Beam tracking method, device and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the present application provides a beam tracking method, device and storage medium, the method comprising: a terminal device acquires beam adjustment information and sends the beam adjustment information through a first channel. A network device receives the beam adjustment information through the first channel and determines a first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information. When frequent beam adjustment and tracking are performed, signaling interaction is reduced and the connection performance between the terminal device and the network device is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a beam tracking method, device, and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In the 5th Generation Mobile Communication (5G) New Radio (NR), the application of large-scale beam-based antenna arrays enables the system to form one or more highly directional beams, which can improve the system coverage area while reducing interference.

[0003] In high-frequency systems, due to the narrow coverage of the beam, when the terminal moves, the beam switching process needs to be triggered, and the triggering of the beam switching process requires tracking the beam and timely feedback of the beam with better signal quality. The commonly used beam tracking solution is that after the initial beam connection between the terminal and the base station is established, the terminal monitors the quality of the downlink beam in real time, and reports the quality monitoring parameters of multiple beams to the base station, and the base station makes corresponding adjustments to the beam. In this process, the reporting information is carried on the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and is completed by a series of signaling interactions.

[0004] The above scheme includes a large number of measurements and information exchanges between the base station and the terminal. When frequent beam adjustments are performed, the above scheme will lead to a decrease in the connection performance between the terminal and the base station due to the large signaling interaction.

[0005] The preceding description is intended to provide general background information and does not necessarily constitute prior art. Summary of the invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a beam tracking method, device, and storage medium to solve the problem of decreased connection performance between a terminal and a base station due to large signaling interactions during frequent beam adjustments.

[0007] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam tracking method, applied to a terminal device, including:

[0008] Obtain beam adjustment information;

[0009] The beam adjustment information is sent through a first channel.

[0010] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data:

[0011] Channel quality;

[0012] Beam index value;

[0013] Beam adjustment direction.

[0014] In a possible implementation manner, the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0015] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel.

[0016] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0017] First information is received, where the first information is used to indicate a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel.

[0018] In a possible implementation manner, sending the beam adjustment information through the first channel includes:

[0019] The beam adjustment information is sent through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

[0020] In one possible implementation,

[0021] The preset time interval is at least one time slot; or,

[0022] The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or,

[0023] The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

[0024] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information is used to indicate a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in terms of spatial position or coverage direction.

[0026] In a possible implementation manner, the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmit beam is located at the position of the currently connected beam.

[0027] In a possible implementation manner, the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0028] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0029] The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired, and the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are sent to the network device.

[0030] In a possible implementation, if the beam adjustment information and control information (such as uplink control information (UCI)) need to be sent at the same time, the beam adjustment information can be sent through control information resources (such as physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) / physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)).

[0031] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam tracking method, which is applied to a network device, including:

[0032] receiving beam adjustment information via a first channel;

[0033] A first transmit beam is determined according to the beam adjustment information.

[0034] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data:

[0035] Channel quality;

[0036] Beam index value;

[0037] Beam adjustment direction.

[0038] In a possible implementation manner, the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0039] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0041] Sending first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information indicates a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel.

[0042] In a possible implementation manner, the receiving beam adjustment information through the first channel includes:

[0043] The beam adjustment information is received through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

[0044] In a possible implementation manner, the preset time interval is at least one time slot; or,

[0045] The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or,

[0046] The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

[0047] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

[0048] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information indicates a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in terms of spatial position or coverage direction.

[0049] In a possible implementation manner, the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmit beam is located at the position of the currently connected beam.

[0050] In a possible implementation manner, the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0051] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0052] The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired from the terminal device.

[0053] In a possible implementation, the method further includes:

[0054] Downlink data is sent to the terminal device via the first transmit beam.

[0055] In a possible implementation manner, if the beam adjustment information and the control information (such as UCI) are sent simultaneously, the beam adjustment information may be received via a control information resource (such as PUCCH / PUSCH).

[0056] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam tracking device, including:

[0057] An acquisition module, used for acquiring beam adjustment information;

[0058] A sending module is used to send the beam adjustment information through a first channel.

[0059] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data:

[0060] Channel quality;

[0061] Beam index value;

[0062] Beam adjustment direction.

[0063] In a possible implementation manner, the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0064] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel.

[0065] In a possible implementation manner, the acquisition module is further used to:

[0066] First information is received, where the first information is used to indicate a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel.

[0067] In a possible implementation manner, the sending module is specifically configured to:

[0068] The beam adjustment information is sent through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

[0069] In a possible implementation manner, the preset time interval is at least one time slot; or,

[0070] The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or,

[0071] The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

[0072] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

[0073] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information is used to indicate a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in terms of spatial position or coverage direction.

[0074] In a possible implementation manner, the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmit beam is located at the position of the currently connected beam.

[0075] In a possible implementation manner, the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0076] In a possible implementation manner, the acquisition module is further used to:

[0077] The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired, and the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are sent to a network device.

[0078] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam tracking device, including:

[0079] A receiving module, configured to receive beam adjustment information through a first channel;

[0080] The determination module is used to determine a first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information.

[0081] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data:

[0082] Channel quality;

[0083] Beam index value;

[0084] Beam adjustment direction.

[0085] In a possible implementation manner, the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0086] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel.

[0087] In a possible implementation manner, a sending module is further included, wherein the sending module is used to:

[0088] Sending first information to a terminal device, wherein the first information indicates a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel.

[0089] In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module is specifically configured to:

[0090] The beam adjustment information is received through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

[0091] In a possible implementation manner, the preset time interval is at least one time slot; or,

[0092] The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or,

[0093] The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

[0094] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

[0095] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information indicates a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in terms of spatial position or coverage direction.

[0096] In a possible implementation manner, the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmit beam is located at the position of the currently connected beam.

[0097] In a possible implementation manner, the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0098] In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module is further used for:

[0099] The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired from the terminal device.

[0100] In a possible implementation manner, the determining module is further configured to:

[0101] Downlink data is sent to the terminal device via the first transmit beam.

[0102] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including: a processor and a memory;

[0103] The memory stores computer-executable instructions;

[0104] When the computer-executable instructions are executed by the processor, the method as described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect is implemented.

[0105] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, they are used to implement a method as described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0106] The beam tracking method, device and storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application, after the terminal device obtains the beam adjustment information, sends the beam adjustment information through the first channel, the network device receives the beam adjustment information through the first channel, and determines the first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information to achieve beam tracking. The scheme provided in the embodiments of the present application, when the terminal device reports the beam adjustment information to the network device, uses a dedicated first channel for reporting without using an existing channel, so the beam adjustment information can be set at a fixed position in the first channel. During the reporting process, a large amount of measurement and information interaction between the network device and the terminal device is not required. When frequent beam adjustment and tracking are performed, signaling interaction is reduced, and the connection performance between the terminal device and the network device is improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0107] The drawings herein are incorporated into the specification and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present application, and are used together with the specification to explain the principles of the present application. In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below. Obviously, for ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative labor.

[0108] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0109] Figure 2 A signaling diagram of a beam tracking method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0110] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a beam tracking scheme;

[0111] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the preset position configuration provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0112] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a beam space information correspondence table provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0113] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of determining a first transmit beam provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0114] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a beam tracking device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0115] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a beam tracking device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0116] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0117] The realization of the purpose, functional features and advantages of this application will be further described in conjunction with the embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. The above-mentioned drawings have shown clear embodiments of this application, which will be described in more detail later. These drawings and textual descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the concept of this application in any way, but to illustrate the concept of this application to those skilled in the art by referring to specific embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0118] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical solution in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0119] First, the concepts involved in this application are explained.

[0120] Terminal equipment: usually has wireless transceiver function, and the terminal equipment can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on the water surface (such as ships, etc.); it can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons and satellites, etc.). The terminal equipment can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Pad), a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal equipment, an augmented reality (AR) terminal equipment, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a vehicle-mounted terminal equipment, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal equipment in remote medical, a wireless terminal equipment in smart grid, a wireless terminal equipment in transportation safety, a wireless terminal equipment in smart city, a wireless terminal equipment in smart home, a wearable terminal equipment, etc. The terminal equipment involved in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as a terminal, a user equipment (UE), an access terminal device, a vehicle-mounted terminal, an industrial control terminal, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal device, a mobile device, a UE terminal device, a wireless communication device, a UE agent or a UE apparatus, etc. The terminal equipment may also be fixed or mobile.

[0121] Network equipment: usually has wireless transceiver function, network equipment can have mobile characteristics, for example, network equipment can be a mobile device. In one embodiment, the network equipment can be a satellite or a balloon station. For example, the satellite can be a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite, a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite, a High Elliptical Orbit (HEO) satellite, etc. For example, the orbital altitude range of LEO satellites is usually 500km to 1500km, and the orbital period (the period of rotation around the earth) is about 1.5 hours to 2 hours. The signal propagation delay of single-hop communication between users is about 20ms, and the single-hop communication delay between users refers to the transmission delay between the terminal device and the network device, or the delay between the network device and the transmission device. The maximum satellite visible time is about 20 minutes, and the maximum visible time refers to the longest time that the satellite's beam covers a certain area on the ground. The LEO satellite is mobile relative to the ground, and as the satellite moves, the ground area it covers also changes. The signal propagation distance of LEO satellites is short, the link loss is small, and the transmission power requirements of terminal equipment are not high. The orbital altitude of GEO satellites is usually 35786km, and the orbital period is 24 hours. The signal propagation delay of single-hop communication between users is about 250ms. In order to ensure satellite coverage and improve the system capacity of the communication network, satellites can use multiple beams to cover the ground. For example, a satellite can form dozens or hundreds of beams to cover the ground, and one beam can cover a ground area with a diameter of tens to hundreds of kilometers. Of course, the network equipment can also be a base station set up in land, water and other locations. For example, the network equipment can be a next-generation base station (next generation NodeB, gNB) or a next-generation evolved base station (next generation-evolved NodeB, ng-eNB). Among them, gNB provides the user plane function and control plane function of the new radio (NR) for the UE, and ng-eNB provides the user plane function and control plane function of the evolved universal terrestrial radio access (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, E-UTRA) for the UE. It should be noted that gNB and ng-eNB are just names used to indicate base stations that support the 5G network system and do not have a restrictive meaning.The network device may also be a base station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, a base station (nodeB, NB) in a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, or an evolutionary base station (eNB or eNodeB) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. Alternatively, the network device may also be a relay station, an access point, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a network-side device in a network after 5G, or a network device, a road site unit (RSU) in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc.

[0122] Beam: refers to the property that the energy of the electromagnetic waves emitted by the antenna is concentrated in a certain area in space.

[0123] SR: Schedule Request.

[0124] UL Grant: Uplink Scheduling Grant.

[0125] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 , including a network device 101 and a terminal device 102 . The network device 101 can transmit a beam 103 , and the terminal device 102 is located within the coverage range of the beam 103 .

[0126] The network including the network device 101 and the terminal device 102 may also be referred to as a non-terrestrial communication network (NTN), wherein NTN refers to a communication network between a terminal device and a satellite (also referred to as a network device).

[0127] When the terminal device 102 moves under the coverage of multiple high-frequency beams, the connected beam needs to be tracked and switched quickly to ensure the connection between the terminal device 102 and the network device 101.

[0128] It should be noted that a network device may include multiple transmission receiving points (Transmit Receive Point, referred to as TRP). In the embodiment of the present application, the network device 101 may also be a TRP.

[0129] It can be understood that the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to NR communication technology, NR refers to a new generation of wireless access network technology, which can be applied to future evolution networks, such as future 5G systems. The solution in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to other wireless communication networks such as Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) and Long Term Evolution (LTE), and the corresponding names can also be replaced by the names of corresponding functions in other wireless communication networks.

[0130] The network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. A person of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that with the evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0131] Figure 2 A signaling diagram of the beam tracking method provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 2 As shown, the method may include:

[0132] S21, the terminal device obtains beam adjustment information.

[0133] After the initial beam connection between the terminal device and the network device is established, the terminal device will monitor the quality of the downlink beam in real time, and obtain beam adjustment information based on the quality of the downlink beam obtained through monitoring.

[0134] S22, the terminal device sends the beam adjustment information through the first channel.

[0135] After acquiring the beam adjustment information, the terminal device will periodically or non-periodically report the beam adjustment information to the network device. In the embodiment of the present application, a first channel dedicated to transmitting the beam adjustment information is set, and the terminal device sends the beam adjustment information to the network device through the dedicated first channel.

[0136] S23, the network device receives beam adjustment information through the first channel.

[0137] After the terminal device sends the beam adjustment information to the network device, the network device receives the beam adjustment information through the first channel.

[0138] S24: The network device determines a first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information.

[0139] After receiving the beam adjustment information, the network device can obtain the quality of each downlink beam based on the beam adjustment information, and thus can select a first transmission beam from the quality of each downlink beam as the beam for subsequent connection with the terminal device.

[0140] The beam tracking method provided in the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device obtains the beam adjustment information, sends the beam adjustment information through the first channel, the network device receives the beam adjustment information through the first channel, and determines the first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information to achieve beam tracking. The scheme provided in the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device reports the beam adjustment information to the network device, uses a dedicated first channel for reporting without using an existing channel, so the beam adjustment information can be set at a fixed position of the first channel. During the reporting process, a large amount of measurement and information interaction between the network device and the terminal device is not required. When frequent beam adjustment and tracking are performed, signaling interaction is reduced, and the connection performance between the terminal device and the network device is improved.

[0141] The solution of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

[0142] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a beam tracking scheme is shown in Figure 3 As shown in the figure, in the current beam tracking solution, after the initial beam connection between the UE and the gNB is established, the UE will monitor the quality of the downlink beam in real time, and periodically or non-periodically report the quality monitoring parameters of multiple beams to the gNB. The gNB receives the quality monitoring parameters of the multiple beams and adjusts the beams according to the quality monitoring parameters. The specific steps are as follows:

[0143] S31, the UE determines whether there is data to be transmitted, and if so, executes S32.

[0144] In S31, the data that the UE needs to transmit is the quality monitoring parameters of multiple beams. When the UE has quality monitoring parameters to transmit, S32 is executed, otherwise, the UE does not perform any operation.

[0145] S32, the UE determines whether it can send an SR, and if so, executes S33.

[0146] S33, UE sends SR to gNB via PUCCH.

[0147] UE requests uplink resources from gNB by sending SR to gNB. UE can transmit SR through control message UCI in PUCCH at a certain period and subframe according to the configuration of upper layer. SR is only used to inform gNB whether there is resource demand, and the specific amount of resources required is told to gNB by subsequent signaling interaction.

[0148] S34, gNB sends UL Grant to UE via PDCCH.

[0149] UL Grant is a physical control information from gNB, which is used to tell UE that it can send data. After receiving SR, gNB sends UL Grant. In UL Grant, it also carries relevant information to send data. For example, it can tell UE that UE can send data after 4ms, that is, after 4 subframes.

[0150] S35, the UE sends quality monitoring parameters via PUSCH.

[0151] After receiving the UL Grant sent by the gNB, the UE can report the quality monitoring parameters of multiple beams according to the instructions of the UL Grant.

[0152] In the above Figure 3 In the example beam tracking scheme, since the quality monitoring parameters of multiple beams are reported, other channels, such as PUSCH, need to be occupied, and PUSCH may also carry other information. Therefore, each time the quality monitoring parameters are transmitted through PUSCH, a large amount of measurement and information interaction are required between the terminal device and the network device. For example, the information that needs to be synchronized between the terminal device and the network device includes the size of the quality monitoring parameters, the position on PUSCH, including the time domain position and the frequency domain position, etc.

[0153] therefore, Figure 3 In the example solution, the beam tracking solution has a large amount of signaling interaction and is not suitable for systems that require frequent adjustments. In high-frequency systems, due to the limitations of beam energy and beam width, the coverage of each beam is very limited. When the position of the terminal device changes, frequent beam adjustments will occur. If a large amount of signaling interaction is performed each time a beam adjustment is performed, the system burden will be heavy, which will lead to a serious decline in the connection performance of the terminal device and the network device.

[0154] Based on this, an embodiment of the present application provides a beam tracking solution, which uses a dedicated first channel to send beam adjustment information, thereby greatly reducing signaling interaction during beam adjustment.

[0155] Specifically, in the high-frequency beam tracking state, a first channel is set up to be dedicated to uplink feedback resources, namely, beam adjustment information. The beam adjustment information is transmitted in the first channel, and the first channel is different from the existing PDCCH, PUCCH, PUSCH and other channels, and is a channel set up specifically for transmitting beam adjustment information.

[0156] Since the first channel is dedicated to transmitting the beam adjustment information, it does not need to share the channel with other information that needs to be carried.

[0157] In one implementation, the beam adjustment information may be set at a preset position of the first channel, and the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0158] In one embodiment, the size of the beam adjustment information can be set to a fixed value, or the beam adjustment information can be set within a fixed size range, so that when the terminal device sends the beam adjustment information through the first channel, the network device can obtain the beam adjustment information in a fixed area of ​​the first channel.

[0159] In one implementation, the network device may send first information to the terminal device, the first information indicating the starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel, and after receiving the first information, the terminal device may send beam adjustment information according to the starting position in the time domain and / or frequency domain indicated by the first information. Since the preset position is configured by the network device for the terminal device through the first information, the network device can learn the position of the preset position in the first channel, and then obtain the beam adjustment information at the corresponding position.

[0160] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the preset position configuration provided in the embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 4 As shown, for example, the network device can configure a channel starting position through the Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Media Access Control (MAC) layers, including Lindex and Cindex, where Lindex represents the frequency domain starting position and Cindex represents the time domain starting position.

[0161] exist Figure 4 In the figure, the horizontal direction represents the time slot, where each small square in the horizontal direction represents a time domain unit, and the vertical direction represents the bandwidth part, where each small square in the vertical direction represents a frequency domain unit. In the activated bandwidth part (Bandwidth Part, BWP), the time-frequency resources of different UEs can be distinguished by controlling different time domain starting positions. Lindex and Cindex have a corresponding relationship with the UEs in the activated bandwidth part (Bandwidth Part, referred to as BWP).

[0162] When the time domain unit and frequency domain unit occupied by the beam adjustment information are constant, the beam adjustment information is carried by the first channel, and only the time domain starting position and frequency domain starting position of the beam adjustment information need to be configured. Figure 4In the example, the beam adjustment information occupies one time domain unit and 13 frequency domain units. As long as the frequency domain starting position of the beam adjustment information is known through Lindex at the fourth unit of the activated BWP, and the time domain starting unit of the beam adjustment information is known through Cindex at the sixth unit of the time slot, the position of the beam adjustment information in the first channel can be determined, such as Figure 4 The black part is shown in the figure.

[0163] In one implementation, the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position of the beam adjustment information can be configured through the RRC or MAC of the network device. In this case, the network device needs to send a first message to the terminal device to inform the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position of the preset position, combined with the information length of the beam adjustment information, so as to determine that the beam adjustment information is located at the preset position of the first channel, such as Figure 4 The black area in the middle. The frequency domain start position and time domain start position configured each time can be the same or different.

[0164] In one embodiment, the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position may also be fixed configurations of the system, that is, the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position are both fixed values, and the terminal device and the network device can know the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position in advance. Since the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position are both fixed configurations of the system, the network device no longer needs to send the first information to the terminal device separately to inform the frequency domain starting position and the time domain starting position, further reducing the signaling interaction between the network device and the terminal device in beam tracking and adjustment.

[0165] In one embodiment, the beam tracking scheme can also be designed as a multiplexable mechanism. For example, if beam adjustment information and control information (such as UCI) need to be sent at the same time, the beam adjustment information can be multiplexed into the UCI and sent through UCI resources, such as PUCCH / PUSCH. At this time, in addition to carrying at least one of channel state information (CSI), acknowledgment (ACK) / negative acknowledgment (NACK), hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) or SR, UCI also needs to add a beam adjustment information to save resources.

[0166] When in the beam tracking state, the higher layer can configure the reporting period, for example, it can configure feedback per time slot or per subframe, or configure the interval of uplink symbol feedback according to a parameter, and so on.

[0167] In one implementation, feedback can also be provided by designing a specific PUCCH format, for example, PUCCH format 5 is designed to carry beam adjustment information. Since the length of the beam adjustment information is fixed and the length does not change after channel coding, the length of the PUCCH format is fixed, and only the time domain starting position and the frequency domain starting position need to be configured.

[0168] When in beam tracking state, the higher layer (RRC, MAC) can configure the beam measurement period. The corresponding beam tracking information is sent through PUCCH. Feedback can be configured for each time slot or each subframe, or the interval of uplink symbol feedback can be configured according to a parameter.

[0169] When there is no other UCI that needs feedback, PUCCH format 5 is sent. When there is other UCI that needs feedback, the beam tracking feedback information can be multiplexed with other UCI and sent together. At this time, UCI can also support multiplexing with PUSCH.

[0170] The beam adjustment information may indicate the channel quality, the beam index value, or the beam adjustment direction.

[0171] When the beam adjustment information indicates a beam index value, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam, and the network device can determine the corresponding first transmit beam according to the beam index of the at least one beam.

[0172] When the beam adjustment information indicates the beam adjustment direction, the beam adjustment information includes the beam adjustment direction information, and the network device can determine the corresponding first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment direction information.

[0173] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information is used to indicate a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in terms of spatial position or coverage direction.

[0174] When the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, it can be assisted by a beam space information correspondence table.

[0175] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a beam space information correspondence table provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 5 As shown, it illustrates the beams that a TRP or a network device can transmit, and the spatial relative position relationship of each beam. Figure 5 The horizontal direction is the horizontal direction, and the vertical direction is the vertical direction.

[0176] exist Figure 5In the figure, each CB represents a beam, different beams are numbered differently, and the position of each beam in the figure reflects the spatial information of the beam. Figure 5 In the figure, CB10 and CB11 are adjacent, which means that the coverage of CB10 is close to that of CB11. CB11 is between CB10 and CB12, which means that the coverage of CB11 is between that of CB10 and CB12, and so on. Figure 5 The position in basically corresponds to the position of the coverage range of the corresponding beam.

[0177] According to the beam space information correspondence table, the position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in the spatial position or coverage direction can be known, wherein the position arrangement relationship can indicate that the first transmission beam is located at the position of the current connection beam. For example, the position can be above, below, left, right, upper left, lower left, upper right, lower right, etc. When the beam adjustment information indicates the direction, for example, only 2 bits are needed for four directions and only 3 bits are needed for eight directions, and when the beam adjustment information indicates the beam index, more bits are needed, for example, 64 beams require 6 bits, 128 beams require 7 bits, etc. By adjusting the beam direction information, resources can be saved and decoding performance can be improved.

[0178] Typically, the terminal device acquires the signal qualities of multiple measurement beams, and the beam adjustment information includes the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams. After the network device acquires the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams, the first transmit beam may be determined based on the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams. For example, a beam with a higher signal quality may be selected from the multiple transmit beams as the first transmit beam, so that the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal qualities of other beams in the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0179] For example, Figure 5 , CB11 is located to the right of CB10, CB20 is located to the left of CB21, CB37 is located below CB29 and above CB45, CB37 is also located to the lower right of CB28, and so on.

[0180] Furthermore, the beam adjustment information may include not only the beam adjustment direction information but also the adjustment unit. Figure 5 In the example, CB19 and CB20 are both located to the right of CB18. If an adjustment unit, such as 1 unit, can be included, it can be determined that the indicated beam is CB19, not CB20. If the adjustment unit is not included, a preset unit, such as 1 unit, can be selected.

[0181] Figure 6A schematic diagram of determining a first transmit beam provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 6 As shown, a corresponding table of beam space information of a network device is shown, wherein CB19 is the current connection beam of the terminal device and the network device. If the beam adjustment direction information in the beam adjustment information indicates the right direction at this time, the default unit is one unit, then it can be determined that CB20 located to the right of CB19 is the first transmission beam. In the above manner, according to the beam adjustment information, the network device can determine the first transmission beam. Furthermore, downlink data can also be sent to the terminal device according to the first transmission beam.

[0182] The beam tracking method provided in the embodiment of the present application, after the terminal device obtains the beam adjustment information, sends the beam adjustment information through the first channel, the network device receives the beam adjustment information through the first channel, and determines the first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information to achieve beam tracking. The scheme provided in the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device reports the beam adjustment information to the network device, uses a dedicated first channel for reporting without using an existing channel, so the beam adjustment information can be set at a fixed position of the first channel. During the reporting process, a large amount of measurement and information interaction between the network device and the terminal device is not required. When frequent beam adjustment and tracking are performed, signaling interaction is reduced, and the connection performance between the terminal device and the network device is improved.

[0183] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of the structure of a beam tracking device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 7 As shown, the beam tracking device 70 includes:

[0184] An acquisition module 71 is used to acquire beam adjustment information;

[0185] The sending module 72 is configured to send the beam adjustment information through a first channel.

[0186] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data:

[0187] Channel quality;

[0188] Beam index value;

[0189] Beam adjustment direction.

[0190] In a possible implementation manner, the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0191] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel.

[0192] In a possible implementation manner, the acquisition module 71 is further configured to:

[0193] First information is received, where the first information is used to indicate a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel.

[0194] In a possible implementation manner, the sending module 72 is specifically configured to:

[0195] The beam adjustment information is sent through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

[0196] In a possible implementation manner, the preset time interval is at least one time slot; or,

[0197] The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or,

[0198] The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

[0199] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

[0200] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information is used to indicate a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in a spatial position or a coverage direction.

[0201] In a possible implementation manner, the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmit beam is located at the position of the currently connected beam.

[0202] In a possible implementation manner, the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0203] In a possible implementation manner, the acquisition module 71 is further configured to:

[0204] The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired, and the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are sent to the network device.

[0205] The beam tracking device provided in the embodiment of the present application is used to execute the above method embodiment. Its implementation principle and technical effect are similar, and this embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0206] Figure 8 A schematic diagram of the structure of a beam tracking device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 8 As shown, the beam tracking device 80 includes:

[0207] A receiving module 81, configured to receive beam adjustment information via a first channel;

[0208] The determination module 82 is configured to determine a first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information.

[0209] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data:

[0210] Channel quality;

[0211] Beam index value;

[0212] Beam adjustment direction.

[0213] In a possible implementation manner, the size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

[0214] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel.

[0215] In a possible implementation manner, a sending module is further included, wherein the sending module is used to:

[0216] Sending first information to the terminal device, wherein the first information indicates a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel.

[0217] In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 81 is specifically configured to:

[0218] The beam adjustment information is received through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

[0219] In a possible implementation manner, the preset time interval is at least one time slot; or,

[0220] The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or,

[0221] The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

[0222] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

[0223] In a possible implementation manner, the beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information indicates a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in terms of spatial position or coverage direction.

[0224] In a possible implementation manner, the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmit beam is located at the position of the currently connected beam.

[0225] In a possible implementation manner, the signal quality of the first transmit beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmit beam.

[0226] In a possible implementation manner, the receiving module 81 is further configured to:

[0227] The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired from the terminal device.

[0228] In a possible implementation manner, the determining module 82 is further configured to:

[0229] Downlink data is sent to the terminal device via the first transmit beam.

[0230] The beam processing device provided in the embodiment of the present application is used to execute the above method embodiment. Its implementation principle and technical effect are similar, and this embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0231] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device of this embodiment includes: a processor 91 and a memory 92;

[0232] A memory 92, for storing computer programs;

[0233] The processor 91 is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory to implement the various steps performed by the network device in the above embodiment, or to implement the various steps performed by the terminal device in the above embodiment. For details, please refer to the relevant description in the above method embodiment.

[0234] In one implementation, the memory 92 may be independent of the processor 91 or the communication device, or may be within the processor 91 or the communication device. The memory 92 may be a physically independent unit, or may be a storage space on a cloud server or a network hard disk.

[0235] When the memory 92 is a device independent of the processor 91 , the communication device may further include: a bus 93 for connecting the memory 92 and the processor 91 .

[0236] The bus 93 may be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, the bus in the drawings of the present application is not limited to only one bus or one type of bus.

[0237] In addition, the processor 91 can be a central processing unit, a general processor, a digital signal processor (English: Digital Signal Processor, abbreviated: DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (English: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, abbreviated: ASIC), a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in the application can be directly embodied as a hardware processor to be executed, or a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor can be executed. It can implement or execute various exemplary logic boxes, modules and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosure of this application.

[0238] The processor may also be a combination that realizes the computing function, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, etc. In addition, the memory 92 may include: volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM); the memory may also include non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, hard disk (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD), cloud storage, network attached storage (NAS: Network Attached Storage), network drive, etc.; the memory may also include a combination of the above-mentioned types of memory or any other medium or product with storage function.

[0239] The communication device provided in this embodiment can be used to execute the method executed by the network device or terminal in the above embodiment. Its implementation principle and technical effect are similar, and this embodiment will not be repeated here.

[0240] An embodiment of the present application further provides a storage medium, wherein the storage medium includes a computer program, and the computer program is used to implement the methods described in various possible implementation modes as above.

[0241] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program code. When the computer program code is executed on a computer, the computer executes the methods described in the various possible implementation modes above.

[0242] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip, including a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, so that a communication device equipped with the chip executes the methods described in the various possible implementation modes above.

[0243] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes the network device and the terminal device in the above embodiment.

[0244] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the modules is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple modules can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0245] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as modules may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0246] In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into a processing unit, each module can exist physically separately, or two or more modules can be integrated into one unit. The above module integration unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

[0247] The above-mentioned integrated module implemented in the form of a software function module can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The above-mentioned software function module is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (English: processor) to perform some steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application.

[0248] The above storage medium can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or a combination thereof, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk. The storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer.

[0249] An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be located in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Of course, the processor and the storage medium can also exist in the device as discrete components.

[0250] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "include", "comprises" or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a ..." does not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the element.

[0251] It should be understood that, although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used to describe various information in this article, these information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish the same type of information from each other. For example, without departing from the scope of this article, the first information may also be referred to as the second information, and similarly, the second information may also be referred to as the first information. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein can be interpreted as "at the time of..." or "when..." or "in response to determination". Furthermore, as used in this article, the singular forms "one", "one" and "the" are intended to also include plural forms, unless there is an opposite indication in the context. It should be further understood that the terms "comprising", "including" indicate that there are described features, steps, operations, elements, components, projects, kinds, and / or groups, but do not exclude the existence, occurrence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations, elements, components, projects, kinds, and / or groups. The terms "or" and "and / or" used herein are interpreted as inclusive, or mean any one or any combination. Thus, “A, B, or C” or “A, B and / or C” means “any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; A and C; B and C; A, B, and C.” An exception to this definition will occur only when a combination of elements, functions, steps, or operations are inherently mutually exclusive in some manner.

[0252] It should be understood that, although the various steps in the flow chart in the above-described embodiment are sequentially displayed according to the indication of the arrows, these steps are not necessarily executed in sequence in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless there is a clear explanation in this article, the execution of these steps does not have a strict order restriction, and it can be executed in other orders. Moreover, at least a portion of the steps in the figure may include a plurality of sub-steps or a plurality of stages, and these sub-steps or stages are not necessarily executed at the same time, but can be executed at different times, and the execution order thereof does not have to be performed sequentially, but can be executed in turn or alternately with at least a portion of other steps or sub-steps or stages of other steps.

[0253] It should be noted that in this article, step codes such as S21, S22, etc. are used for the purpose of expressing the corresponding content more clearly and concisely, and do not constitute a substantial limitation on the order. When implementing the step, those skilled in the art may execute S22 first and then S21, etc., but these should all be within the scope of protection of this application.

[0254] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the embodiments of the present application have been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein by equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A beam tracking method, applied to a terminal device, characterized in that: include: Obtain beam adjustment information; Sending the beam adjustment information through a first channel, where the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel, and the first channel is a channel set up specifically for transmitting the beam adjustment information; receiving first information, where the first information is used to indicate a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel; The beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information is used to indicate a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in a spatial position or a coverage direction; the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmission beam is located at the position of the current connection beam; The signal quality of the first transmitting beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmitting beam.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data: Channel quality; Beam index value; Beam adjustment direction.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The sending the beam adjustment information through the first channel includes: The beam adjustment information is sent through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The preset time interval is at least one time slot; or, The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or, The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The beam adjustment information also includes a beam index of at least one beam.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The method further comprises: The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired, and the signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are sent to a network device.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that If the beam adjustment information and the control information need to be sent at the same time, the beam adjustment information may be sent via the control information resource.

9. A beam tracking method, applied to a network device, characterized in that: include: Receiving beam adjustment information through a first channel, where the first channel is a channel set up specifically for transmitting the beam adjustment information; Determine a first transmit beam according to the beam adjustment information; the beam adjustment information is located at a preset position of the first channel; Sending first information to a terminal device, where the first information indicates a starting position of the preset position in the time domain and / or frequency domain occupied by the first channel; The beam adjustment information includes beam adjustment direction information, and the beam adjustment direction information indicates a position arrangement relationship between the current connection beam and the first transmission beam in a spatial position or a coverage direction; the position arrangement relationship indicates that the first transmission beam is located at the position of the current connection beam; The signal quality of the first transmitting beam is higher than the signal quality of other beams among the multiple measurement beams except the first transmitting beam.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The beam adjustment information is used to indicate at least one of the following data: Channel quality; Beam index value; Beam adjustment direction.

11. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The size of the beam adjustment information is at least one bit.

12. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The receiving beam adjustment information through the first channel includes: The beam adjustment information is received through the first channel according to a preset time interval.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The preset time interval is at least one time slot; or, The preset time interval is at least one subframe; or, The preset time interval is at least one uplink symbol.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that The beam adjustment information includes a beam index of at least one beam.

15. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that The method further comprises: The signal qualities of the multiple measurement beams are acquired from the terminal device.

16. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that The method further comprises: Downlink data is sent to the terminal device via the first transmitting beam.

17. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, characterized in that If the beam adjustment information and the control information are sent simultaneously, the beam adjustment information may be received via the control information resource.

18. A communication device, characterized in that: include: Processor, memory; The memory stores computer-executable instructions; When the computer-executable instructions are executed by the processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 is implemented.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer-executable instructions, which are used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17 when the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor.

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