the first communication resource and multiple antenna beams directed in multiple directions to send the first beam scanning signal from the first communication device. The first communication device may be a base station or a UE.

[0007] In some embodiments, feedback to the first communication device is provided. The first communication device may monitor to receive an indication of one direction in which the third communication device receives the first beam scanning signal best from a third communication device that receives the first beam scanning signal. The indication may be an explicit indication of the one direction, or an implicit indication from which the first communication device determines the one direction.

[0008] In some embodiments, a method may further involve establishing a connection with a third communication device through an antenna beam of the plurality of antenna beams directed along the one direction.

[0009] In one embodiment, the first communication device is a base station, the third communication device is a UE, and the method involves repeatedly transmitting and monitoring to track the movement of the UE. Another form of such beam tracking involves monitoring multiple antenna beams at the base station to receive a third beam tracking signal from the UE; and sending an indication to the UE of another direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

[0010] In some embodiments, the base station may send a signal to the UE to cause the UE to initiate a beam tracking process, which includes sending a third beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring at the UE to receive an indication of another direction from the base station.

[0011] In one embodiment, the first communication resource and the second communication resource are part of a group of orthogonal communication resources. The group of communication resources including the first communication resource and the second communication resource may also or alternatively be a group of time division multiplexed communication resources, a group of frequency division multiplexed communication resources or a group of code division multiplexed communication resources.

[0012] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method, which involves, at a communication device, using multiple antenna beams directed along multiple directions to receive a first beam signal scanning signal from a first transmitting communication device in a first communication resource and to receive a second beam signal scanning signal from a second transmitting communication device in a second communication resource different from the first communication resource. The method also involves determining, based on the first communication resource, a first direction in the multiple directions that is best for receiving the first beam scanning signal from the first transmitting communication device, and determining, based on the second communication resource, a second direction in the multiple directions that is best for receiving the second beam scanning signal from the second transmitting communication device.

[0013] In some embodiments, the method may also involve determining a first transmission direction of a first beam scanning signal transmitted by a first transmitting communication device based on a first communication resource; determining a second transmission direction of a second beam scanning signal transmitted by a second transmitting communication device based on a second communication resource; and transmitting an indication of the first transmission direction to the first transmitting communication device and transmitting an indication of the second transmission direction to the second transmitting communication device. The indication may be an explicit indication of the first transmission direction and the second transmission direction, or an implicit indication from which the first transmitting communication device determines the first transmission direction and the second transmitting communication device determines the second transmission direction.

[0014] In one embodiment, the method provides downlink beam scanning, wherein the communication device is a UE and the first and second transmitting communication devices are base stations. A third beam tracking signal may be transmitted from the UE using multiple antenna beams, and then monitoring may be performed at the UE to receive an indication from the base station of another direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE among multiple directions.

[0015] Monitoring may also be performed at the UE to receive a signal from the base station to cause the UE to initiate a beam scanning procedure involving sending a third beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring to receive an indication of another direction from the base station.

[0016] Antenna beam scanning may involve both transmit-side operations and receive-side operations. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method involves: determining different communication resources for transmitting beam scanning signals from multiple base stations within interference range of each other in a communication network; using different communication resources and multiple antenna beams directed along a first plurality of directions at each base station to transmit beam scanning signals from the multiple base stations; monitoring multiple antenna beams directed along a second plurality of directions at a UE to receive beam scanning signals from the multiple base stations in different communication resources; and, at the UE, for each base station from which a beam scanning signal is received and based on different communication resources, determining one direction in the second plurality of directions that best receives the received beam scanning signal from the base station.

[0017] In one embodiment, the UE provides feedback to each base station from which the beam scanning signal is received by determining the transmission direction of the received beam scanning signal sent by the base station based on different communication resources at the UE, and sending an explicit or implicit indication of the determined transmission direction from the UE to the base station.

[0018] According to another aspect, a non-transitory processor-readable medium stores instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method as disclosed herein.

[0019] Apparatus embodiments are also disclosed. For example, a communication device may include an antenna array, a transmitter operably coupled to the antenna array; a receiver operably coupled to the antenna array; and an antenna beam manager operably coupled to the transmitter and the receiver.

[0020] In some embodiments, a transmitter may be used to form multiple antenna beams directed in multiple directions, and an antenna beam manager may be used to: determine a first communication resource for a communication device to send a first beam scanning signal, the first communication resource being different from a second communication resource for a second communication device to send a second beam scanning signal; and send the first beam scanning signal through the transmitter using the first communication resource and multiple antenna beams.

[0021] In some embodiments, the antenna beam manager is further configured to monitor the receiver to receive an indication from a third communication device that receives the first beam scanning signal, of a direction in which the third communication device receives the first beam scanning signal best among the multiple directions. The indication may be an explicit indication of the one direction or an implicit indication from which the communication device determines the one direction.

[0022] In some embodiments, the receiver may be configured to form a plurality of receive antenna beams directed along a plurality of receive directions, and the antenna beam manager may be configured to: receive a first beam scanning signal from a first transmitting communication device in a first communication resource using the plurality of receive antenna beams, and receive a second beam scanning signal from a second transmitting communication device in a second communication resource different from the first communication resource; determine a first direction in the plurality of directions that is best for receiving the first beam scanning signal from the first transmitting communication device based on the first communication resource; and determine a second direction in the plurality of directions that is best for receiving the second beam scanning signal from the second transmitting communication device based on the second communication resource. The antenna beam manager may also be configured to: determine a first transmission direction in which the first transmitting communication device transmits the first beam scanning signal; determine a second transmission direction in which the second transmitting communication device transmits the second beam scanning signal based on the second communication resource; and send an explicit or implicit indication of the first transmission direction to the first transmitting communication device through a transmitter, and send an explicit or implicit indication of the second transmission direction to the second transmitting communication device.

[0023] The communication devices described above and elsewhere herein may be implemented as a base station or a UE. The antenna beam manager at the base station and / or the UE may also be used to perform beam tracking to track the movement of the UE.

[0024] In some embodiments, antenna beam management may involve antenna beam information, such as a beam index and / or a beam direction, and possibly other information, such as a UE identifier, a base station identifier, and / or a connection identifier. A memory may be operably coupled to the antenna beam manager, and the antenna beam manager may also be used to store a beam index and / or other information associated with any of the directions mentioned above to the memory.

[0025] According to another aspect, a communication network includes a plurality of base stations and one or more UEs.

[0026] In one embodiment, each base station includes: a base station antenna array; a base station transmitter, operably coupled to the base station antenna array to form a plurality of base station antenna beams directed along a first plurality of directions; a base station receiver, operably coupled to the base station antenna array; and a base station antenna beam manager, operably coupled to the base station transmitter and the base station receiver to determine communication resources for the base station to send a beam scanning signal, which communication resources are different from communication resources used to send beam scanning signals to other base stations within an interference range of the base station; and sending a beam scanning signal from the base station transmitter using the determined communication resources and the plurality of base station antenna beams.

[0027] In some embodiments, each UE may include: a UE antenna array; a UE transmitter operably coupled to the UE antenna array; a UE receiver operably coupled to the UE antenna array to form a plurality of UE antenna beams directed along a second plurality of directions; and a UE antenna beam manager operably coupled to the UE transmitter and the UE receiver to use the plurality of UE antenna beams to receive a first beam scanning signal from a first base station in a first communication resource and to receive a second beam scanning signal from a second base station in a second communication resource different from the first communication resource; based on the first communication resource, determine a first direction among the second plurality of directions that is best for receiving the first beam scanning signal from the first base station; and based on the second communication resource, determine a second direction among the plurality of directions that is best for receiving the second beam scanning signal from the second base station.

[0028] In such a communication network, the UE antenna beam manager can also be used to: determine a first sending direction of a first beam scanning signal sent by a first base station based on a first communication resource; determine a second sending direction of a second beam scanning signal sent by a second base station based on a second communication resource; send an explicit or implicit indication of the first sending direction to the first base station, and send an explicit or implicit indication of the second sending direction to the second base station.

[0029] Other aspects and features of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by reading the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0031] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating a communication system.

[0032] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating downlink antenna beam scanning.

[0033] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating downlink antenna beam scanning where multiple base stations use the same communication resources.

[0034] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating downlink antenna beam scanning where multiple base stations use different communication resources.

[0035] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating uplink antenna beam scanning.

[0036] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating uplink antenna beam scanning between a UE and multiple base stations.

[0037] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating uplink antenna beam scanning where multiple UEs use different communication resources.

[0038] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating antenna beam management using a fixed beam index.

[0039] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating transmission control according to one embodiment.

[0040] Fig.10 is a block diagram illustrating transmission control according to another embodiment.

[0041] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating a transmission mode according to yet another embodiment.

[0042] Fig.12 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to one embodiment.

[0043] Fig.13 is a flow chart illustrating an example method according to another embodiment.

[0044] Fig.14 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station.

[0045] Fig.15 is a block diagram illustrating a UE according to an embodiment.

[0046] Fig.16 is a block diagram illustrating a communication device having multiple radio frequency (RF) chains. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] For purposes of explanation, specific example embodiments will now be explained in more detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0048] The embodiments set forth herein represent information sufficient to practice the claimed subject matter, and illustrate the manner in which such subject matter is practiced. After reading the following description in accordance with the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the claimed subject matter, and will recognize the application of these concepts not particularly proposed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications all fall within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims.

[0049] In addition, it should be understood that any module, component, or device disclosed herein for executing instructions may include or otherwise access a non-transitory computer / processor readable storage medium or media for storing information (e.g., computer / processor readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and / or other data). A non-exhaustive list of examples of non-transitory computer / processor readable storage media includes magnetic tape, cassette tape, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, optical disks such as compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital video disks or digital versatile disks (i.e., DVDs), Blu-ray Discs, TM or other optical storage, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology. Any such non-transitory computer / processor storage medium may be part of the device or accessible or connectable to the device. Computer / processor readable / executable instructions for implementing the applications or modules described herein may be stored or otherwise maintained by such non-transitory computer / processor readable storage media.

[0050] Turning now to the drawings, some specific example embodiments will be described.

[0051] Figure 1 The communication system 100 includes a core network 102 and an access network 106 .

[0052] The core network 102 may provide any of a variety of services, such as call control / switching and gateways to other networks. The core network 102 includes network components such as routers, switches, and servers.

[0053] The access network 106 is a wireless communication network and is connected or coupled to the core network 102. Base stations or nodes 108a, 108b, 108c, 108d, 108e provide wireless communication services within wireless coverage areas 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e. Each base station 108a-e can be implemented using a radio transceiver, one or more antennas, and associated processing circuits, such as antenna radio frequency (RF) circuits, analog to digital / digital to analog converters, etc. Transmit-receive points (TRPs), evolved NodeBs (eNBs), and other types of network nodes and network devices are examples of base stations 108a-e.

[0054] UEs 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d wirelessly access the communication system 100 using an access network 106. Each UE 104a-d includes a radio transmitter and a radio receiver that may be integrated into a radio transceiver, one or more antennas, and associated processing circuits, such as antenna radio frequency (RF) circuits, analog-to-digital / digital-to-analog converters, etc. The base station 108-e and the UE 104a-d may include similar types of components to support communication with each other in the communication system 100, but the actual implementation may be different. For example, the UE 104a-d may be mobile between locations, while the base stations 108a-e are generally intended to be installed in fixed locations.

[0055] Base stations 108a-e are connected to a centralized processing system 120 in access network 106 via communication links 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d, 112e. In one embodiment, each communication link 112a-e is a fiber optic communication link. Each base station 108a-e includes circuitry for sending data to centralized processing system 120 and for receiving data from centralized processing system via its communication link 112a-e. Figure 1 1 is shown as a single centralized processing system, but the centralized processing system 120 can be implemented by a network of one or more processing and control servers. Alternatively, the centralized processing system 120 can be implemented as a single server.

[0056] The base stations 108a-e may serve as gateways between the wired and wireless portions of the access network 106, but this need not be the case in embodiments where the communication links 112a-e are wireless links. The base stations 108a-e may be placed at fixed locations by a network provider, for example, to provide a substantially continuous wireless coverage area. This is particularly useful in Figure 1 , where the wireless coverage areas 110a - e overlap one another such that UEs 104a - d can move throughout the wireless coverage areas and still be served by the access network 106 .

[0057] For example, effects such as free space path loss may limit the range of HF wireless connections. Highly directional antenna beams may increase the HF connection range and may be used between any base station 108a-e and any UE 104a-d for which HF communications are to be supported. For example, in NR, a highly directional antenna beam with a beamwidth of 10 degrees half power bandwidth may be used for HF communications at frequencies above 6 GHz. This beamwidth and HF range are provided as illustrative examples only. The present disclosure is not limited to the management of antenna beams in this example beamwidth range or communications within this example HF range.

[0058] Antenna beam management as disclosed herein includes initial access to establish communication and subsequent actions to maintain communication. Initial access involves antenna beam scanning to establish alignment of transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) antenna beams for each connection. Beam scanning may include coarse alignment using antenna beams that are wider than the antenna beams that will be used for communication, also known as initial beam training. After establishing the alignment of the Tx and Rx antenna beams, maintaining communication may involve actions such as antenna beam tracking or improvements to update and maintain the alignment of the antenna beam pairs when the UE moves or the wireless path between the UE and the base station is affected by obstacles. Beam tracking after initial beam training uses narrower antenna beams for fine alignment and may also involve beam scanning within a more limited scanning range.

[0059] The embodiments of the present disclosure may be applicable to any of various multi-connection scenarios between multiple base stations and / or multiple UEs. Initial antenna beam configuration, beam scanning for initial beam training and beam tracking, beam management, and transmission control for multi-connection communication are disclosed.

[0060] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating downlink antenna beam scanning. In one embodiment, downlink antenna beam alignment involves each base station sending a beam scanning signal. Figure 2 , two TRPs (TRP1 and TRP2) are shown as examples of base stations. For example, each TRP may send a synchronization signal. The synchronization signal is an example of a beam scanning signal that enables a UE to establish a connection with a base station and thereby gain access to a communication network. In another example, a beam reference signal may be sent during beam scanning instead of a synchronization signal.

[0061] exist Figure 2In the example shown, downlink beam scanning involves the TRP sending the same beam scanning signal using n antenna beams directed in n directions. Each TRP sends the same beam scanning signal in each of the n directions. The UE monitors using k antenna beams directed in k directions to receive the beam scanning signal in each of the k directions. In this example this involves a total of n*k transmissions of beam scanning signals by each TRP.

[0062] Figure 2 The antenna beam scanning period shown in includes k cycles. In each of the k cycles, each TRP sends a beam scanning signal in each of the n antenna beam directions of the TRP, and the UE monitors the reception of the beam scanning signal in one of the k directions. In another embodiment, each TRP sends a beam scanning signal in one of the n directions, and the UE monitors each of the k directions in each of the n beam scanning cycles in the beam scanning period to receive the beam scanning signal.

[0063] exist Figure 2 In the example shown, each TRP sends beam scanning signals in n directions. In other embodiments, different TRPs may have different numbers of antenna beam directions. Figure 2 There are different numbers of antenna beam directions in , but in some embodiments, n=k.

[0064] Reference below Figure 3 and 4 Discuss in more detail Figure 2 The best beam pair is marked in .

[0065] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating downlink antenna beam scanning where multiple base stations use the same communication resources. Figure 2 similar, Figure 3 Two TRPs 302, 304 and one UE 306 are shown. Figure 3 In FIG. 3 , three antenna beams b1, b2, b3 are shown for each TRP 302, 304, and five antenna beams B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 are shown for UE 306. Figure 2 In the notation of , n = 3 and k = 5. In other embodiments there may be more or fewer antenna beams.

[0066] Figure 3UE 306 in may potentially be connected to TRP1 302 and TRP2 304. Therefore, the signals sent from TRPs 302, 304 may interfere with each other, and in this sense, the TRPs are within the interference range of each other. If TRPs 302, 304 use the same communication resources to send their beam scanning signals during the antenna beam scanning period, UE 306 receives a combination of the beam scanning signals from these TRPs. Communication resources are Figure 3 When TRPs 302 and 304 use the same communication resources, UE 306 may detect the highest received signal strength in the direction of UE's antenna beam B3 when both TRPs 302 and 304 transmit in the direction of their beams b2. Figure 2 As shown, TRP1 b2, TRP2 b2, and UE B3 may be identified as the best group of TRP1, TRP2, and UE antenna beams. However, this is based on the highest received signal strength of the combination of beam scanning signals from both TRPs 302, 304. If during beam scanning, TRP2 304 does not use the same communication resources as TRP1 to transmit to UE 306, the received signal strength and the best antenna beam and direction of the connection between TRP1 302 and UE 306 may be different. If during beam scanning, TRP1 302 does not use the same communication resources as TRP2 to transmit to UE 306, the received signal strength and the best antenna beam and direction of the connection between TRP2 304 and UE 306 may also or alternatively be different.

[0067] In one embodiment, different base stations use different communication resources to send beam scanning signals during beam scanning so that the UE can distinguish the beam scanning signals received from different base stations and identify the preferred antenna beam direction for connecting to each base station. Different communication resources can be separated by time according to a time division multiplexing (TDM) scheme, by frequency according to a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme, by coding according to a code division multiplexing (CDM) scheme, or in other ways. In one embodiment, different communication resources used by different base stations to send beam scanning signals are orthogonal to each other. Therefore, a group of communication resources including different communication resources used by different communication devices within the interference range of each other may include orthogonal communication resources, such as time division multiplexing resources, frequency division multiplexing resources and / or code division multiplexing resources.

[0068] Figure 4406 is a block diagram illustrating downlink antenna beam scanning where multiple base stations use different communication resources. TRPs 402, 404 are examples of base stations, and a UE is shown at 406.

[0069] Figure 4 Also shown is an FDM scheme 410, where each TRP 402, 404 uses different frequency resources 412, 414 to send their beam sweeping signals at the same time. According to a TDM scheme 420, each TRP 402, 404 uses the same frequency resources to send their beam sweeping signals at different times. Also shown at 430 is a CDM scheme, where the frequency / time resources are multiplexed by the code used for the TRP to send the beam sweeping signals. These multiplexing schemes are examples, any of which can be used by the TRPs 402, 404 in different embodiments.

[0070] In some embodiments, a serving base station such as TRP 402, 404 can be identified before the initial beam alignment begins, and resource planning can be coordinated accordingly. For example, the communication network may include a low frequency (LF) TRP and an HF TRP, and the LF TRP can assist the UE 406 in initial antenna beam alignment. In the LF assisted scenario, the UE 406 may first establish a connection with the LF-TRP. Antenna beam alignment and connection establishment with the LF TRP may be faster than antenna beam alignment and connection establishment with the HF TRP. This is because the LF TRP antenna beam is not as highly directional as the HF TRP antenna beam and is therefore not as narrow as the HF TRP antenna beam. Therefore, connection establishment with the LF TRP does not necessarily involve beam scanning. The LF TRP may provide the UE 406 with information identifying neighboring HF TRPs 402, 404 with which the UE can connect, and / or information about the allocation of communication resources for the HF TRP beam scanning signal, so that the UE can monitor to receive beam scanning signals from the HF TRP.

[0071] In another example, if the communication network includes only HF TRP, the UE may first establish a connection with the HF TRP, possibly in Figure 3 There is no optimal beam alignment in the downlink beam scanning method shown, where the same communication resources are used in beam scanning of different TRPs. The HF TRP can then provide the UE 306 with information identifying neighboring HF TRPs 302, 304 with which the UE can connect, and / or information about the HF TRP beam scanning signal communication resource allocation. This can enable the UE and TRP to switch to Figure 4The beam scanning method shown, in which the HF TRP 402, 404 sends the beam scanning signal again, and the UE406 monitors the reception of the beam scanning signal from the HF TRP to more accurately align the TRP and the UE antenna beam.

[0072] The LF TRP may also or alternatively include beam scanning signal communication resource allocations that are managed or distributed to the HF TRPs 402, 404. In a communication network that implements only HF TRPs, beam scanning signal communication resource allocations may be managed and distributed in each HF TRP along with other network configurations or settings.

[0073] In the case where the TRPs 402, 404 use different communication resources to send beam scanning signals to the UE 406 during beam scanning, the UE can distinguish the beam scanning signals received from each TRP. The UE 402 can then determine one or more received signal criteria (such as received signal strength) of the beam scanning signals received from each TRP 402, 404. Based on the one or more received signal criteria, the UE 402 can identify a preferred or optimal antenna beam direction for connection with each TRP 402, 404. Again referring to Figure 2 , the best antenna beam pair for the connection between TRP1 and the UE includes TRP1 beam b1 and UE beam B1 in this example. Similarly, the best beam direction or beam pair for the connection between TRP2 and the UE includes TRP2 beam bn, Figure 4 In the example shown, n=3, and UE beam Bk, in Figure 4 In the example shown, k=5.

[0074] The selection of the preferred or optimal antenna beam and direction is based on different communication resources and received signal characteristics measured or otherwise determined at the receiver. Figure 4404. In the downlink beam scanning shown, UE 406 is a receiver. UE 406 distinguishes between beam scanning signals received from TRP1 402 and TRP2 404 based on the different communication resources used by the TRPs. UE 406 can measure the received signal strength, or can also or alternatively measure or determine other received signal characteristics, and identify the best UE antenna beam or receiving direction from which the UE receives the beam scanning signal from each TRP 402, 404 best. This can be, for example, the receiving direction in which UE 406 measures the highest received signal strength from each TRP 402, 404. UE 406 also determines the corresponding TRP antenna beam or direction to which the received beam scanning signal is transmitted. UE 406 sends to each TRP 402, 404 at least an indication of the TRP antenna beam or direction, which corresponds to the best UE antenna beam or direction, and the received signal is transmitted by each TRP in this TRP antenna beam or direction.

[0075] The indication may be in any of a variety of forms. The TRP 402, 404 may include in its beam sweeping signal an explicit indication of the TRP antenna beam or direction in which the beam sweeping signal is transmitted. The UE 406 may then include the same indication in a response to the TRP 402, 406 after the beam sweeping period ends. The explicit indication may be a beam index, e.g. Figure 2 The numbers from 1 to n for the beam scanning example in .

[0076] Implicit signaling is also contemplated. Figure 2 For example, each TRP may sequentially transmit a beam scanning signal in each of n directions during each cycle of a beam scanning period, and the UE may then identify the best reception direction based on the time or position of the best beam scanning signal received in the scanning period. The transmission direction corresponding to the best reception direction may also or alternatively be implicitly reported to the TRP. For example, the TRP may derive the best beam scanning signal transmission direction from the timing of a signal in which the UE acknowledges receipt of the beam scanning signal, or otherwise provide a response to the beam scanning signal. Received acknowledgements and responses are examples of implicit indications of the best reception direction.

[0077] Figures 2 to 4 The downlink beam scanning example in involves: a single beam scanning period. In other embodiments, multiple levels of beam scanning may be used. For example, an initial coarse antenna beam alignment stage may use a wider antenna beam for coarse alignment, and a fine alignment stage may involve beam scanning over a smaller range of directions using a narrower, more highly directional antenna beam.

[0078] In one embodiment, the TRP sends a synchronization signal to the UE during beam scanning, and the UE then initiates an initial access procedure by sending a preamble to each TRP. A beam ID or other explicit indication of the best transmit antenna beam may be included in the preamble. The indication of the best transmit beam may be implicit. For example, the UE may send a preamble using the communication resources associated with the best transmit antenna beam for each TRP to provide an implicit indication to each TRP as to which transmit beam of the TRP is best suited for communicating with the UE. The UE may, but is not required to, provide an indication to the TRP of the best receive antenna beam via which the beam scanning signal is received from that TRP.

[0079] Figures 2 to 4 Involves downlink antenna beam scanning and alignment. Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating uplink antenna beam scanning. If reciprocity is maintained with respect to antenna beam alignment on the TRP side and the UE side of the connection, uplink beam scanning may not be required. Under reciprocity conditions, the optimal uplink antenna beam direction at the TRP and UE is the same as the optimal downlink antenna beam direction at the same TRP and UE. Otherwise, if reciprocity is not maintained at the TRP or the UE, uplink beam scanning may be used to determine the optimal uplink beam direction at the TRP and the UE. Similarly, if reciprocity is maintained at both the TRP and the UE, downlink antenna beam scanning may not be performed if antenna beam alignment has been accomplished through uplink beam scanning.

[0080] Figure 5 Similar to Figure 2 , but in Figure 5 In the embodiment, the UE sends a beam scanning signal, which may include, for example, a predetermined sequence, and the TRP monitors multiple antenna beam directions to receive the beam scanning signal. In one embodiment, the UE obtains the beam scanning signal for uplink beam scanning after connecting to the TRP through downlink beam scanning. For example, the uplink scanning may alternatively be LF assisted, where the LF TRP provides the sequence to the UE.

[0081] Figure 6 608. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating uplink antenna beam scanning between a UE and multiple base stations. If only one UE 606 is attempting to establish a network connection with a TRP 602, 604, then no communication resource separation or multiplexing is required, as shown in 608. In this example, only the UE 606 sends the beam scanning signal, and each TRP 602, 604 is able to identify the best reception direction for its connection with the UE.

[0082] Figure 7704, 706, 708 attempt to access the network through a connection with at least one common TRP 702, 704, such as Figure 7 As shown, the UE uses different communication resources to send beam scanning signals to the TRP. An FDM scheme 710 is shown by way of example, in which UEs 706, 708 use different frequency resources 712, 714. For example, during downlink beam scanning, the frequency band allocated to each UE 706, 708 for uplink beam alignment or training can be signaled to the UE from the LF-TRP or from the HF-TRP. TDM or CDM can be used in other embodiments, in which similar signaling options can be implemented. The preferred or optimal antenna beam direction of each UE 706, 708 can then be identified by each TRP 702, 704.

[0083] exist Figure 7 In the embodiment of the present invention, TRPs 702, 704 receive beam scanning signals from UEs 706, 708 and measure or otherwise determine received signal characteristics, based on which the best TRP antenna beam or receive direction for each TRP and the corresponding best UE antenna beam or transmit direction for each TRP connection are identified. TRPs 702, 704 also send to each UE 706, 708 at least an indication of the best UE antenna beam or transmit direction from each UE. As described above, for downlink beam scanning, explicit or implicit signaling can be used for these indications.

[0084] In some embodiments, the UE 706, 708 may also or alternatively use power control during uplink antenna beam scanning. For example, power boosting may be combined with communication resource allocation to increase the transmit power at the communication resources allocated for antenna beam training. The UE may also or alternatively apply power zeroing to other communication resources that have not been allocated for transmission of its scanning beam scanning signal. Such techniques may further enable base stations such as TRPs 702, 704 to identify the best reception direction for each UE 706, 708 in a multi-connection scenario.

[0085] As noted above for downlink beam scanning, multi-level beam scanning with different beam widths and beam scanning ranges may be used in uplink beam scanning.

[0086] like Figure 7 The uplink beam scanning shown in and described herein can be used in other multi-connectivity embodiments (e.g., with only one TRP and multiple UEs).

[0087] Communication resource coordination during downlink or uplink beam scanning can improve beamforming gain by better aligning the beam direction in multi-connection scenarios. This is referred to above Figure 2 The optimal beam group and the optimal beam pair are discussed in detail in the embodiment, but are also applicable to other embodiments in which the beam scanning signals are transmitted by different transmitters.

[0088] After identifying the best or preferred antenna beam or direction through downlink or uplink beam scanning, the TRP / UE connection can be established. In one embodiment, each TRP-UE pair maintains a record of the designated antenna beam or direction for each connection. Figure 4 For example, after identifying the best beam pair for TRP1 and TRP2, UE 406 maintains a record of at least UE beam B1 for connections to TRP1 402 and UE beam B5 for connections to TRP2 404. Similarly, TRP1 402 maintains a record of at least TRP1 beam b1 for connections to UE 406, and TRP2 404 maintains a record of at least TRP2 beam b3 for connections to UE 406.

[0089] For example, the antenna beam / connection record can be in the form of a list or table in a memory. The beam table or connection table stored by the UE 406 may include a list of UE beam indices for the TRPs to which it is connected and the corresponding UE-to-TRP directions for these beams. Other information such as TRP and / or connection identifiers may also be stored in such a table at the UE. At each TRP 402, 406, a beam table or connection table may store the TRP beam index, the corresponding TRP-to-UE directions for these beams, and an identifier for each connected UE for each UE connected to the TRP. Other information such as the UE beam index of the TRP may also be stored in such a table at the TRP. For example, this can be used to enable the TRP to send signaling to the UE via a control channel to provide the UE with an indication of a specific antenna beam to be used for transmission or reception.

[0090] In some embodiments, the TRP and the UE maintain multiple transmit and receive beam indices, and each beam identified by the beam index corresponds to a connection. In another embodiment, the antenna beam identified by the beam index is used for transmission and reception. The beam index is described here for illustrative purposes only. In other embodiments, other information identifying or indicating the beam direction or beam may be used.

[0091] The UE may not be aware of the identity of its serving TRP and may store a list of UE beam indices that includes only antenna beams or directions associated with active connections to the TRP. For example, after initial beam training, a UE beam index may be assigned to the identified best antenna beam or direction and mapped to a unique and fixed value. Although the best beam or direction for communicating with the TRP may be updated as the UE is moved or channel conditions change due to obstacles, for example, when the beam or direction used for a connection is updated, the UE beam index remains unchanged in a fixed index embodiment.

[0092] Figure 8 804. It is a block diagram illustrating antenna beam management using fixed beam indexes. When UE 806 moves between different locations relative to TRP1 802 and TRP2 804, the antenna beam direction between the UE and each TRP changes. However, in the example shown, the UE beam index a for the connection between UE 806 and TRP1 802 and the UE beam index b for the connection between UE 806 and TRP2 804 remain the same after the UE moves. The fixed beam index maintains a fixed mapping between UE 806 and the fixed beam index a, b for each TRP802, 04. For example, this can be used to simplify the signaling of each TRP 802, 804 to UE 806 to identify the antenna beam or direction used to send communication signals after scheduling the connection. Although this type of fixed beam index involves a beam direction update at UE 806 when the direction associated with the fixed beam index changes, the fixed beam index can reduce the signaling between the TRP and the UE. With fixed beam index, the TRP does not need to know the updated UE beam direction, but only needs to know the fixed logical UE beam index. When the TRP sends control channel signaling to the UE to indicate the specific antenna beam to be used by the UE for transmission and reception, for example, fewer bits are used to quantize the logical beam index, which is limited in number, relative to the number of bits required to signal the beam direction. This control channel signaling can be sent by the LF-TRP or by the HF-TRP using an antenna beam that is wider than the highly directional antenna beam used for HF TRP communications.

[0093] In another embodiment, the beam index may uniquely correspond to a beam direction. When the UE is moved, the beam direction changes, and the beam index also changes. A hierarchical beam index structure may be used to specify discrete directions, for example, beam index = wide beam index * x + narrow beam index, where, for example, the wide beam index is modulo x. In one embodiment, x = 4. This method may involve more signaling than the fixed index method because when the UE antenna beam direction changes, the UE signals the updated antenna beam direction to the TRP. When the TRP sends control signaling to the UE to indicate a specific antenna beam to be used for transmission and reception, more bits are used to quantize the antenna beam direction than the quantized beam index. As described above, such control channel signaling may be sent by either the LF-TRP or the HF-TRP.

[0094] Antenna beam management at the TRP may be similar to UE antenna beam management. The TRP may use a fixed logical beam index and corresponding beam direction, or may use the beam direction directly as a form of beam index. However, these two options may not involve different signaling overhead, since the TRP does not need to provide any indication to the UE of the TRP beam index / direction to be used by the TRP for transmission and reception.

[0095] like Figure 8 As shown, the movement of UE 806 can change the preferred direction of communication between the UE and each TRP 802, 804. Beam tracking can be used to update the beam direction used for communication between the TRP and the UE. After the connection is established, beam tracking can use a smaller beam scanning range and a narrower antenna beam than the initial beam training. This is because after the connection is established, the UE and TRP are already at least roughly beam aligned.

[0096] refer to Figure 7 , after the initial beam scanning and alignment, each TRP 802, 804 has multiple TRP-UE beam indices for multiple connections to UE 706, 708. As in the initial beam scanning, in some embodiments, UE 706, 708 sends tracking signals for beam tracking in different orthogonally separated communication resources. The use of communication resources by UE 706, 708 can be time-multiplexed, with each UE 706, 708 taking turns (periodically) performing beam tracking. In some embodiments, TRP 702, 704 may perform beam tracking only for scheduled UEs. In a non-full buffer scenario, UEs with empty buffers that may not be scheduled may be periodically triggered to perform beam tracking. For example, beam tracking may be triggered by sending a beam tracking control or command signal from TRP 702, 704 or another base station to cause a non-scheduled UE to initiate beam tracking.

[0097] Time multiplexing of communication resources for beam tracking represents one embodiment. If the TRP has, for example, multiple RF chains, FDM or CDM can be used to multiplex communication resources during uplink beam tracking; or a combination of two or more of time, frequency, and code multiplexing can be used to multiplex communication resources during uplink beam tracking.

[0098] In such Figure 4 In a multi-connectivity scenario where a single UE has multiple connections to different TRPs, UE 406 may have multiple UE-TRP beam indices, and beam tracking preferably involves multiplexing of communication resources for TRPs 402, 404 to send tracking signals. If UE 406 has multiple RF chains, TDM, FDM, or CDM may be used to multiplex communication resources during downlink beam tracking; or a combination of two or more of these techniques may be used to multiplex communication resources during downlink beam tracking.

[0099] These beam tracking examples can be applied to joint transmit and receive tracking, transmit-only tracking, and receive-only tracking.

[0100] As with initial beam training, beam tracking involves transmitting signals in multiple directions and monitoring the best direction for each of multiple connections. Beam tracking signals can be considered a special case of beam scanning signals in the sense that both initial beam training and beam tracking involve sending and receiving signals in multiple directions to scan a range of directions.

[0101] Figures 2 to 8 The description thereof mainly relates to initial beam training, establishing connections, and beam tracking. Other aspects of the present disclosure relate to using these connections for communication between a base station and a UE.

[0102] A UE with multiple connections to different base stations may select one or more of those base stations, or an antenna beam on which a connection has been established with such a base station, as an anchor base station or anchor beam. For example, in a system where LF assists HF, the UE may select a preferred anchor LF TRP from multiple LF-TRPs to which the UE has a connection. In one embodiment, the LF TRP or beam associated with the strongest received signal monitored at the UE during beam scanning or communication is selected by the UE as the anchor LF TRP or beam. Similarly, in a system where only HF is present, the UE may select an anchor HF TRP or beam from multiple HF TRPs or beams to which the UE has a connection. One possible selection criterion is the strongest received signal at the UE.

[0103] For example, the anchor TRP may be responsible for actions such as: sending control signaling to the UE; performing scheduling for a group of TRPs if centralized scheduling is used in the communication network; and / or coordinating a group of TRPs to distribute data. The control signaling of the anchor TRP may provide information such as beam index, scheduling grant information, and / or acknowledgement / negativeacknowledgement (ACK / NACK) information to the UE.

[0104] The UE-centric anchor TRP allocation or selection can be based on the TRP or beam from which the UE receives the strongest signal, or the TRP or beam associated with, for example, the highest signal to interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR). The anchor TRP for one UE may not be the anchor TRP for another UE, so different TRPs can be anchor TRPs for different groups of UEs.

[0105] In another embodiment, the anchor TRP is pre-allocated as part of the network configuration. This pre-allocation can be based on geography, for example, assigning different TRPs or beams as anchor TRPs or beams to different parts of a building or street. The TRP or network operator can consider information provided by the UE when determining how to assign the anchor TRP. However, in the pre-allocation embodiment, the UE does not decide on its own which TRP will be the anchor TRP for the UE.

[0106] The TRP may also or alternatively negotiate an anchor TRP allocation, for example based at least in part on UE feedback, and notify the UE of the negotiated TRP allocation.

[0107] In some implementations, the LF-TRP may be preferred as the anchor TRP over the HF-TRP. For example, the LF-TRP may be considered more reliable for control signaling than the HF TRP.

[0108] When the UE is moved, the anchor TRP or beam may change. When the UE is in one location, the UE may receive the strongest signal from one TRP, but when it moves to a different location, the UE may receive the strongest signal from a different TRP. The anchor TRP may change accordingly. For example, in an embodiment where the anchor TRP is pre-assigned, the anchor TRP of the UE may change based on the current location of the UE.

[0109] In embodiments where the UE has multiple available connections to different TRPs, any of a variety of mechanisms may be implemented to manage data transmission. For example, control signaling may inform the UE of a particular receive beam to be used to receive data. For example, an LF TRP or anchor HF TRP in an LF-assisted HF system may send control signaling to the UE specifying the receive beam that should be monitored for data.

[0110] Data may also or alternatively be sent alternately to multiple UEs via different beams in a predefined manner. For example, for 2 beams, data may be transmitted in odd transmission time intervals (TTIs) on one beam and in even TTIs on the other beam. Other modes are also contemplated. If one beam is in better condition than another beam based on any of a variety of possible beam condition criteria such as received signal strength, more communication resources may be allocated to the beam determined to be in better condition than the beam determined to be in worse condition.

[0111] In such an alternating transmission embodiment, there may be no control signaling specifying a particular beam index. For example, the control signaling may instead specify a transmission or mode index. In some embodiments, such control signaling may be sent by the LF TRP or anchor HF TRP in the LF-assisted HF system. However, the alternating transmission embodiment may provide less beam allocation flexibility than an embodiment with signaling of beam allocation because the alternating transmission patterns are predefined and certain patterns may not adapt well to fluctuating channel conditions.

[0112] The UE may also or alternatively monitor multiple receive beams simultaneously. If all receive beams are monitored, no control signaling is required to assign a beam to the UE to monitor received data. In embodiments where multiple receive beams are monitored, beams for TRP transmissions may even be dynamically allocated. Simultaneous receive beam monitoring may be achieved, for example, with different RF chains used to monitor different beams. However, such beam monitoring may reduce beamforming gain, because some of the monitored beam directions are effectively wasted if data is only sent over one connection to one TRP while the UE monitors all beam directions.

[0113] These options may also or alternatively apply to uplink transmissions from the UE to the base station, as will be considered in further detail below.

[0114] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating transmission control according to one embodiment. Fig. 9908 is an example of an LF-assisted HF system with HF TRPs 902, 904, a UE 906, and a LF-TRP 908. In this example, the LF TRP 908 sends control signaling, for example, via a control channel such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to inform the UE 906 of one or more receive beams that it will monitor for downlink data. The LF TRP 908 also communicates with the HF-TRPs 902, 904 associated with the transmit beam paired with the signaled UE receive beam over the X2 interface in the example shown to inform the one or more HF TRPs of the transmit beam or beams that will be used to send data to the UE 906.

[0115] Fig.10 1004 and UE 1006, without a LF TRP. In this example, UE 1006 receives control signaling from one HF-TRP 1002 (anchor TRP), but may receive other transmissions (e.g., downlink data) from either or both of TRPs 1002, 1004. If the anchor TRP and the transmit TRP are different, beam switching is performed. Fig.10 As shown in the example of , where HF TRP2 1004 is the transmit TRP, control signaling is sent from the anchor HF TRP1 1002 to HF TRP2 1004 via the X2 interface to inform HF TRP2 1004 of the transmit beam to be used to send data to the UE 1006.

[0116] exist Fig. 9 and 10 In the embodiment, the UE 906, 1006 can use all the receive antenna elements to receive data on one beam at a time, or if the UE includes multiple RF chains, it can receive data on multiple beams at a time. However, for N receive beams, each beam loses -10*log10(N)dB of array gain compared to using all antenna elements to form a single receive beam.

[0117] This type of signaled transmission control can enable dynamic beam allocation for each time unit (e.g., each TTI), but involves control signaling of at least the UE downlink receive beam. Fig. 9 In the LF-assisted system, or as Fig.10 When the transmitting HF TRP in the HF independent system is not the anchor HF TRP, the control signaling of the downlink transmit beam is also sent to the transmitting HF TRP.

[0118] Uplink transmissions may be controlled similarly. The LF-TRP 908 or anchor HF TRP 11002 in the LF-assisted HF system may send uplink scheduling grant information and control information to the UE 906, 1006, specifying uplink transmit beams to be used by the UE for uplink transmissions. The uplink transmit beams may include beams that may be received by the HF TRP 902, 904 or 1002, 1004. In this example, uplink transmissions are grant-based, and the receiving HF TRP 902, 904 or 1002, 1004 already has information about the beams that the UE 906, 1006 is permitted to access. Therefore, in this example, there is no separate control signaling to the receiving HF TRP 902, 904 or 1002, 1004.

[0119] Fig.11 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a transmission mode according to yet another embodiment. Fig. 9 In the LF-assisted HF system of the system shown in FIG. , the LF TRP 908 sends control signaling to inform the UE 906 and the HF TRPs 902, 904 of the transmission mode for transmitting data. Fig.11 In the example shown, there are two modes, and the control signaling in this example includes a mode index or other information from which the UE 906 and HF-TRP 902, 904 can determine the transmission mode to be used for the current downlink transmission from the HF TRP to the UE.

[0120] In such Fig.10 In the HF standalone system shown, the UE 1006 receives control signaling from the anchor HF TRP1 1002 and may receive other transmissions (e.g., downlink data) from either or both of the TRPs 1002, 1004. The HF TRP2 1004 also receives control signaling from the anchor HF TRP2 1002 that specifies the transmission mode to be used. The HF TRPs 1002, 1004 send data to the UE 1006 according to the signaled mode.

[0121] The UE 906, 1006 can receive data on one beam at a time even if two beams are scheduled simultaneously by multiple TRPs 902, 904 or 1002, 1004. In a multiple RF chain embodiment, all RF chains can be used for a single beam at a time to provide high array gain, or the RF chains can be used to receive data from multiple beams simultaneously.

[0122] Transmission mode control may involve dynamically assigning these modes via the PDCCH, but the periodicity of mode changes may depend on the mode length. For example, short modes may change more frequently than longer modes to adapt to changing channel conditions or data traffic. Mode assignment may alternatively be semi-static, for example, via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0123] The transmission patterns may be distributed equally across multiple beams, or more weight may be given to specific beams, for example by allocating more time units to those beams.

[0124] The transmission control method may also or alternatively be applied to uplink transmission. Fig. 9 LF-TRP 908 in LF-assisted HF system or Fig.10 The anchor HF TRP1 1002 in the UE 906, 1006 sends the assigned mode index or other mode information in control signaling to the UE 906, 1006 for uplink transmission to the TRP 902, 904 or 1002, 1004.

[0125] The third transmission control option is also applicable to LF assisted and HF standalone systems. The UE monitors multiple beams simultaneously, and the UE can receive data from one or more beams. At the UE, the antenna elements associated with the RF chain form a receive beam. If there are N RF chains, up to N receive beams can be formed simultaneously. However, as described above, if there are N receive beams, each beam loses -10*log10(N)dB of array gain compared to forming a single receive beam using all antenna elements.

[0126] In embodiments where a UE is scheduled by only one TRP, or by fewer TRPs than all the TRPs from which the UE can receive signals, some receive beams are effectively wasted. If a UE can only be scheduled by one TRP at a time, it may not be efficient for separate RF chains to form separate receive beams. Therefore, it may be preferable to limit the number of beams to be monitored by the UE, for example, depending on the UE scheduling and / or other UE conditions.

[0127] Similarly, for uplink transmission, the TRP can monitor multiple beams and the UE can transmit using multiple beams.

[0128] To summarize the above transmission control options, signaling of receive and transmit beams can achieve flexibility in beam allocation, but involves more control signaling overhead relative to other options. With alternating transmit / receive, the flexibility of beam allocation may be less relative to signaled beam allocation, but alternating transmit / receive may involve less control signaling for signaling the transmit / receive mode of the receive and transmit beams. Simultaneous monitoring / transmitting of multiple beams provides flexibility in beam allocation and lower signaling overhead than the other transmission control methods described above. However, array gain may be reduced when forming multiple receive beams compared to other methods. If the transmitter does not transmit when the beam is monitored at the receiver, time and power may also be wasted when monitoring multiple beams. These embodiments for managing transmissions in multi-connection scenarios can trade off performance and signaling.

[0129] Fig.12 1200 involves determining, at 1202, a communication resource to be used by a communication device to transmit a beam scanning signal. For example, as described above with reference to Figure 4 and 7 The determined communication resources are different from the communication resources used to transmit beam scanning signals to other communication devices within the interference range of the communication device. For example, the determination may be made at 1202 based on the received control signaling. The indication of the beam scanning communication resources may be stored in the communication device and accessed before the beam scanning signal is transmitted, thereby determining the communication resources to be used for the transmission of the beam scanning signal at 1202.

[0130] At 1204, a beam scanning signal is transmitted using the determined communication resources and multiple antenna beams directed in multiple directions. The transmissions in multiple directions may be simultaneous or sequential. For example, simultaneous transmissions may be performed by a communication device having multiple RF chains.

[0131] The operations shown at 1202, 1204 may be performed at a base station for downlink beam scanning, or at a UE for uplink beam scanning.

[0132] In some embodiments, the communication device sending the beam scanning signal at 1204 also monitors at 1206 to receive an indication of the direction in which the beam scanning signal is best received by the other communication device receiving the beam scanning signal. The indication can be an explicit indication of the best reception direction or an implicit indication from which the first communication device sending the beam scanning signal determines the best reception direction.

[0133] Other operations may also or alternatively be performed. For example, a connection may be established with another communication device receiving a beam scanning signal via an antenna beam directed in an optimal reception direction. Connection establishment may involve allocating and / or storing a beam index. In a multi-connection scenario, a beam index may be allocated and stored for each of a plurality of antenna beams.

[0134] Beam tracking as shown at 1210 is another example of an operation that may be performed in some embodiments and may involve repeating the transmission at 1204 and the monitoring at 1206 to track the movement of the communication device.

[0135] Beam tracking may involve beam scanning in the same direction, uplink or downlink (as for initial beam training), or in the opposite direction. For example, initial beam training may be performed in the downlink direction by sending a beam scanning signal from the base station to the UE, and subsequent beam tracking may be performed in the uplink direction by sending a beam tracking signal from the UE to the base station. In this case, the base station sending the beam scanning signal at 1204 may perform beam tracking at 1210 by monitoring multiple antenna beams to receive beam tracking signals from the UE, and send an indication to the UE of another direction in which the base station best receives the beam tracking signal from the UE.

[0136] After beam tracking at 1210 , the beam index and / or direction may be updated at 1208 .

[0137] In some embodiments, the beam tracking at 1210 is performed periodically. Other embodiments may involve, for example, controlling the beam tracking by a base station. The base station may send a signal to the UE to cause the UE to initiate a beam tracking process, which involves sending a beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring at the UE to receive an indication of another direction from the base station.

[0138] Fig.13 1300 is a flow chart illustrating an example method according to another embodiment. Example method 1300 involves monitoring a plurality of antenna beams to receive beam scanning signals from other communication devices at 1302. The antenna beams are directed in a plurality of directions. Beam scanning signals are received from the other communication devices in different communication resources. For each communication device from which the beam scanning signal is received, a preferred or optimal beam or direction is determined based on the different communication resources at 1304. The preferred beam or direction is the beam or direction that best receives the received beam scanning signal from each communication device.

[0139] Feedback may be provided to each communication device at 1306. For example, the receiving communication device may determine, for each other communication device from which the beam scanning signal was received, the transmit direction of the received beam scanning signal transmitted by the other communication device, and then an indication of the determined transmit direction may be sent to the other communication devices at 1306. The indication may be an explicit indication of the transmit direction that is optimal for the beam scanning signal received from each other communication device, or may be an explicit indication from which each other communication device determines its optimal transmit direction.

[0140] Beam management at a communication device receiving a beam scanning signal may involve beam indexing and / or direction. In embodiments involving beam indexing, a beam index for each best direction may be assigned and / or stored at 1308 .

[0141] In one embodiment, method 1300 is performed at a UE, and the operations at 1302, 1304, 1306 illustrate downlink beam scanning and training. Beam tracking at 1310 may be performed in an uplink direction by transmitting a beam tracking signal from the UE using the UE antenna beam, and then monitoring at the UE to receive an indication from a base station of another direction in which the base station best receives the beam tracking signal from the UE.

[0142] For example, uplink beam tracking may be initiated by the UE periodically or in response to a command from a base station. The UE may monitor the reception of a signal from a base station to enable the UE to initiate a beam scanning process, and then, in response to the reception of such a signal, transmit a beam tracking signal and monitor the reception of indications from the same base station and / or a different base station.

[0143] After beam tracking at 1310 , the beam index, direction, or both may be updated at 1308 .

[0144] The example methods 1200, 1300 are intended for illustrative purposes. Other embodiments may involve performing the operations shown in any of a variety of ways, performing fewer or additional operations, and / or changing the order in which the operations are performed. For example, antenna beam management in a communication network may involve performing at a base station Fig.12 and 13 Some of the operations shown in the embodiment are performed, and other operations of the operations shown are performed at the UE. Based on this disclosure, other changes may be or become obvious to the skilled person.

[0145] refer to Fig.12 and 13 The described embodiments are directed to example methods. Apparatus embodiments are also contemplated.

[0146] Fig.1414 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station. The example base station 1400 includes an antenna array 1402, a beamformer 1404 coupled to the antenna array, and a receiver 1406 and a transmitter 1408 coupled to the beamformer 1404. The receiver 1406 and the transmitter 1408 are also coupled to an antenna beam manager 1410. The receiver, transmitter, and antenna beam manager are coupled to one or more other components, generally shown as a base station signal processing component 1412. A memory 1414 is coupled to the antenna beam manager 1410 and the base station signal processing component 1412. The example base station 1400 also includes one or more network interfaces 1416.

[0147] Antenna array 1402 includes multiple antenna elements and is an example of a physical interface for a communication medium. Fig.14 Depending on the type of communication device shown as an assembly, the antenna element may take any of a variety of forms.

[0148] Despite Fig.14 1404 is shown as a single element, but the beamformer 1404 may include separate receive and transmit beamformers. The beamformer 1404 may include gain elements and phase shift elements, for example, to apply gain and phase shift to the antenna feed signal to form different receive and transmit antenna beams in different directions.

[0149] In some embodiments, receiver 1406 includes components such as a demodulator, amplifier, and / or other components of an RF receive chain. Transmitter 1408 may similarly include components such as a modulator, amplifier, and / or other components of an RF transmit chain.

[0150] The antenna beam manager 1410 is implemented using hardware, firmware, one or more components of executing software, or some combination thereof. Electronic devices that may be suitable for implementing the antenna beam manager 1410 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and other types of "smart" integrated circuits. These electronic devices are illustrative of circuits that can be used to manage antenna beams as disclosed herein. In a processor-based implementation, for example, processor-executable instructions for configuring the processor to perform antenna beam management operations are stored in a non-transitory processor-readable medium, such as, memory 1414.

[0151] Signal processing components 1412 may similarly be implemented using hardware, firmware, components executing software, or a combination thereof. The number and type of signal processing components 1412 depend on the implementation. Any of various types of signal processing may be applied to signals received by or to be transmitted by base station 1400.

[0152] The memory 1414 may include one or more solid-state memory devices and / or memory devices with removable and possibly removable storage media. Illustrative examples of storage media that may be used to implement the memory 1414 are provided above.

[0153] The network interface 1416 may include any of various types of physical interfaces to the communication medium. Similar to the antenna array 1402, the network interface 1416 may take any of a variety of forms, depending on the implementation. Fig.14 The components shown in the figure must be of the type of communication device and the type of communication protocols and media to be supported.

[0154] Fig.15 1 is a block diagram illustrating a UE according to one embodiment. The example UE 1500 is similar in structure to Fig.14 The example base station 1400 in FIG. 1 includes an antenna array 1502, a beamformer 1504 coupled to the antenna array, a receiver 1506 and a transmitter 1508 coupled to the beamformer and beam manager 1510, and a memory 1514 coupled to the antenna beam manager. Fig.14 Example implementations of these components are described. Although these components in a UE may be implemented in a similar manner as in a base station, the implementation details may differ between a base station and a UE. For example, a base station may include a larger antenna array with larger and / or more antenna elements than a UE, more memory space than a UE, and / or a more powerful processor than a UE to implement processor-based components.

[0155] Other UE components are generally shown as a signal processing component 1512, which is coupled to the receiver 1506, the transmitter 1508, the antenna beam manager 1510, and the memory 1514. The signal processing component can be implemented using hardware, firmware, components executing software, or a combination thereof. Examples of such implementations are described above.

[0156] The example UE 1500 includes one or more input / output (I / O) devices 1516, such as a display screen, which may be a touch screen to enable user input. A separate input device such as a keyboard may also or alternatively be provided.

[0157] The example base station 1400 and the example UE 1500 illustrate communication devices that can implement antenna beam management. The example base station 1400 and the example UE 1500 both include antenna arrays 1402, 1502 and transmitters 1408, 1508 operably coupled to the antenna arrays to form antenna beams directed in different directions. Fig.14 and 15 In the example shown, the transmitter 1408 , 1508 controls the beamformer 1404 , 1504 to form an antenna beam by controlling the gain, phase shift, or both applied to antenna feed signals associated with antenna elements in the antenna array 1402 , 1502 .

[0158] The example base station 1400 and the example UE 1500 also include a receiver 1406, 1506 operatively coupled to the antenna arrays 1402, 1502 and an antenna beam manager 1410, 1510. The antenna beam manager 1410, 1510 is configured to determine a communication resource to be used for transmission of a beam scanning signal, and the communication resource is different from a communication resource used to transmit a beam scanning signal to another communication device within the interference range of the communication device. The antenna beam manager 1410, 1510 is further configured to transmit the beam scanning signal through a transmitter 1408, 1508 using the determined communication resource and antenna beam.

[0159] Implementing these features in the base station 1400 provides downlink beam scanning, and implementing these features in the UE provides uplink beam scanning.

[0160] The antenna beam manager 1410, 1510 may be used to monitor the receiver 1406, 1506 to receive an indication from another communication device of the direction in which the other communication device best receives the beam scanning signal. Such an indication may be an explicit indication of the direction or an implicit indication from which the direction may be determined.

[0161] Beam scanning signal reception involves forming receive antenna beams directed in different directions. In the example base station 1400 and the example UE 1500, the receivers 1406, 1506 are used to control the beam formers 1404, 1504 to form receive beams. Either or both of the antenna beam managers 1410, 1510 can be used to monitor the receive antenna beams and receive beam scanning signals from other communication devices in different communication resources, and for each communication device from which the beam scanning signal is received, and based on different communication resources, determine the direction in which the received beam scanning signal is best received. The antenna beam managers 1410, 1510 can also be used to determine the transmit direction in which each received beam scanning signal is sent, and to send to each communication device an explicit or implicit indication of the transmit direction determined for the communication device.

[0162] After initial beam training, the antenna beam managers 1410, 1510 may also be used to perform beam tracking to track the movement of the UE. Beam tracking may involve downlink beam scanning by the base station antenna beam manager 1410 or uplink beam scanning by the UE antenna beam manager 1510.

[0163] In some embodiments, the antenna beam index is used in beam management. Either or both of the antenna beam managers 1410, 1510 can be used to store the antenna beam index in the memory 1414, 1514. Antenna beam directions, UE identifiers, TRP identifiers, and / or other forms of connection identifiers can also or alternatively be stored in the memory 1414, 1514.

[0164] Fig.16 16 is a block diagram illustrating a communication device with multiple RF chains. A base station, a UE, or both may include multiple RF chains. The example communication device 1600 includes a digital combiner / precoder 1610, multiple RF chains 1620, 1630, and multiple antennas 1624, 1628 and 1634, 1638 coupled to the RF chains via phase controllers 1622, 1626 and 1632, 1636.

[0165] The example communication device 1600 may be implemented, for example, as Fig.13 and 15 An antenna array, beamformer, receiver, and transmitter in either or both of the communications device 1600. A receiver-only implementation of the example communications device 1600 may include a combiner, and a transmitter-only implementation may include a precoder instead of the combiner / precoder 1610.

[0166] Fig.16 2 RF chains 1620, 1630 and associated phase controllers 1622 / 1626, 1632 / 1636 and antennas 1624-1626, 1634 / 1636 are shown by way of example. In this embodiment, two antenna beams b1, b2 can be formed simultaneously. Other embodiments may include more RF chains and associated components to form more than two antenna beams.

[0167] For example, a base station such as a TRP may include multiple RF chains to enable transmission / reception of signals in multiple directions through multiple antenna beams simultaneously during beam scanning. Multiple TRP RF chains may also or alternatively be used to communicate with multiple UEs simultaneously.

[0168] A UE including multiple RF chains may simultaneously monitor multiple antenna beams for signals from a base station and / or simultaneously transmit signals in multiple directions through multiple antenna beams during beam scanning.

[0169] For UE implementation, consider an example where the UE is connected to multiple TRPs but can only be scheduled by one TRP at a time. In dynamic point selection (DPS) of centralized coordinated multi-point (CoMP), for example, due to channel reinforcement under massive multiple input multiple output (mMIMO), UE scheduling at a TRP becomes broadband, and the UE can only be scheduled by one TRP at a time. In this case, the UE may include only one RF chain to form all antenna beams in one direction at a time. A UE including multiple RF chains can use any one of the multiple RF chains to form one antenna beam at a time, or can use more than one RF chain to simultaneously form more than one antenna beam in the same direction.

[0170] In UE-centric distributed CoMP, for example, UE scheduling at each TRP is independent, so a UE connected to multiple TRPs can be scheduled by multiple TRPs at once. A UE with at least as many RF chains as TRP connections can form multiple antenna beams for the TRP connections using different RF chains to receive downlink data transmissions from multiple TRPs simultaneously.

[0171] What has been described is merely an exemplary illustration of the application of the principles of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Other arrangements and methods may be implemented by those skilled in the art.

[0172] The contents of the drawings are for illustrative purposes only, and the present invention is in no way limited to the specific example embodiments explicitly shown in the drawings and described herein. Figure 1 is a block diagram of a communication system in which an embodiment may be implemented. Other embodiments may be implemented in a communication system including more base stations than the communication system shown, or in a communication system having a different topology than the example shown. Similarly, the examples in the other figures are also for illustration purposes only.

[0173] Additionally, although primarily described in the context of methods and systems, other implementations are also contemplated, such as instructions stored on a non-transitory processor-readable medium that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the methods.

[0174] The previous description of some embodiments is provided to enable those skilled in the art to make or use devices, methods, or processor-readable media according to the present disclosure. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles of the methods and devices described herein may be applied to other embodiments. Therefore, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is consistent with the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0175] The present disclosure includes, among other things, embodiments in which a method involves: at a communication device, receiving a first beam scanning signal from a first transmitting communication device in a first communication resource using multiple antenna beams directed along multiple directions, and receiving a second beam scanning signal from a second transmitting communication device in a second communication resource different from the first communication resource; determining a first direction of the first beam scanning signal based on the first communication resource; and determining a second direction of the second beam scanning signal based on the second communication resource. For example, the first direction may be one of the multiple directions in which the first beam scanning signal is best received from the first transmitting communication device, and the second direction may be one of the multiple directions in which the second beam scanning signal is best received from the second transmitting communication device.

[0176] This method may also include: determining a first sending direction in which a first beam scanning signal is sent by a first sending communication device based on a first communication resource; determining a second sending direction in which a second beam scanning signal is sent by a second sending communication device based on a second communication resource; and sending an indication of the first sending direction to the first sending communication device and sending an indication of the second sending direction to the second sending communication device.

[0177] The first indication may be an explicit indication of the first transmission direction, and the second indication may be an explicit indication of the second transmission direction. In another embodiment, the first indication is an implicit indication from which the first transmitting communication device determines the first transmission direction, and the second indication is an implicit indication from which the second transmitting communication device determines the second transmission direction.

[0178] In some embodiments, the communication device is a UE, and the method may include sending a third beam tracking signal from the UE using multiple antenna beams; monitoring at the UE to receive an indication from the base station of another direction in which the base station receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE best among multiple directions. The method may also involve, before sending the third beam tracking signal from the UE: monitoring at the UE to receive a signal from the base station so that the UE initiates a beam scanning process, the beam scanning process including sending the third beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring to receive an indication from another direction of the base station.

[0179] A non-transitory processor-readable medium may be used to store instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, the method involving: at a communication device, using multiple antenna beams directed along multiple directions to receive a first beam signal scanning signal from a first transmitting communication device in a first communication resource and to receive a second beam signal scanning signal from a second transmitting communication device in a second communication resource different from the first communication resource; based on the first communication resource, determining a first direction among the multiple directions that is best for receiving the first beam scanning signal from the first transmitting communication device; based on the second communication resource, determining a second direction among the multiple directions that is best for receiving the second beam scanning signal from the second transmitting communication device.

[0180] Another embodiment relates to a communication device, the communication device comprising: an antenna array; a transmitter operably coupled to the antenna array; a receiver operably coupled to the antenna array to form a plurality of antenna beams directed in a plurality of directions; and an antenna beam manager operably coupled to the transmitter and the receiver to use the plurality of antenna beams to receive a first beam scanning signal from a first transmitting communication device in a first communication resource, and to receive a second beam scanning signal from a second transmitting communication device in a second communication resource different from the first communication resource; based on the first communication resource, determine a first direction of the first beam scanning signal; and based on the second communication resource, determine a second direction of the second beam scanning signal. As described above, the first direction may be one of the plurality of directions in which the first beam scanning signal is best received from the first transmitting communication device, and the second direction may be one of the plurality of directions in which the second beam scanning signal is best received from the second transmitting communication device.

[0181] The communication device may be implemented as a UE, and the first transmitting communication device and the second transmitting communication device may be base stations.

[0182] In some embodiments, the antenna beam manager is also used to: determine a first sending direction for a first transmitting communication device to send a first beam scanning signal based on a first communication resource; determine a second sending direction for a second transmitting communication device to send a second beam scanning signal based on a second communication resource; and send an indication of the first sending direction to the first transmitting communication device and an indication of the second sending direction to the second transmitting communication device via a transmitter.

[0183] The first indication may be an explicit indication of the first transmission direction, and the second indication may be an explicit indication of the second transmission direction. In another embodiment, the first indication is an implicit indication from which the first transmitting communication device determines the first transmission direction, and the second indication is an implicit indication from which the second transmitting communication device determines the second transmission direction.

[0184] The antenna beam manager may also be used to perform beam tracking to track the movement of the UE.

[0185] The communication device may include a memory operably coupled to the antenna beam manager, and the antenna beam manager may be further configured to store a first beam index associated with the first direction and a second beam index associated with the second direction to the memory.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method, characterized in that: include: Determine a first communication resource for a first communication device to send a first beam scanning signal, the first communication resource being different from a second communication resource for a second communication device within an interference range of the first communication device to send a second beam scanning signal; as well as transmitting the first beam scanning signal from the first communication device using the first communication resource and a plurality of antenna beams directed in a plurality of directions; The first communication device monitors to receive an indication from a third communication device that receives the first beam scanning signal, wherein the indication is used to indicate a direction in which the third communication device receives the first beam scanning signal best among the multiple directions; The first communication device includes a base station, and the third communication device includes a user equipment UE, and the method further includes: The first communication device sends control signaling including a mode index to notify the UE of a transmission mode for transmission, wherein the transmission mode indicates that downlink transmissions from the first communication device and the second communication device to the UE are in an alternating transmission mode, and / or the transmission mode indicates that uplink transmissions from the UE to the first communication device and the second communication device are in an alternating transmission mode.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The indication comprises an explicit indication of a direction in which the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The indication comprises an implicit indication of a direction from which the first communications device determined that the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Also includes: A connection is established with the third communication device through an antenna beam among the multiple antenna beams that is oriented in a direction in which the third communication device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: Repeating sending the first beam scanning signal and monitoring to receive an indication from the third communication device to track movement of the UE.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: monitoring the plurality of antenna beams at the base station to receive a third beam tracking signal from the UE; and An indication is sent to the UE of a direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that Before monitoring the multiple antenna beams to receive the third beam tracking signal from the UE, the method further includes: A signal is sent to the UE to cause the UE to initiate a beam tracking process, wherein the beam tracking process includes sending the third beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring at the UE to receive an indication from the base station of a direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first communication resources and the second communication resources comprise a set of orthogonal communication resources.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first communication resources and the second communication resources include a group of time division multiplexing communication resources, a group of frequency division multiplexing communication resources, or a group of code division multiplexing communication resources.

10. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing instructions, characterized in that: The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-9.

11. A first communication device, characterized in that: include: Antenna arrays; a transmitter operatively coupled to the antenna array to form a plurality of antenna beams directed in a plurality of directions; a receiver operatively coupled to the antenna array; as well as an antenna beam manager operably coupled to the transmitter and the receiver to determine a first communication resource for the first communication device to transmit a first beam scanning signal, the first communication resource being different from a second communication resource for a second communication device within an interference range of the first communication device to transmit a second beam scanning signal, The transmitter is further configured to transmit the first beam scanning signal through the transmitter using the first communication resource and the multiple antenna beams; The antenna beam manager is further configured to monitor the receiver to receive an indication from a third communication device that receives the first beam scanning signal, wherein the indication is configured to indicate a direction in which the third communication device receives the first beam scanning signal best among the multiple directions; The first communication device includes a base station, and the third communication device includes a user equipment, and the transmitter is further used to send control signaling including a mode index to notify the UE of a transmission mode for transmission, wherein the transmission mode indicates that the downlink transmission from the first communication device and the second communication device to the UE is an alternating transmission mode, and / or the transmission mode indicates that the uplink transmission from the UE to the first communication device and the second communication device is an alternating transmission mode.

12. The first communication device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The indication comprises an explicit indication of a direction in which the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

13. The first communication device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The indication comprises an implicit indication of a direction from which the first communications device determines that the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

14. The first communication device according to claim 11, characterized in that: The antenna beam manager is further configured to perform beam tracking to track the movement of the UE.

15. The first communication device according to claim 11, characterized in that: Also includes: a memory operatively coupled to the antenna beam manager, The antenna beam manager is further used to store, in the memory, a beam index associated with a direction in which the third communication device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

16. A wireless communication method, characterized in that: include: a third communication device receiving a first beam scanning signal transmitted by a first communication device using a first communication resource and a plurality of antenna beams directed in a plurality of directions, the first communication resource being different from a second communication resource used to transmit a second beam scanning signal to a second communication device within an interference range of the first communication device; The third communication device sends to the first communication device an indication of a direction in which the third communication device receives the first beam scanning signal best among the multiple directions; The first communication device includes a base station, and the third communication device includes a user equipment UE, and the method further includes: The third communication device receives control signaling including a mode index sent by the first communication device, wherein the control signaling is used to notify the UE of a transmission mode for transmission, wherein the transmission mode indicates that the downlink transmission from the first communication device and the second communication device to the UE is an alternating transmission mode, and / or the transmission mode indicates that the uplink transmission from the UE to the first communication device and the second communication device is an alternating transmission mode.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The indication comprises an explicit indication of a direction in which the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

18. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The indication comprises an implicit indication of a direction from which the first communications device determined that the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

19. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that Also includes: A connection is established with the first communication device via an antenna beam among the multiple antenna beams that is oriented in a direction in which the third communication device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The method further comprises: The UE sends a third beam tracking signal; and The UE receives an indication of a direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that Before monitoring the multiple antenna beams to receive the third beam tracking signal from the UE, the method further includes: The UE initiates a beam tracking process, which includes sending the third beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring at the UE to receive an indication from the base station of a direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

22. A non-transitory processor-readable medium storing instructions, characterized in that: The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to any one of claims 16-21.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: include: One or more processors and a non-transitory processor-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method according to any one of claims 16-21.

24. A wireless communication method, characterized in that: include: The first communication device determines a first communication resource for the first communication device to send a first beam scanning signal, the first communication resource being different from a second communication resource for a second communication device within an interference range of the first communication device to send a second beam scanning signal; as well as The first communication device transmits the first beam scanning signal using the first communication resource and n antenna beams directed in n directions, where n is an integer greater than 1; The third communication device receives the first beam scanning signal in the first communication resource in each of the k directions using k antenna beams directed in k directions, where k is an integer greater than 1; The first communication device monitors to receive an indication from the third communication device, wherein the indication is used to indicate a direction in which the third communication device best receives the first beam scanning signal among the n directions; The first communication device includes a base station, and the third communication device includes a user equipment UE, and the method further includes: The first communication device sends control signaling including a mode index to notify the UE of a transmission mode for transmission, wherein the transmission mode indicates that downlink transmissions from the first communication device and the second communication device to the UE are in an alternating transmission mode, and / or the transmission mode indicates that uplink transmissions from the UE to the first communication device and the second communication device are in an alternating transmission mode.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The indication comprises an explicit indication of a direction in which the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

26. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The indication comprises an implicit indication of a direction from which the first communications device determined that the third communications device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

27. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that Also includes: The first communication device establishes a connection with the third communication device through an antenna beam among the n antenna beams that is directed in a direction in which the third communication device best receives the first beam scanning signal.

28. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first communication device repeatedly sends the first beam scanning signal and monitors to receive an instruction from the third communication device to track the movement of the UE.

29. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that The method further comprises: The base station monitors the n antenna beams to receive a third beam tracking signal from the UE; and An indication is sent to the UE of a direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that Before the base station monitors the n antenna beams to receive the third beam tracking signal from the UE, the method further includes: The base station sends a signal to the UE to cause the UE to initiate a beam tracking process, wherein the beam tracking process includes sending the third beam tracking signal from the UE and monitoring at the UE to receive an indication from the base station of a direction in which the base station best receives the third beam tracking signal from the UE.

31. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The first communication resources and the second communication resources comprise a set of orthogonal communication resources.

32. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The first communication resources and the second communication resources include a group of time division multiplexing communication resources, a group of frequency division multiplexing communication resources, or a group of code division multiplexing communication resources.

33. A communication system, characterized in that: include: The first communication device according to any one of claims 11 to 15 and the third communication device according to claim 23.

Images