Electronic device and method in non-terrestrial wireless communication system

Abstract

The invention relates to an electronic device and a method in a wireless communication system. A beam relaying / reflecting device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network is proposed, the beam relaying / reflecting device comprising processing circuitry configured to receive a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and to transmit the received beam to a target object based on configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an air device capable of transmitting beams in a non-ground wireless communication network.

Description

Electronic device and method in non-terrestrial wireless communication system

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is based on the Chinese application with application number 202211631231.3 and application date December 19, 2022, and claims its priority. The disclosed content of the Chinese application is hereby introduced as a whole into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular to wireless communications in non-terrestrial networks. Background Art

[0004] With the development and widespread application of mobile internet technology, more and more devices are connected to mobile networks, and new services and applications are emerging. To meet people's communication needs, fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G or 5G technology), as the next generation of cellular mobile communication technology, has become a hot topic of discussion and research in the communications industry and academia. In the 5G era, where mobile communications are rapidly developing, terrestrial mobile communication systems and non-terrestrial mobile communication networks have been proposed. Terrestrial mobile communication systems can meet most user needs, but they may not be able to meet the needs in scenarios such as oceans and sparsely populated land areas. Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) can complement the application scenarios of terrestrial mobile communication systems.

[0005] Therefore, improved mechanisms are needed to address the new challenges in 5G communications, especially those in non-terrestrial networks.

[0006] Unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Likewise, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that problems identified with respect to one or more approaches qualify as prior art based on this section.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present disclosure provides an optimization solution for the configuration of a wireless communication system, especially a wireless communication system based on a non-terrestrial network.

[0009] One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a beam relay / reflector device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, the beam relay / reflector device including a processing circuit configured to: receive a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and transmit the received beam to a target object based on configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network capable of transmitting a beam.

[0010] Another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a control side device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, the control side device including a processing circuit configured to: obtain configuration information of a beam transmission target object in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, determine a beam relay / reflection device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and send the configuration information of the target object to the determined beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device can transmit the received beam from the beam source to the target object.

[0011] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a beam relay method for a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and transmitting the received beam to the target object based on configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network capable of transmitting a beam.

[0012] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for a control-side device of a wireless communication system, the method comprising: obtaining configuration information of a beam transmission target object in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, determining a beam relay / reflector device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and sending the configuration information of the target object to the determined beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam relay / reflector device can transmit the received beam from the beam source to the target object.

[0013] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a wireless communication device. According to one embodiment, the wireless communication device includes: a processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores program code and / or executable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, enable the processor to implement a method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0014] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a wireless communication device, comprising components for implementing the method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0015] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program code and / or executable instructions, which, when executed by a processor, enable the processor to implement the method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0016] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a computer program product, comprising program codes and / or instructions, wherein the program codes and / or instructions can be executed by an electronic device to implement the method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure relates to a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, enables the processor to implement the method according to any embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0018] The above summary is provided to summarize some exemplary embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of various aspects of the subject matter described herein. Therefore, the above features are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the detailed description described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The above and other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be further described below in conjunction with specific embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, identical or corresponding technical features or components will be represented by identical or corresponding reference numerals.

[0020] FIG1 shows an example of satellite beam coverage of the ground.

[0021] FIG2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating enhancing communication performance by using a beam relay / reflection device in a non-terrestrial network (NTN)-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG3A shows a block diagram of a beam relay / reflection device in a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG3B shows a flowchart of a beam relay method in a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG4 is a schematic diagram showing how an intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is used in an NTN network to reflect beams to cover a target area and / or terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG5 is a schematic diagram showing a method of using a smart reflective surface to reflect beams to enhance terminal reception signals in the context of GEO satellite communications according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] 6A and 6B are schematic diagrams showing how a plurality of smart reflective surfaces are used in an NTN network to reflect beams to enhance a terminal's reception signal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG7 is a schematic diagram showing how a smart reflector is used to reflect beams in an NTN network to cover a multi-cell boundary area and a shadowed area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG8 is a schematic diagram showing a method of using a smart reflector to reflect beams in an NTN network to cover a designated small area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG9 is a schematic diagram showing a designated area divided into small areas suitable for being covered by beams reflected by smart reflective surfaces according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG10 shows a flowchart of using a smart reflective surface to reflect beams to cover a fixed target area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] FIG11A is a schematic diagram showing satellite switching when a smart reflective surface is used to reflect beams to cover a fixed area in an NTN network using non-transparent satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] FIG11B shows a flowchart of using a smart reflective surface to reflect beams to cover a fixed area during satellite switching in an NTN network using non-transparent satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] FIG12A shows a schematic diagram of satellite switching when a smart reflective surface is used to reflect beams to cover a fixed area in an NTN network using transparent satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG12B shows a flowchart of using a smart reflective surface to reflect beams to cover a fixed area during satellite switching in an NTN network using transparent satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG13 is a schematic diagram showing the division of time slices and small areas within a time interval when a smart reflector is used to reflect beams to cover a moving target area in an NTN network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG14 shows a flowchart of using a smart reflector to reflect beams to cover a moving target area in an NTN network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] FIG15 shows a flowchart of using a smart reflector to reflect beams to cover a moving target area in an NTN network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] FIG16 is a schematic diagram showing an NTN network using a smart reflector to reflect beams to enhance the signal strength received by a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0039] FIG17 shows a flow chart of using a smart reflector to reflect beams in an NTN network to enhance the signal strength received by a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0040] FIG18 is a schematic diagram showing how beam measurement is used to obtain the terminal beam direction when a smart reflector is used to reflect a beam in an NTN network to enhance the received signal strength of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0041] FIG19 shows a flowchart of using a smart reflector to reflect beams in an NTN network to enhance the reception signal of a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0042] FIG20 shows a flowchart of intelligent reflection-oriented system registration and updating of registration information in an NTN network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0043] FIG21A shows a block diagram of a control-side electronic device in a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0044] FIG21B shows a flowchart of a control-side method in a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0045] FIG. 22 is a block diagram schematically showing an example structure of a personal computer according to an information processing apparatus employable in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0046] FIG23 is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied.

[0047] FIG24 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the technology of the present disclosure may be applied.

[0048] FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a communication device to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied.

[0049] FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied.

[0050] While the embodiments described in this disclosure may be susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to limit the embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intent is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. For the sake of clarity and conciseness, not all features of the embodiments are described in the specification. However, it should be understood that many implementation-specific settings must be made in the process of implementing the embodiments in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as meeting those restrictions related to equipment and services, and these restrictions may vary depending on the implementation. In addition, it should be understood that although the development work may be very complex and time-consuming, it is only a routine task for those skilled in the art who benefit from the contents of this disclosure.

[0052] In addition, in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure with unnecessary details, only the processing steps and / or device structures that are closely related to at least the solution according to the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, while other details that are not closely related to the present disclosure are omitted. It should also be noted that similar reference numerals and letters in the drawings indicate similar items, and therefore once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be discussed again for subsequent drawings.

[0053] In the present disclosure, the terms "first," "second," etc. are used merely to distinguish between elements or steps, but are not intended to indicate temporal order, priority, or importance.

[0054] Currently, 5G communications are being used in a variety of applications, with performance goals including at least one of high data rates, reduced latency, energy conservation, cost reduction, increased system capacity, and large-scale device connectivity. With the rapid growth in the number of connected users and communication demands, various types of mobile data transmission will pose severe challenges to networks, particularly due to the complexity of data transmission operations and increased power consumption. This places higher demands on current wireless communications, particularly on network uptime and coverage, necessitating the development and adoption of new technologies.

[0055] In particular, previous cellular network technologies were primarily developed based on terrestrial network infrastructure, meeting most user needs. However, they often struggled to cost-effectively address the needs of scenarios such as oceans and sparsely populated land areas. Consequently, non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) have been proposed. Specifically, they aim to integrate air links, and even space links such as satellite links, that can communicate independently of terrestrial infrastructure into 5G networks, effectively complementing the performance of terrestrial 5G networks. Because non-terrestrial networks can communicate independently of terrestrial infrastructure, they can, in a sense, extend or "fill in" gaps in existing terrestrial networks. For example, mobile network operators (MNOs) can leverage non-terrestrial networks, such as satellite communications, to provide 5G services to areas lacking infrastructure. Non-terrestrial networks also enable MNOs to maintain service delivery in the event of terrestrial network disruptions, such as during natural disasters. They can also extend 5G services to a wider range of mobile platforms. For example, non-terrestrial networks can provide services to aircraft, ships, and trains in remote areas where terrestrial network infrastructure is unavailable. 5G NTN can also enhance business continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, improving the reliability of mission-critical communications. For example, M2M and IoT applications located at the edge of coverage or in hard-to-reach locations can access 5G via non-terrestrial networks. 5G NTN can also provide stable 5G coverage for passengers on mobile platforms such as airplanes and trains.

[0056] In various NTN scenarios, various types of satellites and high-altitude platforms can be used to implement communication links that are independent of ground infrastructure and to transmit beams to cover ground areas. In particular, various types of satellites include GEO satellites, LEO satellites, and others.

[0057] Figure 1 schematically illustrates an example of satellite beam coverage on the ground, with (a) showing a typical satellite beam projection size on the ground. As shown in Figure 1(a), for a GEO satellite and a LEO satellite at altitudes of 1200 km and 600 km, respectively, operating at a 2 GHz frequency band, the beam projection diameters on the ground are 450 km, 190 km, and 90 km, respectively. For a 20 GHz operating frequency band, the projection diameters are 280 km, 90 km, and 50 km, respectively. The maximum beam projection diameters on the ground for GEO and LEO satellites can reach 3500 km and 1000 km, respectively. The projection of a GEO satellite beam on the ground is stationary relative to the ground and can be considered a fixed beam on the ground. For LEO satellites, the projection of a beam on the ground can be designed in two ways: one design involves the beam moving on the ground as the LEO satellite moves. In the example above, the LEO beam moves at a speed between 6.5 km / s and 8.1 km / s relative to the ground. Figure 1(b) shows the duration of a typical beam coverage period for a terminal. As shown in Figure 1(b), in the case of mobile beam projection, the beam moving speed is 8 km / s. When the LEO satellite beam moves from 50 km to 1000 km, the maximum time that the LEO satellite communication terminal is covered is between 6.25 seconds (50 km / (8 km / s)) and 125 seconds (1000 km / (8 km / s)).

[0058] Another design utilizes steerable antenna beam projection. For example, steerable antenna technology can be used to project a beam on the ground within a certain range, such as within a certain time or spatial range. This is referred to as a fixed beam, or a steerable beam. While steerable antenna technology can maintain a relatively fixed beam projection on the ground, it can be difficult to meet the coverage requirements of multiple terminals. Furthermore, steerable antenna technology is relatively complex, and when LEO / MEO satellites move relatively far away, the satellite downlink signal received by the terminal becomes weaker, requiring the terminal to increase its transmit power to ensure sufficient uplink signal strength.

[0059] It should be noted that in non-terrestrial networks, because NTN base stations are far from the ground or satellites / high-altitude platforms are moving, there may be several problems: (1) there are beam coverage holes or areas with weak coverage, such as places blocked by mountains or buildings, and the intersection of multiple NTN base station beams on the ground, etc. These areas may be fixed or mobile; (2) the terminal receives weak signals; (3) the beam coverage time of the cell is short, and the terminal needs to switch frequently. Generally speaking, for coverage holes or areas with weak coverage, current technology uses multiple satellites to repeatedly cover such areas from different directions; to solve the problem of weak terminal reception signals, more antennas, better signal amplifiers, etc. can be used. However, the use of multiple satellites often makes the system more complex, and the use of multiple antennas and multiple signal amplifiers in the terminal increases the difficulty of terminal equipment design and may not be able to achieve performance improvements cost-effectively.

[0060] In light of this, the present disclosure proposes the use of signal relay / reflection devices to enhance signal reception and regional coverage in non-terrestrial networks. Specifically, by appropriately deploying and operating signal relay / reflection devices in non-terrestrial networks, beams from high-altitude or even space-based communication links can be received and transmitted to the receiving side of the system, such as a communication area or a communication terminal, thereby enhancing regional coverage, and / or increasing terminal received signal strength, and / or extending cell coverage time.

[0061] In particular, the signal relay / reflection device may also be referred to as a beam relay / reflection device, which is capable of receiving a beam from a beam source and transmitting the beam to a target object. The signal relay / reflection device may be a device of various appropriate types. In some embodiments, the signal relay / reflection device may be implemented in a passive manner, such as a reflection manner, in which the beam from the beam source is reflected to a reflection-type device on the receiving side, and in particular, as an example, may be implemented using intelligent reflection surface technology. An intelligent reflection surface (IRS-Intelligent Reflection Surface) is typically a plane composed of a large number of tiny controllable reflection units, each of which can be independently controlled to change the amplitude and phase of the reflected beam / electromagnetic wave, thereby enabling the intelligent reflection surface to control the propagation of the beam through the overall channel, thereby achieving desired effects at the receiving end, such as enhanced regional coverage, enhanced received signal, interference elimination, and the like. Therefore, in an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, in the NTN, the beam emitted by the beam source in the NTN can be appropriately reflected by the smart reflection surface to cover the target area and / or target terminal, thereby achieving at least one of improving coverage holes, enhancing the terminal receiving signal strength, extending the beam coverage time, reducing terminal switching, etc.

[0062] As an example, the present disclosure proposes using a smart reflective surface to reflect NTN signals in a non-terrestrial network, including: (1) when a satellite or high-altitude platform of the NTN network is far away from a terminal, such as when a LEO satellite is getting farther and farther away from the terminal, the downlink signal of the NTN base station such as the satellite / high-altitude platform and the uplink signal of the terminal are enhanced; (2) through reflection by the smart reflective surface, the coverage time of the NTN base station signal beam projection to the terminal is extended as the NTN network satellite / high-altitude platform moves away from the terminal; (3) in a non-terrestrial network, there may be coverage blind spots, such as areas blocked by mountains or buildings. The smart reflective surface technology is used to reflect the NTN satellite / high-altitude platform base station signal to cover these areas.

[0063] In the present disclosure, as an example, in a non-terrestrial network communication system, signal relay / reflection equipment, especially smart reflective surfaces, can be installed at appropriate locations, such as fixed locations, such as mountain tops, building tops, etc.; relatively fixed locations, such as high altitude platforms (HAPS), etc.; mobile locations, such as drones, airplanes, or low-orbit / medium-orbit satellites, such as GEO and MEO satellites, etc. This can be used not only to serve ground terminals, but also to serve terminals in the air (including space). In particular, high-altitude platforms can be set at the required location as needed. Moreover, high-altitude platforms can remain stationary relative to the ground for a long time, and their geographical location, including altitude, can be adjusted as needed, so the installation of smart reflective surfaces has a high degree of flexibility. In addition, there are about 100,000 aircraft flying in the air at the same time around the world, which can also serve as ideal carriers for smart reflective surfaces.

[0064] The following describes, with reference to the accompanying drawings, a conceptual overall operation of enhancing communication performance by using a beam relay / reflector device in a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As an example, a non-terrestrial wireless communication system or radio system includes at least a beam source, a beam relay / reflector device, a target object, a control-side device, etc. In operation, the control-side device can receive a beam from the beam source via the beam relay / reflector device and transmit it to the target object to achieve beam coverage for the target object. Additionally, control of the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device and / or information exchange between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device can be achieved via the control-side device, thereby further optimizing beam processing.

[0065] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, a control-side device, a beam source, a beam relay / reflection device, a target object, etc. in a wireless communication system may be implemented in various appropriate ways.

[0066] In some embodiments, the control side device may refer to a device on the control side in a wireless communication system. "Control side" has the full breadth of its usual meaning, and accordingly may indicate a side that performs corresponding control / processing on the communication operations of various devices in the system. As an example, the various devices in the system may include a beam transmitting device or beam source, a beam relay / reflector device, a terminal device, and the like in the wireless communication system. In the present disclosure, the control side device obtains configuration information of various devices to control the operation of the devices, such as setting / adjusting configuration parameters for communication. As an example, the control side device can implement information interaction between at least two of the beam source, the beam relay / reflector device, and the target object, such as interaction of their respective configuration information, thereby facilitating the operation of each device.

[0067] In the present disclosure, the control side device may include any appropriate device in the network. In some embodiments, the control side device may include a base station, a control device, a server or an MEC, a repeater, etc. in a wireless communication system (such as a cellular communication system, a V2X system, etc.). In the present disclosure, the term "base station" has the full breadth of its usual meaning, and as an example, the base station may be, for example, an eNB that complies with the 4G communication standard, a gNB that complies with the 5G communication standard, a remote radio head, a wireless access point, an aircraft control tower, or a communication device that performs similar functions. In particular, the control side device may be set in an appropriate manner in the system, for example, integrated with the beam source or separated from the beam source.

[0068] In this disclosure, a beam source refers to a component that transmits a beam for communication, typically a component located far from the ground in a non-terrestrial network. For example, it can be a device located high in the sky, or even in space, suitable for transmitting communication beams to cover a terrestrial area to achieve communication, such as a satellite, aircraft, high-altitude vehicle, or high-altitude platform. The beam source can be controlled by a control-side device in a communication system, such as a base station, to provide communication beams to terrestrial cells. In some embodiments, the beam source can be integrated with the base station, such as a satellite base station. For example, in a non-terrestrial network, a satellite can transmit beams and also serve as a base station in the non-terrestrial network. In other embodiments, the beam source can be separate from the base station, such as a satellite transmitting the beam, while the base station in the non-terrestrial network can be another component in the network, such as a base station located on the ground or at another appropriate location in the network. Wireless communication between the base station and the beam source controls the beam emission of the beam source. The satellite can transmit its configuration information to the base station, which then transmits the configuration information to the smart reflector and / or terminal devices in the target area.

[0069] In some embodiments, the target object, which may also be referred to as the beam coverage target object, may refer to the object to which the beam emitted by the beam source is applied in the context of the present disclosure, especially the object to which the beam is transmitted through beam relay. The target object generally refers to various appropriate objects that receive beams for communication in a wireless network, such as a cell intended to be covered by a relay beam (which may be referred to as a target cell), a terminal in a cell (which may be referred to as a target terminal), etc. For example, a target cell may refer to a terrestrial communication cell in a wireless communication system, which may include several terminal-side devices. In the present disclosure, it should be noted that, in addition to being covered by a relay beam, the target object may also receive a direct beam from a beam source, or a reflected beam from other means, etc.

[0070] In the present disclosure, the term "terminal device" has the full breadth of its usual meaning and includes at least a terminal device that receives signals from a transmitting side device to facilitate communication as part of a wireless communication system or a radio system. As an example, the terminal device may be, for example, a terminal device such as a wireless relay, a micro base station, a router, a user device, or a communication device that performs similar functions. In the present disclosure, "terminal device" and "user equipment (UE)" may be used interchangeably, or "terminal device" may be combined with "user equipment" or implemented as part of "user equipment". In the present disclosure, the term "user equipment (UE)" has the full breadth of its usual meaning and, as an example, a user device may be, for example, a terminal device such as a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet computer, an in-vehicle communication device, or a communication device that performs similar functions.

[0071] In some embodiments, the beam relay / reflector device can implement signal reception and transmission through various appropriate methods. In one example, it can be implemented through reflection. In this case, the beam relay / reflector device can be referred to as a beam reflection device, which can receive a beam from a beam source and reflect it toward the target cell. The beam reflection device can be, for example, a smart reflection surface. It should be noted that in the context of this disclosure, the smart reflection surface is only an illustrative example of a beam relay / reflector device and is not restrictive. In another example, additionally or optionally, after receiving the beam, the beam relay / reflector device can perform appropriate processing, which may include beam enhancement (e.g., power enhancement), etc., and then send the processed beam to the target object. In this case, the beam relay / reflector device can be said to be implemented in an active manner, which can be referred to as a beam relay device, and will not be described in detail here. In the context of this disclosure, other methods can also be used for beam reception and transmission, as long as such a device can receive the incident beam and control or process the beam output to achieve target area coverage, signal enhancement, etc. As an example, the above-mentioned active and passive methods can be combined with each other, and the beam relay / reflector device can be a device that implements at least one of beam relay and beam reflection. In addition, the device can also include various other appropriate and necessary signal processing, such as filtering, noise reduction, etc.

[0072] In some embodiments, the beam relay / reflector device can be fixedly disposed, for example, at a fixed location such as a mountaintop or atop a building, or can be movably disposed, for example, on a relatively fixed or movable device, as described above. In the context of the present disclosure, the beam relay / reflector device can implement appropriate beam relay based on at least one of its own configuration information, the configuration information of the target object, the configuration information of the beam source, and the like, as described in detail below.

[0073] 2 , a schematic signaling diagram of performing beam transmission to a target object by using a beam relay / reflector device in a wireless communication system based on a non-terrestrial network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be briefly described below.

[0074] First, for a target object to be beam-transmitted, at least one beam relay / reflector device corresponding to the target object is determined. This determination can be performed by an appropriate device in the network, such as a control-side device. For example, the control-side device can obtain configuration information of the target object, including but not limited to location information, to select a beam relay / reflector device suitable for transmitting a beam to the target object.

[0075] Then, at least one selected beam relay / reflector device receives the beam from the beam source and then transmits the beam to the target object. In particular, the control side device can send the configuration information of the target object, the beam transmission configuration information, etc. to the beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam relay / reflector device can transmit the beam to the corresponding target object based on the configuration information of the target object and the beam transmission configuration information. In particular, the configuration information of the target object may include but is not limited to the location information of the target object, including the location, shape, information of the sub-areas obtained by segmentation, etc., and the beam transmission configuration information may include but is not limited to beam transmission time information, including but not limited to the beam transmission start time, the beam transmission end time, etc. It can also include the configuration information of the beam source as the beam provider. As an example, the beam relay / reflector device can transmit the beam to the target object between the beam transmission start time and the beam transmission end time based on the location information of the target object.

[0076] In some embodiments, the beam relay / reflector device may configure its beam relay configuration based on configuration information of the target object, particularly, for example, location information, to more appropriately relay the beam to the target object. For example, if the beam relay / reflector device is a reflective surface, its beam relay configuration may include a reflection configuration, including a reflection angle, to appropriately reflect the beam received from the beam source toward the target object, thereby achieving coverage of the target object.

[0077] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the beam from a beam source can be a direct beam emitted from the beam source, or a beam that has undergone several reflections or scattering in the environment. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the beam relay / reflector device can also set its beam relay configuration, particularly the beam reception configuration, based on the configuration information of the beam source, so that the beam reception and transmission are more closely matched, allowing the beam relay / reflector device to more accurately and appropriately receive the beam from the beam source. In particular, in some embodiments, the beam source configuration information can be communicated to the beam relay / reflector device by the control-side device. For example, the control-side device can communicate the beam source configuration information, such as the satellite's spatial position information, the orientation information of the transmit beam, such as the spatial angle, the satellite's ephemeris, etc., to the beam relay / reflector device. This allows the beam relay / reflector device to adjust its beam reception configuration, such as the beam reception direction and beam reception angle, based on the beam source configuration information, to match the transmit beam of the beam source, more accurately tracking the beam source and receiving the transmit beam.

[0078] It should be noted that when the beam source is a high-speed moving satellite, the direction of the transmitted beam will change rapidly, which may make it difficult for the beam relay / reflector to receive the transmitted beam. In this case, the beam relay / reflector tracks the beam source, allowing the beam relay / reflector to accurately receive the transmitted beam from the beam source even if the direction of the transmitted beam changes rapidly.

[0079] As another example, the beam relay / reflection device can also set its beam relay configuration based on the configuration information of both the beam source and the target object (target area and / or terminal device). For example, the beam reception for the beam source can be improved based on the configuration information of the beam source, while the beam transmission for the target object can be optimized according to the configuration of the target object. It should be noted that when the beam relay / reflection device is set on a fast-moving device, such as a fast aircraft, an airplane, etc., such fast movement may often make it difficult to accurately receive the beam from the beam source and transmit the beam to the target object. In this case, the beam source and the target object are tracked by the beam relay / reflection device, so that even if the direction of the transmitted beam changes rapidly, the beam relay / reflection device can accurately receive the transmitted beam from the beam source and accurately transmit the beam to the target object.

[0080] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam emission of the beam source can also be set based on the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam of the beam source can be more accurately transmitted to the beam relay / reflector device. The configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device can be notified to the beam source in various appropriate ways, for example, by the control side device. In particular, the control side device can inform the beam source of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, including the position information of the beam relay / reflector device, the beam reception configuration, etc., so that the beam source adjusts the beam emission direction based on the configuration information of the beam reflection device so that the beam can be more accurately transmitted toward the beam relay / reflector device.

[0081] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the interaction of configuration information between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector can be performed in various appropriate ways. For example, it can be performed via a control-side device, as described above. For another example, depending on the conditions of the wireless network, information interaction can also be performed directly between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector, e.g., without requiring an intermediate device, such as a control-side device. Alternatively, it can be performed via other devices in the wireless network. Through information interaction, the beam source and the beam relay / reflector can be more closely matched, and beam transmission and reception can be more appropriate and accurate.

[0082] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, information interaction between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device can be performed in an appropriate manner. In some embodiments, interaction can be performed periodically, such as at specific intervals. Such intervals can be appropriately set in various ways. As an example, it can be set according to the motion state of the beam relay / reflector device. For example, when the beam relay / reflector device is basically stationary, the configuration of the beam relay / reflector device can be notified to the control side device and / or the beam source at a longer interval; or when the beam relay device moves faster, the configuration of the beam relay / reflector device can be notified to the control side device and / or the beam source at a shorter interval. As another example, it can also be set according to the motion state of the beam source (e.g., a satellite or NTN base station). In other embodiments, interaction can be performed upon request, for example, upon request from any one of the control side device, the beam source, or the beam relay / reflector device. Thus, during operation, the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device can always maintain proper alignment or matching, and more appropriately receive the beam of the beam source.

[0083] The implementation of a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in further detail below.

[0084] Figure 3A shows a block diagram of a beam relay / reflector device in a non-terrestrial network-based wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, the beam relay / reflector device can cooperate with a beam source in the wireless communication system to enhance beam transmission to a target object.

[0085] The beam relay / reflection device 300 includes a processing circuit 302 configured to receive a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and transmit the received beam to the target object based on configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network that is capable of transmitting a beam.

[0086] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam relay / reflector device used for beam transmission to a target object can be appropriately determined. Specifically, in some embodiments, this can be set by a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network based on configuration information about the target object. It should be noted that the beam relay / reflector device used for beam transmission to the target object can include at least one beam relay / reflector device.

[0087] In some embodiments, the configuration information of the target object may include the location, size, shape, etc. of the target object. As an example, the target object may generally refer to a cell (which may be referred to as a target cell) in a wireless network that is intended to be covered by a relay beam, and in this case, the configuration information of the target object may include at least one of the location of the target cell, the size of the target cell, the operating frequency of the target cell, etc. As another example, additionally or alternatively, the target object may generally refer to a terminal (which may be referred to as a target terminal) in a cell in a wireless network that is intended to enhance a signal by a relay beam, and in this case, the configuration information of the target object may include at least one of the location of the terminal device, the operating frequency of the terminal device, etc. Thus, at least one beam relay / reflection device suitable for the beam coverage of the target cell or target terminal can be selected based on the configuration information of the target cell or target terminal.

[0088] In some embodiments, the control side device may also additionally set at least one beam relay / reflector device for beam transmission of the target object based on the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device includes at least one of the orientation information, transmission configuration information, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device. In particular, in some embodiments, the orientation information of the beam relay / reflector device may include at least one of the height, orientation, geographical location, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device. In particular, the beam relay / reflector device suitable for the target cell or target terminal device can be selected based on at least one of the orientation, transmission configuration, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device. In this case, it can be considered that at least one beam relay / reflector device is set based on the configuration information of both the target object and the beam relay / reflector device.

[0089] As an example, in the case where the beam relay / reflection device is an intelligent reflecting surface, one or more appropriate intelligent reflecting surfaces can be selected based on the position, reflection angle, coverage range, etc. of the intelligent reflecting surface, according to at least one of the relative position relationship and orientation relationship between the intelligent reflecting surface and the target cell or target terminal device, the configuration and requirements of the target cell or target terminal itself, etc.

[0090] As an example, when the coverage of the smart reflective surface is sufficient, one smart reflective surface can be used to cover the target area. As another example, when the target area is relatively large, multiple smart reflective surfaces can be used to cover the target area. For example, the coverage of multiple smart reflective surfaces is spliced ​​together to achieve coverage of a larger target area, thereby providing more sufficient signal coverage for the target area. As another example, when the target cell or terminal device is located in a position where the beam coverage of the beam source is weak, such as being blocked, at the junction of cells, etc., multiple reflective surfaces can be set to reflect multiple beams, which can increase the number of coverage beams of the target area or target terminal, thereby increasing the beam signal strength. This is especially true when the signal strength reflected by a single reflective surface is insufficient.

[0091] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the beam relay / reflector device can also adjust the signal transmission frequency band, for example, setting the beam intended to be transmitted to the target object to a higher frequency band, so that the energy of the beam can be more concentrated and the signal transmission to the terminal can be enhanced.

[0092] It should be noted that when the beam source is a satellite and the smart reflector is installed on a mountaintop, building, high-altitude operational satellite (HAPS), or even an aircraft, the distance between the smart reflector and the beam source is very large, such as hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Consequently, only a small portion of the beam emitted by the beam source can be received by the smart reflector and reflected to the target object. In this case, it is preferable to employ multiple smart reflectors to achieve beam reception and reflection. Additionally or alternatively, the beam source can also be configured to transmit at a higher frequency, such as terahertz. Additionally or alternatively, beam power boosting and other functions can be implemented on the smart reflector to improve beam reflection.

[0093] 4-7 schematically illustrate examples of applying a smart reflective surface to achieve coverage of a target area and / or a target terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0094] As shown in the leftmost image of Figure 4, there are two terminals. One terminal is within the coverage of a non-terrestrial network base station, while the other is outside the coverage of the non-terrestrial network base station. This may be due to obstruction by mountains or buildings. Smart reflectors installed on aircraft, high-altitude platforms, or on mountaintops or building rooftops can reflect the signal from the non-terrestrial network base station to uncovered areas. These smart reflectors can also enhance the signal quality of terminals already covered by the base station's beam. As shown in the middle image of Figure 4, even if the satellite subsequently moves farther from the terminal's location, the terminal receiving the enhanced signal from the smart reflector can still receive good signal quality. As shown in the right image of Figure 4, the area covered by the base station's beam should move due to the movement of the satellite / high-altitude platform, causing the previously covered terminal to lose coverage from the current serving base station. However, by using smart reflectors, the serving base station's signal can be reflected back to cover the original beam area, extending the serving base station's coverage period.

[0095] As shown in Figure 5, GEO satellites are far from the ground, and the terminal receiving signals on the ground are relatively weak. Due to power limitations, the terminal uplink signals received on the GEO satellite are also relatively weak. Therefore, smart reflectors can be installed on aircraft, high-altitude platforms, and even LEO or MEO satellites to enhance the reception of uplink and downlink signals.

[0096] Figures 6A and 6B illustrate the use of multiple smart reflectors in an NTN network to reflect beams and enhance terminal reception signals. Figure 6A illustrates the use of smart reflectors mounted on aircraft in an NTN network to reflect beams toward terminal devices, thereby enhancing the terminal device's signal strength. Figure 6B illustrates the use of smart reflectors mounted on aircraft to reflect beams toward terminal devices even when the NTN base station serving the terminal device switches, thereby enhancing the terminal device's signal strength.

[0097] Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of using smart reflective surfaces to reflect beams in an NTN network to cover multi-cell interface areas and shadowed areas, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 7, in an NTN network, base station signal coverage is relatively weak in some areas, such as behind high mountains (relative to satellite / high-altitude platform base stations), in shadowed areas of buildings, and where multiple beams from satellite / high-altitude platform base stations overlap. This disclosure proposes using smart reflective surfaces to reflect NTN base station beams to cover target areas, where terminals may not always be present. In this invention, multiple smart reflective surfaces can be used to collaborate and cover the same area.

[0098] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the beam relay / reflector configuration information of a beam relay / reflector device may be pre-set, for example, relatively fixed. For example, if the beam relay / reflector device is a smart reflector, the position and reflection direction of the smart reflector may be pre-set, such as when the smart reflector is positioned on a mountain or atop a building.

[0099] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the beam relay / reflector configuration information of a beam relay / reflector device can be configurable, for example, adjustable. For example, if the beam relay / reflector device is a smart reflector, the reflection direction of the smart reflector can be adjusted; or if the smart reflector is mounted on an adjustable platform or aircraft, the position of the smart reflector can also be adjusted. In particular, the beam transmission configuration can be adjusted based on the configuration of the target object, so that the beam can be more appropriately transmitted to the target object, that is, the beam relay / reflector device is more appropriately matched to the target object.

[0100] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a smart reflective surface is used to reflect NTN base station signals to cover a target area, particularly a target cell. Specifically, each reflective element of the smart reflective surface can be controlled by software to reflect signals in different directions. The reflection angle of each reflective element is controlled based on its own height, orientation, and geographic location, as well as the geographic location and size of the target coverage area, ultimately covering the target cell, as shown in Figure 8.

[0101] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the target area may include at least one sub-area, and at least one beam relay / reflector device may be similarly configured for each sub-area. For example, the at least one beam relay / reflector device may be configured by a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network based on configuration information for the sub-area, such as by configuring a smart reflective surface as described above.

[0102] As an example, the target cell can be set in an appropriate manner. For example, first, a large area of ​​the earth (such as a country or a region) is divided into a certain number of continuous small areas, as shown in Figure 9. Each small area can have its own ID and its size is suitable for being covered by a smart reflective surface, such as a hexagon with an area of ​​about 10 square kilometers. Second, each small area is represented by a set of parameters. The parameters representing a hexagonal small area are {L g , R,D,ID}, where L g is the GPS coordinate of the center of the small area, R is the radius of the hexagon, D is the direction of the hexagon, and ID is the number of the hexagon. Each small area here can be used as a target area / target cell in the context of this disclosure, or can be used as a sub-area in a target area / target cell.

[0103] It should be noted that the hexagonal cells or sub-areas described above are merely exemplary; cells / sub-areas of other shapes are also possible, as long as they can be segmented and combined from regions on the Earth to form the entire region. Regions of other shapes may be represented by different sets of parameters. The parameter information for these regions is stored in the system data center and can be accessed by NTN base stations. It should be noted that the operations and processing for a target region in this disclosure can be equally applied to sub-regions within the target region. In a sense, sub-regions within a target region can also be considered a type of target region and will not be described or differentiated in detail here.

[0104] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the target area may be fixed or mobile and may be set in an appropriate manner. In some embodiments, when the target area is fixed, the target cell in the target area may be set as described above.

[0105] In other embodiments of the present disclosure, when the target area may be mobile, the target area or target cell expected to be beam-transmitted by the beam relay / reflector device can be set in an appropriate manner, particularly by segmenting the mobile target area within a specific time interval. In particular, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, when the target object is a mobile target area, the target area is the area corresponding to a specific time slice within the mobile time interval. The mobile time interval can be obtained by continuously segmenting the mobile time of the target area.

[0106] As an example, as shown in FIG13 , the present disclosure proposes dividing time into continuous time intervals, each time interval having a duration of T, and each time interval is further divided into N time slices. It can be assumed that the area required for reflection coverage in each time slice is fixed. The serving NTN base station analyzes the target small area that needs to be covered in each time slice within a time interval, and records it as a time slice small area set AU_ti = {AU1_ti, AU2_ti, AU3_ti, …}, i = 1, …, N. For each small area in the set, the NTN base station regards it as a static small area. Thus, for each AU_ti, the NTN base station sends the parameters of the target small area set within a time interval T, together with related parameters such as the coverage start time and end time, to the selected smart reflector, so that the smart reflector can reflect the beam to the appropriate target small area at the appropriate time.

[0107] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when there are multiple operable beam sources, the coverage overlap conditions between the beam sources can also be considered to set or select a beam relay / reflection device for beam reception and transmission. In some embodiments, the coverage overlap area on different time slices can be determined based on the configuration information of the current beam source and the adjacent beam source, and the beam relay / reflection device can be determined according to the coverage requirements of the overlapping areas of different time slices, so as to transmit the beam from the beam source to the target object. In particular, when the current beam source and the adjacent beam source are satellite beam sources, such as NTN base stations, the ephemeris information of the current beam source and the adjacent beam source can be obtained as the configuration information. As an example, the control side device can obtain the ephemeris information through the Xn interface, and of course it can also be obtained through other appropriate interfaces. In some examples, when the beam source can be switched, the adjacent beam source can be the next beam source to be switched from the current beam source.

[0108] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, when the target object corresponds to a terminal device, the beam relay / reflector device may further configure beam relay operations based on the terminal device's configuration information. Specifically, the terminal device's configuration information may include at least one of the terminal device's location and beam reception configuration information. This allows the beam relay / reflector device to accurately and appropriately track the terminal device and optimize its transmission configuration based on this information.

[0109] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the beam reception configuration of a terminal device may be, for example, a beam reception direction, and may be appropriately configured. Specifically, the terminal device may determine its appropriate beam reception configuration, such as the beam reception direction, by performing beam measurements. Specifically, during movement of the terminal device, the beam reception direction of the terminal device may be determined through beam measurements between the terminal device and a beam source, and the beam reception direction may be communicated to the beam relay / reflector device. This allows the beam relay / reflector device to appropriately adjust its beam transmission to more accurately and appropriately transmit the beam to the terminal device.

[0110] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control-side device may obtain the configuration information of the terminal device and transmit it to the beam relay / reflector device. In particular, the control-side device may obtain the configuration information of the terminal device periodically or on demand. In some examples, the terminal device may report its configuration information to the control-side device, for example, periodically.

[0111] In some embodiments, the configuration information of the terminal device, especially the reporting period of the location information, can be determined based on the location information or motion status of the beam source and the location information or motion status of the terminal device. In some examples, it can be determined based on the relative position relationship between the beam source and the terminal device. For example, the closer the terminal device is to the edge of the coverage area of ​​the beam source, the shorter the reporting period, and conversely, the closer it is to the center of the coverage area of ​​the beam source, the longer the reporting period. In other examples, it can be determined based on the ephemeris or movement status of the beam source, including the moving speed, moving direction, etc. For example, if the moving direction of the terminal device is consistent with the moving direction of the beam source, the reporting period is long, and conversely, the smaller the relative speed, the shorter the reporting period. The smaller the relative speed between the terminal device and the beam source, the longer the reporting period, and conversely, the greater the relative speed, the shorter the reporting period.

[0112] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam relay / reflector device further transmits a beam to the target object according to the beam transmission configuration information to achieve beam coverage of the target object. In some embodiments, the beam transmission configuration information may include time information for performing beam transmission on the target object.

[0113] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processing circuit of the beam relay / reflector device may be further configured to obtain time information for beam transmission to a target object from the beam relay / reflector device, and, based on the beam transmission time information, configure the beam transmission of the beam relay / reflector device to perform beam transmission to the target object within a time specified by the time information. In some embodiments, the time information may include a start time and an end time, such as an overlapping start time and end time. In this way, performing beam transmission to the target object within the time specified by the time information includes starting beam transmission to the target object at the start time and stopping beam transmission to the target object at the end time.

[0114] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the time information of the beam transmission can be determined in various appropriate ways. In particular, in some embodiments, the appropriate beam reflection start time and beam reflection end time can be determined based on the respective configuration information of the beam relay / reflection device and the target object, especially based on the relative conditions between the beam relay / reflection device and the target object, such as the reflection configuration of the smart reflection surface, such as the reflection angle range, the relative position information between the smart reflection surface and the target object, the relative position change condition, etc., so as to determine that the beam relay / reflection device can be used to achieve beam coverage for the target object within the specific time period. In some embodiments, the time information of the beam transmission can be determined by an appropriate device in the network. For example, it can be set by the control side device, such as based on the above information. Alternatively, it can also be set by other devices in the network and obtained by the control side device from other devices in the network.

[0115] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a beam relay / reflector device may also collaborate with a beam source to improve beam transmission of a beam emitted by the beam source via the beam relay / reflector device. In particular, the operation of one of the beam relay / reflector device and the beam source may be performed based on the configuration information of the other, thereby making the operations of the beam relay / reflector device and the beam source more compatible, and further optimizing beam transmission and reception. The configuration information exchange between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device may be performed in various appropriate manners, such as via an appropriate device in the network, such as a control-side device, or even directly.

[0116] In some examples of the present disclosure, the processing circuit of the beam relay / reflector device may be further configured to: obtain configuration information of the beam source, and configure the beam relay / reflector device based on the configuration information of the beam source to receive the beam emitted from the beam source.

[0117] In particular, the configuration information of the beam source may include at least one of the spatial position information of the beam source and the beam emission parameters. The spatial position information of the beam source includes at least one of the geographical location of the beam source and the spatial trajectory of the beam source. The beam emission parameters include at least one of the beam direction of the beam source and the antenna radiation pattern of the beam source. As an example, in the case where the beam source is a satellite, the configuration information of the beam source may include the geographical location of the satellite, the satellite beam direction, the satellite antenna radiation pattern, a satellite ephemeris diagram that can serve as an example of the spatial trajectory of the beam source, and the like. Thus, the operation of the beam relay / reflector device can be configured based on such configuration information.

[0118] In some embodiments, configuring the beam relay / reflector device based on the configuration information of the beam source includes adjusting a beam receiving setting of the beam relay / reflector device to match a beam transmitting setting of the beam source, so that the beam transmitted from the beam source can be more appropriately received.

[0119] For example, the reception settings of a beam relay / reflector device can be appropriately configured based on the satellite's beam direction. This allows the device to adapt the settings, such as the reception angle of its receiving component, to match the beam direction, thereby more appropriately receiving the beam from the transmitting source. As another example, a satellite's ephemeris diagram can correspond to the satellite's spatial trajectory. This allows the reception configuration of the beam relay / reflector device to be dynamically adjusted based on the satellite's spatial trajectory. In particular, a reception configuration sequence can be configured to dynamically adjust the reception configuration, such as the reception angle of the smart reflector, as the satellite moves.

[0120] In some embodiments, obtaining the configuration information of the beam source may include periodically obtaining the configuration information of the beam source from the control side device, or sending a request to the control side device and obtaining the configuration information of the beam source provided by the control side device in response, or even obtaining the configuration information directly from the beam source, such as directly periodically obtaining or requesting to obtain.

[0121] It should be noted that, as an alternative, the configuration of the beam relay / reflector device can also be controlled and executed by the control-side device. For example, the control-side device can optimize the settings of the beam relay / reflector device based on the configuration information of the beam source, and then inform the beam relay / reflector device of the optimized configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device so that it can make corresponding settings.

[0122] In other embodiments, the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device may also be obtained so that the beam source adjusts its beam transmission based on the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device.

[0123] In some embodiments, the processing circuit of the beam relay / reflector device may be further configured to: notify the control-side device of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, wherein the beam source sets the beam transmission based on the configuration information of the beam reflector device to transmit the beam to the beam relay / reflector device. As an example, a beam source suitable for the beam relay / reflector device may be selected based on the position, reception angle, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device, and the beam transmission direction of the beam source may be adjusted based on the reception angle, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device so that the beam source transmits the beam more accurately toward the beam relay / reflector device.

[0124] Here, adjustment of the beam source can be achieved via a control-side device. For example, the control-side device can obtain configuration information for the beam relay / reflector device, determine the configuration of a matching beam source accordingly, and then communicate the determined beam source configuration information to the beam source, enabling the beam source to perform beam transmission accordingly. As another example, the beam relay / reflector device configuration information can be communicated to the beam source directly or via the control-side device, allowing the beam source to perform beam transmission accordingly based on this information.

[0125] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device and the configuration information of the beam source can be exchanged in an appropriate manner. As one example, the exchange can occur at specific intervals, such as periodically. As another example, the exchange can occur on demand. For example, the transmission can be performed based on a request from a control-side device. For example, the beam relay / reflector device can request the configuration information of the beam source, and the beam source can request the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device.

[0126] In some embodiments, configuration information exchange between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device may be performed at specific time intervals or upon request within the beam transmission time period indicated by the beam transmission time information. This further improves the collaboration between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device during the beam transmission process, making beam transmission and reception more accurate. In other embodiments, configuration information exchange may also be performed before the beam transmission time period indicated by the beam transmission time information, and the adjusted configuration information between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device is applied during the beam transmission time period to optimize beam transmission and reception.

[0127] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device and / or the beam source may also be provided to the network and stored in an appropriate location. As an example, it may be stored in the core network and then notified to the base station by the core network; or it may be directly notified to both the base station and the core network; or it may be notified to the base station and notified to the core network when the base station and the core network interact. As an example, in this case, the interaction between the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device may be initiated periodically or upon request by the control-side device. In particular, the configuration of the beam source and / or beam relay / reflector device may be adjusted periodically or upon request by the control-side device itself, and the adjusted configuration may be then notified to the beam source and / or beam relay / reflector device.

[0128] As an embodiment, the beam relay / reflector device can register with the network to register its configuration information, so that during the communication process, appropriate devices in the network, such as the control side device, can obtain the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, and thus perform corresponding operations based on the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, such as determining the beam relay / reflector device for beam transmission to the target object, informing the beam source of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device to optimize the beam emission of the beam source, etc.

[0129] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the registration of the beam relay / reflector device can be performed in an appropriate manner. In particular, the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, such as the location of the beam relay / reflector device, identification information, operating parameters, etc., can be registered in the network. The operating parameter information includes the operating time, performance parameters, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device. Among them, each beam relay / reflector device can be assigned a unique identification account (ID). For example, in the case where the beam relay / reflector device includes multiple sub-devices, each sub-device can be assigned a unique identification account. For example, each smart reflective surface can be assigned a unique ID, and when each smart reflective surface includes multiple sub-reflective surfaces, each sub-reflective surface is also assigned a unique ID.

[0130] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, registration of a beam relay / reflector device may be performed by the beam relay / reflector device itself. For example, the beam relay / reflector device may register its configuration information with the network. In other embodiments, registration of a beam relay / reflector device may be performed by another party, such as an operator, a provider, or the like.

[0131] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, configuration information of beam relay / reflector devices and / or beam sources can be registered at appropriate times. For example, registration can be performed during the initialization phase, and for example, information can be communicated to at least one of the NTN base station and the core network during the initialization phase. As another example, if changes occur during communication, the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector devices and / or beam sources can be updated during system operation and communicated to at least one of the NTN base station and the core network. For example, the configuration information can be updated and communicated periodically, or it can be communicated upon request from the base station and the core network.

[0132] Exemplary Implementation Embodiments

[0133] The following describes target object beam transmission implemented via a beam relay / reflector device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Specifically, a target object may include a target area, a target terminal, etc., a target area may be a fixed area or a mobile area, and a target terminal may include a fixed terminal or a mobile terminal. The following describes the corresponding target object beam coverage operations for various types of target objects.

[0134] The following describes the implementation according to the present disclosure using a smart reflective surface as an example of a beam relay / reflector device. However, it should be noted that the conceptual implementation of the present disclosure can be equally applied to other types of beam relay / reflector devices.

[0135] Figure 10 shows a flow chart of using a smart reflective surface to reflect beams to cover a fixed target area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In particular, in this embodiment, the target area covered by the smart reflective surface reflecting beams is a fixed area on the ground.

[0136] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the beam source can transmit a beam based on control by a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network. Specifically, as an example, the control-side device can be a base station. The base station and the beam source can be configured in various suitable ways.

[0137] In some embodiments, the beam source can be integrated with a control-side device (e.g., a base station) of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network. For example, if the beam source is a satellite, the base station can be integrated with the satellite to form an NTN base station. The following description will be based on this scenario.

[0138] First, the NTN base station determines the relevant parameters of the area to be covered. Specifically, the area to be covered can be divided into multiple small areas (also referred to as area units) as described above, and the parameters of each small area, such as location parameters and size parameters, can be pre-provided to the base station. As an example, the division of the area to be covered can be performed in advance, and the relevant parameters can be pre-acquired and stored, for example, in a memory, so that the base station can obtain the area parameters. As another example, the division of the area to be covered can be performed at the start of communication, so that the base station can obtain the relevant area parameters after the area division for use in communication.

[0139] Next, for each small area within the fixed area, the base station identifies one or more possible smart reflective surfaces that can cover it through reflection. The smart reflective surfaces can be determined based on location parameters, size parameters, and other parameters of the small area. Alternatively or additionally, the base station can select a suitable smart reflective surface, such as one or more smart reflective surfaces, based on the configuration information of the smart reflective surface itself, such as its reflective configuration and location. This can be performed as described above and will not be further described here.

[0140] The NTN base station then provides the smart reflector with parameters related to the reflected beam coverage for the target area. Specifically, for each selected smart reflector, the base station sends it the parameters for the small area to be reflected. Each selected smart reflector may cover one or more small areas. The parameters sent by the base station to each selected smart reflector may also include the start and end times for the reflection coverage of a specific small area. Based on this information, the smart reflector achieves beam coverage for the target area. For example, reflection beam coverage for the target area can be performed within the time range defined by the coverage start and end times. Specifically, at the reflection coverage start time, the smart reflector begins reflecting the satellite antenna beam toward the target area and stops reflecting the beam at the end time.

[0141] Additionally, the base station can provide the selected smart reflector with several possible parameters, including the geographic location of the satellite / high-altitude platform base station, the beam direction of the satellite / high-altitude platform base station, the antenna radiation pattern of the satellite / high-altitude platform, and the satellite's ephemeris, to further optimize beam reception and reflection. Specifically, during reflection coverage operations, the NTN satellite antenna beam can be tracked based on relevant information about the NTN base station, such as the geographic location of the serving satellite / high-altitude platform base station, the satellite base station beam direction, the satellite base station antenna radiation pattern, and the satellite ephemeris. For example, as the satellite moves and as needed, the smart reflector adjusts its reflective elements to consistently reflect signals from the satellite / high-altitude platform.

[0142] Additionally, during the beam reflection coverage period, the NTN base station and the smart reflector can exchange information. Specifically, the serving NTN base station can transmit its geographic location and beam direction to the smart reflector at regular intervals. Based on this information, the smart reflector continuously tracks the NTN satellite antenna beam to properly receive it. Simultaneously, the smart reflector also reports its geographic location and orientation to the serving NTN base station, particularly when the smart reflector is mounted on a mobile carrier such as an aircraft. Upon receiving the smart reflector's location, the serving NTN base station can adjust its beam direction, if necessary, to optimize beam reception. This interactive process continues until the smart reflector completes its reflection coverage of the small area.

[0143] In some embodiments, the beam source is separated from the control side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network. As an example, the satellite serving as the beam source is separated from the base station serving as the control side device. Such a satellite can be called a transparent satellite, and in particular, the base station can be a control side device or a base station in the core network. In this case, the base station can communicate with the beam source via the core network to control the beam emission of the beam source. In addition, the base station can also communicate with the beam relay / reflection device or even the terminal device via the core network, and can even realize information interaction between the beam relay / reflection device and the beam source. In this case, the use of an intelligent reflective surface to reflect the beam to cover a fixed target area can still be achieved as described above. This will not be described in detail here.

[0144] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when a satellite beam is reflected by a smart reflective surface, the movement of a serving satellite may cause the smart reflective surface covering a certain area to switch to the next serving satellite base station, as shown in Figure 11A. The following describes in detail how to achieve beam reflection via the smart reflective surface to cover a target area during satellite handover, with reference to an embodiment. It should be noted that this handover operation can be performed in different ways depending on the configuration of the beam source and base station.

[0145] In some embodiments, when the beam source is integrated with the control-side device, for example, when the satellite is integrated with the base station, such as when the base station is deployed on the satellite, it can be called a non-transparent satellite base station. Figure 11B shows a flowchart of an NTN network using a non-transparent satellite using a smart reflective surface to reflect the beam to cover a fixed area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Among them, when the serving NTN non-transparent satellite base station is far away from the area covered by the smart reflective surface, another satellite base station close to the target smart reflective surface coverage area can be arranged as a new serving satellite base station to replace the distant serving satellite base station (which can be called the current serving satellite base station, the old serving satellite base station). Such a next serving satellite base station (also called the new serving satellite base station) can be set by the core network.

[0146] First, the core network informs the new serving satellite base station of the parameters of all small areas in this area and the parameters of the smart reflective surface that has provided reflective coverage for this area. In addition, the core network also informs the current serving satellite base station of the parameters of the new serving satellite base station.

[0147] Next, if possible, the current serving satellite base station instructs the aforementioned smart reflecting surface to switch to a new serving satellite base station. For example, the current serving NTN satellite base station instructs the smart reflecting surface, which is providing reflection coverage toward the target area, to switch to the next serving NTN satellite base station. For example, parameters of the next serving NTN satellite base station may be provided to the smart reflecting surface. If possible, the smart reflecting surface may switch to the next serving NTN satellite base station based on these parameters. Thus, the smart reflecting surface can receive the beam of the next serving NTN satellite base station and reflect the beam toward the target area.

[0148] Additionally, the new serving satellite base station and the smart reflecting surface can exchange information. Specifically, the new serving satellite base station notifies the smart reflecting surface of its parameters, such as its geographic location, beam direction, antenna radiation pattern, and satellite ephemeris. The smart reflecting surface can then optimize its reception configuration based on the parameters of the new serving satellite base station. For example, it can adjust its reception configuration, such as the reception angle, to more appropriately match the new serving satellite base station and receive beams from it.

[0149] As an example, the intelligent reflecting surface tracks the antenna beam of the next NTN service satellite base station and reflects the antenna beam of the next NTN service base station to the target small area at a predetermined time; for example, the next NTN service satellite base station notifies the intelligent reflecting surface of its own geographical location and beam direction at intervals; thereby, the intelligent reflecting surface tracks the beam of the next NTN service satellite base station according to the latest geographical location and beam direction of the next NTN service satellite base station.

[0150] As another example, the smart reflector surface can also communicate its configuration information to the NTN serving satellite base station, particularly the next NTN serving satellite base station. Specifically, the configuration information of the smart reflector surface can include the location and angle of the smart reflector surface. In this way, the NTN base station can adjust its transmission operations based on the configuration information of the smart reflector surface, for example, adjusting its beam transmission direction to best match the smart reflector surface and ensure that the beam is more appropriately received by the smart reflector surface.

[0151] The communication between the smart reflecting surface and the NTN service may be performed in an appropriate manner, such as periodically, on demand, etc. In particular, the communication between the smart reflecting surface and the NTN service may be performed between time periods covered by the beam reflection.

[0152] Additionally, the next satellite service base station may also evaluate the feasibility of using other smart reflective surfaces to cover the target area. If suitable smart reflective surfaces are available, these suitable smart reflective surfaces may be used to cover the target area. The determination and application of suitable smart reflective surfaces may be performed as described above and will not be described in detail here.

[0153] In other embodiments of the present disclosure, a beam source, such as a satellite, is separated from a control-side device, such as a base station, and may be referred to as a transparent satellite base station. In this embodiment, the base station may be deployed on the ground, and the satellite only performs beam transmission or forwarding. Here, the base station may be deployed in the core network.

[0154] Figure 12A shows a schematic diagram of serving base station switching when using a smart reflector to reflect beams to cover a fixed area in an NTN network using transparent satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 12B shows a flow chart of using a smart reflector to reflect beams to cover a fixed area in an NTN network using transparent satellites according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0155] In particular, when a transparent satellite moves away from the reflection coverage area, the smart reflecting surface needs to pair with another transparent satellite responsible for covering the designated area in order to continue reflecting beams to cover the designated reflection coverage area. The ground-based NTN service base station can notify the smart reflecting surface of parameters related to the next transparent satellite. These parameters may include, but are not limited to, the geographic location, beam direction, antenna radiation pattern, and the start time for reflecting the beam of the next transparent satellite, as described above. Thus, when the predetermined start time for reflecting the beam of the next transparent satellite arrives, the smart reflecting surface begins reflecting the beam of the next transparent satellite to the target reflection coverage area.

[0156] The following describes in detail the operations of using a transparent satellite to reflect beams using a smart reflective surface to cover a fixed area according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0157] When the current serving transparent satellite moves away from the predetermined target area and a new transparent satellite is needed, the ground base station transmits the parameters of the next selected transparent satellite to the smart reflective surface, such as its geographic location, beam direction, antenna radiation pattern, and the start time for reflecting the beam of the next transparent satellite. In this way, when the satellite is switched, the smart reflective surface will connect to the next transparent satellite to which it is switched. When it starts reflecting the beam of the next serving satellite, the smart reflective surface can adjust the reflective unit to reflect the beam of the next serving satellite to the predetermined area.

[0158] Furthermore, the smart reflector can adjust its beam reception configuration based on the acquired parameters, enabling it to more appropriately receive and reflect the beam of the next serving satellite. Specifically, while the smart reflector is reflecting the beam of the next serving satellite, the NTN base station transmits the parameters of the next serving satellite, such as its geographic location and beam direction, to the smart reflector at regular intervals. This allows the smart reflector to continuously track the next serving satellite based on these acquired parameters, ensuring that the next serving satellite's beam is promptly reflected to the intended area as it moves relative to the ground.

[0159] On the other hand, the smart reflective surface can also provide its parameters to the serving satellite. In particular, during the operation of reflecting the beam of the next serving satellite, the smart reflective surface also sends its carrier geographic location, direction and other information as parameters to the NTN base station at a certain time interval, so that the next serving satellite can adjust its beam direction and allow the smart reflective surface to better reflect the beam to the predetermined area.

[0160] The above operation is repeated until the next service satellite completes coverage of the predetermined area.

[0161] In the above description of the embodiment, the target area for beam coverage is primarily a fixed area. It should be noted that in applications of beam reflection coverage, the target area can also be mobile, referred to as a moving / mobile target area. The following describes, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the operation of achieving beam coverage for a moving / mobile target area via a beam relay / reflector device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, using a smart reflective surface as an example of a beam relay / reflector device.

[0162] In particular, the moving / mobile target area can be various appropriate areas. As an example, the area can be the intersection area of ​​the satellite coverage area. For example, when the target area of ​​the smart reflective surface is the intersection area covered by several satellite beams, the intersection area will also move as the satellite moves relative to the ground, so the small areas contained in the target area will also continue to change, as shown in Figure 13. At this time, the NTN base station needs to continuously obtain parameter information of the new small areas of the smart reflective surface. In addition, because the installation carrier of the smart reflective surface may be stationary relative to the ground (for example, installed on a high mountain top or a building top), or the speed of movement relative to the ground is relatively slower than the speed of satellite movement relative to the ground (for example, installed on an airplane or a high-altitude platform), then for the NTN base station, the smart reflective surface is continuously replaced.

[0163] For such moving / mobile target areas, such as those that move within a specific timeframe during an operation, the present disclosure proposes capturing the target area within a specific time segment and treating it as a fixed area. Specifically, the target area's movement timeframe is divided into multiple time segments, and the resulting multiple time segments can be considered relatively stationary during each time segment. This allows the operation of providing beam reflection coverage to the fixed target area via the smart reflector, as described above.

[0164] As shown in Figure 13, the present disclosure proposes dividing time into continuous time intervals, each of which has a duration of T, and each time interval is further divided into N time slices. In each time slice, it is assumed that the area required for reflection coverage is fixed. The serving NTN base station analyzes the target small area that needs to be covered in each time slice within a time interval and records it as a time slice small area set AU_ti = {AU1_ti, AU2_ti, AU3_ti, ...}, i = 1, ..., N. The division of the target cell can be as described above and will not be described in detail here. For each small area in the set, the NTN base station regards it as a static small area and performs beam reflection on the small area via the reflection plane.

[0165] FIG14 illustrates exemplary operations for achieving beam coverage for a moving target area through a smart transmitting surface according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0166] First, for each T time interval divided during the movement, the NTN service base station (regardless of whether it uses a transparent satellite or a non-transparent satellite) can determine a set of time-slice small areas AU_ti,i=1,…,N. Then, based on the information exchanged with the smart reflective surface, it finds a suitable smart reflective surface for the target small area and determines the start and end time of reflective coverage for each small area. For example, each time-slice small area can be identified as a target small area in time as the movement progresses.

[0167] The NTN serving base station then transmits the parameters of the target small area, including the location and size of the target small area k, the reflection coverage start and end times, and parameters related to the serving satellite, such as the serving satellite's geographic location, beam direction, antenna radiation pattern, and serving satellite ephemeris, to the selected smart reflecting surface. The smart reflecting surface is then able to receive the serving satellite's antenna beam and, at the reflection coverage start time, begin reflecting the serving satellite's beam to cover the target small area k.

[0168] Furthermore, during communication, the NTN service base station can also transmit the geographic location and beam direction of the serving satellite to the smart reflective surface, enabling the smart reflective surface to continuously track the serving satellite's beam during communication. Alternatively, if necessary, the smart reflective surface can also transmit its own geographic location and reflection direction to the NTN service base station. The NTN service base station can then adjust its beam direction as needed to more accurately transmit the beam to the smart reflective surface, thereby achieving better reflection coverage of the target small area. Information exchange between the NTN service base station and the smart reflective surface can be performed at regular intervals or upon request. In other words, it can be performed in an appropriate manner during the communication process until the time for the smart reflective surface to reflect and cover the target small area k expires.

[0169] For other target small areas, such as the next target small area p, the above operation is repeated at the beginning of the time period corresponding to the target small area p, as shown in FIG15 , until all target small areas are covered by beam reflection.

[0170] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the target object for beam coverage by the smart reflecting surface may also be a terminal device, such as a terminal device in a specific cell, such as a UE. Specifically, the beam can be reflected to the terminal device via the smart reflecting surface to achieve signal enhancement. The following describes, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the operation of achieving signal enhancement for a terminal device via a beam relay / reflecting device according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0171] As shown in Figure 16, smart reflectors can be used to enhance the received signal at terminals outside the effective coverage area of ​​the NTN downlink beam (left). Furthermore, as the satellite moves away from the terminal over time, smart reflectors can be used to enhance the terminal's received signal, which becomes increasingly weaker (right). In this method, the terminal reports its geographic location to the NTN base station. The NTN base station analyzes the distribution of smart reflectors and selects an appropriate one to reflect and enhance the terminal's received signal. The NTN base station also informs the smart reflector of the terminal's location so that it can reflect the signal toward the terminal.

[0172] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, similar to the case of the target cell, the terminal device also involves the case of the terminal device being fixed and the case of being mobile. Thus, depending on whether the terminal device is mobile, two scenarios can be divided, and beam reflection is implemented towards the terminal device via intelligent reflection accordingly.

[0173] 17 , an exemplary operation of achieving beam coverage for a fixed terminal device through a smart transmission surface according to an embodiment of the present disclosure when the terminal device is fixed is illustrated.

[0174] First, the terminal establishes a communication connection with an NTN base station and reports its geographic location to the NTN base station. This communication connection can be established using various suitable methods and will not be described in detail here. The NTN base station then analyzes the information exchanged with the smart reflective surfaces and the terminal's geographic location to identify one or more smart reflective surfaces suitable for the terminal.

[0175] The NTN then sends information such as the terminal's geographic location, reflection start and end time, the satellite's geographic location, beam direction, antenna radiation pattern, and ephemeris diagram to the smart reflector. In this way, the smart reflector can track the satellite antenna beam and reflect the satellite beam to the terminal at the predetermined reflection start time to enhance the terminal signal.

[0176] While the smart reflective surface is reflecting a satellite beam to a terminal, information exchange between the terminal device and the satellite can occur, particularly at intervals. For example, this can occur via an NTN base station. The satellite can transmit information such as its geographic location and beam direction to the smart reflective surface at regular intervals; this allows the smart reflective surface to continuously track the satellite beam based on the latest satellite information. Additionally or alternatively, the smart reflective surface can transmit its geographic location to the NTN base station at regular intervals. The NTN base station can then control satellite beam transmission based on the location of the smart reflective surface, potentially adjusting its own transmission beam direction to better enable the smart reflective surface to reflect the satellite beam to the target terminal. Information communication between the satellite and the terminal device can continue until the predetermined reflection period ends.

[0177] The following describes exemplary operations for achieving beam coverage through a smart transmitting surface for a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure when the terminal device is in a mobile state.

[0178] Figure 18 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal in a mobile state. From time t1 to time t2, the satellite (LEO / MEO), the carrier of the smart reflective surface (such as an airplane), and the terminal will change their geographical locations. Because the direction of terminal movement is usually unpredictable for the NTN base station, the terminal may need to continuously inform the base station of its geographical location. In this way, the NTN base station needs to continuously notify the smart reflective surface of the terminal's new geographical location so that the smart reflective surface can continuously adjust its reflection direction. However, if the terminal moves at a very high speed, it will be difficult for the smart reflective surface to track the terminal, making it difficult to set its own reflection direction. At the same time, it will be difficult for the NTN base station to predict the end time of the reflection coverage. In view of this, the present disclosure further proposes that the NTN base station can use the beam direction obtained during the beam measurement process to provide the smart reflective surface with a direction for reflection toward the terminal and predict the time when the reflection ends.

[0179] FIG19 shows a flowchart of achieving beam coverage for a terminal device through an intelligent transmitting surface according to an embodiment of the present disclosure in a terminal mobile scenario.

[0180] First, before a terminal moves, it establishes a communication connection with an NTN base station. The terminal reports its geographic location to the NTN base station, which then analyzes the information exchanged with the smart reflector and the terminal's geographic location to identify one or more smart reflectors suitable for the terminal. The NTN then transmits information such as the terminal's geographic location, reflection start and end times, the satellite's geographic location, beam direction, antenna radiation pattern, and ephemeris to the smart reflector. This enables the smart reflector to track the satellite antenna beam and the terminal, reflecting the satellite beam toward the terminal at the predetermined reflection start time.

[0181] During terminal mobility, the NTN base station tracks the terminal's beam direction through a beam measurement process with the terminal, thereby instructing the smart reflector to provide more appropriate beam reflection for the terminal. Specifically, beam measurements can be performed at specific intervals or upon request during terminal mobility to continuously track the terminal's beam direction during mobility. Beam measurements can be triggered by the NTN base station or by the terminal.

[0182] Then, while the smart reflecting surface is reflecting the satellite beam to the terminal, information can be exchanged between the terminal and the satellite, as described above. Specifically, the terminal reports its geographic location to the NTN base station at regular intervals. The NTN base station transmits information such as the satellite's geographic location, satellite beam direction, terminal beam direction, and terminal's geographic location to the smart reflecting surface. The smart reflecting surface tracks the satellite beam and the terminal. If necessary, the smart reflecting surface reports its geographic location to the NTN base station at regular intervals. This exchange can continue until the predetermined reflection period ends.

[0183] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, information of the smart reflective surface may be provided to a base station or even to a core network in an appropriate manner.

[0184] Specifically, information about smart reflective surfaces can be registered or recorded in base stations, or even in the core network, enabling them to be used when reflecting beams through smart reflective surfaces to cover target areas or end devices. Specifically, smart reflective surfaces might be installed on aircraft, high-altitude platforms, mountaintops, or building rooftops. Smart reflective surfaces must be registered with NTN base stations, recording their performance parameters, geographic location, and operating hours. NTN base stations can use this information to select the appropriate smart reflective surface for a specific coverage area and end device. Each smart reflective surface is assigned a unique identification number (ID).

[0185] The interaction between the smart reflecting surface and the NTN base station, especially the registration of the information of the smart reflecting surface, can be performed in various appropriate ways. Specifically, two registration methods can be adopted, as shown in FIG20 .

[0186] The left side of Figure 20 shows the first registration method (option 1), in which the smart reflective surface itself can register its information with the NTN base station or even the core network. This registration operation can be performed at the beginning of the non-terrestrial network construction and can be dynamically updated during operation.

[0187] In one case, if the smart reflective surface is installed on a mobile carrier such as an aircraft, the smart reflective surface sends its own geographic location, timestamp, identification account (ID), (aircraft or other) flight trajectory map and time, and parameters of the smart reflective surface (such as operating frequency band, etc.) to the NTN base station.

[0188] In another case, if the smart reflector is installed on a stationary carrier such as a high-altitude platform, the smart reflector sends its own geographic location, timestamp, identification account (ID), operational time period, and smart reflector parameters (such as operating frequency band, etc.) to the NTN base station.

[0189] The NTN base station forwards the above information to the core network for registration

[0190] If the above information changes, the intelligent reflection terminal sends the new information to the NTN base station, and then the NTN base station sends the new information to the core network, and the core network updates the corresponding information

[0191] The right side of Figure 20 shows the second registration method (option 2). In this method, the operator registers and updates the relevant information of the smart reflective surface with the core network. In other words, the relevant information of the smart reflective surface is provided to the operator in advance, or the operator obtains the configuration information of the smart reflective surface in advance and then provides it to the base station or even the core network.

[0192] Therefore, the relevant configuration information of the smart reflective surface can be used in network operation to select an appropriate smart reflective surface to participate in beam reflection coverage.

[0193] As can be seen from the above, the present disclosure proposes a method for using a smart reflective surface to reflect beams from a beam source in a non-terrestrial network to cover a target area. This method can at least enhance the signal strength received by the terminal and extend the time that the base station beam covers the cell. In particular, regardless of whether the target area is static (fixed) or dynamic (mobile), the present disclosure can utilize the smart reflective surface to enhance the coverage of the target area, including extending the coverage of the cell, increasing the coverage intensity of the cell, and so on. In this way, the smart reflective surface reflects the NTN base station beam to cover the target area, improving the coverage rate of the NTN network. Furthermore, the smart reflective surface can reflect the NTN base station beam to the target area, extending the cell service time and reducing the number of handovers.

[0194] Furthermore, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, intelligent reflective surfaces can also be used to enhance the received signal strength of terminals, regardless of whether the terminal is mobile or stationary. In this way, the intelligent reflective surface reflects the NTN base station beam to the target terminal, enhancing the received signal strength of the terminal, improving communication quality, and increasing channel capacity.

[0195] The beam relay / reflection device of the wireless communication system according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, especially its processing single path, can be implemented in various appropriate ways. In the structural example of the above-mentioned device, the processing circuit can be in the form of a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processing circuit, such as an ASIC. For example, the processing circuit can be constructed by a circuit (hardware) or a central processing device (such as a central processing unit (CPU)). In addition, the processing circuit can carry a program (software) for making the circuit (hardware) or the central processing device work. The program can be stored in a memory (such as, arranged in a memory) or in an external storage medium connected from the outside, and downloaded via a network (such as, the Internet).

[0196] According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a processing circuit for a beam relay / reflector device may include various units for correspondingly implementing the above-mentioned operations. As shown in FIG3A , the processing circuit 302 of the beam relay / reflector device 300 may include a receiving unit 304 configured to receive a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and a transmitting unit 306 configured to transmit the received beam to the target object based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network capable of transmitting a beam. It should be noted that, in the case where the beam relay / reflector device is, for example, a smart reflective surface, the processing circuit, receiving unit, and transmitting unit may be units of the smart reflective surface, or may even be integrated into the smart reflective surface itself. The receiving unit and transmitting unit may also be implemented as an integrated unit.

[0197] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 302 may further include an acquisition unit 308 configured to acquire time information for performing beam transmission on the target object, and the transmission unit 306 may perform beam transmission within a time specified by the time information for beam transmission.

[0198] In some embodiments, the acquisition unit may further acquire configuration information of a beam source, and the processing circuitry may configure the beam relay / reflector device based on the configuration information of the beam source to receive the beam from the beam source. Specifically, configuring the beam relay / reflector device may correspond to setting or adjusting a reception configuration of a receiving unit to more appropriately receive the beam from the beam source.

[0199] In some embodiments, the processing circuit also includes a sending unit 310, which is configured to inform the control side device of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam source can set the beam transmission based on the configuration information of the beam reflection device to transmit the beam to the beam relay / reflector device.

[0200] In some embodiments, when the beam source is integrated with the control side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and the beam source is switched, the acquisition unit can obtain an indication of switching to a new beam source from the control side device, the receiving unit can receive the beam from the new beam source, and the transmission unit can transmit the received beam from the new beam source to the target object.

[0201] In some embodiments, when the beam source is separated from the control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and the beam source is switched, the acquisition unit may acquire configuration information from the new beam source, and the processing unit may configure the beam relay / reflector device based on the configuration information of the new beam source to receive the beam from the new beam source. In particular, the receiving unit may be configured or adjusted to appropriately receive the beam.

[0202] Each of the above-mentioned units can be operated as described above and will not be described in detail here. It should be noted that each of the above-mentioned units is only a logical module divided according to the specific functions implemented, rather than being used to limit the specific implementation method, for example, it can be implemented in the form of software, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. In actual implementation, each of the above-mentioned units can be implemented as an independent physical entity, or it can also be implemented by a single entity (for example, a processor (CPU or DSP, etc.), an integrated circuit, etc.). It should be noted that although each unit is shown as a discrete unit in Figure 3A, one or more of these units can also be merged into one unit, or split into multiple units. In addition, each of the above-mentioned units is shown in the accompanying drawings with dotted lines to indicate that these units may not actually exist, and the operations / functions they implement can be implemented by the processing circuit itself.

[0203] It should be understood that Figure 3A is merely a schematic structural configuration of a beam relay / reflector device in a wireless communication system. Optionally, beam relay / reflector device 300 may also include other components not shown, such as memory, a radio frequency link, a baseband processing unit, a network interface, a controller, etc. The processing circuitry may be associated with the memory. For example, the processing circuitry may be directly or indirectly connected (e.g., with other components connected in between) to the memory for data access. The memory may store various information acquired and generated by processing circuitry 302, etc. The memory may also be located within the electronic device at the purchasing end but outside the processing circuitry, or even outside the electronic device at the purchasing end. The memory may be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. For example, the memory may include, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), read-only memory (ROM), and flash memory.

[0204] A method for beam relay in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG3B shows a flowchart of a method 320 for beam relay according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0205] In method 320, in step S321 (which may be referred to as a receiving step), a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network is received, and in step S322 (which may be referred to as a transmitting step), the received beam is transmitted to the target object based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network that is capable of transmitting a beam.

[0206] In addition, the method may further include corresponding steps for implementing the operations performed by the beam relay / reflector device described above. It should be noted that these steps may be performed by the beam relay / reflector device described above according to the present disclosure, and in particular, by corresponding units of the beam relay / reflector device described above according to the present disclosure.

[0207] The following describes the control side electronic device of the wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The control side may be the party that initiates downlink communication and / or receives uplink communication in the wireless communication system, and may be appropriately selected according to the signal transmission direction in the wireless communication scenario. In particular, for example, when downlink communication is performed from a base station to a user terminal, the control side may refer to the base station side. It should be noted that the control side electronic device may correspond to the device (such as a base station in the communication system) that communicates in the communication scenario in the wireless communication system, or an electronic device used in combination with the device.

[0208] FIG21A shows a block diagram of a control-side electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The control-side electronic device 2100 is capable of communicating with other devices in the wireless communication system, such as a beam source, a beam relay / reflector device, or even a terminal device in the system. In particular, compared to the control side, other devices communicating with the control-side electronic device may be referred to as being on the access side. That is, the beam source and the beam relay / reflector device may be referred to as access-side devices relative to the control-side electronic device, which may be the party in the wireless communication system that receives downlink communications and / or initiates uplink communications relative to the control-side electronic device.

[0209] The access side electronic device 2100 includes a processing circuit 2102, which is configured to obtain configuration information of a beam transmission target object in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, determine a beam relay / reflector device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and send the configuration information of the target object to the determined beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam relay / reflector device can transmit the received beam from the beam source to the target object.

[0210] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to obtain configuration information of the beam source and control the beam relay / reflection device so that the beam relay / reflection device is configured to receive the beam from the beam source based on the configuration information of the beam source.

[0211] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to obtain configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, and control the beam source so that the beam source is configured to transmit a beam toward the beam relay / reflector device based on the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device.

[0212] In some embodiments, the processing circuit can be further configured to send time information of beam transmission to the target object to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device transmits the received beam from the beam source to the target object within the time specified by the time information of the beam transmission.

[0213] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to predict the time information based on configuration information of the beam source, the target object, and the beam relay / reflection device.

[0214] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to, when an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source, inform the new beam source of the configuration information of the target object and the beam relay / reflector device corresponding to the target object, so that the new beam source transmits a beam to the beam relay / reflector device.

[0215] In some embodiments, the processing circuit may be further configured to inform the old beam source of parameter information of the new beam source when the old beam source used to transmit the beam is switched to the new beam source, so that the old beam source instructs the beam relay / reflection device to switch to the new beam source.

[0216] In some embodiments, the processing circuit can be further configured to obtain configuration information of the new beam source when the old beam source used to transmit the beam is switched to the new beam source, and send the configuration information of the new beam source to the beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam relay / reflector device is configured based on the configuration information of the new beam source to receive the beam from the new beam source.

[0217] In some embodiments, the processing circuit can be further configured to divide the target object movement time into time slices when the target object moves; and for the target object in each time slice, determine a beam relay / reflection device suitable for the target object in the time slice, so that the beam is transmitted to the target object in the time slice via the determined beam relay / reflection device.

[0218] In some embodiments, the processing circuit can be further configured to perform beam measurement with the terminal to determine the beam direction of the terminal when the target object is a mobile terminal, and inform the beam relay / reflection device of the determined beam direction, so that the beam relay / reflection device tracks the terminal based on the beam direction to transmit the beam.

[0219] It should be noted that the control-side electronic device 2100 can be implemented in various appropriate manners, and in particular, can be implemented in a manner similar to the beam relay / reflector device 300. For example, it can include various units to implement the aforementioned operations / functions, such as an acquisition unit 2104 configured to acquire configuration information of a beam transmission target object in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network; a determination unit 2106 configured to determine, based on the configuration information of the target object, a beam relay / reflector device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network; and a transmission unit 2108 configured to transmit the configuration information of the target object to the determined beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam relay / reflector device can transmit the beam received from the beam source to the target object. It should be noted that the aforementioned acquisition unit, determination unit, and transmission unit can also perform various operations performed by the processing circuit described above, such as notifying or transmitting various information to various devices in the system, etc., which will not be described in detail here.

[0220] In some embodiments, the control side electronic device 2100 may also include a response unit for implementing the above operations, such as a unit for time slice division, a unit for beam measurement, etc., which will not be described in detail here.

[0221] It should be noted that the units of the control-side electronic device can also be implemented as described above for device 300, for example, using software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. This will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, the processing circuit 2102 may also include a memory, which may be located outside the processing circuit or even outside the control-side electronic device. The processing circuit may also include other components. This is as described above for the beam relay / reflector device and will not be described in detail here.

[0222] The following describes a method for a wireless communication system control side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG21B shows a flowchart of a method 2110 for a wireless communication system control side according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In step S2111 (which may be referred to as an acquisition step), configuration information of a beam transmission target object in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network is acquired. In step S2112 (which may be referred to as a determination step), a beam relay / reflector device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source is determined based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network. In step S2113 (which may be referred to as a transmission step), the configuration information of the target object is transmitted to the determined beam relay / reflector device, so that the beam relay / reflector device can transmit the beam received from the beam source to the target object.

[0223] In addition, the method may further include corresponding steps for implementing the operations performed by the control-side electronic device described above. It should be noted that these steps may be performed by the control-side electronic device described above according to the present disclosure, and in particular, by corresponding units of the control-side electronic device described above according to the present disclosure.

[0224] It should be noted that the above description is merely exemplary. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in any other appropriate manner, while still achieving the advantageous effects obtained by the embodiments of the present disclosure. Moreover, the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to other similar application examples, while still achieving the advantageous effects obtained by the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0225] It should be understood that the machine-executable instructions in the machine-readable storage medium or program product according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be configured to perform operations corresponding to the above-mentioned device and method embodiments. When referring to the above-mentioned device and method embodiments, the embodiments of the machine-readable storage medium or program product are clear to those skilled in the art and are therefore not described again. Machine-readable storage media and program products for carrying or including the above-mentioned machine-executable instructions also fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Such storage media may include, but are not limited to, floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

[0226] In addition, it should be understood that the above series of processes and devices can also be implemented through software and / or firmware. In the case of implementation through software and / or firmware, the program constituting the software is installed from a storage medium or a network to a computer with a dedicated hardware structure, such as the general-purpose personal computer 1600 shown in Figure 22. When various programs are installed, the computer can perform various functions, etc. Figure 22 is a block diagram showing an example structure of a personal computer of an information processing device that can be used in an embodiment of the present disclosure. In one example, the personal computer can correspond to the above-mentioned exemplary purchasing-end electronic device or selling-end electronic device according to the present disclosure.

[0227] 22 , a central processing unit (CPU) 1601 executes various processes according to a program stored in a read-only memory (ROM) 1602 or a program loaded from a storage section 1608 to a random access memory (RAM) 1603. In the RAM 1603, data required when the CPU 1601 executes various processes and the like is also stored as needed.

[0228] The CPU 1601, the ROM 1602, and the RAM 1603 are connected to one another via a bus 1604. An input / output interface 1605 is also connected to the bus 1604.

[0229] The following components are connected to the input / output interface 1605: an input section 1606 including a keyboard, a mouse, etc.; an output section 1607 including a display such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), a liquid crystal display (LCD), etc., and a speaker, etc.; a storage section 1608 including a hard disk, etc.; and a communication section 1609 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, etc. The communication section 1609 performs communication processing via a network such as the Internet.

[0230] A drive 1610 is also connected to the input / output interface 1605 as needed. A removable medium 1611 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, etc. is mounted on the drive 1610 as needed so that a computer program read therefrom is installed in the storage section 1608 as needed.

[0231] In the case of realizing the above-described series of processing by software, a program constituting the software is installed from a network such as the Internet or a storage medium such as the removable medium 1611 .

[0232] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such storage media are not limited to the removable medium 1611 shown in FIG9 , which stores the program and is distributed separately from the device to provide the program to the user. Examples of the removable medium 1611 include magnetic disks (including floppy disks (registered trademark)), optical disks (including compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs) and digital versatile disks (DVDs)), magneto-optical disks (including minidiscs (MDs) (registered trademark)), and semiconductor memories. Alternatively, the storage medium may be the ROM 1602, a hard disk included in the storage section 1608, or the like, in which the program is stored and distributed to the user along with the device containing the program.

[0233] The technology disclosed herein can be applied to various products.

[0234] For example, the control side device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented as various control devices / base stations or included in various control devices / base stations.For example, the terminal device according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be implemented as various terminal devices or included in various terminal devices.

[0235] For example, the control device / base station mentioned in this disclosure can be implemented as any type of base station, such as an eNB, such as a macro eNB and a small eNB. A small eNB can be an eNB that covers a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico eNB, a micro eNB, and a home (femto) eNB. For another example, it can be implemented as a gNB, such as a macro gNB and a small gNB. A small gNB can be a gNB that covers a cell smaller than a macro cell, such as a pico gNB, a micro gNB, and a home (femto) gNB. Alternatively, the base station can be implemented as any other type of base station, such as a NodeB and a base transceiver station (BTS). A base station can include: a main body configured to control wireless communications (also called a base station device); and one or more remote radio heads (RRHs) located at a location different from the main body. In addition, the various types of terminals described below can all operate as a base station by temporarily or semi-permanently performing base station functions.

[0236] For example, the terminal devices mentioned in the present disclosure may be implemented as mobile terminals (such as smart phones, tablet personal computers (PCs), notebook PCs, portable game terminals, portable / dongle-type mobile routers, and digital camera devices) or vehicle-mounted terminals (such as car navigation devices) in some embodiments. The terminal device may also be implemented as a terminal that performs machine-to-machine (M2M) communication (also known as a machine-type communication (MTC) terminal). In addition, the terminal device may be a wireless communication module (such as an integrated circuit module comprising a single chip) installed on each of the above-mentioned terminals.

[0237] Application examples according to the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0238] [Example about base stations]

[0239] It should be understood that the term "base station" in the present disclosure has the full breadth of its usual meaning and at least includes a wireless communication station used as part of a wireless communication system or radio system to facilitate communication. Examples of base stations may include, but are not limited to, the following: a base station may be one or both of a base transceiver station (BTS) and a base station controller (BSC) in a GSM system, one or both of a radio network controller (RNC) and a Node B in a WCDMA system, an eNB in ​​an LTE and LTE-Advanced system, or a corresponding network node in a future communication system (such as a gNB, eLTE eNB, etc. that may appear in a 5G communication system). Some of the functions in the base station of the present disclosure may also be implemented as an entity that has a control function for communication in D2D, M2M, and V2V communication scenarios, or as an entity that plays a spectrum coordination role in a cognitive radio communication scenario.

[0240] First example

[0241] FIG23 is a block diagram illustrating a first example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure can be applied. gNB 1700 includes multiple antennas 1710 and a base station device 1720. Base station device 1720 and each antenna 1710 can be connected to each other via an RF cable. In one implementation, gNB 1700 (or base station device 1720) herein may correspond to the control-side electronic device described above.

[0242] Each antenna 1710 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna) and is used for base station device 1720 to transmit and receive wireless signals. As shown in Figure 23, gNB 1700 may include multiple antennas 1710. For example, multiple antennas 1710 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by gNB 1700.

[0243] The base station device 1720 includes a controller 1721 , a memory 1722 , a network interface 1717 , and a wireless communication interface 1725 .

[0244] The controller 1721 may be, for example, a CPU or a DSP, and operates various functions of the higher layers of the base station device 1720. For example, the controller 1721 determines the location information of a target terminal device in at least one terminal device based on the positioning information of at least one terminal device on the terminal side in the wireless communication system acquired by the wireless communication interface 1725 and the specific location configuration information of at least one terminal device. The controller 1721 may have a logical function of performing the following controls: the control may be radio resource control, radio bearer control, mobility management, access control, and scheduling. The control may be performed in conjunction with a nearby gNB or core network node. The memory 1722 includes RAM and ROM, and stores programs executed by the controller 1721 and various types of control data (such as a terminal list, transmission power data, and scheduling data).

[0245] Network interface 1723 is a communication interface for connecting base station device 1720 to core network 1724. Controller 1721 can communicate with a core network node or another gNB via network interface 1717. In this case, gNB 1700 and the core network node or other gNB can be connected to each other via logical interfaces (such as S1 and X2 interfaces). Network interface 1723 can also be a wired communication interface or a wireless communication interface for wireless backhaul. If network interface 1723 is a wireless communication interface, it can use a higher frequency band for wireless communication than the frequency band used by wireless communication interface 1725.

[0246] The wireless communication interface 1725 supports any cellular communication scheme, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced, and provides wireless connectivity to terminals located in the gNB 1700 cell via the antenna 1710. The wireless communication interface 1725 may typically include, for example, a baseband (BB) processor 1726 and RF circuitry 1727. The BB processor 1726 can perform various signal processing functions, such as encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and handle various layers (e.g., Layer 1, Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)). In place of the controller 1721, the BB processor 1726 may perform some or all of the aforementioned logical functions. The BB processor 1726 may be a memory storing communication control programs, or a module including a processor configured to execute programs and associated circuitry. Program updates can modify the functionality of the BB processor 1726. This module may be a card or blade inserted into a slot in the base station device 1720. Alternatively, it may be a chip mounted on the card or blade. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1727 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1710. Although FIG23 shows an example in which one RF circuit 1727 is connected to one antenna 1710, the present disclosure is not limited to this illustration, and one RF circuit 1727 may be connected to multiple antennas 1710 at the same time.

[0247] As shown in Figure 23 , the wireless communication interface 1725 may include multiple BB processors 1726. For example, multiple BB processors 1726 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1700. As shown in Figure 23 , the wireless communication interface 1725 may include multiple RF circuits 1727. For example, multiple RF circuits 1727 may be compatible with multiple antenna elements. While Figure 23 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 1725 includes multiple BB processors 1726 and multiple RF circuits 1727, the wireless communication interface 1725 may also include a single BB processor 1726 or a single RF circuit 1727.

[0248] Second example

[0249] FIG24 is a block diagram illustrating a second example of a schematic configuration of a gNB to which the techniques of this disclosure can be applied. gNB 1800 includes multiple antennas 1810, RRHs 1820, and base station equipment 1830. RRHs 1820 and each antenna 1810 can be connected to each other via an RF cable. Base station equipment 1830 and RRHs 1820 can be connected to each other via a high-speed line such as an optical fiber cable. In one implementation, gNB 1800 (or base station equipment 1830) herein may correspond to the control-side electronic device described above.

[0250] Each antenna 1810 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as the multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals by the RRH 1820. As shown in Figure 24, the gNB 1800 may include multiple antennas 1810. For example, the multiple antennas 1810 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1800.

[0251] Base station device 1830 includes a controller 1831, a memory 1832, a network interface 1833, a wireless communication interface 1834, and a connection interface 1836. Controller 1831, memory 1832, and network interface 1833 are the same as controller 1721, memory 1722, and network interface 1723 described with reference to FIG.

[0252] The wireless communication interface 1834 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and provides wireless communication to terminals located in the sector corresponding to the RRH 1820 via the RRH 1820 and the antenna 1810. The wireless communication interface 1834 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 1835. The BB processor 1835 is identical to the BB processor 1726 described with reference to FIG. 23 , except that the BB processor 1835 is connected to the RF circuit 1822 of the RRH 1820 via the connection interface 1836. As shown in FIG. 24 , the wireless communication interface 1834 may include multiple BB processors 1835. For example, multiple BB processors 1835 may be compatible with multiple frequency bands used by the gNB 1800. Although FIG. 24 illustrates an example in which the wireless communication interface 1834 includes multiple BB processors 1835, the wireless communication interface 1834 may also include a single BB processor 1835.

[0253] The connection interface 1836 is an interface for connecting the base station device 1830 (wireless communication interface 1834) to the RRH 1820. The connection interface 1836 may also be a communication module for connecting the base station device 1830 (wireless communication interface 1834) to the RRH 1820 for communication in the high-speed line.

[0254] The RRH 1820 includes a connection interface 1823 and a wireless communication interface 1821 .

[0255] The connection interface 1823 is an interface for connecting the RRH 1820 (wireless communication interface 1821) to the base station device 1830. The connection interface 1823 may also be a communication module for communication in the above-mentioned high-speed line.

[0256] The wireless communication interface 1821 transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1810. The wireless communication interface 1821 may generally include, for example, an RF circuit 1822. The RF circuit 1822 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmits and receives wireless signals via the antenna 1810. Although FIG. 24 illustrates an example in which one RF circuit 1822 is connected to one antenna 1810, the present disclosure is not limited to this illustration, and one RF circuit 1822 may be connected to multiple antennas 1810 simultaneously.

[0257] As shown in FIG24 , the wireless communication interface 1821 may include multiple RF circuits 1822. For example, multiple RF circuits 1822 may support multiple antenna elements. Although FIG24 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1821 includes multiple RF circuits 1822, the wireless communication interface 1821 may also include a single RF circuit 1822.

[0258] [Example of User Equipment / Terminal Equipment]

[0259] First example

[0260] Figure 25 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a communication device 1900 (e.g., a smart phone, a communicator, etc.) to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The communication device 1900 includes a processor 1901, a memory 1902, a storage device 1903, an external connection interface 1904, a camera 1906, a sensor 1907, a microphone 1908, an input device 1909, a display device 1910, a speaker 1911, a wireless communication interface 1912, one or more antenna switches 1915, one or more antennas 1916, a bus 1917, a battery 1918, and an auxiliary controller 1919. In one implementation, the communication device 1900 (or processor 1901) herein may correspond to the above-mentioned transmitting device or terminal-side electronic device.

[0261] The processor 1901 may be, for example, a CPU or a system on a chip (SoC), and controls the functions of the application layer and other layers of the communication device 1900. The memory 1902 includes RAM and ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 1901. The storage device 1903 may include storage media such as semiconductor memories and hard disks. The external connection interface 1904 is an interface for connecting an external device (such as a memory card and a universal serial bus (USB) device) to the communication device 1900.

[0262] The camera 1906 includes an image sensor (such as a charge coupled device (CCD) and a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS)) and generates a captured image. The sensor 1907 may include a group of sensors such as a measurement sensor, a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an acceleration sensor. The microphone 1908 converts the sound input to the communication device 1900 into an audio signal. The input device 1909 includes, for example, a touch sensor, a keypad, a keyboard, a button, or a switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 1910, and receives an operation or information input from the user. The display device 1910 includes a screen (such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display) and displays the output image of the communication device 1900. The speaker 1911 converts the audio signal output from the communication device 1900 into sound.

[0263] The wireless communication interface 1912 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 1912 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 1913 and an RF circuit 1914. The BB processor 1913 may perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 1914 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via an antenna 1916. The wireless communication interface 1912 may be a chip module on which the BB processor 1913 and the RF circuit 1914 are integrated. As shown in FIG. 25 , the wireless communication interface 1912 may include multiple BB processors 1913 and multiple RF circuits 1914. Although FIG. 25 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 1912 includes multiple BB processors 1913 and multiple RF circuits 1914, the wireless communication interface 1912 may also include a single BB processor 1913 or a single RF circuit 1914.

[0264] In addition, in addition to the cellular communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 1912 can support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless local area network (LAN) scheme. In this case, the wireless communication interface 1912 may include a BB processor 1913 and an RF circuit 1914 for each wireless communication scheme.

[0265] Each of the antenna switches 1915 switches the connection destination of the antenna 1916 between a plurality of circuits (eg, circuits for different wireless communication schemes) included in the wireless communication interface 1912 .

[0266] Each of the antennas 1916 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals via the wireless communication interface 1912. As shown in FIG25, the communication device 1900 may include multiple antennas 1916. Although FIG25 shows an example in which the communication device 1900 includes multiple antennas 1916, the communication device 1900 may also include a single antenna 1916.

[0267] In addition, the communication device 1900 may include an antenna 1916 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 1915 may be omitted from the configuration of the communication device 1900.

[0268] The bus 1917 connects the processor 1901, the memory 1902, the storage device 1903, the external connection interface 1904, the camera 1906, the sensor 1907, the microphone 1908, the input device 1909, the display 1910, the speaker 1911, the wireless communication interface 1912, and the auxiliary controller 1919. The battery 1918 supplies power to the various blocks of the communication device 1900 shown in FIG25 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dotted line in the figure. The auxiliary controller 1919 operates the minimum necessary functions of the communication device 1900, for example, in sleep mode.

[0269] Second example

[0270] 26 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a car navigation device 2000 to which the technology of the present disclosure can be applied. The car navigation device 2000 includes a processor 2001, a memory 2002, a global positioning system (GPS) module 2004, a sensor 2005, a data interface 2006, a content player 2007, a storage medium interface 2008, an input device 2009, a display device 2010, a speaker 2011, a wireless communication interface 2013, one or more antenna switches 2016, one or more antennas 2017, and a battery 2018. In one implementation, the car navigation device 2000 (or processor 2001) herein may correspond to a transmitting device or a terminal-side electronic device.

[0271] The processor 2001 may be, for example, a CPU or an SoC, and controls a navigation function and other functions of the car navigation apparatus 2000. The memory 2002 includes a RAM and a ROM, and stores data and programs executed by the processor 2001.

[0272] The GPS module 2004 uses GPS signals received from GPS satellites to measure the position (such as latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the car navigation device 2000. The sensor 2005 may include a group of sensors such as a gyroscope sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, and an air pressure sensor. The data interface 2006 is connected to, for example, the vehicle network 2021 via a terminal not shown, and acquires data generated by the vehicle (such as vehicle speed data).

[0273] The content player 2007 reproduces content stored in a storage medium (such as a CD or DVD) inserted into the storage medium interface 2008. The input device 2009 includes, for example, a touch sensor, button, or switch configured to detect a touch on the screen of the display device 2010, and receives an operation or information input from the user. The display device 2010 includes a screen such as an LCD or OLED display and displays an image of a navigation function or reproduced content. The speaker 2011 outputs the sound of the navigation function or the reproduced content.

[0274] The wireless communication interface 2013 supports any cellular communication scheme (such as LTE and LTE-Advanced) and performs wireless communication. The wireless communication interface 2013 may generally include, for example, a BB processor 2014 and an RF circuit 2015. The BB processor 2014 may perform, for example, encoding / decoding, modulation / demodulation, and multiplexing / demultiplexing, and perform various types of signal processing for wireless communication. Meanwhile, the RF circuit 2015 may include, for example, a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier, and transmit and receive wireless signals via an antenna 2017. The wireless communication interface 2013 may also be a chip module on which the BB processor 2014 and the RF circuit 2015 are integrated. As shown in FIG26 , the wireless communication interface 2013 may include multiple BB processors 2014 and multiple RF circuits 2015. Although FIG26 shows an example in which the wireless communication interface 2013 includes multiple BB processors 2014 and multiple RF circuits 2015, the wireless communication interface 2013 may also include a single BB processor 2014 or a single RF circuit 2015.

[0275] In addition, in addition to the cellular communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 2013 can support other types of wireless communication schemes, such as a short-range wireless communication scheme, a near field communication scheme, and a wireless LAN scheme. In this case, for each wireless communication scheme, the wireless communication interface 2013 can include a BB processor 2014 and an RF circuit 2015.

[0276] Each of the antenna switches 2016 switches the connection destination of the antenna 2017 between a plurality of circuits included in the wireless communication interface 2013 (such as circuits for different wireless communication schemes).

[0277] Each of the antennas 2017 includes a single or multiple antenna elements (such as multiple antenna elements included in a MIMO antenna) and is used for transmitting and receiving wireless signals with the wireless communication interface 2013. As shown in FIG26, the car navigation device 2000 may include multiple antennas 2017. Although FIG26 shows an example in which the car navigation device 2000 includes multiple antennas 2017, the car navigation device 2000 may also include a single antenna 2017.

[0278] Furthermore, the car navigation device 2000 may include an antenna 2017 for each wireless communication scheme. In this case, the antenna switch 2016 may be omitted from the configuration of the car navigation device 2000.

[0279] The battery 2018 supplies power to the respective blocks of the car navigation device 2000 shown in Fig. 26 via a feeder line, which is partially shown as a dotted line in the figure. The battery 2018 accumulates the power supplied from the vehicle.

[0280] The technology of the present disclosure can also be implemented as an in-vehicle system (or vehicle) 2020 including a car navigation device 2000, an in-vehicle network 2021, and one or more blocks of a vehicle module 2022. The vehicle module 2022 generates vehicle data (such as vehicle speed, engine speed, and fault information) and outputs the generated data to the in-vehicle network 2021.

[0281] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present disclosure is certainly not limited to the above examples. Those skilled in the art may obtain various changes and modifications within the scope of the appended claims, and it should be understood that these changes and modifications will naturally fall within the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0282] It should be understood that the machine-executable instructions in the machine-readable storage medium or program product according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be configured to perform operations corresponding to the above-mentioned device and method embodiments. When referring to the above-mentioned device and method embodiments, the embodiments of the machine-readable storage medium or program product are clear to those skilled in the art and are therefore not described again. Machine-readable storage media and program products for carrying or including the above-mentioned machine-executable instructions also fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Such storage media may include, but are not limited to, floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

[0283] In addition, it should be understood that the above series of processes and devices can also be implemented by software and / or firmware. In the case of implementation by software and / or firmware, the storage medium of the relevant device stores the corresponding program constituting the corresponding software, and when the program is executed, various functions can be performed.

[0284] For example, a plurality of functions included in one unit in the above embodiments may be implemented by separate devices. Alternatively, a plurality of functions implemented by a plurality of units in the above embodiments may be implemented by separate devices, respectively. In addition, one of the above functions may be implemented by a plurality of units. Needless to say, such a configuration is included in the technical scope of the present disclosure.

[0285] In this specification, the steps described in the flowchart include not only processing executed in time series in the order described, but also processing executed in parallel or individually rather than necessarily in time series. In addition, even in the steps processed in time series, it goes without saying that the order can be changed as appropriate.

[0286] In addition, the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the methods and systems of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. The order of the steps of the method described above is merely illustrative, and unless otherwise specifically stated, the steps of the method of the present disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above. In addition, in some embodiments, the present disclosure may also be embodied as a program recorded in a recording medium, including machine-readable instructions for implementing the method according to the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure also covers recording media that store programs for implementing the method according to the present disclosure. Such storage media may include, but are not limited to, floppy disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, memory cards, memory sticks, and the like.

[0287] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the boundaries between the above-mentioned operations are merely illustrative. Multiple operations can be combined into a single operation, a single operation can be distributed among additional operations, and operations can be performed at least partially overlapping in time. Moreover, alternative embodiments can include multiple instances of specific operations, and the order of operations can be changed in various other embodiments. However, other modifications, variations, and replacements are also possible. Therefore, this specification and the accompanying drawings should be considered illustrative, not restrictive.

[0288] In addition, embodiments of the present disclosure may further include the following illustrative examples (EE).

[0289] EE1. A beam relay / reflector device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, the beam relay / reflector device comprising a processing circuit configured to:

[0290] receiving a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and

[0291] transmitting the received beam to the target object based on configuration information of the target object,

[0292] The beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting beams in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

[0293] EE2. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the target object includes a target area that the beam is expected to cover, and the configuration information of the target area includes geographic location information and size information of the target area.

[0294] EE3. A beam relay / reflector device according to EE1, wherein the target area includes at least one sub-area, and for each sub-area, at least one beam relay / reflector device is set by a control side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network based on the configuration information of the sub-area.

[0295] EE4. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the target object includes a terminal device that the beam is expected to cover, and the configuration information of the terminal device includes at least one of the geographic location information of the terminal device and the beam direction of the terminal device.

[0296] EE5. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE4, wherein the beam direction of the terminal device is obtained by the control side device through beam measurement with the terminal device.

[0297] EE6. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0298] Obtaining the time information of beam transmission to the target object, and

[0299] Beam transmission is performed within the time specified by the beam transmission time information.

[0300] EE7. A beam relay / reflection device according to EE6, wherein the time information includes a start time and an end time, and performing beam transmission within the time specified by the time information of the beam transmission includes starting to transmit the beam to the target object at the start time and stopping to transmit the beam to the target object at the end time.

[0301] EE8. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0302] Get the configuration information of the beam source,

[0303] The beam relay / reflection device is configured based on the configuration information of the beam source to receive the beam sent from the beam source.

[0304] EE9. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE8, wherein the configuration information of the beam source includes at least one of the spatial position information of the beam source and the beam transmission parameters.

[0305] EE10. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE9, wherein the spatial position information of the beam source includes at least one of the geographical location of the beam source and the spatial trajectory of the beam source; and / or

[0306] The beam transmission parameters include at least one of a beam direction of the beam source and an antenna radiation pattern of the beam source.

[0307] EE11. A beam relay / reflector device according to EE8, wherein obtaining the configuration information of the beam source includes periodically obtaining the configuration information of the beam source from the control side device, or sending a request to the control side device and obtaining the configuration information of the beam source provided by the control side device in response.

[0308] EE12. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0309] Notify the control side device of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, wherein:

[0310] The beam source sets beam transmission based on configuration information of the beam reflecting device to transmit a beam to the beam relay / reflecting device.

[0311] EE13. The beam relay / reflector device according to EE1 or EE12, wherein the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device includes the orientation information of the beam relay / reflector device, and / or

[0312] The configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device includes at least one of identification information and operating parameter information of the beam relay / reflector device.

[0313] EE14. The beam relay / reflector device according to EE13, wherein the position information includes at least one of the altitude, orientation, and geographic location of the beam relay / reflector device, and / or

[0314] The working parameter information includes the working time, working parameters, etc. of the beam relay / reflector device.

[0315] EE15. A beam relay / reflector device according to any one of EE1-14, wherein, during a time period in which the beam relay / reflector device receives a beam from a beam source and transmits it to a target object, the beam relay / reflector device obtains configuration information of the beam source at specific time intervals or obtains configuration information of the beam source as a response to a request, and / or the beam relay / reflector device informs the beam source of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device at specific time intervals or upon request.

[0316] EE16. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the beam source is capable of transmitting the beam based on the control of a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

[0317] EE17. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the beam source is integrated with the control side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, or the beam source is separated from the control side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

[0318] EE18. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein, when the beam source is integrated with the control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and the beam source is switched, the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0319] Obtain an instruction from the control-side device to switch to a new beam source,

[0320] receiving a beam from the new beam source, and

[0321] The received beam from the new beam source is transmitted to the target object.

[0322] EE19. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein, when the beam source is separated from the control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and the beam source is switched, the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0323] Get configuration information from the new beam source,

[0324] The beam relay / reflection device is configured based on the configuration information of the new beam source to receive the beam from the new beam source.

[0325] EE20. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein, when the target object includes a moving target area, the target area is an area corresponding to a specific time slice within a moving time interval.

[0326] EE21. The beam relay / reflection device according to EE1, wherein the movement time interval is obtained by continuously dividing the movement time of the target area.

[0327] EE22. The beam relay / reflector device according to EE1, wherein configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device can be registered in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network in advance or during a communication operation.

[0328] EE23. A control-side device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, the control-side device comprising a processing circuit configured to:

[0329] Obtaining configuration information of beam transmission target objects in non-terrestrial wireless communication networks,

[0330] determining a beam relay / reflection device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network; and

[0331] The configuration information of the target object is sent to the determined beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device can transmit the beam received from the beam source to the target object.

[0332] EE24. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0333] Obtaining configuration information of the beam source,

[0334] The beam relay / reflecting device is controlled so that the beam relay / reflecting device is configured to receive the beam transmitted from the beam source based on the configuration information of the beam source.

[0335] EE25. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0336] Obtaining configuration information for the beam relay / reflector device, and

[0337] The beam source is controlled so that the beam source is configured to transmit a beam toward the beam relay / reflecting device based on configuration information of the beam relay / reflecting device.

[0338] EE26. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0339] The time information of beam transmission for the target object is sent to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device transmits the beam received from the beam source to the target object within the time specified by the beam transmission time information.

[0340] EE27. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0341] The time information is predicted based on configuration information of the beam source, the target object, and the beam relay / reflection device.

[0342] EE28. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: when an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source,

[0343] The configuration information of the target object and the beam relay / reflection device corresponding to the target object is informed to the new beam source, so that the new beam source transmits a beam to the beam relay device.

[0344] EE29. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: when an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source,

[0345] The parameter information of the new beam source is informed to the old beam source, so that the old beam source instructs the beam relay / reflection device to switch to the new beam source.

[0346] EE30. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: when an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source,

[0347] Get the configuration information of the new beam source,

[0348] The configuration information of the new beam source is sent to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device is configured to receive the beam from the new beam source based on the configuration information of the new beam source.

[0349] EE31. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: when the target object moves,

[0350] Divide the target object movement time into time slices; and

[0351] For the target object in each time slice, a beam relay / reflection device suitable for the target object in the time slice is determined, so that a beam is transmitted to the target object in the time slice via the determined beam relay / reflection device.

[0352] EE32. The control-side device according to EE31, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0353] Determine the coverage overlap area in different time slices based on the configuration information of the current beam source and the adjacent beam sources, and

[0354] Based on the overlapping area coverage requirements of different time slices, the beam relay / reflection device is determined to transmit the beam from the beam source to the target object.

[0355] EE33. The control-side device according to EE32, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0356] The ephemeris information of the current beam source and the adjacent beam sources is obtained as the configuration information.

[0357] EE34. The control-side device according to EE23, wherein, when the target object is a mobile terminal, the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0358] Perform beam measurements with the terminal to determine the terminal's beam direction,

[0359] The determined beam direction is informed to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device tracks the terminal based on the beam direction to transmit the beam.

[0360] EE35. A beam relay method for a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

[0361] receiving a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and

[0362] transmitting the received beam to the target object based on configuration information of the target object,

[0363] The beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting beams in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

[0364] EE36. A method for a control-side device in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

[0365] Obtaining configuration information of beam transmission target objects in non-terrestrial wireless communication networks,

[0366] determining a beam relay / reflection device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network; and

[0367] The configuration information of the target object is sent to the determined beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device can transmit the beam received from the beam source to the target object.

[0368] EE37. A device comprising

[0369] at least one processor; and

[0370] At least one storage device storing thereon instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to EE 35 or 36.

[0371] EE38. A storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed by a processor, enable the method according to EE35 or 36 to be performed.

[0372] EE39. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, enable the execution of the method according to EE35 or 36.

[0373] EE40. A computer program comprising a program code which, when executed by a processor, enables the method according to EE35 or 36 to be performed.

[0374] Although the present disclosure and its advantages have been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and transformations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variations thereof in the embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, such that a process, method, article, or device comprising 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 statement "comprising a ..." does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or device comprising the element.

[0375] Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the above embodiments may be combined, modified, or replaced without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A beam relay / reflector device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, the beam relay / reflector device comprising a processing circuit configured to: receiving a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and transmitting the received beam to the target object based on configuration information of the target object, in, The beam source is an airborne device capable of transmitting a beam in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

2. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 1, wherein: The target object includes a target area that the beam is expected to cover, and the configuration information of the target area includes geographic location information and size information of the target area.

3. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 2, wherein: The target area includes at least one sub-area, and for each sub-area, a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network sets at least one beam relay / reflection device based on configuration information of the sub-area.

4. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 1, wherein: The target object includes a terminal device that is expected to be covered by the beam, and the configuration information of the terminal device includes at least one of geographic location information of the terminal device and a beam direction of the terminal device.

5. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 4, wherein: The beam direction of the terminal device is obtained by a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network through beam measurement with the terminal device.

6. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: Obtaining the time information of beam transmission to the target object, and Beam transmission is performed within the time specified by the beam transmission time information.

7. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 6, wherein: The time information includes a start time and an end time, and performing beam transmission within a time specified by the time information of beam transmission includes starting to transmit the beam to the target object at the start time and stopping to transmit the beam to the target object at the end time.

8. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Get the configuration information of the beam source, The beam relay / reflection device is configured based on the configuration information of the beam source to receive the beam sent from the beam source.

9. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 8, wherein: The configuration information of the beam source includes at least one of the spatial position information of the beam source and the beam transmission parameters.

10. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 9, wherein: The spatial position information of the beam source includes at least one of the geographical location of the beam source and the spatial trajectory of the beam source; and / or The beam transmission parameters include at least one of a beam direction of the beam source and an antenna radiation pattern of the beam source.

11. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 8, wherein: Obtaining the configuration information of the beam source includes periodically obtaining the configuration information of the beam source from a control side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, or sending a request to a control side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and obtaining the configuration information of the beam source provided by the control side device in response.

12. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: Notifying the control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device, wherein: The beam source sets beam transmission based on configuration information of the beam relay / reflecting device to transmit a beam to the beam relay / reflecting device.

13. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 12, wherein: The configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device includes the position information of the beam relay / reflector device, and / or, The configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device includes at least one of identification information and operating parameter information of the beam relay / reflector device.

14. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 13, wherein: The position information includes at least one of the height, orientation, and geographical location of the beam relay / reflector device, and / or The working parameter information includes the working time, working parameters, etc. of the beam relay / reflection device.

15. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein: During the time period in which the beam relay / reflector device receives a beam from a beam source and transmits it to a target object, the beam relay / reflector device obtains configuration information of the beam source at specific time intervals or obtains configuration information of the beam source as a response to a request, and / or the beam relay / reflector device informs the beam source of the configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device at specific time intervals or upon request.

16. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 1, wherein: The beam source is capable of transmitting a beam based on control of a control-side device in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

17. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 1, wherein: The beam source is integrated with a control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, or the beam source is separated from the control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

18. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein: In the case where the beam source is integrated with the control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and the beam source is switched, the processing circuit is further configured to: Obtain an instruction from the control-side device to switch to a new beam source, receiving a beam from the new beam source, and The received beam from the new beam source is transmitted to the target object.

19. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein: In a case where the beam source is separated from the control-side device of the non-terrestrial wireless communication network and the beam source is switched, the processing circuit is further configured to: Get configuration information from the new beam source, The beam relay / reflection device is configured based on the configuration information of the new beam source to receive the beam from the new beam source.

20. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein: In the case where the target object includes a moving target area, the target area is an area corresponding to a specific time slice within the moving time interval.

21. The beam relay / reflection device according to claim 20, wherein: The movement time interval is obtained by continuously dividing the movement time of the target area.

22. The beam relay / reflection device according to any one of claims 1 to 21, wherein: The configuration information of the beam relay / reflector device can be registered in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network in advance or during the communication operation.

23. A control-side device in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, the control-side device comprising a processing circuit configured to: Obtaining configuration information of beam transmission target objects in non-terrestrial wireless communication networks, A beam relay / reflection device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source is determined based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein: The beam source is an airborne device capable of transmitting a beam in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and The configuration information of the target object is sent to the determined beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device can transmit the beam received from the beam source to the target object.

24. The control-side device according to claim 23, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Obtaining configuration information of the beam source, The beam relay / reflecting device is controlled so that the beam relay / reflecting device is configured to receive the beam transmitted from the beam source based on the configuration information of the beam source.

25. The control-side device according to claim 23 or 24, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Obtaining configuration information for the beam relay / reflector device, and The beam source is controlled so that the beam source is configured to transmit a beam toward the beam relay / reflecting device based on configuration information of the beam relay / reflecting device.

26. The control side device according to any one of claims 23 to 25, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The time information of beam transmission for the target object is sent to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device transmits the beam received from the beam source to the target object within the time specified by the beam transmission time information.

27. The control-side device according to claim 26, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The time information is predicted based on configuration information of the beam source, the target object, and the beam relay / reflection device.

28. The control side device according to any one of claims 23 to 27, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: in a case where an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source, The configuration information of the target object and the beam relay / reflection device corresponding to the target object is informed to the new beam source, so that the new beam source transmits a beam to the beam relay device.

29. The control side device according to any one of claims 23 to 27, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: in a case where an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source, The parameter information of the new beam source is informed to the old beam source, so that the old beam source instructs the beam relay / reflection device to switch to the new beam source.

30. The control side device according to any one of claims 23 to 27, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: in a case where an old beam source for transmitting a beam is switched to a new beam source, Get the configuration information of the new beam source, The configuration information of the new beam source is sent to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device is configured to receive the beam from the new beam source based on the configuration information of the new beam source.

31. The control side device according to any one of claims 23 to 30, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: when the target object moves, Divide the target object movement time into time slices; and For the target object in each time slice, a beam relay / reflection device suitable for the target object in the time slice is determined, so that a beam is transmitted to the target object in the time slice via the determined beam relay / reflection device.

32. The control-side device according to claim 31, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: Determine the coverage overlap area in different time slices based on the configuration information of the current beam source and the adjacent beam sources, and Based on the overlapping area coverage requirements of different time slices, the beam relay / reflection device is determined to transmit the beam from the beam source to the target object.

33. The control-side device according to claim 32, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: The ephemeris information of the current beam source and the adjacent beam sources is obtained as the configuration information.

34. The control side device according to any one of claims 23 to 33, wherein: In the case where the target object is a mobile terminal, the processing circuit is further configured to: Perform beam measurements with the terminal to determine the terminal's beam direction, The determined beam direction is informed to the beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device tracks the terminal based on the beam direction to transmit the beam.

35. A beam relay method for a wireless communication system, the method comprising: receiving a beam transmitted from a beam source in the non-terrestrial wireless communication network, and transmitting the received beam to the target object based on configuration information of the target object, The beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting beams in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network.

36. A method for a control side of a wireless communication system, the method comprising: Obtaining configuration information of beam transmission target objects in non-terrestrial wireless communication networks, A beam relay / reflection device capable of receiving and transmitting a beam from a beam source is determined based on the configuration information of the target object, wherein the beam source is an aerial device capable of transmitting a beam in a non-terrestrial wireless communication network. equipment, and The configuration information of the target object is sent to the determined beam relay / reflection device, so that the beam relay / reflection device can transmit the beam received from the beam source to the target object.

37. A device comprising at least one processor; and At least one storage device storing thereon instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to claim 35 or 36.

38. A storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the method according to claim 35 or 36 to be performed.

39. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the method according to claim 35 or 36 to be performed.

40. A computer program comprising a program code which, when executed by a processor, causes the method according to claim 35 or 36 to be performed.

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