Analog beam switching method, device and apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

Provided in an embodiment of the present application are an analog beam switching method, device and apparatus, and a storage medium, the method comprising: a network device determining an analog beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located; and carrying out analog beam switching at the analog beam switching point. Through the analog beam switching method, equipment and apparatus, and the storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present application, a symbol knockout operation is not required, the integrity of the transmission symbol is improved, and resource waste is avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to an analog beam switching method, device, apparatus and storage medium. Background Art

[0002] In the digital-analog hybrid massive antenna active antenna unit (AAU), when analog beam switching, due to hardware limitations, the switching delay will affect the integrity of the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol. In order to avoid the impact of the switching delay on the symbol integrity, the existing practice is to introduce a symbol drop operation when analog beam switching to protect the symbol integrity before and after the beam switching. However, symbol drop will cause a waste of resources. Summary of the invention

[0003] In view of the problems existing in the prior art, the embodiments of the present application provide a method, device, apparatus and storage medium for analog beam switching.

[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an analog beam switching method, which is applied to a network device, including:

[0005] Determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located;

[0006] The analog beam switching starts at the analog beam switching point.

[0007] In some embodiments, the determining of the simulated beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes:

[0008] Determine the end time of a previous time unit of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as the simulated beam switching point;

[0009] The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to a first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

[0010] In some embodiments,

[0011] In the case where the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay;

[0012] When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

[0013] In some embodiments, the beam management reference signal comprises a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

[0014] In some embodiments, the time unit comprises an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

[0015] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, including a memory, a transceiver, and a processor;

[0016] A memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data under the control of the processor; and a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:

[0017] Determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located;

[0018] The analog beam switching starts at the analog beam switching point.

[0019] In some embodiments, the determining of the simulated beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes:

[0020] Determine the end time of a previous time unit of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as the simulated beam switching point;

[0021] The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to a first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

[0022] In some embodiments,

[0023] When the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay;

[0024] When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

[0025] In some embodiments, the beam management reference signal comprises a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

[0026] In some embodiments, the time unit comprises an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

[0027] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides an analog beam switching device, including:

[0028] A determination unit, configured to determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located;

[0029] The switching unit is used to start analog beam switching at the analog beam switching point.

[0030] In some embodiments, the determining of the simulated beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes:

[0031] Determine the end time of a previous time unit of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as the simulated beam switching point;

[0032] The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to a first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

[0033] In some embodiments,

[0034] In the case where the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay;

[0035] When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

[0036] In some embodiments, the beam management reference signal comprises a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

[0037] In some embodiments, the time unit comprises an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

[0038] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used to enable a computer to execute the simulated beam switching method described in the first aspect above.

[0039] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, in which a computer program is stored, and the computer program is used to enable the communication device to execute the analog beam switching method described in the first aspect above.

[0040] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a processor-readable storage medium, wherein the processor-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used to enable the processor to execute the analog beam switching method described in the first aspect above.

[0041] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip product, wherein a computer program is stored in the chip product, and the computer program is used to enable the chip product to execute the analog beam switching method described in the first aspect as described above.

[0042] The analog beam switching method, device, apparatus and storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application determine the analog beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and start analog beam switching at the analog beam switching point. There is no need to drop symbols, which improves the integrity of the transmitted symbols and avoids waste of resources. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the related technologies, the following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the related technical descriptions. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0044] Figure 1 It is one of the flowcharts of the analog beam switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0045] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a method for comparing the impact of introducing a switch delay on RSRP measurement of a CSI-RS (for BM) provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] Figure 3 is a waveform diagram of a windowing function provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] Figure 4 This is one of the comparison diagrams of the ideal beam power provided in the embodiment of the present application and the beam power after adding the switching delay;

[0048] Figure 5 This is the second comparison diagram of the ideal beam power provided by the embodiment of the present application and the beam power after adding the switching delay;

[0049] Figure 6 This is the third comparison diagram of the ideal beam power provided by the embodiment of the present application and the beam power after adding the switching delay;

[0050] Figure 7 This is the second flow chart of the analog beam switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0051] Figure 8 It is a structural diagram of a corresponding CSI-RS configured in a 5G frame structure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] Fig. 9 It is a structural diagram of performing simulated beam switching before a CSI-RS (for BM) symbol provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] Fig.10 It is a structural diagram of performing simulated beam switching after a CSI-RS (for BM) symbol provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] Fig.11 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Fig.12 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the analog beam switching device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "and / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0057] In the embodiments of the present application, the term "plurality" refers to two or more than two, and other quantifiers are similar.

[0058] In the embodiments of the present application, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way can be interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described here, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same type, and the number of objects is not limited. For example, the first object can be one or more.

[0059] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only 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.

[0060] In order to facilitate a clearer understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, some technical contents related to the embodiments of the present application are first introduced.

[0061] In the 5th generation mobile communication (5G) system in the Sub 6GHz frequency band, large-scale antennas with more arrays of analog-digital hybrid beams improve the antenna's beamforming gain by combining analog beamforming with digital beamforming without increasing the number and cost of existing AAU video channels. With the AAU radiation power unchanged, the improvement in beamforming gain effectively improves the coverage range of existing 5G base stations and improves edge coverage capabilities. However, since the high-gain analog-digital hybrid beamforming is narrower and the coverage range is reduced, in order to meet the AAU's complete cell coverage requirements, analog beam switching is introduced to enable the AAU to cover different areas on different time domain resources, ultimately completing the coverage of the entire cell.

[0062] However, the existing analog beam switching delay is greatly affected by the phase modulation speed of the analog shaping device (RF switch, phase shifter). The main reason is that the transmission power of the RF channel is large, the signal has a tail when it is turned off, and there is a rise delay when it is turned on. If the analog beam is switched directly at the end of the symbol, the integrity of the subsequent OFDM symbols will be affected. In order to circumvent the above problems, the conventional practice is to introduce a symbol drop operation when switching the analog beam to protect the symbol integrity before and after the beam switching.

[0063] In order to avoid the impact of switching delay on symbol integrity, the traditional analog beam switching method adopts the method of discarding unused symbols, which is an obvious waste of resources.

[0064] To solve this problem, the inventors of the present application conducted a theoretical analysis of the beam management reference signal and combined it with preliminary simulations, and found that the beam management reference signal may not be affected by the signal incompleteness caused by the switching delay. Therefore, on this basis, a simulated beam switching method is proposed to avoid the waste of symbol resources.

[0065] Figure 1 One of the flow diagrams of the analog beam switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application is applied to a network device, such as Figure 1 As shown, the method comprises the following steps:

[0066] Step 100: Determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located.

[0067] Step 101: Start analog beam switching at an analog beam switching point.

[0068] Specifically, when the location of a network device (such as a base station) or a terminal changes, the transmission effect of the current analog beam may not be the best. At this time, the network device needs to switch the analog beam.

[0069] The network device can determine the switching point for analog beam switching (i.e., the analog beam switching point) according to the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located. The beam management reference signal refers to a reference signal that can be used for beam management. It can be an existing reference signal for beam management or a newly defined reference signal for beam management, which is not specifically limited here.

[0070] In some embodiments, the beam management reference signal may include a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS).

[0071] In some embodiments, the time unit may include an OFDM symbol, that is, the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located may be the OFDM symbol where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0072] In one implementation, the switching point for performing analog beam switching is determined according to the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located. The switching point for performing analog beam switching may be determined within the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0073] For example, the switching point of the simulated beam switching may be determined at the head and / or tail of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0074] After the analog beam switching point is determined, the network device can start analog beam switching at the analog beam switching point.

[0075] The following briefly introduces the simulation verification process of the inventor using CSI-RS to simulate beam switching.

[0076] For a typical 5G Multiple-In Multiple-Out (MIMO) communication system, assuming that there are 8 simulated beam resources, the system needs to switch between these 8 beams in time division when working, and at the same time, it needs to measure the signal quality of these 8 simulated beams. Here, the base station sends 8 CSI-RS (for beam management (BM)) for simulated beam measurement as an example. The terminal measures the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the 8 CSI-RS (for BM) and feeds back the simulated beam with the strongest RSRP as the best simulated beam for subsequent scheduling of users.

[0077] Figure 2 A flow chart of a method for comparing the impact of introducing a switch delay on RSRP measurement of a CSI-RS (for BM) provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 2As shown, the method comprises the following steps:

[0078] First, 8 frequency-domain quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) sequences are generated to characterize different beam management reference signals CSI-RS. Then, 8 time-domain OFDM sequences for downlink transmission are obtained through inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). At the same time, 8 time-domain OFDM sequences affected by switch delays are obtained by windowing the OFDM time-domain sequences. Subsequently, two parallel branches are used to add path loss, add noise, and perform fast Fourier transform (FFT) operations on the two OFDM sequences to obtain the frequency-domain QPSK sequence at the receiving end, and the constellation diagrams of the beams with and without switch delays are compared, as well as the received power of the corresponding signals of different beams.

[0079] Figure 3 A waveform diagram of a windowing function provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 3 As shown in Figure 1, the windowing function experiments the signal loss caused by switching at the front and back of an OFDM symbol containing 4096 symbol points. The rising delay during the switching process is simulated by gradually increasing the windowing coefficient from 0 to 1 at the front of the OFDM symbol, and the falling delay during the switching process is simulated by gradually reducing the windowing coefficient from 1 to 0 at the back of the OFDM symbol.

[0080] The following is an experiment comparing beam powers under different signal-to-noise ratio conditions. In this experiment, the power of frequency-domain QPSK sequences of different OFDM symbols is summed and compared. Before and after windowing, the order of normalized power of different beams remains unchanged.

[0081] Figure 4 This is one of the comparison diagrams of the ideal beam power provided in the embodiment of the present application and the beam power after adding the switching delay, such as Figure 4 As shown in the figure, the beam power comparison when the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is 10dB. It can be seen from the figure that the beam power of the 8 time-domain OFDM sequences after adding the switching delay is basically the same as the beam power of the 8 time-domain OFDM sequences without the switching delay (that is, the line segments used to represent the beam power after adding the switching delay and the ideal beam power in the figure basically coincide), so when the SNR is 10dB, the introduction of the switching delay does not affect the calculation of the beam signal strength, nor does it affect the selection of the strongest beam.

[0082] Figure 5 The second comparison diagram of the ideal beam power provided in the embodiment of the present application and the beam power after adding the switching delay is shown in FIG. Figure 5 As shown in the figure, the beam power comparison when the SNR is 0dB. It can be seen from the figure that the beam power of the 8 time-domain OFDM sequences after adding the switching delay is basically the same as the beam power of the 8 time-domain OFDM sequences without the switching delay (that is, the line segments used to represent the beam power after adding the switching delay and the ideal beam power in the figure basically coincide), so when the SNR is 0dB, the introduction of the switching delay does not affect the calculation of the beam signal strength, nor does it affect the selection of the strongest beam.

[0083] Figure 6 The third comparison diagram of the ideal beam power provided in the embodiment of the present application and the beam power after adding the switching delay is shown in FIG. Figure 6 As shown in the figure, the beam power comparison when the SNR is -10dB. It can be seen from the figure that the beam power of the 8 time-domain OFDM sequences after adding the switching delay is basically the same as the beam power of the 8 time-domain OFDM sequences without the switching delay (that is, the line segments used to represent the beam power after adding the switching delay and the ideal beam power in the figure basically coincide), so when the SNR is -10dB, the introduction of the switching delay does not affect the calculation of the beam signal strength, nor does it affect the selection of the strongest beam.

[0084] According to the above beam power comparison, it can be determined that under various noise conditions, whether the signal is windowed or not does not affect the calculation of the signal strength of different beams, and the selection of the strongest beam will not be wrong. This proves that the RSRP measurement of CSI-RS (for BM) by the terminal is not affected by the signal incompleteness caused by the switching delay.

[0085] Of course, those skilled in the art can understand that, based on similar principles, other reference signals used for beam management may also not be affected by the signal incompleteness caused by switching delays, and thus can also be used to simulate the selection of beam switching points, which will not be elaborated in this application.

[0086] The analog beam switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application determines the analog beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and starts the analog beam switching at the analog beam switching point. There is no need to drop symbols, which improves the integrity of the transmission symbols and avoids waste of resources.

[0087] In some embodiments, determining the analog beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes:

[0088] Determine the end time of a time unit before the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as a simulated beam switching point;

[0089] The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to the first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

[0090] Specifically, the network device can determine the end time of the previous time unit of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located as the simulated beam switching point, or it can determine the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located as the simulated beam switching point.

[0091] The first moment refers to the moment when the time interval between the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to the first duration. The first duration can be determined according to the rise delay and fall delay of the analog beam switching. The rise delay of the analog beam switching is the time required for the signal to reach the preset transmit power when the RF channel is turned on. The fall delay of the analog beam switching is the time required for the signal power to drop to 0 when the RF channel is turned off.

[0092] The specific time point of the first moment or the specific time length of the first duration can be determined according to the rise delay and the fall delay of the simulated beam switching, and no specific limitation is made here. For example, the first duration can be determined according to the larger value of the rise delay and the fall delay, or according to the sum of the rise delay and the fall delay, and so on.

[0093] For example, assuming that the rising delay of the simulated beam switching is t1 and the falling delay is t2, the first duration can be determined according to MAX(t1, t2) or according to t1+t2.

[0094] In one implementation, the simulated beam switching may be started at the end time of a time unit before the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0095] In one implementation, the simulated beam switching may be started at the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0096] In one implementation, a simulated beam switch may be performed once at the end time of a time unit before the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and then another simulated beam switch may be performed once at the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0097] In some embodiments, when the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay may be used as the first duration.

[0098] When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the rising delay or the falling delay may be used as the first duration.

[0099] Specifically, when performing analog beam switching, another radio frequency channel is usually turned on while the current radio frequency channel is turned off.

[0100] When determining the first duration according to the rise delay and the fall delay, the larger value of the two can be used as the first duration. When the two are equal, the rise delay or the fall delay can be used as the first duration. Thus, the impact of the simulated beam switching is limited to the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located.

[0101] The methods provided in the embodiments of the present application are based on the same application concept, so the implementation of each method can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0102] The following describes the methods provided in the above embodiments of the present application by using examples of specific application scenarios.

[0103] Example 1: simulate beam switching in the symbol where the CSI-RS (for BM) is located.

[0104] Figure 7 The second flow chart of the analog beam switching method provided in the embodiment of the present application is as follows: Figure 7 As shown, the method mainly comprises the following steps:

[0105] 1. Simulate beam switching point selection.

[0106] This step can be implemented by the simulated beam switching point selection module. In this example, the symbol where the CSI-RS (for BM) is located is selected as the selection time for simulated beam switching.

[0107] Figure 8 A structural diagram of a corresponding CSI-RS configured in the 5G frame structure provided in the embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 8 As shown, the analog beam switching point selection module can choose to perform analog beam switching before or after the symbol where the CSI-RS (for BM) is located, for example, Figure 8 In the figure, CSI-RS (for BM) is configured on time slot D04, time slot D16 and time slot D34 (represented by the black part in the figure), and simulated beam switching can be performed before or after the symbol where the CSI-RS (for BM) on time slot D04, time slot D16 or time slot D34 is located.

[0108] This example does not restrict the freedom of symbol selection of CSI-RS (for BM) on time domain resources, and CSI-RS (for BM) can be configured on any available downlink time domain resource.

[0109] 2a. CSI-RS pre-symbol timing selection.

[0110] This step can be completed by the CSI-RS symbol pre-timing selection module. When the simulated beam is switched before the CSI-RS (for BM) symbol, the CSI-RS symbol pre-timing selection module can set the switching control timing.

[0111] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of a structure for performing simulated beam switching before a CSI-RS (for BM) symbol provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Fig. 9 As shown, the rising delay of the switch is t1, the falling delay is t2, the switching time t3 = MAX (t1, t2), the OFDM symbol length is T, and the cyclic prefix (CP) length is T cp .

[0112] In order to ensure the integrity of the non-beam management reference signal before beam switching, the impact of the switching delay is only controlled within the duration T of the beam management reference signal CSI-RS.

[0113] The beam switching point is set when the OFDM symbol before the CSI-RS (for BM) symbol is sent. At this time, the switch delay only affects part of the CP of the CSI-RS (for BM) symbol, but does not affect the signal integrity of other OFDM symbols.

[0114] 2b. CSI-RS post-symbol timing selection.

[0115] This step can be completed by the CSI-RS symbol post-timing selection module. When the simulated beam is switched after the CSI-RS (for BM) symbol, the CSI-RS symbol post-timing selection module can set the switching control timing.

[0116] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of a structure for performing simulated beam switching after a CSI-RS (for BM) symbol provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Fig.10 As shown, the rising delay of the switch is t1, the falling delay is t2, the switching time t3 = MAX (t1, t2), the OFDM symbol length is T, and the CP length is T cp .

[0117] In order to ensure the integrity of the non-beam management reference signal before beam switching, the impact of the switching delay is only controlled within the duration T of the beam management reference signal CSI-RS.

[0118] The beam switching point is designed at time t3 before the end of the CSI-RS (for BM) symbol. At this time, the switch delay only affects the time domain sample points at the tail of the CSI-RS (for BM) symbol, and will not affect the signal integrity of the subsequent OFDM symbol CP.

[0119] The strategy of performing analog beam switching in the symbol where the analog beam management reference signal CSI-RS is located proposed in the embodiment of the present application avoids the operation of interrupting symbols in the traditional algorithm, effectively improves resource utilization, and avoids waste of resources.

[0120] The methods and devices provided in the various embodiments of the present application are based on the same application concept. Since the methods and devices solve problems based on similar principles, the implementation of the devices and methods can refer to each other, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0121] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of the structure of a network device provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Fig.11 As shown, the network device includes a memory 1120, a transceiver 1110 and a processor 1100; wherein the processor 1100 and the memory 1120 may also be arranged physically separately.

[0122] The memory 1120 is used to store computer programs; the transceiver 1110 is used to send and receive data under the control of the processor 1100.

[0123] Specifically, the transceiver 1110 is used to receive and send data under the control of the processor 1100 .

[0124] Among them, Fig.11 In the embodiment, the bus architecture may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges, specifically linking together various circuits of one or more processors represented by processor 1100 and memory represented by memory 1120. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and are therefore not further described in this application. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1110 may be a plurality of components, namely, a transmitter and a receiver, providing a unit for communicating with various other devices on a transmission medium, which may include a wireless channel, a wired channel, an optical cable, and other transmission media.

[0125] The processor 1100 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1120 can store data used by the processor 1100 when performing operations.

[0126] The processor 1100 may be a central processing unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (CPLD). The processor may also adopt a multi-core architecture.

[0127] The processor 1100 is configured to execute any of the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application according to the obtained executable instructions by calling the computer program stored in the memory 1120, for example, determining a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located;

[0128] The simulated beam switching starts at the simulated beam switching point.

[0129] In some embodiments, determining the analog beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes:

[0130] Determine the end time of a time unit before the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as a simulated beam switching point;

[0131] The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to the first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

[0132] In some embodiments,

[0133] When the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay;

[0134] When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first time length is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

[0135] In some embodiments, the beam management reference signal comprises a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

[0136] In some embodiments, the time unit comprises an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

[0137] It should be noted here that the above-mentioned network device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects that are the same as the method embodiment in this embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0138] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the structure of the analog beam switching device provided in the embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Fig.12 As shown, the device comprises:

[0139] A determining unit 1200, configured to determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located;

[0140] The switching unit 1210 is configured to start performing analog beam switching at an analog beam switching point.

[0141] In some embodiments, determining the analog beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes:

[0142] Determine the end time of a time unit before the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as a simulated beam switching point;

[0143] The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to the first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

[0144] In some embodiments,

[0145] When the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay;

[0146] When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first time length is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

[0147] In some embodiments, the beam management reference signal comprises a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

[0148] In some embodiments, the time unit comprises an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

[0149] It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0150] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a processor-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions to enable a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

[0151] It should be noted here that the above-mentioned device provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as those in the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0152] On the other hand, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used to enable a computer to execute the analog beam switching method provided in the above embodiments.

[0153] It should be noted here that the computer-readable storage medium provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement all the method steps implemented in the above-mentioned method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. The parts and beneficial effects of this embodiment that are the same as those in the method embodiment will not be described in detail here.

[0154] The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by a computer, including but not limited to magnetic storage (such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes, magneto-optical disks (MO), etc.), optical storage (such as CD, DVD, BD, HVD, etc.), and semiconductor storage (such as ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, non-volatile memory (NANDFLASH), solid-state drive (SSD)), etc.

[0155] The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applicable to a variety of systems, especially 5G systems. For example, the applicable system can be a global system of mobile communication (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) general packet radio service (GPRS) system, a long term evolution (LTE) system, a LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, a LTE time division duplex (TDD) system, an advanced long term evolution (LTE-A) system, a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) system, a 5G new air interface (NR) system, etc. These various systems include terminal equipment and network equipment. The system may also include a core network part, such as an evolved packet system (EPS), a 5G system (5GS), etc.

[0156] The network device involved in the embodiment of the present application may be a base station, which may include multiple cells providing services for the terminal. Depending on the specific application scenario, the base station may also be called an access point, or may be a device in the access network that communicates with the wireless terminal device through one or more sectors on the air interface, or other names. The network device may be used to interchange received air frames with Internet Protocol (IP) packets, and serve as a router between the wireless terminal device and the rest of the access network, wherein the rest of the access network may include an Internet Protocol (IP) communication network. The network device may also coordinate the attribute management of the air interface. For example, the network device involved in the embodiments of the present application may be a network device (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in the Global System for Mobile communications (Global System for Mobile communications, GSM) or Code Division Multiple Access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), or a network device (NodeB) in Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), or an evolutionary network device (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB) in the long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a 5G base station (gNB) in the 5G network architecture (next generation system), or a home evolved Node B (Home evolved Node B, HeNB), a relay node, a home base station (femto), a pico base station (pico), etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In some network structures, the network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node and a distributed unit (DU) node, and the centralized unit and the distributed unit may also be arranged geographically separately.

[0157] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage and optical storage, etc.) that contain computer-usable program code.

[0158] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer executable instructions. These computer executable instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0159] These processor executable instructions may also be stored in a processor readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the processor readable memory produce an article of manufacture including an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0160] These processor-executable instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for executing on the computer or other programmable device to implement the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A step that specifies a function in one or more boxes.

[0161] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for analog beam switching, characterized in that: Applied to network equipment, including: Determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located; The analog beam switching starts at the analog beam switching point.

2. The analog beam switching method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The determining of the simulated beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes: Determine the end time of a previous time unit of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as the simulated beam switching point; The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to a first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

3. The analog beam switching method according to claim 2, characterized in that: In the case where the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay; When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

4. The analog beam switching method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The beam management reference signal includes a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

5. The analog beam switching method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The time unit includes an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

6. A network device, characterized in that: Including memory, transceiver, processor; Memory for storing computer programs; a transceiver, configured to transmit and receive data under the control of the processor; and a processor, configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations: Determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located; The analog beam switching starts at the analog beam switching point.

7. The network device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The determining of the simulated beam switching point based on the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located includes: Determine the end time of a previous time unit of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, and / or the first time before the end time of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located, as the simulated beam switching point; The time interval between the first moment and the end moment of the time unit where the beam management reference signal is located is equal to a first duration, and the first duration is determined based on the rise delay and fall delay of the simulated beam switching.

8. The network device according to claim 7, characterized in that: When the rising delay is not equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the larger value of the rising delay and the falling delay; When the rising delay is equal to the falling delay, the first duration is equal to the rising delay or the falling delay.

9. The network device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that: The beam management reference signal includes a channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

10. The network device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that: The time unit includes an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol.

11. An analog beam switching device, characterized in that: include: A determination unit, configured to determine a simulated beam switching point based on a time unit where a beam management reference signal is located; The switching unit is used to start analog beam switching at the analog beam switching point.

12. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is used to make a computer execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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